Destiny of the Light: Shadow Through Time 1 (11 page)

‘Of the twenty-three, only six were of a suitable age and unmarried.’

There it was again, an oblique answer. She didn’t let it deflect her. ‘So you had six to choose from and you picked Lae?’ Khatrene was getting past the point of caring if she embarrassed Talis. She wanted to know.

He stopped, glanced up and sighed.

Khatrene followed his gaze. The latte sky was barely visible through the tangle of vines that clung to the fungus trees, but it appeared to be darkening. She tried to remember how long they’d been walking. The ground beneath their boots had grown softer and she could smell a fetid, rotting odour on the wind. Laroque was right, it got worse.

‘Rue Marsh,’ Talis said and pointed ahead. ‘It is said that the marsh encourages melancholy and despair.’

‘Then it’s lucky you’re warding that away, isn’t it?’ Khatrene gazed at him for a moment before she said, ‘I still don’t know if you picked Lae or not.’

He glanced away, as though pondering, then said, ‘Lae was of my choosing.’

Khatrene let out her breath. There, he’d said it, but she felt strangely unsatisfied by the answer. ‘Why did you choose her?’

He was very still, his voice soft, as though speaking to himself. ‘Guardian blood runs through my veins, as it runs through the veins of my uncle and my cousin. Only we three remain with the power to open a way between the worlds, and Pagan has yet to prove his skill. It is my duty to sire sons who will also carry the blood.’

‘But why Lae? Do you love her?’ The words were out of her mouth before she could call them back. Still, she tried. ‘I’m sorry, Talis. That was absolutely none of my —’

‘Is love important to you, My Lady?’ He had turned back and was looking at her steadily, She realised it had grown darker in the last few moments. Nightfall would be upon them soon but neither of them moved to stop Pagan wandering ahead, or to light the torches they would now need to make a camp.

She pushed her hands into the pockets of her jeans and made herself hold his gaze. She’d started this. ‘I’m not sure. I’ve never been in love.’

‘And you wish to know if I am?’

She nodded, unable to form the small word.

‘Yes,’ he said, and night fell around them like a cloak.

Khatrene felt lost in the sudden transition. She could no longer see the expression on Talis’s face and that disconcerted her. ‘I’ve heard a lot of people don’t find love.’ she said, feeling awkward now. ‘I guess you’re lucky.’

She saw him move, a dark shape in the shadows, then heard the scratch and flare of his torch. ‘Come,’ he said, holding the brand aloft, extinguishing the shadows as much with his comforting presence as the light he now held. ‘Let us find Pagan before he falls into a swamp.’

T
here was a noise. Khatrene wasn’t sure straightaway if it was the voice inside her mind or an external sound. She was on her back, gazing at the tops of the hoary fungus ‘trees’ with their canopy of ropey vines, uplit by the hazy brown light of their fire. For an hour she’d been struggling to clear her mind for sleep, and now this; a humming, like the lowest note of a harmonica. Simultaneously with the sound, a dark shape came into their midst, blotting out the campfire light as it passed her.

Khatrene opened her mouth, but before she could scream the figure lunged at the sleeping form of her Champion, something glinting in the firelight as it descended towards Talis’s chest.

A dark shape loomed up beside her and she screamed in fright as it grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. ‘Silence, My Lady,’ Pagan hissed and with a solid shove, set her back against the nearest tree, positioning himself, sword drawn, between her and the struggle on the ground.

Khatrene stood helpless, watching Talis grapple with the intruder in horrifying silence. No grunt or moan touched her ears, only the sound of their harsh breathing. Dread sat on her chest like a lead weight.

They rolled closer to the fire and in the flickering light she saw the shoulder of Talis’s jacket was wet — told herself it might not be his blood. But the sickness in her stomach argued otherwise. Again, she saw a glint in the firelight and put both hands together over her mouth, pushing down the moan of fear in her throat. The grappling battle continued and Khatrene forgot to breathe. Her head was light, her brain pounding.

Tell me he isn’t going to die
, she demanded of the voice.

T
HE MOMENT DRAWS NEAR
. H
E WILL SACRIFICE HIS FUTURE FOR YOU THIS NIGHT.

‘Noooo,’ she wailed, the sound muffled by her fingers.

Pagan reached back a hand and she latched onto it.

‘Do something,’ she whispered.

He shook his head, looked back to the fight. Talis had rolled the intruder beneath him and appeared to have the upper hand, but his shoulder dripped blood. Khatrene squeezed Pagan’s hand so hard her fingers hurt.

The weapon glinted in the firelight again, this time in her Champion’s hand. She watched it waver above the intruder’s chest and involuntarily her own hand in Pagan’s wrenched down.

‘Now,’ Pagan breathed, and Khatrene saw the intruder’s hand slip. Talis plummeted the blade into his chest where it lodged with a squelching sound that was like nothing Khatrene had ever heard before; a sound so sickening she couldn’t help but picture the damage it had wrought. The sound of sure death. Even before Talis rolled off the body she knew the threat was gone. Pagan surveyed the area around them and then stepped forward.

