B00CGOH3US EBOK (49 page)

Baelin clenched his jaw, the effort of holding back the honesty of his reply nearly cracking his back teeth. He needn't have bothered. All too quickly he watched the realization wash over Kendale's face as the knight comprehended thoughts and desires Baelin could not put into words.

"You do not want her to go back. You want her to stay here with you."

He closed his eyes against the truth in Kendale's words.

"Aye, more than anything." He wondered how a man could feel cleaved in two without a drop of blood shed. "But not because she feels she must. I wish her to remain with me because 'tis what she wants to do."

"Baelin, for whatever purpose, this task has been put forth to both of you. You must see it through to the end. Any future you may have together depends upon it." Kendale handed the tapestry back to him, then placed his hand on Baelin's shoulder. "Take heart, my friend. She loves you. Of that, I am certain. Perhaps, once the curse is broken, she will decide to stay."

Feeling the weight of the rolled weaving in his hands, Baelin wondered yet again what fate it held for them within its twisted threads.

"The choice may not be hers to make. I am beginning to fear even if we do succeed in breaking the curse before the full moon rises, that the fates will not be kind. That Lady Jill will be torn from me as quickly as she came, and returned to her time where I will not be able to reach her."

"Time will only tell, my friend. Do not lose hope. We cannot know what the future holds. We can only trust God to guide us down the right path to get there."

"I pray with all my dragon heart it is so. That there is a way to break the curse and keep her with me."

"Perhaps there is. After all, if a witch's spell can turn a knight into a dragon, surely there exists some magic in the heavens that can keep a man with the woman he loves."

It seemed so simple for Kendale. And perhaps it was.

"Ah, but whatever magic it is will cost dearly. In the end, I may have to give the Dark Witch what she has wanted all along."

"And what is that?"

"Me."

Baelin stilled as a heavy silence descended upon them. All was not right.

He searched the dark night, to where Jill and Owen had only moments ago stood near the grave.

But they were no longer there.

"Jill!"

He charged toward the grave, Kendale quick on his heels, a scattering of wildflowers on the freshly-laid stones and a smoldering torch the only sign of where they'd been.

"Where did they go?" Kendale asked, his gaze darting to the dark tree line beyond the meadow. "Surely they did not venture into the forest?"

"Nay, they were here but a moment ago. They could not have gone far without notice."

"Then where are they?"

Chills pricked the back of Baelin's neck. A low moan drew his attention to the tall grass nearby. Owen lay on his side, curled as if asleep. When they rolled him over, his eyes flickered open, dazed and unfocused.

"What happened, lad? Where is Lady Jill?" Kendale asked, kneeling by the boy's side.

Owen looked back and forth between the knights, confusion puckering his brow. Slowly, his eyes cleared and he focused on Baelin, panic taking the place of his disorientation. He clutched Baelin's surcoat in a frantic grasp.

"My lady. She has been taken."

Baelin's dragon heart stopped beating.

"I tried, my lord. Truly I did. But they came upon us without a sound. 'Twas as if they formed out of the very darkness itself and disappeared back into the night before I could do aught. They took Lady Jill with them."

His stomach clenched in a tight knot at the boy's words. "Who?"

"They had the look of knights, but like none I have ever seen before. They wore black surcoats with a red dragon." Owen broke down in soul-racking sobs. "I am sorry, my lord. I was unable to speak nor move, as if a spell was cast upon me. I would have fought with my last breath to stop them if I could."

"I know," Baelin said softly, aware the boy's anguish mirrored his own. "You did well. 'Twas a foe even a knight grown could not stand against alone."

"Before they disappeared, they bade me to tell you…" Owen gasped then hiccuped, trying to catch his breath.

"What, lad?"

"They said to tell you Lady Jill would live only until the rise of the next full moon."

Kendale stood, his angry gaze scouring the shadows beyond the meadow for an enemy Baelin knew was no longer there. "By all that is holy, these men, when we find them, will pay dearly with their lives if they harm Lady Jill."

"They told me to tell you something else, my lord."

"What?" Kendale asked, as he pulled the boy to his feet, although Baelin already suspected the answer.

"That you would know where to find her."

Cold resolve spilled over Baelin. "Aye, I know where they have taken her, only too well."

"Where?" Kendale asked.

"'Twas the Dark Witch's warriors who spirited her away, of that I have no doubt. Already Lady Jill will be deep within the walls of the witch's realm. Dawn comes soon. I must hurry, before 'tis too late."

"Then there is no time to waste," Kendale said as he strode back to the fire. "Owen, ready my armor."

He grabbed the knight's shoulder and spun him around. "You wish to fight by my side?"

"Of course. Think you I would leave you to battle this foe alone?"

"But only hours ago you tried to kill me."

Kendale shrugged. "I am a dragonslayer. 'Tis what I do."

"Then we are enemies no more?" Baelin asked as he tucked the rolled tapestry in his belt.

"I think not." Kendale chuckled, appearing more concerned with donning his armor than with the beast standing at his side.

Baelin watched Owen arm his master for battle, surprised a dragonslayer could dismiss the creature he was so easily.

"But I am still part dragon."

Kendale looked him in the eye, all joviality gone. "And part knight. A very honorable one, I might add. Lady Jill tried to tell me that when I took her from you, but I would not listen. Now I have seen with my own eyes that all is not what it seems. I will not soon forget you saved my life, perhaps when 'twould have been easier for you to let the dragon have me."

"You are giving up slaying dragons, then?"

