Tethered (The Avenlore Series) (3 page)

He cleared his throat and looked around at nothing in particular before he spoke again. 
“I’m so sorry, milady.  I did not introduce myself.  I am Liam of Shirebrook.”  He said with an expectant look on his face.

I studied him for a moment, trying not to freak out over the fact that I was definitely no
t in Kansas anymore and may well have landed in Oz or someplace just as unlikely.  I had always been pretty cool under stress though, realizing that no amount of freaking out produces a solution.  So I steeled myself and just looked him in the eye and responded. “Well, my name is not ‘milady’ it’s Dani, so call me Dani. And…I’m from Gatlinburg.”

“I fear I am unfamiliar with…Gatlinburg.” 
He looked confused, like maybe he was expecting a different response or reaction than I delivered.  He blinked at me slowly while warring emotions passed over his face, glanced toward my wrist once more, then, he composed himself and reached for my hand.    

He
caught me completely off guard when he took my hand, his eyes staring straight into my soul.  I felt like he could see my every thought and that made me blush to the soles of my feet.  He lifted my hand and traced a light circle on the back of it with the middle finger of his free hand, not once breaking eye contact.

“
Dani.  It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”  He spoke the words softly and I couldn’t recall the name of the boy who had broken my heart in that moment. 

Chapter 4

Dropping my hand, Liam
eyed my clothes with perplexed look on his riot inducing face.  “May I ask you a question?” he said cautiously.

“That was a question.” I replied with a wry smile.

He responded with a half-cocked grin and then said, “An additional one then?”

“Sure.” I responded
with a shrug.

“Are you aware that you
are dressed rather…strangely?” he asked, running one hand absently through his hair.

I chewed the inside of my cheek as I watched the sleek locks fall back around his face.  It took a moment for my mind to register the question and another to formulate a response.  “Maybe I’m not, maybe you are.”

He nodded, one corner of his pouty mouth pulling up.  “I believe I can assure you that of the pair of us, you will be the one to stand out if you remain dressed…as you are.”  He said, but didn’t push for an actual answer to his question, though the look in his eyes said the fact that I didn’t offer one did not go unnoticed. 

“What if I mean to stand out?” 
I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He looked almost worried now.  “I feel it’s unwise to draw attention to yourself.”  He said and his tone was all business.  I knew what he said was true, but I wasn’t ready to deal with the why that it begged.  I had my suspicions already. 
All crazy, all unrealistic, all impossible.  I couldn’t come up with anything so far that didn’t fall into all three of those categories.

After a pause spent study
ing my garb again, he finally said, “We should find something less conspicuous for you to wear.” 

From that statement, only one word registered.  “We?” 
             

He looked almost offended.  “I will not leave you out here alone and unprotected.  You are alone aren’t you?”

I looked at the ground, feeling like his concentrated stare would melt my internal organs.  “Yes.”  I told the ground.  “What do I need protecting from?”  I directed this question at the ground as well.  Not that I wouldn’t have followed him to Canada or the Emerald City or wherever you could get to from here if he asked, but his statement raised questions I had yet to consider in this beautiful, peaceful place.  What malevolence could be lurking in this beauty?

I braved a glance toward his face and saw worry etched across his features.  He looked away and his eyes hardened as they searched the landscape for
a sign of what I could only assume was danger.  My heart beat quickened, not from his beauty this time, but his severity in this moment.  He looked back to me and his eyes softened.  “A lady should never travel alone.”  He said softly.  His tone suggested his actions were the result of civic duty, but I could still sense an uneasiness in him that suggested I needed protection from a specific source.

“Hmph.  And they say chivalry is dead.”  It was the first thing that popped into my head.

Liam cocked a perfect black eyebrow and asked, “Do they really say that?” 

“Yes,
and it may rest on your shoulders to prove them wrong.”  I said with shrug.

He walked over to his horse who had wandered in the opposite
direction to graze contentedly and began pulling the beast in my direction.  “I will be most happy to prove chivalry to be alive and well.”  The half grin pulled up one corner of his mouth.

I watched him coax the horse back toward me and he looked up to meet my eyes.  I loo
ked quickly toward the ground, unable to hold his gaze.  I didn’t want him to see me, like, really see me.  I was afraid of what he would find.  I had known him for all of about 15 minutes and I was already pathetically nursing a foolish crush on him and, let’s be honest, if Jones was out of my league, then Liam and I didn’t even play at the same ballpark.  Ever. 

“There is a village not far from here.  We should be able to find something
suitable for you there.  Are you ready, milady?”  He said as he extended a hand.  It was obvious that I was expected to get on this giant creature’s back and that wasn’t really in my plans.  I did not do horses.

“You want me to get on that thing?”  I asked pointing to black beast in front of me.

He looked at me questioningly, then to the horse and in its general vicinity.  “You mean the horse?  He’s not a thing, he’s a horse.  He won’t hurt you.”  He stated as his hand dropped to his side.  His tone reminded me of debate class.  But then he looked into my eyes.  I couldn’t look away this time; I was like a deer in the headlights.    His tone softened and when he spoke it was just above a whisper.  “I told you that I would protect you, that was a promise.”

I was reduced to putty and would’ve climbed into the mouth of a dragon for him if he’d only asked it of me.  But
he didn’t need to know that.  So I just said, “Okay.”

I walked toward him and he took me
by the elbow and gently turned my body so that my back was to him.  Then he placed his hands at my waist and lifted me effortlessly, as though I was filled with air.  He placed me in the saddle then hoisted himself up behind me, one arm on either side of me. 

