The Mountains Rise (9 page)

The oldest of Kate’s assailants had used the time to grab up Billy’s weapon
,
and with a mighty swing he floored Daniel. The branch caught him in the throat and
sent him flying backward. His head struck the rocks as he landed
,
and the world went dark for a moment.

He regained his awareness only seconds later, choking and spitting. He couldn’t breathe
and the world his eyes showed him was a horror of blurs and smeared colors. His other
sight worked fine though and he could clearly see Ronnie leering at Kate.

“I think he’s dead,” said Aston, looking concerned as he examined Seth once more.

“Who cares!” declared Billy.

Aston was the smartest of the three by far. “We should! Nobody cares about a scuffle,
but if he dies there’ll be hell to pay.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Ronnie, his voice carrying evil undertones. “If he’s dead
,
we’ll just throw his body in the river. By the time he fetches up against one of
the shores he’ll be out of the valley and in the deep woods. No one will find him
there.”

“What about her?” Aston said, reminding them there was more than one victim present.

“Same thing,” announced their ringleader. “After we have some fun, of course.”

“Him too, eh?” added Billy, indicating Daniel.

“You learn fast,” agreed Ronnie. “Is he awake?”

“I think so,” said Billy. “His eyes are rolling around, but he might be able to hear
us.”

“Good, prop him up a bit. I want him to see this.” Ronnie was removing his trousers
now.

Daniel’s vision cleared as Billy lifted his head
,
and he could see Kate watching him. Her green eyes were wet with tears
,
but he could tell by her aura that she was more worried about him than she was herself.

“Please, Ronnie,” she said softly. “Let him go. Just let him go
,
and I won’t tell anyone. I’ll do what you want.”

Aston chuckled from where he watched, “She still loves the sheep-fucker.”

Daniel’s body felt as if it had turned to jelly. He could move his legs but they
were weak
,
and he knew they wouldn’t support him. He was helpless. Without knowing what else
to do
,
he reached out toward Ronnie with his mind, touching his aura. The contact was gentle
at first, a product of his practice with so many women, but he channeled his rage
,
and instead of manipulating the young man’s aura he gripped it, twisting and pulling
with all of his strength.

Ronnie turned at the first contact, staring at Daniel oddly
,
and then he began to scream. His face contorted and blood began to run from his
nose. “What are you doing?” he cried, pain making his words nearly unintelligible.

Daniel’s power surged as he began to get a better feel for what he was doing. The
strange light that only he could see built and illuminated the world around him.
He could feel his own power now, and he realized that the main limits on it had been
created by his own fear. Unleashing the restraints
,
he seized Ronnie’s mind and twisted harder, ripping and tearing.

Ronnie collapsed and his scream was cut off. Blood ran freely from his eyes and ears,
as well as his nose and mouth, while his body twitched and convulsed spasmodically.
He died in near silence, but for the grotesque sound of his limbs flopping against
the hard earth.

Billy and Aston watched in horror as their friend died. They couldn’t understand
what was happening
,
but they felt intuitively that it was somehow Daniel’s doing. As they looked at
him in terror
,
he threatened them. “Billy Hedger
,
I curse you for the r
est of your life;
you too, Aston. If either of you ever come near her again I’ll boil the blood in
your veins and make you beg me to let you die.”

They ran, not daring to look back even once.

Kate was staring at him intently. Her tears were gone
,
but the expression on her face left him in no doubt. She knew him now. His evil
had shown itself plainly. Now she understood.

“I’m sorry, Cat,” he told her, trying to roll over so he could crawl closer. “I’m
so sorry.” A wave of nausea swept over him
,
and his head grew dark as he lifted it. The world shrank into a cold tiny point
and then he knew no more.

Daniel woke to the feeling of what seemed to be the beginning of a summer rain. Large
warm drops were falling to land heavily on his cheeks and forehead. Warm air caressed
his face, bringing a sweet scent he knew but couldn’t name.

If there’s a heaven this is what it should feel like,
he mused.
I would have died sooner if I had known it might be like this.

“Please don’t let him die.” The voice that carried those words was Kate’s
,
and when he opened his eyes he could see her praying over him. The warm raindrops
turned out to be her tears
,
and the breeze was a product of her heaving chest. Her eyes were squeezed tightly
shut as she prayed
,
and as he opened his mouth to reassure her
,
a fresh tear landed on his upper lip. Tasting the salt of it brought a strange peace
to his heart.

“I’m still here, Kate,” he told her quietly.

A flash of viridian impaled him as her eyes shot wide. Soft red curls cascaded down
around him as she released her hair to put her hands on either side of his face.
Leaning down she put her cheek against his and wept some more, letting the sorrow
drain slowly out of her, until at last she was still.

