Rowena Through the Wall: Expanded Edition (7 page)

"I knew you had gone through the wall. The others don't know where it is. It killed me not to follow you, but I didn't want to show the location."

"How long would you have waited?" My voice held something close to awe.

"I don't know. Until the others left the valley. I would have followed you to the other side and waited there." He leaned down to kiss my throat.

I pushed him away. "There's no time."

"You're right." He straightened. "We need to leave for Norland immediately. Janus left two horses. Come, I have a present for you."

He led me out of the cave and into the light.

Looking down at me, he took in my new attire. "Is this something you wear at home? I like it."

I was distracted by a gorgeous roan filly with soft eyes. She sought me out immediately and I reached with delight into her mind.

Pure joy swept over me. "She's beautiful!"

"This is Lightning," he said with pride. "She's three years old, from my stables. She's very sweet and fast like the wind. I thought you'd be perfect for each other. She's yours to keep."

Lightning nuzzled my side as I stroked her. "Gareth, this is the sweetest thing ever. Thank you so much."

"It is my pleasure. Indeed, I can't believe the pleasure it brings me to see you happy." He seemed pleased, though somewhat perplexed by his own reaction.

I cooed to Lightning as he brought over a stocky bay gelding.

"We should mount now," he said. "I sent my men ahead."

"To Norland? Is that a long way?"

He nodded. "We should make it by nightfall."

What was I getting into?

"Just a minute. Gareth, I need to know more. If I go with you, what happens next?"

There was an uneasy pause.

"Huel will be gathering his men from the south. He'll move to the northern border."

I didn't need to ask what that meant. "And if I go with Ivan and Grandfather? What happens then?"

He gave me a fierce look. "Then I take my men to Castle Huel and burn it."

"They are my family, Gareth."

He was silent.

"Maybe I should walk back through the wall."

He grabbed my arm. "Don't even think of it. I'll just go through and bring you back."

I suddenly felt trapped. "If you cared for me, you'd let me go."

Gareth snorted. "What kind of fool notion is that? I
do
care about you. And because of that, I will never let you go." He pulled me close and sought my mouth. "I'll die before I let you go."

Oh heck, I thought. This was a lot better than dying.

I remember reading years ago that most medieval castles in Britain were a twenty-mile ride from each other. A horse could only cover so many miles in one day, so that was the measure used since Roman times.

It was dark when we arrived at Norland Fortress. Even in the pitch black of night, I could tell that Gareth's home was not a fairy-tale castle. It was a fortress through and through, with a soaring stone wall surrounding the property and a keep that served as central quarters. The fortress stood on the highest hill, the land around it rough and wild, and there were no flowering meadows anywhere.

Two great wooden doors opened to an inner yard, where an elderly groom helped me dismount. Gareth took my hand and we entered the center hall of the keep. It was nothing like the great hall at Huel. There was a fire, but no grand table, and the walls were bare. Men stood or sat on stone benches.

I really hoped there would be beds upstairs.

Janus, Roderick and the rest of the men were already there, making plans for defense. They nodded at me, then carried on with their business.

"Collin and I will ride to the northern fortresses tomorrow to gather the men," Janus said. "Argyle should stand with us. Plenham too."

"I know the Danes at Eastfork," Roderick added. "They love to fight and it's not two days from here."

"Do it, then. Take Wilfred with you."

"And to the west?"

Gareth frowned. "I don't want to include Sargon unless I have to. Not yet."

Janus raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Gareth glanced at me. "I don't trust him."

"But he is the king," Roderick said.

"Exactly."

So this land had a king. I hadn't known that. Surely a king outranked the Earls.

Gareth scowled. "Sargon doesn't know about her yet. I want to keep it that way."

Collin nodded.

"We'll see first who stands with us."

They moved on to discuss weaponry. Since I wasn't really needed, I asked to be excused.

"I'll show you our room," Gareth said.

He took me to a room at the top of the keep. The walls and floor were stone, and a mattress of straw lay on the floor. It was covered with layers of fur.

I sighed. I was going to miss those soft linens at Huel.

I removed my clothing and shivered in the cool night air, realizing that I once again had nothing to wear to bed. I snuggled into the skins and tried to get comfortable.

Gareth joined me sometime in the night.

Chapter 8

The men rode at dawn. We were left with a skeleton crew, enough to perform essential chores until the others returned with reinforcements the next day.

I had nothing to do except think.

Gareth and I were in the small anteroom next to the bedroom. He was sharpening his sword, while I gazed out the window into the fog. Every now and then, it would clear enough so that I could see a few ghostly shapes moving beyond the gates. This rough, misty land was cool and confining. I longed for the sunny skies of Arizona.

"This isn't a dream," I said.

Gareth sheathed the sword. "What do you mean?"

I hesitated, trying to put my thoughts into words. "The first time I saw this land was in a dream. I'd pass the night in
this
land and wake up back at home in Scottsdale. But I'm not waking up in Scottsdale anymore."

"Ah," he said, nodding. "No, not since you went through the portal."

The portal.

Gareth's words confirmed it. I couldn't bury my head in the sand any longer. In a dream, you can try all sorts of things you wouldn't try in real life, even those dark, erotic desires. The kind you don't talk about, where civilization is stripped away. But this wasn't a dream anymore. I was responsible for my own actions.

