This Battle Lord's Quest (9 page)

Branches cracked.

Atty unbuckled her belt and leaped to her feet, bow
at ready. Across the way, she could see Paxton nodding to sleep. Renken was not
visible from where she was.

“Warren!”

“Uh. Huh?” He lifted his head, appearing dazed, but
his hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

The bushes to her left swayed. Smaller trees bowed.
Whatever was moving through the dense forest was big.

“Garet!”

“I see it, too,” a voice answered behind her.

“Can you tell what it is?”

“Not yet, but I see it’s headed straight for us.”

The brush moved again, as if the creature was
hesitating between steps. Atty sniffed the air, but the animal wasn’t close
enough for her to catch its scent. She lifted the bow and sighted down the
arrow’s shaft.

It lumbered into view like grayish-brown smoke. The
wide head was lowered as it sniffed the ground. When it reached the clearing,
it raised its big black nose and stared directly at Atty. Arrow ready, she
waited to see what the animal would do.

Without warning, it snarled and launched itself
into the clearing. Atty fired immediately into one of the black eyes. The arrow
buried itself so far into the pupil, it completely disappeared.

The animal convulsed and shrieked. But instead of
running away, it lowered its head and charged, aiming for Atty’s tree.

“Hold your ground!” she shouted to the two men.

She vaguely heard Renken yell, “It’s a coon!”
before the immense creature slammed its shoulder against the trunk. The tree
shook violently, but Atty managed to hold on.

The coon screamed again. Blood poured from its eye
in a watery red mixture as it
 
combined
with the clear vitreous fluid from its eyeball. The solution shone like glass
across the black strip that looked like a mask across its face.

The coon looked up at her and screeched. Enormous
tusks extended from its upper and lower jaws. It hit the tree again, trying to
dislodge her.

“Hold on, Atty!’ Paxton yelled.

Renken tore off a tree limb and threw it at the
animal. “Get away from her!”

The limb didn’t distract it. The creature knew Atty
was responsible for the agony in its eye, and its sole focus was to exact
revenge on her.

The coon reared up on its hind legs, and for the
first time Atty saw how big the animal was. The snout nosed almost directly
under her feet. Spotting her, its one remaining eye glittered with rage. It
opened its mouth to bare its teeth, and Atty let fly another arrow into the
coon’s throat.

Enraged and wounded, the coon reached up to try and
knock her off the branch. Its foot-long claws dug into the wood, nearly
severing the limb when the coon jerked its paws away.

Suddenly, it let out another scream of pain.
Roaring in anger, the coon turned on the person swinging his sword behind it.
Paxton twirled, sword aloft, and with both hands on the hilt, brought the
finely-honed edge down at the base of the thick tail. This second time, the
sword managed to slice all the way through the skin and bone.

The coon fell onto its back and writhed. Blood
gushed from the base of its spine. Atty watched as Renken tried to approach the
animal from the side, but the wicked claws swiping the air in wide arcs
prevented him from approaching close enough to strike.

Paxton raised his sword, blade pointing downward,
and launched himself at the beast, running toward its damaged rear. Without
warning, the coon snarled and whipped around to face the soldier. Atty screamed
a warning, but one enormous hand-like paw reached for the Second before he had
the chance to retreat. Instead, Paxton tried to duck. The paw swiped at him,
missing his head, but catching the man’s shoulder. Paxton hit the ground and
slid several feet through the muddy undergrowth.

Atty looked down to see the animal’s back. She
aimed right at where she believed the neck and spine met, and prayed the arrow
would penetrate that far.

A figure jumped on the creature and dug in, holding
on with both hands as the coon realized it had a rider. Too late to prevent
herself from firing, Atty managed to lift her bow a micro-second before the
arrow left the bow. The metal barb plunged into the top of the soft, sensitive
part of its nose, and the animal reared up on its hind legs as it screamed in
agony. For a second, Renken managed to keep his grip as he dangled from the
thing’s back.