Daniel’s arms seemed to be working much more reliably now
,
and he used them to cradle her against him. Neither of them spoke. Not daring to
interrupt that one perfect moment, he used his mind to
silently
explore their surroundings. Ronnie Banks
laid
not far away, his body utterly still. There was no movement in him, neither his
lungs nor his heart moved. He was dead.

Aston and Billy were nowhere to be found. Seth was close by
,
and to Daniel’s relief his heart still beat strongly. Seth’s eyes were closed and
his breathing slow
,
so Daniel thought he must still be unconscious. His aura gave the appearance of
someone
who
was sleeping.

Blue?
Anxiously he sought his dog. He found him not on the slope below but lying beside
him. His first reaction was to think that Blue had returned to
lie
there, but a second later he knew that Blue was dead.

Kate had gone to find him
,
and brought him back to lie beside his master. She was still naked and injured,
but that had been her first action after checking on her two male companions. If
Daniel had ever wondered at the reasons he loved her, those doubts disappeared then.

Blue’s death brought out his own tears
,
and he began to cry along with her, letting the pain tear away the wall he had kept
between himself and his emotions. He cried like a child, without shame or restraint,
until there was nothing left. Still she clung to him.

Her naked skin was smooth under his hands, but his baser instincts never rose to the
fore. When they eventually separated and found their feet he looked at her, studying
the dirt and bruises that had marked her lithe figure.

She stared back at him, unashamed of her nudity. She wore her bare skin with the
dignity of a queen.

“We need to get him up to the house,” said Daniel, looking at Seth.

“I wasn’t strong enough to drag either of you up the hill,” admitted Kate.

That surprised him. He hadn’t realized he had been so completely unconscious. “How
long was I out?”

“Close to an hour,” she told him.

“Damn.” Bending down he worked to arrange Seth’s limbs until he could get his arms
beneath his friend’s knees and shoulders. Letting out a slow groan he stood, lifting
Seth from the ground. “I think I can get him all the way,” he told her, “If you’ll
carry…” His voice choked before he could say
“
Blue
”
.

She nodded, understanding immediately
,
and together they carried Seth and the dog up to her house.

Daniel worried about seeing Brenda when they got there, but he dismissed the thought
instantly
. There were far more important things to think about. “Does your mother know anything
about wound tending?” he asked.

“She isn’t home,” responded Kate. “Seth came by to tell me how she was doing.”

“Seth?”

“She’s staying at his house. His mother is taking care of her,” explained Kate.

“Why?” asked Daniel, more confused than ever. “If she was sick
,
she could have asked my parents. We’re closer by.”

Kate shook her head, “She wouldn’t hear of it.”

“What was wrong with her?” he continued. He thought he could see why she might avoid
his parents’ help, but things still seemed odd. He had been in town many times over
the past few weeks
,
and none of the women in town had mentioned anything about Brenda Sayer being seriously
ill.

“Nothing wrong exactly, she was pregnant, Daniel. Seth came to tell me that I’ve
got a baby sister,” said Kate at last. She said the words with both shame and wonder.

They had finally reached the house
,
and once they were inside Daniel deposited Seth carefully onto Brenda Sayer’s bed.
He stared at Kate, unable to find words.

Before he could think of anything she went on, “She won’t say who the father is.
That’s why she hid it. Seth’s parents promised not to tell anyone.”

“Oh.”

They made Seth as comfortable as possible, removing his shirt and using wet cloths
to sponge the dirt out of the wound on the side of his head. It wasn’t bleeding any
longer
,
and his breathing seemed normal. Not knowing what else to do
,
they withdrew.

“You should probably put something on,” Daniel told her, glancing at her body. He
hadn’t paid much attention before
,
but now he found his eyes drawn to the smooth curves that adorned her. Throughout
their entire misadventure she had shown not the first sign of self-consciousness in
front of him.

“You’ve seen it before,” she observed.

While he had seen many women naked over the past few months, he had never seen Kate
bare-skinned. He was pretty sure he would have remembered that. Looking at her once
more he reaffirmed that thought,
I definitely would have remembered that.

“No I haven’t,” he protested,
and
then he reconsidered. They had gone swimming together a few times as children. He
didn’t think that counted, though. She had changed a lot since then.

“The others,” she said plainly.

Daniel looked away, suddenly understanding. The dark shadow began to close around
his heart again. He hadn’t realized that she had heard the rumors.

She left and returned a minute later, now wearing a plain white shift. It looked
like the sort of gown she might use to sleep in. Taking him by the hand she led him
to her room and indicated that he should sit on the bed.

“I feel a lot better already,” he told her, thinking it would be better to clean the
dried blood from her cheek before trying to make him lay up like an invalid.

