The Duke and the Dryad (Elemental Series) (19 page)

“What is it?” he asked
frantically. “Is she all right? Where is she?”

“She is with a troop of warriors,” he said. “They have stopped for the night, several hours west of here.”

“Who? Who is she with? Did they take her against her will?”

“I don’t know the answer to that, my lord. But I can tell you the man she is with has a long scar running across his face.”

“Clive,” he ground out in contempt. So the man must have followed them into the forest and taken Rae after he’d left. “Dammit to hell!” she shouted.

All the druids t
urned to look at him, and the druid priest raised a halting hand.

“Please, Lord Wolf
e, no language like that. This is a scared spot.”

Wolf
e didn’t answer. He rushed to his horse and mounted in one swift move. He started to leave, but then he turned his horse around and looked back to Humphrey. He nodded slightly in appreciation, causing the man to smile.

“Thank you,” he said. With naught more
than those two simple words, he headed away quickly, meaning to travel through the forest all night if he had to, in order to reach Rae before his uncle did something stupid – like try to couple with her, or perhaps kill her instead.

* * *

Rae lay tied up by the fire all night, feeling her energy draining so fast, she was barely conscious. Lord Clive lay next to her sleeping, his one arm thrown over her body. She was thankful he hadn’t tried to couple with her during the night. He probably would have, if she hadn’t faked losing consciousness earlier. ’Twas still hours before sunrise, and she felt as if she were not going to make it until then.

She rolled over, trying to get out of his grip and away from the fire, but he only h
eld her tighter. The rest of his men lay sleeping as well, scattered throughout the camp. She tried to call to her forest for help, but was too weak for her mind to reach it. She was angry enough to move objects, but unfortunately, so drained of her powers that she knew that wasn’t going to happen either.

Then she felt the presence of someone new in the camp. Just at the same time, a hand clamped down over her mouth. She tried to scream, but couldn’t. Her eyes popped open, and in the firelight she saw the most glorious site.

Wolfe hunkered down next to her. He removed his hand and put a finger to her lips to remind her to stay silent. Then he pulled his dagger from his side, cutting free first her hands, and next her feet. He looked at Lord Clive’s arm wrapped around her body and his face hardened and his eyes narrowed. His mouth turned down into a frown. He looked like he wanted to kill the man. He held his dagger up above his uncle, and she truly believed he was deciding whether or not to use the weapon by stabbing it into the man’s heart while he slept.

Instead, he
replaced the dagger at his side and gingerly lifted up the man’s arm. He helped her to roll out of his embrace, putting his uncle’s hand down on the dirt. Then he stood and pulled her to her feet, but she could barely stand. She reached out for him just as she collapsed.

Wolf
e scooped her up into his arms and she laid her head against his chest. Lord Clive turned and mumbled in his sleep. She could hear the rapid beating of Wolfe’s heart as it picked up a pace. He stood absolutely still without moving. Then when Lord Clive continued sleeping, Wolfe hurried her to his horse hidden in the trees and hoisted her up into the saddle. She leaned forward, her arms hanging onto the steed’s neck for support. Wolfe hurriedly pulled himself up behind her.

“Wake up,” she heard Lord Clive shout,
as he realized what was happening. He jumped to his feet and pulled his sword. “Wolfe, give her back anon or I’ll take your life, I swear it.”

“Uncle, you disgust me,” snarled Wolfe. “How could you take her, just as you’d done to her mother? And she is
already near dead because of you. She is mine, now leave us be. Because if I have to take your life to protect her, than so be it.”

“You wouldn’t do such a thing to the man who raised you. Now give her back before I’m forced to hunt you down like a dog to accomplish
the task.”

“Never,” shouted Wolfe, seeing Lord Clive’s
men getting up and donning their weapons. He didn’t fancy having a small army after him, and especially without the aid of Rae’s powers, but he didn’t have a choice. And he wasn’t going to wait around any longer. He took off through the forest at break-neck speed, holding one arm around Rae to support her so she wouldn’t fall off the horse. ’Twas dark, and it’d taken him most the night to find Lord Clive. And now, he really couldn’t tell if he were taking the right direction back toward his castle or not.

“Get him! And bring me that girl,” he heard his uncle’s voice echoing through the forest. He could hear the thundering of the hors
es’ hooves pounding against the hard earth behind him. Branches snapped underfoot as his horse bolted through the forest in the dark. Animals scurried hastily out of their way. He looked back over his shoulder, and could see that his uncle’s men were holding lit torches, which aided in guiding them right to him.

“Damn,” he said aloud, stopping just for a moment, trying to see through the darkness and remember which way he’d come. Then he heard the how
l of a wolf coming from the distance. He knew ’twas Zev. All he needed to do was follow his signal and he would be headed home.

He rode
what seemed liked hours, Rae too drained to even open her eyes or speak. He wanted to stop and bury her in the earth to help her regain her strength, but he couldn’t take the risk. Lord Clive and his men were gaining on him quickly and he had to keep moving.

Finally, as the sun started to light up the horizon, he saw Zev, charging toward him through the forest.

“Lead me home,” he called to the wolf. The animal took off at a run, and he followed closely.

Then to his dismay, he saw the standing stones and knew Zev meant to
lead him to Rae’s home, not the castle where he’d have men at his back to help him fight his uncle. This worried him immensely, since he was one man against Lord Clive and nearly a dozen armed and trained warriors. If only he had taken a knight or two with him. Hindsight was everything, and also the downfall of many a good warrior. He realized that now.

“Lord Wolfe?”

He stopped momentarily to see Humphrey, the chief druid, still in the center of the standing stones. His druid followers sat in a circle around him.

