Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) (6 page)

Tyler growled. “No. She doesn’t.”

“She won’t be harmed.”

“Like hell she won’t.” Tyler’s hand moved to the hilt
of his dagger. “She just crossed over. She had nothing to do with
Braw or his idiotic plan.”

“But if she gets caught up with a pack of
rogues…”

“She’s with us.”

The blond man opened his mouth and Tyler growled.

“You’re not listening to me. She’s with me. I found
her; she’s mine.”

Heidi caught a glimpse of the blond man from between
her protectors’ shoulders. She was shocked at how pale he looked.
His eyes never left Tyler’s. Even the few of his comrades she could
see looked uneasy.

“You’re not taking her.” Though Tyler’s voice didn’t
sound any louder than it had previously, the tone of it made it
very obvious that he meant every word he had just uttered.

“You’d fight a pack of your own kind to keep a human
girl?” One of the men at the back shook his head incredulously.

“I don’t care what she is. She hasn’t done anything
wrong.” Tyler’s hand was still over his dagger. John’s pose was
almost identical to his.

The blond man’s hand moved his blade as well. “Orders
are orders.”

“Try not to kill any of them.” Tyler’s voice was only
loud enough for John and Heidi to hear. “We don’t need the whole
pack after us after this.” John nodded.

Tyler’s free hand moved back so that it touched
Heidi’s arm. “Heidi, I’m going to boost you up a tree. Get up high.
If anyone tries to reach you, cut them.” He felt her shaking behind
him.

John glanced at Heidi then gestured to her with his
head before returning his gaze toward the small pack in front of
them. Tyler turned, trusting John to warn him if any of the men
came forward while he wasn’t looking. His eyes met Heidi’s and he
smiled reassuringly. Her grey green eyes were saucers in her head,
her skin a strange pale shade of green as she shook with fear. He
cupped her face in his hands.

“Heidi.” He bent and kissed her forehead softly.
“Just get up in the tree. I won’t let them take you.”

She took a long shuddering breath and gazed into his
deep brown eyes. The hard look in them softened slightly and Tyler
ran his thumb over her cheek. Could she trust this man? She’d only
known him a day. Of course, he’d never shown any indication that he
might be a danger to her.

“Heidi, trust me.”

She inhaled once more and nodded. Her heart jumped
into her chest at the growl that exploded from John’s throat. Tyler
grabbed her by the waist, threw her toward the lowest branch on the
tree and ducked under her so she was standing on his shoulders. She
lost her balance as he moved sideways. His left hand caught her
ankle to steady her. She looked down and caught a glimpse of one of
the other men stabbing his dagger toward Tyler’s chest. He managed
to deflect the blow with his own dagger but hissed as the other’s
blade slid across his side. Without letting go of her leg, he
kicked forward and she heard the dark haired man’s breath leave his
body in a huff. Tyler turned and placed his hands under her feet,
pushing her into the branches.

“Climb!”

The tone of his voice left no room for argument.
Heidi scrambled as high as she could and glanced down. She fought
the urge to scream as the dark haired man lunged at Tyler. Her
self-appointed guardian knocked the man’s dagger to the side.
Tyler’s elbow connected with the man’s nose, quickly followed by
his knee as Tyler brought his opponent’s face down to meet it. The
Maj dropped to the ground and Tyler turned his attention to the
blond man who had been leading the pack. Heidi looked around for
John and found him backing away from two well-built men who had
obviously seen more meals in the past little while than he had. She
caught her breath as he pulled his dagger and threw it with such
speed she wasn’t sure he had until one of the men advancing
screamed in pain. He fell to his knee, his hands grabbing at the
hilt of the dagger that had impaled itself in his foot and pinned
him to the ground. John pulled a knife from the side up his boot
and aimed it at the second man’s chest. The latter paused, looked
up at the tree, and shook his head in disgust as he held up his
hands in surrender.

Heidi let out the breath she’d been holding.
Obviously, one lone human girl wasn’t worth dying over. She turned
her attention back to Tyler.

“Tyler! Behind you!”

The last man in the pack had been sneaking around
while Tyler had been focused on blocking punches and kicks from the
blond man. Tyler turned so he could keep an eye on both of
them.

