The Lethal Flame (Flame Series) (23 page)

His hand came up between them and he pushed her back down onto the mattress so he could look at her.  “How is it you did not die?”

“But I did.”

A drumming sounded in his ears, like wings flapping, taking on a frantic, erratic beat. 

“Then how come you are here?”

She smiled that feline smile that made Cyrille feel uneasy.  “I’m a witch.”

“What do you want from me?”

Agilely she rose to settle on her knees in the middle of the bed.  She was clothed now, they both were he realized in a haze.  She shrugged.  “I did not bring you here.  I brought Lord Liam who brought me Keri.”

Slowly Cyrille rose from the bed.  “What do you want with Keri?”

“I do not want Richard to burn her.”

“What do you know of this?” he asked edging further from the bed, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“I hear whispers.  They are already whispering her name, I cannot even tell if she is truly a witch but already they say her name.  It is I who am and always will be the most powerful.  If she burns they will not cross themselves with the fear of my name upon their lips.”  The last of the woman’s words came out in a hiss and her entire body seemed lither, agile as she glared at him. 

“What will you do with her?”

“Kill her.”

The chant of those two words pierced his skull until the pain made it feel as if his head were going to explode.  He closed his eyes against the pain.  He couldn’t draw in breath, smoke was choking him, he could feel the flames again, feel the heat and he was suddenly too much a coward to open his eyes.  It continued to move upward.  He wanted to scream, he wanted to call out to God, and he would even sell his soul to the devil, to anyone if they would stop the flames. 

~   ~   ~   ~

Garrick found Damien in one of the long abandoned chambers.  His sword lay on the floor in front of him while his commander knelt on his knees staring down at his hands in horror.  Garrick took him by the shoulders and shook him.  This place they were in was haunted by what he could not name.  It tried to claw its way into his subconscious.  It wasn’t strong enough for him.  It didn’t know how to get inside him for his own wickedness outmatched it he supposed.  It seemed most dangerous to good men, like Damien and Cyrille.

Garrick could hear Damien’s labored breath as he sucked in great gulps of air.  His eyes seemed to focus on the hands he held in front of his face.  He rubbed his hands together, and then bent forward to pick up his sword, studying the blade.

“What is happening?” Damien asked remaining on his knees, staring downward in frozen shock. 

“Commander,” Garrick called.  Time passed but the man made no move.  “Sir Damien,” he said in the authoritative voice he used to command his own men.

Damien didn’t resist the effort as Garrick hooked a hand under his arm to help Damien to his feet, but he could tell the efforts of the other man were automatic and the man’s shock had yet to wear off.  Garrick led him half way across the chamber before Damien braced his feet and came to a sudden stop.  “What?” he asked looking from his hands to the sword he still carried, to Garrick.

“I don’t know, but we have to find Cyrille.”

Garrick took a hurried step away only to take it back to stand before the unmoving Damien.  “Your brother,” Garrick reminded.

“I…I don’t like,” Damien stammered.  “I think…  This place is evil,” he finally whispered.

“Cyrille, we have to find him.”

Damien drew in a deep steadying breath and nodded his head.  “Right,” he said on a gulp.  “Cyrille.  Let’s find him,” Damien said rallying and he was back to the kind of commander Garrick would follow.
             

Chapter 16

Keri began to tremble, her fear consumed her, threatened to take away her ability to reason.  The women had welcomed them, the warmth of the hall had beckoned them in and had been a stark contrast to the disheveled outside.  No sooner had she sat down to eat what was being brought to her than the Lady Sylva announced she had brought them there.  She had also proclaimed she was not just any witch but the most powerful one of all.  She would never have believed her if Liam had not been easily convinced that she, Keri, needed to be killed.  He had attacked her, a crazed look in his eyes and she had run.

Keri spent a precious amount of time trying to get out the doors she had just walked through but they did not budge.  Liam had come behind her, his dagger driving downward with enough force to wedge it into the wood of the door when she dodged the blade.  They seemed surprised by the attack for they stared at one another for a moment before Keri regained her senses, grabbed the knife and ran again.

The old castle was just that, old and rundown.  This she found out as she fled along the corridors.  With the witches nearby their home was well decorated and lit with luxuries beyond imagination.  Outside their presence the place was what it was, a fallen down castle with debris littering the floors.  She nearly fell when she entered the first corridor the dim light barely illuminated her path enough to keep her from tripping over the fallen frame work that had found its way onto the floor.  The walls, everything was crumbling.  She spared a moment to look behind her and saw Liam coming at her, his surroundings still appeared as if they were from a different world. 

She turned and hurtled the obstacle, her nimbleness allowed her to pull ahead of Liam.  One corridor led into another and in what seemed miles later she burst back into the hall.  But this was not the same hall she had first entered.  It was a shambles.  The tables still stood, glasses and plates were sitting on the dais table, but it was all covered in the residue of time, spider webs, decay, and moisture.  She came to an abrupt halt and that’s when she knew Sylva had told the truth, she was a powerful witch indeed.

