Steel Maiden (17 page)

“Beauty and brains. A dangerous combination.
Is there anything you
can’t
do?” His eyes sparkled
mischievously.

“I don’t know, to be honest.”

I laughed softly, shocked at my own
forwardness. “I haven’t discovered anything yet.”

He laughed hard, and then watched me for a
moment, drinking me in slowly with his eyes. “You are a remarkable
woman, Elena. No doubt with many more
secrets
.”

I was complimented that he remembered my
name, but it was the way he emphasized the word
secrets
that
had me twitching on the inside.

I tried to look composed. “So everyone will
camp here for the night, then?”

He watched me for a moment longer. “For the
most part, yes.”

The camps that were set up already
surrounded small fires, and everyone’s expression was rather
gloomy. No one was smiling. Did they feel the evil that I felt
coming from the bogs?

“So, what part of Anglia are you from,” I
asked and then regretted it, the second the words left my big
mouth. This was becoming way too personal.

He didn’t answer right away, and I thought
he was about to lie. But when he did finally answer there was no
lie in his eyes.

“Erast,” he said finally. “Just south of
Soul City.”

He looked at me sharply and said, “From your
accent, you’re definitely from Anglia. And if I had to guess, I’d
say you were from the Pit.”

He watched me with eyebrows raised.

“I am.” There was no point in lying, but I
furrowed my brows in frustration.

“A woman from the Pit riding for the
priests,” he said perceptively. “Odd. Don’t you think? I’d have
never believed it if it weren’t for Torak here and the temple’s
emblem. I hate to ask, but are you one of their concubines?”

“The hell I am,” I shouted, surprising us
both. Did he think I was some sex pet? My anger rose to match my
voice.

Landon lifted up his hands in surrender, but
he was smiling.

“I don’t mean to offend you. It’s just…” he
paused and his smile vanished, “it’s just very unusual for a woman
from the Pit to have such vivacity of spirit. You are clearly
not
in a sexual liaison with the priests, and yet you are
riding
for
them.”

Of course he’d think I was in league with
the priests. I was traveling on a warhorse clad in the finest
saddle blankets and emblazoned with the emblem of the temple. It
made me want to vomit. But it was quite plain from the expectant
look on his face that he was anticipating an answer. Why was he so
interested in me? What was in it for him? I had the feeling he
would keep on asking until I told him.

I couldn’t tell him that the high priest had
forbidden me from speaking, and that I was being blackmailed.
Perhaps it would be better to avoid him after all.

Finally I answered, “I race for the priests,
and that’s all there is to it.”

He hid his disappointment with a casual
smile.

“Of course, and I apologize for being so
impertinent and forward. I’m just very intrigued by you.”

I caught his eyes staring at my chest. So
that was what he had wanted. He had thought I was a concubine.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t upset. I felt rather flattered that someone
of his status would even consider bedding someone like me, a skinny
woman from the Pit.

I sat straighter in my saddle. I turned my
attention back to Landon and dared to look at him, really look at
him. He was tall, a few inches taller than Mad Jack, and while Mad
Jack was dark and mysterious, Landon was light and airy. His
forearm was three times the size of mine, and I could see that he
was well muscled under his tunic. Nobleman or not, he’d had to
train hard to acquire muscles like that. It appeared as though the
nobleman had secrets as well.

Landon gave Torak a last pat and stepped
away.

“You’re welcome to join me and my friends at
our camp. There’s a warm fire going already, and we have some nice
sweet wine from my family’s vineyard.”

Wine, the drink of the rich. I’d had it
before on a few occasions, but very rarely. I’d preferred it to the
bitter taste of ale, but I couldn’t afford it. I couldn’t even
afford a glass, let alone a bottle of the stuff.

I didn’t understand why he was being so kind
to me. I was poor. He was rich. We were from entirely different
worlds, and we were competing against each other in a race…

“We’re just over there,” he waved his hand
towards the beach.

I followed where he pointed. The group from
Anglia was sitting around a small fire, although I wasn’t sure a
fire could warm the chill I felt at the back of my neck. I
recognized some faces from Soul City on the day of the race. A
beautiful young woman with long blonde hair caught my eye, not
because of her delicate features, but because she was shooting
daggers at me with her icy blue eyes.

I doubted that anyone from the Pit would’ve
invited me to join their camp so openly. Landon was different from
the others. It was as plain as the smile on his face. When he spoke
his eyes were honest, and I didn’t suspect a lie in anything he’d
said so far. There was a quality and a natural grace about him. He
was a true gentleman.

I saw that the young woman knew it, too. She
wasn’t about to let him go, and she was definitely not ready to
share.

I smiled. “That’s very kind of you, but I
think I’ll just stay on my own. I’m more of a lone creature anyway.
Gives me time to think.”

“Ah, ha,” he said.” So you’re a great
thinker? I thought I saw that spark in your eyes.”

His smile grew. “Well, if you change your
mind, you’re most welcome to join us.”

He walked away, and I didn’t stare at him
long enough to make my feelings known.

When I looked back at his camp, there she
was. The blonde was eyeing me with hatred. But as soon as Landon
neared the camp, her face brightened, and she looked even more
beautiful. She took his arm in hers, pulled him close, and
whispered in his ear. They looked perfect together, a lady with her
knight. I couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. She looked back
at me triumphantly. For half a second I thought she was about to
stick out her tongue at me.

