The Carnelian Tyranny: Savino’s Revenge (13 page)

CHAPTER 14

AMBUSH

Deep into the night, Marisa tossed and turned under the blankets, unable to fall asleep. Her mind raced as she constantly replayed the conversation with Darian, unable to forget the sullen look on his face when she told him she wasn’t ready to marry
him.

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping puppy, she rolled over slowly onto her side. Jackson dozed happily from his spot next to her on top of the bed, his little body rising and falling with each contented breath he
took.

As she lightly stroked his soft fur and watched him sleeping soundly, tears brimmed in her eyes. Darian knew she would be lonely at Beauriél and had generously thought to give her a dog. His compassion towards others was one of the things she loved most about him. She didn’t deserve someone like
him.

Suddenly Jackson was awake. His little head popped up, his ears turning to listen in all direct
ions.

Sensing something was amiss, Marisa sat up in bed. She strained to listen to the low rumbling of thunderstorms rolling across the sky. But as the rumbling sound grew louder and closer, she realized that it was not thunder, but hundreds of horses’ hooves galloping down the grind driv
eway.

In a flash, Jackson jumped onto the window sill, barking frantically at something in front of the house. A man’s muffled scream erupted from the darkness, causing Marisa to stumble out of bed to the window and peer
out.

In the pale moonlight, she saw at least a hundred warriors dismounting to swarm the area in front of the house. One of them reached for a bow he had been carrying on his back and proceeded to shoot an arrow into the chest of an approaching Beauriél g
uard.

She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream and ran into the corridor, bumping into Mark and her uncle just outside her
door.

“What’s going on?” Mark whispered lo
udly.

“We’re under attack!” Alessio excla
imed.

“Quick! Follow me!” she said, racing back into her cl
oset.

Her heart was pounding wildly as she pulled two coats from their hangers and grabbed the two largest sets of shoes she could find. Shoving them into Mark’s and Alessio’s arms, she whispered loudly, “Put these on! H
urry!”

As they slipped into the coats, there was a loud, steady banging on the front
door.

“But how do we get out?” Alessio shouted at her. “They’ll be inside any minute
now!”

“Look—Darian showed me a secret passageway!” They watched in amazement as she pulled the rug on the closet floor away, revealing the secret exit. She lifted up the hatch, pointing down into the s
haft.

“Of course!” Alessio said excitedly. “I’d completely forgotten abou
t it!”

She nodded firmly. “Climb down and follow the tunnel out to the end. There you’ll find a ladder that exits under the pavilion back in the forest. From there, make your way back to the city but stay off the road. Go get Darian! Now h
urry!”

“What about you?” Alessio implored, raising his voice above the din of Jackson’s bark. There was a loud bang downstairs followed by men’s shouts, telling them that the front door had been breached. Multiple sets of heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs and started down the
hall.

“Go—now!” she urged, motioning to
Mark.

He quickly climbed down the ladder out of sight, but her uncle hesitated. “I’m not going without you!” Alessio whispered lo
udly.

“Don’t wait for me—just get Mark out! That’s an order!” She pushed him down into the hole, watching as he finally disappeared into the dark
ness.

Hearing footsteps in the hallway, she realized that it was too late for her to follow them and lunged forward to close the hatch, straightening the rug back into place. She searched the dressing chamber for a place to hide, but it was too
late.

The intruder was already in her bed
room.

One of Savino’s ten-foot warriors stood next to her bed, his head ducked to avoid hitting the ceiling. His flame torch reflected off his bronze breastplate, casting an eerie light around the darkened chamber. He threw the covers back, searching around and under the bed as Jackson continued to bark wildly at
him.

Ignoring the pup, he moved to check every inch of her bedroom, growing impatient when he found nothing. He walked over to the closet and peered in, extending his torch to inspect each and every co
rner.

Her body trembled with fear as she squatted down at the rear of the dark closet, hiding in plain sight. She watched the ugly warrior rifle through her dresses, his broken nose ruining what she imagined had probably once been a halfway decent profile. His reddish, shaggy hair was unkempt under his helmet and most of his bulk was the result of vigorous eating rather than through hard work and exercise. His beady, menacing eyes scanned the breadth of the wardrobe chamber until they finally rested on her
face.

She shrunk back in fear, bracing herself for the blow that was sure to fo
llow.

Mark hurried down the passageway, unable to see his way in the darkness. “Where’s Marisa? Isn’t she behind
you?”

“No—she closed the hatch behind me so they wouldn’t find the passageway, brave girl.” Alessio’s footsteps padded against the slabs of stone. “Hurry,
Mark.”

“Oww! I just hit something.” He glanced up and saw a thin sliver of light. “This must be the way
out!”

Climbing the steps, Mark reached the trap door in less than a minute. As he lifted the heavy plank, a blast of icy air hit his face. After the pitch darkness of the tunnel, the light of the moon was bright as it bounced off the thick layer of fresh
snow.

