To Stand Beside Her (31 page)

“Stay right behind me,” she told
the priest
.

Behind one of the trees emerged a man clapping.
“I expect nothing less from the famed
ghost
.” The man bowed to her
extravagantly
.
“You are outnumbered twenty to one.
I am sure you would not have a problem fighting all these men alone, but can you protect the priest behind you the whole time?”

Leila glared at the man.
He was correct.
She could easily fight twenty to one if she only had to worry about herself.
Being a live target meant they would never do anything to harm her. The priest was not needed and thus expendable in their eyes.

“Don’t worry about my life,” the priest said to her.
“I live to serve my god and my king.
If it is my time to die, then so be it
.
”
T
he young man sh
ook
in his shoes.

“What a brave priest,” the man across from Leila said.
“Come with us and we will spare the man behind you.”

“And how do I know that as soon as I lay down this sword you will actually spare him?”
Leila questioned.
“Jahangir is not the kind to spare people so easily.”

“So
,
you knew we were coming?”
He kept his distance
,
though
eager to
approach
her.

“Seth has never been good at keeping his mouth shut when he is excite
d about something,”
Leila
replied
,
angling the priest behind her to protect him.

The man held up a key. “This key will open the door behind you.
I will give it to you, if you come with us.”
There was no way for her to protect the priest and herself at the same time
,
and it could be hours before anyone would check on the garden.
She checked on
e
last time and knew she was caught.

“Fine,”
Leila
said.
“Give us the key, and I will stay.”

The man did not hesitate.
Leila was good for her word.
He threw her the key.
The priest bent down and picked it up.

“Leave now,” she said to the confused
priest
.

“Come with me,”
the priest
whispered
ready to bolt and pull her along
.
Leila
was
the best fighter anyone knew, but she was still his queen.

“I can’t.
I said I will stay, so I will stay
.
” Leila waited to hear him unlock the door.
The priest hesitated.
“As your queen, I am ordering you to leave.
Find Nalick and Anatolio.
Tell them I have been taken.”
The priest could not disobey her command.
He opened the door.
“Lock the door behind you.”
The priest removed the key and placed it in the door on the other side.
As he started to slip through the door
,
he paused.
Leila handed him the sword she was holding.
“Protect yourself and make it to Nalick alive,”
Leila
told him
,
and
he shut the door.
Leila
stood in front of the door until she heard the lock turn and his footsteps race away.
Calmly she walked over to the man she had negotiated with.
“What now?” she asked
,
st
anding
toe to toe with the man.

“You truly are as amazing as everyone says you are
.
”
The uninvited guest
motioned and several men tied her arms behind her.
“I’m Argon,” he introduced himself.
“Too bad I agreed to work with Seth; otherwise
,
I think I would be taking you home for myself.”

Leila glared at him as one of the men wrapped a blind fold around her eyes and gagged her to keep her from screaming
,
which w
as not exactly her style anyway
.
She was walked near the wall and a man tightly grabbed her around the waist
.
They carried Leila away and out of the palace.
Leila
tried her best to keep track of the time, but the blind fold did not let her see the sunlight.
Suddenly the cart
they were traveling in
stopped.
She felt someone pick her up and move her outside the cart.
Leila
still could not see as she felt something pierce the skin on her back below the royal emblem on her shoulder.
Gently she was placed back in the cart.
The ride continued.
When the cart finally stopped, it
was
night time.
Someone grabbed her gently from the cart
and chained
her
to the wheels.
Carefully someone removed her blindfold and gag.
She stared at Argon.

“Such a pretty girl,”
Argon
said as he stroked her face
,
“
A
waste to give you to Jahangir.” He moved his face closer to Leila.

Leila was working on removing her hands from the chains as he spoke
,
but r
eacting to his comment, Leila spit in his face.
It disgusted her to have a man such as Argon touching her.
As he raised his hand to slap her, someone stopped him.

“No one is allowed to touch her,” the man said from behind Argon.

Leila felt sick to her stomach.
She knew who the man was before she even saw him.
B
ehind
the flickering
firelight, Seth appeared along
side the angry Argon.

