WINDDREAMER (17 page)

The campfire burned brightly and cheerfully. Crackling wood hissed and sputtered, and popping embers floated like fire-cast butterflies in the cool night air. The caravan of twenty-two people settled down for the night, wrapped in blankets and huddling close to the fire. They were ten miles from Boreas, another four from Marengo, and had camped rather than venture past sundown along the winding coastal road that snaked its way up Mount Serenia.

With Liza fast asleep in a wagon Bent had driven, all talk now centered around the coming confrontation at the Monastery.

"Do you think we'll have any trouble getting into the place?" Tyne asked, then took a long sip of his mulled brandy to ward off the chill.

Conar shook his head. "He'll want us inside. It'll be the getting out that will prove the challenge."

"A challenge I hope you're up to," Duncan said, laughing.

"I think so."

Duncan stretched out and poked a stick in the flames. "Are you as confident, little sister?"

The men turned their heads, frowning as Liza ventured from the wagon, her blanket wrapped around her like a shawl. She sat beside Conar and huddled into his welcoming arms. "Of course," she told Duncan, smiling.

Shalu watched the firelight glowing in Duncan's eyes. Something in those dark depths disturbed the Necroman. He had felt unease ever since the big man joined them at Ivor. The odd looks he often sent Conar also disturbed Shalu.

"Once inside," Conar said, "I'll find his conjuring chamber. It'll be there where he could do us the most harm. If I can neutralize it, at least one-third of his power will be destroyed. I'll leave his followers up to you men. Liza and I will find Tohre and Raja and finish them."

"You make it sound too easy," Duncan warned. "What will Tohre be doing while we engage his men? Twiddling his thumbs?"

Roget had been listening to the exchange of ideas. "I think we all know Kaileel's aware Conar is on his way. We also know he'd like nothing better than to destroy the lot of us. I think it's safe to say there'll be more than his followers to greet us. He'll stop at nothing to crush the Force if he gets the opportunity. My money, however, is on Conar. As yours should be, Duncan." He gave the man an inscrutable stare.

Duncan looked at du Mer. "I think Conar can take him, as well. What I'm trying to convey is that I know Tohre will not stand idly by while we massacre his followers. If Conar has some idea of what to expect from Tohre, it would be to our advantage that he tells us."

"Are you sure?" Shalu challenged, giving a cool glance to Duncan.

"Do you question my motives?" Duncan snarled, throwing the stick he had been playing with into the flames.

"You seem too eager to put doubts in our minds," Roget answered. "If you don't feel secure with us, perhaps it would be best if you returned to Boreas."

Duncan face Conar. "Do you doubt me, as well, little brother?"

Conar stared at him for a long moment, assessing the man, probing the mysterious aura that had always hovered over Duncan Cree. Finally, he shrugged, unable to penetrate to the level of Duncan's soul he had wanted to see. "All I ask is that you do what you feel is right. I've no doubt you will do whatever you set out to do."

Conar was aware he really hadn't answered the question. If anything, his response served to make those already doubtful of Duncan to look at him more carefully.

"It would be best if each of you tried to uphold the others," Liza said. "Kaileel's most dangerous weapon is his ability to divide and conquer. If there is doubt in your mind about the man standing next to you in a fight, your entire mind won't be on the business at hand. I know of no surer way to get yourself hurt."

"Or killed," Roget amended.

"We have worked together before, Milady," Storm said. "Each of us knows what to expect from the others."

Duncan's mouth turned hard. "If there are those of you who don't trust
me
at your backs, maybe I should stay with Legion."

"That might be best," Conar said.

Though flinching, Duncan's chin lifted. "So you don't trust me?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to, Conar!" Duncan got up. "I'll leave for Boreas tonight. I'll not stay where I'm not wanted."

"You misunderstood, Milord," Liza said. "No one's questioned your honor. These men know little or nothing about you. It isn't that they distrust you. They just don't know what to expect from you."

