Abuse of Power (Rise of the Mages 1) (4 page)

Water fell in a steady stream from Alaina’s dress onto a rough-hewn oak floor. Despite hot coals in a brazier and the blanket wrapped around her, she shivered, and though she was hungry from skipping supper, she pushed food around her plate with her fork.

August perched on the edge of a low bed. His knees jutted toward his chest, and his plate balanced precariously on top of them. He cut his meat into dainty bites and chewed each deliberately.

Why was he stalling? Better to just get it over with.

They hadn’t exchanged more than a few words since he carried her from the camp. Silence hung over the room like an oppressive fog, and she could stand it no longer. “There are much easier ways to get much more willing tavern wenches to bed you. Why are you going through this much trouble over me?”

“I’m not trying to … I mean—” His plate crashed to the floor and shattered. He cleared his throat. “It is my duty to protect my citizens—”

“I’m not one of yours. I’m from Hoyna.”

“You’re still …”

“Cut the bull,” she said. “Even with all I do in trying to hide, men see my face and want me. I’ll not be some bit of fun for you.”

He recoiled. “My lady—”

“Stop calling me that!” She shoved the food away and buried her head.

A hand brushed the back of her shoulder.

“Is it a crime to find you attractive?” he said. “Does appreciation for beauty preclude me from acting against injustice?”

Her head snapped up, and she gestured at the bed. “You bring me here and claim that? You think me stupid? That I don’t know what you expect?”

He leaned away from her. “My la … I mean …”

“I see what you’re about. I’ll never escape this fort. These soldiers will have no choice but to turn me over to the catcher.” Alaina stood, placing her hands on her hips. “Is this sport for you? You rescue me in the dead of night and get a rush? Now you’ll bed me without worry of your seed taking because I’ll be dead soon.” She raised her fists toward him. “You disgust me. I’ll not let you take me easily.”

His mouth gaped, but before he found his voice, two long raps sounded on the door followed by a pause and a quick tap. He opened it, and the lieutenant thrust a pile of clothes at him before marching away at a quick pace. August tossed two dry cloaks on the bed and the rest of the garments at Alaina.

“What’s this?” she said.

“It’s your outfit for the next phase of our trip. Besides being wet, your dress is ill suited for riding and already threadbare.” Auggie stepped toward the corridor. “It would be better, since we’re trying to avoid notice, that I simply turn my back while you change. It’s apparent, however, how little you trust me.” He closed the door behind him.

She stared after him for a full minute before moving. Had she been wrong about everything? Was he really a good man?

Did it make any difference?

Alaina tugged off her dress and shift, her eyes firmly locked on the door, and hurriedly donned brown trousers, a cream blouse, and a jacket. Each piece hugged her curves as if tailored for her. As if she didn’t have enough trouble keeping men away wearing a shapeless dress. No help for it, though.

She braided her hair and opened the door for Auggie. As expected, he gawked at her. Heat rose to her face. He walked past her and handed her one of the cloaks. It covered her like a blanket, and she mumbled thanks.

He sat on the bed. “Are you ready to listen?”

She nodded.

“The fort wasn’t a great option. There’s a chance we’ll not be able to get you out of here. I’m counting on surprise and being able to pull rank.”

“Then why did we come?”

“Our horses were already road weary from a week of hard traveling. With us riding double, there was no way we were going to escape. Our only shot is remounts.”

Okay. That made sense. Maybe she’d been wrong, but he’d still had no call to break her out of that cage when she’d told him not to. “You’re probably expecting an apology.”

August shook his head. “I’ve met Hoyna’s duke. Reid Macias, right?”

She nodded.

“An odious man,” he said. “I can only guess the trouble he makes for his subjects.”

“His son is even worse,” she mumbled.

“I share your opinion.” He offered a half smile, probably intended to be commiserating. “All that to say that I understand and that there’s no need to apologize.”

“You arrogant jerk!” She couldn’t believe his presumptuousness. Were all nobles born thinking themselves the center of the world? “I owe you nothing. I told you to leave me be.”

