The Invisible Ring (48 page)

“Your task is to defend,” Lia said sharply.

“I don’t like it,” Randolf said, shaking his head. “We’re not going to achieve anything. Gaining a few more minutes won’t change the outcome of the battle.”

Thera’s eyes were ice with a hint of green. “You don’t have to like it, Warlord. You just have to obey.”

After silencing Randolf with a searing look, Talon fixed his gaze on Lia.

“With respect, Lady, I say again—this web you and Lady Thera devised is an admirable protection, but it won’t get us out of here.”

Lia raised her chin. “Yes, it will.”

Frustrated, Jared raked his fingers through his hair. “How?”

They said nothing.

Seeing his own hurt mirrored in Blaed’s eyes, Jared pushed aside bruised feelings.

Blind trust. In the end, it always came down to blind trust because it was the ultimate test of the bond between a Queen and the males who serve her.

“It’s time to start,” Thera said, rising.

Silent, all the men except Jared, Talon, and Blaed left the room. When Lia rose, the three men formed a triangle around the two women, Talon automatically taking the point while Blaed and Jared each flanked his own Lady.

“Prince Talon, your presence is required,” Lia said when they stepped outside. She moved out of earshot and waited for the Sapphire-Jeweled Warlord Prince to join her.

Jared’s muscles quivered at the formal request. Before he could decide whether or not to insist on being part of that private conversation, Thera dragged him back inside the tavern.

She gave him a brittle smile that was probably meant to reassure him but, instead, turned his guts to water.

“I need some of your blood,” Thera said, holding up a small pewter cup.

“For the web.”

Power sang in the blood. Life sang in the blood.

And trust, like love, was one of the heart’s songs.

Jared pushed up his sleeve and offered his wrist.

She was quick, gentle, and far more careful about healing the nick in his wrist than he would have been.

Giving him another brittle smile, Thera put the cover on the cup and dashed to the Coach she and Lia were using to prepare this Queen’s gamble.

Stepping outside again, Jared eased closer to where Lia and Talon were still standing.

“If that’s what you want,” Talon said grimly, “a fast—”

“I told you what I want from you,” Lia replied. “Exactly what I want. Will you do it?”

Jared eased closer. The fierce unhappiness in Talon’s face made his heart beat strangely, as if it couldn’t decide to pound until it burst or just fade until it stopped.

“Promise me, Talon.” Lia gave Talon’s hand an urgent squeeze.

Talon looked at their clasped hands. His fingers curled around hers. When he finally spoke, his voice was heavy. “I swear by the Jewels and all that I am that I’ll do exactly as you asked.”

Leaning forward, Lia swiftly kissed Talon’s cheek. “Thank you.”

Then she noticed Jared and stepped back, blushing.

Still watching Lia, Talon’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Then his attention shifted to Jared for a moment. “If you’ll excuse me, Lady, I have some preparations to make.”

“Of course,” Lia murmured.

As Talon walked past Jared, he muttered, “May the Darkness have mercy on me,” and kept going until he reached his Warlords.

“Lia,” Jared said quietly, taking a couple of steps toward her.

Lia retreated. “I—I have to help Thera.”

There were shadows under her eyes from lack of sleep. There were shadows
in
her eyes, hiding so many things.

And there was that
something
he should understand about Jewels and psychic links that was still teasingly just out of reach.

“Lia, what is the Queen’s gamble?”

“What it’s always been.” Lia licked her lips. “That the males she’s assigned certain tasks to will perform those tasks exactly as requested. That they won’t allow themselves to become distracted by whatever else is happening—or whatever else they
think
is happening.”

“Lia . . .”

Her hand clamped on his forearm. “Jared, you must hold the web. You
must
. Everything depends on it.”

Jared swallowed hard. “I’ll hold it.”

What he saw in her eyes took his breath away.

Lia tried to smile. “I have to help Thera.”

When she tried to move away, he reached out and gathered her in his arms. “Once more,” he whispered, lowering his head. “Just once more.”

He kissed her gently, deeply.

Confused, he released her and stepped back. “Go help Thera.”

Jared watched as she hurried away from him. There was a tartness to her psychic scent that shouldn’t have been there. It didn’t fit her. Wasn’t like
her
.

