Soren's Bondmate (25 page)

Two meters away a few embers glowed in the fire ring. Next to it a small pile of wood tempted her to stir the coals and throw a few twigs onto them. Instead, she drew her knees up, wrapped her arms around them and waited for the raiders to leave.

The small chamber was her sanctuary. She'd nearly given up on finding a safe place to live while she searched the area for Arlyn's and Merykh's camp until she'd found this one. Here, surrounded by solid rock walls she had a sense of security. Best of all she had a steady supply of clean water. To reach it she had to crawl through another tunnel that ended at a narrow ledge and a deep drop off.

She licked her lips, felt how dry they were and moved onto her hands and knees. She crawled to the end of the mat and entered the second tunnel. It went on for almost twenty meters before it opened out onto a narrow ledge. She groped for the water that ran down the wall, found it and placed her lips against it and slurped up enough to quench her thirst.

The thought of what she had to do next brought tears to her eyes. If she didn't do it the other scavengers would and she'd miss out on the chance to gather food and supplies. She hated scavenging but hated even more the death the raiders always left behind.

She couldn't put it off any longer so she forced herself to return to the large chamber. Stopping at the end of the tunnel she listened for voices or movements. When it remained quiet she moved the blocking stone, wiggled forward and peeked around the edge of the boulder. The fire still burned in the center of the room and the pot of stew lay on its side next to it. The rest of the room was ransacked and there were three bodies lying near the entrance. Two males and one female.

Skye left her hiding place and checked them, hoping they or at least one of them still lived. Tears filled her eyes when she discovered they were dead. She covered them, paused for a moment then belly aching she hurried to the stew pot and shoved handfuls of stew into her mouth. The bread had dirt on it but she ignored the grit and ate it anyway. Finally, when her belly felt full she wiped her hands clean and began sorting through the items the raiders left behind.

She found torn blankets, drying cloths, and the large cooking pot along with the spoon and ladle and best of all a knife. Wood bowls lay scattered around the room and even though a couple of them were cracked she picked them up anyway. She wrapped everything except the stew pot in the blanket and set it down by the entrance to her tunnel.

Afraid she might have missed something she searched the farthest corners of the room again and nearly missed a small piece of cloth sticking out from beneath a large flat rock. She pulled on it and it came out a little ways then stuck. Kneeling she pushed on the rock and it slid away to reveal a hole in the floor.

She lifted the cloth bag out, opened it and found a familiar wooden box. Hoping it was what she thought it was she removed the lid and a small cry left her lips. It held two stones. A glow stone that provided light and a heat stone that could be used to cook food or warm a room. She lifted the glow stone, shook it and watched as it lit up the area around her.

Afraid it would be seen by others she put it back in the box and held it against her chest as she crossed the room and added it to the other items she'd gathered. She pushed them behind the boulder, squirmed into the small space and pushed it through the tunnel to her room before she went back for the stew pot.

Once back in her room she opened the box, removed the glow stone and shook it until it lit up the room. She turned in a circle, examining the walls before she examined the cuts and scrapes on her knees and elbows. Deciding they could wait she leaned against the wall and gulped down several more bites of stew.

The food in her belly warmed her and the need to sleep and rest nearly overcame her. Her injuries wore her down and she knew the lack of food kept her from healing properly. The broken bone in her right leg had healed badly and left her with a limp while the fingers on her left hand were crushed and nearly useless.

The pain in her head increased with her thoughts so she shoved them away and went to deal with the dead. It would be disrespectful to leave them where they lay until sun rise. At the end of the tunnel she glanced back to make sure no light showed from her room. Satisfied that it didn’t she crept out of her hiding place.

By the light of the dying fire she wrapped each body in a blanket she'd left out for that purpose then dragged them through the cave to the entrance. While she'd worked the night had grown colder and the snow had stopped.

She sat in the shadows near the cave opening. It was small and well-hidden. When she'd first found it she'd felt safe enough to live in the larger chamber until she'd seen a small furry animal disappear behind the boulder. Curious, she'd entered the darkness with a small wooden torch and found the smaller chamber and the second tunnel that led to the water seep. She's slept there while she searched the area for Arlyn.