Duncan smiled. "I, Madame, am a McGregor warrior. These men should have no reason to question my motives." He stared at Conar. "But since even my own flesh and blood does, it will be best if I make myself useful to the Force somewhere where I can be watched!"

Conar looked at Duncan, but didn't speak as his brother stalked off. He felt a vague unease go down his spine. When his gaze strayed to Shalu, he saw an almost imperceptible nod of agreement. Sighing, he eased his arms from around Liza, stood and stretched.

He smiled down at his woman. "Will you walk with me?"

She reached up a hand for him to help her to her feet. Dusting the sand and leaves from her riding breeches, she stumbled a bit as she lost her balance, leaning into Conar's hastily protective arms.

"Will you look at the two of them?" Thom grumbled. "Is it really necessary to
pretend
to fall just to have him catch you, Milady?"

She smiled sweetly at the warrior and winked. "It makes
him
feel manly, Thommy." She seductively batted her eyes at her lover's snort of derision.

A short time later, Conar and Liza sat beside a low outcropping of rocks. Small forest sounds broke through the silence, blending in with the soft nickers of their horses to their left.

"A storm is brewing," Liza said, snuggling into his arms.

Although no stars graced the heavens, bright moonlight filtered down from the smoky sky. The hour was late, and the air was much too calm. Conar looked upward, squinting at the haze. "Aye, I believe so. We knew it wouldn't be easy."

"Has it ever been?" she asked, nuzzling her lips against the opening of his shirt.

He smiled and kissed her temple. "He knows we're coming, so I can imagine he'll pull out all the stops."

"Do you think we'll have all that much trouble from him?"

"What do you think, Milady?"

Liza let out a ragged breath. "I think he'll do everything in his power to destroy you. Just as I know I'll do everything in my power to see he doesn't."

He cupped her chin with his hand and lifted her face to his. "There's nothing we can not do if we're as one, you know."

"I would give my life for you, Conar McGregor."

His brow crinkled with pain. "I would have no life without you."

With tender care, his lips covered hers. She clung to him like a drowning person, her hands clutching his shoulders with an urgency that told him how desperately she needed him. His hands slid down her back and around her waist until his fingers found the lacings of her shirt. Her breath quickened as his lips drew on hers. Gently, he pushed the half-opened shirt over her shoulders until he revealed the creamy white rise of her breasts. Easing her down to the soft, fern-covered rock, he trailed sweet kisses along her chin and throat, then over the coral peak of one breast. He heard her gasp of pleasure, a sound he never tired of hearing.

"Make love to me, Conar. Please."

"The babe, Liza, isn't it getting--"

"It will not hurt the babe, my love. She is well-seated within me." She roughly placed his hand on her breast. "I need you, beloved."

"Then it would be my greatest pleasure to satisfy that need."

Liza drew his lips to hers. As his tongue plunged sweetly into her mouth, she felt the earth move beneath her. Her body throbbed with longing. She was barely conscious of his hands as they fumbled with her clothing and his. She was beyond any feeling except the fire that burned so deeply in her womanhood. Only the sweet spring of his seed could quench the flames threatening to sear her.

While the moon moved overhead, the lovers moved below on the soft, fleecy down of the earth. With fevered haste, they moved with the world in which they dwelt and soared to the stars and far beyond. Their love blended with the heavens and spiraled down once more to earth. And in the farthest reaches of the stars, the gods and Their ladies smiled a tender, sad smile, and sighed with the pleasant understanding of how great was this love between Conar McGregor and his lady. No mortal love had ever existed that could equal it, and no mortal love ever would.

"The Great Windwarrior loves his lady-wife well," one golden-haired goddess commented to her mate.

"Aye," her companion agreed. "The last time is always as sweet as the first."

"I forgot to give you this," Rylan said.

Conar cinched his saddle, then looked at the bottle in Rylan's hand. "What is it?"

