Highlander the Dark Dragon (22 page)

“He is hungry for revenge. Pitt and I had discovered only a short time ago that Fife was the one spying for Haidar. Plans were being made to watch Fife at all times to see what we could learn. Pitt was keeping an eye on him while waiting for the warrior assigned the first watch.”

Heather shook her head. “Why did Fife jump in front of the attacker and save me?”

“You were not the target.”

Heather tilted her head in question. “Who was the target?”

“Fife,” Rhys said and went on to explain. “It was a suicide mission for both men, though it was probably planned to look as if Fife tried to save Nessa from an attack. Haidar meant for all to be aware that the Dragon could not protect them from a superior foe. He also knows I am no fool and it was only a matter of time before I realized he had planted a spy amongst my warriors and discovered his identity.”

“That was why Fife looked so angry with Nessa when he saw me with her.”

“Aye, he would be very angry, for he could not let you die. If he did, he would have failed Haidar.”

“I do not understand.”

“Haidar will not come for me. He will come for you.”

Heather could feel herself pale, though his words made perfect sense. She should have realized it sooner herself. Of course, Haidar would want to take from Rhys what he had taken from Haidar. And with all that had been happening lately she had to admit there was a chance he might succeed.

She could not help but smile as an unlikely response tumbled from her lips. “I guess I should stay put when you tell me to.”

He tugged her up against him. “He will never get his hands on you.”

“I want to believe that, but I have learned in life that
never
is a word
never
to trust.”

Thunder rumbled as if in agreement and a splatter of rain hit her cheek.

Rhys’s arm dropped off her, though he quickly took hold of her hand. He walked over to the warriors guarding the bodies. “Let the rain soak them, then tie rope around their ankles and drag them into the barn. The poison should be gone by then, but just to be certain, try not to touch their skin.”

More rain fell as Rhys hurried his wife along to the keep. He walked her over by the large fireplace in the Great Hall where a fire was burning, the rain having brought a chill with it.

She sat on a bench facing the hearth eager for the heat from the flames, cold having suddenly settled deep in her bones.

Rhys sat beside her after summoning a servant and instructing her to bring wine and ale. He took her hands and feeling the sudden chill, rubbed them between his two. “You are cold.”

She turned her head and said, “My family should be notified of all that is happening.”

“At the moment, they hold no interest for Haidar and I would prefer it remain that way.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because he has seen that I care not what happens to your family. So he will not waste his time and resources on something that serves no purpose.”

This time when she looked into his eyes, she saw the cold, heartless Dragon staring back at her.

“Your family also does not need to be worrying about you when their concern should be with Greer McLaud. He will soon be upon them, demanding to know of his wife and Saundra. And I have yet to hear if he is aware of his brother’s death, though when he learns of it, I am sure he will blame the Macinnes.” Rhys poured wine for each of them, handing her a tankard. “Drink, it will chase the chill.”

Heather drank, wanting it to also chase her worries.

“You need to trust me, Heather,” he said.

“I do,” she said, placing the tankard on the table and turned toward him. “I truly do trust you, Rhys, but I fear that sometimes fate has a way of stepping in and changing things no matter how often we say
never
.”

He ran a finger slowly down the side of her face. “Know this now, wife, for I give you my word on it. If anyone was ever to take you away from me, nothing—absolutely nothing—would stop me from getting you back.”

Heather smiled. “Then I have nothing to fear, for I know you will keep your word.”
Just as you did all those years ago.
Perhaps one day she would finally be able to say it aloud to him.

“I am reluctant to leave you, but I must see to this,” Rhys said and took hold of her chin. “I will have your word that you will stay in the keep.” Rhys scowled when Heather hesitated to answer. “What is it?”

“I would like to see how Nessa is faring.”

Before Rhys could tell her that he would have Pitt bring Nessa to her, Pitt entered the Great Hall, Nessa wrapped around him as if she would never let go.

Pitt approached them. “I cannot leave her alone while I see to my duties.”

