13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Lysandra showed up as promised, this time unaccompanied by one of the foreboding guards, a rushlight in hand that she wedged between the loose stones by the door.
“Hurry,” she said as she thrust a bundle of cloth in Brunhild’s direction.
When Brun caught it against her chest it unfurled to reveal rough serving clothes from the same coarse weave as the other woman’s. She swiftly shed her tunic and leggings and donned the skirt and blouse, snatching her belt so she could tuck the skirts into it if she needed to run or climb.
When she was finished, Lysandra twirled her finger. Brun obeyed, the skirt belling around her ankles as she turned. “How’s this?” She asked.
Lysandra tapped a knuckle against her chin. “We’ll have to keep your hair under a scarf, it’s too distinctive,” she finally said as she pulled another piece of cloth from her pocket.
Brun wrapped it around her braids, hiding them.
“Let’s go,” the other woman said as she put her finger to her lips and tugged Brun toward the door. Brun mutely followed because she wanted to evade discovery as long as possible.
Lysandra snuffed out the rushlight and left the door ajar before she began scurrying down the dark halfway, as swift and nimble as a cat prowling in search of a mouse.
Brun stumbled in the dark more than once, biting back a curse when she stubbed her toe. When they reached a dead end that branched to the right and left, Lysandra darted to the right and ducked behind a heavy tapestry.
There was a commotion to the left, down the corridor they were avoiding, and a boisterous, rusty laugh Brun knew all too well cut the silence that had fallen between them.
She would know her father’s mocking laugh anywhere because she had often been its target. Surely her ears deceived her.
She shook away her unease and focused on one step at a time.
When they came upon a flight of stairs stretching down into the inky darkness, Brun briefly wondered if she was being led to Helheim’s lair. The thought made her shiver. “Falling off these would be a messy way to go,” she whispered.
“Aye, you’d end up with a bashed head and a broken neck,” Lysandra grimly said.
When Brun hesitated, her heart hammering away in her chest, Lysandra impatiently grasped her elbow. “Come, they’re waiting for you at the end of the tunnel.”
“What about you?”
“I stay. I’ve yet to accomplish what I was sent here to do, and you’re more of a hindrance to me than anything.”
Brun grinned sardonically because for most of her life that’s what she’d been — a hindrance. “You needn’t accompany me.”
“The path is treacherous,” she said skeptically
Brun fought the urge to roll her eyes. “I’ve faced far worse across a battlefield than steps leading to nowhere. Just tell me what I need to know to survive this perilous journey.”
“Careful footing, because the steps will be slick with damp near the bottom. When you reach the mouth of the cave, go to your left. There will be a set of stairs carved into the side of the cliff. Twenty four of them until you reach the bottom. If you’re certain you don’t require my help, I’ll ensure you’re not pursued. ”
Toran and his rescue party waited in the cove beneath the cliffs undetected.
It was on the opposite side of the island from the Kraken Keep, and fringed by sharp rocks that prohibited all but the sleekest vessels from anchoring there.
Toran and his men had transformed into their each uisge form rather than bothering with a coracle for the journey.
He’d transform again and carry his mate on his back to get her home where she belonged.
They crept toward the edge of the stairs that disappeared into a straggle of brush at the bottom.
Cath’s belief in his informant was unwavering.
He’d insisted over and over again that although their mission was risky, it wouldn’t fail.
Tor was reluctant to place his faith in circumstances and people he couldn’t control, and going on this mission where there were so many unpredictable variables was driving him mad.
He tightened his grip on the pommel of his sword and widened his stance, ready to leap into the fray if necessary.
When the bushes shook slightly in the moonlight, he motioned for his men to crouch until the disturbance was revealed.
He waited, his heart pounding, until a bundled figure emerged from the shadows. Even in the half-darkness, Toran recognized his wife. He stood awkwardly, waiting for her to realize he was there. Once she removed her head covering, she turned in his direction. “Mate,” she said.
Though there was fire between them, her affection thus far had been begrudging. That single word from her mouth made his blood crackle in his veins, and he moved forward to wrap her in his arms.
She stiffened at the embrace.
“Thank the gods you’re safe,” he muttered into the crown of her head, glorying anew in the way her height was nearly a match for his.
