Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Shall we continue our scouting in the woods, My Lord?” Slechtic squeaked up. More than one Tenky had an apprehensive look on their face.

Will shook his head. “I would rather you not. Now that we know it is capable of infecting others it would be too dangerous to be on the forest floor where the worms lurk. Did you ever find your missing member?”

A dark shadow fell on the Tenky lord’s brow and he shook his head. “No, My Lord. He’s still missing.”

“All the more important that you should bring the rest of your people together and use the eagle to search,” Will insisted.

Sir Slechtic saluted him. “Very well then! We will return to the eagle and search from the sky!” He turned to his followers and pointed at the driveway. “To the road and the eagle, men!” The Tenky were only too happy to obey and they drove off to reconnoiter with the bird.

“You fear the lost Tenky and others may fall under the spell of this shadow?” Ware guessed.

Will nodded. “I do.”

“Then what about Blake and Saber?” Enna spoke up as she jerked her head over her shoulder in the direction of the woods. “They’re still out there looking for that girl.”

“Can you reach them in some way to warn them of this new danger?” Will inquired.

She squinted up at the sky. “Not until night. I can send up a signal then that would be bright enough for them to see for miles.”

“What if I were to send up a flare with my magic?” Will offered.

She shrugged. “It might get their attention or they’ll just think you’re playing around. Either way, it’s worth a try.”

Will lifted his hand and a huge column of fire burst upward. Ware and Vargas gawked at the display as the fire grew in height until it seemed to touch the heavens. Will closed his hand and the column shattered, sending whistling sparks in all directions. The embers died out before they struck the forest canopy.

“What power!” Vargas murmured.

Ware nodded. “The like I have not seen in many years.” His curious eyes fell on me. “Perhaps it has something to do with his close connection to his unique mate.”

“Unique?” Enna repeated with a raised eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“It means you need to protect her all the more for it,” Will reminded her as he lowered his arm and turned to my bodyguard.

Enna scoffed. “I’d protect her if she was the least important person in the world. After all, I made a promise and I intend to earn that bag you gave me.”

“Are you coming inside or not?” Ware called from the doorway.

We only too gladly joined him inside but the mood was stifling. I felt like a prisoner trapped in those walls with others who were equally uncomfortable. The shadow of the threat hung heavy over our group as Raines shut the door behind the last of us.

Allard came down from upstairs with a grim expression on his face. My heart dropped into my stomach but he offered me a faint smile. “I assure you our ‘friend’ is in no danger of dying.”

“Then what is the matter?” Ware questioned him. “Are there lingering side-effects to his strange possession?”

“Only amnesia and severe exhaustion, but that is enough to make one’s heart heavy for the victim,” Allard replied.

Will swept his eyes over the company. “We need to check that all the windows and doors are shut and locked and that no one is left alone.”

“That is a task we can all do together,” Vargas spoke up.

We went about our task with not so much enthusiasm as a grim determination not to let our security slip. Every nook and cranny was checked and every door and window secured.

The bright sunny day descended into night and the threatening shadows stretched through the windows and into the house.

Will lit the wood in the hearths and especially the one in the parlor where we all sat. Ware wrinkled his nose. “Why are you doing that? The night is not a cold one.”

“Each chimney is an entrance for our foes,” Will pointed out as he stepped back to admire his work. “Fortunately, they don’t appear to like my fire any more than the average monster.”

Vargas wrapped her arms around herself and cast a suspicious glare at the windows that looked out on the dark lawn. “How long will we be forced to seek refuge within these walls?”

“At least until the new day dawns and we will be able to see our foes,” Will commented as he tossed a log onto the fire.

Vargas hopped to her feet and lifted her chin. “If that is true then I will take my bath and bid you all a good night.”

“Allow me to accompany you,” Ware offered as he stood.

Vargas’ eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. A faint blush accented her cheeks as her body trembled. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

Ware stared blankly at her for a moment before the double entendre in his words dawned on him. His face then resembled a tomato and his mouth flopped open. “T-that is, I meant only to accompany you-” He froze as his words devolved into the same dual meaning. Ware gathered himself and cleared his throat though his cheeks still reminded a viewer of Christmas baubles. “I am offering to accompany you upstairs so you will not be alone up there.”