Heather hurried off the bench, slipping her arm around Nessa to ease her out of Pitt’s arms.

Nessa looked at Pitt with such fright that he was leaving her, it tore at his heart.

“Come Nessa,” Heather coaxed, “we will have some wine and talk.”

Nessa looked at Heather and latched onto her. “I thought Fife cared for me.”

Rhys had to grab Pitt by the arm and almost drag him out of the room, he was so reluctant to leave.

Heather sat Nessa on the bench beside her so that the fire’s heat could warm her. She was more chilled than Heather had been and she remained much too pale.

“Drink,” Heather urged, placing a tankard of wine to her lips and Nessa obeyed without question.

Nessa finally wrapped her hands around the tankard and raised it repeatedly to her own lips. She turned to Heather, tears clouding her eyes. “Forgive me, my lady, I foolishly gave my heart and trust to Fife because I believed he loved me. He followed me around the keep, claiming he missed me and had to be with me as much as possible and being blindly in love I believed him.” A tear slipped down her pale cheek. “The Dragon will surely punish me for this.”

“The Dragon will not punish you, Nessa. You have my word on that.”

After Nessa finished her tankard of wine, she stood. “I must return to my chores.”

Heather stood as well. “Not today, Nessa.”

“I must,” Nessa insisted, “or I will think of nothing else and only grow more upset with myself.”

“I have an idea that will help us both, since it is impossible for me to sit and do nothing myself. I will have a couple of Rhys’ warriors help us clean out the room on the upper floor stuffed with furniture. They should be only too glad to help since they must watch over me anyway. I can also have the latch repaired so that no one can get locked inside like I did.”

“But the Dragon forbids anyone to go up there.”

Heather smiled. “The Dragon will be pleased that I am keeping myself occupied in the keep. And I have no doubt that he will quickly be made aware of my intentions and I will learn fast enough if he objects. Besides, I am the lady of the keep and you must follow my order.”

“As you say, my lady,” Nessa said with a bob of her head and a slight smile.

Heather called out to the two warriors sitting nearby. “I require your help.”

They both looked at each other and stood with some reluctance.

“I am not going to run off on you and cause you trouble with the Dragon. Since you both have been tasked with guarding me, I am going to put you to work. I want you to assist me in cleaning out the one room on the upper floor.”

They both looked at each other again, before the one turned and spoke. “No one is permitted up there.”

“I think the Dragon will permit it since it will keep me tucked safely away in the keep. One of you, go and ask him, while the other will come along with me and Nessa?”

They both shook their heads and the one who spoke before, spoke again. “The Dragon will have our heads if we leave our post.”

With a pleasant smile and a gentle tone, she said, “Then I would suggest that you send another warrior to deliver the message, since I am going up there with or without you.”

The one warrior went running and the other followed behind Heather and Nessa as they walked to the stairs. The other warrior returned shortly and by the time they reached the upper floor a third warrior appeared.

“My lady,” he said with a nod and turned to the two warriors. “The Dragon gives Lady Heather permission to do as she wishes in the room and you are both to help her with whatever tasks she sets for you. I am to stand guard over you all.”

“Wonderful,” Heather said and grabbed the torch from the sconce and stepped just inside the room. “Your names?” she asked the two warriors who followed her.

“Duff,” the shorter of the two said.

“Tam,” the other said.

“Well, Duff and Tam, I think we will start with that heavy tapestry on the window.” She raised the torch some so they could see it. “I need you both to take it down off the window so that we have some light.”

The two men set to the task and with a few sharp tugs the tapestry fell to the floor, flooding the room with what light the stormy sky allowed.

Heather continued instructing the warriors and Nessa, and joined in to help as well, though the three protested. After a while they stopped, realizing their protests were useless, Lady Heather would do as she wished.

Pieces of furniture that were rotting from age were used to start a fire, in the small fireplace and chase the damp chill from the room.

