The Sword and the Sylph (Elemental Series) (15 page)

“Aye, my lady,” he said with a bow and hurried off across the hall.

Portia ran back to her room and slipped inside just as the page knocked upon the door. She materialized a
nd opened it, pretending to feel ill.

“Lord Muir calls for your presence in the great hall anon,” said the boy.

“Please tell Lord Muir I am ill and sleeping.”

She closed the door quickly and was once again planning her escape when the door smashed open, banging against the wall. Lord Muir stood there with one hand on his hip and the other on the hilt of his sword.

“I had a feeling you’d be a problem, that’s why I decided to come fetch you myself.”

“I am ill and need to rest,” she said, turning away.

His hand gripped her hair and pulled her toward him. “I suggest you don’t deny my request or I’ll show you upon that pallet right now how persuasive I can be.”

His arm was right in front of her eyes again and she couldn’t help but see the etched snakes wrapped around the
crescent moon. Thoughts flitted through her head of how awful it must have been for Braden growing up with this man always beating him. Even at the precious age of five, this could scar someone for life.

“I’ll come with you, but please do not hurt me,” she said
. That seemed to suffice him and she followed the Klaren to the great hall. She settled herself on the bench across from the vile man and listened as they made their plans to attack Banesmoor.

“I say we attack tonight,” said the countess. “Before they know we’re coming.”

“We’ll attack when I say so, not before,” snarled Lord Muir. “Now my men are tired and we are also hungry and thirsty. We would see to our needs first and attack in two days time.”

“Two days?” squawked the countess. “I cannot wait that long.”

“You have no choice, as my army is what is going to make this a success. And I don’t appreciate a woman giving me orders. It seems to me you have already taken over Calila though your husband still lives.”

“He won’t live long
,” she said, making Portia wonder what she’d meant by that. It almost sounded to her as if she wanted her father to die, and she wouldn’t put it past her to do something to hurry the deed along.

“I’ll need a bride when I rule over Banesmoor,” said the
Klaren, looking directly at Portia and scanning her body with his eyes.

“
You? Ruling Banesmoor?” asked the countess. “But I am going to be ruler of Banesmoor. The deal was that you and your men could keep this godforsaken castle in the mountains in exchange for your help.”

“I never made that deal, that was between you and the fool, Olaf
,” he told her with a grin. “And if you don’t like it, I suggest you stay quiet. After all, my men outnumber yours and are twice the warriors of any of your knights. If I wanted you out of the picture entirely it wouldn’t be a hard task to accomplish, if you understand my meaning.”

Portia sighed inwardly, feeling like things were going from bad to worse.
And she only hoped she could sneak away soon, as she couldn’t stand to spend another moment in the presence of the countess or Lord Muir.

Chapter 17

The door to the iron cage clicked shut, t
rapping Braden inside. The sun was just rising on the horizon and it brought with it another day of dread and despair.

Lord Solomon had instructed his men to construct two more gallows at the crossroads overnight. And now to his dismay, he occupied one of them. A
horse was tied to a rope and pulled the basket with him in it up into place, and two men secured the chains that held it in connected to the horizontal beam.

The stablemaster was raised into the air right across from him
in the same manner, and the feeling of doom ate away at Braden’s gut. He could see the body of the third decayed man still on display, swinging back and forth in the breeze.

He never thought he’d be in this position when he and Lord Wolfe passed through here just the other day.

He hadn’t fought the guards when they’d brought him here, as he knew it was futile and would only add insult to injury on his part. He didn’t think Lord Solomon would leave him there to die, but just in case, he’d hidden a dagger in his boot. He knew he was to be made an example of, and he also knew that if he hadn’t admitted making love to Portia he wouldn’t be in this situation right now.

He figured he’d wait for a
while until after the crowd left and then he’d break out of his confinement, and leave Banesmoor forever.

He couldn’t
really be angry with Lord Solomon, as he may have done the same thing himself if the situation had been reversed. He looked down to the ground to see Sir Samuel with his arm around Lady Christabel as she sobbed, pleading with her father for not his release, but for the release of the stablemaster instead.

“I cannot set him free, my daughter. He is a commoner and also a traitor. He never should have touched you
, my love. And you never should have fallen in love with a man who wasn’t noble.”

Braden looked over to the man and was sorry to see that they
’d beaten him before they’d placed him in the cage. Being a knight, they hadn’t raised a hand to Braden, and his past weighed heavy on his shoulders. Knowing that he was not of noble blood but spawned by a man who had malice running through his veins, he by right should have been beaten as well. His father - the warrior and leader of the Klarens, was a titled lord but only from the spoils of war, not because he was noble. He wondered what became of the man, but figured after all these years of fighting, his father had to be dead by now.

“Set the stablemaster free
, my lord,” Braden called out. “He loves your daughter and means no harm to Banesmoor.”

“So hon
orable of you to beg for his life instead of your own, Sir Braden. Too bad you were not as honorable when it came to being loyal to my daughter.”

“He can be as asset to us winning the battle against the Klarens which is destined to transpire.”
Braden tried his best to save the man’s life with his words.

“And how so?” Lord Solomon
asked, as Braden’s suggestion seemed to peak the man’s interest.

“Send him to Calila so we have a man on the inside.
He is Calila’s stablemaster now and they would accept him. They don’t know he’s here, so he should not arouse suspicion. He can sneak back and inform us of their plans.”

