Tagan's Child (34 page)

I rolled over
and buried my head in the pillow. I knew if I watched him walk out
the door my heart would tear right out of my chest.

I woke with a
start, my heart pounding in my ears. “Ahran,” I whispered,
struggling to make sense of where I was. Had something woken me or
had I been dreaming? It was the middle of the night and I was
alone. I strained my ears, sure that I’d heard something, but the
house was quiet. Taking a deep breath I laid back down. It must
have been a dream. Feeling edgy I turned over and pulled the
bedspread up under my chin.

There it was
again. A noise, a crash, and it had come from downstairs.

I sat bolt
upright, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Something was wrong I
could feel it in my blood. I felt for the nightdress Salara had
given me, slipped it over my head and jumped out of bed. I
frantically searched for my stun gun in the dark as I struggled to
recollect where it was. It was nowhere to be found and then I
remembered I’d left it in the car. I cursed myself for being so
careless. More crashes came from downstairs. Something was very
definitely wrong.

Not daring to
switch the light on, I continued to search in the darkness for
something that would serve as a weapon. I could almost taste the
blood in my mouth as it surged around my body and rang in my ears.
My fingers fumbled across a marble based lamp on the dressing
table. I picked it up and wrenched it from the wall holding it
upside down like a club. I turned the handle of the bedroom door. I
hadn’t forged a plan, who knew what I faced? But there was no way I
was staying up here waiting to find out. If Salara was in trouble,
she needed help.

I gingerly
stepped out of my room. The light from the kitchen was shining up
the stairs. I started to tiptoe across the landing when a hand
whipped out of nowhere and clamped itself across my mouth stifling
my scream. I struggled to break free but another hand grabbed my
waist and pinned me against an unrelenting male body. He growled in
my ear as I swung the lamp backwards but it barely made contact
before it fell out of my hands and hit the floor with a heavy thud.
Desperately trying to work out my next move, I struggled against
the hands that were holding me so tightly I could hardly
breathe.

My captor
carried me downstairs and I clawed at the hand covering my mouth. I
thrashed as much as I could, my bare heel even made contact with
his shin a couple of times, but to little effect. His hand shifted
away from my mouth to take a better hold of my writhing form. “Get
off me you bastard!” I gasped as we entered the kitchen. He hitched
me up his body and I managed a backward kick, this time my heel
made perfect contact with his groin. He cried out, momentarily
loosening his grip and I managed to break free.

The sight of
Salara lying motionless on the kitchen floor made me feel sick.
There was blood trickling from a large cut on her forehead. Oh god,
please let her be alright!

Rage welled up
inside me.

I frantically
scanned the room and saw the knives that were in a wooden block on
the kitchen surface. I dived towards it and grabbed the handle of
one of them, pulling it free from its sheath. It was a long, sharp
carving knife. I swung round to my abductor growling like a thing
possessed. I definitely wasn’t going down without a fight.

He came towards
me menacingly and I lunged towards him with the knife in my hand. I
took a couple of swipes and he leant back, dodging the first but I
caught him with the second, the edge of the blade slicing across
his cheek. Blood sprang to the surface and oozed satisfyingly down
his cheek. The shock of what I had just done paralysed him for a
moment and he touched the side of his face in disbelief. I saw my
chance and threw myself at him putting my whole body weight behind
the knife as I plunged the eight inch blade into his stomach.

He staggered
backwards with the knife’s handle sticking out of his abdomen. A
look of surprise plastered across his face.

“Die, you
asshole!” I yelled, shaking with anger and fear.

Obligingly, he
fell to his knees gasping for breath. I didn’t give him a second
thought as I ran over to Salara and knelt down by her still form. I
swept a lock of blood-soaked hair away from the wound on her head.
“Salara,” I called softly. I couldn’t tell whether she was dead or
alive as my shaking fingers tried to find a pulse in her neck. I
sensed movement at the kitchen door behind me and my head snapped
round in time to see another intruder in dark clothing pointing a
gun at me and in that second the most excruciating jolt hit my
body.