How had my dreamworld become reality?

My eyes searched his face. "What do you know about this, Gareth? I heard you tell Ivan that you paid a wizard to build the portal."

He shifted uncomfortably. "The wizard is a Dreamweaver. I expect that is why you first saw our world in your dreams. He can't resist planting seeds of what is to come. That's how I found you."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I was looking for a way to find your mother. Then I saw you in my dreams."

"This wizard is quite a businessman. He plants dreams in your head and then gets you to pay him to make them come true."

Gareth frowned. "I never thought of it that way. But you're right. The clever bastard."

"I'd like to meet him some day."

"You will. I'm taking you north very soon."

"You're preparing for war, aren't you?"

He nodded, then turned away.

"I don't want there to be a war over me." Or my womb. "I don't want people killed."

"Too late. The die is cast." He seemed excited, as though he were looking forward to it.

"This is exactly like the Trojan War," I said suddenly. "I'm Helen."

"What war is this?"

I told him about ancient Greece and Troy. How Paris had lusted for the wife of Menelaus, and how he had abducted her. And how Menelaus and Agamemnon, his brother, had responded, with the launch of the Trojan War.

Gareth seemed entranced. "She was beautiful then."

I nodded. "'The face that launched a thousand ships.'"

"Like you."

A chill swept through me. I heard the whiz of the arrow right before it slammed into Gareth's right shoulder. He jerked back and slumped to the floor.

I screamed as Ivan's men charged into the room.

Gareth lay on the floor, groaning in pain. Jon had a sword to his throat.

"Save him for me," Ivan roared from across the room.

"Don't kill him!" I yelled. "There's been enough killing."

Ivan glared at me. "You are
my
wife!"

"I'll go back through the portal," I warned.

No idle threat, and he knew it.

His wild brown eyes rested on Gareth. "Get him out of here." He signaled to Jon. Two archers came forward. I couldn't watch, but I heard moans as they dragged Gareth from the room.

Ivan was already undoing his britches. "Leave the room," he said to Richard, who was frozen to the spot.

"No!" I cried.

"You smell like him," he said with disgust as he moved toward me with one thing on his mind.

This couldn't be happening. This is what happened to captured women in wartime, not beloved wives.

He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the desk.

"Not here!" I cried. "Not like this."

He hauled me onto the desk. "Yes, like this."

"You do this in front of your men," I said, shaking with fear, "and I'll never come willingly again."

Ivan froze. The darkness in his eyes changed, as if he suddenly realized who I was and where we were. He braced his hands against the desk, his head hung in shame.

No one said a word.

Moments later, he spread my skirt carefully over my hips. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"We'll go now," he said, grabbing my arm.

Richard followed us, white faced and breathless.

Out in the corridor, Gareth was sprawled on his back. Jon withdrew his sword and moved aside. Ivan kicked Gareth hard in the ribs and I heard a cry of pain.

Without a word, Ivan hustled me down the hall.

The courtyard was grim, gray and silent as a tomb. Two bodies lay lifeless by the stable. They both had red hair.

I looked away.

Five horses were tied to a rail. Ivan steered me over to his, but I broke his grip. Placing two fingers to my mouth, I whistled softly. Lightning trotted out of the stable and nuzzled my arm.

"Good girl."

With my foot in the stirrup, I swung gracefully onto her back.

Mouths gaped in disbelief.

"I've been riding since I was five," I said to my stunned audience. "She's mine, by the way. A little present from Gareth."

Ivan's mouth turned into a sneer.

"What have you ever given me?" I said nastily.

There was no reply, only intense anger.

"I hope you can keep up," I said, giving Lightning a swift kick.

I heard yelling and hoofbeats as Ivan and his men followed.

Sometime toward mid-afternoon, we stopped to water the horses. Richard shyly ventured over, uncertain of his welcome.

"Where did you learn to ride like that?" he asked.

"In Wickenburg. My parents had friends with a ranch. I spent all my summers there as a kid. You should see me rope a cow."

His eyes widened with a whole new level of awe.

"There's blood on your tunic," I said.

A pause. "I got lucky," he replied.

The fog had lifted and the orange sun beamed overhead.

"Gareth wasn't expecting you so soon," I said after a short while.

Richard shrugged. "It was my idea, actually. The Northman would expect us to round up troops for a full battle. He'd be doing the same. That could take days. I figured if we could leave immediately with a small band of men, we could take him unawares."

"A stealth attack."

He smiled. "Yes."

"And Cedric was absent from this mission?"

"He hasn't been seen since the wedding. We think he's gone south."

Just as well. The very thought of Cedric witnessing me with Gareth gave me shivers.

"Why do you dislike him so?" I asked.

"Cedric has abandoned God. Sometimes I think he has made a pact with the devil himself."

A dark cloud passed over the sun.

Lightning came back to me for a muzzle rub.

'How do you do that thing with animals?" Richard asked. "What do you hear?"

I'd never tried to describe my gift before.

"I don't
hear
anything. Animals don't have language like we do. It's more like I sense shapes of emotion, like fear and pain. Or I catch a glimpse of fleeting images. Memories. Sometimes I can calm them down by reaching out with my mind."