Moon Rise (Twilight Shifters Book 2) (13 page)

She watched as Lars was dragged away.  She did not struggle.  She did not make any sign that she was anything but broken and defeated.  It seemed to please the torturer, for he left the room with a whistle. 

"I'll be back to see how you are doing in a few days," he said.  "Say hello to my rat friends, won't you?"

Aein looked over.  In the corner, a whiskered nose was sniffing the air. They must have known to come out for the bits of meat and blood left in the room after an interrogation.  They had been robbed of a meal this time.  Aein wondered how long it would be before they decided she was just as tasty.

A
ein heard the party leaving.  The cheers from the people, the sound of hooves and horses echoed down the empty stone halls.  And from that point on, she lost count of the days.  The rats came. Hungry, they bit her.  Her ankles and wrists bolted in place, she could do nothing more than wiggle her legs to try and fling them aside.  Every so often, the jailor came to lift a mouthful of water to her lips.  At some point, some stale, moldy bread was forced into her mouth.  It was the most delicious thing she ever tasted.  They gave her just enough food to keep her alive, but not enough to give her strength.  Her body was covered in sores from being unable to move.  It seemed like every time she fell asleep, someone would run a metal rod across the bars of the door or the rats would test to see if she was still alive.  She began to pray for death.  She would drift off, and in her mind, she would be back at the campsite there in the swamp with Finn staring into the sky and Cook Bolstad telling her to find him. 

She was dreaming again of the same place, but this time, for the first time, Finn turned to her and whispered, "Aein?"

She smiled.  It was so good to hear his voice.

"Aein?"

And then she realized she was not dreaming.  That the voice was real.  She pried open her crusty eyes and tried to lift her head.  Everything was blurry.  There was a single candle.  Holding it was a man who seemed like Finn.

"Finn...?" she croaked.  Her voice sounded strange in her throat.  Perhaps he was an apparition.  Perhaps he was nothing more than the guard come down to break her legs because she screamed in her sleep.

"Dammnit," said the man who looked like Finn.

He set down the candle and suddenly, his large, calloused hands were on either side of her cheeks, lifting up her face so that she didn't have to expend the energy.  It was him.  His blue eyes were crinkled with worry and she wanted to tell him it was okay.  She hadn't tried to escape.  They hadn't broken her legs.  She stayed right where she was supposed to, just like she promised.

With one hand, Finn cradled her neck, and with the other, took a canteen from his side and poured a few drops into her mouth.  He wiped away the bit that ran out the side with his thick thumb. 

She leaned forward to gulp down more, but he pulled it away.  "Slow down," he said, putting it on the floor for a moment.  "You figure out if what I gave you is going to stay where it is should in your belly and then I'll give you more."

He fiddled with her restraints.  With just a touch, he was able to free the pins that held her manacles in place - four simple pieces of metal which held her captive.  She tried to stand, but failed and slumped into him.

"Careful!  Careful," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist. 

He smelled of leather and his horse and Aein smiled.  He felt as strong as a tree. 

"We need to get you out of here, but I'm going to need your help."  He lifted up the flask of water and gave her another mouthful, as tenderly as a parent feeding a sick child.

She coughed as it went down wrong and he paused.  "How did you find me?" she whispered.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said, putting his canteen away and scanning the room.

"Try me."

"I had a dream."

She gave him a sleepy smile and ran her finger along his silvery scar.  "Me, too..."

He hoisted her upright as she began to sink into unconsciousness.  "Stay with me!"

"I am so tired..."

"We'll sleep on the way," he said.

"I wish I was a bird..." she murmured as the darkness called her so sweetly.

"What?" he asked.

"I wish I could shift into one of those birds that were spying on us and then wake up in the morning whole and happy just like you wolves."  She was so tired.  She couldn't help the fat, exhausted tear which rolled down her cheek.  "But I can't.  I can't just go to sleep and wake up like the world has never changed."

"You're rambling.  Getting you out of this dungeon will change you enough," Finn promised, urging her to keep fighting.  "Come on, Aein.  I need your help."

