Shattered Magic (The Chronicles of Arand)

Chapter Nine



Rowan gasped. “What?”

“The cage looks different.”

She had been so focused on Grant that she hadn’t noticed the enclosure that confined them, but he had obviously kept a lookout, even as he made love to her. Now she turned her head and stared at the field that enclosed their cage.

It appeared thinner. Less visible, and when she realized that, a shiver went through her.

“What is it?”

“I think we’re changing it.”

“How?”

“By what we’re doing. There are couples who have great power when they…connect in this way. But usually it’s only after they’ve been together for years.”

His voice filled with awe. “I think we’re turning hours into years.”

He could be right, but she hardly dared hope it was true.

He looked down at her, his total focus on her, and she gazed up at him.

“What should we do?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It’s too far beyond my experience.”

“Then it should be what pleases us both.”

He moved slowly, in and out of her, and she focused on each stroke. The motion driving her up and up, until the slow rhythm brought her to the point of madness.

“Now, please, now,” she begged, and she knew he was helpless to deny either one of them the ultimate pleasure.

As he began moving faster, pressing against her center with each thrust, she felt her inner muscles tighten around him. The contractions were like small lightning shocks, radiating from where they were joined, vibrating through the rest of her body, sending waves of pleasure through her, and crackling in the air around them.

She gasped, muffling the sound against his shoulder as he went rigid above her.

They clung together as they came back to earth.

“Lightning,” he breathed.

“Yes,” she answered, shaken to the depths of her soul. She had never imagined such pleasure—or such power. Her heart drummed inside her chest as she turned her head and saw that the barrier that enclosed the cage was gone. But for how long?

“Quick,” she whispered. “We can get out.”

They both staggered to their feet. She fought a wave of dizziness as she grabbed for her clothes. But she was afraid to stay here a heartbeat longer than necessary, afraid that the barrier might come slamming back.

They each clutched their clothing as they turned to the bars. They were still in place, but Grantland easily pulled two bars apart, and they slipped through.

He was naked. She wore only her shirt as they headed for the shadows of a nearby garden wall where they pulled on their clothing as quickly as they could.

“We have to get out of Valleyhold,” Rowan whispered.

“Through the barrier?”

“Yes.” She wondered if they had the strength to break through again. But they had to. It was their only hope.

She looked around. It had been getting dark when the councilmen had thrown them into the cage. Now she saw the gray light that came before dawn. More time had passed than she had thought.

Still feeling lightheaded, she pointed to the path that led up the mountain, but they were barely out of the village when she heard shouts behind them.

Someone had seen them and given the alarm.

She ran up the mountain, Grantland beside her, toward the barrier, but it was far above them. They’d never make it in time.

One more alternative leaped into her mind, and she reached for Grantland’s hand, tugging.

“We have to try something else.”

He didn’t spare the breath to ask what. He simply followed her, giving her his total trust. They were both puffing as she led them up the mountain, veering off to the right, to a place where there was no barrier because no one could come up that way.

Or get down and live?

She couldn’t say, but she knew it was their only chance.

She heard footsteps pelting behind them, closing in. Then she felt something that made her blood run cold. An invisible force grabbed her, pulling her back, and she cried out in fear.

Some of the men were using their powers to hold her and Grantland back.

He turned to face the attackers, a grim expression on his face. From his boot, he pulled a dagger and held it up.

When the men saw the weapon, they stopped short, twenty paces away.

“Who is controlling the power?” Grantland asked her.

She scanned the men. “Kendar, I think.” She pointed to a short, lithe man with dark hair caught at the back of his neck.

“Don’t kill him,” she cried out as Grantland drew back his arm.

He threw the knife, hitting Kendar in the shoulder. The man made a strangled sound and fell to his knees. Instantly, the mental tug against them died.

Rowan grabbed Grantland’s hand. They turned and ran again toward a place where the ground ended abruptly and the sky began.

Grantland gasped as he stared out into space, then down at the jagged rocks below.

“It’s the only way.”

“Yes, I’ll die with you,” he whispered.

“Not die. But you have to trust me.”

Some of the men had started toward them again.

Rowan gripped Grantland’s hand and called out, “Jump.”

He gave her his trust, and they went over the cliff together, plummeting toward the earth.