Liam
made a clicking sound and the horse responded by working up to an easy speed.  He smelled like sandalwood and sea mist, clean and masculine.  His chest grazing my back slightly felt nothing more than necessary, but my body responded to his proximity with a fierceness. 

My pulse pounded in my ears
and my mind took inventory of every place in contact with him.  Our thighs were pressed together in the limited space provided, my back only just touched his chest, and his arms grazed my own sporadically with the movement of the horse.  But, what really set me reeling was his breath at the nap of my neck, slightly more to my left side.  Even through my thick hair that fell loosely down my back it was discernible.  It was simultaneously intimate and innocent and I struggled to form a coherent thought.

I broke the silence that had fallen on us since we’d be
gun the ride.  “Where are we?”

“Milady, you have the pleasure of being in The Emerald Wood, one of the most beautiful places
to behold in all Avenlore.”

“Avenlore
?”  I asked.

He halted the horse and leaned forward to look at my face.  “Milady, it is what these lands are called.  Did you not know?”

Of course I did not know.  “Yes, yeah.  I’m still a little off balance I think from all the startling.”  I answered quickly, unable to hold his gaze.  He looked completely unconvinced, but didn’t press me.  “And it’s Dani, remember?”  I added steeling a peak at him over my shoulder.

His answering smile lit his face.  “Dani.”
 

At the sound of my name from his lips, my world titled on its axis.

Chapter 5

Not far from here turned out to be much farther than it sounded.  By the time we neared the village, the sun was descending fast b
ehind the trees.  By my questionable calculations, less than an hour of daylight remained. 

The village was small, but cozy, surrounded by golden fields and
the deep green wood.   

Liam stopped short of the hustle and bustle of the town to dismount and help me careful
ly down from the saddle.  He unfastened his cloak and placed it around my shoulders, his fingers softly grazing my shoulders. 

Even through the layers of fabric, my body practically purred from the contact. 

“Just a precaution.” He told me as he fastened the fabric at the base of my throat.  “I shouldn’t be long.  I want you to remain here until I return and try to stay out of sight.  Can you do that?”  He asked quietly as he stood with me in a thicket on the fringe of the village. 

My head bobbed quickly in response. 

He nodded and turned disappearing through the brush. 

I crept along the inside of the thicket and crouched down to peak through a thinned section of the brush in the direction he had gone. 

He was headed to a small stone building with a thatched roof, smoke rolling thickly from its single chimney.  He knocked and the door quickly opened.  A squat woman wearing a plain linen dress that reached her ankles went wide eyed as she stared at him from the other side of the threshold.  Her mouth moved quickly, her expression flustered and nervous. They were too far away for me to make out her words, but from her body language, I assumed she was offering an apology.  He shook his head and smiled kindly in response, his mouth moving as well, saying words I couldn’t hear.  Then, she curtsied hurriedly and beckoned him inside.   

His
very presence appeared to warrant a show of respect.  He hadn’t called himself Lord or Prince or Count…so her reaction to him baffled me.  Perhaps I wasn’t the only one playing it close to the vest.

I was startled out of my thoughts by a voice close enough that I could definitely make out the words. 

“Have you heard the news, Lena?”  A feminine voice asked.

“Not at all, please do enlighten me.”
  A new voice (Lena I assumed) responded. 

When the first voice spoke again, her voice was grave.  “The Black Knights ride again!  Just last night my husband came across them on his way back from a hunt.  Looked like he’d seen a ghost, he did, when he returned!”

“Was he quite certain of it?”  Lena asked nervously.

“
There’s no mistaken’ them, there’s not.”  The first voice confirmed.

“By all that is holy.  How long has it been?” Lena asked. 

“Can’t be sure, fifteen years?” The first voice said uncertainly. 

“After all this time, Lord Soren still seeks to fulfill that ghastly prophecy….you’d think he’d have moved on by now.”  Lena said severely.

“You know as well as I do, moving on is not in Lord Soren’s blood.  Only vengeance is.”  The first voice answered then added, “Quickly now, someone’s coming.  We best be about it.”

With that
, the conversation was over.  Unease crept through me and my gut told me these Knights and the black riders I’d encountered were connected. 

Oh, no.

I was quickly becoming uneasy here alone with the shadows of night closing in.  I peeked back toward the home I’d seen Liam disappear into, but he was already on the path leading away from it, a large sack in hand.  His walk was tense and I wondered if he’d heard about the Black Knights too.

When he emerged from the bushes
I could easily surmise that something was wrong.

“What is it?” I asked immediately.

“Quickly.” He said thrusting the bag in my direction.  “We ride as soon as you’re ready.”

“What’s going on?”  I asked, refusing to take the bag until he answered me.

He turned the full force of his hypnotic eyes on me before he spoke.  “Please.”

I blinked at him a few times before snatching the bag from him.  “Fine.  But once we’re on our way, you are going to explain to me what’s going on!”

He didn’t respond.

I hurried to the back edg
e of the thicket and climbed through the brush until I was safely surrounded on all sides.  My mind steadily concocted a string of theories capable of turning my blood cold.

I pulled the bag open and thrust my hand inside and grabbed the first thing I touched, yanking it out quickly.

My brain registered the material as soft and plush and even in my fury, I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful fabric.  Even in the low light of the coming night the deep green fabric shimmered.  It was velvet, rich and thick and sleek.  I slipped it over my head, smoothing out the tight bodice.  It was simple and somewhat durable, but elegant.  A slim silver rope circled my waist that matched the silver piping at the neckline and the hem of the skirt that flowed silkily around my ankles.