She fought the desire to surrender.  "We have to get Cook Bolstad's cookbook," she said.

"What?" said Finn.  "There is no time."

She shook her head and it made her dizzy.  "Take me to the passage," she begged.  "Get me out and leave me there, but you have to get the cookbook. Cook Bolstad told me to find him.  It was in the dream.  All we have of him is that cookbook."

Finn seemed so torn by her request.  "I can't believe I am going to do this," he said.  He threw her over his shoulder upside-down and carried her out of the room.  One hand held his sword, the other gripped her legs.

Her mind began to clear and she began to realize what was going on.  The hallway was dark and quiet.  Moonlight shone in through the windows, but the torches had all been extinguished.  They passed the prison guard.  His body leaned against the wall covered in crimson.  His throat had been slit.  There were legs beneath tables and slumped forms behind tapestries.  She realized Finn had come in as an assassin.  He left no one in his path alive.  He was prepared to kill without mercy everyone in the Arnkell stronghold to save her.  He had done all of this for her.

They reached the hidden passageway and he lowered her to the floor behind the tapestry.  He took her face in his hands and brushed back her filthy, greasy hair.  He gave her a little more water and this time, soaked some bread in it and placed it in the palm of her hand.  "Stay right here.  Stay as quiet as a fawn in the tall grass.  I will be back."  He stared at her as if he almost couldn't leave her, as if he was terrified she would disappear if he went.  But he did.  He kissed her forehead and then was gone.

Slowly, bite by painful bite, Aein ate the bread.  She wanted to tear into it, to devour it like a starving animal, but it was as if her mouth had forgotten how to chew, her throat forgotten how to swallow.  But when the food finally went down, it hit her system like wine.  She wanted to laugh it felt so good.  She was going to live.  She rested her head against the wall.  She was going to live...

Finn seemed like he had been gone forever.  The entire stronghold was silent.  Not a single patrol marched by.  Not a servant or a reveler.  She strained her ears for some sound.  It was taking too long.  Her heart began pounding as she wondered if she had sent Finn to his death.  She imagined him slaughtered.  She imagined him bleeding just feet away from her.  She imagined him captured and on the rack where Lars had been, refusing to tell them she was hidden behind a piece of fabric in the hallway.

She startled as the corner of the tapestry pushed back.  She had not heard any feet approach, no sound or stir in the air.  It was Finn.  He was alive and in his arms he carried Cook Bolstad's book. 

"Is this it?" he asked, kneeling down beside her.

Aein sobbed and nodded, throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him so tight he could barely breathe.

"Hey, now... shhh..." he murmured, stroking her back.  "I’m here.  I have you."  He kept repeating it over and over again until she believed him.  He kept saying it and rocking her until she loosened her grip.  He gently handed the book to her.  "Can you carry this?  Can I give you this and the light?"

Having a job made it easier to focus.  Clutching the book to her chest, she struggled to her knees, wobbling like a newborn colt.

"We need to get going," he said, pushing the door open behind her and handing her the lantern.  "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she said.  She peered into the darkness of the cavern and a chill ran up her spine.  "Do you think there are guards in there?"

"There were a few," Finn replied.  He did not have to say any more.  Aein understood what happened.

He leaned Aein against one arm and tucked his other beneath her knees, scooping her up like she weighed no more than a kitten.  Aein rested the lantern on her stomach, allowing the warmth to seep into her bones and chase away the chill.  She leaned her head against his chest and could feel his heart beating like a butterfly against her cheek. 

They made their way through the cavern in silence.  As the light illuminated their path, there were shapes and bodies kicked to the side.  Pools of blood stained the already dark ground.

Finally, they emerged.  There was a single horse waiting. Aein and Lars's mounts were long since gone, along with all of their goods and supplies.  Finn placed her atop the horse and climbed up behind her.  He wrapped one arm tightly around her waist and with the other, took the reins and urged the horse forward.  In the distance, a bell began to toll.

