Steel Maiden (15 page)

He toppled to the ground with a grunt. And
then there was nothing.

My stomach contracted, and I vomited. I
didn’t know why. Maybe it was the last of the poison, or maybe it
was just my body telling me how I truly felt.

I stood there for a moment, letting the
emotions of killing someone run through me.

I wasn’t sure what I felt. It’s not like
he’d given me a choice. I had to protect myself. He was going to
kill me. Even though I’d felt rage and wanted to kill him in the
moment, now that I stared at his body, I was pretty numb. Remorse?
Guilt? This was self-defense. It was odd. A few seconds ago I had
enjoyed taking his life and had felt no remorse.

If he wasn’t working for the temple, then
who was he? I remembered him saying
we,
so there were more
in this group, whoever these masked men were. I wasn’t about to
stay here and wait for more of these lunatics to try and kill
me.

I pulled my blades from his chest. After I
wiped them clean on the grass, I reached out and pulled off his
mask.

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected underneath,
but the plain face of an ordinary man wasn’t it. Maybe I thought
he’d be ugly and disfigured, or maybe even a demon himself. But I
looked down into the empty eyes of a regular middle-aged man.

Just a man. Not a demon.

I couldn’t sit here and wrestle with my
feelings while more of these lunatics prowled the impenetrable
night forest and waited for me to turn my back. I could almost see
them, waiting in the dark. If they were so keen on killing me,
who’s to say they hadn’t sent backup just to be sure I was
dead?

I needed to go.

I was alive. And I planned to stay that way
until I finished this race. I ran over to Torak. He nudged me
gently with his muzzle and neighed.

I reached out and patted his neck.

“It’s okay. I’m all right, boy. It’s over
now.”

Torak rested his head on my shoulder. His
gesture was almost like a hug. I wasn’t an expert on horse emotions
or their body language, but I had the feeling he’d been worried
about me and was glad that I was safe. God I loved that horse.

There was no point trying to get some sleep
because I knew it wouldn’t come. The forest was too good a hiding
place for masked men. Torak shifted nervously, the whites of his
eyes showing as he glanced at the dead man. The smell of blood
unnerved the horse, and he seemed to be as eager as me to get out
of these woods.

I ran over to the creek and splashed cool
water on my face to wash off the stench of the masked man. Then I
grabbed our supplies and pulled myself with surprising ease onto
Torak’s back. I grasped the reins firmly to keep my hands from
shaking.

A faint glow appeared through the tangle of
trees in the east. It was nearly morning. I said a silent prayer to
the Creator and hoped that the forest was not hiding any more
masked men.

Then I kicked my heels into Torak’s flanks,
and we galloped through the forest, racing for our lives.

CHAPTER 15

T
ORAK RAN LIKE THE Devil himself was
chasing him.

At first I wasn’t sure if I should stop him.
He seemed to be running on magic. His powerful legs dug up dirt
from the road and left a trail of dust behind us. Every time I
heard a snap or a break I feared that he had broken a leg, but he
never faltered. I feared that I was pushing him too hard, but it
was as if he wanted to leave the forest behind as much as I did.
And even if I wanted to stop him, I wasn’t sure I could. It was all
I could do to keep from falling.

I tried hard not to think of the masked
assassin.
Who had sent him and why? If not the priests then who?
Why was my death so important? What had I done to these
people?

As the darkness of the forest began to lift,
so did my spirits. Crisp white light spilled through a break in the
trees up ahead. We finally emerged from the woods and galloped into
bright midmorning sun and crisp blue sky.

Torak slowed as if he had finished his race
with the foreboding darkness of the forest and left behind the
memory of the masked man. He seemed as happy as me to be in the
golden fields and warm delicious sun.

We rode at a comfortable gallop for a while,
just enjoying the sun and each other’s company. I’d made a friend
for life, and I smiled into the wind. Flocks of starlings swooped
overhead, riding the wind like a horse. A small red squirrel chased
a much larger gray one, but we were going too fast to see the
outcome.

The road was trampled, and even though my
tracking skills were limited, I could tell by the fresh tracks that
my competitors were just a few hours ahead.

I patted Torak’s neck. “See, we’re not too
far now.”

A new sense of confidence and determination
welled inside me.

But my smile soon faded.

Up ahead, a white shape was coming at us
fast. I drew my short sword instinctively and slowed Torak to a
walk. I peered into the brightness of the morning light. A
beautiful white mare came into focus less than a hundred feet away,
and I took a steadying breath when I recognized the rider.

“Isn’t the race that way?” I snapped, and
pointed behind him. I remembered the look of hatred he had given me
a few hours earlier.

Mad Jack pulled his horse to a stop. There
were no traces of anger on his flushed face, but the dark circles
under his eyes showed that he hadn’t slept. His face was still
radiant in the morning light, however, and a sheen of sweat covered
his golden skin where he’d left his tunic unbuttoned. I felt a
flutter in my chest, and I hated that he had that effect on me.

“I came to find you,” he said a little
breathlessly.

He looked mildly surprised to see me, but
real concern shone in his eyes. “I waited for the first light.”

“Why? What the hell do you care?” I kept my
face blank, but my breath had caught in my throat.

His mouth tightened. “Because I realized you
were really
far
behind, and you weren’t catching up to
us…”

He paused like he wasn’t sure if he should
continue.

“I was worried,” he said finally.

His voice was a little strained as if it was
an effort to say such a thing.

