Through the Looking Glass (22 page)

Isobel didn’t dare say anything else as Daniel pulled her roughly by the arm
through the bushes and thorns of the forest. She did her best to push the limbs out of her way as she trailed behind Daniel but they still crawled and scratched her as she went through.

Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she thought she was going to have a heart attack. Besides the night she had seen her parents die at the hands
of the madman holding her, this was the most terrified she had ever been. Where was he taking her? Was he going to kill her? Rape her? The thoughts ran wild in her mind. She tried to imagine the worst he could do to her but it still wasn’t any comfort. There were way too many things Daniel could do to her.

She realized now that her action of fleeing the castle had been a very foolish idea. No one would know where she had gone. The grounds would be searched long before anyone thought to go into the forest. She was a dead woman and she knew it. She needed to keep clam and figure out a plan to get away from Daniel and his goon crew.
First thing first though, she needed to calm herself or she wouldn’t be any good to anyone including herself.

******

Jakar stood staring at his wife’s back as she fled from the garden. His anger had gotten the best of him and he suddenly regretted it. Maybe he shouldn’t have been as hard on Isobel as he had been. Maybe he should have warned her himself and tell her never to come here again.

He ran a hand through his tussled hair and exhaled. Well, she would just have to get over her anger and realize that this was a place that was sacred to him. It was the only thing left of his mother’s and he didn’t want anyone touching it. He rub his eyes with both of his hands then glanced around the garden.

A lot of work had been done in the garden. Weeds and vines that had strangled the rose bushes were gone while the mud had been freshly turned and was awaiting new plants. He was glued to the spot as his gaze ran over his mother’s grave. A burn came to his throat as he stared at the clean grave site. Weeds had been cleared away and the stone encasing his mother had been scrubbed clean. A jolt went through him when he saw that all of the flower bouquets he had placed on the grave over the years were still there. He counted each one and found there still remained the same amounts of bouquets as years his mother was gone.

A wave of anguish washed through him without warning. Not only was he now ashamed of his behavior towards his wife, his mother would have been appalled. Never in all of his life had he intentionally hurt someone the way he had hurt Isobel. She had been sent here for him and what does he do? He goes and treats her like a common thief.

“What did you do?” a tiny voice called out to him from above his head.

Nyla whizzed by his head nearly slamming into it. He had to duck several times as she continued to buzz around his head in fury. “Would you stop?” he shouted at her.

Nyla halted right in front of him and got up in his face. “How could you do that? Isobel was only wanting to do something nice for you. She has been working in here for days and most of the time alone.”

“Stay out of this, Nyla. She was warned not to come to this garden.”

Nyla whirled around once then pointed a very tiny finger at his nose. “For your information, my lord,” she said sarcastically, “Isobel was not informed about this garden until I brought her here!” She stressed the “I” in her sentence.
              “What are you talking about? Betsy said she told Isobel about the garden and…” he was cut off by Nyla.

“Lies! Betsy lies to you. If you had only stopped and listened to her you would have known this. But
no, you are so caught up with the idea that Isobel is Tuloch’s spy that you never looked to anyone else. Betsy is the spy!”

The color drain
ed from his face as Nyla revealed that Betsy was one of Tuloch’s spies. How could he have been so blind? Betsy only came to the castle a few months ago and he had never questioned where she had come from.

“I…” he was speechless.
He had intentionally hurt his wife because of someone else’s lies. But why would Betsy lie about Isobel? He needed to find Isobel right now.

“Nyla, do you know where
Isobel went? She wasn’t in our room, so I came back here.”

“I don
’t know where she is, my lord.” Nyla’s wings were fluttering nervously as she spoke to him.

“I need to find her. Will you help me?”

“Of course.” Nyla took off without another word.

Jakar cursed at himself then took off after Isobel. He had been such a fool. His stubborn pride and suspicious attitude had caused an innocent woman to be hurt. Nana and Nyla had never lied to him before, so why had he been so adamant about Isobel being a spy and not the one spoken of by his people for so long? When he had come across her that day on the battlefield, he should have known instantly that she wasn’t from Aslog. Her clothing alone should have been a clue
. Now he probably made the biggest mistake of his life, but he was determined to make it right.

Chapter 21

After being roughly manhandled, Isobel had been unceremoniously tossed up on a rather large horse on which Daniel sat. The man Trax had tied her hands together in front of her then put her in front of Daniel. She struggled to get loose or to throw herself off the animal but Daniel had too tight of a hold on her.

“Keep your ass still,” he hissed into her ear before he turned his horse in the direction she had been heading.