The coon reached to pluck out the arrow, giving the
ex-mercenary the chance he’d been seeking. Pulling out his sword, he plunged it
hard into the animal’s backbone, and the piercing cry nearly broke her
eardrums. It stood up again, but this time the coon deliberately threw itself
on its back. Renken tried to leap away, but the creature landed on top of him
with a loud, ground-shaking
whump!

Atty began firing at the soft underbelly. She had
to dispatch the coon as quickly as possible so she could go to the two men and
check their injuries. Tears threatened to blur her vision, and she hastily
wiped them away with the back of her wrist. She didn’t want to believe Paxton
and Renken was dead. She couldn’t let herself believe it. In the back of her
mind, she wondered how she was going to get both of them back to the compound
if they were critically injured, but first she had to kill the coon. To hell
with the meat.

The animal rolled over. Its fur was bloodsoaked,
and it moved sluggishly. Atty paused to look for Renken, but the beast blocked
all sight of him. The coon peered up at her and bared its fangs. Less than ten
feet separated them. Nocking one of her last two arrows, Atty aimed for the
beast’s remaining eye. The last thing she expected was for the animal to launch
itself at her, its arm extended, a fingered hand with its long claws reaching.

The
moment she fired, she knew she’d missed. The coon hit the branch where she was
standing. Atty felt her feet leave the branch, and she scrambled to grab
another limb to prevent herself from falling. In the next instant, the paw
struck her, slamming her sideways against the tree trunk. Atty felt a black
haze drop over her like a hot, wet blanket. The last thing she saw was the
beast’s snout looming downward, its jaws open.
* * *

Panting heavily, the coon nosed all three bodies
lying motionless in the clearing. It was dazed and in intense pain, but it was
also hungry. Making a decision, it picked up one body in its jaws, and
proceeded to carry it away to feast on it later.

Chapter
Ten

Alive

The last time Renken remembered ever being in this
much pain, he had almost died. This was worse.

He couldn’t move, except to open his eyes. It was
dark. Insects were making noise. The fire crackled nearby. Overhead, he could
make out shadows flickering beneath the leaves as the flames danced.

He could barely draw breath. His chest felt like it
had been caved in. Memory of something big and furry pounding down on top of
him started to bring more detail back to him.

“Atty?” Trying to speak was agony.

His right arm was stretched outward. He flexed his
fingers, but the familiar curve of the hilt of his sword was not within reach.

Something snuffled, as if rooting for food.

Slowly, Renken turned to look to his left. A small
deer or perhaps antelope searched the perimeter of the clearing. Noticing
movement, it raised its pronged head and stared at him, then darted away into
the underbrush.

Renken turned to look in the other direction. At
the very edge of his vision he could see a boot sole. Gradually, he managed to
lift his chin until he caught sight of the pants leg.

Paxton.

Clutching his chest, he managed to roll over. He
checked to see if he could move his legs, then his arms. They worked without
giving him any further agony. He was alive, but there was no telling if he had
any internal injuries. From the way his chest felt, he was certain he had some
broken ribs, if not his sternum.

He stared at the soldier lying a few yards away. It
took a moment for him to detect the bare discernible rise and fall of breath
beneath the covering of mud and debris, but it was enough to let him know the
Second was alive. How much alive, or how close to death, he couldn’t tell.

“Warren?”

Fuck, it hurt to breathe.

He began crawling toward the man, moving on his
side rather than on his belly. Going was slow in the mud, but he finally
managed to drag up beside the soldier. Immediately, he could see the problem. A
huge, ugly gash ran diagonally from Paxton’s left shoulder, down across his
chest to his right hip. The coon’s claws had barely marked him, but if they had
fully connected, the man would be shredded slivers instead of lying here
intact.

Renken stared at the wound. Incredibly, when the
animal had swiped him, the force of the blow had thrown Paxton onto the ground,
where he had rolled in the wet clay. When he’d come to an unconscious stop, the
mud blanketing him had sealed the wound, preventing the man from bleeding to
death. Renken didn’t dare try to lift the natural patch to see how deep the
wound might be, although a little blood tried to ooze out from beneath the
seal.

