Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
The Great Hall
The Forest
Feena stumbled through the castle doors, breathless and near collapsing.
“King Dravic,” she gasped at the startled guards. “I need the king. Now!”
One guard hurried off while the other reached to steady her, but Feena waved him away. She had wasted too much time already. Every moment that passed carried Adira farther away.
Dravic was still in the council chamber with Tavish when the door flew open and a guard entered without waiting to be summoned.
The interruption alone had Dravic turning sharply.
“My king, Feena has returned to the castle. She demands to see you.”
Dravic’s brow narrowed. “Where is Adira?”
The guard hesitated.
Something cold settled in Dravic’s gut. “Where is she?”
“I do not know, my king.”
Dravic was out the door before Tavish could say a word.
He found Feena in the entrance hall, her cloak hanging crooked from her shoulders, the hem of her dress wet from snow and her face pale with fear.
Dravic stopped and stared at her. She was alone, and his heart suddenly pounded in his chest as he crossed the distance between them.
“Where is Adira?” he demanded.
Feena’s eyes filled with tears. “They took her.”
Briefly, Dravic felt as if his heart stopped beating, then it thundered against his chest.
Tavish had followed and stopped several feet behind him.
“Who took her?” Dravic demanded again, only this time all could hear the fury in his words.
“I do not know. There were four men. They were waiting in the forest and—”
“The forest?” His voice hardened. “Why were you in the forest?”
Feena gripped her hands to stop them from trembling.
Dravic stepped closer and gave Feena no time to respond. “I ordered you to remain in the cottage with her.”
“Aye, but Adira—”
“You disobeyed me.”
“She would have gone without me!”
Dravic glared at her.
Feena struggled against her fear of the king and her fear for Adira. “Something drew her there. I tried to stop her, but she was determined. I have never seen her so determined.”
“What direction did they take her?” Dravic snapped, his anger mounting.
“I do not know. Deeper into the forest from what I saw. They used something to make her sleep and carried her away.”
Dravic turned sharply to Tavish.
“READY MY HORSE AND WARRIORS!” His roar filled the Great Hall.
Warriors moved at once.
“Dravic,” Tavish said, “It could be a trap. More men may be lying in wait. Let your warriors go and find her.”
The fury in Dravic’s eyes had Tavish taking a step back.
“Men dared to boldly take what belonged to the king and you expect me to sit in the castle and do nothing?”
“Nay, my king,” Tavish said with a bow of his head. “I but ask you to consider what you may be riding into… a trap. Men paid to see you dead.”
Dravic remained silent in thought for a moment before he shook his head. “What would make someone think that the king would put himself in danger to go after a woman who is deaf and cannot speak?”
Feena gasped, her eyes turning wide. “Are you suggesting those men meant to abduct Adira?”
Tavish looked skeptical. “That seems unlikely. What could they ever want from her?”
Dravic caught a sudden spark of light in Feena’s eyes and once again demanded, “What is it?”
“It may be nothing—”
“Tell me,” Dravic snapped, impatient to know.
“When Adira arrived at my door, the only possession she had with her was a piece of what I assumed was jewelry or an amulet of some kind. But it was missing a piece. Adira showed me that missing piece today. It had strange etchings on it and fit perfectly with the piece she had.”
“Where did she get it?” Tavish asked.
“If I understood her correctly, Bria gave it to her,” Feena said.
Tavish looked puzzled. “How would anyone know Adira had the necklace?”
“You are wasting time.”
The three looked up to see Fiora flitting just above them.
“How did you get in here?” Tavish asked, shaking his head.
“I have no time for foolish questions,” Fiora said, dismissing Tavish with the wave of her small hand. “You waste time chatting when you need to be searching. I can help you find Adira.”
“She is right,” Dravic said. “Why and who abducted Adira can be determined later. Right now, I need to find her before she is harmed—”
“Or lost to us forever,” Fiora said, worry straining her small brow.
Her words struck Dravic like a hard blow. The thought that he would never see Adira again felt as if his heart had been wrenched from his chest, while the thought of the harm that might be done to her sent a raging anger through him.
“No one takes what belongs to the king,” Dravic said with a calm force that frightened more than a show of anger. Then lower, so no one could hear, he murmured, “Takes what is mine and mine alone.”
But someone heard his declaration and… Fiora smiled.
