Her Knight's Quest: A Warriors of the Mist Novel (28 page)

He bellowed in challenge at an approaching noise, not sure of the meaning behind the words he shouted. He knew only that they felt right.

The deep shadows prevented him from seeing the face of his enemy, but that would change as soon as they crossed swords. Enemies shared an intimacy unlike any other, a dance filled with blood and fear and a fierce joy of triumph that came with victory.

Defeat didn’t matter. An honorable death held its own blessing.

Two of the guards reached him at the same time. The first swing of Sigil’s sword sent one catapulting off his horse right under the hooves of his partner’s. His scream was choked off in the middle, his body trampled into the dirt.

The second guard managed to control his horse and attacked again. There was no time to wonder what had happened to the third guard. He could be approaching from behind, but Sigil couldn’t risk a look until he dealt with his current opponent.

The fighting had taken them from the trees and out into the grasslands beyond. The silvery moonlight brought everything into sharp focus: faces flushed with effort; blood, liquid and black; the flash of blades cutting through the air. The second guard slipped from the saddle to hit the ground, silent and unmoving.

That left one.

Sigil yanked hard on the reins, spinning his horse around sharply. Sure enough, the third guard was charging right for him. As he closed in on Sigil, his eyes widened in shock. He fought to stop his horse, but it was too late. The animal carried the man forward and right onto Sigil’s sword.

After Sigil yanked his sword free, his enemy stared down at the gaping wound in his stomach. He swayed in the saddle as he tried to staunch the flow of blood. Sigil dismounted and caught him as he slowly toppled out of the saddle. He lowered the dying man to the ground.

As the guardsman stared up into Sigil’s eyes, his expression wasn’t one of defeat but of confused betrayal.

“Captain Ter—”

The words came out on a pain-wracked sigh. What was he trying to say? Had they known each other when Sigil had served the duke? He stared down into the dying man’s face, searching for even a hint of familiarity and finding none. He forced himself to ask the question he wasn’t even sure he wanted answered.

“Do you know my name? Who am I?”

But it was too late. The last hint of life had faded away, any knowledge the man had about Sigil’s past dying with him. He closed the guard’s eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He’d been a soldier and deserved Sigil’s respect.

Did the man have family? How long would they wait before they knew he wasn’t coming back home? He prayed for them as much as he did for the three fallen guards. He took no pride in their deaths. This wasn’t a victory when he truly had no idea what he was fighting for. How could a man know his duty when he didn’t even know his name?

A heavy hand came down on his shoulder. “If I’d been the enemy, you’d be dead.”

Murdoch knelt beside him, looking puzzled. “Are you all right?”

No, he truly wasn’t.

“I’m not wounded.” Sigil stood up and wiped the blood off his sword before sheathing it. “Did you find Duncan?”

“He’s fine. He killed one of the guards and wounded another. Lady Lavinia took care of the rest.”

The big man shuddered, clearly spooked by whatever had transpired. Before Sigil could ask for details, Murdoch continued. “They’re packing up their camp. I came to check on you and to fetch the girl.”

Sigil had forgotten all about her. They both looked out toward the grasslands. She was heading right for them with Shadow guiding the way.

“She doesn’t need to see these bodies. I’ll stay behind to bury them. I can follow your trail back to the keep.”

He owed the dead that much, although Murdoch might not agree. The warrior was already shaking his head.

“Lady Lavinia used her magic to render the rest of the guards unconscious. They can take care of their own dead and wounded. We’ll take these three back to Duncan’s camp so their comrades will find them.”

Even better. Their families would still know the pain of loss but not the endless uncertainty. It wasn’t much of a comfort, but it was all he could offer them.

As they settled the dead soldiers across their horses’ backs, Sigil said, “You’ll have to tell me more about this magic that she used.”

Murdoch stepped back and clenched his fists. “Maybe later. Right now we need to concentrate on getting back to the keep.”

Interesting. It must have been an impressive display of power to rattle Murdoch. Now wasn’t the time to press for details, not with the little girl rapidly approaching.

“Why don’t you wait here with her until Lady Lavinia and Duncan arrive while I move the bodies?”

Murdoch nodded. “Don’t linger. We need to put as much distance as possible between us and the surviving guards. I don’t know if they’ll come after us again or skulk back to the capital with their tails between their legs.”

Sigil bit back the need to defend the guardsmen, the reaction as unexpected as it was powerful. Rather than say anything at all, he gathered the reins of the three horses and handed them off to Murdoch until he was mounted himself.

Regardless of how Murdoch and Duncan felt about the guards, Sigil knew on a gut level that these men had not truly been his enemies. Yes, he’d killed all three, but only because they would’ve killed him. At least that was true for the first two he’d faced. It was the third one’s indecision that had cost him his life.