“You are one lucky son of a bitch, Paxton.”

He glanced around, but there was no sign of Atty.
His internal alarms went off as he realized she wasn’t there. Her absence could
only mean one thing.

The coon had carried her off.

There was no other possibility because he knew deep
in his soul Atty would never leave them to pursue the animal on her own. No,
she was either unconscious or dead, and the coon had absconded with her,
perhaps to feast on her.

Miraculously, his water bag was still tied to his
weapons belt. Renken snagged it and brought it to his mouth, drinking deeply.
It hurt like hell afterward, but his head felt clearer.

There was no way he could go look for Atty. If it
had been just himself, he wouldn’t have given a second thought about trying to
track her, in spite of his injuries. But right now, Paxton needed medical
attention, and as soon as humanly possible. Somehow, Renken had to get them
back to Alta Novis and let Yulen know what had happened. The Battle Lord would
send out a rescue team to search for her.

“First things first,” he muttered. It was at least
two day’s journey back to Alta Novis. In his condition, and knowing he would have
to carry Paxton, three days.

That is, if a hungry meat eater didn’t try to
finish off what a fucking raccoon had started.

Chapter
Eleven

Wait

“You said
how
long?” Yulen demanded.

“They left us early this morning,” Fortune
repeated. “She promised she wouldn’t be gone more than a week.”

“And you let her go?” He could feel his anger
rising, but he knew it was useless. Before the Mutah hunter could respond,
Yulen bowed his head, although his hand continued to nervously rub the pommel
of the sword strapped to his side. “Forgive me, Fortune. I shouldn’t take my
fear out on you. We both know how Atty is when she gets a notion in her head.”

“She’s like a snake with a tasty rat,” Fortune
agreed. “You can try to snatch that rat away from her. You can fight her from
sun up to sun down, but she won’t budge. She won’t give in. You might as well
let her swallow the damn thing and get on with it.”

Yulen ran a hand through his hair. Across the hall,
Mattox was seated at a table where Mastin was carving another wooden animal.
The toddler was watching in silent fascination at the way the soldier’s knife
could transform a plain stick of wood into a wondrous toy.

“She went south?”

“That’s what she said.”

Yulen frowned at him. “What she said? You didn’t
see her go?”

“I told you. She, Paxton, and Renken were gone
before we roused.”

“Sir?” Berta stood to the side, wiping her hands on
her apron.

“Yes, Berta?”

“The meat’s been quartered and portioned up. Want
us to dole it out now? Or wait until morning?”

“Go ahead and send runners to let those who are
allowed a share to come get theirs.” The Battle Lord turned back to Fortune.
“Tell me her plan again.”

He waited as Fortune took a deep breath. The
hunting party had arrived back at the compound less than an hour ago, and Yulen
had immediately become agitated when he saw Atty hadn’t been with them.

“She had a hunch that maybe by moving over a mile
or so, and then continuing east, they might hit bigger game. Or more of it.”

“But you’d already come across the pines,” Yulen
noted.

“Yes, but we noticed their tracks came from the
south. The animals had been on the move when we ran across them.”

 
Walking
over to the fireplace, Yulen began pacing as he thought aloud. “You parted ways
before sunup. She was going to head south for approximately an hour, then
continue proceeding east?”

“That was her plan.”

“And continue east for another couple of days, or
until she managed to catch more game.” Yulen paused. “How the hell would they
manage to bring back something large, even if they did manage to kill it?”

Fortune chuckled. “Yulen, there’s a dozen ways any
decent hunter can bring back his catch. Don’t forget how strong she is, either.
Plus, she has two of your best men with her.”

Mastin glanced over at the Battle Lord. “Why not
give them a week and see what they bring back? I’ll bet a week’s wages they
return before then with as much meat as Fortune did.”

“I’ll take that bet!” Fortune laughed.

Yulen managed a wan smile. The moment he hadn’t
seen Atty walking amid the other hunters across the clearing that separated the
forest from the compound walls, alarm bells had gone off in his head. Despite
Fortune’s reassurances, his fears continued to plague him, and his worry
steadily grew.

