Now she could no longer deny the truth. Remembering the
vicious wound inflicted on Laila, Sianna’s stomach lurched.
“Yes,” Laila insisted. “We have no father, merely a sire
who bred us to further his own ends. You, he seeks to sell into
marriage to cement his base of power. Me, he sought to train
as his successor. And I allowed him to. I never questioned his
actions, his methods, or wondered about the people he hurt in
his quest for dominance. Until Aubin, I was deaf, dumb and
blind to DiSanti’s evil.”
She rested her hand on the hilt of her sword. “Now he will
pay for his crimes with his blood. When he and I meet again,
one of us will die. Are you with me?”
“I cannot contemplate the taking of a life, even a life
committed to evil. It goes against all my training, everything I
know...all I am. I go to see to the safety of Rul Cathor and the
others.”
“Very well, you can play nursemaid to men more than
capable of defending their own interests. I’ll take care of our
father.”
“Killing our father will not bring Aubin back to you.”
“But it will allow him to rest knowing his death has been
avenged. Let us be off before someone wakes and attempts to
stop us. What of the hound?”
“Warda comes too.”
Laila headed toward the kitchens and the smaller door which
led to the stables. Sianna stopped her.
“If I can find a way to save our father’s ka, I will do so.”
Back to Sianna, Laila stiffened. “You may try, but do not
get between him and my sword.”
Eighteen
“Where is my daughter?” DiSanti’s voice carried across
the open land between his encampment and the palace wall.
“Produce her by morn, or face the consequences.”
From his hiding place in the woods, Kyne saw Prince Timon
standing on the palace battlement. Though the distance was
too great for Kyne to make out the boy king’s expression, Kyne
knew the lad’s feelings.
Helpless fear.
“Do your mother and sister mean nothing to you?” DiSanti
dragged Queen Theone from his tent and paraded her in front
of the palace wall.
The woman had been beaten. Her hair hung in dirty, tangled
strands around her bruised face, but she held her head high,
stood straight, and walked with as much dignity as her weakened
state allowed.
She looked up at her son. “Stand firm, my son. Do not
ransom my life with that of others.” Her voice rang clear and
strong in the hush her appearance caused.
DiSanti jerked the queen to her knees and slapped her. “Be
quiet, she-hound!”
Uneasy silence from DiSanti’s troops echoed the growl of
anger emanating from the men lining the palace battlements.
Kyne resisted the urge to send an arrow through DiSanti’s
black heart, knowing others loyal to the man would strike the
queen down. And of Princess Thomasa there was no sign.
Earlier, Katya, disguised as a boy, had infiltrated DiSanti’s
camp, but during her three days there she had found no indication
of where he held the young princess.
Katya came up next to Kyne. “Our forces are gathered
and ready to attack on your command. The rebel leaders brought
every able-bodied man to fight. They grow eager to do battle.”
“Are they so impatient to die?”
“No, to be free. Every day more of DiSanti’s men defect
and join us.”
“Then perhaps in a few more tendays we would stand a
chance in open battle. But we are yet outnumbered two to one,
and time is short.”
“But we have the advantage of surprise. With the palace
controlled by Prince Timon’s guard, DiSanti’s forces will be
caught between. He has no idea he is surrounded. His rage
over his daughter’s abduction has made him careless. When
he left the palace unguarded by his troops he forsook reason.
His madness overwhelms his logic.”
Kyne nodded. “We attack tonight.”
“What of the queen and princess?” Katya voiced the
question that plagued Kyne and had but one answer.
“May the Eternal One protect them. DiSanti must be
stopped here and now. No matter the cost.”
***
Arms and legs aching, Sianna squeezed her eyes shut and
clung to Laila’s waist as she pressed the tired quinar beneath
them for more speed. To help him maintain the killing pace
Laila set, for the last three days Sianna had bonded with the
beast. Now both were exhausted. She had no more strength to
give.
“Stop, or the quinar will collapse, “ she whispered. Unable
to keep pace with the fleet quinar, Warda had fallen behind two
days earlier, but she knew the hound would continue to follow.
Laila slowed the quinar to a walk, but did not stop. “There
is no time. Tomorrow is the tenth day. We must reach the palace
this night if we are to prevent DiSanti from murdering the queen
and princess.”
From deep inside, Sianna summoned the last of her reserve
and gave it to the quinar. He responded with a surge of speed.
Darkness descended long before they stopped at the bottom
of a cliff just out of sight of DiSanti’s troops. From their hiding
place they could hear the murmur of men as they prepared for
battle, as well as smell the odor of their cook fires.
Sianna slid from the quinar’s back. Her legs wobbled as
she leaned against the beast. Their labored breaths misted the
crisp night air. Languor stole over her as she watched Laila
strip the saddle from the tired animal with quick, efficient motions.
