Flame Thrower (28 page)

Tillian ignored her. “I have a horse outside, so ride hard and get away from this place. As I said before, you will encounter Ryan quickly. You will be safe, Crysin. Go.”

“I’ve seen something good in Gareth, Tillian.” She paused to look into Tillian’s green eyes holding her attention. “Listen to him and hopefully you can find a way to trust him again and maybe, just maybe he’ll protect you this time.” Crysin hugged Tillian again before she rushed out the entrance.

Gareth met her outside and was holding the horse when she approached. He said nothing at first but when she was close enough, he collected her into an embrace that vibrated with coiled tension ready to break free. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“You could have hurt me and you didn’t,” she whispered back, fighting the tears that wanted to race down her face. “You could have given me to the men. A truly evil man would have, so find yourself again, Gareth.”

“The man I used to be is gone. This is all that is left. Please ride fast and I’m sorry. I deserve whatever King Ryan brings, for I should have done the same to those bastards who hurt Tillie. I didn’t, and that makes me less of a man. Now go, ride hard and don’t look back.” With that he kissed her tenderly and watched as she mounted the horse. Before she kicked the beast to depart, she looked down and finally lost her battle with her tears.

“You could have hurt me and you didn’t,” she said again, and kicked the horse hard, jumping into a gallop into the night.

He watched her go and couldn’t move. The one person he wanted to talk to the most stood in that tent feet away. Sighing, he accepted she was also the one person he feared most. His sister.

Gareth cautiously entered and wouldn’t make eye contact with her, having lost some of his biting anger and bitterness from before. Crysin seemed to melt it away and now he was raw and vulnerable before his younger sibling.

Tillian watched him when he entered to go fidget with a rope in the corner. When he didn’t speak for a long stretch of time, she finally broke the silence. “How could you leave me, Gareth?”

Gareth flinched as if she’d struck him but didn’t turn. “He threatened to strip me of my title and exile me, Tillie. I was pressured into doing it.” He paused a moment before he asked the next question in a tortured whisper. “Did they hurt you badly?”

“Yes.” Part of her wanted him to be tormented by the guilt and she knew she would get him there by giving him a blow by blow account of their actions, but decided against it. Crysin was right, his guilt was already doing the punishment for her. “Yes,” she repeated instead.

He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, trying to control his emotions. “I’m so sorry. I know what I did can never be completely absolved, but can you find a way to forgive me?”

Tillian was tempted, so very tempted for the man before he was her sweet, loving brother. She remember his eyes the night he left her; cold uncaring and absolutely devoid of any emotion. “No,” she said very firmly.

Gareth opened his wet eyes to stare at her. How he wished he could be the bastard who shut people out and not feel the blasting hurt that one word caused. “I had no choice.”

“We all have choices,” she snapped cruelly. “I waited for you!” Tillian finally shouted. “For days and days I waited for you!” Now her own emotions broke free and the tears that lined her face matched his as brother and sister faced off in a challenge. One begging for forgiveness and the other wanting an answer. “Why?”

“I told you, he was going to strip me of my title, throw me out and exile me. What would you have done?”

Tillian didn’t miss a breath. “Accepted exile and waited for you to come and find me. I would have found you. I would have found a way.”

Gareth was gutted. Tillian would have done just that and in that moment, he felt, really felt the crime he’d done to her. “Oh, Tillie,” he sobbed. “Please, I’m so sorry.” Hers was the only forgiveness he wanted out of all the people affected by their Father’s dirty scheme. Frankly, he would do just about anything to get her to utter the words.

“Ryan is right behind me, Gareth. We’d best leave if you want to escape with your life. He’ll be distracted by finding Crysin on the road, and we can ride now to get far enough away that we’ll both keep our lives.”

Gareth wasn’t listening. “Tillie? What can I do?” He took a step forward. “What can I do to make this right?”

“You can let me go. Please Gareth, let me return to a man who loves me, really loves me. Let me live a normal life. If you take me back, what’s in store for me?” she challenged.

