Daring Damsels

by Domning, Denise

  Am I mad? she wondered. What am I doing?

  To hesitate could cost her dearly. She would take only a quick peek at him and then be gone.

  The Midnight Shadow moved as silently as the night, pressing her back to the wall and merging with the shadows as she crept down the hallway until she stood before Terran’s room. The wooden door stood as a barrier before her, a warning not to cross the threshold. She reached out to the handle, then let her hand drop to her side. This was madness. She had to get out of the castle.

  She turned to leave when suddenly she heard the sound of approaching footsteps from down the hallway. Her gaze darted about, but there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She had no choice. She opened the door to Terran’s room and stepped inside. She stood with her back pressed to the door, listening as the footsteps drew closer. Would whoever it was knock on Terran’s door? She placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, preparing. She held her breath for a long moment...

  ... until the footsteps continued past the door, moving off down the hall.

  She breathed a soft, relieved sigh and looked around the room. It was very dark, except for a stray beam of pale moonlight shining in through the partially opened shutters. The light washed over the bed, illuminating a sleeping form.

  The Midnight Shadow stepped away from the door, moving through the familiar room until she stood just before the bed. She watched the form breathe, the slow rise and fall of the blanket. She reached out a hand to touch Terran, to touch his shoulder, his cheek, his lips, but the shape suddenly moved, rolling over onto its back into the light. She gasped, snatching her hand back.

  The face the beam of light illuminated wasn’t Terran’s. It was Kathryn who lay in his bed.

  The Midnight Shadow stumbled to the door, betrayal piercing her heart like an arrow. Tears blinded her vision for a savage moment and she wiped at them with her gloved hands, smearing her mask away from her eyes. She took a quick moment to right it so she could see.

  Then, she reached for the door and yanked it open, casting one last look back at Kathryn, cursing her husband. Seeing Kathryn in Terran’s bed made his betrayal more real. She turned and almost ran into a wall of flesh, but pulled back suddenly.

  Terran Knowles stood before her.

  The Midnight Shadow! In my castle!

  “You!” Terran instinctively reached for his sword, but it wasn’t there. He wasn’t dressed for battle. He opened his mouth to shout for the guards, but the Midnight Shadow hit him in the chest, hard enough to choke his cry.

  “You cur,” the villain hissed. “How dare you betray your wife like this?”

  Again Terran opened his mouth to call for guards.

  The Midnight Shadow drew his weapon and pressed the edge of the blade to Terran’s throat, silencing him again. “I should run you through, vile betrayer.”

  Terran scowled. Who is this dog to speak to me thus?

  The Midnight Shadow stepped closer to him, forcing Terran to take a step back. “Do you know how you’ve made her feel?”

  The Midnight Shadow took another step closer, the tip pressing dangerously close to Terran’s adam’s apple, forcing his chin high.

  “She goes to bed crying every night. She thinks of you every cursed moment of every day. She can barely tolerate being away from you.”

  Terran’s scowl and confusion deepened. How did this stranger, this mysterious man in black, know so much about his wife? She’d proven to him they weren’t lovers.

  “You’ve all but destroyed her,” the masked man whispered grimly. “I should slit your throat for causing her so much pain.” He pressed the tip of the blade closer to Terran’s skin.

  Terran’s head was forced back as he lifted his chin, baring his throat to the Midnight Shadow. He awaited death. Expected it. But suddenly, the tip eased from his jugular. “But I won’t kill you... if you tell me where Mary is.”

  Terran’s gaze snapped up from the blade to lock with the Midnight Shadow’s. Mary? Oh, yes. Wasn’t she Bria’s friend? The girl Kenric said had murdered the herbalist. “I don’t know where the sheriff keeps my prisoners.”

  He saw fury flash in those blue eyes, the bluest eyes he had ever seen. “Who rules this castle, you or Kenric?” The whisper was full of disgust.

  Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall. The Midnight Shadow’s eyes shifted slightly in the direction of the sound.

  Blue eyes. The bluest eyes he had ever seen. Why couldn’t he escape that thought?