Heather was making her way toward the corner of the room, having spotted a planked coffer chest she thought she could put to use when she saw Nessa pick up the cradle that had caught Heather’s eye when she had first gazed upon this space. “Place the cradle aside, Nessa. I think it will serve as a good gift for Bea and Douglas for when their babe is born.”

“That is generous of you, Lady Heather,” Nessa said and handed it over to Duff.

Heavy chairs scarred with age seemed to stand as sentinels, keeping her from getting to the coffer. Tam was quick to come to her aid and began clearing the way.

Heather was relieved to see Nessa’s cheeks full of color and tears no longer clouding her eyes. This task kept her too busy to think of Fife and how he had shattered her heart and trust. She knew it would take time for Nessa to recover from this horrible ordeal.

As soon as Tam moved the last chair out of her way, Heather approached the coffer with a smile. It was just what she needed to hold the many garments that overflowed the small chest in her bedchamber.

She reached out as she took another step closer and the next thing she knew the floor gave way beneath her and she plummeted down with it.

“Oh my God, Lady Heather,” Nessa screamed as she disappeared before Nessa’s eyes.

The two warriors ran to the hole in the floor and when the warrior who stood guard outside the door ran in, Duff shouted, “Get the Dragon!”

“Lady Heather, are you all right? Can you hear me?” Tam called down into the hole.

“I can hear you,” Heather called back. “I am fine.” At least she thought she was, since she felt no true pain.

“I am coming down there to get you out,” Tam yelled.

“No,” she yelled back. “Get me the torch.” She almost shouted with excitement, believing she discovered the secret passage, but bit her tongue. Rhys did not want anyone to know about it.

“I will bring the torch down to you,” Tam said.

“No, that is not advisable. The boards are soft beneath my feet and if you drop down onto them, I fear we may go straight through.”

“The Dragon will see that Duff and I suffer more than a fall if we leave you down there alone, and he will be here soon.”

“Nessa,” she shouted and the next thing she knew the torch was falling down the hole, and Heather was quick to snatch it up.

“Are you a fool, woman?” Duff shouted.

“Lady Heather gave an order and I obeyed.”

“You better have had good reason to do so,” Rhys said sharply as he entered the room with the force of a swirling storm. When he saw Tam and Duff bent over the hole in the floor, his stomach clenched and he shouted, “Heather!”

“I am down here, Rhys,” she called out.

Rhys rushed to the hole, the sight of him in all black, his brow narrowed, and his eyes blazing, caused the two warriors to hurry out of his way.

Rhys peered over the edge and relief ran through him when he saw her standing there, with the torch held over her head. Her face was smudged with dirt as were her garments, but she looked to be unharmed.

“Stand back. I am coming down to fetch you out of there.”

“Lady Heather says the boards are too soft beneath her feet or we would have had her fetched out already,” Tam explained.

“It is good you explained that. Now I will not have to punish you for leaving my wife down in a dark hole.”

“Tam and Duff have been very helpful and quick to want to get me out of here. Please do not be angry with them.”

Rhys looked down at his wife again and ignoring her plea, said, “Move to the side.”

“So you can fall through the boards? I think not.”

“What did you say to me?”

Duff and Tam stepped further away from the Dragon and Nessa stepped closer to the door.

“I am not moving,” Heather shouted the glare from the torch making it difficult to see his face clearly, but that did not matter. She was familiar with the look of the fire-breathing Dragon.

“Move! Now!” Rhys’s voice rumbled with anger.

“I will not see you hurt,” she shouted back.

Rhys was about to let her know that was not for her to decide when he heard a noise. “What was that?” he called down to her.

Before his wife could answer him, he heard it again and knew. It was the sound of the boards cracking. “Move, Heather!” he yelled.

The boards gave out before she could flee and suddenly his wife was gone and all he saw was the torch flickering as it spiraled downward in the dark and her scream raced up at him.

“RHYS!”

The Dragon did not hesitate. He dropped down in the hole after his wife.