“But I had to. Please.” He clasped his hands together. “If not for me, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“This has nothing to do with you.” She sighed. “I have a bounty on me—twenty gold.”

His mouth gaped. “Why? What did you do?”

Her eyes darted about the room. She couldn’t look at him. “I refused Lord Raymon Macias’ advances.” And cut off his foot. Or close enough anyway.

That wasn’t a complete lie. Rejecting him was a large part of the reason for her predicament. Besides, she didn’t owe anyone anything, not even the truth.

August smashed a fist into his open palm. “I swear, my … uh, Alaina, I will not let him have you.”

“But that’s what you should do. Let him have me!” She gestured at her new clothes. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“How can you say that? You have allies now. Powerful ones. I’ll take you back to Asherton and protect you.”

“How?” She held up a hand before he could speak. “Forget it. I don’t want your help.”

“Alaina, listen to me. I’m your only chance.” He met her eyes. “Are you so willing to sacrifice your life?”

“I just want this to be over.”

That was what she wanted. Wasn’t it? Life on the run was horrible. Always fearing the next person to walk past her would be a catcher who recognized her. Wondering most of the time where her next meal was going to come from.

Worst of all was the complete lack of companions. She’d always had close friends and family. And Elrich. She pushed down the thought of him before it brought her to tears.

On the run, she couldn’t trust anyone enough even to talk for fear she might say something to arouse their suspicions. Who wouldn’t turn her in for the kind of reward Lord Macias offered?

But even with all the misery and trials, wasn’t it better than death? Than giving up?

“Tell me your plan,” she said.

“There are many places to stash someone. Apartments. Estates away from the city.”

She sipped her wine. “Seems like a lot of trouble for you to go through to find a servant. Did my skills with a broom impress you that much?”

“Maybe as more than a servant.”

She slammed the cup onto the table. Wine splattered everywhere. “We’re back to that again? I’ll not be your mistress, even at the cost of my life.”

His hands gripped the mat. Straw bulged and threatened to rip through the fabric. “Why is that always your first thought? I understand you have only the worst impression of dukes and their sons, but can’t you judge me on my own merit?”

She eyed him from head to toe. “I don’t get it then. What do you want?”

“Simply to get to know you better. Maybe, eventually—if it’s what we both desire—perhaps, it could lead, at some point, to c-courting.” He looked shocked to have even uttered such a thing.

In fact, his expression was so comical she almost laughed. But then, she thought about what he’d said. “Courting?” She hopped to her feet. “Are you mad? I’m a peasant. You’re to be duke.”

“I did not say we would c-court,” he said. “I merely stated the possibility. No different than with any other girl I happen to meet. Who knows where any relationship will end up going? I mean, most end in breakups.”

“I’m not asking you to give me a ring, idiot. I don’t even like you. At all. I just wanted to know how it’s possible for you to court so far below your station.”

“Oh.”

He looked stricken, and Alaina almost felt bad for him.

“Our status isn’t the barrier you think it is,” he finally said.

Her eyebrows arched.

“My great-grandfather had an arranged marriage to a woman he hated. One day, his son came to him, eyes downcast and hat in hand, to announce he’d fallen in love with a pea—” August paused. “With a girl not born into privilege. He expected the duke to rail about it or to threaten exile or even to give the duchy to a younger sibling. Instead, the duke started a tradition my family upholds to this day by saying, ‘We give our lives to the land. No longer will we give our loves. Marry whom you will.’”

The door swung open, and August jumped. His hand went to his sword.

The lieutenant stuck his head in. “You told her that old story?” He covered his mouth like he was yawning. “Get a move on. The colonel’s making preparations to parley with the catcher.”

Auggie hoisted Alaina onto a dappled mare as the dawning sun made its presence known behind covering clouds. “You can ride, right?”

She adjusted herself in the saddle and grabbed the reins. “Some.”