Khatrene’s hand, released from his, fell limply to her side as she slumped back against the tree. She tried to swallow. Felt sick.

Pagan crouched and pulled the hood from the intruder’s face. ‘Raider,’ he said. ‘The pale skin of a cave-dweller.’ He looked up at Talis. ‘This one must have followed us from the Plateau.’

Talis hadn’t moved and Khatrene suddenly found she had the strength to go to him. Edging around Pagan, she shuddered as she looked down into the colourless eyes of the dead Raider, his albino skin and bald head smeared in blood.

Talis, watching her approach, said to his cousin. ‘Remove the body and search the near forest. Come if I call.’

Pagan nodded, then picked up the limp arm of the Raider to drag him away. Khatrene shuddered again.

‘Are you harmed, Princess?’ Talis asked, trying to sit up.

She dropped to her knees beside him and pushed him back down. ‘I’m fine. You’re the one bleeding,’ she said in a no-nonsense voice, but her hands trembled as she peeled the quilted jacket and thin shirt away from him. Talis lay quiet, a stillness in his eyes that worried her. Then she saw the wound.

‘Oh, God.’ Bruised skin peeled back from a jagged, ugly cut revealing brownish mush with … something lighter. Bone? A wave of nausea washed over her. There was blood everywhere.

Looking away for a moment, Khatrene wadded up his shirt and then pressed it onto the gaping wound, as much to hide it from her eyes as to staunch the blood flow, which she knew had to be done quickly. She swallowed a couple of times before she could say, ‘Is this the only damage?’

‘Yes.’

He’s not going to die. I won’t let him die
, she told the voice who remained ominously silent.

Her knees hurt, so she moved from a crouch into a seated position snuggled against Talis’s side as she leant across him to hold her makeshift pressure bandage against his wound. Some of the blood had run across his broad chest and pooled in the dark hairs. Her arm, lying across that chest, was now smeared in his blood. The rusty colour of it, so unlike ‘real’ blood, turned her stomach.

‘Can you heal this?’ she asked Talis.

‘My cousin will return soon,’ he said softly, ‘then we will work together to heal that which I have no strength to heal alone.’

Khatrene nodded, glanced at the wadded wound again, then back to his face. Sickness gripped her stomach, but beneath that a fiercer emotion boiled and she suddenly found she was unable to keep it in. ‘Why didn’t Pagan help you fight that Raider?’ she asked. ‘Is there some law that says you can’t help another warrior?’

‘In single combat, a warrior of my rank is expected to best his —’

‘While you’re asleep?’ She couldn’t help herself. ‘You’re expected to “best” someone who attacks you while you’re asleep?’ Not to mention the fact that he was still weakened from the Rite of Revival.

‘The Raider is dead,’ Talis said simply.

‘Well, good for you!’ she shot back. ‘But what if he wasn’t? What if you were dead? I suppose you’d end up in Valhalla with all the other “great” warriors. Better to die an honourable death —’ Khatrene broke off on a hiccupped breath that sounded suspiciously like a sob. ‘And what about me? What happens to me if you die?’

He was watching her closely, his eyes dark in the glowing firelight. ‘Our Lord and King would appoint another Champion for the White Princess.’

Khatrene sucked in an unsteady breath. ‘I don’t want another Champion.’ Her bottom lip was trembling. ‘I want you.’

He nodded and they continued to gaze at each other.

‘Can we call Pagan back?’ she said. ‘Your breathing is very shallow.’ Not caring about the blood, she leant forward and pressed her ear to the left side of his chest, making sure not to loosen her pressure on the bandage. ‘Your heart is beating too quickly,’ she said, ‘but it’s not faint.’ She listened to the
lump, lump, lump
sound of it and felt some of her agitation fade. Such a solid, reassuring beat. Even his scent was comforting. She pulled away from his skin a little and thought she could still hear his heart beating. ‘It’s loud.’

Talis was sure it would leap out of his chest, the same chest Khatrene’s hair now danced over. ‘The effort of mastering the way between the worlds,’ he managed to say. ‘It strengthens the heart.’

‘Hmmm.’ She laid her cheek against him again and closed her eyes, the better to concentrate. ‘It sounds strong.’

Talis shook his head. It was a weak heart. A foolish heart that ignored the true motivation for her actions and filled his mind with visions of soft caresses and tender vows. It had to be halted. ‘My Lady,’ he said.

‘I thought we’d agreed you weren’t going to call me “My Lady” when we were alone together.’

Her bantering tone begged a friend, yet Talis had never felt less a ‘friend’ than at that moment, and even less an impartial Champion. ‘I am confused. Forgive me,’ he said.

She frowned. ‘Maybe you’re in shock.’ She laid the back of a cool hand against his forehead and the tenderness of the gesture was almost his undoing. ‘No, you’re hot if anything.’ She reached down to clasp his hand, then shook her head, making the cool strands of hair dance over his chest once again. ‘Your extremities aren’t cold. Maybe it’s just a combination of blood loss and tiredness.’ She looked back up into his eyes. ‘You certainly don’t look … right.’