“I was worried something had happened to
you. And by the looks of it I was right. It looks like you had a
rough night.” His eyes moved over the dirt, cuts, and dried blood
on my cloak and tunic.

I shrugged it off. “Nothing I couldn’t
handle.”

I had almost died. The masked man had nearly
poisoned me.

“What happened to you?”

The concern in his voice made me want to
trust him and tell him about the assassin, but I couldn’t. I didn’t
know who had sent him or why.

Was Mad Jack really concerned about me? Or
was he only checking to see if I’d been killed?

I just couldn’t trust anyone, especially the
man who had put me here in the first place.

“Fell off my horse a few times,” I lied.

I was surprised how real and true it sounded
from my lips, and how incredibly weak I was making myself out to
be.

“But I’m all right now. Nothing broken as
you can see.”

Mad Jack was silent. His eyes locked onto
mine, and I could see he didn’t believe me.

He nodded. “The others are still camped a
few miles down the road. We can catch up before they leave. Come
on.”

He turned his horse around and urged it
forward.

I wanted to tell him to get lost, to go to
hell, to jump in a lake, and hold his breath. I kicked Torak into a
gallop instead, and we raced after Mad Jack.

We rode side by side in silence. From the
corner of my eye, I caught him staring at me a few times, but I
forced myself to look straight ahead. I wasn’t sure I understood
him. He was bad, dangerous, and a liar, all wrapped up into a
gorgeous package. I couldn’t help but feel empowered whenever he
glanced my way. I wanted to believe that he cared for me, and that
he hadn’t planned on handing me over to the priests, that it had
been a terrible mistake.

But part of me screamed not to let my guard
down, and not to let him creep into my heart. I couldn’t let my
feelings get in the way if I was planning to win.

Although it appeared that he had betrayed
me, a part of my soul hoped somehow that I was wrong.

Finally, we spotted the others. Groups of
men and women were dotted along a small river that weaved through
the fields and out of sight. I could smell the remnants of a fire.
I watched as they gathered up their things, folded their bedrolls,
and tended to their horses as they prepared to leave. None of them
looked even remotely concerned or disturbed that I was here still
alive and still in the race.

And then I noticed that there were a few
black eyes, puffy faces, and bloody noses.

“What happened here?”

I couldn’t see any bodies or serious
injuries, but the marks on their faces and bodies were definitely
signs of a brawl.

Mad Jack watched the campsite with
indifference. “A fight broke out after a few of the men starting
drinking.”

I spotted a tall dark-skinned woman with a
bloody nose and her right eye swollen shut. She smiled at me as I
looked on, and I was glad I wasn’t the only rough diamond of the
opposite sex in here.

“What was the fight about?”

“The usual when you put different clans
together with too much ale,” he said like it was common knowledge.
“Add a race that will shower the winner with gold and glory, and
you’re asking for trouble. This is nothing.”

“Doesn’t look like nothing to me.”

Even from a distance I could see the fury in
their eyes.

His expression hardened. “Soon they’ll be
cutting each other’s throats.”

A shudder went down my spine, but his words
rang true. It was only a matter of time before even those from the
same clans killed each other. There could only be one victor.

I scanned the groups, knowing what I was
looking for, even though I didn’t want to admit it. And I found
him.

Landon was surrounded by a group of men. He
stood straight with his arms folded around his chest. His
expression was hard. They appeared to be in a heated discussion. He
did not look up.

I felt a little deflated.

Serves you right, Elena.

I shouldn’t have been thinking about his
smiling eyes and his soft, warm lips. I should have been focusing
on the fact that he was my opponent.

As we approached the group from the Pit,
every single pair of eyes, including Will’s and Leo’s, shot daggers
at me.

I gasped. They were all directing their
hatred at me.

The blood drained from my face as I looked
away. It hurt. It hurt to be loathed by your own people. I could
read their minds.
Traitor
.

Of course I would be perceived to be a
traitor to them. I was racing as the champion of the temple. I was
representing the very people who forced us to live like animals.
How could I explain why I was doing this without putting myself,
them, and all our families at risk?

My eyes burned, but I wouldn’t let the tears
fall. I sat straighter. I wouldn’t let them see how painful this
was for me. If Mad Jack had seen the reaction from his group, he
never gave any indication. I was sure he did. If I saw them, he saw
them.

It was as clear as the sky was blue—I was
not welcome.

The icy realization that I was alone made me
shudder. The other participants all competed as members of teams.
My friends from the Pit had rejected me, and I didn’t fit in with
the highborn and wealthy Anglians. I was an outcast.

Mad Jack seemed to realize how alienated I
had become, and the look of sadness in his eyes made it all so much
worse.

“We’re about a half a day’s ride away from
the border. The horses are well rested so we’ll be heading out
soon,” he said softly as though he was afraid I’d burst into
tears.

I felt guilty that Torak would not be as
well rested as the other horses. He was loyal to me. He was the
most
deserving
of a good rest and a full belly.

Mad Jack shifted uncomfortably. “I have a
few things to take care of before we leave. You know, the tension
between the groups is just going to get worse. It might be safer
for you to ride with us. Maybe we could—”

“No. I’m not riding with you.”

My voice was harsh, and he stared at me with
his mouth open.

“This
is
a race, right? There is no
we
. And the last I checked, I was in this bloody race
because of
you
. So you’ll understand why the last thing I
need is to be around you. We’re alone in this. All of us. Only
one
of us can get the stone.”

I looked away, not wanting him to bewitch me
to change my mind.