  “You’ve much luck this day, Knowles,” the Midnight Shadow said. “But we’ll meet again. This I vow.” With a flurry of his black cape, he lurched toward Terran with the tip of his blade. Terran stumbled back, away from the sharp blade. Was this madman going to kill him? He put up his arm to ward off the attack. But no pain pierced his arm, his shoulder, his torso. Terran lowered his arm and quickly scanned the hallway around him. The Midnight Shadow was gone.

  Terran sprang into action, shouting for his guards. He barely took a step when his bedroom door swung open. Kathryn stepped into the hallway, clutching a blanket to her chest to cover her nakedness.

  Terran halted immediately, his gaze sweeping Kathryn. Betrayer. Suddenly, his enemy’s accusation made sense. What the hell was Kathryn doing in his room?

  “What’s happened?” Kathryn cried, clinging to his arm.

  As Terran disengaged his arm from Kathryn’s hold, two guards ran down the hall toward him. He had no time for her. His enemy was in the castle! He turned to the guards. “Search the castle. The Midnight Shadow was just here.”

  “The Midnight Shadow?” Kathryn gasped.

  “Close the portcullis. Raise the drawbridge,” Terran ordered. “We’ll trap him.”

  The guards moved to carry out their lord’s orders.

  Terran took a step away from his room, down the hallway. He had to get to the gatehouse. Hadn’t the guards seen anything?

  “Wait!”

  He stopped to look back at Kathryn. She let the blanket drop another inch.

  “What about me?” she asked with a sultry, if practiced, pout. “I’m so frightened.”

  “I suggest you dress and return to your own room,” Terran replied.

  “But...”

  Terran turned his back on her protests, moving down the hall with long strides. How had it been so easy for his enemy to get into his home? Was he that clever? Was he that good? Was he really a he? He shrugged off that last question; he had no time to try to figure it out now. He could only concentrate on making sure the Midnight Shadow did not escape. He couldn’t allow his enemy to return to his wife with the news of Kathryn in his bed. How could he explain that everything he’d said to her was a lie if the Midnight Shadow told her otherwise? How could he hope to fix things then?

  Bria had donned the brown monk’s cloak and was making her way toward the drawbridge and her escape when the cry went out. Bria froze, thinking she’d been discovered.

  “Raise the drawbridge!”

  The drawbridge.

  She could still make it. It would take several minutes before the guards could turn the cranks and fully wind the drawbridge chains. She crept closer and breathed a silent sigh of relief as she reached the outer gate. The drawbridge was still down, her passage to freedom unhindered.

  Bria chanced a glance back over her shoulder. No garrison of guards stormed toward her from the inner ward, no one cried out to stop her. Most of the guards would still be waking up, scrambling for their weapons in the darkness. A smile stretched across her lips. Success! She’d done it. But she immediately knew that wasn’t true. Mary was still trapped inside somewhere.

  She took a step forward to move quickly beneath the gatehouse toward the drawbridge. A sigh of relief welled up inside her. She’d been foolish to seek Terran out. It had been too great a risk, but she’d made it.

  The sound of rushing metal reached her ears. The portcullis crashed down a mere few feet before her, its sharp metal teeth biting hard into the earth, slammin
g closed with a resounding boom, sealing her inside Castle Knowles.

  “Get back from there!” a voice called from the battlements.

  Startled, Bria obeyed the voice, trying not to give herself away, trying not to be scared, but already terrified.

  If she was discovered as the Midnight Shadow, she would be executed.

  She took another step away from the portcullis, finally having to turn her back on the road to freedom. Fear knotted her stomach. What if she was caught?

  She took a breath to calm herself. Don’t lose your wits, she told herself firmly. You’ll think of some way out of this. She moved back to the inner ward. If I can get out of these Midnight Shadow clothes, I might have a chance to wait until they open the gates again.

  She continued to move along the wall of the castle in the shadows. She had to get her costume off. But where? She moved forward toward the keep. She was crossing the moonlit courtyard when the sound of running feet exploded from behind her.