"Perhaps. I may take up witch hunting instead. It appears you could use some help with this one."

"I shall help, too," Owen said as his handed Kendale his sword belt.

"Nay!" Baelin immediately regretted the harsh tone of his voice. "I am sorry, Owen. 'Tis not possible."

The boy glanced back and forth between the two men, then looked to his master for an answer. "But I have always accompanied you into battle, my lord. Who will ready your armor? Who will tend
Flaume Stelan?
"

Baelin placed a gentle hand on the boy's bony shoulder. "The horse will have to stay behind, as will you, I am afraid."

Kendale arched a dark brow and Baelin answered his questioning look. "To go where they have taken Lady Jill, we must fly. And since neither you nor your horse has wings, I will have to carry you. You are heavy enough, with the added weight of your armor. Strong though I may be, I can only manage to carry a horse while in my dragon form."

Kendale's brave façade slipped a notch. While he had no qualms about facing witches and dragons, the prospect of taking flight left him looking a bit green.

"You do not have to go."

"Of course I do," Kendale said as he cinched his belt tighter. "There is a battle to fight and a damsel to save. What kind of knight would I be if I ignored such a challenge?"

"One that would live to see another day."

Baelin turned to Owen, his young face pale with the dawning realization of the danger the men were about to face.

"If we do not return before the full moon rises, you must leave here at once and never return, for it will be too late for the rest of us."

"With God's help and my sword at your back, perhaps it will not be." Kendale pulled his helm over his head. "Come, the time for talk is done. Let us be off to rescue your lady."

Jill sat on the cold stone floor of her latest prison, any hope of escape fading with each passing moment.

While it was clean, not fetid or disgusting like the one in the village, it was no less frightening. Maybe because this time she didn't have Baelin's comforting presence on the other side of the wall to help her through whatever was to come.

Was he looking for her? Did he even know where to look?

Probably. But that didn't mean he would come.

He'd been avoiding this place all along, not wanting to come here, not wanting to face whatever nightmares the witch had put him through.

As Jill looked at the stark room, she could hardly blame him. The brilliant white walls of her cell glistened in the torchlight as if carved of crystal. A cool chill permeated the air, drawing the warmth from her body. Was this what Baelin feared, knowing the Dark Witch had the power to slowly suck the life out of anyone near her? She could only imagine what would befall her when the witch decided to make her presence known.

Jill didn't know how long she'd been here. The last thing she remembered, she'd been standing with Owen in the field by the grave and then she woke up here. She didn't have to ask where 'here' was. But with no windows in her crystal cell, there was no way to measure the passage of time. It could've been hours. Or days. Or—having witnessed only a fraction of the Dark Witch's powers so far—years.

Was it already too late? Had the full moon come and gone and Baelin returned to his dragon form for another year?

Already she felt his loss, so great she could hardly draw breath around the painful ache it left deep in her chest. Everything she'd been through, everything Baelin had been through for over two hundred years, all for nothing.

She never heard the click of a lock or the creak of an opening door. In fact, since the room appeared to be carved out of a block of solid stone, she hadn't been able to even find the door, though she'd spent what seemed like hours searching for it. All she knew was one moment she was alone and the next there were two guards in the room with her, their faces covered by dark helms, completely dressed in black.

"The Queen summons you."

And your fate awaits,
echoed a voice off the walls inside her head.

Jill rose unsteadily to her feet. The guards led her down a long arched corridor to a cavernous hall. The walls, ceiling, and floors of the chamber were made out of the same glistening white crystal as her cell. Led to an empty stone throne at the end of the great hall, the guards left her to stand alone before its imposing presence.

Still dressed in her dark, travel-worn gown, Jill felt like a messy stain on a crisp white table cloth. Everywhere she looked was white, so bright it hurt to keep her eyes open. It was as if the entire fortress had been carved out of a mountain of colorless crystal. The entire chamber was stunning in its brilliance, captivating in its achromatism.

But there was no sound. No birds singing or insects chirping through the arched openings framing either side of the chamber. No hurried bustle of servants or happy laughter of children from other rooms within the fortress.

No music. No voices. No life.

How could a place so pristine and beautiful feel so dead?

Into the stillness, a gust of wind blew from outside the archways, a cold breeze dancing in the gossamer curtains like ethereal ghosts.

And then Jill saw her.

A woman dressed in a white satin gown encrusted with sparkling diamonds sat on the throne that moments before had been empty. Or rather, a girl. She looked no older than seventeen or eighteen. Long, cascading curls so light a shade of blonde they were almost white, framed a heart-shaped face. A flawless pale complexion complemented plump, pouty lips and enormous crystal clear violet eyes.

A white angel holding court in a palace of sparkling crystal. She was the most beautiful creature Jill had ever seen.

"Oh, my God. He turned you down?"

The witch, who until then had showed no expression on her beautiful face, cocked a brow at Jill. Then she laughed, a musical sound that filled the chamber, bouncing off the crystal walls and back again.

"Ah, Lady Jill. I had heard you were different, but I had no idea how so."

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"No. I do not pay compliments to anyone, least of all a mere mortal such as you."

The Dark Witch rose from her throne and moved down the steps toward her. She glided with such fluid motion, Jill had to glance down to see if her feet touched the ground.

"I am Queen Isylte."

"I gathered as much."

This close, the witch's lavender eyes sparkled in a kaleidoscope of violets and purples, the colors moving and changing in a mesmerizing dance. Jill looked away before she fell under their powerful pull. The witch might look the part of the innocent, but she radiated malice from the inside out.