WindLegends Saga 9: WindRetriever (56 page)

"North," Chand mumbled to himself. He glanced behind him. His mount was hobbled beyond a high rolling dune where it could not alert the other horses. He took one last look at those gathered around the fire and then melted into the shadows, his passing creating only a mild niggling unease in Meggie Ruck's neck.

Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 249

He had arrived at his sister's keep only to find her and Conar, gone. The servants had been little help except to tell him that their mistress had been livid with rage and had set out after her husband with malicious curses reining down on the man's unsuspecting head.

"Husband," Sajin muttered to himself as he turned over in his bed and plumped the pillow.

"Sybelle's husband."

The thought didn't bring the joy that it should have to him. Under other circumstances, he would have been overjoyed to have Conar as a brother-in-law but given what he had learned from one of the servant girls who usually warmed his bed when he was visiting Sybelle, Conar had been virtually a prisoner at the keep.

"When he couldn't see," Rajheen had told him, "Her Grace kept him blindfolded so she did not have to look at his sightless eyes. She insulted by doing that. Once his sight was restored, she still would not allow him outside the keep without escort for she feared he would run away again."

"Again?" Sajin had questioned her and the girl had nodded.

"He did once, but Chaim and Kanan caught him. When they brought him back, he was lashed."

The thought of Conar being beaten sent a chill through Sajin at the same time it sent blazing anger at his sister's viciousness. She'd seen Conar's back She knew what agony the man had suffered long ago. But when Rajheen told him her mistress had taken away the scars on Conar's back and face, Sajin was stunned with the news. He'd had no idea just how powerful a sorceress his sister was. It hadn't been that long ago that he had accepted the fact that she was a sorceress.

"You do know your sister is carrying his child?" the servant girl asked him.

"Yes," Sajin answered. Even the confirmation of that news did not bring comfort to him. If anything, it alarmed him more.

"He was not pleased, either," Rajheen told him.

"I would think not," Sajin sighed.

"They will find him," Rajheen said confidently. "They know the terrain and he does not."

Sajin had strolled to the window and stood staring up at the dark expanse of the mountains to the north. "Do you suppose he went up to the caves?"

"Possibly," Rajheen answered. "Where else is there for him to go but desert?" She had come to place a gentle hand on his broad back. "I think he will hide until morning and then try to make it back to your camp."

Sajin nodded. "Yes. I suppose so." He turned, gathering her in his arms. He needed the mindlessness of sex to take his worries from Conar McGregor and Rajheen was good at taking his mind off other things.

Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 250

Conar heard the horses coming up the mountain pathway and knew it was Sybelle. He had hidden his own mount deep inside one of the nine caves dotting the larger of the mountains in the range and had covered the entrance to that cave with brush and loose rocks. Unless someone accidentally stumbled into the blockade, he doubted they would find the entrance and his horse. As for himself, he had climbed as high up the rock face as he dared in the darkness and now clung precariously to a rocky overhang in order to have a good vantage point from which to see the pathway. He had known she'd come after him. He just hoped he could hide out until she went elsewhere to search.

He was cold. And thirsty. And hungry. And, because he was hungry, somewhat

lightheaded. His stomach was growling in protest and his mouth was as dry as the rocks around him. He huddled on the ledge, his arms wrapped around him to hold in what warmth he had.

Clenching his teeth together to keep them from chattering, he was giving himself a wicked headache. Where he perched was cramped and his legs were throbbing, his feet going to sleep, but he dared not move any further up the mountain.

The horses stopped on the pathway and, through the faint skipping of the moon overhead through dark gray clouds that hinted at rain, he could see the pale oval of Sybelle's face. He could not hear what was being said, but from the rigidity of her body and the way she flung out her hands as she spoke, he knew she was furious. He didn't need to hear to know she was not speaking of him in glowing terms of endearment.

Looking away from her as she and the others—Chaim and Kanan?—continued on up the serpentine pathway, he caught a glimpse of jagged lightning in the distance and almost groaned. If he was still up on this mountain when the rains came, he was going to be soaked and miserable as well as hungry. He figured the rain would cure his thirst, but he knew it wouldn't fill his rumbling belly. And to be wet
and
cold on this little piece of unprotected ledge, would be hellish, indeed.

"Spread out and search the caves!" he heard Sybelle order.

His forehead crinkled with concern. Did they know these caves well, he wondered? If so, they'd find his horse and know he wasn't all that far away. If they found his horse, they'd continue their search until they found him. He doubted they could see him in the dark, but come morning, they would have no trouble seeing him sitting up on the side of the mountain. It would only be a matter of when he'd come down and how.

"I want him found, Chaim!" Sybelle's angry shout reverberated through the mountains.

Aye, Conar though with regret. That she did. He had been a fool to think he could get away from her so easily. He had, of course, every intention of trying, though. If he failed, he failed, but if he succeeded, he would somehow find his way back to Balizar and force that man to help him get to Serenia somehow. He had had all of the Inner Kingdom he wished to ever see!

They searched for him for well over two hours. He could see them moving about the cave entrances, trying to find some evidence of his passing. By his reckoning, it was after midnight. He had left the keep just before sunset and the sun had set around seven that evening. It had taken him a few hours to get to the mountains and he'd been waiting at least another two hours before he'd heard their horses. Sunrise would come around five or a little later. If he could only hold out. If they would only give up and go away ….

"He's here," Sybelle yelled. "I can feel him."

Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 251

Conar flinched. He had not thought of that! With her witch's sight, she would find him before too long. The injustice of it shattered what self-assurance he had that he could get away.

"Up there!"

She could see him! He gasped. She was looking right at him! What a fool he'd been.

What a stupid, blind fool!

"Come down, McGregor!" she demanded. "Now!"