‘There is no near-danger,’ Pagan said from behind her. Then as he came closer, he added, ‘Ho, Cousin, I see you are showing off your wares.’

Before Talis could frame a scathing reply the Princess said, ‘Don’t worry, Pagan. You’ll have a manly chest one day.’ With her free hand she gestured at the fire. ‘Throw some more wood on there so we can see what we’re doing, then come and heal Talis.’

‘Yes, Majesty,’ he said cheerfully enough, clearly undisturbed by the jibe.

Talis, however, was deeply affected and closed his eyes, feigning fatigue. The Princess … Khatrene, he savoured her name in his mind, she of the beautiful eyes and wistful smile, thought his chest manly? He could not look her in the eye while such pleasure tumbled through him. If she would notice to speak such a thing, did that mean her feelings for him ran deeper than mere gratitude for good service?

Humility and control were the tools of a Champion, but in Talis’s armory they had rusted to misuse this night. He should not gloat that she chose him above his more comely cousin. And neither should he look at the Princess with the eye of a husband when he was nothing to her but a servant.

Yet he did, and while her gentle hands lay on his bared flesh he imagined such intimacies as to shame his own name and the honourable House of his birth.

Lae, whom he had struggled to keep in his thoughts, was as distant to his heart as the Princess was close. It was agony and rapture at once.

‘Come, Cous,’ Pagan said, when he had built up the fire and carelessly removed the Princess’s bandage to crouch and admire the wound. ‘Let us heal this scratch before you spill any more Guardian blood.’

‘Great bedside manner,’ the Princess said. Her hand, having been removed from the bandage, now lay on Talis’s chest and he could feel every slight movement it made. Her impatience for him to be healed was clear, but for Talis’s part, he could happily bleed to death to remain in such intimate contact with the object of his most desperate affections.

Yet if he should die, the Princess would then only have Pagan for a Champion. Or worse, Kert Sh’hale.

His eyes snapped open. ‘Lay your hand upon the wound,’ he commanded his cousin, then winced when Pagan quickly obeyed. His own hand he laid on top of that, and began the Rite of Healing, drawing the restless energies of Pagan’s untutored power along with his own into the shoulder the Raider had cut.

Pagan’s solemn voice broke the hush that had fallen over the clearing.

‘With Guardian power do I heal the broken flesh herein …’

A prickling warmth covered Talis’s shoulder and he directed it towards healing.

‘… Restoring strength and making whole, I order pain to end.’

Talis should now feel blessed relief. However, it was another minute before the healing was completed and he removed his hand from Pagan’s.

He felt air on his shoulder when Pagan removed his own hand, and heard a soft gasp from his Princess. A moment later he felt the site being swabbed with a damp cloth.

‘How did you do that?’ she asked, and Talis opened his eyes to find her startled gaze shifting from Pagan to the shoulder. ‘I thought you were only an apprentice Guardian?’

Talis shot him a glance before he could begin to boast.

Pagan squirmed, yet admitted, ‘I merely recited the rite. Talis performed the healing.’

Her gaze encompassed the shoulder again then shifted to her Champion. ‘I don’t know what to say. Wow doesn’t begin to cover it.’ She took one of the hands that laid on his chest and gently caressed the shoulder. ‘No scar tissue. Nothing. It’s as if it never —’ She looked back at Talis and broke off when she saw the expression on his face. Lifted her hands. ‘Did that hurt?’

Talis shook his head, his teeth clenched tightly against the sensations his Princess had awoken. ‘We must leave,’ he said harshly as he stood. ‘The Deep Sanctum is only an hour away. I would go to the nearby forest to find strength to help me guard you.’

Pagan’s eyes widened. ‘The Forest of —’

‘With My Lady’s blessing,’ Talis added, his eyes hard on his cousin.

‘Well …’ She looked up at him, clearly bewildered by his gruff manner. ‘Is it something to do with the healing magic you were telling me about?’

‘The forest will give me strength.’

She frowned at him a moment, then said, ‘I certainly want you strong. And back to normal.’ She stood, and seeing the blood which remained on his chest, she made to wipe at it with the dampened cloth still held in her hand. Talis flinched and she awkwardly handed it to him. ‘I’ll get my cloak,’ she said and turned away. Talis ached for the sadness and confusion in her eyes, yet he steeled himself to do what must be done.

‘Why do you choose to go into the Forest of Desires?’ Pagan hissed softly. ‘What strength do you hope to gain there?’

Talis turned to look into his cousin’s eyes, his words a measured whisper. ‘You must hold vigil in silence and tell the Princess nothing of the forest’s purpose. If you speak of this to anyone, my duty is forsaken. Do I have your assurance?’

Pagan was clearly moved by this petition and searched his cousin’s eyes well before replying. ‘You have my best obedience, Cous. I will not speak of it.’

Talis nodded, relief in his voice. ‘You are truly a warrior tonight, Pagan.’ He grasped his cousin’s arm. ‘I am glad to have your sword beside mine to guard the Princess.’

The way these words worked on Pagan was a pleasure to the eye. Back straight and eye steady his cousin said, ‘I will serve the Princess with honour.’

Talis nodded. Hoped that he could do the same.