Dance With the Enemy (18 page)

“I think I’ll join Nema,” she told Neria as she rose from the garden table. “I’d like to see what Master Daruh thinks of her hunch.” She leaned down to kiss her mother-in-law’s upturned cheek before exiting by the same doorway Nema had used. Not surprising, two large male corisans and a young woman - a Lady of the Court who acted in whatever capacity Elenya needed, were all waiting for her.

“Lady Nema said you wished to visit the harbor,” Lady Larina told her as she fell in at Elenya’s side.

Elenya shook her head. “I’ve changed my mind.” Even though she was anxious to smell the sea air, to remove her shoes and stand in the edge of the lolling waves, and feel the spray misting her skin, she had another mission. She told Larina of her new plans. “Besides,” she added with a bit of a snort, “Lady Nema is looking for Redahn and it seems when I leave the walls of Zanak, he is never too far behind. No doubt my presence will lure him to her side.”

She wasn’t sure, but Elenya thought she caught an exchange of shadowed glances between the members of her little entourage. She frowned, but said nothing, her thoughts turning first to all that Nema had said, wondering if the older woman could possibly be correct. And if she was, what would that mean? Would they send troops to rally with the men already there? Then she thought of the men. Tahruk, her father, Renaine … Why had the elite guard been held up, if they had? Had they been captured, whoever had them would surely have gloated over his victory. No, they were hiding out, waiting, biding their time. But why?

“Are you unwell, my lady?” Larina asked when Elenya released a loud sigh. “It’s not the baby, is it? Your lord would have my head if something happened to either you or his child.”

Her choice of words reminded Elenya of Nema. She laughed and shook her head. “We’re both fine, Larina. And I thought we agreed there was no need for the
my lady
added every time you speak to me.”

Larina nodded. The dark curls piled neatly atop her dainty head barely moved with the motion reminding Elenya of just how proper her companion was. She’d been trained as an unmarked lady from birth only to remain unmatched when the time of the Dremis came, regaling her to a life as a Lady of the Courts. She was not a bad looking woman, though all her training had left her… stiff, standoffish. Elenya knew from having been around her for the past few weeks, that she was a sweet, mild tempered young woman with a desire for true romance simmering just under the surface. She would have been perfect for Shemek.

Shemek. Sharing her stories with Nema and Neria had eased some of the hurt from their meeting at the Centrehead Hall. She thought of his words the night before she left Aleone, how he’d told her to be strong in fulfilling her destiny. He’d also assured her the warrior whose blood she carried would fall in love with her. Was it not reasonable to believe that she might also fall for him?

Shemek knew her. He could see her feelings for Tahruk in the depths of her green eyes, knew she was carrying his child when he saw her hands splayed across her then still flat belly. He should have been happy for her. Instead, he’d erupted in anger, making her doubt that her warrior cared. Making her doubt that Shemek cared either.

She wondered where he was. He hadn’t tried to get in touch with her even after he was released from the infirmary, though she knew he remained within the Centrehead. There was no way yet to go home and he would be unfit to return to the battlefields until his wounds were properly healed and his full strength had been restored. Perhaps she would ask Master Daruh is she could get a private moment with him when they reached the town center.

“I heard you were headed to the harbor. You seem to have lost your direction,
my lady
.” Larina slid back, walking just in front of the other corisans when Redahn sidled up beside Elenya.

Elenya twisted to look at Larina, her brows raised in an
I told you so
glance.

“Plans change, Redahn. My apologies if your informants failed to deliver the new order.”

Redahn laughed. “Oh, I knew of your decision. You know, it’s too bad you won’t relent and allow me to put that smart tongue of yours to better use.” He sidestepped the slap Elenya aimed at his arm.

“Of all the improprieties!” She glared at him for a moment, then crossed her arms over her chest and huffed when he merely shrugged.

“Come now. Can you tell me you don’t enjoy sparring with me? I believe you use it to make yourself feel alive.”

Elenya thought about his comment for a moment. Yes, she supposed in some ways it did. In many ways, Redahn reminded her of Tahruk in intellect as well as looks, even if she didn’t feel the pull toward him that she did for his brother. With her warrior, their verbal exchanges were mentally stimulating, and unlike with Redahn, usually ended with physical fulfillment as well. She felt the heat rise up her body, creeping ever higher until it stained her cheeks, she was sure.

“If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re giving my suggestion added thought,
sister
. Now that would be improper, would it not?”

Elenya’s mouth gaped only a second before she clamped it tightly shut, unable to find the words.