*****

I was lying on
the back seat of a truck bumping along uneven ground. My arms and
legs were bound and there was a thick piece of tape across my
mouth. My body felt like it had been hit by a juggernaut. It was
still dark but I could just about make out a dark figure in the
driver’s seat. My mind raced as I tried to piece together what had
happened.

Had they killed
Salara? And what had happened to Raffy? Was he still asleep in his
cot or had they harmed him too? I stifled a whimper. I was pretty
sure I had killed one of my attackers and had been stun gunned by
another. I wasn’t aware of the searing pain of a wound just an
excruciating ache that was causing every muscle in my body to spasm
painfully. I could only guess where we were going but judging by
the feel of the terrain we were travelling over my guess was that
it was to Bazeera’s island.

Had Toby’s
rescue party actually made it there? And what was my captor’s
intentions regarding me? Surely, if he had wanted me dead he would
have killed me back at the house.

The truck
slowed and I shut my eyes pretending to still be unconscious. We
came to a halt and I heard the rumble of voices outside. The driver
got out and I heard another engine stutter and then roar to life.
It sounded like the outboard motor of a boat. We had to be near
water and across from the island. The only thing that made me feel
any better was that I might actually get to see Toby.

The door by my
head opened and the man pulled me out, throwing me over his
shoulder. It was all I could do to stop myself from screaming out
in pain as my body protested at the sudden movement. There was a
nauseating stench of stagnant water and diesel fumes. He carried me
onto the boat and threw me roughly onto the bench seat causing my
head to hit the side of the boat. I let out a muffled cry. No one
heard it over the sound of the engine. My vision blurred and I
thought I was about to pass out again. The driver opened the
throttle and the engine roared as we pulled away from the water’s
edge.

We moved across
the water at speed, every jolt causing me more pain. Eventually,
after what seemed like an eternity, we reached the other side. The
engine died and the boat rocked as one of the men climbed out and
secured the boat to the jetty. The other man picked me up and threw
me over his shoulder again. He stepped off the boat, carried me up
a bank and onto a gravel path leading to an entrance at the side of
a building lit by spotlights from the ground. I caught a glimpse of
creamy coloured sandstone walls as we passed through a doorway into
a damp smelling corridor. From my limited vantage point we were
inside some kind of castle. My image of an Indiana-style fortress
hadn’t been too far off the mark. The men’s voices echoed as they
chatted to each other, it was as if they were carrying out little
more than an ordinary shopping delivery. The aching of the
aftershock from the stun gun was easing but my head hurt and my
stomach felt bruised against the man’s shoulder. We wound our way
along a number of corridors and up two flights of steps until we
came to a heavy wooden door. It creaked as one of the men pushed it
open. I was expecting a prison cell but much to my surprise it was
a lavishly decorated bedroom. I was thrown unceremoniously onto the
bed and braced myself as my captor leant towards me, there was
little I could do in my defence. Fortunately, all he did was rip
the tape away from my mouth, causing my skin to burn. I eyed him
warily as he pulled out a knife, not daring to move a hair as he
sliced through the tape that bound my wrists and ankles together.
And then without saying a word he turned on his heels and left. I
heard the key turn in the lock.

I slowly eased
up onto my elbows, my head feeling like it was about to explode. I
surveyed the room. It was softly lit and felt warm. I was lying on
a huge four poster bed draped in heavy, deep red velvet. The bed
was flanked by two ornately carved bedside tables with a lamp on
each, their shades matching the colour of the luxurious bed covers
and drapes. There was an enormous open fire place with a fire
crackling in its hearth and a deep pile rug laid out on the smooth
polished stone floor in front of it. Two armchairs had been
arranged invitingly around the hearth. There were a couple of
large, dark wooden pieces of furniture against two walls and in the
corner was a huge roll-top free standing bath. I half expected to
see steam rising from it. The whole room looked like the honeymoon
suite of an expensive Scottish castle and was the complete opposite
of what I had been expecting. I hoped Toby had been living in
similar luxury.

