Songbird (6 page)

“Where did she send you?”

“I don’t remember, but I was always doing things for her, running errands or taking messages. It must have been something like that.”

“And that was when you were kidnapped?” Bran asked.

“Yes. I’ve always wondered how my grandmother felt, and if she ever blamed herself for sending me away.” Teya pulled the blanket tightly around her to quiet her sudden trembling.

Bran wasn’t finished. “The men who took you, are you sure they were the king’s men?”

Teya opened her mouth to respond, then stopped. She had always assumed that they were King Thesald’s men, but what if they weren’t? “I think so, but now I’m not sure. They weren’t wearing the king’s insignia, but you could hardly expect them to. Their clothes were coarse and they were rough looking men with long hair and beards. After they caught me, they kept me tied up in a wooden box. It was like a coffin. It had three small air holes in the top, but that was all.” Her stomach clenched just talking about it.

“Ah...that explains your fear of closed spaces.” Bran shook his head. “I’m sorry to put you through this, but I have one more question that I have to ask.”

Teya braced herself, knowing intuitively that it was something she would rather not hear.

“In all of the time that you’ve been gone, why has no one come for you?”

It was a question Teya had asked herself many times. At first she had believed that her father would be right behind her and she would be home that night. Then, as time passed and no one came, she made up excuses. She had to believe that someday they would come to get her. It never happened. Ten long years of captivity and not once had anyone tried to get her out.

“I don’t know.” She held back the unspoken fear that the real reason was because they were gone, or worse, dead. From some of the rumors she’d heard, they had fled to another country, but if that were true, how could she know where to find them?

She hunched her shoulders under the blanket and pulled it tight around her. Still, she couldn’t stop shivering. Bran moved closer beside her, but in her distress she didn’t want his sympathy and shrank away.

He seemed to sense this and was careful not to touch her. Teya immediately regretted it, wishing she could turn to him for comfort, but was afraid that if she did, she would start to like it. Sitting this close, he smelled of leather and horse with a deeper woodsy scent that was all his own.

“You know, the first time I saw you,” he said. “I was struck speechless. That’s never happened to me before. You seemed untouchable, like you were above all of us lowly humans. Then you sang and everything changed.”

Grateful to think of something else, her lips curved into a shy smile. “I noticed you as soon as you walked in. You were different. I remember you staring at me, but that’s what most people do. I lost track of you after that. I guess I had other things on my mind.”

“Like your song for the king?”

“Yes. I had decided that I didn’t care how much it hurt me, as long as it hurt him more. But of course it didn’t work, and I ended up spending the night in the box.”

Bran went still. “What do you mean?”

“It’s my punishment for defying him. He puts me in a small, enclosed cell...like a box, with no windows for light, and barely enough room to sit. It’s the perfect punishment for me because he knows how much I hate closed spaces. There were times when I thought I would go crazy in there. I always tried to imagine that I was someplace else. Sometimes it worked, but there were other times when I fell apart, especially at first. I never mastered that box. I don’t think I ever will.”

Bran bristled. “I wondered what your punishment was.” His jaw clenched and she realized he was angry. “At least he can’t do that anymore.”

“You’re right,” she said, letting out a breath. “He’ll never be able to put me in that box again.”

Bran opened his mouth to say something else, but held back. She suddenly wanted to thank him again for rescuing her, but knew he wouldn’t like it. “I hope my people have the answers you’re searching for.” It was small consolation for everything he had risked.

“I hope they can answer your questions as well.” Bran stood. “Get some sleep. I’m going to take care of the horses.”

After he left, she sat listening to his movements, taking comfort that he was close by. She knew that finding the Kalorians and
sym
was important to his task, but to risk his life to rescue her? It took a lot of guts to do something like that.

Maybe part of it was because he actually believed her captivity was wrong. He seemed truly outraged at how the king had treated her. Then he had trusted her enough to take off the
kundar
. She didn’t know anyone who would have done that. Not one soul. He seemed too good to be true, and that didn’t sit right. Maybe there was something more he wanted from her?

Finally giving in to fatigue, she tried to find a spot that wasn’t too rocky and snuggled into her blanket. As she drifted into sleep, Bran kept watch. Even with her suspicions, it warmed her heart. Somewhere deep inside she wanted to trust him. It was nice having someone on her side for a change, and she decided to believe what he said. For the first time in years, the dark cloud of oppression looming over her dissipated into a mellow contentment, and she slept peacefully.

****

The gray light of dawn filtered through the trees, waking Teya from a sound sleep. The horses chomped on grass nearby, but there was no sign of Bran. Untangling from the blankets, she stood and stretched, then used her fingers to comb through her hair. She straightened her clothes and brushed at the dirt on her pants. She wasn’t used to being dirty and sleeping in her clothes, but to be free, she could get used to it.

She glanced up at Bran’s approach, and her heart pounded at the sight of him. He wore the same clothing, but his wet hair curled enticingly around his ears. Taller than most men, he walked with an easy grace that she admired. With his unshaven face, he exuded masculine strength that was more than a little exciting. His dark eyes danced when he smiled, and left her speechless.

“There’s a stream if you’d like to wash up.”

Teya couldn’t seem to think straight and merely inclined her head in acknowledgment before she fled his presence. Her heart still pounded when she found the stream, but the cold water shocked her back to her senses.

What was she thinking? Bran was her rescuer, and nothing more. There could never be anything between them. He had a mission to accomplish. Once he took her home, he would leave and go back to Braemar. End of story.