“Your increasing midriff belies your innocence,
my lady
, though it appears my words have rendered you unable to fight me. Does that bespeak of your desire for me?” Redahn whispered too close to her ear. She pushed him away and quickened her pace. “Relax, Elenya! I have only the best interest of the heir of Zanak at heart. I’m only thinking of your comfort,” he called after her in feigned thoughtfulness. “Surely you know my attentions are always in the right place.”

She turned back to see that he had draped an arm around Larina’s shoulders. “Leave her be, Redahn. The lady has been brought into the house as my companion, not to find herself subjected to your sordid affections.”

“Sordid?” he said under his breath and tightened his hold on the now blushing Larina. He leaned in to breathe deeply of the dark curls on her head. His fluttering eyelids and the sultry smile aimed at Elenya when he finally looked back at her led her to believe he was remembering a time when perhaps her lady assistant had not objected to his attentions. As if reading her mind, Redahn shook his head. “Perhaps my brother is not the man I thought him to be if you still believe what goes on between a man and a woman a sordid affair.” He raised his brows. “I received no complaints when the lady was in
my
bed. There was no attempted escape into a darkened night.”

Elenya covered her ears and stomped a dainty foot against the barren ground. “Enough of this! I will not listen to talk of your escapades, nor will I ever share with you what went on between your brother and me.” Her narrowed eyes raked across the small group, coming to rest back on Redahn. “You believe your conquests lay only in the bedroom now that you are no longer a mighty warrior on the battlefield, Redahn.” Elenya ignored the warning flash of his dark eyes. “And when you are not engaging some woman within your chambers, you use your tongue and your intellect to spew venom and inject your pain on others. You and every other man in this country who created these stupid rules think your station affords you the right to use women at your discretion. Whether we are
chosen
or sent to the Centrehead by our families for the
honor
of serving in the beds of the fighting men of the courts, we’re marked for your pleasure with no rights of our own.” She threw her hands up and huffed in disgust before turning to continue toward town. “No one stands up and says
this is not fair!
” she called back over her shoulder. “I don’t understand why some of you men aren’t willing to stand against this treatment of women. Do you not care? What about love? Have you truly never fallen in love? And what of marked women whose warriors fall on the battlefields before they are paired? They’re left to a life of loneliness without the ability to ever know a man’s touch or to carry their own child. Are we supposed to believe ourselves
flattered
by these injustices?” She looked at each of them in turn. “These women were your mothers. They’re your sisters. And someday they will be your daughters and your granddaughters! Why don’t you use your tongue for good, Redahn? Why don’t you use your place in society, your position as the great grandson of the King to speak out against this madness and stop this abhorrent behavior against women?”

Redahn, who had long since released his hold on Lady Larina, stepped up to stand directly before Elenya. “My brother would have done well to have taught you to quell your tongue among the other lessons he should have given you. Your talk might well land the both of you in trouble, you know.”

She ignored the cool warning in his tone. “You are a fine one to talk, Redahn. What do you know of right or wrong? Don’t lecture me on what I should and should not say, or tell me what your brother has done wrong. You are not half the man your brother is.”

“And you know my brother so well! You believe because you share his bed, because his child lies in your womb that you
know
him? You were with him such a short time, Elenya. What can you possibly know about him?” He shook his head. “We are brothers. Did you forget that?”

She stared at him, their faces mere inches apart. “I share his blood.
His
blood
! We are one, Redahn. We have been since I was three years old. Did you forget
that
?”

Turning on her heel, Elenya marched away as quickly as she could. Scurrying to cross the threshold of The Masters’ home where she could join Nema and Daruh, she missed the downturn of Redahn’s mouth. If she could have read his thoughts, she would have known he believed she would do well to be careful about spreading her ideas and sentiment around. There were those who would not welcome the changes suggested in her disgust of the current way of life and they would stop at nothing to quiet her before her discontent spread unrest to others, especially now that she was carrying a child that might one day be King.

Shrugging at the three corisans who waited behind them in uncomfortable silence, Redahn stepped into the house of the Masters to catch up to Elenya before she reached the room where the others were meeting. He pushed their exchange to the back of his mind, turning his thoughts to seeing whether Nema’s hunch was just that, or if there might be merit to her feminine ramblings and what part he would play. Redahn was always looking for an angle that would put him in a position to shine, one that would remove him from the darkness of always living within his brother’s shadow. Just once, he wanted to prove he was every bit the man he knew he could have been had he not been wounded in the battle to protect the exiled people of Aleone.

