Cara's Twelve (28 page)

Cara bit back a scream as Landon crumpled to the floor.

Wesley's cry shattered throughout the room, as he dropped to his knees before the man he had betrayed Cara for. Tears choked him until he could no longer breathe. Landon had been his entire world, and in one heartbeat he was gone.

Wesley's eyes were haunted and glazed when he finally looked up, his eyes locking on Cara.

Tears filled her eyes as bile rose in her throat. She was going to be sick. As much as she resented Wesley for what he had done, she knew he had done it out of love.

“I failed you both,” Wesley cried out. Pulling the dagger from Landon's body, he drove it upwards, straight into his own heart. With eyes filled with regret, he spoke his final words before collapsing next to Landon. “Forgive me.”

Cara stumbled forward, her legs giving out on her, and her stomach finally revolting, spilling its meager contents on the cold tiled floor.

Cara couldn't catch her breath as the room spun around her. There was a moment of silence, as if everyone in the room held their breath.

Birkita's shrill laugh broke the heavy silence. “Well that was entertaining.”

Cara pushed herself off the cold floor and on shaky legs turned and glared at Birkita, and then turned on Edmund. She tried to speak, but there were no words to express the hatred she felt for him in that moment.

“Don't look so downcast, princess. I have something very special planned for you.”

“Let's not give away all our little secrets,” Birkita smirked, her eyes dancing with anticipation.

Cara looked between the two, cold fear draining the blood from her face. “You'll never get away with this. You won't win this war.”

Edmund stepped forward, reaching out to wrap his fingers around her upper arm, and jerking her towards him, so close that Cara could feel his hot breath on her cheek.

“A word of advice princess,” Edmund hissed in her ear. “We've already won. My father's men arrived yesterday, victorious against the uprising in the south. Crantock's army has been slaughtered, including your precious Finn.”

“You lie.” Cara shook her head, unwilling to believe it. Finn was still alive. He had to be.

“Guards,” Edmund ordered, shoving her towards them as they approached. “Take the princess to her chambers. We have a wedding to prepare for.”

A full week went by without a single word from Edmund or Birkita. Stuck within the confines of the sparsely decorated room that was her prison, Cara had no idea what was happening beyond the castle walls.

Alone with her thoughts, Cara relived Wesley and Landon's death over and over again in her mind.

Without Tahdaon or Finn to comfort her, her night terrors increased, until she was no longer able to close her eyes without seeing death.

In her nightmares she saw Maeve and Reyn's body's hanging from the ceiling rafters, while Edmund and Birkita watched in delight.

When she woke, she had to remind herself that they had escaped, that they were beyond Birkita's grasp, but she couldn't shake the fear that more death and bloodshed was coming.

Cara jumped from where she had been sitting when Edmund entered her chambers.

He motioned to the guard who stood watch at her door to leave them.

Cara glared at him, and swallowed past the lump that was beginning to form in her throat. “What do you want?”

Edmund regarded her for a moment, his gaze intense, as he stroked the handle of his dagger that he kept sheathed on the hanger around his waist.

Cara's heart hammered in her chest as she watched him. Always unpredictable, Cara knew better than to let her guard down. Edmund never did anything without reason, and whatever his purpose for this particular visit, she knew it wasn't good.

“My father is returning from the capital soon,” he said, his tone cool. “It would be nice if we could come to an understanding before then. I would hate for him to think that you aren't cooperating with our plans. He isn't as…understanding as I am.” Cara took a step back as he approached, and he narrowed his eyes at her. “Come now princess. I'm trying to help you. Think of what we could accomplish. Together.”

She clenched her jaw and hissed through her teeth, “You're delusional if you think I will ever marry you.”

Edmund tisked, “Are you sure about that? You see, I have something that may change your mind.”

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She should have known that he would resort to bribery, but whatever Edmund had planned, she couldn't let him use it to sway her. The future of Elbia was at stake. If she married him, there would be no denying his legitimacy to the throne.

“There's nothing you can say or do to make me willingly wed you. I would rather die than see you crowned king.”

Edmund's eyes darkened as he took another step towards her. “Trust me princess, your fate will be far worse than death if you don't comply. Guards!”

The door opened and Cara gasped in horror as a man with chains around his neck, wrists, and ankles, stumbled into the room. Dressed in rags, his body was emaciated, discolored with welts and bruises.

The guard shoved the man to his knees. His long, unwashed hair hung around his gaunt face.

“I thought you would appreciate seeing a friendly face.”

Cara looked at the man in confusion, but when he opened his eyes, Cara inhaled sharply as recognition hit her. If it wasn't for the familiar brown eyes that stared back at her from the severely battered face, she would never have recognized him.