Mercifully, the babe inside Sianna slept, comforted by the
continuous motion. But what of Laila’s unborn babe? Her injury?
From what hidden store did she draw her energy?
“Vengeance gives me strength.”
Unaware that she’d spoken her question out loud, Sianna
started at Laila’s answer.
“I’ll not rest until DiSanti lies dead at my feet,” Laila’s
damaged voice rasped. “Then you may bury me.”
“And Aubin’s babe? Shall I bury him as well?” Though
Sianna’s connection with Laila was tentative, she sensed Laila’s
child was male, as she knew her own was female.
“Do not fear. I shall live long enough to give birth to Aubin’s
child, but I will not be his mother. If I could strip his body of my
tainted blood, I would not hesitate. Instead, I will give him into
the care of his father’s family. I can only pray their honor will
dilute the DiSanti poison flowing through his veins.”
“Do you refer to the poison of an ungrateful child’s
betrayal?” DiSanti’s black cloak swirled around him like a dark
cloud as he stepped out of the forest. The red glow of the
joined moons above cast crimson shadows over his smiling face.
He looked at Sianna. “But I do thank you, Laila, for
delivering your sister to me. As much as it pains me to admit it,
she’s a necessary element for my plan to succeed. Seize
them!”
Weapons drawn, soldiers surrounded them.
Sianna gasped as Laila pulled her sword. She grabbed
Sianna’s arm and held the blade to her neck. “I’ll kill her myself
before I’ll give her into your hands. Stand back.”
The soldiers started forward. Again Sianna felt the prick of
crystal and the warmth of blood trickling down her throat. As
before she made no move, no protest. She didn’t doubt her
sister capable of carrying out her threat. By his tense stance,
apparently, neither did their father.
He held up his hand, and the soldiers halted.
Death hovered a hairsbreadth away. And she did not want
to die. She soothed the panicky flutter in her belly with a gentle
touch of mind and hand. With all her being she called out for
Kyne. Deep within, she felt his wordless answer, his awareness
of her flaring to life. He would come.
A sense of peace settled over Sianna.
“Send them away, Father, and I’ll release her. This fight is
between you and me.”
“After our last encounter I’m surprised you’re still eager
to cross swords with me. You’re such a disappointment to me,
child. I reared you to rule at my side, but you threw it all away
stroked his chin. The other played lightly over the hilt of the
sword at his waist.
“Perhaps it is time I finished this. Very well, Daughter.
Return to camp,” he told the soldiers.
Without question the men melted back into the darkness.
“Your hounds are well trained.”
“My daughters should be so obedient. Now release Sianna.”
The blade dropped from Sianna’s throat. “Hide in the woods.
Kyne will find you,” Laila whispered.
“I’ll not leave you.” Sianna whirled in front of Laila and
faced her father. “You can’t do this. We’re your daughters.
Your blood flows in us as it does in you. Kill us, and you kill
your ka and your future. Even now we carry your immortality
in our wombs.”
“You’re breeding! By whom?” DiSanti laughed harshly.
“Why do I ask. Rul Cathor, of course.” He pinned Laila with
his glare. “And you by his brother. I should have killed the lot of
the Cathors. It never pays to leave the sons of your enemy
alive.”
“Give way, Father,” Sianna begged. “Release the queen
and princess. Renounce your desire for power. Without my
marriage to Prince Timon, you cannot hope to control him or
the Council for much longer.”
His stance deceptively easy, DiSanti slid his blade from its
sheath. “True, but there are other ways. By ruling through you,
I only sought to prevent a brutal civil war.” His twisted smile
gave lie to his words.
Sianna cringed as his excitement opened him to her, and
she glimpsed her father’s inner emotions. He relished the thought
of the killing and destruction a civil war would bring. Her heart
ached at the depth of his ugliness. Did the evil go all the way to
his core? Did any of his newborn innocence remain hidden
deep within him? Had he completely destroyed his innate human
potential? Was there a way to reach his center and resurrect
his drowning ka? Did she have the strength to save him from
eternal damnation? The courage to risk her own in the attempt?
“But I’m not adverse to sitting on the throne. In fact, I
rather like the idea. Prince Timon’s forces are not up to the
task of defeating my troops. It is but a matter of time before
the palace falls into my hands. With the royal family dead, it
will take little to convince the ministers to crown me king.”
His gaze raked over Sianna and Laila dismissively. “To a
king, daughters are nothing more than pawns in the marriage
mart. A king needs sons to carry on. As I am still young enough
to father many sons, I find I have little need of two soiled
daughters.”
“He is as I told you, without conscience or ka,” Laila said.
“Your pleas fall on barren ground, Sianna. Go. Now.”