Ok, so now
what? As lovely as the room was it was still my prison. I got up
off the bed and winced at the pain in my head. I tried to open the
shutters at the windows but they were locked. I walked over to the
fireplace and caught sight of myself in a large full length mirror.
I looked a mess, my hair was all over the place and the pretty
night dress that Salara had lent me had the rusty smear of blood
down the front. Poor Salara. I hoped to God she was alright. The
thought of Galius finding out his wife had been brutally attacked
or worse, killed was not a welcome one.

I gingerly
walked over to the stone basin sitting on the washstand and filled
it with warm water. I washed my face and hands and dried them with
a towel hanging on a rail next to the sink. I pulled my hair into a
pony tail with the hairband on my wrist and sat in one of the
armchairs, staring into the fire and waited. I tried not to play
out all the possible scenarios about what might have happened to
Toby’s rescue party in my head and prayed they already had Toby and
were on their way out of here. I couldn’t understand what Bazeera
wanted with me, I was nothing to her, but as long as Toby and Ahran
were safe that was all that mattered. It comforted me enormously to
know that Toby had a family now who would love and care for him, if
indeed, this was the beginning of my own demise.

I wasn’t sure
how long I had been sitting there when I heard someone unlock the
door. I jumped out of the chair my heart racing. It was another of
Bazeera’s henchmen and I stood my ground as he came towards me. He
had a roll of tape in his hand and he gestured for me to turn
around. Maybe the news I had killed one of his colleagues had
spread and he wasn’t taking any chances. I felt a satisfied smile
tug at my lips. I had no choice now though, and turned away from
him with my hands behind my back. My heart’s fast staccato rhythm
echoed in my ears as I contemplated where he was taking me. Was
this it? Was my time really up?

We walked down
a number of corridors and the flagstone floor felt cold under my
bare feet. The place was indeed like a large medieval castle and
much older than any of the buildings I had seen in Ramia. Finally,
we came to a set of large, wooden, heavily studded double doors. My
guard pushed one of them open and I stumbled as he pushed me
roughly into the room. It was enormous. At one end, two large
banners displaying coats of arms hung on the wall, a large
banqueting table stood in the middle and to my utter horror, Ahran
was bound to one of the chairs around it, his head slumped forward
on his chest frighteningly still.

“Ahran!” I
shrieked, and tried to break free from the hand that was
restraining me. For one heart-stopping moment I thought he was
dead.

At the sound of
my voice, he slowly lifted his head. It was sweet relief to see him
move but I gasped when I saw his face. His left eye was purple and
swollen and there was a nasty gash across his cheek which was
encrusted with dried blood. The deep red of fresh bruising was
beginning to show itself along his jawline and his mouth was taped.
My heart twisted painfully and I pulled against the unrelenting
hands holding me.

“What have they
done to you?” I growled.

Ahran looked
warily to his right and I followed his eyes.

“Ah! You must
be the boy’s aunt,” said a man leaning against a large knoll sofa
in front of the fire. I hadn’t noticed him at first.

“I would shake
your hand, but it looks like you are a little tied up,” he said in
accented English.

He was tall and
on the skinny side of slim, with a shaven head, a long narrow face
and a pronounced jaw. He had a savage look about him.

“Well, you are
a pretty one,” he said, eyeing me appreciatively as he came towards
me.

Everything
about him made my skin crawl and I raised my chin in defiance.

He stopped in
front of me, too close for my liking as the rancid stench of
alcohol wafted under my nose. He ran his finger down the side of my
face. I recoiled from his touch but the guard held me tight. A
muffled growl came from Ahran and he strained against his bindings
causing his chair to scrape noisily across the stone floor.

The man looked
between me and Ahran with a dawning realisation.

“Ah, what do we
have here? This fragile human girl means something to the great
Ahran Elessar of Dinara.” Remarkably the enjoyment on his face made
him look even meaner. “Tsk, tsk, Ahran, rule number one, don’t get
involved with Sapiens they are nothing but trouble. Look where it
got your cousin. A bastard child and the opportunity for his
family’s enemies to demand whatever they wish.”