“Callion,” Cara gasped, rushing to him, and kneeling before him, taking his bruised face in her hands. “What has he done to you?”

Callion's eyes, so similar to Reyn's, filled with tears, but he didn't speak.

“Your friend's a little tongue-tied at the moment. You see, when he refused to tell me where he had hidden your cousin Maeve, my men got a tad carried away and cut out his tongue.”

Cara bit back the scream in her throat, and stood, rushing at Edmund, striking him hard in the face, and struggling in vain for the dagger at his waist. She would kill him for what he had done.

Edmund eyes went feral, and he returned the blow twofold, knocking her head back so quickly that for a moment the room went dark.

Callion's chains rattled behind her, and she heard him grunt as she fell to the floor.

Edmund knelt beside her, knotting his fingers in her hair and yanking hard so that she was nose to nose with him. “No more games princess. Either you do as I say or he dies, and after I torture him, I will make sure to hunt down and kill every single person you have ever cared about. Your choice.”

Cara looked at Callion, his eyes dark and pleading. Without words she knew what he wanted her to do.

He had already accepted his fate.

She shook her head fervently.

Callion was more than a friend. More than a brother. He was her anchor. The only person who truly knew her, not as the heir to the Elbian throne, but who she was before all the madness had started. Before she was forced to choose between the lives of those she loved and the good of her country.

Edmund's fist tightened in her hair. “Make your decision.”

“I'm sorry Callion.”

Callion smiled sadly and bowed his head in acknowledgement.

“Stupid girl,” Edmund hissed, as he thrust her aside and pulled his dagger from its sheath. Rounding on Callion, Edmund grabbed him by the jaw and thrust his head back, so that his blade was positioned over Callion's throat.

“Last chance princess. His fate is in your hands.”

Callion's gaze never left hers, and for a moment she hesitated, wishing more than anything that things could be different.

“You will never be king Edmund. The people of Elbia are tired of being oppressed by a cruel and heartless monarch. I would rather die than be responsible for allowing you to take the throne.”

“Then his blood and all that follows is on your hands.”

In a single movement, Edmund's dagger cut a deep and even line across Callion's throat.

Callion's eyes went wide and his mouth opened in a silent scream as blood poured in waves from the open wound.

When Edmund let go of him, Callion fell forward.

Cara scrambled to him and struggled to turn him on his back, but the chains that bound him made it difficult.

Cradling his face in her hands, she watched as the life drained from his eyes, and stroked his hair, oblivious to the blood that soaked her garments.

“I believe,” she whispered, knowing it was what he needed to hear. “She's here Callion. Annul. You were right. You were always right.”

His eyes were already glazed as he twitched and grimaced in her arms. Cara held his fading gaze, and she saw forgiveness in his eyes as he took his last breath.

Cara didn't look up as Edmund's shadow fell over her.

“You killed him,” he taunted. “You think you're so good, but you're no different than Birkita. You let your friend die. For what? No matter what you do, I will win. You will be my wife, and I will be king. It's your choice how many people have to die before it happens.”

Cara flinched as the door slammed shut and she was left alone, cradling Callion's body.

What had she done?

Edmund was right. She was just as responsible for Callion's death then if she had wielded the knife herself.

She didn't know how much time passed before she was able to move. Her legs and hands were numb, Callion's blood had started to thicken and clot, and his body was cold as she pulled herself away from him.

Feeling boneless and beyond weary, she crawled into a ball on the edge of her bed, and swore to Annul that she would kill Edmund if it was the last thing she did.

* * *

Tahdaon pulled his blade from the guard's corpse that he had just killed, and silently motioned for Finn to follow him. Disguised as Hellstrom soldiers, they had managed to gain access to the castle without being detected.

Finn and Efy had arrived a few days after her disappearance, and when they had learned that she was gone, it was all Tahdaon could do to convince Finn not to send his father's army to the slaughter in order to rescue her.

It had been Tahdaon's first instinct as well, to take what men he had and go after her, but he knew that Edmund would expect them to attack.

In the end he had convinced Finn that their best chance at rescuing Cara was to disguise themselves as Edmund's men, and enter the castle under the cover of darkness. So far his plan had worked. Only two guards separated them from the room Edmund was keeping her in.

Tahdaon glanced at Finn and nodded.

Stepping out of the shadows, Tahdaon saw the men tense and then relax as they noted his armor with the Hellstrom insignia.

“You're early,” one of the guards said, as they approached. “Not that I mind. The stench is enough to make you sick. Not sure what Edmund is thinking leaving the body to rot in there.”

Tahdaon went cold. They couldn't be too late. Edmund wouldn't have killed her. He needed her alive, and yet the man's words cut through him like a knife.