“Come on, now. She can’t be worth this,” mumbled the
blond man.

“If that’s your take on it, you’re more than welcome
to walk away.” Both of them had a black eye. Tyler’s cheek was
starting to turn blue and the blonde’s lip was bleeding. Tyler
glanced to the second man, a shorter, stockier red head who was
staring at him with confusion. “What are you looking at, then?”

The red head shook his head. “I’m sure I know
you.”

Tyler frowned. “No, I don’t think so.”

“By the moons, Jim, could we cut the small talk?”

Jim put his dagger back in its scabbard at his side.
“Luke.”

Tyler blinked. “That’s my father’s name.”

Jim smiled. “You look just like him. You’re one of
the twins, yeah?”

Tyler nodded but refused to drop his guard.
“Tyler.”

Jim turned to his pack mate. “You’re on your own,
Chris. I owe his father my life.”

“Chris?”

Everyone’s attention turned to the man John was
keeping in the sights of his knife. He shrugged, obviously
flustered. Chris’ eyes widened at the sight of John’s second
opponent sitting a still as possible, his foot still skewered to
the ground. His groans of pain were loud in the sudden quiet of the
campsite. All eyes were on Chris. He ran a hand through his hair
and swore under his breath.

“Why don’t we just put the blades away and get that
dagger out of your man’s foot?” Tyler relaxed, though Heidi was
sure his guard was still up.

“You won’t try anything?” Chris looked at Tyler.

“The last I checked, you had us outnumbered.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at him and looked around.
Tyler grinned, though the smile didn’t seem to reach his eyes. The
first man he’d managed to knock out moaned and clutched his
head.

“Did we get her?”

Chris growled. “No, we didn’t get her.” He put his
dagger away. “Get up, Brad.”

Brad sat up and squinted open one eye to look around.
His gaze fell on the man with the dagger in his foot. “Bloody hell,
did more of them show up?”

“No.” Jim smiled. “Brad, do you recall Luke of
Howel?”

Brad frowned. “Was that the one with the pretty mate
named Mel? She nursed you back to health, yeah?”

Jim nodded and Brad turned his attention back to
Tyler. “I should have recognized you. You look the mirror image of
your father at your age. You move like him, too.” He grunted. “It
explains a lot, then.”

“What did I miss?” Chris was obviously getting
impatient.

“If you’d seen his father fight, you’d have thought
twice about trying to take the girl.” Brad stuck dagger in his
belt. “I’m out, Chris. I was there the day Luke risked his life to
save Jim’s and if it hadn’t been for Mel, he wouldn’t be standing
here now.”

Tyler looked up and gestured to Heidi to come down.
Jim and Brad went to tend to their friend. His scream of pain as
they pulled the dagger from his foot startled her and she slipped
from the last branch on the tree. Tyler steadied her as she
landed.

“You’re bleeding!”

Tyler glanced down at Heidi’s hand, which was red
with blood. He lifted the hem of his tunic to reveal the cut along
his side.

“It’s fine. It’s barely bleeding.” He smiled
reassuringly at her. John looked over to them from where he was
apologizing to the man he’d stabbed in the foot. Tyler went to his
packs and found the herbs he knew would dull the pain and quicken
the healing for the man’s foot. He walked over and handed them to
Jim.

“This should help.”

Jim nodded and went to work bandaging the foot.
“You’ve even got the same character as your father,” he said
without looking up.

“How’s that?”

“The day he saved my life, my pack had come upon
three cats in the Blue Woods. I managed to end up under a lion.
Luke had been in the area and heard the fighting. He got the lion
off of me, but kept the others from killing it afterwards. Its pack
had run off and when it shifted back, we all noticed the man had a
cut along his side. You dad tossed him a sack of herbs and told him
to leave. That’s when your mother came out of the woods and they
proceeded to take care of me.”

Tyler smiled. “Your pack just let the man leave?”

Brad grinned. “We were all too shocked by your
father’s gesture to do much of anything.”

Tyler excused himself as he looked around for Heidi
and found her leaning back against the tree she’d been in, her arms
wrapped around herself.

“Are you alright?”

Heidi shook her head and let him pull her in a hug.
He rested his chin on her head and rubbed her back.

