Steal the Sun (44 page)

Arawn made a sudden appearance at Nim’s side. He stopped her and forced her chin up. He leaned down briefly, placing a light kiss on her lips. “I would have you no other way, my love. Your nature gets us in trouble from time to time, but I wouldn’t change an inch of you.” He turned back to the rest of us, his calm manner somewhat reassuring. “We must assume that this is all a part of their plan and that Con is working with the duke. They would immediately give both palaces the information in an attempt to create utter chaos and move the war forward.”

“We knew he had to have help from this side to have gotten the ogre over,” I pointed out. While Nim had fluttered around getting ready to flee, I had told them everything we’d learned about the traitors. I hoped the Unseelie would be more open to the fact that someone on their side of the
sithein
might be corrupt.

Arawn nodded shortly. “Yes, it fits. Con is a close advisor to the king. He has many who are loyal to him. He would have been tasked with finding you and bringing you to the palace. Angus trusts him as much as he trusts anyone. I’m certain Angus intends to give you back to your husband in a show of cooperation he hopes would lead us away from war.”

“But we won’t make it to the palace,” Daniel said seriously as he looked out over the field.

“No,” Arawn agreed. “The red caps are guards, but they’re also killers. All Con had to do is buy one’s loyalty. The minute he kills, the rest will be pulled into bloodlust. We will all be dead and Angus will be blamed. The Seelies will attack without worry.”

“Well, all we have to do is evade the red caps for a little while.” I tried to put a positive spin on things. “My guard is already on his way to the Seelie palace to tell my husband what happened.”

There was no way Lee wouldn’t get to Dev.

Neil frowned from his comfortable seat on a chair. He was dressed in too-big clothes and looked even younger than his twenty-three years. The two
Cŵn Annwn
sat on either side of him, their enormous black tongues panting. “I don’t think that’s going to help the situation, Z. It wasn’t like we overheard the conversation with Gilliana. We stayed where we were until Lee could move safely. When he didn’t come, we climbed down and found the camp deserted and trashed. Your clothes were torn up. They left the Goddess Chain behind, I guess so there wouldn’t be any question who they had taken. Lee thought the worst. We tracked your scent straight to the door of the Unseelie
sithein
.”

“Why didn’t Lee come after us?” Daniel asked, his voice tight. He was getting ready for a fight and he was still feeling the tension from knowing Arawn had power over him. I know my husband. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable.

Neil frowned because he knew that Daniel would rather have Lee here than him. “Lee is faster. We decided he should get to the palace and tell Dev so he could mount a rescue. We had no idea what had happened to you except that someone had taken you both over here. It seemed prudent to get help.”

Daniel grunted. It wasn’t what he would have done, but it made sense.

“So all Devinshea is going to know is that his goddess was taken to our
sithein
without her clothes,” Roarke said, not happy with the prospect. “He won’t mount a rescue. It would be far too risky and his mother and brother would never allow him to come over here. He will push forward with the war.”

“And no doubt that was their plan all along.” I was a little worried that this would work out all too well for the bad guys. Though I thought Dev might fool them all. He loved me. He deeply cared for Daniel. It might kill him to not know where we were. Still, he’d allowed us to leave without him in the first place. “I love my husband, but he’s being irrational. He was heartbroken over the loss of our child. We have to find a way to get to him and tell him what we know.”

“Nim,” Roarke shouted. “Are you ready yet? They aren’t getting any farther away.”

Nim appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in some sort of animal skin trousers and a thin black shirt. “Let’s go. I told the servants to run.” Nim had been concerned with her servants being captured and tortured by the red caps. It was another plus for the woman in my books.

I was dressed in one of Arawn/Roarke’s shirts. It was enormous, but Nim was slender and I was not. My curves wouldn’t be fitting into any of her clothes. I looked down at my bare feet. The forest was going to be hard on them.

“Don’t worry, baby,” Daniel said, picking me. “Your feet won’t touch the ground. Let’s move. We need to get to the palace as soon as possible. Point me in the right direction and I’ll fly me and Z.”