"That cook at Boreas forgot to pack this in your saddlebags, so she told me to give it to you. It's ale, I believe."

"Keep it. I no longer have a need for spirits."

Rylan shrugged. "Suit yourself. I won't look a gift horse in the mouth." He uncorked the bottle, took a healthy swig, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He grinned and whistled. "Strong stuff!"

"It's a bit early in the day to be swigging down ale, anyway," Conar joked.

Rylan's face turned belligerent. "Don't be telling me my business! You aren't my keeper!" He lifted the bottle to his lips once more and stomped away.

Conar's brows drew together into a frown.

"He's nervous, Conar," Roget quipped, looking after Hesar. "He doesn't usually drink before sundown."

"See that he doesn't start doing it now. We need more than clear heads this day. We need healthy bodies, as well."

"I'll talk to him." Roget looked over his shoulder, searching for anyone nearby, then lowered his voice. "Brelan's already gone back to Boreas. He said he'd join us as soon as he could."

"I hope his trip will prove unnecessary, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Something didn't ring true with Duncan."

Roget put a comforting hand on Conar's shoulder. "I think he's a bit envious of you."

Conar snorted. "There's nothing to envy! If I could, I'd stay close to Boreas myself." He glanced at the tall mountains. "I'd rather be going anywhere today than the Monastery."

"So would we all, my friend."

Liza stuffed her saddlebag, then rolled her blanket and strapped it to Seafarer's rump behind the saddle. Her worried mind centered on her children. She barely heard the conversations around her, or the creak of saddle leather as men readied to leave. She paid little heed to the nervous joking or ribald comments being hushed as men pointed her way. Her thoughts, instead, dwelled on a conversation she'd had at Boreas only the day before...

When she had arrived back at the keep from Ivor, she'd gone immediately to see her children. It had been a long time since last she had been with them, and even though she trusted Gezelle to care for them, she felt a heavy pressure in her chest as she prepared to bid them each another farewell.

Cory's silent tears affected her the most. "But why do you have to go?" he asked, and she went to her bedroom, quiet and weeping.

On the morning of the day she was to leave, she sat in her room, staring at the miniature portraits of her children on the table by her bed.

"I will guard them with my life," Gezelle assured Liza as she sat beside her.

Liza could do nothing but nod. Her sadness overwhelmed her. When Gezelle's arms went around her, she leaned her head against the other woman's shoulder. She covered her quivering mouth with a trembling hand, desperately trying to stifle her sobs.

"What's wrong, Milady?"

An undercurrent of fear drifted around Liza's heart, but she couldn't explain why. Something apart from the coming fight with Tohre disturbed her peace of mind, but she had no idea what it was.

She eased off the bed and went to the window, looking at the courtyard. Workmen were tearing down the whipping post where so many Serenian men had met their painful fates, where her love had been so cruelly flogged. "I've something of vital importance to ask you, 'Zelle," she whispered.

Gezelle joined her mistress by the window. "Anything, Milady."

For a long moment, Liza said nothing, only stared down as the men felled the central beam of the whipping post. She took a ragged breath as the axemen began chopping away at the thick wood. "I want you to promise me, on the lives of our children, mine and yours, that if something should prevent me from returning, you will love and care for my children as though they were your own."

"You need not ask, Milady, but--"

Liza held up her hand. "There's more." Her eyes fused with Gezelle's. She held the woman's hand. "Promise me you will see that Conar remarries and provides them with a good woman to be their new mother." She shook her head as Gezelle made to protest. "Promise, Gezelle! Promise you will tell him of my wishes."

The former servant nodded. "I--I promise."

"And swear, on all you've ever held dear, on your love for him, that if the woman he chooses is
not
the woman I would want mothering my children, you'll see her dead and buried and another in her place, no matter how much Conar might love her."

Gezelle stared at her. "Milady, do you know what you ask?"