“Of course I’m safe,” she scoffed. “I would have managed to free myself eventually, but I’m grateful for your intervention.”
Toran let her back away from his embrace because he could sense her unease. The more he came to know her, the more he wondered if anyone in her life had ever shown her they valued her. From what he knew of her father’s court, he doubted it.
“I am only sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” he said with a shrug.
“Your timing was impeccable,” she assured him as she peered over his shoulder.
He couldn’t help smirking. “Looking for the boats, mate?”
“Have you hidden them?” She asked as she set her hands on her hips.
He shook his head and crossed his arms. “There are no ships. Or coracles.”
“Then what was your conveyance?”
He gestured to himself. “We all shifted to our each uisge form and swam.”
“Then how did you manage to carry that?” She pointed to his sword.
“We strapped our weapons to our backs.”
“Well, I can’t transform like you and the rest of your company.”
“No, you cannot. Which is why I’ll bear you home on my back.”
Her eyes widened. “I can swim — I don’t need you to carry me around like a child.”
“I don’t doubt you can swim, but we’ve traveled many leagues and are much swifter than you’d be on your own. If we don’t wish to be caught, it’s better that you do as I say.”
She raised a brow. “I don’t recall ever agreeing to obey you. Especially if I don’t agree with your orders.”
“I make this decision for your safety and the safety of us all. We must make haste before your escape is discovered.”
“The Kraken King didn’t bother interrogating me, so I doubt I’ll be immediately missed.”
“He didn’t bother interrogating you because his plan was to use you as bait. For me.”
“As if you’d ever fall for such a ploy.”
He shook his head again, bemused by her constant derision of her own value. “I know your worth, wife. And you are my mate. We are bound by our vows of blood and I will never leave you to fight by yourself.”
Her expression hardened and became inscrutable. “I’ve fought my own battles for as long as I can remember.”
“Well, this is one occasion that won’t happen.
Come, I tire of arguing,” he said as he closed his eyes and transformed into his other form.
He lowered his body as close to the sand as he could, stretching his foreleg in front of him so she could easily swing onto his back.
With a reluctant sigh, she carefully seated herself behind his withers and entangled her fingers in his mane.
“You’re not giving me a choice are you?” She grumbled.
He couldn’t speak in his beast form, so he tilted his head and gave her what he hoped was a disapproving look.
His neigh, and the splash of the surf on her face, roused her from dreams she didn’t care to dwell on. She lay flat on his back, her arms wrapped around his neck and her fingers tangled in his mane.
Brun was mortified that she’d let down her guard enough to fall asleep. That she’d found her perch astride her husband’s each uisge form comfortable enough to put herself completely in his keeping. As if he were nothing more than a packhorse and she the spoils of war he carried.
As soon as his hooves touched the sand, she swung off his back.
When he transformed again, he was naked, just as he’d been before, and she wanted to look anywhere but the broad expanse of bronze, gleaming skin that seemed to occupy her entire field of vision.
She sensed it was futile to avert her gaze, because it seemed destined to seek him out against her will, as if it was tracking the ascent of the sun across the midday sky.
She shivered at the memory of the immense power she’d felt harnessed beneath her when he plunged into the sea. A power that had held her captive more than the imprisonment she’d been rescued from.
His gaze searched hers in the twilight creeping over the horizon, and she suddenly yearned to know whether his eyes were still ice, or if they burned with midnight fire.
After he removed the sword strapped to his back and set it in the sand, he stalked toward her, his jaw clenched and his expression inscrutable.
She could sense the roil of emotion he was keeping tightly leashed and gulped, taking a slight step backward.
The departing tide nipped at her heels, and she stood her ground instead of lifting her hands to ward him away.
“You would run from me, wife?”
She shook her head, and squared her shoulders. “You risked your life for me,” she said as she took a deep breath. “And as Lysandra was leading me away, I thought I heard my father’s laughter.”
Toran regarded her solemnly.
“My father is here?”
Her mate nodded. “We spotted his fleet in the Kraken harbor.”
Brunhild closed her eyes. Of course she’d been a pawn in a gambit she didn’t understand. “If my father has reneged on his bargain with you and allied himself with your enemy, I am of no use to you now.”