Sigil yet wondered at the cause for the man’s hesitation. Most likely he’d never know the truth. Mayhap it had been Sigil’s true name he’d been trying to say, but he could’ve also been calling for a friend.

As he made his way through the woods, Sigil admitted one last thing to himself. Just as he knew he was a soldier, he now knew that he was used to being called Captain. There was a sense of the familiar when the guard had called that out. He smiled; another small piece of his identity regained. He tucked that little bit of knowledge away to think about later when they were all safely back behind the palisade of Lady Merewen’s keep.

Chapter 29

D
uncan’s friends had been strangely quiet for hours. No doubt they were tired from riding for two days, stopping only when absolutely necessary. Lavinia felt every mile they’d ridden, too, but that wasn’t the reason behind their silence. It also hadn’t passed her notice that Duncan had made sure to stay between her and Murdoch.

Clearly the other man had been horrified by her use of powerful magic, but what had he expected her to do? Back in the woods, the guards had been attacking Duncan all at once, making it unlikely he would’ve survived the battle. When she’d seen Duncan cornered and outnumbered, she’d done the only thing she could. At least she could draw comfort from knowing she hadn’t killed anyone.

Later, both Murdoch and Sigil stared at her in horrified fascination as she destroyed the medallion she’d found tucked in that guard’s pocket. She’d carried it some distance away from everyone else, careful not to touch it directly. Using the same spell she’d used to destroy the coins and the medallions, she’d crushed it with her own magic.

There had been a brief but painful backlash that caused her to stumble a step or two. Sigil had also been affected by the blast of magic, wincing as if in pain. She found that odd, but some people were more sensitive to magic of all kinds. Right now she was too weary to make sense of much of anything.

Duncan guided his horse closer to hers. Once again he was carrying a sleeping Sarra. All three men had been trading off carrying her whenever the riding had become too much for the little girl. It also allowed them to rest one of the horses.

“We’ll be stopping soon where Murdoch and Sigil abandoned their camp when they realized we would come under attack. After a few hours’ rest, we’ll make the final push to the keep.”

It was testimony to how exhausted she was that she hadn’t even questioned how Duncan’s friends happened to arrive at exactly the right moment.

“If they were this far away from us, how did they know we were about to be attacked?”

It was Sigil who answered. “I sensed something dark and evil hunting for you.”

“You have a gift for magic? I wondered when you reacted to the destruction of Duke Keirthan’s medallion.”

His face turned stony. “I wouldn’t know.”

She watched as he spurred his horse ahead, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Duncan waited until Sigil was some distance away before answering. “He was one of the duke’s men sent to take back control of Lady Merewen’s keep on behalf of her uncle. At the end of the fighting, Lord Fagan tried to kill his own wife and Murdoch, but Sigil threw himself between Fagan and his intended targets. The blow Sigil took destroyed the medallion he wore around his neck, and with it any memory of who he is.”

They both stared at the warrior for several seconds. Even with her mind clouded with exhaustion, it wasn’t difficult to make the connections.

“It must have been one of the same talismans that the guards who attacked the abbey were wearing. That would’ve given Ifre a great deal of power over Sigil’s actions.”

It was another example of her half brother’s abuse. “Interesting that Sigil could’ve broken free of that control long enough to protect the lady and Murdoch. It speaks well of the man’s character and his inner strength.”

Then she smiled at Duncan and once again lapsed into silence, concentrating on staying in the saddle long enough to reach the campsite.

*  *  *

Duncan agreed with Lavinia’s assessment of Sigil. He’d already proven himself to be a worthy ally, another reminder that this calling was different. The Damned rarely allowed outsiders to get too close, but their list of allies was growing longer by the day: Lady Merewen, Lady Alina, Sigil, young Sarra, and Lavinia herself.

Duncan could only hope that when they reached the keep, Gideon would accept the necessity of Lavinia’s mage craft to the success of their cause. Murdoch had already made his feelings on the subject all too clear. He’d come to terms with Lady Merewen’s gifts. They all had. Breeding top-quality horses was something familiar, safe.

Lavinia’s magic could be used as a weapon, both dangerous and powerful. So far, she hadn’t used it to kill, but that day would come.

As Murdoch had said, it would be up to Gideon what role Lavinia would be allowed to play in their war against her half brother, if any. Duncan would tell him about how the Lady of the River had appeared before both him and Lavinia, and that she’d also spoken directly to him.

Once Gideon had made his decision, then Duncan would have to make his. He prayed that it wouldn’t come down to a choice between his duty to the Damned and his love for Lavinia. He’d yet to speak to her of his feelings, but he would. In all his long life, he’d never expected to find love, and here he had. She’d saved not only his life but his sanity, giving him a new purpose to fight for. He wouldn’t leave this earth again without Lavinia knowing that although his soul belonged to the goddess, his heart belonged to Lavinia.

