The Duke and the Dryad (Elemental Series) (2 page)

She knew she didn’t have it
in her heart to kill the animal. She could already feel its life slipping away, as the druids must have given the bull a large dose of the poisonous herb. She could save it, she was sure, as she had knowledge of the herbs to counteract the poison. But she knew the animal had already accepted its fate as a sacrifice to the gods. So instead, she laid a hand on the bull’s head, and told it with her mind that its death was not going to be in vain. The druids were correct in saying that the spirit of a person or animal at death would someday be reincarnated – to live again.

“’Tis time,” Hump
hrey told her. “You need to sacrifice the animal now while the moon is high.”

She struggled within what to do, and that’s when she heard the trees call out to her
, warning her that danger had entered the forest. She hesitated, and the chief druid did not like this. He took the axe into his own hands and raised it high, voicing the words that would appease the gods.

“Taranis, sky god of thunder and the almighty oaks, accept our sacrifice, great god of beneficence and plenty,” cried out the druid.

Rae-Nyst felt a shudder wrack her body, knowing ’twas too late for the bull in this lifetime. The druid’s ritual had started, and there was naught she could do to stop the sacrifice once it’d begun. Her only reassuring thought was that this sacrificial bull would be back again in another lifetime. She closed her eyes and helped the spirit of the bull cross over to the other side.

Wolfe charged through the forest on horseback, a burning torch in his hand to guide his way. A dozen of his men followed close behind, but they moved too slowly in the darkness for his liking. He broke away and headed toward the stone ring just at the clearing of the mighty oaks.

He knew th
is druid circle well, as ’twas the place he used to sneak to as a child to watch the pagans, especially during a full moon. This had also been the place where his mother lost her life, thanks to him. He would never forgive himself for telling his father the whereabouts of the druids. His father hated the druids and their heathen ways, and now Wolfe hated them as well.

He could see the white
hooded robes of the druids within the henge as he approached. The moonlight spilled down upon them, lighting up the midst of the stone circle, giving it an eerie, mysterious appearance. He didn’t like coming back here, as it brought too many memories to the surface of which he’d rather forget. He pushed forward, anxious to retrieve his bull and head back to the castle. He wanted naught more than to be out of this night air and far away from his past memories. As far away as possible.

But
when he rode closer and heard the chanting and shouting from within, he knew he was too late. The deed was done.

“Nay!” he cried, jumping from his horse, torch in one hand and unsheathing his sword with the other. He rushed i
nto the outer stone circle only to stop dead in his tracks by the horrific site that greeted him further within.

His prized bull was tied
down with many ropes and laid atop a huge flat stone. In the moonlight he could see the carved adders encircling the outer rim of the sacrificial altar. Two phallic-looking standing stones were on each side, a carved spiraling snake with an egg in its mouth etched into each. And then his eyes fell upon his rare, white bull. Blood-splattered and not moving, his heart sank to see it was already slaughtered. He was too late, and because of it, his animal was now dead.

“What the
hell have you done?” he shouted, fighting back the anger that was threatening to unleash itself on these unarmed people. Flashes of memory ripped through his brain of the night his own father sent out a raid on the druids, killing every one of them that were present – including his own mother. Had his father known his mother was hidden under a robe, he would have called off the attack. And had Wolfe told his father his mother’s secret, none of it would have happened this way. If only he hadn’t been so stupid at the young age of eight to tell a man who hated druids where to find them. And if only Wolfe had known about the raid ahead of time, he could have stopped his mother from being killed and also saved his father from taking his own life afterwards when he realized what he had done.

T
he anger growing within him through the years was now rising to the surface. He felt like killing every one of the druids for the sins of those of the past, convincing his mother to turn from her Christian ways. But he wasn’t one to strike down those that were unarmed and helpless. That’s where he differed from his late father.

He was used to dealing with warriors and facing those who put up a fight. He knew he wouldn’t get a fight from these pagans, and that only made it harder for him, as he really wanted to strike out and make them pay for what they’d done.

He could hear his men approaching from behind. The circle of druid priests looked over to him, but his eyes fastened on the odd girl standing over the bull with the bloodied axe in her hand.

“This is a sacr
ed circle,” called out the man behind the girl whom he figured was in charge. “You and your men are not allowed in here and neither are your weapons.”

His men dismounted and ran to join him.

“I find that amusing since you’ve just used a weapon to slaughter my prized bull -which, by the way, you also stolen from me.”

“We did not
steal it,” said the man. “Rae-Nyst brought it to us at our request.”

“Who is
Rae-Nyst?” he asked.

“I am.” The girl with the axe stepped forward, firelight from his torch lighting up her clear green eyes
, reminding him of the plants of the forest.

She was dressed not in
plain white robes, but rather a colorful long gown of green trimmed with pink. Long scalloped sleeves hung well past her knuckles. Her hands were covered with green fabric, her fingers emerging from underneath, giving her the essence of royalty - perhaps even a queen.

Her hai
r was long and oaken in hue with the front died some exotic pink by berries or roots he guessed. Her head was crowned with mistletoe and ivy. Flowers of various colors were interwoven throughout. And the oddest thing about the girl was the painting on her skin. Pink and green flowers, berries, and fauna, traveled up the left side of her face and arched over one eye. And now that he looked at her closer, he realized he was mistaken. For believe it or not, there was something even odder about her yet. ’Twas her ears. He couldn’t see clearly in the dark, and they were partially hidden beneath her headpiece, but he was sure they were slightly pointed at the tips, giving her an otherworldly appearance.