Thinking about how well hidden the main entrance was made her wonder how the raiders had found it. As far as she knew there were no nearby caves, and the river bed at the base of the cliff was dry, so why would anyone look for people here? She stood with the intention of moving the first body when she spotted a light in the distance. It was joined by another and another until the horizon was lit up.

Only a large force like Merykh's would show their presence in such a way. That meant they'd either seen the smoke rising from the cave's cooking fires or they used the cave as a trap for the unwary. Perhaps the stones hadn't belonged to those taken this cycle. If that was true then the stones owner may have also been taken from the cave as nobody would leave behind something so rare and valuable.

The more she thought about it the more it made sense and the more she realized how much danger she was in. How they'd missed seeing her coming and going during the past few cycles she didn't know. What she did know was she had to erase her presence.

First she put the bodies back where she'd found them and then she went to her room, gathered up most of the items she'd taken and returned them to the larger chamber. The last two things she did was brush out the marks she'd made in the dirt on the stone floor and replace the flat stone over the hole. Satisfied with the way it looked she returned to her own chamber.

Once there she collapsed on her mats and slept. In her dreams strong arms held her close and Soren's deep voice whispered her name.

The sound of metal striking stone woke Skye. She lay still in the dark afraid that the raiders had realized that some items were missing? Were they searching for her? Thoughts of escape flashed through her mind. She could go through the other tunnel to the ledge but she'd be trapped there and eventually they'd catch her.

In the last four cycles since the raiders had returned and cleared out the larger chamber she'd used the glow stone to become familiar with every centimeter of her small chamber and both tunnels. Knowing exactly what they looked like had at first increased her sense of security until she'd realized that a small, determined male could get through them. Because of that she'd rigged an alarm of sorts at the entrance to her tunnel.

It was a simple stick wedged between the two sides of the tunnel. A taut string was tied to it and led to a wood bowl with rocks in it. She'd tested it by bumping into the stick and loosening it. When that happened the bowl and the rocks fell to the floor and made enough sound to alert her.

The alarm hadn't been triggered so they weren't in the tunnel. She took several deep breaths then when she felt calm she slid off the mats, disarmed the alarm then entered the tunnel. The closer she got to the end the more light she saw

Male voices and more hammering reached her. Moving closer to the barrier she peeked out. Two large males pounded spikes with long chains attached to them into the back wall of the cave.

The shorter of the two held another spike against the wall. "This is the last one, Frakyn."

Frakyn hit it over and over driving it into the wall before he grabbed the chain and tugged on it. "That will hold them, Derrit."

Derrit added his weight to it. "I didn't think any warrior would fall for Merykh's trap but they did."

"They're not as smart as we thought they were," Frakyn said.

Derrit wrapped his arms around himself. "It's colder in here than a Crimeryn enchantress's heart."

"That's good. The prisoners will spend all their time trying to stay warm instead of trying to escape."

"There's only four of them so why'd we have to place so many of these?" Derrit tugged on another chain.

"We're expecting more of their friends to join them." Frakyn began putting his tools away. "Stand back I hear them coming."

Skye ducked down, leaving only enough room between the edges of her hood to see who was arriving. Her view to the entrance was blocked so she didn't see the four captured warriors until they were herded to the back wall of the cave. From the amount of blood that covered the backs of their cloaks she knew they'd fought fiercely for their freedom.

Their hands were shackled behind their backs with thick clumps of dark krystal. The largest warrior fought back by head butting Frakyn. Four of the guards jumped him and beat him to the ground while Frakyn placed a collar around his neck. When they stepped back the chain rattled and stretched tight when he lunged toward the guards and he came into view for the first time.

Tears filled her eyes when she saw Soren. She stared at him, willing him to control himself and stay alive while the guards laughed and jeered. Finally he turned away, ignoring them and she breathed a sigh of relief as the guards moved to Pelyn and his brothers and chained them.