Kate pushed him down and sat close beside him. When he tried to rise she held onto
him, using her weight to keep him there. “No. This is the first time since
whatever
happened at the dance that you’ve spoken a single word to me. I won’t let you go
until you talk.”

He looked away.

She climbed in beside him and curled up, putting her head on his chest and throwing
one leg over his. “If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. You can lay there for
the rest of your life if you want. We can both stay here, but you aren’t stepping
one foot out of this room until you tell me everything.”

The idea was a pleasant one. He thought he could easily spend his life that way.
“If you knew the truth you’d be afraid to come within a mile of me, Kate. I stayed
away because I wanted to protect you
,
and I didn’t talk because I couldn’t bear the thought of you hating me.”

“Protect me from what?” she asked without a trace of fear.

“From me.”

“Is this something to do with what happened to Ronnie?”

He nodded.

“Was that really you?” she probed.

Daniel shut his eyes, “I killed him.”

“You’re god-touched,” she said suddenly. That was the term sometimes used for the
humans
who
served the forest gods. The wardens often displayed strange abilities that had no
easy explanation. Consequently rumors had sprung up that their close connection to
the forest gods had given them powers of their own.

“It’s nothing to do with the gods, Kate. There’s something evil inside me, something
wrong. It isn’t just the power either. I barely understand that, but some of the
things I’ve done. I’m turning into a monster,” he confessed.

She pulled on his chin until they were face to face. “Open your eyes,” she ordered.

“No.”

She kissed him, not lightly, but with depth and passion. After a few second she drew
back, “Open your eyes or I’ll keep doing that until you do.”

“What is wrong with you?” he asked. “You’re playing with fire.”

“Why?” she returned. “Because you’re a dangerous villain? Because you’re some sort
of love demon that has seduced half the women in town? Because soon you’ll lose control
and take hold of me with your evil power, tainting me as you have so many others?”

Her words cut to the heart of him
,
and he stared at her aghast. Clearly she knew quite well what he was thinking, and
just as clearly she knew a lot about his recent depravity. “Yes,” he answered.

“That’s complete bullshit!”
she told him fiercely. H
e was stunned to hear her swearing for the second time in one day. It was completely
un-Kate-like behavior.

“I’ve known you since we were barely able to walk. I’ve seen you caring for animals.
I’ve seen you holding a newborn lamb after helping to turn it. We’ve run and fought
and cried over the course of the years as we grew up. You’re possibly the kindest,
most gentle man I will ever know. Whatever happened that has made you think you’re
evil, or worthless, whatever it is—it’s false. And if that’s the reason you pushed
me away and started sleeping with every depraved woman that was willing to spread
her legs, then you’re an idiot!” she finished.

Not for the first time Daniel realized that he had completely underestimated Catherine
Sayer. She had not only discovered a large portion of his crimes
,
but she had in some bizarre way, already forgiven him for them, at least in part.

She was obviously deranged.

“The only part I don’t understand,” she continued, “is why some of them did it. Some
of them seemed like good people, not the sort to take those kind
s
of risks.”

“I was very persuasive,” he said simply.

“You mean your new power?” she asked. “So you really do think you’re some sort of
love demon?”

He nodded.

“When was the first time?” she asked. After a couple of minutes of waiting she prodded
him again, “You might as well tell me. I already know a lot of it anyway. Talk to
me!”

“The first time I was with a woman?” he asked cautiously.

She nodded, “The first time you used your gift to seduce someone.”

Those were two different questions
,
but he wasn’t about to talk about her mother. “I think it was a month or two after
the dance.”

“Who was it?”

“Alice Hayes. It was sort of an accident that time.”

She gasped. “No one knew about her.”

“No one?” He was beginning to wonder about the source of her information.

“A lot of the women in town have begun to talk about you. Some confessed, others
are just rumored to have been with you. They claim you bewitched them,” she explained.

Now he was even more alarmed. “Do their husbands know?”

She shook her head, “No, though some may suspect. So far the ladies of Colne have
been keeping the gossip amongst themselves. If it had just been one or two
,
they might have let it get out, but I think you compromised so many of them they’re
all afraid to tell anyone.”

He tried to pull away from her again
,
but she refused to let go. “Why are you still holding onto me?” he asked as he relaxed
again. “Any sane girl would run screaming in the other direction.”

“Is that really the best way you can think of to apologize?”

A spark of anger lit in him then, “Why would I do that?”

“Because, of all the women you’ve known, I’m the only one you’ve ever loved, and I’m
the only one
who
loves you. If you apologize to anyone, before we even consider all the rest, you
should be apologizing to me,” she said bluntly. Her eyes had grown red as she spoke.