“Long time
,
no see,” Seth said to Leila.
Leila gave Seth a defiant stare in response.
She was still standing within inches of Argon and carefully she tested the length of the chain on her legs.
Leila
would not be able to kick him
;
so
instead she stomped with her full force on his foot.

Argon yelped in pain and glared at her furiously.
Leila laughed and waited for his reaction
.
Seth would not be able to stop
Argon
as he was twice Seth’s size, and Argon
was
very mad.
T
hree men jumped up from behind
to restrain
Argon
.

“Employing a hot head now?”
Leila
asked the other courier.

“Feisty as ever, I see,”
Seth
replied
,
mov
ing closer
but stay
ing
out of her range.

“So what’s in this for you?”
Leila
asked.
“Did he finally agree to let you have his daughter?”

Seth was surprised
that Leila knew
but tried not to show
it
on his face.
“Do you think I need anything other than an offer to catch the famous
ghost
?”
Seth had spent the last four years working in her shadow.
Every time he went against and tried to beat her with an assignment, she
was always
victorious.

“So you are doing this purely for your own enjoyment?” she replied.
The three men holding Argon down continued to struggle with the large man.

“That girl needs to learn some manners,”
Argon
complained
,
strain
ing
to stand.

“And you don’t?”
Leila
retorted
spitting in his direction but missing
.
Argon growled
,
but he could not remove
the
men holding him down.
More
men approached Seth from behind
.
C
onfident that he had Leila restrained,
Seth
did not move away as they talked.

“We have three couriers following us and Lior is mobilizing their army,” the first man replied.

“Which couriers?” Seth asked.

“Two are from Roger’s company and one from Canor,” the second man reported.
Leila smiled.
She had not seen
Marx
in a while
.
Marx
would not pass up the opportunity to help her, especially if it meant beating Seth.
Seth returned to the group of men sitting around the fire.

“Argon, keep your men here and distract anyone that comes this way.
My men will keep moving with
our prize
.
The sooner we get to Jahangir, the safer we will be,”
Seth
said to his men.
Quickly
,
half
of
the camp began to pack up.
Seth returned to Leila.

“Seems Marx has plans to rescue you,”
Seth
said as five men restrained Leila and began weaving the chains around her so that she could not move.
She did not reply.

“Put her back inside,”
Seth
commanded as they tied the blind fold back around her eyes.
Gently she was lifted and laid down on the pillows inside the cart she had been riding in.

Leila sat in the dark and silence for the remainder of the trip.
She had tried to loosen her arms
,
but her left shoulder was throbbing from whatever pierced her skin earlier.
She could feel it was not making her sleepy like she suspected, but instead it was making the whole left side of her body weak.
Leila
could still move, but it took more effort than normal.
It
would be a waste of her energy if she continued to struggle.
She did not like sitting in a room and not seeing it.
Leila wiggled until the blind fold was off.
Then she propped herself up against the pillows and wall and waited.
Mobilizing his army,
I wonder
how
Nalick is
taking this
, she thought.

Leila
was in complete darkness.
The windows were covered by thick shades that did not allow any light in the room.
Softly she drifted off
in
to a light sleep.
Leila
would need all her energy to get away for a third time from the
castle
of
Jahangir
,
as each time she returned, he had made adjustments to better hold her.

After what
Leila
guessed had been almost two days with only brief stops along the way, she could hear noises outside her ride.
F
aintly people talk
ed
now
outside her cart
.
A
s the days had progressed
,
Leila
was getting weaker and weaker.
As the ride yet again came to a halt, Seth convers
ed
with the guards to the palace.
T
he guards
wanted to see her, but Seth would not let them.
After the cart passed the gates, Leila
followed the
route
in her mind
leading them to the castle stables.
T
he cart stopped
,
and the door opened
.
Leila adjusted her eyes.
From sitting in complete darkness for days to the so
ft glow
of the sun setting, the stables had a fuzzy glow.
Two men gently picked her up and placed her on her feet.
Leila felt a bit unstable and noticed her balance had also been affected by the weakness she was feeling in her left side of her body.

“It took longer than I expected, but to see the great
ghost
not as strong as normal
is quite a treat,”
Seth teased.
Leila adjusted for the difference in strength and stood eye to eye with Seth.