Dravic turned to Tavish. “You are in charge until I return. You are to follow my rule and all plans we set forth for when I am absent from the castle.”
“Aye, my king,” Tavish said. “Hopefully, you will not be gone long.”
“I can easily pick their trail up and track them,” Fiora boasted.
“No more talk. Tavish, make sure my men are ready to leave. I’ll only be a moment,” Dravic said and walked off.
Fiora looked at Feena. “What didn’t you tell them?”
Feena’s shoulders sagged with the weight of the burden.
“The necklace Adira showed me is an amulet and it belongs to the Morvane Clan, and I fear when the two pieces were joined, it alerted the Morvane to one of their own.”
Adira opened her eyes slowly, the gray light hurting her eyes and her head.
Carefully, she shifted her head hoping to avoid the light, but it followed her.
She closed her eyes again, trying to remember what had happened.
She wrinkled her nose, recalling the sweet, sickly scent from the dark petals pressed against her nose and mouth.
She remembered reaching out to Feena, then everything went dark.
She had been in the forest with Feena when men appeared and the fear of seeing them returned.
Feena.
What happened to her? Where was she?
Adira tried to open her eyes, but the light continued to be a problem even though it wasn’t bright. She had to open them slowly, let them adjust, let the pain fade.
When she was finally able to open them, she pushed herself up and the sudden movement sent the forest spinning around her. A hand caught her arm before she toppled over, and Adira jerked away from the touch.
Four men surrounded her. The same four men from the forest.
Adira scrambled backward until her back struck the rough bark of a tree trunk, her gaze moving quickly from one man to the next.
They varied in size from slim to thick, to short, though none were tall.
They wore no expression that would help Adira understand what they wanted with her.
They made no move to grab her, though the way they watched her warned they would not allow her to escape.
One man crouched several feet in front of her, his lips moving.
Adira stared at him.
He spoke again.
She shook her head and pointed to her ear before shaking her head once more.
The men exchanged glances.
The one man crouched before her looked back at her and pointed to his mouth.
Adira shook her head again.
Surprise passed over his face.
He stood and turned to the others, speaking rapidly. Adira watched their expressions change, saw questions and confusion pass between them, but she had no way of knowing what was being said.
Adira kept her eyes on the men, trying to read something in their expressions that might tell her what they intended to do with her. They had left Feena behind. They had taken only her.
Why?
The man turned back to her and crouched again, his gaze moving over her with a scrutiny that made her uneasy.
Adira drew her cloak tighter around herself.
He reached for her and instinct had her fisting her hand and striking him without even thinking about it. The blow caught his jaw hard enough to snap his head to the side.
The other men reacted, their faces breaking into wide grins, and one threw his head back in obvious laughter.
Adira saw none of the humor in it.
The man slowly turned his face back toward her, his smile gone, his eyes angry.
She braced, squeezing her eyes shut, sensing it was coming and it did. The flat of his hand connected hard against her cheek and the pain resonated through her head.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the other men were upset and were admonishing him. They went back and forth until the man who hit her looked repentant and a bit fearful for hitting her. That gave Adira the idea that they were not meant to hurt her.
Fear of what that might mean had her pulling her cloak more tightly around her.
Feena had done well in explaining the plight of women, especially those on their own. They could easily be scooped up and sold, whisked away from Scotara before anyone realized they were gone.
Was that what these men had planned for her? And was Feena’s age the reason they left her behind?
Feena would go for help. The thought sparked hope until she worried that the men may have harmed Feena. But if they hadn’t, Feena would have gone to the king.
Would he search for her?
He would. She knew he would. He would let no harm come to her that she was sure of.
But first he would have to find her, and she hoped it would not be too late.
Dravic urged his horse faster, ducking beneath a low branch as Fiora darted ahead of him through the trees. His warriors followed, spreading out where the forest allowed and falling into a narrower line where the growth thickened.
“Faster, Fiora!” Dravic called out.
Fiora shot him an annoyed glance over her shoulder. “These wings are not horses!”
“Then stop talking and use them.”
Her tiny face pinched with irritation before she sped ahead.
Dravic kept his eyes on her. They had found signs of the men soon after entering the forest, but Fiora had proven far more useful than his warriors at following their trail. She disappeared at times only to return moments later, waving them in a different direction.
She suddenly stopped.