His hot breath in her ear and on the side of her neck made her stomach roll and churn until she thought she was going to throw up right there on top of the horse. The hand that held her to him rubbed the underside of her breast as she bounced up and down with the horse’s movements. It sickened her to be touched by such a vile and evil man as Daniel. It was because of him that her life that turned into a living hell.

The group travelled swiftly through the forest then left the path and headed across an open field. Night was beginning to fall as they approached a dilapidated building of some sort. Isobel couldn’t tell what the building had been because it was in such poor condition.

Daniel pulled the horse to a stop on side of the building then slid off to tie the reigns to a nearby tree. Isobel eyed his every move with the hopes of somehow being able to escape.

“Move the horses into the stalls. We will wait here for Tuloch’s contact and if he doesn’t show up by morning we will head out.” Daniel walked back to the horse and roughly jerked Isobel down.

She stumbled and fell to her knees when she lost her balance after Daniel let go of her arms. “I see you are still an ass,” she spit out at him. She moved to get back up but was stunned when she felt a hard slap hit the right side of her face.

“Shut the fuck up!” Daniel stood over her with his fists clenched. “Say one more word and I will knock your teeth out!”

Her head pounded and her vision blurred as she struggled to regain her footing. There was no doubt in her mind that Daniel would do exactly as he said. During their relationship he had never laid a hand on her but at times she had a feeling that he struggled to hold himself back. How could she have ever thought she loved this man?

Daniel grabbed her by the upper arm and half dragged her to the crumbling building. Inside w
as dark and smelled of decay and it took several minutes for her eyes to first clear then adjust to the low light. The other two men that had been with Daniel tromped in a few moments later with the saddle bags, tossing them on the dirt floor.

“Our contact should have been here by now. I say we
make our way to the south.” Trax inserted his opinion.

“And I said we will wait until morning. It will be too dark shortly to travel much farther.” Daniel shoved Isobel down to the ground and tied the loose end of the rope that bound her hands to a thick, round pole that held the roof up. “No fire tonight either. I’m sure
our lord will be looking for his lady soon.” He turned and scowled at her.

Isobe
l had no idea how long they waited in the hideout when the sound of something hitting the side of the building drew their attention. Daniel was the first to rise to his feet and put a finger to his lips to instruct them to be quiet. He pulled out a large dagger from the side of his dirty pants then quietly crept to the doorway.

Another sound hit the side again then the sound of a low voice came floating in. “Tuloch’s man?” the voice asked tentatively.

Jon and his partner slipped out the back of the building to come around the front to get the jump on whoever was out there. Daniel took a step closer to the door then leaned on the wall next to the door, tying to peer out into the darkness.

“Tuloch’s man?” the voice called again.

Daniel reached out the door frame then pulled back with all his might. A small figure stumbled into the building. “Who are you?”

“Are you crazy man?” a woman
’s voice said from underneath a brown, worn cloak. She righted herself then pushed the hood of her cloak back to reveal her face.

Isobel sucked in a quick breath, stunned to see that it was Betsy standing there.
“You! How could you?” she cried.

Betsy’s head snapped to her at the sound of her voice. A cruel smile played across her lips as she sauntered over to where Isobel was tied to the pole. “Ah, Isobel! How nice to see you. Are you enjoying you time in our world? I hope you have because you won’t be enjoying it much longer I am afra
id.” Betsy squatted down in front of her and gripped her chin. “Look at me when I am speaking to you!” Betsy forcefully turned her head to look her in the face.

Isobel didn’t think she could muster up any more anger than she was already experiencing. “Go to hell, bitch!” she said then spit in the woman’s face. In return she received a blow to the head that made her see stars. She felt blood trickle from a split in her lip.

“Don’t ever speak to me like that again! I will kill you if you do,” Betsy hissed out.

“Come now, my lady, no one will be killing the prisoner this night. Tha
t is being left to Tuloch,” Jon chimed in.

Iso
bel saw the look Betsy gave Jon and wished she could put a knife through the traitor’s heart. She knew that the woman didn’t like her but why she didn’t know. If she was ever to get out of this alive she would make sure that Betsy paid a high price for her betrayal.

“We will leave in the morning, at first light.” Daniel spread out a blanket on the ground then laid his
body down on top of it. “Trax, you have first watch.” He put his hands behind his head then closed his eyes.

Isobel’s face was throbbing like the devil. Twice she had been struck by these vile people. If she hadn’t had a headache from the first blow she surely had one now. She desperately wanted to lie down but the way she was tied to the pole she would have to sleep sitting up. Her mind drifted to Jakar as she tried to sleep.

