Stone Heart (29 page)

"Come, sweetness. Let me show you." He stood and lifted her into his arms as though she were a piece of fine crystal.

Then he slowly lowered her at the pond's edge. "Look at your reflection."

Karen looked down into the water. She stretched out a hand toward the image. "
That isn't me. It can't be.
" She turned to him in alarm. "
Angus, what's going on?
"

"I dunna' know, little one. But magic has been used upon you." He looked up at the darkening sky. "We will stay here for the night, and I will try to fill the gaps within your memory. But you must promise me something."

"
Anything
."

He pulled her fiercely to him. "Promise to never be frightened. For I will fight any demon for you, and I will hold you so tightly that nothing ever threatens you. And no matter how I explain about what has happened, trust me and know that I love you."

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"
I trust you and as long as you're near, I'll never be afraid
of anything again. I love you, too. So very, very much!"

Angus held her and carefully explained the details from the time Roland had loosed his arrow. Karen patiently listened. It was eerie, hearing about her own funeral arrangements. She surmised that the voices she'd heard were those people coming and going out of her room When he got to the part where she turned up missing and how everyone searched for her, she could see the utter anguish in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and softly stroked his massive shoulders. The story finally stopped when he decided to come to the glade. And
that
part she remembered. He choked on the next words and Karen's heart broke for him.

"I thank the Goddess we dinna' bury you. You were only
enchanted
, no' dead. If we had gone through with the burial

... I canna'
think
of it!"

"
Hush, my love. Hush. It didn't happen.
" She was glad it was her turn to offer comfort. He nuzzled her neck and she could feel him shaking with raw emotion. Once Angus calmed her fears, the logical part of her mind began to work again.

She'd never felt so strong, vital and alive. "
Angus, there must
have been something on the arrow, something Roland did
with it that changed me. I would have died otherwise."
She felt him shudder.

He slowly pulled away and stared at her beautiful face.

High cheekbones were set below those incredibly colored eyes and her pink, full lips were hauntingly soft. "I dunna' care where the magic originated. You are here and that is all that 258

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matters. For this night, I will love you senseless. Tomorrow, we will go to the Sorceress and ask our questions."

Karen slowly dropped back upon the mossy bed and spread her thighs. Angus moaned and kissed her from one ankle up to her abdomen. His fingers began a sensual stroking that soon had her arching off the ground. Their need was too great to be denied. They loved until their cries rent the air. Finally, Karen fell into a deep sleep in his arms and he soon followed. But there was never an instant, even in slumber, when he let her break his embrace. She would never have the chance to disappear again. So close was his body to hers, he could listen for every breath she took, every sigh she made.

With the first light of dawn, Angus slowly awoke. Karen's presence assured him that he had not dreamed her back into life. She was real and his heart sang with joy. Her warm body pulsed with health and vitality, and he wondered how he, Shayla and the others could have thought her dead. But since magic had been used to transform her into whatever creature she now was, it was highly possible her deathlike slumber could not have been detected. He closed his eyes and nuzzled her silken hair. How had she come to leave her room? The Sorceress might be able to solve the mystery after seeing Karen again. She took a deep breath and cuddled closer to him. Then her beautiful eyes opened, and she smiled so brightly his heart almost broke with happiness. "You are too sweet, my love."

"
So are you,
" she said with a sigh. She stretched against him, unwilling to leave the safety of his muscular arms.

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"We should find the Sorceress and have her call off the search. Every faction of the Order is out looking for you."

"I had a strange dream. I remember being in the dark and
trying to find some light. I was climbing up something. But I
don't remember anything after that. It's all a blur.
"

They sat up together, he gently kissed her. "Dunna'

trouble yourself, Karen. There is a reason for all that has happened. We will find Shayla and she will help us make sense of it."

Karen nodded and stood up with him. She looked down at herself and smiled. "
I don't think I should show up like this.

Do you?
"

"If it were up to me, you'd never wear another thing. But, since I want no man perusing your pleasures but me, I will find someone along the way to bring clothing for you." He grinned. "Preferably someone female."

After pulling on his leather pants and boots, he protectively wrapped his jerkin and then his arms around her.

They walked away from the little glade, stopping often to kiss or hug. And when a passing Pixie caught Angus' attention, he sent her ahead of them with a message for Shayla to bring clothing and meet them at the cottage Angus and Karen had shared when they first arrived.

* * * *

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"Word has just come to me that Karen has been found.

Angus is bringing her back to their cottage."

"Why there? Has he any news of who might have taken her body?" Hugh placed the ledger he'd been reading on a table and stood.

"You're probably not going to believe this any more than I do, but Karen isn't dead!"

"
What
?" Hugh gasped.

"Apparently, Angus found her semiconscious in the woods.

Nude. In a tree
." Shayla stopped to lean upon a desk. "I don't believe anyone
took
her away at all."

Hugh shook his head in disbelief. "This is impossible. We saw her die. All of us."

"No, my man, we saw her shot with an arrow and only
thought
she was dead." Shayla paused and paced the length of the room, thinking. "Hugh, summon everyone to the great clearing. Have Lore and Gryphon bring that toad, Roland, from the dungeon."

"Aye, Shayla." He nodded and left the room.

"
Extraordinary!
This whole thing is just unbelievable,"

Shayla muttered as she left the room to find clothing for Karen.

* * * *

Shayla stepped through the door and almost collapsed.