“Druids, get yourself to safety,” Wolfe cried out. Lord Clive and his men are on my heels. They’re coming for Rae – and they’re armed and have no qualms of killing anyone in their way.”

Wolfe couldn’t believe he was warning the druids to take cover, when he, himself, had been ready to kill every one of them not that long ago. Rae had changed him and made him see things in a different light.

“Is Ra
e-Nyst all right?” asked Humphrey. “Bring her in here and mayhap we can heal her.”

“Nay, I need to get her to safety.” He wasted no more time, but headed forward, not stopping until he found the hidden entrance to the cave.

He slipped off the horse, collecting Rae into his arms. Then he carried her within the cave, placing her down beside the pool of water.

“I am so sorry about all this, my little sprite,” he whispered. There was now daylight coming in through the mouth of the cave and he could see her face clearly. Her eyes slowly flickered open, her green cat-like gaze settling upon him.

“Are . . . we safe . . . now?” she asked.

“For now,” he said, leaving her only for a moment to run back to the mouth of the cave and collect a hand full of vines hanging near the entran
ce. With one swipe of his sword he severed them, bringing them back to Rae and laying them atop her body.

“Mayhap this will help regain your strength,” he told her. “I have to leave you
now, Rae. If they find my horse, they’ll know we’re here. I am going to try to lead them far away from here and back to the castle. There, my knights can help me fight Lord Clive and his men.”

“He . . . told me
. . . you wanted me first, then . . . shared me . . . with him.”

“God’s eyes, Rae, you don’t believe that? I would never consider anything like that. I love you, sweetheart.”

He bent to her and kissed her lightly on the forehead. She looked up and smiled at him and he thought he saw a renewed life starting to color her face.

“I love you
. . . too,” she said with a slight smile.

Then the sound of falling rocks within the cave caught his attention. He stood quickly, holding his sword at the ready. He made his way deeper into the cave to see from where the sound came. He looked clo
ser as more rocks clinked and rolled from the back wall of the cave, and he saw a slight opening with someone’s hand reaching out, feeling around in mid-air.

“Who goes there?” he asked, realizing it looked like someone was trapped in another passageway of the cave.

“Help me,” came a feeble cry for assistance.

He sheathed his sword quickly, pulling away stone after stone, rubble falling around his feet.
He hadn’t time for this, as he had to lead Clive and his men away from Rae in order to assure her safety. Still, if someone was trapped within a passageway of the cave, he couldn’t just walk away and let them die.

Then he saw an old man within, his hair long and grey, yet his eyes young and full of life.

He reached forward and pulled the man out of the rubble.

“Who the hell are you and what were you doing trapped in there?”

“The dragon trapped me in the cave,” said the man, laughing, “but now the wolf has lent his hand to save!”

“I don’t have time for this,” he said, pulling the addlepated old man over to Rae’s side. She tried to push herself into an upward position, looking at the man and blinking several times.

“Ah, I’m back from the lady of fire, and now my earth daughter does transpire.”

“Papa?” asked
Rae, looking the man up and down. “Is that you? Is sounds like you, but you look so old.”

“Hell and damnation, Rae, are trying to say this is your lost father?
”

The man smiled and placed
his hand gently upon Rae’s. “I wandered the lands but your mother is not found . . . instead I crawled through a cave to hear my daughter’s sound.”

“It is you!” Rae pushed up on one elbow, wrapping her arm around the m
an. “What happened to you, Papa? I missed you so much.”

“I hate to break up this
little family reunion,” mumbled Wolfe, but Lord Clive and his men are getting close. I need to go lead them away from here quickly. Now take this for your protection, Rae, in case they find you here.” He held out his dagger to her, but the old man scooped it up, looking at it, turning it around and around in his palm.

“Give that back!”  Wolfe didn’t want
a weapon in the hand of a madman, especially since he was leaving Rae alone with him.

“Lord Clive, did you say, oh wolf of the trees?” The man’s eyes took on an angry glow. “Then I’ll bring the man down, to his knees.”

“You’ll do naught of the sort, now give me the dagger, old man before you hurt someone.” Wolfe reached out to take it.

“Wolfe,” said Rae, pleading in her eyes. “Leave it. He’s not going to hurt me. He was once a warrior, same as you
. Don’t take this one last hope from him. He has naught left to live for, but mayhap his pride.”

Wolfe could hear the shouting of Lord Clive and his men getting closer. He ha
d to leave now or he’d lead them right to her.

“I’ll be back,” he said to Rae, perusing the old man, leery of h
is actions and odd words. “Stay here with your father, and try to regain your strength. And for god’s sake, don’t let the old man out of the cave.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said, t
hen looked up toward the man he’d rescued, who was still staring at the dagger, holding it up, trying to see his reflection in the polished metal. She smiled, and looked back to Wolfe. “
We’ll
be fine. Nothing bad can happen, now that after all these years I’ve finally found my father.”

Chapter 16

Sir Braden sat atop his horse, following the black wolf
that was guiding him deeper into the forest. Sir Theodore and Sir Norman followed right behind him, and another dozen of Wolfe’s knights as well.

Somewhere in the middle of the little entourage sat the old seer, Juturna, on a horse of her own. The old woman surprised Braden, as she sat on a saddle meant for a man, and kept up the pace as well.

“Hold up, men.” Sir Braden raised his arm to signal them, his shoulder wracked with pain. Juturna rode up next to him.

“You shouldn’t be out here, you should be in bed,” she scolded him. “That wound is never going to heal if you don’t rest.”

“I’ll rest when I’m dead,” he told her. “If Lord Wolfe is in trouble, then my duty is to protect him – and the girl. I’ll either do it, or die trying.”