The anger she had seen in his face told her everything she needed to know. He would never accept her for who she was and for where she came from. He would always be suspicious of her, always watching for her to slip up in some kind of a way. She didn’t ask to come to this world and more than anything else in the world right now, she wanted to go home. She didn’t belong here among people she couldn’t understand. Life here was so different than her own and had wondered often if she would be able to adjust to it. Now though, she wasn’t too sure she would even live much longer in either world. A madman had been sent to hunt her down and bring her here to Aslog. Another madman was probably going to take some form of pleasure in killing her. She now realized how foolish and spontaneous her decision to leave the castle had been. All she could do now, was pray that Jakar might go looking for her and realize she was gone.

******

They were up and riding before the sun had even appeared over the trees. Isobel’s bones and muscles ached from sitting on the ground all night and having to sleep upright, if she could even call it sleeping. Sleep eluded her for most of the night as she sat there listening to the snores of Daniel and his men. She again sat in front of Daniel as they made their way into the southern part of Aslog.

Fortunately, the day had been sunny for the most part, but as the evening drew near a chill in the air swept through the land. She didn’t have a cloak or anything to keep her warm as the wind whipped across her skin and face.
She shivered slightly against Daniel and she had heard him chuckle a couple of times as she did so. God how she hated the man!

They camped again for the night underneath a large tree that was beginning to lose its leaves as the
season changed. Isobel continued to keep her eyes open for any chance she might be able to get away however slim it might be.

Her stomach growled in protest all through the night and into the next morning. Daniel hadn’t bothered to give her any food and only allowed her a sip of water every now and then. The headache she had from the blows to her head had only increased in strength with the absence of food and adequate water.

By the end of their third day of travelling, she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Any form of light caused her head to throb unbearably and the jolting of her body on the horse made every muscle and bone in her body scream out in pain. By the evening they had come into view of Tuloch’s castle, or so Daniel told her. With evening falling, she was able to crack open one eye in order to see her surroundings and what she saw disturbed her.

The people that she saw were filthy and looked to be in extremely poor health. Many of the buildings were in danger of collapsing while most of the fences to pen in the animals lay on ground broken. These people lived in such deplorable conditions and she wondered why their leader would allow it.
Trash lay everywhere she looked on the ground and the smell of stale urine hit her in the face.

The five of them rode silently through the small village that surround
ed a castle that was a smaller version of Jakar’s. It was heavily guarded with soldiers every few feet up along the rampart. Unlike Jakar’s gatehouse, this one only had one gate that could be lowered in times of attack and looked as if it wouldn’t hold for very long.

The horse
s clopped their way into the bailey then came to a halt. Daniel dismounted from their horse then pulled her down. Her legs were numb from sitting astride the blasted animal for so long that she almost collapsed. Daniel caught her by the back of her dress and hauled her back to her feet then shoved her forward. She followed behind Betsy as she entered the castle, leading the way. Daniel and his two goons were behind her as she walked slowly into the large room that Betsy had lead them too.

Another shove from behind caused her to trip and land on her knees. Laughter filled the room as she got up and glared a
t the three men behind her. Trax threw her a kiss with his cracked and chapped lips as she gave them her best “I’m going to kill you” look.

“Bring her forward, Daniel,” a deep vo
ice called out to the group behind her. The sound of it sent chills down her spine and made the hair on her arms stand up.

“Lead the way,” Daniel motioned with his hand.

She turned and did as she was told. As she drew closer to end of the room, she could see the man who was determined to kill her and Betsy as she stood next to him. For a man with such a deep voice, his stature didn’t match it. He wasn’t much taller than she and was almost completely bald. His small, beady eyes took her in as she approached him as he sat in what she considered must be his throne.

Next to him
, on the other side, stood a very old woman who was so wrinkled that she could barely see the woman’s eyes. She wore a dress made of black rags and had long dirty fingernails that she pointed in her direction as she whispered into Tuloch’s ear.

The laughter in the room continued until Tuloch held up a hand to silence the crowd. She stood at the bottom of three steps staring at the man on the throne.

“You must be the one I have been expecting,” he said then took a sip of drink from his chalice he was holding.

The room was so silent now that she could have heard a pin drop. She was so afraid that her knees were shaking and she had the cold sweats. The look the
man was giving her felt evil and something not of this world or any other. Daniel stepped forward and addressed the man.

“My lord Tuloch, I have brought you the one the witch told you about.” He nodded his head down at her.

“She had better be the one, Daniel. Witch, can you tell if she is the one?” Tuloch asked of the old woman next to him.

The witch shuffled forward then went down the steps one at a time until she stood in front of Isobel. She held out a wrinkled hand to Isobel’s face and let her nails trail down the side of her cheek that was bruised and swollen from Daniel
’s slap the other day. The witch closed her eyes and chanted something that was totally incoherent to her. Dark black eyes snapped open to reveal swirling pools of nothingness. Seconds later the witch pulled her hand away and turned to Tuloch.