"No," he whispered. Lightning flared overhead, illuminating her upturned face as she stood staring up at him. A hundred feet or more separated them, but he could easily see her enraged expression as the light radiated above them once more.

"Did you think you could escape me, McGregor?" she yelled up to him.

The first soft patter of rain fell on his shoulders and he grimaced. The rocks would become slick with the moisture and the descent would be treacherous at best. Like the wet chimney stones at Ivor had been after the tornado, he thought with irony.

"Will you stay up there and be toasted, McGregor?" she asked him as a heavy clap of thunder shook the ledge on which he sat.

"Go away!" he yelled down at her. "I stay where I am!"

"We have all night!" she answered him. "You can not leave that perch without me seeing you!" She crossed her arms and glared up at him. "I can wait!"

For over an hour, she said no more to him, just stood there, staring up at him, getting wet herself as the rain came down in a soft, cooling sheet of moisture. When at last she did call out to him, it was to warn him that the longer he took in coming down, the more severe would be his punishment.

"I'd be a fool to come down, Sybelle!" he told her.

"You are a fool any way you look at it, McGregor!" she shot back. "I'll get you down from there if I have to wait until you are crow bait!"

Another hour passed and Conar wished he had a way of telling what time it was. It was close to two, maybe even later, and Sybelle looked as though she had no intention of getting into one of the caves to avoid the onslaught of the rain the increased thunder warned was coming. If she would, he might be able to sneak past them, crab-walking his way along the rock face during the heavy rainfall. He could escape given time, but he didn't know how much time he had before the light of the new day rose to spotlight him on the mountain.

Sybelle asked Chaim how long he thought it would be before dawn. Her servant shrugged.

"Three hours. Maybe less."

"Here, Your Grace," Kanan said as he flung an oilcloth cover around her shoulders. "You are soaked through."

Conar wished he had the protection of the oilcloth as he saw Sybelle adjusting it around her.

The rain was increasing along with the frequency of the lightning spears jutting through the night sky. The air was turning frigid and a chill wind had whipped out of the north to plaster his rapidly-wet clothing to his shivering body. His hair was already limp and straggling in his eyes and droplets of water were cascading down his face. He ran an absent hand under his chin to wipe away the moisture.

"You'll catch your death of cold up there, milord!" Chaim called up to him. "It's not wise to be out in the open like this during a storm. Come down."

"Get your lady back to her keep, Chaim!" Conar yelled although he knew such a demand was worthless and he was wasting his breath. He shivered, his lips trembling, and he put his hands up, cupping his mouth, to blow on his chilled fingers.

Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 252

A howling began along the mountain ridges, swooping over those standing on the gravel pathway looking up at the man sitting hunched on the rock ledge a hundred feet up the mountain's face. The cold wind buffeted Sybelle and fanned her growing anger, bringing tears of frustration and fury to her.

"Come down here, now!" she shrieked, her words almost drowned out by the skirl of the northern wind.

"
No!
" he yelled back.

A loud crack of lightning rent the air and a straggling tree sitting forlornly in the crevice of the smaller of the mountains split down the middle and fell toward the pathway with a shower of loose rocks and flying wind.

"Do you want to die up there, McGregor?" she hollered.

"Better here than at the end of your whip, Sybelle!" he replied.

Sybelle shrugged off Chaim's hand as he begged her to take shelter out of the increasing fury of the storm bearing down on them. The lightning was nearly constant, the flashes blinding them, and the thunder was shaking the ground beneath their feet as more and more rocks came tumbling down the mountain.

"I am warning you, McGregor! Come down here this minute!"

"I told you no, Sybelle!"

A furious hiss of breath erupted from Sybelle's chattering lips and she looked about her as though she could find something to throw up at him. As she did, an idea flashed through her mind just as a bolt of lightning stitched through the dark sky.

"Get me your crossbow," she snarled at Kanan.

"Milady?" Kanan questioned, looking from her to the sopping wet man hunkered on the rock ledge above them. "What are you about?"

"You heard me!" Sybelle shouted to Kanan, reaching out to shove that man into action.

Chaim gave only a cursory glance to Kanan as that man hurried to do his mistress' bidding.

"You don't mean to try to hit him from here, do you?" He didn't think she could anyway, but he knew the action would only make the Serenian more stubborn and less likely to see reason.

"I don't intend to try, Chaim," she hissed at him, flinging her long wet hair behind her. "I intend to send a quarrel through his lying black heart!"

Not for one moment did Chaim believe she would actually try to do her husband harm, but he feared in her petulance and rage, she'd loose a quarrel that the wind would snatch out of the air and send to harm Conar McGregor.

"Milady, think!" he begged her. "He can't climb the rock face behind him. The stone is too wet. He can't descend, either, for the same reason. Let us take shelter until the storm passes.

Kanan and I will keep watch. He can not escape our notice. We can ...."

"Give me the bow!" she growled as she shoved Chaim aside and yanked the crossbow from Kanan's grip. "Quarrel," she demanded.

"Milady, please!" Chaim pleaded. "Do not do this!"

Kanan's hand trembled as he handed his lady one of the deadly missiles. He looked with apology to Chaim but he wasn't sure that man had even noticed for his cousin's eyes were glued to the woman who at that moment was fitting the quarrel into the crossbow.

"You can't hit me from there, Sybelle!" came the taunt from the rock ledge. "Go ahead and try, but you can't do it!"

Lightning forked in several directions and a mighty crack of sound cleaved the night sky as the jagged bolt struck the mountain and a large boulder broke loose, careening wildly past Conar as Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 253

it rumbled down.

Conar gaped at the boulder as it tumbled. He saw Kanan and Chaim dragging Sybelle out of its path and leaned forward over the ledge in an attempt to make sure none of them were hurt.

As much as he hated Sybelle, he didn't want to see her killed.