“It won’t work,” Nim said grimly. “The entire
sithein
is plagued by eddy winds. Unless you know how to ride an eddy wind, we’re walking. I can’t and neither Roarke nor Arawn can.”

Daniel rolled his eyes and slapped his head like he should have known something. “That explains the mountain. It was surrounded by eddy winds. I have no idea how to catch one much less ride one. Sorry, Z, we’re walking. We should get moving.”

“Vampire,” Arawn said suddenly. “You should nourish yourself. I can feel your hunger.”

“It can wait until she’s safe.” Daniel started down the stairs.

I heard the others following. I glanced about, taking in my surroundings. It was a small but well-appointed
brugh
. If I had to guess I would say it was a vacation house. They probably normally lived at the palace, as all the ascended gods did. The servants had taken Nim’s orders to heart. They appeared to have fled. The cabin was quiet as we made our way through.

“The door is to the left,” Nim called out behind us.

Daniel took a hard left and then he was kicking the door open, allowing the night in. He strode out with Neil following hard behind him. Nim and Roarke ran to keep up as we made it to the yard. We needed to make it to the forest where our small party would have the advantage over the heavily armed troops. They wouldn’t be able to travel as quickly as we could. Daniel began running to the left, but Neil stopped him with a decisive pull on his shoulder.

“Stop,” Neil yelled, frustrated that Daniel wasn’t letting him go first. It was a reversal of everything we’d done before. In the past, Danny and I did nothing during a job without Neil’s senses telling us it was all right to continue. The change was obviously pissing Neil off. “Will you give me a second? I smell something. It’s coming from that direction.” Neil pointed to the direction we were about to head.

“Watch out for the advance guard!” Nim yelled as she and Roarke made it out the door. “They always send a couple ahead of the full troops.”

The red caps came into view. They carried iron pikes in their hands and the minute they saw us, an unholy gleam lit their dark eyes. They took in the scene in front of them, quick to recognize their quarry.

“By the order of King Angus, you will give us aid, My Lord. We seek Her Grace, the wife of the Seelie High Priest,” one said, his voice harsher than sandpaper. “Surrender her and we shall be satisfied.”

“No you won’t,” Nim said, huffing her disbelief.

The three smiled, their grins creepy and bloodthirsty. “No,” the one said. “We won’t.”

Their eyes told the tale. They had full orders to execute Nim and Roarke and probably to parade the traitors’ heads through the
sithein
as they brought me to the king’s palace.

They began to move forward, their movements a testament to long training and discipline.

“Catch her,” Daniel demanded as I found myself tossed into the air.

Neil moved gracefully under me, and I was grateful for his physical prowess as he made sure I didn’t hit the ground.

Daniel struck quickly. His legs kicked out, attempting to dislodge the goblins from their traditional weapons. He hit one hard, his foot meeting with the goblin’s chins. The red cap’s head flew back and his body followed, but the other two paid no attention to their weakened comrade. They were far too busy shoving their cold iron weapons into my vampire’s body. One of the pikes entered Daniel’s chest and the other met his belly. I was shocked not at the blood but the lack of it. Daniel’s body bled weakly, and I remembered he hadn’t fed the day before. Even a single day could weaken him.

“Neil, you have to help him,” I said even as he was putting me down, having already determined the same thing.

Neil tossed his shirt over his head and before it had time to hit the ground, he changed and howled, calling the
Cŵn Annwn
to his aid. The enormous dogs growled and leapt into the fray. Daniel pulled the pikes out of his body, tossing one behind him and keeping the other in his hand. He wielded it against the red cap closest to him. The small, fierce goblins were more wary now as three canines approached with deadly hunger in their eyes.

Daniel surged forward, catching a red cap on his pike and shoving the cold iron home through the goblin’s chest. He hauled his prey high into the air, letting gravity work its magic as the red cap fell forward, impaled on the iron. Blood dripped from his mouth and Daniel tossed the fallen foe aside.

Neil and the hell hounds moved in on the last two. They chose their targets and pounced carefully. The hell hounds gleefully tore apart the goblin, reveling in the blood and gore. The final red cap saw the writing on the wall and began to back up. He left his weapon behind and started to flee. Neil began to give chase, but Daniel called him back. The werewolf changed and looked at his former master curiously.