“Jared.”

Putting that puzzle aside, Jared turned at the sound of Talon’s voice.

“What did she ask of you?” Jared demanded.

Talon gave him a considering look. “You know better than that.”

Yes, he knew better than to ask another male about a private request made by a Queen, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to know the answer.

Talon looked around, as if to make sure there was no one near enough to overhear them. Moving closer, he said quietly, “You’ve played chess with her?

”

“A couple of times.”

“Does this fit her pattern?”

Fool
, Jared thought.
You should have thought of this yourself
. He closed his eyes and pictured the game board. “If her stronger pieces aren’t acting as the main defense, they’re supporting minor pieces in an attack. She tends to pair strong pieces. A Warlord Prince with a Black Widow, for example.”

“How appropriate,” Talon murmured. “What about the Queen?”

“She—” Jared felt the blood drain out of his face. “Mother Night, Talon, what are they planning?”

Talon shook his head. “I don’t even want to guess. Something or someone put a nasty edge on Thera’s temper, and Lia’s always had the kind of courage that scares a man right down to the bone.”

“They work well together,” Jared said as he stared at the street without really seeing it.

Talon, too, stared at the street. “Yes, I imagine they do.”

An interesting way to spend an hour, Krelis thought as he picked up the discarded tunic and carefully cleaned his knife. A useful exercise.

Sheathing his knife, he studied his work. A crude effort compared to the High Priestess’s, but he hadn’t had the time nor the practice to equal her skills. At least, not yet.

Krelis smiled at his pet. “I think it’s time for you to fulfill the rest of our bargain.”

“Warlord! Shalador Warlord!” Krelis’s Craft-enhanced voice thundered over Ranon’s Wood. “Come to the curve in the road, Warlord. There’s something I want to show you.”

Jared took a couple of steps away from the Coach and stopped abruptly, surprised by Blaed’s and Talon’s hard, restraining hands.

“Don’t be a fool,” Talon growled quietly.

“Warlord! I want to show you something. No one will harm you.”

Lia and Thera came out of the Coach. Both pairs of narrowed eyes stared in the direction of the landing place.

“Is the little pleasure slave afraid to act like a man just once before he dies?” Krelis’s voice taunted.

Thera twitched a shoulder. “The web’s ready. It’s keyed to Jared. If anything happens to him, there’s no time to make another.”

“I’m going,” Jared said firmly.

Thera turned on him. “If you’re going to let a little cock-waving ruin everything we’ve planned—”

Jared cut her off. “He wants to show me something. I want him to keep his distance until this last game is ready to be played. If I don’t go out, he’ll come in.”

“Jared won’t be going alone,” Talon said.

Before Jared could object, Talon leaned closer and quietly added, “I know a few moves that would have you walking bowlegged for a month. So why don’t you make the Ladies happy and graciously accept the escort?”

Jared bared his teeth in a feral smile. “To please the Ladies.”

Talon returned the smile. “We live to serve, Warlord.” The unhappiness under the words kept Jared from arguing. If whatever Lia had asked of Talon went wrong, the man would welcome whatever the Hayllians did to him.

Knowing that, Jared rested a hand on Talon’s shoulder, and said softly,

“We live to serve.”

“You didn’t have to threaten me,” Jared growled a few minutes later as he, Talon, Blaed, Randolf, and three of Talon’s men walked to the curve in the road. “And I’m not a child who needs his hand held.”

“No, you’re not a child,” Talon agreed. “You’re just the only one of us who’s essential to the Ladies’ plan.”

Unable to argue with that, Jared clenched his teeth.

“You’re damned thin-skinned whenever anyone mentions pleasure slaves,”

Talon continued. He grinned. “A winter up in the mountains will give you a tougher hide. It’s colder than Hell up there. Nothing like a cold night to knock some sense into a man.”

“I haven’t said I was going with you.”

“You haven’t said you weren’t.”

Jared grunted.

They came around the curve in the road.

Jared took one more step before his legs froze.

Six Hayllians waited about two hundred yards down the road. One of them was a Sapphire-Jeweled Warlord.

Jared managed one glance at them before his eyes focused on the mutilated thing that was walking unsteadily toward him.