“What do you think?” A look of regret crinkled his face. “He’s going to beat you. Badly too. He is really incensed that you did this to him and especially with the Flame Thrower. I would not be surprised if he already had men lined up to welcome you home in his own sick fashion.” Gareth actually looked remorseful when he divulged the details.

Tillian just nodded. “I see. You’d do nothing.” She looked at her brother again and felt pity for the tormented look he returned. “Let me go, Gareth. Say this didn’t work and let me go.”

Gareth trembled with regret. “He’ll start a war. He’s that crazed.”

Hearing his voice crack hit her hard. That was enough to finally break whatever control held her together. She fell apart in a shower of tears that forced Gareth to rush to collect her into his embrace.

“H-he’s going t-t-o kill me, isn’t he?” she asked through her sobbing.

“Probably, yes,” he replied. Knowing this fact was one thing, saying it out loud was another.

“Oh please...please, just let me go.” All her confidence in this plan melted quickly when she realized this was a mistake. Ryan would still come and still fight her brother, and all she’d hoped to avoid would still come to fruition. At least Crysin was gone and that really was the main goal, wasn’t it? She wasn’t anything anymore, a useless shell her Father had created. Did it really matter if he finally killed her and ended her torment? She wouldn’t miss Ryan if she were dead.

“As much as it is going to destroy me for the rest of my life, Tillie, I can’t. I have to return you.”

A very masculine voice spoke from the door and the intent was very clear. “Oh, I think not, Prince Gareth.”

Tillian desperately looked and found her husband materializing out of thin air and looking every bit out of legend. He had hastily dressed in no more than leather breeches, boots and wool fitted shirt. On his hip he had strapped his sword, which he now had drawn and the flaming blade was pointed at Gareth’s back. What was disconcerting were his eyes. They were dilated in the low light which gave them the appearance of glowing embers. They matched the aggression radiating off his stiff posture in waves. She knew something horrible was about to happen.

Within his embrace, Tillian felt Gareth cringe, but he stood his ground. He didn’t release her from the hug. “You have no legal claim on her in Folkyn, King Ryan. You married her illegally by our standards, therefore the wedding is nullified.”

“Funny, because in Yorath it is quite legal. I suggest you move away from my wife.” He held out his arm for Tillian to come to him.

She felt torn and indecisive about what to do. If she left her brothers arms, Ryan was sure to kill him, but then she realized it didn’t matter. Ryan was here for one reason only and there wasn’t anything that would stand in his way. Wallace had tried to explain this to her and she didn’t listen. Without much more thought, she pulled from Gareth and rushed to Ryan’s side where he pushed her to his back for protection. Ryan continued to hold his flaming sword blade flat pointed at Gareth’s back.

“You can’t get far, Ryan. What, you came alone?” Gareth looked over his shoulder outside and saw no commotion. That meant he entered the camp by stealth. “Seriously, what were you thinking?”

“I came here at first with only one goal, to kill you slowly. After talking with my sister, there’s another man here of interest, one named Ellis?”

Tillian flinched and tried to meet her brother’s eyes but he dodged her, ashamed of what she’d see.

“We didn’t harm her. I’m sure she told you that too,” he sneered.

“Yes, she did, but she also told me what was done to her. For that you will not escape.” Ryan radiated hostility and his eyes smoldered brighter. The temperature in the tent rose when he released more of his magic while he stood before this traitor.

Tillian felt how tense he was and realized it was a result of trying to control the magic he desperately wanted to unleash on her brother. When she reached out to touch his arm, he was almost too hot to touch and she pulled back, surprised.

Gareth subconsciously rubbed his neck as he felt the temperature rise, but had not associated it with Ryan yet. Surprised, Tillian looked up at her husband, then around his shoulder at Gareth.