Rhys twisted so that his body would take the impact of the fall rather than his legs and he was surprised when he landed on something softer than he expected. Though there was a jolt to his body, it did not stop him from hurrying to his feet and looking around for his wife.

He spotted the torch a short distance away and was grateful it still held its flame. He hurried over and snatched it off the floor, seeing that he stood on thick wood planking. He swung the torch up above his head to cast a wider light so that he could find his wife and when he spotted her prone body face down, fear gripped at his heart and he let out a slew of curses as he hurried over to her.

His arm brushed across something in the stone wall as he reached her. It was a metal sconce and he rested the torch in it before dropping down beside his wife. He had stopped praying a long time ago, so it was not a prayer that rushed to his lips but a warning that if anything happened to her, he would rage war on the heavens.

With a gentle touch, he turned her over on her back and was relieved to see her stir. “Heather,” he said forcefully, and then more sternly, “Heather, open your eyes.” For once, she listened to him and opened her eyes.

A smile slowly surfaced, seeing Quinn staring at her, his dark eyes full of concern and anger.
Anger
? Quinn rarely grew angry. She was about to ask him what was wrong, when he snapped at her.

“Do not dare move until I see if you suffered any harm.”

“Rhys,” she said softly, recalling what had happened and not surprised to see him there. “You followed me down the hole.”

He leaned closer to her. “I would follow you to hell if necessary, though I do not believe they would want you there, since you would not obey the devil himself.”

“I obeyed you; I remained in the keep.”

“And when I told you to move?”

“I did not want you to get hurt,” she said and attempted to sit up. Pain shot through her shoulder and she let out a moan.

Rhys let out another slew of curses beneath his breath for arguing with her when he should be tending her, and he snapped, “Do not move!” And when he saw a tear gather in the corner of her one eye, he silently cursed himself again and went against his own command. He gently slipped his arms under her and lifted her onto his lap to sit back against the stone wall and cradle her in his arms.

She rested her head on his chest with a sigh.

“You are in pain?” he asked.

“Only my shoulder,” she said, wincing as she gave the shoulder not tucked against him a lift.

“Do not move it,” he ordered.

“It probably took the brunt of my fall and is already bruising.”

Rhys brought his hand up to rest on her shoulder, then caressed it slowly to see if he could feel anything.

Heather almost sighed aloud with how pleasurable his tender touch felt until he touched one particular spot. Pain shot through it, and she bit back the gasp that hurried to rush out. She did not want Rhys to know. He would forbid her to do anything but rest and she wanted to do anything but that.

“I do not feel anything. Nothing else pains you?”

“Nothing, but what of you?” she asked concerned that he had suffered an injury in the fall.

“I am fine,” he insisted and moved his hand off her shoulder to rest at her waist. He wanted nothing more than to simply sit there and hold her and know she was unharmed.

“Are you certain?”

He squeezed at her waist. “I will let you run your hands all over my naked body and see for yourself as soon as we get out of here.”

The image of her doing just that had her saying, “We should hurry and leave here.”

“First, we must determine where
here
is.”

Heather brought her head up off his chest and looked around. “Is this the secret passage?”

“I am assuming it is, though the lack of care and age has taken a toll on it.”

Heather got to her feet with some help from her husband and they both stood and looked around. Their fall had been cushioned by a pile of blankets and a variety of garments. Heather yanked one out, holding up a cloak and seeing it had been a feast for rodents with its many holes. She tossed it back on the pile.

After taking in all of the small space, Rhys said, “From the looks of it, this is a spot where the family could wait out a siege in relative safety and take their leave if it should prove necessary. Time, dampness, and lack of care took its toll on the wood.”

Heather dropped her head back to look up through the hole. “How far do you think we dropped?”

“Most times you find thicker wood planks closer to the bottom of the keep than the top, so I would say we are somewhere nearer the bottom.”

“Rhys!” The strong shout echoed down the hole.

It was Pitt and Rhys shouted back to him. “We are good and looking for the way out.”

“I will wait, though not long,” Pitt yelled to him.

“He will send men?” Heather asked.

