Tagan's Child (37 page)

Suddenly,
another vehicle screamed through the gateway approaching us at
speed and the boy all but pushed me off the bike. I didn’t even
have a chance to say thank you before he spun round and took off in
the opposite direction leaving me standing by the plane wondering
what the hell was going on.

The approaching
vehicle had made it to almost half way across the field when a
second vehicle roared through the gateway. To my intense relief I
recognised the first vehicle, it was the pickup truck Elaya had
used, and then to my utter horror I realised they were being
chased.

The plane’s
engines revved as the truck got nearer. It came to a screeching
halt in front of me. Ahran and Elaya jumped out leaving the doors
wide open in their hurry. I cannot describe how good it was to see
them running towards me with Toby in Ahran’s arms. And then their
pursuers opened fire on them.

“Get in the
plane!” Ahran yelled as the electric sound of lasers rained down
around us.

Without
hesitation I turned and scrambled up into the plane. It started to
move and I looked around to see how far the others were behind me.
How they missed the laser fire, I do not know. Ahran threw Toby
into the plane and Elaya jumped in behind him. The plane began to
pick up speed and Ahran just about managed to scramble in through
the door himself before we lifted off the ground, the lasers
continuing to hit the plane’s fuselage.

Ahran pulled
the door shut. “That was close,” he said out of breath.

I could hardly
take in what had just happened and simply sat there staring at all
three of them speechless. Bazeera’s men were rendered helpless on
the ground.

“Auntie
Sophie!” Toby threw his arms around my neck and burst into
tears.

I hugged him
back so tightly, my own tears streaming down my face.

“Oh my God
Toby,” I cried into his hair. “Here, let me have a look at you.” I
held him away from me so that I could have a good look at his face.
He looked pale and frightened, but apart from that he was alive and
well. I hugged him to my chest again. “Are you okay? I’ve been so
worried.” I held him tightly as we both continued to sob. I never
wanted to let him out of my sight again and silently thanked God
for answering my prayers. He had seriously gone up in my
estimation.

I looked over
Toby’s head at Ahran and Elaya, at a loss as to how to express my
thanks for what they had done.

“Thank you,” I
mouthed.

Elaya smiled at
me through her own tears and Ahran gave me a wink with his good
eye, his other eye still looked painfully swollen. I thought I
would die from the relief and happiness I felt at that very
moment.

Toby’s sobs
gradually died down and he pulled away from me, wiping his eyes on
his sleeve. “Auntie Sophie, your clothes stink,” he said,
scrunching up his nose.

I chuckled.
“It’s a long story,” I said, leaning towards him. I didn’t want to
burden him with the drama of my own capture. I had so many
questions to ask them all but they would have to wait. It was too
noisy in the plane to have any kind of meaningful conversation.

I sat back in
my seat and held my arm out to Toby gesturing for him to cuddle up
next to me. A peace I hadn’t felt for some time settled over me.
Toby was out of Bazeera’s clutches and back with me. He settled in
under my arm and started to suck his thumb.

“Try and get
some sleep, we can have a good talk about everything when we get
back,” I said into his ear and rested my cheek against the top of
his head. It was so good to feel his little body nestled into
mine.

“Where are we
going?” he asked around his thumb.

“I’m not sure,”
I said, glancing over my shoulder at Ahran. It was the first time
I’d had a proper look at him since our dramatic departure. My eyes
drank him in, the full force of my feelings for him threatening to
burst out of my chest. Even battered as he was, he took my breath
away. The love and gratitude I felt for him at that moment were so
strong I wasn’t sure I had the strength to leave.

“We’re flying
to the nearest commercial airport. Halsan has chartered a plane to
take us back to Dinara, we should be there in a few hours,” he said
in a raised voice.

Ahran’s eyes
smouldered back at me. It was clear he wanted to hold me in his
arms as much as I wanted to be there but the voice in my head
reminded me of how impossible our situation was. I brought my
thoughts to an abrupt halt. I wasn’t going to let anything dampen
the elation I was feeling. I deserved these moments of
happiness.

“Who’s Halsan?”
Toby asked sleepily.