“You!” he ground out, feeling the anger inside him growing with each drop of blood that dripped from the axe
in her hand onto the ground at her feet. He hated Druidism and this did naught to quench the fires that burned within him. “You stole my bull and killed it and now you will all pay. I should kill each and every one of you in exchange for the death of my bull.” His own words shocked him, and he felt his warrior father’s blood pumping furiously through his veins.

He raised his sword and motioned f
or his men to come closer. He moved forward into the inner circle, and immediately the druids all knelt – but not in homage or fear of him. Instead, their attention was on the odd girl they’d called Rae-Nyst.

“
Guardian of the forest and of all nature, come to our aid and protect us from the blades of the soldiers,” cried out the chief druid.

Wolfe was confused, as they seemed to be
talking to the odd girl, instead of one of their pagan gods.

Before he
had a chance to tell his men to do anything, the girl named Rae-Nyst dropped the hatchet and raised her hands in the air. She closed her eyes and threw her head back to let the full moon bathe her face.

Wolf
e hesitated, mesmerized by her exotic beauty. The moonlight illuminated her skin, her delicate features taking on a sense of power and strength. He felt so awed by the girl that he didn’t know what was happening until he heard the shouts of his men and also felt something winding around his ankle. He looked down to see vines of the forest creeping along the ground and wrapping around each of his men, tightening and bringing them to their knees. The vines moved upwards, wrapping around their hands and bodies next, so they couldn’t move. He took his sword and severed the vine, but two more sprung from the cut end instead.

“What is happening, Lord Wolf
e?” shouted Sir Braden, finding the same thing happening to him, though he was yet to be immobilized by the vines.

“I don’t know,” he answered, baffled by the whole situation.
He had never seen anything like this in his life.

“’Tis the girl,” shouted another of his men
, struggling on the ground as a vine wrapped around his neck. “She is bewitched and commanding this to happen. She is using magick. She means to kill us, the witch!”

“Nonsense,” he replied,
not wanting to believe any of this was real. But his men were falling fast, and his sword was useless against these woody warriors. Then he looked to his other hand, having an idea of something that may just stop it after all. He took his torch and moved it toward the attacking vine. The greenery almost seemed to back away from the fire. He could have sworn he heard a scream as he touched the flame to it, causing a small sizzling puff of smoke to waft up into the air. Immediately, the earthen soldier pulled away, releasing him from its grip.

“Use your torches,” he called out
to his men. “Use the fire to burn it.”

“Nay!” came the girl’s voice as she rushed forward. “Do not harm the vines with fire.”

He turned abruptly, his torch coming near her in the process. Her eyes opened wide and she backed away. She was obviously afraid of fire, same as the vines at his legs.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Afraid of a little fire, but not afraid of slaughtering a defenseless creature with a blade?”

She held one hand up to block her face from the flame. He could have been mistaken, but he thought he saw her body tremble.

“Put out the torch,” she said
in a shaky, soft voice. “And don’t use it on the vines anymore, please.”

“
You give me one reason to adhere to your wishes after you just killed my best bull.”

Rae-Nyst hadn’t killed the bull, Humphrey had. She’d grabbed the blade from the druid’s hand when she’d heard the forest crying out to her for help, warning her that
Duke the Destroyer
had come. His name as well as his hardened reputation was known throughout the lands of Manterra and even neighboring lands such as Thorndale and Lornoon – the villages by the sea. He had on more than one occasion burned towns to the ground in the rage of battle, for reasons no one could quite understand. He had the means to destroy all right, and no morals or qualms about doing it either. He’d take a life without blinking and think naught of it. But now, one bull was sacrificed and he acted like ’twas a catalyst of an all-out war.

She had to be careful not to anger him further. She knew that with one spark of his
torch her whole forest could go up in flame. Fire was her weakness and drained the life essence from her quickly. Her feet on the earth, and just touching the trees and plants gave her strength. She was the elemental guardian of the forest, and she would do anything – anything at all to protect it from the likes of people like him.

“I am sorry for your loss,” sh
e said. “But the animal knew ’twas a sacrifice to the gods and gave its life willingly. It did not suffer.”

“Now you are really making me angry
with your addlepated words. And mayhap the bull didn’t suffer, but when I am through, every last one of you druids will suffer immensely. Believe me on that one.”

“There is no need for that. I am sure we can thin
k of something to give you in exchange for the bull. Mayhap food from the earth, or even wood if need be.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. That was a prize
d, rare, white bull, and worth more than any berries or roots you could possibly offer. I need a life for a life. That’s the only fair exchange. Now tell me, do you have any other bulls stashed away for future sacrifices? ’Twould not match my bull’s worth, but being the fair man that I am, I may consider it.”

“Nay,” she answered.
“As it was, the sacrifice called for two white bulls, but we only had the one. We live simply. The only animals here are the ones that live off the land in the forest.”

“That will never do, and unless you want a war, you’d better come up with another alternative quickly. I am losing my patience
, and I am not known for being a compromising man.”

“Take one of us in exchange
,” came the desperate voice of the chief druid.

“What?” Wolfe asked, and noticed the girl’s eyes open wide by the man’s comment, as she seemed just as surprised as he.

“What are you saying, Humphrey
?” asked the girl. “That one of you would be willing to go with
The Destroyer
as a sacrifice?”

“Not a sac
rifice,” said Wolfe, “as that won’t replace my loss. I would take one of you back to the castle as my servant instead. ’Twill be someone to tend to my every need and do backbreaking work in my fields each day. Now that I am short an animal, I need someone to pull the plow. That was my breeder you killed as well. Not sure how you’ll remedy that!”