“If it takes too long for us to find our way out of here, then warriors will start dropping through the hole.”

“Then we should hurry and save them the fall. Besides I need to touch every inch of you to make certain you are unharmed.”

Damn if he did not grow aroused at the thought of her doing just that and he reached out and grabbed her arm just as she took a step away. She gasped and shut her eyes against the pain and he got angry at himself and her. “You are not being truthful with me. Your shoulder suffered worse than you told me.”

“It truly is not that bad. It is the thought of you ordering me to rest that proves more painful and has me holding my tongue.”

Rhys stepped closer to her and dusted dirt from her braid, his fingertips grazing her breasts which of course stirred his arousal even more and flared his annoyance.

Heather laid a hand on his chest and hurried to speak before he could. “Believe me, Rhys, I am fine. I would not lie to you about that.”

He placed his hand over hers. “I will have your word on that, wife.”

“You have my word.”

He gave her a quick kiss, not trusting himself to linger. “Good, then let us find our way out of here so you can find out for yourself if I suffered any wounds.” She smiled and he took her hand, then grabbed the torch from the sconce. “Follow close behind me.”

They made their way along a brief narrow passage that led out of the room to wood stairs.

Rhys turned to Heather and said, “Wait here until I see if the stairs hold.”

Heather waited and watched as her husband took the stairs slowly and disappeared beyond the curve, leaving her in complete darkness. It was not long before light filtered around the curve and Rhys returned.

“One of the steps not far from the bottom has rotted away and a few creak loudly so be careful, tread lightly.”

Heather followed behind him, his pace slow and cautious.

“Wait here,” he said just before he came to a stop and she did as he said. He extended his leg, clearing three steps at once, then he placed the torch in a sconce on the stone wall. He turned and reached his hands out to her. “Jump.”

She did not hesitate; she jumped into his arms. He caught her around the waist, holding her firm as he swung her away from the steps and lowered her to her feet. Her hands rested on his forearms and she gave them a squeeze and she did not know why, but she felt the urge to tell him, “I love you, Rhys.”

He stilled, suddenly unable to move.

“Whether you ever love me or not, does not matter. I will love you always,” she said and kissed his cheek softly.

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“That is not an answer,” he argued.

“But it is. Why would I not love you? There is nothing to stop me from loving you.” She squeezed his arms again. “And there is nothing to stop you from loving me.”

“You ask too—”

She hurried to press her fingers to his lips, forcing him silent. “I ask nothing of you. Simply give whatever you wish to me as I will to you. I love you and nothing is ever going to change that.”

He brushed her hand aside. “We will see.”

He turned and reminded, “Stay close.”

One day. One day,
she thought as she followed along,
he will tell me he loves me.

After several twists and turns and jumps into Rhys’ arms, they came to a dark tunnel. The entrance yawned like a giant’s mouth in front of them.

Rhys held the torch high. “Dirt walls and wood beams.”

“Will this take us away from the castle?” Heather asked, peering around his shoulder.

“We shall find out.” He turned his head toward her. “The tunnel appears narrow and may get narrower. Keep your hand on my back at all times, so I know you are there behind me and in case we lose the light.”

The scent of earth grew stronger and stronger as the passageway grew so narrow that Rhys’s shoulders brushed the dirt walls, sending some of the dirt flying into her face.

Try as she might to ignore that the walls seemed to be closing in on her, she was not able to and with fear in her voice, she called out, “Rhys!”

He stopped and eased himself sideways and she immediately tucked herself under the crook of his arm, planted her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, and there she stayed.

Rhys felt her body tremble and knew her fear. He had experienced the same gripping fear himself the first time he had entered a similar narrow passage. But there was little room to console her here and little time to linger.

“How can you walk this barely passable corridor with no fear?” she asked, fighting the fear that any minute the walls would collapse around them and bury them alive.

“Fear was forced out of me through the years.”

“I cannot believe that fear does not touch you in this confined space,” she said and shivered.