“There’s a lot
we’ve got to talk about my darling,” I said, stroking his hair.
“You need to get some sleep, it can all wait.” I wasn’t quite sure
where I would begin but it was a conversation we needed to have
once we’d had a good bath, eaten and slept. For the moment I was
just glad to be leaving Morana behind us.

Elaya found a
blanket under my seat in front of her and draped it over us. I
welcomed her thoughtfulness. “Thanks.”

Suddenly it
occurred to me that Galius was missing. “Where’s Galius?” I asked,
not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

“We split up
once we left the island. He wanted to get back to Salara as quickly
as he could,” Ahran replied.

“Does he know
what happened to her?”

“Yes, one of
their grooms found her. He contacted Galius from the hospital.”

“Is she
alright?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“She’s got a
nasty cut to her head and concussion but she’s going to be
fine.”

“And
Raffy?”

“Slept through
everything, blissfully unaware,” Ahran replied.

“Thank God for
that, I was so worried about them both, I thought she was...” I
didn’t want to say what I was about to say in front of Toby.

Ahran shook his
head in response. “She’s fine,” he reassured again.

It’s hard to
describe how relieved I felt.

I looked around
the cramped cabin. There were only eight seats including the
pilot’s. The pilot concentrated on flying the plane and every now
and again he spoke into the microphone attached to his headset. I
had no idea who he was but I could have cheerfully kissed him.
Elaya had settled down with her head on a folded blanket, her eyes
closed. She must have been exhausted. My eyes turned back to Ahran.
I fought the urge to reach out to him.

“Are you
alright?” I mouthed.

He leant
towards me. “Nothing that a meal and a decent night’s sleep won’t
put right,” he replied as he stroked the back of my neck. I was
undone by the tenderness of his touch and I closed my eyes to the
warmth that spread down my neck and across my shoulders.

“How are you
feeling?” he asked.

“Ecstatic. I
can’t thank you enough for what you have done.”

“Glad to be of
service, ma’am,” he said in a terrible impression of an American
accent.

I felt a smile
tug at the corners of my mouth.

I gave him a
mock salute. “Good work soldier.” He smiled but the humour in his
eyes was quickly replaced by something hotter. I took his hand from
my neck and gently pressed a kiss on his knuckles. I exhaled a
shaky breath and dared to look him in the face.

*****

We arrived at
the airport in the early hours of the morning where armed guards
were waiting to escort us onto our plane. I was pleased to see that
Halsan wasn’t taking any chances. We boarded quickly and were on
our way in a matter of minutes. It was a much bigger plane than the
one we had just been on and we had more room to stretch out. Toby
hardly woke up as we transferred aeroplanes and Ahran and Elaya
soon fell asleep. I slept fitfully and dreamt a series of senseless
dreams of faceless people and nameless places. I spent the last
hour or so looking out the window at the rising sun. Everyone was
asleep. I glanced over at Ahran’s peaceful face and the tears
started falling silently down my cheeks, it was a new dawn, a new
chapter in Toby’s life and the end of mine.

A car was
waiting for us at the airport in Dinara and it took us the short
journey to Halsan’s palace. I stayed a safe distance away from
Ahran and tried not to even look at him, it was better that way. He
was unaware that our relationship had ended the moment we stepped
onto Dinaran soil. We swept through the gates of the palace.

“Wow, whose
place is this?” Toby asked. The look of fear a few hours ago had
been replaced by one of excitement as we pulled up in front of the
steps. Toby had no idea who Halsan was and how much of a part he
was going to be playing in his life from now on.

Halsan, Leylana
and Sulaan were waiting anxiously at the bottom of the steps.

“This is King
Halsan’s palace,” I said.

“What? So he’s
like royalty?” Toby said in awe.

I glanced over
at Ahran and Elaya’s smiling faces. “Yep,” I said, smiling at
Toby’s reaction. He had no idea he was royalty himself.

Sulaan opened
the door and we all got out. I couldn’t help feeling embarrassed by
my state of dress and stood behind Toby. We must have all looked
pretty dishevelled but no-one seemed to notice as the eagerly
anticipated introductions ensued.