There, sitting before the fireplace drinking tea, was Karen 261

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Matthews. But the woman had
morphed
into a creature whose like she'd never seen. Karen stood, wearing nothing but a blanket. Shayla sensed great magic in her, but it was very soft and ethereal. Unlike anything that existed in the Order.

"Come forward, child. Let me look at you," Shayla commanded.

Karen walked toward her. "
I guess it would be an
understatement to say I've changed a little
," Karen remarked.

"
I don't know what happened to me. One minute I saw that
man about to shoot an arrow toward us, then I woke up in
the branch of a tree looking like this
." Karen opened the blanket so that Shayla could see her body.

Shayla tilted her head and listened when she heard the musical sound accompanying Karen's voice. She immediately moved forward and placed a palm against Karen's cheek.

Then she lifted the younger woman's hair and saw the pointed ears and noted the change in eye color as well. "Take my hands, Karen."

Karen let the blanket fall to the floor and did as Shayla bid.

The Sorceress closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate. A wave of sensations flooded Karen and she also closed her eyes. In her mind, Karen saw a large fir tree outside the roof of the estate. She saw herself climbing down it and running for the woods. Then a mist appeared. It gradually began to clear and she saw handsome men and stunning women resting within the branches of trees. They were clothed in transparent garments of the most amazing colors. The women wore sensually crafted gowns and the muscular men 262

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wore little more than loin cloths. By lifting their hands and concentrating, they were able to materialize more of the magical cloth they wore and change the color of the shimmering fabric to fit their surroundings. She understood this metaphysical ability helped conceal them in the lush growth of the forest or could even express a mood. The presence of the cloth was accomplished with nothing more than pure thought and will. It was magic in its most elemental form.

Karen slowly opened her eyes and Shayla was staring at her in wonder. "
You know what I've become, don't you? Are
there others like me?
"

"Sadly, no. The last of them died a millennium ago. They were known as Dryads." Shayla smiled at her and stroked her hair away from her face. "It seems, one of them is among us again. My dear, dear Karen."

Karen frowned for a moment.
"I was dying, now I'm well.
"

She paused and tilted her head. "
How did I become this ...

Dryad? What is a Dryad and how was I healed?"

Shayla motioned for them to be seated as she took a chair beside Karen. "No one knows why they disappeared. Like so many of our kind, there may have simply not been a place in the world for them any longer. They guarded the sacred trees of our lands, lived in them to ensure their protection. They were among the most elemental of all the creatures here and had powers which helped all plant life flourish. And they heartily disliked being indoors for too long. When you came up missing, I believe your instincts drove you to a place where you felt safe, peaceful. Whatever was done to you 263

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originated from dark magic. And if my guess is correct, that magic somehow backfired and produced ...
you.
"

Karen thought for a long moment. She was aware of Shayla and Angus watching for her reaction. "
Then, I'm not
exactly an outsider any longer, am I?"

Shayla laughed. "I should say
not
, my girl. Your kind were here before Druids ever set foot upon this soil. They were, in many respects, the teachers of what we now practice as Druid magic."

Karen smiled and looked at them both. "
Then I can stay
with Angus? We can be
..." She searched for the word Angus had used. "
Handfasted?"

"Angus has already handfasted with you," Shayla said and laughed at her expression of surprise.

"
I remember his asking you if we could, but we never
actually got to do it.
"

"Uh, yes we did, lass," Angus responded. "When I thought you dead, I had the Sorceress handfast us in front of an entire room of witnesses."

"
You did that believing I was dead? Why?
"

"Because 'twas a promise I made you. And I love you. So shocked was I at finding you alive and in a tree, I suppose I must have forgotten to tell you," he explained with a shrug.

"Don't worry, Karen. We'll redo the entire ceremony properly. And you'll be able to actually
respond
this time."

Shayla patted her hand and smiled.

Karen stared at Angus. "
That is the most incredibly
romantic thing I think I've ever heard. You married me, even
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though you thought I was dead?
" She jumped into his embrace. "
Oh, Angus, I love you so much!"

"You had better, I will never let you go," he replied, kissing her soundly.

Shayla tactfully rose to leave. "I'll let you two have some time together. Then I want Karen dressed and both of you in the great clearing within the hour. I've left a bundle of clothing outside that should fit."

After Shayla quietly left and closed the door, they made love in front of the fireplace. Angus had to force himself to break the tryst. "We must hurry and dress, love. I believe Shayla means to have an answer as to what happened to you."

"
However it happened, I'm so grateful to be alive. I'm so
happy about everything.
" She hugged him again and placed her head against his chest.

"Aye, lass, so am I. So am I," Angus replied and hugged her fiercely.

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Chapter Thirteen

"Bring the wretch forward," Shayla demanded as Lore and Gryphon pulled Roland to the center of the clearing. Hundreds of Druids, Fairies, and others stood in a circle, waiting to see what would be the Goblin's fate. "Untie him." Shayla watched as the two larger men cut Roland's leather bindings.

He rubbed his wrists at the chafing the bindings caused. "It doesn't matter what you do to me, Sorceress. I've seen an outsider die and avenged my family."

"And it didn't matter to you that the girl had nothing whatsoever to do with the deaths of your loved ones?" Shayla asked.

"They
all
carry blame. They allow that putrid waste to be manufactured, and then they dump it where they will just to save some precious money. They should all die and leave the Earth to those who will respect it."

"Tearach, step forward," Shayla ordered. The Goblin Leader did as he was asked and stood beside Roland. "I hear his hatred and find it repeated among those of your faction.