I sighed. I didn’t have time for games. I
was tired, and I didn’t have the energy to chase someone else’s
lover. She couldn’t have been more than twenty and really was
stunning. The way she stood, by itself, told me she was from a
wealthy family, too. She was a lady in riding clothes. Her cloak
moved, and I noticed the sword tied to her waist. I thought she
looked too delicate to be in this kind of race, but looks could be
deceiving.

I dismounted and stretched. I steered Torak
in the opposite direction from the Anglians on the beach, passing
the other groups on my way. Mad Jack stood up as I wandered past,
but I didn’t meet his eyes. I didn’t feel like chatting at the
moment, especially not with him. Just the thought of him made me
quiver with anger.

Most of the other horses were tied up in
clusters on a nice stretch of grass above the sand dunes. A stream
trickled down between the great boulders on the other side of the
little field and provided the horses with the fresh water they
needed.

I moved carefully around the other horses
and led Torak under a tree near the widest part of the small stream
at the far edge of the clearing. I looped the reins in a loose knot
around a thick branch. After I had unpacked my saddlebag and my
bedroll, I emptied most of my provisions from Torak to lessen his
load. I settled down next to a patch of shrubbery.

I didn’t have the energy to make a fire, so
I settled for some stale bread and cheese. The bread could have
been moister, but I was used to it. The goat cheese was divine.

The priests would have eaten like kings, no
doubt. Wine would have been perfect with my small supper. I took a
sip of water from my canteen and finished it. I couldn’t leave it
empty, so I got up and filled it at a clean and fast moving part of
the small stream. When I was done, I sat back down. I was the
farthest one away from the bogs, not the best spot from which to
restart the race, strategically speaking, but it gave me a good
view of everyone else.

They were all friends. They passed their
food and drink around without speaking, like family. But it was
clear that they were all warriors, too, even the women, even that
delicate Anglian blonde.

I watched them and planned.

The boisterous and loud Girmanians were
physically the biggest. They would obviously be ones to watch out
for, if and when they decided to take a hit at me. They feared
nothing, and they wanted everyone else to know.

The Anglians were more subtle. They smiled
and laughed, but they were more controlled than the Girmanians.
Every now and again, I could see Anglian men spying on the other
groups and then huddling with Landon to discuss whatever they had
discovered.

My heart raced whenever I saw Landon. His
arms were crossed over his chest, and he was staring at a piece of
parchment that was obviously a map. Everyone was trying to figure
out a way to cross the bogs.

I felt the tension in the air as much as I
felt the evil that lingered in the mist. No one appeared to be
taking any chances.

I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the
Fransians. It appeared that they, too, had brought some wine or
some hard drink on their journey. They danced around their fire,
singing songs in Fransian, and their faces were red with drink.
They would probably miss tomorrow’s early start.

The Romilians were roasting some animal over
their fire. Even from where I was, my mouth watered at the divine
smell of spices and roasting meat. They gestured with their hands a
lot when they spoke, and they were just as loud as the Girmanians.
I knew they must have been skilled hunters because none of the
other groups had been successful killing any game. The Romilians’
hunting skills would give them an advantage in the race.

The Espanians were restless. They paced back
and forth on the other side of the bogs. They thrust their weapons
into the swamp to test the depth of the waters, looking for an
advantage at tomorrow’s start.

But I didn’t know where the Purtulese fit.
They were the quietest of all the groups and seemed to be watching
everyone else, just like I was. It would be strategy over strength
with them. I would have to watch out for the Purtulese. There was
something unsettling about their behavior. It was almost as though
they were planning something.

Mad Jack and his crew from the Pit would
probably be prepared to commit murder to get their hands on the
stone. A handsome prize wasn’t something he’d give up easily. I
would definitely have to watch my back around everyone from the
Pit. It was clear they hated me and wouldn’t think twice about
cutting off my head.

The man I had seen before, with the temple
trinket around his neck, was making a circular impression in the
sand around their camp. It was either to protect them from the
witches he’d insulted earlier or from whatever evil lurked in the
bogs. I might have done the same if I’d had a pendant like his,
anything to repel the evil that lingered so close in the air.

As the evening sun started to set, the
voices grew louder, and I smelled ale. I was still uneasy about the
hatred that they all seemed to show for witches. I had magic, too.
Did that make me a witch? Or was I something entirely
different?

The high priest had said that I was more
than just a witch. So what then? I wasn’t schooled in magic, and
magic was a taboo subject anyway, so I really didn’t have much to
go on. I never really believed in magic until I saw it with my own
eyes. I saw the golden light that healed my fatal wound. I didn’t
know why I could heal and others couldn’t. My magic had frightened
me when I first felt my skin healing. But I wasn’t afraid anymore.
It was part of who I was. And it was the only thing I could use to
my advantage in this race. While they had strength in numbers, I
could heal from a fatal wound. Maybe my magic could do even more, I
didn’t know.

I relaxed and let my thoughts wander about
the rest of the race. I leaned back against the bushes and noticed
that the shadows around me seemed longer than usual.

That’s weird. It’s not even late in the
evening yet.

The sky was thick with gray clouds that
covered the sun and turned the sky into night prematurely.

And then darkness fell.

CHAPTER 17

T
ORAK
SQUEALED, A
HIGH-PITCHED, ear-piercing scream, and
I jumped to my
feet.

He was stiff and twitching. The whites of
his eyes shone in the semi-darkness. He rose up on his hind legs
and squealed louder. The other horses shifted nervously, too, and
looked like they were about to bolt.