Above them she heard men gasp.

Below she saw the rocky ground rushing toward them as cold air streaked past.

Clutching Grantland’s hand and fighting to draw on the strength they had forged together, she struggled with all her power to slow their descent. She knew she could never do it by herself, but she felt energy coming to her across their clasped hands.

Still, it wasn’t enough, and they kept plummeting downward much too fast.

“Help me,” she gasped.

She felt him reach for the power they had created when they had made love. And with the power, she sensed a change.

Time was slowing. Or they were.

They were only yards from smashing on the rocks when she felt a cushion of air below their feet. Gently it lowered them the rest of the way, and they settled on the rugged rocks.

“They’re watching.” She pulled Grantland down so that it looked as if they had fallen to the ground, their bodies broken on the rocks.

As they lay unmoving, she strained her ears, listening for sounds from above.

Voices drifted down, but she wasn’t sure what anyone was saying. After a long time, when she judged it was safe to move, she cautiously looked up and saw no one.

“Can they come down here?” Grantland asked.

“I don’t think they would dare to jump. They will have to drop the barrier, climb down, and work their way over here.”

“And we will not be waiting when they arrive,” Grantland said. But instead of rising to his feet, he reached for Rowan and pulled her into his arms, holding tight.

She clasped him to her, tears of relief flooding her eyes.

“You saved us,” he murmured.

“Only with your help. Could you feel it?”

“The power gathering between us?”

“Yes.”

“I felt it, but I didn’t know if it was enough.”

“Nor did I.”

They embraced for long moments, celebrating their escape until he stirred.

“We must take ourselves far from this place.”

She nodded uncertainly. “We have…nothing. No weapons. No food.”

“I have a knife in my other boot,” he said, pulling it out.

“Lucky for us.”

“I never wander the countryside unarmed.”

She nodded. He was a prince, but he was also a man who knew how to take care of himself in many different situations.

They started off, still holding hands as they made their way across the rocks.

It was hard going, and they were both out of breath when they reached the flatter ground on the other side.

Grantland squeezed her hand. “We will be all right, now that we’re away from your village.”

“Where will we go?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.” He left her leaning against a rock and walked forward, scanning the ground. She saw him squat down and came over to find what he was looking at.

He pointed to low growing foliage covered with yellow berries.

“Are they all right to eat?”

“Yes. I’ve had them when I was out on maneuvers.” He plucked off several and handed them to her.

She tried one and found it tart. But they hadn’t eaten since the day before, and it tasted delicious.

They both ate some of the berries and carried more in their hands, munching as they made haste to put distance between themselves and Valleyhold.

“Not as far to walk as the first time I escaped,” she said. “We cut out miles of mountainside.”

He laughed. “And lived to tell of it.”

When he came to a stand of small saplings, he cut one with his knife, stripped off the extra branches and used a vine to tie the knife to the shaft, making a spear.

“We can catch fish with this,” he said.

“And eat them raw?”

“You’ve never eaten raw fish?”

She made a face.

“Some think it a delicacy. You’ll appreciate it if you’re hungry enough.”

She found their next meal, a plant her people used for greens. They both chewed on stalks as they rested.

Rowan turned her head toward him. “We’ll have to think of a story about who we are.”

“Man and wife,” he said. “A soldier and his helpmeet who heals with herbs. We were captured by bandits and barely escaped with our lives, but we lost all our money and possessions.”

She dragged in a sharp breath.

“You want me for your wife?”

“Unless you won’t have me.”

“You know I will,” she answered, reaching for him and hugging him tightly. Yet even as she held him, she knew that the path ahead of them would not be easy.

“What are you thinking?” he asked as he felt her tense. Easing away he looked into her eyes.

“That you’re taking on a woman who could be branded as a witch if anyone discovered her powers. A woman who can put you in danger.”

“We’ll learn to manage,” he said, and she hoped he was right.

When they reached a small stream, they both stopped for a drink. Grantland looked up, shading his eyes from the sun where it sank toward the trees. “It will be dark soon. With no blankets, we’ll have to make a shelter.”

Again he cut more saplings, forming them into the roof of a crude hut. When he began covering the structure with small branches, Rowan helped.

He was cutting more branches to make a bed when a shadow crossed over them.

She looked up and gasped when she saw what it was.