“It’s all fine, now. They won’t try to take you. You
didn’t get hurt, did you?”

She shook her head again.

“This is just a lot to take in?”

She nodded. Tyler took her hand and led her back to
the fire. He wrinkled his nose at the sight of the burnt eggs.

“I guess we’ll be eating bread after all,” he mumbled
and she couldn’t help but smile.

Tyler wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and sat
beside her. He looked up as John joined them.

“It looks like your bloodlines are paying off.
They’ve decided to leave Heidi with us.”

Tyler grunted. “She would have stayed with us
regardless.” He grinned at his friend. “Great throw, by the
way.”

John shrugged and took a piece of bread.

“Tyler, can we have a word?” Chris motioned for him
to come see him.

Tyler stopped at the feel of Heidi’s hand on his leg.
He smiled down at her. “No worries.”

Chris waited until they were standing side by side,
looking back toward the fire and Heidi.

“I’m leaving her in your charge.”

Tyler nodded.

“If she goes rogue, it won’t matter who your parents
are and how well liked they might be; I’ll hold you responsible and
make sure you’re held accountable.”

Tyler looked the elder Maj in the eyes. Whatever
Chris saw, he frowned.

“Alright, Chris, he’s all set.” Jim and Brad shook
Tyler’s hand. “If you remember, try to tell your father we say
hello.”

Tyler nodded. He stood and watched until the small
pack had made its way out of sight before letting himself relax and
heading back to the fire. He caught the piece of cheese John lobbed
in his direction.

“We need to get out of this area.” He frowned and
looked at Heidi. “We also need to find you some clothes. There’s no
denying what you are when you’re dressed like that.”

John nodded. “I know a couple of sisters that live
not too far from here. Mina is about the same size as you.” He
glanced at Tyler. “They’re cats, mind you.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “They live here?”

John nodded. “They were travelling after the war and
decided they liked it down here.”

“And why did you think you should bring up the fact
that they were Namael?”

John shrugged. “I’m not sure what your take is on
them. It’s never come up.”

“Do you want to know why my father let that lion go
all those years ago?”

His friend nodded.

“It’s because he was raised by tigers.” He grinned as
John’s eyes widened into hazel saucers. “My aunt and uncle are
tigers. I have no issues whatsoever with cats in general. Now,
would these sisters live anywhere near Growlen?”

John nodded. “About five days out.”

Tyler smiled. “Well, then, I think the plan is to
find these sisters and head to Growlen so we can top up our
supplies. While we’re there, we’ll try to find someone who might be
able to point us in the direction of a cross stone.” He dug into
his pack and found a clean dark green tunic.

Heidi took it as he handed it to her.

“Put it on and tuck it in. It might help you blend in
a bit until we can get you some clothes that fit.” He watched as
she pulled it over her head. “The closer we get to Growlen, the
more packs we have a chance of running into. Try to stay calm and
act as though you belong here.” He smiled.

John kicked dirt over the fire to put it out before
they headed off in search of the Namael sisters.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Heidi stretched and yawned. “Oh my god, it’s
freezing!” She huddled back under her blankets and tried to warm
up.

Tyler grinned. “It is not. You just need to get up
and move around.”

Heidi peeked at him through the slit she was
breathing through. His hair was disheveled and stuck out in all
directions. He stretched, ran a hand through it, and managed to
pull off the sexy shaggy look. His deep brown eyes met hers and she
was glad he couldn’t see her blush through the blankets.

Good lord, why had she thought that? She tried to
bring Blake to her mind, but couldn’t. Her hand moved to the dark
green bandana she had tied to her wrist. His mischievous eyes
laughed at her and she sighed with relief. It had been just over a
week since she’d crossed over and yet it was starting to feel like
much longer. She missed home and the constant ache she felt weighed
heavily in her chest. More than anything, she wanted to wake up and
find herself in Blake’s arms, and yet, every morning, it was
getting harder and harder to picture him. Tyler had caught the
panic on her face the day before and had nodded when she’d
explained what was happening. According to him, it was the magic of
this world that seemed to wipe out the specifics of a human’s
previous life in the other world. For most, it would only take a
week or two to simply remember a haze of what their life had been,
though he had heard of some who always remembered their previous
lives.