Emerging cautiously from under the pavilion, Mark’s eyes scanned the forest. “Which direction?” he whisp
ered.

“Toward Crocetta—this way,” Alessio said, poin
ting.

The warrior’s eyes met Marisa’s, but they didn’t stop on hers, continuing instead their thorough sweep of the closet. She froze, her brain scrambling to think of a way
out.

“Did you find anything?” a voice shouted from the hal
lway.

“No, sir, but they must be here somewhere,” the warrior with the broken nose replied, moving away from the closet. “The bed is still warm and the dog is
here.”

He looked right at me, but he didn’t se
e me.

“Well, even if they managed to escape, they will not get far in the snow. Search the forest and track them down
—now!”

“Yes, sir!” the warrior answered, saluting hastily before marching out of the
room.

The other man looked around the bedchamber one last time before moving on to search the other rooms, releasing an angry shout each time they found nothing. Through it all, Jackson continued to bark at the intruders, following them down the corridor and bravely defending his mistress still crouching on the floor of the cl
oset.

Minutes later, the remaining men hurried back down the stairs and exited through the front door, leaving it open and causing a cold draft of wind to blow up the stair
well.

With a rush of adrenaline coursing through her body, Marisa listened to the sound of hoof beats retreating back up the driveway and emerged cautiously from the closet. She prayed for Mark and her uncle, hoping they would safely reach the castle to warn Da
rian.

Peering out the window into the dark of night, she didn’t see a single person. The men and horses that had been out in front of the house were now gone. She moved to the doorway and peeked down the
hall.

Not
hing.

Jackson was no longer barking, in fact, she couldn’t hear him anywhere. She quickly searched the bedrooms, softly calling his name. A feeling of panic welled up inside her the longer she looked but couldn’t find
him.

Oh, please, let nothing bad happen to Jac
kson!

All at once, the gravity of the situation hit her head on. After they had searched the grounds but had not found her, they would come back to check the house again. She had to get out of there while she still could. But what about Jackson? Even if she found him, he might bark while she was trying to escape and give her
away.

Torn by the thought of leaving the puppy behind, she hastily pulled on some socks and boots and threw her cloak around her shoulders. She opened the hatch, turning carefully and placing her feet on the rungs of the ladder, slowly moving downwards. Once her head was clear of the opening, she lowered the hatch back down while trying to cover it with the rug as best she c
ould.

Muttering a prayer of safety under her breath, she descended into the cold darkness until her feet touched solid ground. The amulet she wore emanated the tiniest bit of light. It wasn’t much, but just enough to help her see where she was going. With its soft lavender glow to light her path, she moved down the tunnel much faster this
time.

Reaching the other end, she scaled the iron ladder and raised the trap door cautiously. Holding the hatch open just a crack, she searched the forest, but saw nothing. The eerie landscape was strangely illuminated by moonlight reflecting off the thick layer of fallen
snow.

She pushed the panel aside and crawled out, amazed at what had accumulated on the ground in the few short hours since the party. Replacing the wood panel once again, she spotted two large sets of footprints heading east, back toward Crocetta. Deciding it would not be wise to head in the same direction that Mark and her uncle had gone, she jogged off to the west, flitting between the cover of the trees to hide her movem
ents.

When she heard heavy boots crunching through the snow just a hundred or so feet behind her, she stopped, her mind frozen in terror. She glanced around her, searching for anywhere to hide. Spotting none, she pulled herself up onto the nearest tree branch and gained her footing, climbing higher and higher until she was at least twenty or so feet off the gr
ound.

Breathing heavily from the sudden burst of exertion, she peered down at her tracks on the ground far below, hoping that whoever had been chasing her would not see them. She clung to the trunk and leaned out, suddenly spotting an enormous warrior standing almost directly beneath
her.

He was hunched over the snow, staring at something on the ground. But when she shifted slightly, the branch creaked under her weight. At the sound, he straightened up and glanced around, searching suspiciously for any sign of movement. She winced, fighting the urge to panic before slowly leaning back toward the trunk and praying he wouldn’t see
her.

As he lifted his gaze into the tree and stared at her with a puzzled look on his face, she froze in terror. But then she realized that he was watching the steam of her breath floating like a ghost through the air. She clapped her hand over her mouth, hugging the tree even tig
hter.

The warrior removed his metal helmet and cocked his head at her. Seeing a glint of gold in his mouth, she gasped, recognizing the same brute who had threatened her months ago after she’d been chased out of the Mychen Forest by the
ri
jgen
.

De
imos.

He unsheathed his sword, appearing as if he was about to strike at the tree. But before he could, another warrior suddenly rushed over, diverting his attention from the branch where she was precariously per
ched.

“Sir, we have found somet
hing.”

His sword flashed in the moonlight as he turned to the soldier impatiently. “Well, what i
s it?”