He remembered a conversation a few months ago, when
she had been late returning from a brief trip to New Bearinger. She had gone
there to instruct his archers stationed at the rebuilt compound, to help them
improve their techniques and skills. She and the small platoon he’d assigned to
go with her had been scheduled to return by noon. But by dusk, when there still
hadn’t been any sign of them, he’d become frantic. He had gathered a small
army, and was about to head out to the other compound, when she and his men
finally appeared.

He had blown up at her after discovering the reason
for their late arrival was because she had spent some time picking herbs and
other vegetation from the roadside.

“You delayed an entire platoon, just so you could
pick flowers?” he angrily accused her. He had practically dragged her from the
main lodge to their own home before accosting her. Now they stood in the middle
of their living area, almost nose to nose, as he berated her.

“I needed the herbs,” she hotly defended herself.
“The ones I need have a short growing period, plus those damn things are hard
to find as it is!”

“You put my men in possible danger!”

Her expression became almost livid. “Do you
honestly believe I would put any of those men in harm’s way? Do you think I
would stop to gather those medicinals if for one second I thought we might be
attacked?”

She had a point. Yulen knew she would never
deliberately place any of them in a dangerous situation. God knew how many
times in the past she’d saved them from being slaughtered. But his worry and
fear for her had boiled together for so long, that it had become a thick red
sludge of anger. An anger he had to vent.

“When are you going to stop acting like a child,
and start behaving like a responsible adult? When are you going to accept the
responsibilities that come with being my wife?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Yulen D’Jacques, I am
not your typical compound wife! I can wield a knife better than any man in this
fort, and that includes Mutah! What do you want me to do? Wear a dress every
day and prattle over which dessert we should serve in the main lodge? Or maybe
I need to join the sewing circle. I’m told they’re short-handed.”

The vision of Atty in a dress, her hair neatly done
up at the nape of her neck, and sitting amid a bunch of gossipy women, suddenly
burst his fury balloon. Unable to contain himself, he started to chuckle, which
soon became a laugh. Atty stared at him in surprise, a smile forming on her
beautiful lips.

Reaching for her, he pulled her against him and
buried his face in her hair. Holding her tightly, he kissed the top of her ear.
“Dearest heavens, Atrilan. You are going to send me to an early grave.”

“Liam needs those medicinals. He’s been out for
ages, but with Madigan having so much trouble with her pregnancy, he hasn’t
dared leave the compound to go looking for them. I promised I would keep an eye
open.”

Lifting her into his arms, he walked over to one of
the easy stuffed chairs and sat down, pulling her onto his lap. She raised her
face for his kiss, and her hands slid up his chest before circling his neck to
grab his hair.

He possessed her. He loved her. Opening his soul,
he finally allowed all the tension to drain out as she moaned a breath into his
mouth. A hand cupped a breast, and when he felt he couldn’t wait any longer, he
broke the kiss, jerked up her blouse, and bent to take the pale pink nipple
between his lips.

The red anger that had infused him turned into
desire. Red heat became white at the sensation of her bottom squirming against
his erection. He started to take her down onto the rug, when she stopped him,
shoving him back against the chair.

“No,” she panted, and reached for his belt. “I
can’t wait.” She unbuttoned his breeches to allow his length to spring free of
the confining material, then started on her own pants. Yulen realized that at
some point she’d managed to kick off her boots. A moment later, she shed her
breeches, and snuggled back into his embrace, her knees on either side of his
thighs.

Carefully, Yulen held his shaft as she lowered
herself over it, gently bobbing up and down until it was slick, before her
tight channel fully enveloped him.

“Love me, Yul. Love me.” She clamped her mouth over
his without giving him a chance to reply. It didn’t matter. What did matter was
the need to have himself inside her. To feel her wet warmth closing in on him,
gripping him, and tightening as he repeatedly plunged into her. Her hips
quivered in his hands as he worked her up and down. And as she grew nearer to
her release, she gasped and threw back her head, baring her neck and throat to
his kisses.