Talon sucked air through his teeth and let it out in a slow hiss.

Blaed shuddered.

Randolf whispered, “Mother Night.”

How could a man live when that much of him had been cut away? Jared wondered as his stomach twisted.

Halfway between the two groups of men, Brock raised his arms, his fingerless hands reaching, reaching.

“Warlord!” Krelis shouted. “Take a good look, Warlord! If you don’t bring the little Queen to the landing place in one hour, that’s what every male in the village will look like before we’re done. Do you understand me?”

Thank the Darkness his uncle Yarek hadn’t come with him, Jared thought.

The next hour would be hard enough for the villagers without their knowing what would come at the end of it.

“Do you like the feather, Warlord?” Krelis taunted. “Even a nonman should have something between his legs, don’t you think?”

“Let’s go,” Talon said. “We’re wasting time here.”

Blaed’s throat worked convulsively. “What about Brock?”

Snarling, Randolf raised his right hand. A bolt of power from his Purple Dusk ring struck Brock in the heart.

Brock jerked once, and then collapsed.

Randolf wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. “Not even a bastard like Brock deserves to have that done to him.”

Jared didn’t protest when Talon’s men hurried him back to the village. He didn’t argue about Talon, Blaed, and Randolf following after them, guarding their backs.

But he promised himself that, if Lia’s plan failed, his people wouldn’t suffer at the hands of that Hayllian bastard.

Even if he had to kill them himself.

Krelis watched the retreating men and smiled. At first, he’d felt disappointed that the Shalador Warlord hadn’t had the balls to come alone.

Now he was pleased that there had been other witnesses. Alone, the bastard could have denied what he’d seen. But those other males . . .

It wouldn’t take long for it to be whispered through the village. Once the males heard what was planned for them, they’d hand over the Queen. Only a fool wouldn’t try to buy a little mercy.

Maybe he’d bring the Shalador bastard back with him. It would cost a few men to drain the Warlord’s power enough to smash through the inner barriers and contain him, but it would be worth the cost.

He’d like to hand Lord Jared over to Dorothea. She would know just what to do with a male who’d caused her so much inconvenience.

Maybe she’d even let him watch.

Keeping his own fears and uncertainties locked away, Jared worked to send out a feeling of confidence to the villagers patiently waiting for Thera to add them to the psychic web she’d created within a tangled web.

No one spoke. No one even whispered to the person behind them. No one dared be the one to break Thera’s fierce concentration.

She pricked each villager’s finger, placed one drop of blood on a specific thread of the web she’d built, and then, using Craft, froze the blood in position so that the web began to look like a delicate silver necklace dotted with red beads.

Over and over again, moving swiftly as the minutes slipped away.

And each time she placed a drop of blood in its chosen place, Jared felt another mind added to the web. If he let his eyes unfocus, he could see it in his mind. But the web he saw with his inner vision didn’t have drops of blood, it had little Jewel stars—or clear beads for the Blood who weren’t strong enough to wear the Jewels. Some he could still recognize by their Jewels—Eryk and Corry, his uncle Yarek, Thayne—but as more and more people were added, their psychic scents began to blur and blend together.

The Hayllians would sense something odd, but they wouldn’t be able to find the source because
everyone
would become the source.

Which was basically the same trick Dorothea had used to hide Brock from Lia.

As he took a moment to admire Thera’s cunning, he also realized most of the Shalador witches were wearing tunics and trousers and had loosely braided their dark hair.

His pride in his people swelled at their courage.

Without being able to separate one psychic scent from another, there was no easy way to tell what Jewel each witch wore, and if the Hayllians didn’t get a good enough look to notice the golden skin, the witches could play

“hide the Queen” for hours—or at least long enough to prevent the Hayllians from unleashing a full attack before everything was ready.

He estimated they had a quarter of an hour left when Blaed and Talon stepped up to the web, the last two to be added. Everyone else had dispersed to various points in the village.

“There,” Thera said, rolling her shoulders as she stepped back from the web. She took a couple of deep breaths. Then she detached the two bottom tether threads from the wooden frame. Holding the web by the top tether threads, she lifted it from the frame and looked at Jared. “Take off your shirt.”