Benj, atop his mount, clung to the deep shadows at the edge of the courtyard. Alaina clicked her tongue and tapped her heels against the horse’s side. The animal shot forward until she eased it to a stop beside him.

Auggie grinned as he rode to join them. Definitely a formidable woman—exactly the kind he needed for a wife when he became duke. Not that he was in the market for either the job or the spouse. Still, he could certainly choose worse than her when the time finally came.

The rain had slackened to occasional drips, and two bonfires lit the area around the gate. Soldiers scurried like ants. Bowmen on the walkway above nocked arrows, and pikemen guarded the colonel on the ground.

Slowly, the portcullis rose, and Benj held his hand high. When the iron spikes at the bottom of the gate reached about chest level with his horse, he dropped his arm and urged his horse to a gallop. Alaina and Auggie followed.

Their mad dash forced two blue-and-gold-liveried men to dive out of the way, and the trio veered right to avoid trampling the colonel. Benj and Alaina cleared the gate unhindered while Auggie ducked.

Emar and fourteen guardsmen mustered outside.

Fourteen! His reinforcements had arrived while Auggie had been getting prepared. Fantastic. He shook his head. As if escape wasn’t going to be hard enough.

From the look on Emar’s face, the horses thundering toward him caught him by surprise.

Benj barreled at one of the guardsman, passing just to the right. He kicked, and the guardsman sprawled into the mud.

Whatever Benj could do, Auggie could do better. His foot struck with a satisfying crunch, and the guardsman flew backward to land on his back in ankle-deep muck.

Auggie glanced back and grinned at Emar’s men impotently waving swords. His smile quickly vanished, however, as they rushed to mount. The first galloped after the trio a mere thirty yards behind.

Benj drew his horse close to Auggie’s. “The platoon should be rounding up those rustlers as we speak. To the clearing?”

Auggie nodded and gave his beast its head on the hard clay road. A few hundred yards further, he glanced back and fairly felt breath on the back of his neck. The fleetest of the guardsmen had halved the gap, and only the fact that few of them traveled so fast gave him any hope he might pull off an escape.

Auggie slowed, allowing Benj and Alaina to outpace him by maybe twenty yards. The lead guardsman took the bait. When he drew close, Auggie drew his huge broadsword and struck. The swing nicked the guardsman’s helmet. He got the message and fell back.

The scattered black-liveried men bunched and pulled out bows. Arrows rained down on both sides of the road. One whizzed past Auggie’s ear.

Were they crazy? Killing an officer of the duke’s army, much less the niskmo, was a capital offense. Auggie couldn’t believe Emar was willing to take such a chance. Was his pride so wounded that he’d risk death?

The three rounded a curve a scant ten yards ahead of their pursuit. A hill loomed above the road a half mile ahead.

“Now!” Benj shouted.

Though foam covered his mount, Auggie urged his horse even faster. The chasers rushed to put away their bows in order to match speed, and the delay gave Auggie just what he wanted. By the time he topped the rise, he and his friends had opened a lead of forty yards. The road disappeared around another curve ahead.

Benj and Alaina darted onto a side trail on the left. Auggie glanced back as he followed. Several of the catcher’s men flew past the opening before realizing their targets had not continued on the road. The confusion widened the gap.

So far, so good, but for his plan to work, Auggie needed even more distance between him and the pursuit. About a mile later, he took the lead. Soon after, they entered the clearing. Thirty of the duke’s soldiers held the horse thieves at sword point.

Blue-and-gold-liveried men stirred to action at the sight of the approaching riders, and several, including the apparent commanding officer, broke off to intercept the group.

With his two companions close behind, Auggie reined to a stop just shy of the soldiers. “Lieutenant, we’re being pursued. By order of the crown, delay them!”

The soldiers lowered weapons to salute, and Benj and Alaina darted past them into the woods, leaving comically stunned expressions in their wake. Auggie followed before the officer had time to do more than offer a hasty salute.

Emar would be able to bully his way free, but it would take time. The only question was whether it would be enough.