He ran his hand down her arm and covered her hand that hugged at his waist. “I was forced to stand in a corridor such as this one with a line of men in front of me and behind me for endless days, shortly after I was sold to Haidar. Scraps of food and drink were passed down the line once a day. If you were lucky, some of it reached you. Those who seemed to lose their minds as the days went on were quickly disposed of by the person in front of him or the person behind him, sometimes both. The body would be kicked down the line beneath everyone’s bare feet until it reached the opening where it was removed. Those who survived began training to be one of Haidar’s infamous slave warriors. I was one of the unlucky ones—I survived.”

“Do not say that,” Heather scolded, easing away from him with tears glistening in her eyes at the horror he had endured. “Never, ever say that.”

He reached out and wiped at the tears that were yet to spill. “I prayed for courage, then I prayed for death, then I stopped praying, but now that I am with you...I am glad I survived.”

“We must hurry and get you out of here,” she said, giving him a slight push.

“Me?” he asked with a slight smile.

“Aye, you do not need to relive such a horrible ordeal. We must get you out of here. Now hurry along,” she said with a wave of her hand.

“Stay close,” he reminded again as he turned slowly away from her.

“Always,” she said and latched on to the hem of his leather armor.

After a few more feet, the corridor narrowed to the point that Rhys was forced to walk sideways and her heart went out to him when he looked at her with concern.

“Can you manage this?”

“If you can, so can I,” she said and eased herself sideways.

He slipped his hand in hers and they made their way slowly along the corridor until suddenly the passage widened and brought them out into a small area. The walls in there were constructed of wood planking, though much of it had rotted. A ladder was braced against one wall and it lead up to what appeared to be a trap door.

Rhys turned to Heather. “You need to stay down here while I go see what is up there. If for any reason I do not return after a short time, you are to go back the way we came and wait for my warriors, though you will probably meet them on the way.” His voice turned stern. “I mean it, Heather, give me your word or I will pull the ladder up after me.”

“I will not come up after you,” she said, of course that did not include going up the ladder with the purpose of finding a way out, but she did not tell him that.

Rhys climbed the ladder and eased the latched door open slowly, then quickly disappeared up through it.

Heather waited in the dark, thinking about what Rhys had told her. She could not imagine standing in a confined corridor for days in the dark with no way out. She did not know how he had not gone mad. There did not seem to be an end to this Haidar’s cruelty, and she prayed she would never meet him.

“Heather!”

Rhys’ shout brought a smile to her face and she looked up at him peering down through the opening. “Climb up.”

She eagerly climbed each rung, grabbing onto a rope that dangled from a hook by the ceiling beam to help hoist herself further up the rungs. It struck her as she climbed that he had not mentioned if it was safe and before she neared the top, she whispered, “Is it safe?”

Rhys was impressed that she should ask. “At the moment it is, though I do not know for how long, so we must hurry.”

Heather did just that, taking the last few rungs as quickly as possible, Rhys taking hold of her hand and helping her through the opening. She took a look around and saw that it was a single-room cottage that had fallen into disrepair. Dark gray clouds drifted by the gaping hole in the thatched roof, though thankfully no rain fell.

Rhys kept his voice low when he spoke. “I ran across this cottage when I first explored this land. We are a distance into the woods that runs along the side of the keep. Once the warriors who are posted in this area spot us they will hurry to guard us. We must move fast, the closer to the keep, the more guards.”

“If you think danger awaits us, why not wait here for your warriors?”

“Fife died a short time after I learned that he was a loyal servant to Haidar, which means Haidar has watchful eyes on us at all times. If he learns of what is going on, there is no telling what he may do. And while we wait here for the warriors who follow us, we could be greeted by an unstoppable force of Haidar’s warriors when we finally do leave. It is better we make haste now.” He dropped the torch down the opening. “My warriors will know to follow.” He took her hand. “You will stay in front of me at all times and if by chance we are separated, you are to run screaming as fast and as loud as you can so my warriors will hear you.”