To Stand Beside Her (33 page)

“Here,” he offered her some food.

“What about the other guards and Seth?” she asked.

“And the guards all looked a little sick earlier. I think they need me to fill in all night long.
I assured them I was feeling fine and up for the job. And w
ell
,
I don’t think Seth will be awake any time soon,” Marx smiled.

“You didn’t,”
Leila
said.
Marx winked.
Marx
was the only other person Roger trusted with the medication that would put Leila to sleep.
Even after Roger used it on Leila, he would always brew a special tea to wake her back up.
Even the smallest do
se
could keep a grown man asleep for days.
Seth
would not be waking any time soon. It was the pacifist in Marx coming out again.

Leila sat next to him with their back
s
on the door.
“So the whole
Endika
kidnapping thing was your idea?”

Marx nodded.
“
I was quite far into the
North Country
when I got the news a courier had been caught by Nalick. When I heard the woman escaped and then walked to the gate and asked to be let back in, I knew it was you.
Why’d you go back if you already escaped?
”

“Kay was inside.
I thought I got her out, but then she got caught again as I was on my way out,” Leila explained while eating the bread he had given her.

“You’re the only courier I know that has enough guts to actually tell someone you escaped and wanted to be let
back
in.
By the time I made
it down to the palace in Lexia
you had already headed north to visit King Godfrith.
I lost track of you for a few days and before I could pick your trail back up you were back in Lexia.”
Marx had spent the last four years trying his best to follow her trail.
She was always gone in a flash, and he knew this time would be no different. While they were friends, they worked for different governments and would always be kept apart.
Marx used the little time with her to put to memory every one of her movements as it would be awhile before he would see her again.
King Endika would not be happy when he was late again on assignment by being diverted to help Leila.
“So once the opportunity came to get you out of there, I tried.
I agreed to work with Endika, but there was no way I was really going to give you to him.”

“I figured that much.
I was almost temped to meet you, but Nalick would have been worried,” Leila explained
finishing the bread
.

“When I heard you went back on your own, I knew you didn’t need my help, so I finished out my own assignment and headed home.
I was in Dria when I heard the news Jahangir and Seth were going to take you from Nalick.
I sent a scout to follow Seth and then came directly here
. You know you could take a little bit of time off between being caught. It would make my life easier.
” Marx had been in love with Leila for many years and would do anything to help her.
Leila playfully punched Marx.

“Is he a good man?” Marx asked seriously.

“Yes,” Leila replied without looking into his eyes.
She had always felt the love Marx had for her, and did not want to hurt his feelings.

“Does he love you?” Marx asked gently forcing her to look in his eyes.

“Yes,” Leila wanted to look away, but she could not.
In Marx eyes she saw happiness
, not pain as she expected
.

“Do you love him?”
h
e asked letting go of her face.
Even Marx didn’t want to really know the answer.

“Yes,” she said barely
loud enough to be
audible.

“Then
,
I guess I should get you back to him,” Marx said s
t
an
d
ing
and look
ing
over the window
sill.
“It is almost time.”
Leila stood behind him.
Marx turned around
to
Leila beside him.
His heart raced.
He had not been as close to Leila as he was now for years.
“All I have ever wanted was for you to be happy,” he explained as he gently touched her face
wanting to give her one last heroic kiss
.

Leila looked into his crystal blue eyes
.
H
e was telling her the truth.
“I know.
I just didn’t want to hurt you again,” she said quietly.
She turned from his gaze.
Leila looked over the edge of the window.
Leila
still didn’t know if she had enough strength.
Marx could see the worry in her eyes.

“
You can’t hurt me by being happy.” Worry was still etched on her face. “
Is something wrong?” he asked.
He had never seen Leila hesitate before
.

“My left side seems weaker than normal.
Seth put something in my back on the left side
,
and it has been getting weaker ever since
,”
Leila explained.
Since Marx was also risking his life to save her, she was not about to lie to him.
Marx turned Leila around and looked at her back.

“There is something here, right under the skin,”
Marx
said mov
ing his hand
over the spot.
“Roger will have to take it out, but first we need to get you out of here.”

Marx gave Leila his hand.
“Squeeze my hand
s
,” he
directed
.
Leila in turn squeezed both of his hands.
The look in h
is
face confirmed what she thought.
Leila
was not just weak on h
er left side; she was slowly lo
sing muscle control.

“I don’t know what he did to you, but the quicker we leave the better.
Would you be able to hold onto me?”
Marx
asked.