Too bad she’d confided in him last night. For some reason it had opened a crack in her heart. Sure, she liked having someone to talk to, but it left her feeling vulnerable and unsettled and she didn’t like it. Everyone she’d been close to was gone, and once he took her home, he would leave as well. It was better to keep a distance between them.

With a deep breath, she pushed her attraction to him aside. It didn’t matter anyway. All that ever mattered was getting home, and hopefully, today she would be there. Excitement coursed through her. After so long, her memories of home had faded, but not her feelings. Home meant love and warmth. She was willing to risk anything to have it again. But what if they weren’t there? What if the king had killed them all? What if they’d left to some distant place?

She shook off these senseless worries and pushed them to the back of her mind. Now was not the time to get panicky. She had to believe that they were there and she would see them soon, or she’d go crazy.

She returned to camp to find everything packed and ready to go, with Bran tightening the straps on her saddle. “I was wondering,” she asked tentatively. “What if the Kalorians aren’t there? What will you do?”

He glanced her way, then continued with his task. “I’ll help you look for them until we find them.” He turned his full attention on her. “Are you worried that I won’t keep my end of the bargain?”

“No,” she stepped back. “I just want to make it clear that I’m not stopping until I find them, whether you’re with me or not.”

“I’m not your jailor,” Bran said, pursing his lips. “I released you from that, remember?”

She flushed, realizing she had just insulted him. After everything he’d done for her, she still had trouble trusting him. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I just needed you to know.”

He stopped what he was doing and caught her gaze. “I know that you’ve been living in hell for the last ten years, so I’ll try not to be offended. I just hope you won’t let that experience cloud your judgment of me. Not everyone is bad.”

“I’m sorry.” Teya glanced at her boots in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean that you were. You’ve more than proven yourself. It’s just that I’m new at this, and I don’t know the rules.”

Bran lifted her chin until she met his gaze. “Rule number one, you can trust me. Rule number two, I’m not going anywhere until we find the Kalorians. Now, let’s get going.”

This coaxed a smile out of her, and she nodded. Bran helped her mount up and hope lightened her mood. The clear blue sky soared overhead, and it seemed warmer than it should at this elevation, but Teya didn’t complain. She was free.

Feeling the pull toward her people, she led the way with Bran riding beside her. Curious about him and his country, she decided to ask a few questions of her own. “What’s it like in Braemar?”

A smile lit his eyes. “It’s very different from here. We have a lot of things that you don’t have.”

“Like what?”

“Motorbikes. If we had one of those, we would have found your people yesterday.” At her puzzled frown he continued. “They’re machines that can take you anywhere you want to go. They have two wheels, and the front wheel has a handlebar on it that you can turn to guide it. You sit in the middle like on a horse.”

“How do you keep from tipping over?”

He shrugged. “You learn. It has a gear mechanism that turns the wheels, and it runs on halo crystals, so it can go for miles.” His brow tilted at a rakish angle. “And they’re very fast.”

Teya couldn’t comprehend such a thing. “How do the crystals make it work?”

“They contain energy.” At her puzzlement, he continued. “The energy turns the gears.”

“I’m not sure I understand, but I can tell you love them.”

He smiled. “Yes.” Then with heartfelt excitement he said. “Someday I’ll have to take you for a ride.”

She couldn’t help the lurch of her heart, nor his contagious enthusiasm. “I’d like that. When was the first time you ever rode one?”

Bran regaled her with several stories, some of them downright hilarious. It was so easy to talk to him. He was different. He didn’t look at her like she was a freak. She almost envied the freedom he’d had growing up, knowing it was nothing like the last ten years of her life. But it was nice to carry on a normal conversation, and her laugher at his escapades surprised her. She hadn’t laughed for years.

A little while later she noticed the beginning of a change in the countryside, and worry tightened her stomach. Here, the grass had turned brown from lack of water, and in many places, nothing grew out of the dry and dusty ground.

“It looks like this area has had a dry spell,” Bran said.

“It feels wrong, but I know this is the right way.” Every time she thought about changing direction, she was pulled back to this course. Foreboding entered her heart and she shivered. They continued on, and the further they went, the worse it got. Soon the trees showed signs of stress. Instead of growing straight and tall, the trunks were misshapen and craggy. Some of the leaves had curled black with decay.

Further on, the trees leaned toward the earth, broken and bent as if struck by a whirlwind. The forest stood in silence. Clouds blocked the sun, and cast a gray shadow over them. There were no birdcalls or movements of animals in the underbrush. No wind stirred the air. It seemed empty, like every living thing had died.

The panic she’d held back took hold, and Teya’s heart shrank with despair. What if her people were dead after all? She closed her eyes again and felt the pull. “This is the right way,” she said. “I can feel the pull, but something’s not right.”

Bran met her gaze with a troubled frown. “There’s a rise up ahead, we should be able to see better from there.”

With a quick nod, Teya followed Bran up the rise. At the top of the hill she gasped. As far as she could see the ground was covered with blackened tree trunks. The earth was bare of life, and the trees stood in stark nakedness, their limbs like twisted fingers reaching for the sky.

She stared, horrified at the destruction, yet too absorbed to pull her gaze away. In breathless shock she whispered. “It’s like a blight of some kind, or a curse. What would cause such an appalling thing?”

Before Bran could answer, something moved in the dimness below. “Did you see that?” he asked.

Teya strained to see it again, but found nothing. “I’m not sure. Maybe it was a shadow.” A chill ran up her spine and her skin crawled.

“How much further?” Bran asked.

“The pull of magic is strong here. We have to be close, but it leads straight through that.”

“Maybe the Kalorians caused this to discourage outsiders. Whatever the reason, the only way we’ll know is to keep going.”