Chapter 29

Elenya froze at the door to the room where Nema and Daruh and a few others were meeting. Several of them, including Nema, leaned across one of the very large, hand drawn maps kept in the house of the Masters for the purpose of keeping track of the marked and their warriors. She could hear them discussing the abandoned settlement, knew they were looking for the chasm that divided it from the remainder of Travensworth’s Kingdom, though her eyes were riveted to one individual: Shemek.

“Are we to wait at the threshold after scurrying to get here?” Redahn sneered in her ear. When she remained motionless, he leaned forward, craning his neck to look at her face. A derisive chuckle rose from his chest, just loud enough for the two of them to hear. “Perhaps you are more fearful of your past than an uncertain future?”

His words had their intended effect. Her eyes snapped to lock with his momentarily, her brows drew down, lips pressed together as she elbowed him back and entered the room. Without looking again at Shemek, she crossed the floor to stand beside Nema, pleased when Daruh stopped his perusal of the map to welcome her with a kiss to the cheek. He pulled her forward, providing a better vantage point to see what they were doing.

“Redahn.” The Master motioned toward a particular section of the map. “What do you think? Lady Nema believes King Travensworth and Andorak’s men could be held up here.” He pointed at a specific section of land across a water laced canyon some two days ride from Dunover Castle. It’s an area that hasn’t been well platted, though your aunt remembers stories her mother told about a specific bend in the river. It has to be here.” Again, he pointed and tapped the same area of the map.

Elenya watched his expressions closely as Redahn leaned over the table, his eyes darting about on the map, a frown creasing his forehead. “Why?” he asked before straightening and looking to a spot behind them. Elenya knew without turning that he was looking at Shemek. He stared at the other man several seconds longer before turning his attention to Elenya. Eyebrows raised, he addressed the group while continuing to stare at her to the point she felt uneasy and broke eye contact to turn back to the map draped table. “The question we need answered is why. Why would a King hide instead of returning to his castle? And why would our King’s best warriors holed up in an abandoned settlement instead of returning the missing King, ending the battle, and coming home where they belong.”

No one within the group spoke up to answer his question at first.

“Perhaps they’re surrounded and can’t get out.” Elenya stiffened at the sound of Shemek’s voice, cringed when she sensed he was moving toward her, though he continued until he stood on the other side of Redahn. Leaning down, he began to study the map. “If the settlement is where you believe it to be, they have two options to leave. One is here.” He pointed to the great chasm that seemed to come inward from the sea and run many miles along the edge of Travensworth’s kingdom. “If they were unable to cross the canyon, they would have to turn back toward the sea and work their way South.” He traced the route with his finger. “If this route was cut off… It’s very narrow and would not take much…”

“What about the sea itself? Could they not venture into the water to escape?” Daruh interjected. His voice raised in pitch with his obvious interest in their theories.

Shemek shook his head. “I’ve heard much about those shores. They’re rocky and treacherous. That’s part of why the forest dwellers chose this place. They viewed the very things that may be keeping the warriors and the King in as ways to keep others out. They were all points of safety.”

The group lapsed into silence, each lost in thought as they studied the map.

“I believe they’re unsure as to who the true enemy is and need this time in hiding to ferret out the truth.” All eyes were suddenly on Elenya. She looked first at Redahn, then Shemek and Daruh before continuing. “Trapped? I think not. These are the King’s finest. They would rather die fighting than to hide away somewhere without a good reason.”

“Good point,” Redahn answered. “But why not send word and rally more troops to aid in their mission to find out then?”

“Why not, indeed? That is the question that begs an answer. How might we find that out?” Elenya locked eyes with Redahn while she spoke then turned to Nema. “What of the hillside passage Lady Neria mentioned when she talked of your mother and her sister meeting? Once they got to the bottom of the chasm on one side, how did they cross over the water and get up the other side? Is it such that someone knowing that passage could slip in undetected?”

Nema let out a weary sigh and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Our mother only mentioned her sister emerging from the hillside. I don’t believe she ever ventured across.”

Redahn straightened, drawing all eyes to him. Caressing his own chin, he stared off, his eyes moving as if he studied something unseen. “A group of the King’s finest, along with Elenya’s father as logistics expert, were dispatched to find Travensworth. Our best spies would be with the missing guard.” He stopped and turned to stare at Shemek. “Who among your people would be able to sneak through enemy lines to scout this out for us?”

Shemek frowned, his eyes darting to Elenya. They both knew the other was thinking he was the man for the job. Who else? Elenya had no idea. She didn’t know the fighting men of Aleone that well. Men were a group she had, for the most part, been kept away from.

After naming a few men, Shemek shook his head. “I am Aleone’s top informant. I’m the best at slipping through enemy lines and finding a way in or out… I’m the one who should go.” He looked again at Elenya before turning to Redahn, the look in his eyes a mixture of certainty and sorrow.