“Tell me, Gareth, how does it feel to abandon your younger sister to pain and torment?” Ryan reached behind him and pulled Tillian tight to his back and held her there. He heard her hiss and realized his magic probably was burning her. Diverting his magic, he created a shield around her, ensuring she wouldn’t be harmed. He needed to feel her body against his and that was that. In addition he wanted to immediately be there to comfort her after he killed her brother before her eyes. In his original plan, she would not have been here to witness this, thus be spared the memory. Now he couldn’t avoid it.

“It’s unbearable,” Gareth replied. “But it changes nothing and I can’t take it back now.”

“I see. Shall I tell you of her state when I found her?” Ryan added dangerously low, almost a snarl. “She was beaten, bloody and near death. They’d used her violently and kept her drugged the entire time. She was so senseless she wasn’t even aware of where she was.” Ryan lowered his voice and the temperature rose. “She was dumped naked along a deserted area of my hunting grounds, Gareth. To die.”

“I didn’t wish this upon her, Ryan. I love her too, whether you believe that or not.” Gareth’s face was contorted into a grimace and he finally turned to look at Ryan. He tried to get his sister to make eye contact with him and failed. Tillian looked away. It crushed him. What he sought he’d never get. She’d never forgive him. Not now, not ever.

“You have a very interesting way of showing that affection. My wife showed more compassion for my sister than you showed your own flesh and blood. You don’t deserve to live, Prince Gareth.” Again the temperature increased.

His words registered with Gareth and he paled. “My men will hunt you down.”

“Oh, I think not. First, I’ve placed a sleep spell over this camp, so I could have a band play right now and not wake a single soul. Second, you assume I meant them to live.” Ryan laughed deeply and with pure malice. “No, I’m quite confident you all will die while I take my wife and sister home.”

Gareth paled even more.

“My only regret is that your Father is not here to share in this with you. That man deserves something much worse than a quick death.”

“Ryan, please, don’t do this,” Tillian begged but he wouldn’t allow her to move from his back yet. She struggled to break free and couldn’t.

Ryan looked down briefly and frowned. All he wanted was to get her out of his tent so she wouldn’t have to witness what he was about to do.

“Tillian, I have a horse waiting just outside.” He then pulled her with him while he exited the pavilion. Just when they were leaving, Tillian suddenly screamed and crumpled to the ground near the entrance in agony with Ryan looking down in stunned shock.

What he saw had little flames explode around him and he practically crackled with static electricity. A dagger was embedded deep into her back, just inside the shoulder blade. Ryan looked up quickly and found Gareth standing there looking remorseful. It was a blade thrown by her own flesh and blood and aimed for a place that was sure to bring her death. She suffered on the ground and all he could do was drop to her side and check the wound, but his anger snapped his control on his magic and chaos broke loose.

“You bloody bastard! She’s your own sister!” Ryan hollered at the top of his lungs. The ground shook under their feet, sending Gareth careening to the side for a moment.

All of a sudden the inside of the tent filled with ribbons of bright fire when Ryan unleashed his anger on Gareth. The ribbons weaved in and out of each other, forming a net of fiery magic which hung suspended in the air above their heads. This he then flung at Gareth, and the glowing net settled on his body and formed a second skin. He had not yet triggered the heat, so all the net did was prevent Gareth from moving.

It happened so fast, Gareth didn’t even register what transpired. In Folkyn, tactics on how to defend against magic just didn’t exist; therefore, he was completely caught off-guard by this attack. “Nooo,” he bellowed when the net closed around him and he felt the panic of not being able to move.

A small, rational part of Ryan remembered Tillian and he called to Wallace, “Get her out of here, now.” Ryan barely leashed his temper and Wallace didn’t hesitate. He watched as Tillian was scooped up in Wallace’s arms and rushed outside, where he covered her ears with his large hands and prayed it was enough.

Gareth’s skin was now ashen and covered in a shiny sweat. With the realization that Ryan had control in this situation he knew his life was about to end, leaving the crown of Folkyn jeopardized. Accepting it and welcoming that death leeched the remaining color away.