Without a second thought, Tahdaon cut the man down, and turned on the second guard. “Open the door.”

The guard's eyes were wide with shock, and his mouth opened and closed without making a sound. Fear at what he would find behind the door, and frustrated by the guard's hesitation, Tahdaon ran his blade through the man's throat and pushed the body aside.

As he reached out to remove the bolt from the door, he jerked as Finn placed a heavy hand on his shoulder to stop him. He looked over his shoulder, his own icy fear mirrored in Finn's expression.

Finn let his hand fall and nodded toward the door. “We need to be prepared for the worst.”

The words sent a chill through his body.

Taking a deep breath he pushed the door open. The smell of death hit him like a stone wall.

A body, molted and swollen in death, lay in the center of the room, surrounded by blackened dried blood. Maggots crawled across the rotting flesh, and flies swarmed, filling the room with a sickening noise.

Tahdaon's stomach heaved at the sight, and a cold sweat broke out on his brow.

It didn't take Tahdaon long to realize that it was the body of a man. He breathed a sigh of relief as his brain registered that the decaying corpse wasn't Cara.

“She's not here,” Finn growled under his breath, relief and frustration evident in his voice.

The smell was overpowering. Covering his nose and mouth with his arm, Tahdaon looked around the room which appeared to be empty.

They were about to leave when he saw her.

Huddled in the corner of the room, her skin was ashen, her hands and feet caked with dry blood. Her dark hair hung in knots around her face, and the eyes that stared back at him were haunted and unseeing.

“Cara?” he said gently as he approached. She didn't react when he reached out and brushed back the hair from her face.

Dark purple bruises rimmed her eyes, and her lips were dry and crusted with blood.

“Cara, it's me. Tahdaon. Finn's here too. We're going to get you out of here.”

She looked at him then, and for an instant he saw recognition in her eyes, but her expression was tormented.

“You shouldn't be here,” she muttered, barely coherent. “He'll kill you if he finds you here.”

“Cara, listen to me. We're going to get you out here, but I need your help. Can you walk?”

Cara shook her head, her eyes once again glazed over, and repeated monotonously, “You shouldn't be here.”

Tahdaon looked up at Finn for help, and stood, moving out of the way, as Finn knelt beside her.

“Sweetheart, look at me,” Finn said. “We have to leave, before someone realizes we're here.”

“You're going to have to carry her,” Tahdaon said through clenched teeth. Every part of him wanted to find Edmund and tear his beating heart from his chest for what he had done to her, but he knew that now wasn't the time. They had to get her out of the castle before anyone found the trail of bodies they had left in their wake. “We have to go,
now
.”

Finn let out an elongated breath and whispered something that only Cara could here. She nodded once, and allowed Finn to pick her up, but Tahdaon saw the animalistic fear that distorted her features as she clung to Finn. She bit her lip so hard, that fresh blood oozed from a newly opened wound.

As they crossed the room, her eyes locked on the corpse, and she let out a low guttural moan.

Tahdaon still didn't know who the corpse had been, but it was clear by her reaction that it had been someone she knew well.

Finn continued to whisper softly in her ear, and Cara turned her head away, burying her face in Finn's chest.

“Let's go,” Tahdaon ordered.

By some miracle they made their way through the castle halls and servants' corridors undetected.

Efy and Osker were waiting for them just beyond the city walls, hidden in the shadows of the forest. The moon was at its zenith when Tahdaon and Finn met up with them.

Osker's eyebrows shot up in question as they approached, but neither he nor Efy spoke as Tahdaon mounted his horse and Finn lifted Cara into his arms. She had lost consciousness soon after they had left the castle and lay weightless in his arms.

They rode for hours without stopping or speaking, and the sun was just rising over the horizon as they approached Peat Harbor.

The small port town that lay just north of the Dalglieshan and Hellstrom border was just beginning to wake as they dismounted their horses and quickly made their way up the gangplank towards a large fishing vessel.

“Good luck brother,” Osker said to Tahdaon, before turning to speak with the captain, and then heading back down the plank.

Osker had secured the vessel, but he wouldn't be travelling north to Muir with them. As Viceroy of Dalgliesh his responsibilities lay in Drumna.

“Take her below deck,” Tahdaon ordered. Cara stirred and mumbled under her breath, as he shifted her into Finn's arms. “Get her cleaned up and see if you can get her to eat something.”

“What the hell did he do to her?” Efy asked, when Finn had disappeared below deck.

Tahdaon shook his head. He couldn't bear to think about what Edmund had done to her. “She'll talk when she's able. Leave it alone for now. Go see if you can find something clean for her to wear.”

Tahdaon placed his hands on the rail of the ship and shifted his weight as the gangplank was released and the boat set sail.