Liam crashed into the hall, coming to a skidding stop and quickly straightened crossing himself to ward off the evil he was experiencing.  The man was so frightened she could not take her eyes from his.  Sylva entered behind him, leaned toward him and whispered, “Kill her now.”

Liam did not hesitate but moved toward her.  Keri tried to raise Liam’s knife, but her arm would not move and her feet would not move when she tried to flee.  She stood with her mind in total panic not knowing what to do to protect herself when her body would not respond to her commands as Liam walked up to her and wrapped his hands around her neck.  She couldn’t draw in breath, she was close to passing out when she realized she could move and easily raised the knife and plunged it into Liam’s neck.  He released her nearly instantly and she fell to the floor simultaneously with the man she had just killed.  She gagged and struggled for breath as she lay there in the floor.

Lady Sylva came to stand over her, her beautiful face contorted by rage.  That’s when she saw the scars from rope and fire.  “They burned and hanged you,” Keri said her voice coming out in a rasp.

“Yes, but you will die here.”

Keri scrambled backward on her hands and rear until she had enough space to leap to her feet.  Once doing so she fled and heard Sylva call after her, “You can run but you can’t hide.”

Keri didn’t know how long she ran through the corridors seeking a way out but every door seemed barred against her.  Then he was there, the man that had imprisoned her, the man she could not force from her mind.  She let out a sob and launched herself at Damien.  He caught her and wrapped her into the warmth of his arms.  “Shh,” he cooed his hand stroked her hair.

“It will all be right now,” he said.  “Shh.”

She wanted to melt into his arms but it didn’t feel right.  She leaned back and looked up at the face of Garrick.  His hard angled features scowled down at her in a way that froze her heart and crumbled her soul.

“Garrick?” she asked and realized though her voice still rasped it held a great deal of fright.

He smiled, a smile that could only come from a man who never felt humor, never knew a moment of happiness.  “I have found you at last.”

“Let me go,” she demanded.

Garrick shook his head then his arms tightened around her like a vice, cutting off her air.  She felt close to panic as he held her caged while he crushed her.  She kicked and screamed at him, bit him and scratched him but his grip never loosened.  She felt close to passing out but told herself she could not, she had to be alert.  When she looked up it was not Garrick but Damien and his visage was the same cold unemotional one she always saw on Garrick.

She tried to say his name but nothing would come out so she did the next best thing in her mind and wrapped her arms around his neck.  After a moment the viselike grip ended and he was carrying her.  She clung to him, sure that he was taking her to safety.  What she did not anticipate was to find herself clinging to him as he leaned her over the edge on top of one of the crumbling walls.  The cobblestones below guaranteed her death. 

“I’ve waited a long time,” Damien declared with relish and began to peel her hands from him.

She screamed, refusing to let him go.  He was unable to release her arms in addition to her legs at the same time.  Then the hands grew rougher and it was Garrick and still she refused to release him.  They struggled for terrifying moments before Garrick managed to peel her off.  Before he could toss her over the side her foot gained purchase on the stone and lurched sideways throwing the big man off balance. 

“Keri,” the voice of Damien came out in a whisper by her ear as the man lost his balance and plunged downward.  Horrified she watched Damien fall until his body made a gruesome sound as it landed on the stones below. 

Emotions flooded her as she raced down the steps to the courtyard.  There lay Damien, one of his arms and one of his legs twisted painfully beneath him.  His head flowed blood like a river where it had cracked.  Damien was dead.  She couldn’t help the sob that escaped her as she clung to him and the sorrow of it was ripped from her.  So many emotions that when she gathered her senses she was kneeling beside Damien’s body with his dagger pressed to her chest.  She looked around herself and saw the castle as it once was and knew the witch was nearby. 

The fog inside her brain began to clear.  She dropped the dagger and it clattered to the stones.  One more look at Damien and her heart seized.  It was the cold eyes of Garrick looking back at her and he raised a hand and wrapped his fingers around her throat seeking to choke the life from her. 

“This isn’t real,” she told herself.  She squeezed her eyes closed and chanted that knowledge inside her head.  She knew now the witches could not physically hurt her since she had killed Liam, she felt that was the only death here tonight that had been real.  Neither Damien nor Garrick was here and although a part of her feared Garrick he was Damien’s man and she felt that was important to The-dark-man.  The only harm the witch could cause was through  her mind games. 

When she opened her eyes the fingers were no longer wrapped around her neck.  The body before her was gone and she knelt in the courtyard of an abandoned castle.  She scrambled to her feet with one thought to get as far away  as quickly as possible and forget this nightmare ever existed because she would never be able to explain it to anyone.

~   ~   ~   ~

Rain poured down in slanting sheets from the sky, thunder clapped overhead followed closely by another bolt of blinding lightning as the two men ran across the courtyard.   Their first stop was to the stable where all the horses still stood munching hay unaware the evil lurking about their safe haven. 