Redahn studied the younger man with a steady, prodding gaze then turned abruptly to Daruh. “Good. We leave at daybreak then. I’ll assemble a small group to travel with us.”

A unified “what” went up from the group as Redahn made to leave the room. Only an open mouthed Elenya stopped him by stepping in his path.

“Of all the ridiculous ideas! What could you possibly be thinking?” Her ire was evident in her raised voice and rigid posture, though it earned her nothing but a lazily raised brow and lifted corner of Redahn’s mouth on one side. “
He
has not yet been released to duty after his injuries.” She thrust a finger in Shemek’s general direction. “And
you
! How many times have you said you are less than a man now, unable to fight after your own injuries healed improperly? And yet you would risk your life as well as that of others?” With a huff, she pushed away tufts of hair that had been annoying her since her hasty walk into town. “Exactly what are you trying to prove?” Hands on pregnancy rounded hips, she stood nearly toe to toe with the battle proven warrior, her shoulders back, head held high with no thought for the audience that watched her behaving quite improperly for a lady.

“Ya.”

Shemek’s hand on her shoulder was forcefully shrugged off. Her frown deepened, even though her eyes never left Redahn’s.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Redahn shook his head. “I owe you no explanation, as you well know,” he told her in a low, even voice. “And I do not pretend to understand your anger. One would think you would want me gone as well as attempting to bring your lover home.” He paused before continuing, his tone not wavering. “I have no intent to spend the rest of my days away from the battlefield. If this is a way I may serve, then so be it. I would rather die in a show of my allegiance to my kingdom than to watch those who fought for me perish while I sit idly by.”

They stared at each other for several tension filled moments before Elenya spoke. “If you all perish, what becomes of Corigan?” Redahn’s features softened somewhat with the misting of her eyes. He looked down at her hands that now covered the roundness protruding from her midsection. He shrugged.”

“My concern is not with Corigan, my lady. Rather, I wish to do my part to protect my own family,” he said in a near whisper. A mischievous smile pulled at his lips. “Saving both shall be a mere bonus for me. For once, I’ll be the one to shine.”

Elenya couldn’t help the somewhat sad smile that spread itself across her face. “We’ve been over this before, Redahn. Your shadow is of your own making. There are plenty of other things you can do to make others believe you shine.”

Redahn stared at her, his face an unreadable mask. Without looking back, he called to Shemek, “We leave at sunrise.” He made to leave the room though Daruh’s voice brought him to an abrupt stop.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Lord Redahn.”

Redahn wheeled around, his brows lifted in an unnatural, mocking arch. “Excuse me,
Master
Daruh. I don’t believe I understood what you just said.”

Daruh, a man of peace, though not overly small in stature himself, dragged in a hesitant breath and held it for several seconds before slowly exhaling. “You will be unable to accompany the men tomorrow, my lord. Another will have to lead them.”

A loud barking laugh tore from Redahn’s throat. He took two steps back toward Daruh, stopping only when Elenya’s forearm fell across his chest. The look on his face when he glared down at her made her shiver, though she stood her ground. “And by what authority do you believe you will stop me, Daruh?” Redahn asked, his tone mocking and biting.

“Under the authority I have given him, Lord Redahn!” The group turned in unison to see Mordin Andorak, the King of Dorengar, walk through the door. After a moment of frozen shock, the men, save for Redahn, went down on one knee, heads bowed, while Nema curtsied as low as she possibly could. Andorak stopped Elenya’s downward motion with a hand beneath her elbow. “Rise,” he told them all, his steel gray eyes never leaving those of his great grandson. “I have given orders that you are not to leave the Centrehead.”

Redahn’s mouth dropped open, then closed again as he studied his great grandfather, the question burning behind his dark eyes needing no words.

The King shook his head. “I knew there would come a day when the threat of your inabilities due to old injuries would no longer hold you here. But
here
is exactly where you need to be, especially now.” He glanced at Elenya’s burgeoning middle, a look that made Redahn’s forehead crease grow deeper. “What was it you told the girl? Your concern was in protecting your family?” He leaned closer to the younger man and whispered, “You’ve done a fine job of protecting her up to now. My expectation is for you to continue, especially during this time of unrest.” His own brows now raised, Andorak continued by motioning for Redahn to follow him.

All eyes were on the two as they walked away. Arms folded across her abdomen, Elenya wished she could follow, though knew it would be in bad form. She’d already exhibited enough of that. Instead, she nodded at the other occupants and left the confines of The Masters’ home.