"I know very well. I also know there are women who would sell their souls to Raphian to have Conar McGregor. Such a woman would stop at nothing to get her claws into him. Should something happen to me, his powers will be greatly diminished. Occultus has not dared to tell him that, but I know it. Without me, he'll be vulnerable to women who'll use their evil wiles to gain his attention."

"Surely you know he'd not wish to marry again, should you leave him, Milady," Gezelle protested.

"But I want him to, my friend. He's not a man to be alone. He may not realize that for a long while, but eventually he'll take a lady to wife if just to have someone be a mother to his sons. I'll have no woman hurt my children simply because she wants Conar in her bed!" She jerked on Gezelle's wrist. "Swear to me you will
not
let some woman wreck my children's lives!"

Gezelle must have viewed something in Liza's eyes that frightened her, perhaps had even glimpsed a part of what Liza, herself, saw, and suddenly looked as if she would scream. "Please don't go!" She fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around Liza's legs. "I beg you! Don't go!"

Liza put a loving hand on Gezelle's head. "From the moment we are born, my dearest friend, our fate is sealed. We can not change it any more than we can change the course of the tides." She shivered uncontrollably, then threw back her head, her lips trembling with hopelessness. "We can not alter what is destined to be. Promise you will do as I have asked." Her voice broke as she slid to the floor beside Gezelle. "Please don't let me leave this keep without knowing my children are safe in your hands."

"But how? I can not..."

From the pocket of her riding breeches, Liza withdrew a small, clear vial of scarlet red liquid. "This is distolus of Maiden's Briar. It is extremely poisonous. A single drop in an open wound can cause harm. Applied to the skin over several weeks' time, it will kill."

"Milady, I--"

"Six drops, Gezelle," Liza said, her face set and cold. "Six drops stirred into the woman's face cream will see her dead in less than a month. The larger the amount, the less time on this earth she'll have."

Elizabeth A'Lex placed the vial inside Gezelle's palm and closed the woman's fingers around it. "Promise you will look to my children's safety and Conar's happiness."

Gezelle eventually nodded, accepting the charge her lady had given her. "There is one thing, though..."

"What, dear friend?"

Her face crinkled with anxiety, Gezelle took a deep breath and slowly released it. Her voice went so low, it became difficult to hear, but her words poured directly from her heart. "You know I love him."

Liza understood. Comment became unnecessary.

The young woman who had traveled from Norus Keep as a lady's companion and had become a Queen's best friend, a Prince Regent's mistress, lowered her head. "I never gainsayed him my body, Milady. I gave it freely, and took great pleasure from his."

"Conar is a wonderful lover."

As if gathering her courage, Gezelle looked up. "It was never my intent, nor his, to ever betray you."

"I know."

"He was so lonely when you left him. So hurt. He used me to ease that hurt, and I understood. It was never anything more." She shook her head. "Or rather, not for him."

Liza put her arms around her friend. "You are very dear to him. He told me all there was to know about his times with you. He felt great shame at having treated you so. He still agonizes over making you abort his child."

Tears falling down her cheeks, Gezelle lowered her head. "Forgive me, Milady. Forgive me for every hurt I've ever caused you..."

Liza's arms tightened around her. "There's nothing to forgive. Instead, I would thank you for helping my love in whatever way you could."

"I promise, Milady...if the poison does not work, I'll cut her throat myself," Gezelle pledged, sealing the great friendship that had long ago formed between them...

"Are you ready, beloved?"

Snapping back to the present, Liza turned to face Conar. She forced a confident smile to her lips. "Aye, Milord."

"Is something wrong?" He touched her cheek and smiled when she turned her face into his palm. His smile wavered as she cupped his hand closer. "Has something happened?"

"I was just thinking of our children, that's all. I miss them."

He sighed of obvious relief. "Is that all?" He drew her into his arms. "We'll be home before they hardly know we're gone."

Against his warm chest, against the fabric of his silken shirt that smelled of cinnamon oil and sensuous male, she pressed her cheek. "I hope so, my love, I truly hope so..."