  “There he is!” someone cried. She froze in her tracks. Her hand dropped to the hilt of the sword concealed in the long folds of her cloak. Dread pierced her heart as footsteps closed in around her. She slowly turned and chanced a glance up to see a group of soldiers rushing toward her...

  ... and then past her. She almost collapsed in relief as they hauled a man from behind a stack of large crates positioned near the front gate. He was skinny and dirty, his clothing in tatters. He screamed and struggled to be free. “No!” he hollered. “I won’t go back to the dungeon!”

  The dungeon. He was one of the freed prisoners.

  A guard backhanded the man, silencing him. Bria winced, clenching her teeth. She wanted to help the poor man. He was vastly overpowered and outnumbered. After all, that was what the Midnight Shadow did, protected the weak. But to do so now would be her undoing. She took a few steps back from the group of distracted soldiers.

  She turned and entered the keep unnoticed. Bria moved down a long corridor, sticking to the walls and the shadows thrown by the torches. She walked slowly and cautiously to the Great Hall, pausing in the doorway. The room was strangely quiet except for the snapping flames in the hearth. She entered the room softly, trying to move as silently as possible. But the rushes snapped beneath her booted feet and a pair of dogs that had been napping amongst the peasants lifted their heads. One dog stood up, a peasant’s arm rolling off the animal’s back. The other stayed motionless, its eyes pinning her.

  For a long moment, Bria couldn’t move. She didn’t know whether to go back through the large doors or continue on. She decided to head on. She moved through the Great Hall. With each footstep, she felt the dogs’ watchful eyes on her back. She prayed they would go back to sleep, that they wouldn’t start barking and wake the entire Great Hall.

  They remained mercifully quiet. In the doorway to the kitchen, she paused and looked back. The dog that had been lying down had shifted its position, moving closer to one of the peasants. The other dog was sniffing around the rushes for some forgotten food.

  Bria sighed to herself and moved into the kitchen. The room was empty and cold, the fire for the large ovens unlit. She scanned the kitchen and saw another doorway. She crossed the room and quickly stepped through the opening. More stairs. Blackness surrounded her as she descended.

  At the bottom of the stairs, a flickering torch on the wall dropped pieces of charred wood onto the floor. It illuminated the entrance into another dark room, where she found mountains of barrels and boxes. The moment she stepped into the room, the sweet smell of cinnamon surrounded her and her nose itched from the scent of pepper. The spice vaults. A perfect place to change out of her Midnight Shadow clothes. They wouldn’t be looking for a woman dressed in a brown robe. She grinned. They wouldn’t be looking for a woman at all.

  She ducked behind three stacks of barrels and removed the cloak, then the hooded cape and mask. She shook her head, running her hands through her hair as the wild strands, free from their confines, cascaded down her back. She unbuckled her sheath and carefully, quietly, set it down so it leaned against one of the barrels. Then she eased her black tunic over her head, folded it, and laid it on a barrel beside her sword. She removed the tightly wrapped cloth binding her breasts and rubbed the circulation back into them, then pulled off her boots and leggings. She folded the leggings, placing them on top of the tunic.

  Suddenly, she heard soft footsteps and turned, peeking out from between two barrels, her nakedness momentarily forgotten. She couldn’t see anyone in the darkness, but she heard the rustle of clothing.

  “What is it, Captain? You said it was urgent.” Bria knew the voice instantly. There was only one voice that could be that cold, only one man who could speak plain words with such evil. Kenric.

  “The men are getting restless. If they aren’t paid soon, they might go to Knowles with your plan.”

  “Make sure they don’t! They’ll be paid tomorrow.”

  “How long before we act?”

  “Soon. But make sure the men say nothing, do you hear? I’ve worked long and hard for this. Some overeager mercenary isn’t going to destroy my plan.”

  Fear shot through Bria at his words. What was Kenric paying the mercenaries to do?

  “How many men do we have?” Kenric asked.

  “Enough to take the castle.”

  Horror flooded through Bria. Terran! her mind cried. She had to tell Terran!

  “Some are still loyal to Knowles. I had to be very careful recruiting.”

  “Well done, Captain,” Kenric said. “You’ll be well rewarded.”