Once they were subdued Merykh and Arlyn entered. The sight of her sent a thick wave of hatred and rage through Skye and she had to fight the need to attack her.

Arlyn waved her hands and dark krystal cocooned the warriors from their feet to their necks. She moved to Soren and ran a long fingernail around the black tattoo on his cheek, cutting the flesh and leaving behind a thin line of blood.

Skye held her breath, waiting to see what she'd do next. Shock ran through her when Arlyn demanded that Soren tell her his name. So many thoughts swamped her she couldn't keep up with them. Why didn't Arlyn recognize Soren? Was this the Kouncil's doing? If so, why?

Arlyn demanded again, "Tell me your name."

Soren remained silent.

Arlyn grasped his head and dug her pointed nails into the tattoos on the side of his head, puncturing the skin. "Where are your manners? Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

When he still refused to speak she threw her head back, laughed, and removed her hands. The tips were coated with his blood. "Oh, I like the stubborn ones. They're so much fun to break." She smiled at Merykh then turned back to the warrior. "Perhaps some time spent alone will help you remember your manners." She waved her hands and dark krystal formed around his head, entombing him. She smiled and moved to the next warrior and began questioning him.

Ten micro-units later all four of the captives were bound in dark krystal.

"There now," Arlyn said. "No need to feed or guard them. They're not going anywhere until I release them."

Merykh pulled her close. "This moon rising we'll celebrate their capture. On the new cycle we'll move the other captives in with them."

"Remember you promised I could keep two of them."

Merykh jerked her toward him. "Why do you want them? They're noisy and they stink."

Arlyn laughed. "But so valuable. Don't you wonder what they'd give for their return?"

"No. Those bands on their arms are a bad omen." Merykh said. "Every time I see them all I can think about is death."

Arlyn laughed. "The bands are Zarronian. That means they're Zarronian. How much do you think their people would pay for their safe return? We could be rich."

"Dead people don't need riches. Besides how are you going to contact them?"

"I need to find their mother and send her as the messenger," Arlyn said.

"You should have held onto when you had her," Merykh said as he pulled her from the chamber.

Skye allowed herself a few moments to cry with joy when she heard that Arlyn still had Rilyn and Abrianna and that they were alive. Finally, she crept out from her hiding place. She paused in the deep shadows behind the captives then circled around and checked the opening to the cave to see if they'd posted a guard. When she didn't find one she turned, planted her hands on her hips and said, "This is just great." She moved to Soren, stood on his feet and rapped her knuckles against the side of his krystal encased head.

He blinked, then smiled.

"Is this the sort of thing you do when I'm not around to protect you?"

He grinned and mouthed, "I love you, little heart."

"It took you long enough to find me." She looked at the opening, making sure they were still alone. "Arlyn has Rilyn and Abrianna. It sounds like they're bringing more prisoners after sun rising and she'll release you from the krystal then. I expect you to behave so we can get on with getting our babies back and then get the heck out of here." She stared at him, noticed his frown and smiled. "Smile if you understand."

He continued to frown.

She rapped on the side of his head again. "I said smile if you understand."

"Stop that," he mouthed.

"What? You mean this?" She rapped on the side of his head again.

"Yes," he mouthed.

She smiled. "Try to get some sleep. I'll see you after sun rising." She waved at him then jumped down. Before she moved away she jumped onto his feet again and said, "I love you, too."

Once in her room she wrapped up in a fur and sat on the mat and cried with relief while she made plans to get Rilyn and Abrianna.

# # #

"Tor," Soren thought. He'd found Skye in the most perilous situation he could've imagined. He had to gain his freedom and get her out of here.

The quick glimpse he'd gotten of her nearly broke his heart. She was starved and injured but still fighting. Her face had always been alive with her thoughts. Now her beautiful eyes were dull and she favored her leg when she walked. Her left hand looked as if it had been crushed. His Skye was broken and he knew what, or rather who, had hurt her. When he caught up to Arlyn he'd make sure she suffered.