Sianna resisted as Laila pushed her toward the cover of
the forest.
“Yes, run away child.” He shrugged off his cloak. Like a
living thing, the rich, black material floated to the ground at
Sianna’s feet. “Hide if you can while I finish off your deceitful,
ungrateful sibling. Then I will find you and do the same.”
Her father’s callous words shattered the last of Sianna’s
illusions. They would fight, and she could do nothing to prevent
it. Nothing to salvage his ka. Nothing to save Laila. In the face
of their hatred and anger, her love was meaningless. But neither
could she abandon them.
She could sense her father’s soldiers lurking in the shadowy
woods—their twisted loyalty, their growing blood lust. If she
ran, her death at their hands would not be quick or easy.
Sword drawn, Laila pushed her aside. Sianna stumbled to
her hands and knees and clutched the cool, damp silk of her
father’s cloak between her fingers.
Swords clashed. Sparks, turned crimson by the Blood Moon,
danced in the night air. To and fro they moved in a deadly
ballet. Laila’s breath rasped a counterpoint to the ring of crystal.
DiSanti glided around the clearing, toying cruelly with his injured,
pregnant daughter. He laughed and whirled. His blade sliced
across her sword arm.
Blood welled up. Laila faltered. Fingers numb, strength
high, she stood motionless as he lunged.
Laila’s calm acceptance of her own death and that of her
unborn babe’s shattered Sianna’s helpless terror.
“No!” She surged to her feet and threw DiSanti’s cloak. In
a swirl of black, the crystal silk snaked around his blade.
His aim went wide, but the honed edge of the sword made
quick work of the fabric. Shredded silk fluttered free. He stalked
toward Laila.
Sword again raised, she backed away.
His chuckle held no hint of humor, no hesitation. “You can
run, but you cannot escape.”
Beneath Sianna’s feet, the ground vibrated with the thud of
her heart.
Head cocked, DiSanti paused as the rumble grew louder.
Quinar burst into the clearing. Sianna and Laila staggered
back as the animals thundered between them and DiSanti. Clods
of dirt spewed upward from their churning hooves. She
recognized the moonlit faces of the riders: Graham, Katya and
Kyne.
DiSanti swung around to face this new threat. His face
reflected sudden fear. Then the clearing erupted in shouts as
his troops swarmed forward from their concealment in the
shadows. “Seize them!”
Outnumbered twenty to three, Kyne, Graham and Katya
fought while DiSanti melted into the woods.
Swords swung and flashed. Blood spurted. Men screamed
and cried out in agony. Confusion blanketed the clearing as
clouds covered the glowing Blood Moon.
Darkness hid friend
from foe.
Where was Laila? Kyne? Sianna reached out for them.
Pain. Terror. Anger. Emotions battered her from all sides,
drowning out any single person. Unable to see, afraid to move,
she stood rigid amidst the chaos.
Kyne’s first instinct was to run down the fleeing DiSanti.
Then he saw a soldier lift his sword to strike Sianna. Kyne
swerved, and Hakan’s bulk knocked the soldier aside. Kyne
swept Sianna into his arms as DiSanti disappeared into the
forest, but Kyne couldn’t regret his decision. Sianna’s safety
mattered more than vengeance. His chance at DiSanti would
come again.
Dangling at his side, Sianna screamed and thrashed against
his hold.
“Be still. It’s me.” Kyne hauled the squirming mass of
feminine outrage up onto his lap with one arm, all the while he
fended off DiSanti’s foot soldiers with the other.
“Kyne,” she whispered and sagged against him.
A man grabbed her skirt. She started to slide out of Kyne’s
grip.
“Kyne!” Her fingers clutched at his arms.
He reached across her with his sword and sliced through
the man’s arm at his wrist. The man shrieked and fell back. For
a moment, his fingers remained attached to her skirt, then she
kicked, and the severed hand dropped away. With a shudder
she buried her face in his chest.
“I’ve got her,” Kyne shouted and whirled Hakan toward
the woods. DiSanti was nowhere to be seen.
The sounds of fighting faded as Hakan carried them away
from the clearing, deeper into the surrounding forest. No foot
soldier could hope to keep pace with a quinar. Once assured
that none followed, Kyne slowed Hakan to a walk. The animal’s
heavy breathing, the snap of branches and thud of his hooves
against the ground broke the night’s quiet.
Sianna peered up at Kyne. In the clouded moonlight, her
expression of love soothed the terror he’d felt when he’d first
sensed her presence.
“You came,” she breathed. “I called to you, and you came.”
Kyne couldn’t explain the sudden urge that had come over
him. He only knew that Sianna needed him. Her cry for help
echoed in his heart and mind, demanding a response. Even
now he could sense her inside himself. They were linked, joined.