Vargas lifted her chin. “D-do whatever you wish. I am taking my bath.”

“I will prepare the water,” Raines offered before he slipped out of the room to fulfill his household duty.

I turned to Will. “Is the fire in our room ready?”

He nodded. “And the bed is made, if you’re feeling sleepy.”

I stretched my arms above my head and stifled a yawn. “I think I could use a little rest but aren’t you coming?”

Will’s gaze fell upon the crackling fire and a pensive expression slipped into his eyes. “I will remain awake for the first watch.”

I frowned and clapped a hand over the arm of the couch on which I sat. “Then I’ll stay with you.”

“I will remain with Lord Thorn,” Allard offered as his twinkling eyes settled on Enna. “Your lovely companion and you may go upstairs and get some rest. We will call you when your guard hour comes up.”

I cast a suspicious look at Will. “You really will?”

“Don’t you trust me?” he teased.

I snorted. “I trust you to leave me to sleep the whole night.”

Enna rolled her eyes. “If it’s that important to you then I’ll wake you up at midnight, now are you going to bed or not?”

“Bed,” I assured her as I stood. I grasped Will’s arms and stood on my tiptoes to peck a kiss on his lips. “I’ll see you later.”

I walked upstairs with my own personal shadow dogging my steps. Enna looked bored as I opened the bedroom door and held it for her. She sauntered into the room and looked the place over with a satisfied nod.

“Not bad,” she mused as she strolled over to the lit hearth. She draped her arm over the mantel and stood so she faced the whole room. “But not as fancy as I expected.”

I laughed as I took a seat on the bed. “What did you expect?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess more pictures of himself and a bed made of gold. He has enough money to do that.”

The corners of my lips twitched upward. “Did you see his money when you tried to steal it?”

“I did steal it,” she corrected me as she scratched at a loose splinter in the wood with the tip of one finger.

I lifted an eyebrow. “But I thought you got caught in one of his traps.”

“I did but I got far enough to scoop up a handful before he found me there.”

“There?” I repeated.

She stopped her picking and rolled her eyes. “Hanging there. He put down a leg trap around the biggest chest and I stepped in it.” I couldn’t suppress a snort. Enna whipped her head about to face me and glared. “What’s so funny?”

I clamped my mouth shut and furiously shook my head. “Nothing. I was just. . .just imagining you-” I burst into laughter at the image of the stoic Enna hanging upside down with her face turning as red as a cherry.

Much like what it was doing as I continued to laugh. “It’s not funny!” she snapped as she pounded her fist against the mantel.

I got a hold of myself and wiped away the tears in my eyes with the back of one finger. “I’m sorry. I guess I just needed that laugh.”

Enna lifted her nose and turned her attention back to the fire. “Yeah, well, I’m glad somebody can laugh right now.”

There was a bitter tension in her voice that killed the rest of my humor. She looked worried. “Are you thinking about those two guys?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “Maybe I am. Those idiots would step in a lake if somebody didn’t warn them it was there.”

“But you trusted them enough to go searching for the girl,” I pointed out.

She heaved a great sigh. “Yeah, but I didn’t know they’d have some sort of monster running around turning people into black glop.”

That’s when I heard a soft rapping noise. Enna pushed off from the mantel and frowned. “What was that?”

I stood and shook my head. “I don’t-” Then I saw it. One of the Tenky stood outside the window atop their strange nut bike. The tyke rapped their small fist against the glass.

Enna wrinkled her nose at the creature. “What’s a Tenky doing here?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the missing one.”

I moved over to the window to open the glass. Enna let out a sharp gasp and lunged forward. She grabbed my wrist just as I was about to lift the latch. “Wait!”

Enna had hardly shouted the word when the Tenky threw itself at the glass. It slammed its body and that of the walnut roughly against the window, so much so that a tiny crack appeared at the point of impact.

“Get back!” Enna shouted as she pushed me behind her.