They made love with silent, furious intent. Not
like the usual slow, sexually-charged times when they were alone, either in bed
or in some out of the way locale where no one would accidentally stumble over
them. Or where their son would least be likely to interrupt. On those rare
occasions when they could take their time, they filled the moment with words of
passion.

This was not one of those moments. His deep-set
fear had left him starving for her, until all he wanted to do was to have her,
and love her, and reassure himself through her body that she was back safe with
him.

When it was over, and they held each other in a
tight, sweaty embrace as they tried to catch their breaths, Yulen felt the
sting of tears in his eyes. His arms held her closer, until he could detect the
rapid beat of her heart through his skin.

“I can’t lose you, Atrilan. You are my life, my
heart. Without you, I am nothing.”

She answered him with a kiss, then slowly climbed
out of his lap. “As much as I would give anything to stay and do this again, I
need to check on Mattox and make sure he’s fed decently, instead of scarfing
more of Berta’s butter cookies.”

He nodded as he got to his feet and buttoned his
pants. “And I need to debrief the squad that accompanied you. Find out what
they learned while at New Bearinger.”

They kissed a final time before exiting their home
and parting ways. As Yulen rounded the side of the main lodge on his way to the
barracks where his soldiers bunked, he was surprised to find MaGrath casually
leaning against the wall. He started to comment, when the physician got into
step with him.

“Well, it’s nice to know that misunderstanding’s
been patched up. Although, I will say, it took longer than usual. Or maybe I’m
getting to the age where I’m less patient.”

“What are you talking about, Liam?”

“I was about to knock on your door, but I heard the
shouting, so I decided to wait. I knew that sooner or later one of you would
emerge.”

When Yulen didn’t respond, the man continued.

“You shouldn’t have yelled at her.”

“I was angry.”

“And scared. It’s understandable,” MaGrath added.

Yulen halted and turned to face the man. “She
disobeyed my orders.”

“She was only following through with a request.”

“Which you did not clear with me.”

MaGrath’s eyes widened, and the man reared back
slightly. “Oh, my. You
were
upset,
weren’t you?”

Yulen huffed, decided not to answer, and started to
resume walking to the barracks when MaGrath reached out and grabbed his arm.

“You have to let it go.”

“Again, what are you talking about, Liam?”

“You can’t keep beating yourself up whenever she’s
away.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Liam, but the
world is a fucking dangerous place out there.”

“And you two have found your share of it in the
short number of months you’ve been together,” MaGrath admitted. “The sad truth
is, the world won’t change. At least, not in our lifetimes. And if, or when, it
does, it may not change for the better.”

“Get to the point, Liam.”

“You can’t turn yourself into a ball of raw nerves
every time she’s out of your sight.”

“She’s my wife. I have that right.”

“I kno—”

“She’s my life, Liam. My heart doesn’t give me any
other choice.”

MaGrath stared at him in surprise at the unexpected
admission. This was a side of the Battle Lord he knew existed but rarely saw,
even though he was as close as a father figure to the man.

Patting the man on his shoulder, the physician
smiled sympathetically. “Trust her, Yulen. Give her room to be the woman you
love. That’s all I’m saying.”

Trust her, Yulen. Give her room to be the woman you
love.

“Okay.” Sighing heavily, Yulen nodded to the two
other men in the main hall. “Okay. One week. I’ll give her one week to follow
her hunch. But if she’s not back at this time next week, I’m gathering my men
and going after her.”

He looked at Fortune and Mastin, daring them to
argue or try to talk him out of his decision. Instead, they remained silent.

Now that he’d made a choice, he felt the weight
dissipate like the smoke from the fire in the fireplace. He would wait. He
would put his faith and trust in her, although it would cost him emotionally.

Picking his son up off the table and placing him on
his feet on the floor, Yulen took the child by the hand.
  

“Come on, Matt. Let’s go see if Berta has any
butter cookies she’ll let us have.”