“Maybe,”
Leila
replied amazed that he wanted to scale the wall with her on his back.

“Then
,
let’s go,” he said while climbing out the window.
Leila followed.
Once outside the room, Marx moved close
r
to Leila.
“Climb on
.
”
S
he obeyed.
“Now just don’t let go
.
”

Marx
moved down the wall as quickly as he could with her on his back.
As couriers they
weight
trained
extensively
and
her size
was not a problem but more of a balance issue. Leila used all the strength she could to hang on as Marx was not only scaling the wall but worrying about her at the same time. Her shoulder ached and the numbness was spreading. Leila closed her eyes and pressed her face into his back. Marx tried to hurry as he could tell this was straining her.
At the half way point, Leila could feel her strength
completely
failing.

“I’m, going to slip soon,”
Leila
said to Marx.
Leila looked down in the night darkness and could make out the faint outline of the ground.
“We are almost close enough that I should
not
get hurt,” she said judging the distance.
She did not want to let go, but it was becoming apparent that would not be an option at this point. Marx began to move faster which only jarred her grip and make her use more strength to hold on.

“Just hold on a little longer,”
Marx
begged
,
feeling
her grip loosening.
Leila tried but it was no use.

“Sorry,” she said as her hands slipped. Leila adjusted herself during the fall, landing on her right side in an attempt to compensate for her weak left side, but as she hit the ground, Leila realized that was a mistake. She heard a cracking sound coming from her lower leg while stumbling forward. In the darkness, something ripped across her upper right thigh before she hit the ground; she felt warm liquid trickling down her leg. It was too dark to see the damage. Marx quickly was at her side.

“Are you all right?” he asked trying to help her stand up.

“I think I broke my leg,”
Leila
said
,
not even attempting to stand on it
,
but trying to stop the excessive bleeding
.

Marx scooped her up into his arms.
Even though excruciating pain rushed through her body, Leila remained silent.
Quietly he moved from shadow to shadow until he was near the castle wall.
Marx
set Leila
gently
on the ground
so that
he
find the entrance. Marx felt his hand across the wall tapping every now and then. Finally he found the spot he was looking for and
he
move
d
a few pieces of the wall
opening a hole in the base of the wall
.
Leila watched as a part of the ground moved to expose a staircase.
Marx picked Leila back up and continued down the stairway.
Once they were at the bottom
,
Marx
set her down to close the opening.
Leila watched around her. She had not known about the underground passageways.
It was not much brighter below than it was above, but Marx seemed to know his way around.

Marx found a torch and lit it.
He brought it near and handed it to Leila.
Leila looked around at the stone lined walls. They were just as old as the castle.
How could Jahangir not know about this?
Leila wondered. Leila looked back at Marx who was now kneeling to examine her leg.
He moved her blood soaked dress to expose her leg
. I
t was bleeding much more than
either of them
expected
.
Leila watched his face to get clues to as to how bad it was.
Marx kept his face passive and Leila knew that meant he was hiding something.
Marx removed his jacket and wrapped it around her.
She had not noticed
her body
shivering from the cold.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

Marx then took the knife out of his bag and quickly ripped a piece off the bottom of her dress.
He wrapped it tightly around her thigh. “This should help stop the bleeding for now, but we need to get you to Roger.”
Marx picked her back up and continued through the passage ways.
Even though she was  eager to see where they ended up, she simply could not keep her eyes open any longer.

Less than an hour later,
Leila awoke
leaning up against Anatolio. Leila
did not know
when
she had fallen asleep, but
now
Matthew and Ian, fellow couriers for Roger, were busy trying to stop the bleeding in her leg.
Leila looked around the makeshift camp as far as her weary eyes could see, but she did not know where she was.

“How
are
you feeling?”
Leila
asked
Anatolio
remembering that he had not been there to protect her and thus must have been drugged
.
She
could not see the couriers working but she could see Anatolio
.

Anatolio smiled to see she was awake, “I’m much better than you.” He repositioned her body to let her better supervise what was going on.

“First time being drugged?”
Leila
asked.
Anatolio nodded.
Matthew and Ian returned
and examined the wound again
.

“Leila, this is not good.
We can’t get it to stop bleeding,” Matthew said to her.
Leila looked down and could see the blood seep through the bandages.
Leila had not noticed
until then
Nalick was standing only feet away.
She smiled up at him and faked the strength she did not feel right then.

“Is Marx here?”
Leila
asked
Nalick
.