For fifteen excruciating minutes, they slowed to a crawl through thick forest before the terrain cleared. A hard gallop over open ground with sparse trees brought them to the top of a rocky outcrop where they dismounted. While Benj unloaded their provisions, Auggie began filling an empty saddlebag with stones.

“Whatever are you doing?” Alaina said.

Auggie closed the first bag and started on a second. “The hope is that our pursuers will follow the tracks without giving this cliff a second glance. That’s what Benj and I did.”

“Okay. But why the rocks?”

With three sets of provisions laid out beside the cliff, Benj joined Auggie in filling empty bags. “A good tracker can judge how much weight a horse carries by the depth of a hoof print. We don’t want the lack of riders to be obvious.”

Five minutes of all three of them working together resulted in two weights—heaviest for Auggie and lightest for Alaina—tied to the saddles of each of the three horses. Benj slapped each horse’s backside, sending them galloping off.

Benj lowered himself to sit on the edge of the precipice with his legs dangling. “See you at the bottom.” He disappeared below the ledge.

Auggie stood well back and peeked over the side. The sun had burned through the clouds, giving him enough light to see. Unfortunately.

The jagged, vertical cliff dropped two hundred feet down and ended at a wide expanse of sharp rocks that waited to impale a careless climber. And they couldn’t even use ropes without leaving evidence of their passing behind. What idiot had decided they needed to scale it?

Oh, yeah. Him.

Benj descended rapidly, swinging from rock to rock as if he didn’t have a care in the world. As if a single slip wouldn’t send him tumbling to his death.

Such a bad idea.

Auggie couldn’t watch any longer and focused on the scenery instead. A dense hardwood forest stretched for miles until yielding to fields and farm houses. A village sat in the center of a patchwork of greens, browns, and yellows.

Several minutes later, he forced himself to look again. Benj had made it to the quarter-way point.

Auggie turned to Alaina. “Can you do this?”

She eased onto the ground. “Heights never bothered me.”

If only he could say the same. She looked so tiny and frail next to the huge, hard rocks. “Alaina, wait.”

“What?”

“Be careful.”

She looked at him like he’d grown a second head before launching herself downward. Auggie sighed. What the blast was he doing? Be careful? Really?

She scampered over the rocks like she was born to them. When she made it fifty feet down, Auggie took a deep breath and swung his feet over the ledge.

Of all the things he didn’t want to do, climbing down a cliff was at the top of his list. Marriage. Sure. Sign him up. Being the duke. Great. Sit him on his throne and let the lectures on road maintenance begin.

He spotted a rock big enough to support his foot and shifted weight onto it. His hands grasped the wet, slippery top shelf just in case the stone gave. It held, and he searched out another step. In that manner, choosing and evaluating each ledge and crevice, he descended. By the time his friends had made it to the bottom, he had barely made it a quarter of the way.

Auggie felt their impatient stares and sped his pace. Not being quite so careful to test each position, he climbed two body lengths in a few minutes. It wasn’t too bad. He’d get it over with faster at least.

He stepped down again. His foot slipped.

That leg slid groundward, and his body lurched. A gasp stole breath from his lungs. Fumbling to regain balance, he lost his grip. He grasped at empty air.

Still more than a hundred feet high, he tumbled backward. The world spun, and he caught a glimpse of Benj’s face. Horror.

Of all the stupid stunts Auggie had pulled, he couldn’t believe he was going to die from a simple fall. The news would finish off his father, too, the last of the Asher line. Generations of rule ended by a careless, irresponsible idiot.

He closed his eyes and pleaded with the Holy One to forgive—

A force yanked upward. His clothes pushed against his body, and his momentum slowed.

As suddenly as it had begun, the force disappeared. Auggie plunged the final ten feet to the ground, thankfully landing on a patch clear of jagged rocks.

Groaning, he looked about in wonder. Had the Holy One performed a miracle?

His eyes lit on Alaina, and he knew.