Refusing to let that knowledge slow him, Damien quickly led Garrick from the stable and to the largest of the towers.  They raced through the corridors, searched the chambers and rushed on as Damien began to grow frantic.  As they neared the top of the tower atop the spiraling staircase that looked as if it could not support weight for much longer.  A scream echoed from the chamber ahead.  It was Cyrille’s voice, and Damien increased his speed, unmindful now of the perilous climb.  Crashing through the aged door it exploded into the chamber, banging against the wall as it came off its hinges. 

Cyrille stood in the middle of the room.  A look of terrified horror was on his face as he stared blankly at the men who crowded into the room.

“Cyrille,” Damien yelled at his brother.  Getting no response he walked forward and with his hand open smacked his brother soundly across the cheek.  “Cyrille,” he yelled at him again and only then did he begin to get a response. 

“Damien?” his brother’s confused voice asked. 

“We have to find Keri and get out of this place?”

“She wants to kill her.”

Damien did not have time to tell him of the nightmare where he had plunged his sword into Danielle only to find it had been Keri all along.  He had been so convinced of his deed he felt as if he should take his own life until Garrick had pulled him back to reality.

“Who?” Damien asked, not believing anything that happened in this place but keeping his brother talking so he would not lose him to the nightmares again.

“The witches,” Cyrille said as he looked at his brother with terrified desperation.

Damien gave his brother a shove toward the open door and despite his still dazed expression he hurried out it and down the steps.  Damien did not think the witches only wished to kill Keri.  They had trespassed and were also on the witches’ death list.

“Someone is fleeing,” Garrick said in a frantic voice as he tried to shove his way passed them.  Damien stopped, doing some shoving of his own to get back to the small arrow slit to verify Garrick was not just seeing the beginning of another nightmare.  Racing toward the gate in the pouring rain was a dark figure on horseback.  A long cloak trailed behind the rider as they escaped this place of tortured minds.  Garrick had taken the advantage and was well ahead of the two brothers on the race down the steps and this knowledge spurred Damien on.  If it was Liam he did not care that Garrick caught him first but if it was Keri he would kill the man if he laid one hand on her.

Reaching the stables Damien scowled with Garrick already well ahead in the race to tack the horses.  “You will not harm the Lady Keri if it is she who fled.”  Damien’s voice brooked no doubt that what he said was to be taken as anything but an order.  Garrick’s fingers did not slow in his task, nor did he give a response.

“Did you hear me?” Damien was just a few seconds behind in the readying of his horse.

“Yes Commander, I will not harm her.”  Finished with the horse he led the prancing animal into the aisle and vaulted into the saddle.  “I will in fact hand her over to you.  You are my commander, rightfully earned.”  With that he spurred his horse slackening the reins and they thundered from the building just as Damien and Cyrille took their horses’ bridles in their hands to lead them to the aisle.

~   ~   ~   ~

Keri’s heart hammered in her chest as she leaned low over her horse’s neck.  The rain blinded her, the horse ran in a panic unable to see as Keri moved her toward the gate.  They thundered under the uneven portcullis and into the blackness of the night and downpour.  They followed, she could feel them.  The horse seemed to feed off her panic, taking in great gulps of air, the sound thundering with that of her own heart and the thunder above. 

She yanked the horse’s head down, keeping control of her, patting her neck knowing the wind would whip her encouraging voice away.  The horse began to settle and they raced the demons that were chasing her.  Deep into the night, the rain continued pouring down in earnest, the chill threatened to turn the torrential downpour into snow. 

The horse grew hot beneath her, and Keri could feel her body grow slick with the sweat mixing with the ever falling rain.  Her breath labored but Keri pressed on, her fear driving her forward.  She would not be a prisoner again.  She would not go meekly anywhere and by God she would not let those bitches play their twisted mind games with her!  The horse stumbled, its legs trying to slow from the frantic pace it had kept for countless time in the black abyss she ran.  The horse let out a mighty wheeze, tried to regain its rhythm in stride but the legs gave out from underneath her and she fell, knocking Keri sideways.  The horse landed on top of her leg and hip before she came to rest. 

The breath was knocked from Keri and pain shot throughout her body.  She felt the moan coming but suppressed it as she heard the hoof beats thundering above the rain.  Keri pulled and tugged, even tried clawing her way from beneath the heaving horse but she could not budge her.  Her pursuers were upon her, one horse dodging quickly before they were trod upon as they loomed from out of the darkness.  Hands were touching her, a voice called her name as the falling rain threatened to drown her. 

“Keri,” strong hands wiped the hair that was plastered to her forehead back from her face as they lifted her from the ground.  “Where are you hurt?”  Gentle hands lay her back down in the mud and she felt them on her hips trying to pull her from beneath the horse.  “Keri.”  The hands lifted her again and pulled her upward as more voices joined.  Her face came close to another and its features began to come clear in the haze of the breaking dawn as the rain suddenly ended.