She deserved that truth, but not until they were both rested and someplace private. Soon, though. And that thought kept him moving forward, one weary hour at a time.

*  *  *

Sarra had been remarkably talkative once she’d gotten a good night’s sleep. She divided her time between all three men pretty equally, making them smile with her constant questions and comments. Right now she was giggling over something Murdoch had said to her.

On the other hand, the farther they rode this morning, the more solemn Duncan became. Clearly he wasn’t looking forward to reuniting with his captain. There could be only one reason for his concern, and that was Lavinia herself. Was he regretting his decision to bring her back with him? Hadn’t he insisted they had no other choice?

Sigil slowed his horse to drop back even with her. “We should be able to see the keep when we clear that next rise.”

“That’s good. I’m looking forward to walking on my own two feet for a while. I’ve never spent this much time on horseback in my entire life.”

“I would never have guessed that. You and Sarra have handled this brutal pace as well as any soldier would have.”

The compliment surprised her. “Thank you.”

It was the first time she’d really had a chance to study the handsome soldier for any length of time. There was something familiar about his looks, although she was sure she’d never met him before. His dark blond hair and brown eyes were nothing distinctive, especially in Agathia. There was just something about his profile or perhaps in the way he moved that stood out to her.

Before she could follow that line of thought any farther, Sarra started screaming and holding her head. All four adults charged toward the distraught child. Murdoch dismounted and grabbed the reins of her horse to keep it under control.

“Sarra! What is it?”

The little girl’s hands dropped away from her head, her eyes wide with horror. When her mouth opened, she wasn’t the one speaking. Murdoch stumbled back a step or two, but then he held his ground while Sigil stared at Sarra as if he’d never seen her before.

She sought out Lavinia. “He’s going to kill the horses again. We’ve got to stop him. They’re so scared.”

Duncan kept his voice calm, but then he’d had previous experience with Sarra’s guides. “Where do we need to go?”

The little girl pointed straight ahead, toward the keep. “That way. The horses are in a pasture behind the keep.”

Sigil was already riding hard while Murdoch remounted after handing the reins to Duncan. He spurred his mare off after Sigil.

“Hold on tight, Sarra.”

She nodded and grabbed on to her horse’s mane with both hands. As soon as she was settled, Duncan led the charge toward the keep.

They rode at a bone-jarring pace across the grassland and then through some rocky outcroppings. When they reached the keep, the gate was already opening. Looking for an enemy who was nowhere to be seen, men-at-arms charged out into the bailey, swords drawn.

Lavinia followed Duncan straight through the bailey, barely giving Lady Merewen’s people a chance to get out of the way. When she reached the pasture, she dismounted to join the men at the fence. None of the horses appeared to have been hurt, but they were clearly agitated. A woman, who could only be Lady Merewen, stood with an old man as they tried to calm the restless animals.

Another man stood with his hands on Merewen’s shoulders. Duncan and Murdoch immediately flanked him, marking him as Captain Gideon himself. Sigil picked up Sarra and carried her toward the group, leaving Lavinia to follow on her own.

But when she stepped into the pasture, the stench of Ifre’s filthy magic clogged her throat and her mind. She brought all of her focus and energy to bear on clearing it out so that she could focus. Ifre’s attack was approaching at speed from outside the palisade.

Lavinia ran to the center of the pasture and turned her back on the cluster of worried people to study the sky to the north. There! In the distance, she could pick out the glow of light that shouldn’t be there.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she yelled, “Duncan, get everyone away from here! Now, before it’s too late!”

Leaving it to him to make that happen, she returned her attention to the approaching light, by now much larger. It was now clear that what she was seeing were several balls of light clustered together.

It had to be the same weapon that Ifre had used against the abbey. The thick stone walls had held up against the assault, but the fragile flesh of horses and people wouldn’t stand a chance of survival.

Raising her hands palm up, she called on the gods to aid her. Then she chanted the strongest words she knew, injecting into them every bit of power she could pull from the ground around her. Normally, she controlled the flow, keeping the channel open and providing a path for the power to follow as water did a riverbed.

This time she took no such precautions, opening herself up to the burning hot pain of her magic unleashed. Someone was hollering. Duncan? Yes, she heard his voice amidst the clamor of noise in her head.

She paused in her chanting to say, “Ward them. It’s the only way.”

The light was coming in fast and low, aiming right for where she stood. The world and her life narrowed down to this single moment where she would do battle with her brother. Whether she lived or died, Ifre would suffer for his wickedness. She’d make sure of it, her only regret being that she couldn’t remind Duncan how much she loved him.

With her skin on fire and her throat raw from the burn of power, she ripped away the last bit of caution left in her and sent her first blast of power heading skyward.