“You make
a point,” said the lord in thought. “And if he gets killed in the process, it won’t be like I’m losing one of my good men.”

“Father, no!” begged Christabel. “You can’t send him in there, as it’ll be his death.”

“Send me with him then,” said Braden. “I could protect him, and I would like to prove my loyalty to you as well, my lord. We would find out their plans and relay them to you so you can be prepared.”

“You are an excellent soldier,” said the lord. “And though you may not be loyal in the ways of love, I have seen your loyalty when it comes to fighting.”

“Are you really considering setting them free?” asked Sir Samuel. “You have no guarantee they won’t just run instead of doing as he’s suggested.”

“I promise you I would go to
Calila and do what I can to help you win this war,” said Braden.

“And how about you, S
tablemaster?” asked Solomon. “If you are discovered, are you any good with a sword?”

“I can hold my own,” said the man. “And I would do whatever it takes to prove to you that I would die
to protect your daughter.”

“All right then. You both
would hang here until midday to finish out your punishment and then we would proceed with the plan.”

“You cannot all
ow them to do this,” protested Sir Samuel.

“Then you would escort
them there to make certain they don’t run.”

“What?” asked the captain of the
guard. “I need to lead your army, my lord.”

“And you’d do it as expected, but first you’d see to this matter at hand
. Now come, as before you leave I need you to ready my troops for one of the bloodiest battles that may ever take place.”

* * *

Portia rode like the wind towards Banesmoor, finally having been able to use her power of invisibility to leave the castle unnoticed. She’d stolen one of the Klaren’s horses while he was on patrol at the edge of the forest. She now made her way down the dusty trail, approaching the crossroads.

She didn’t e
ven want to look up at the putrefied body of the prisoner who swung in the breeze inside the metal basket. She’d almost wretched last time she passed this way, so kept her eyes downward now so as not to have to see the horrific site again. She could tell from the corner of her eye there were two more prisoners hanging there now as well, and she couldn’t bear to even look at them.

She kept her focus on
the dusty road ahead instead and urged her horse forward, trying to make it move faster. Then just as she passed the crossroads she heard a low familiar voice call out.

“Good morning, my little fae.
You seem to be in such a hurry today.”

She pulled back on the reins and turned her horse thinking she was going insane, as dead men couldn’t speak. And unless her ears were playing tricks on her, that voice sounded a lot like Braden’s.

Sure enough, to her horror, Braden sat in one of the metal cages, his feet and arms sticking out between the bars. He lounged back lazily as if he were just waking from an afternoon nap.

“Braden, I cannot believe my eyes
. What are you doing in there?”

She jumped off the horse and ran to him. He was high up and she could just reach the bottoms of his feet.

“I am here too, Lady Portia,” came another voice from behind her. She whipped around quickly to see who it could be.

“Vance?” she asked
, bewildered. “They put you in here too?”

“
Aye. For naught more than loving Lady Christabel,” he told her.

“Now, now,” said Braden. “You were caught with your arms around her and your lips fastened to those of my betrothed
as well. I’d say there is a good reason for you being in the crow’s cage, so don’t complain.”

“Braden, I thought you said you had
no feelings for Lady Christabel,” Portia pointed out.

“I don’t, Portia
. My feelings are for you only. I only mentioned it to make a point why he was put here in the first place.”

“And why were you put here?” she asked curiously. “I thought you paid fealty to Lord Solomon, so why are you on display at the crossroads?”

“Because, I too, proclaimed my love – but not for my betrothed, but for you.”

“You did?” Her heart swelled to know that he would go to such extremes and endure such punishment on her behalf.

“I’ll get you out of here at once,” she said, raising her arms to the sky and calling upon the air. She’d planned to blow the cages to the ground, but stopped at the sound of Braden’s voice.

“Nay,” he said. “Do not help us.”

“Oh, I suppose it is degrading for a woman to save a warrior. All right then, what is your plan? Do you have a hidden weapon with which to pick the lock?”

“I do,” he said, holding up a small dagger that he was
using to clean his fingernails.

“You have a means to escape and yet you are sitting here as if you are awaiting an invitation to tea?”

“I don’t want to escape,” he told her. “And I have no intention of betraying Lord Solomon by attempting it.”

“What?” she asked. “I don’t understand. So you are saying you want to stay here and bake in the sun waiting for carrion to peck out your eyes?”

As if on cue, a crow landed atop his cage and cawed loudly before it stuck its beak inside the bars. Braden poked at it with his dagger and the bird flapped its wings violently then flew over to the rotting carcass and pecked at that instead.

“I promised Lord Solomon I’d prove my loyalty to him by going to Calila and
finding out their plans.”

“He promised I’d go too,” said Vance, not at all sounding happy about the deal
he’d made.

“
So how are you going to do that when you are locked in the cage?” she asked.

“I’m
just biding my time and finishing my punishment,” he told her. “Lord Solomon would return at midday to let us out.”

“This
is crazy,” she told him. “You don’t need to do this, Braden. You have been through enough hardships in your life. And I don’t want you being punished because of me.”

“I would go to the ends of the earth for you, Portia-Maer. As well as I would die a thousand deaths just to prove I love you.”

“If you want to prove you love me, then get the hell out of there right now. I just risked my life to come warn you that the Klarens are planning to attack in two days time. And it wasn’t easy trying to sneak away from your bastard of a father.”