The King
stepped forward. He looked tired and older somehow.

“It is very
good to see you all,” he said. He hugged Ahran and clapped him on
the back, expressing his gratitude in Ramian. He hugged and kissed
Elaya before giving me a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. Gone was
the formality of our previous meetings.

“And you must
be Toby,” he said stooping down in a mock bow. Leylana was hovering
at his elbow with teary eyes.

Toby looked up
at me and I nodded at him encouragingly. He shook the King’s hand
like a grown up. “Pleased to meet you King,” he said politely.

“You can call
me...” he hesitated, looking back at his wife questioningly. “What
can he call me?”

“Afgharran?”
Leylana replied, equally unsure. I hadn’t known that this was his
first name.

“That’s a bit
of a mouthful. Why don’t you just call me Halsan for now? Most
people do.”

Toby
nodded.

Leylana stepped
forward.

“Do you mind if
I give you a hug?” she asked. It was touching to see the King and
Queen behaving so awkwardly around Toby, they were such powerful
people in their world and yet in front of their young grandson they
had no idea how to behave.

“Sure,” Toby
said shrugging his shoulders.

Leylana bent
down and gave Toby a hug. She closed her eyes and, as she did so, a
tear rolled down each cheek. “We are so pleased to finally meet you
Toby,” she said, choked.

“Um, it’s good
to meet you too,” Toby responded, a little nonplussed by all the
fuss.

He stepped back
towards me and took my hand. I gave it a little squeeze.

“Well, you must
all be exhausted after your journey. Let’s go inside, you can
freshen up and have something to eat,” the King said, clearly more
comfortable in the role of host than that of grandfather.

A handful of
servants were waiting for us in the entrance, ready to show us to
our rooms.

“You and Toby
are sharing a suite of rooms and there are clothes in the
wardrobes,” Leylana said.

“Thank you very
much, I’m not sure this look will catch on,” I said, looking down
and grimacing at the oversized overalls I was wearing. Thankfully,
one of the flight attendants had given me a spare pair of shoes but
they were too big and didn’t really do anything for the outfit. I
caught Ahran’s eye and the softness of his expression did funny
things to my insides. How could he possibly look at me like that
when I looked like I did? I quickly looked away.

Ahran and Elaya
went with the King and Queen, no doubt to debrief them about what
had happened. I’d like to have joined them to hear what they had to
say but I didn’t want to leave Toby for a second. We went to our
rooms to have a shower and put on some clean clothes.

“This place is
massive. Who are these people?” Toby asked.

“There is a lot
I need to tell you. Let’s get showered and have something to eat
and then I’ll explain everything,” I promised.

The maid showed
us to a suite of rooms that were expensively decorated in creams
and olive greens. There was a central lounge area with comfortable
chairs and sofas and a huge flat screen television embedded in the
wall. Out of the window was the most spectacular view of the valley
below. On one side of the room was a door to my bedroom and on the
other was a door to Toby’s bedroom. Each of our rooms had a
luxurious bathroom with a bath that was big enough to swim in, twin
sinks and a double shower. It was five star accommodation and then
some.

Toby scooted
around our rooms excitedly.

“Wow, Auntie
Sophie, I have never stayed in a place like this before, you wait
until I tell Adam about this.”

“It’s
incredible isn’t it?” I didn’t just mean the rooms. It was
incredible. We had got through the last few days alive and
relatively unscathed and Toby was back with me. There had been so
many times when I had wondered whether I would ever see him again
and to see him running around like his old exuberant self, filled
me with pure joy.

I laughed as he
threw himself onto his enormous double bed. “Careful,” I warned,
“someone has laid some clothes out there for you and you’ve just
knocked them onto the floor,” I said, still chuckling. I surprised
myself by how quickly I had slipped back into parent mode.

“I think I’ll
have a bath.” I felt a desperate need to soak away the fear and
anxiety of the last few days. “You need to have a shower and then
you and I will have a chat about what’s going on. Change into those
clothes,” I said, pointing to the floor, “and once you’re done,
I’ll see you back in the lounge.”