  Bria remained absolutely still. She didn’t dare move for fear of discovery, but she had to find out as much as she could.

  “And what of this Midnight Shadow?”

  Kenric chuckled. “That useless Knowles has come up with a rather ingenious plan to capture him. When that happens, I’ll give the signal to take the castle.” Their footsteps faded as they moved out of the room.

  Bria couldn’t move. Kenric was planning to take Castle Knowles for himself! She had to warn Terran.

  Despair seized hold of her. How could she think Terran would believe her? He hadn’t believed her about Kenric poisoning her. Why would he believe her about something this important? Kenric was his cousin. She was nothing to him. Nothing. He had another woman warming his bed.

  Pain sliced through her at the thought of Terran loving Kathryn. She should hate him. She should hate him for forcing her to marry him and then casting her aside like a worn cloak. She should hate him for showing her how to make love with such passion and such emotion that everything else paled in comparison. She should hate him for making her love him.

  But she didn’t. She couldn’t. For not only had he taken her maidenhood, he had also taken her heart, and he hadn’t given it back when he cast her from his home.

  Bria shoved the Midnight Shadow costume into the large pouch she carried with her and then tied the string tight to close it. She tied the pouch around her waist, then slid her cloak into one of the wide sleeves of the robe. She quickly donned her boots and then stared down at her sword. She should just leave it, but she couldn’t bear to part with it; it had been a gift from her grandfather. She picked up the weapon and put it under the robe, holding it to her side to prevent any obvious bulge in her clothing, then headed for the stairs.

  Even if there was little hope he’d believe her, she had to warn Terran.

  Terran cursed silently. The Midnight Shadow had escaped. Somehow. Some way. Every single one of the freed prisoners had been recaptured, but the Midnight Shadow had evaded him.

  The castle was still being searched, but his hopes were dwindling with the rising sun. He stepped into his room and removed his tunic. He cursed again as he stood before the fire in the hearth, hands on his hips. Perhaps his enemy was still in the castle. But if so, where was he? The entire castle had been searched, but still the rogue evaded him.

  Terran ground his teeth and shook his head slightly. Then he froze. The
re was movement behind him, a soft step, the rustle of clothing. Had the Midnight Shadow come to finish what he’d begun?

  Terran whirled. A silhouette separated from the dark shadows near the bed. Terran saw the outline of wavy hair and relaxed slightly. A woman. He turned his back to her. “Kathryn,” he said, “I told you to –”

  “It’s me, Terran.”

  Terran’s heart leaped, but he was afraid it was all in his imagination. He’d heard that soft voice calling his name since the day he’d banned Bria from Castle Knowles, but before this moment it had all just been a ghostly memory.

  “I’ve come to warn you,” the voice went on. “Kenric is plotting against you, Terran. He’s planning on taking over your castle.”

  How could this be his imagination? The things she was saying were nothing he could have imagined. Slowly, he turned to her, half expecting her to vanish. She didn’t.

  Bria stepped toward him, moving into the firelight to face him. The golden light of the fire kissed her skin, moving over it like an artist’s brush. Her hair shimmered around her face and shoulders. An anguished longing encompassed him. She was real, very real, and he wanted her back. He desperately wanted to tell her so, but no words came to his lips. He could only stare in mute rapture at her beauty.

  “He’s overtaxing your people and keeping the coin to pay mercenaries.”

  Suddenly it all made sense, as if her words had cleared his mind from a thick fog, as if her soft voice had awakened him from a deep spell. There had been discrepancies between the ledgers and the accounts of the few peasants he had spoken with. Now it made sense. Kenric’s fanatical devotion to his work, his obsession with collecting taxes. The coin wasn’t meant for Terran or the castle. It was all for Kenric, to be used in his own unscrupulous plans.

  “I know it doesn’t make sense, but I heard him. He’s planning to do this when you capture the Midnight Shadow.” Bria looked down at her clasped hands. “I know you don’t want me here, but what I tell you is the truth! You must believe me.” She nodded once as if convincing herself she’d done the right thing, then took a step toward the door.