"We've been found out."  He clicked his tongue and urged the horse into a gallop, streaming along the road to put as must distance between them and the castle as possible.  Aein clung to consciousness as best she could, knowing only the movement of the horse beneath her and the strength of Finn holding her up.  How long they rode, she did not know.  The heaving breath and pounding hooves of the horse was the only sound that punctuated the night.  After what seemed like hours, Finn slowed the horse to a walk and then to a stop beside a river.

"The sun will be rising soon.  We need to rest," he whispered in Aein's ear, his rough stubble tickling her cheek.

She managed to nod and keep her seat as he dismounted.  He reached up and caught her as she ungracefully fell from the saddle.  Her body ached from riding, the muscles required to keep her seat not having been used since the day she had been captured. 

But Finn would not allow her to collapse onto the ground.  Instead, he placed his arm around her and leaned her body against his.  "Let's see if you can remember how to walk," he said.

Slowly she stumbled beside him.  He stopped frequently to give her more water and more food.  To keep her mind off the agony of retraining her muscles, he tried to keep a conversation flowing.

"So abandoned your post in the swamp?" he tried to joke.  "I know the fog is miserable, but this seems a little extreme."

"We were trying to save you," Aein grunted, trying to make her rubbery legs put one foot in front of the other.

"Seems like things didn't go according to plan."

"Well, first off, you weren't there."

"I could have told you that."

"Next time, I'll remember to ask," Aein winced.

Finn laughed.  Laughter seemed like such a strange sound in Aein's ears.  He pressed a kiss into the top of her head and buried his lips into her hair.  "What could possibly make you think I was down in Lord Arnkell's dungeon?  Where was your head that you thought you could take on an entire stronghold to get me out?"

"You just made the same choice," she reminded him, jerking her thumb back to where they had just ridden. The movement was enough to throw her off-balance. 

"I'm different," he said, heaving her slipping body up higher with a grunt.  "I do this all the time."

"Well, I decided to go for some advanced training," she retorted.  "It was either take on an entire stronghold or go back and tell Queen Gisla we misplaced you.  I decided I'd take my chances with the Arnkell torture chamber."

"It helps if you don't get captured."

"I shall make note." Aein groaned.  "Can't we stop?  Just for a moment?"

Finn lowered her to the ground.  The moon was low on the horizon and the sky was beginning to show the signs of false dawn.  Her legs no longer felt like rubber.  They were on fire with pins and needles.  She pounded on them with her fist, trying to make it go away. 

"Really?  Why were you there?" he asked again, sitting down beside her.  This time, she could tell he wanted the truth.

"Some of Lord Arnkell's men came to the swamp," Aein explained.  "They told us you had been caught."

"Did you escape them or did they bring you here?" he asked, pressing for more information, as if he needed to know if there were more people who needed to pay for Aein's suffering.

She closed her eyes, remembering the claws of the harpy digging into her shoulder, the feel of her knife driving into the creature's skin.  "We were attacked by a harpy.  She killed everyone. I had on a silver harness and it protected me."

"Who made the kill?"

"I did," said Aein.  The fight was so long ago and the victory seemed so hollow.

He ripped a piece of grass from the ground, unable to look up at her.  "And Lars?  Did the harpy..."

His voice trailed off and Aein realized he assumed Lars was dead.  She grabbed his arm.  "He's alive," she reassured him.

Finn stiffened.  "Did I leave him behind?" He was almost on his feet, ready to race back before she could stop him.

"No!" said Aein.  "No.  He's with Lord Arnkell."  A shadow passed over Finn's face and she could see him jump to the conclusion that Lars had defected.  "No.  He did it to save me.  They were going to gouge out my eyes and he couldn't take it.  He's leading them to the swamp."

"He told them of the bush?" clarified Finn.  His face became hard and serious.

Aein shook her head.  "He told them that a mushroom is the cure.  He said that he would only show it to them if I was kept alive and unharmed."  Aein felt a lump rise in her throat and a tightness in her chest.  She blinked away the tears.  "They'll kill him once they find out he lied."

At that moment, the birds began to wake up and the morning was filled with song.  A breeze blew through the trees as Finn inched his body closer to her and took her hands in his.  "We'll get him back," he promised.