“It won’t do any good,” Daniel said, pain evident in his voice. He stumbled a bit as he walked back toward me, and I could see the blood on his clothes. He’d lost blood he couldn’t afford to lose. Daniel had gotten used to a free blood supply. Most nights Daniel fed from both Devinshea and me. He’d been meeting only half his need with me the past few nights and had nothing at all the night before. “The rest will come anyway. We need to get away.”

Arawn stepped forward. “The vampire is right, but there is something I can do to aid our escape.” The death lord looked down at the two fallen goblins. He pointed to the one Daniel had impaled. “This one is still viable. His heart is beating. Nim, do you have a knife?”

“Of course,” the brunette said as if the answer should have been obvious. She pulled a long knife out of her pack and handed it to her lover.

Arawn did not hesitate. He brought the knife down on the goblin’s neck with brutal force, neatly separating the body from the head. He smiled down, satisfied with his work. “That’s better.” He looked to the hounds and whistled sharply. They turned their heads and ran back to their master, muzzles covered in blood. “Good job, boys.”

Nim frowned as she came to stand beside me. “This part is creepy.”

Daniel staggered his way back to me as Arawn held his hands out, and I felt a chill permeate the courtyard, a wave of cold that made me shiver. The leftover body parts of the ex-goblins began to quiver and shake in a way that dead body parts just shouldn’t. The body stood up, not seeming to care that it had a pike through it or that its head was staring up at it from two feet away. The parts the dogs had left whole were also doing their best to get themselves upright.

I helped Danny remain standing and looked at Neil as he changed and got back into his clothes. We watched as the Lord of the Dead proved his mastery. The former goblins were joined by a couple of skeletons that looked to have clawed their way from the ground.

Nim rolled her eyes as she stared at a corpse with a little meat still hanging on the bones. “Yuck. They’ll be coming here for days. I’m not cleaning this up, Arawn. You can do it yourself.”

Arawn smiled, satisfied with his work. “You will block our retreat,” he commanded his small army of the dead. He closed his eyes and even I could feel he was sending that cold magic out from him. “You will fight the red caps. Delay them any way you can.”

I felt Daniel shake and my arms tightened around him. “You can feel that?”

Danny nodded shortly, trying to concentrate. “It’s taking everything I have to not join them, Z. He can take me over. He can make me do whatever he wants.”

I shot a quick glance at Neil, who knew exactly what that felt like having experienced it at Daniel’s hands before. I expected at least a little hint of satisfaction that the man who had caused him to feel this way was getting well acquainted with the experience. He simply looked at me and came to Daniel’s other side. He pulled Daniel’s arm around his shoulder and gave his support.

Daniel leaned against Neil. He took a deep breath, his eyes tight with strain. “Neil, I am sorry. I didn’t understand what I was doing. Not really. Could you forgive me?” The question was asked in a calm voice but I knew Daniel well. He was worried about the answer.

Neil simply nodded. “I promise I won’t leave like that again. I’ll stay and fight it out with you, but I won’t leave.”

I hugged Daniel’s side as Nim and Arawn turned back to us. Nim frowned at Daniel. “He looks sick.”

“He’s fighting,” the death lord replied. “He’s strong but he hasn’t fed. It would be easier for him to resist the effects if he’d properly fed.”

“When she’s safe,” Daniel insisted.

Arawn’s eyes narrowed. “I could force you.”

“Then you’ll fight all of us.” There was a dark growl behind Neil’s words.

“As you wish.” He shrugged as though he didn’t care either way. “But you should know that my concern is Nim. If your weakness threatens her in any way, I’ll do what is necessary.”

Nim shook her head. “He’ll be fine. We just need to get to Chima’s. We can make it there and the red caps wouldn’t dare enter her territory.”

We made for the forest even as I heard the rumble of the red caps’ approach. Daniel walked on his own and picked up speed as he forced himself to move. I hurried to keep up with him and hoped this Chima person’s house wasn’t too far away.

Chapter Twenty-Seven