Chapter 26

KNOX HEARD THE CRASHINGin the underbrush, and his heart raced. He turned Ryder deeper into the forest, going northeast toward Hartsgrove.

"What are the eagles?" she gasped, looking over their shoulder.

He grunted, "They"re big enough to cart off a horse."

And princesses. He clenched his jaw and pulled her back against his chest as he wove Ryder back and forth around trees, no path in sight.

He had to get them to safety but still avoid the beast. Assassin vines descended from the trees ahead, and he cursed. He took his axe from its strap on Ryder"s side, swinging deftly as they tried to grab both of them out of the saddle.

They"d reached the part of the forest where his magic didn"t work.

Eirwyn gripped the horse"s mane and held on for dear life as he tried to protect her. A whoosh sounded overhead, and he ducked to the left barely avoiding a crash with a tree.

He looked back to see a giant talon jerking out of the vines, but they wouldn"t give up that easily. They turned and went deeper into the forest, and he breathed easier as the plants and giant bird battled each other.

Eirwyn looked around his shoulder, her voice gasping. "Did we make it?"

He grunted and pointed his axe. "Yeah, but the fly traps are ahead. Do you still have that little stiletto dagger of Scarlet"s?"

She nodded, pulling it out from her sleeve. "Yes, but I"m not sure I can do this."

He gave her a quick hug from behind. "Of course you can. I believe in you. You killed the adder, right? And got us out of the spider swarm. Here the fly traps come. Can you take our left flank, and I"ll take the right? Aim for the stalk, not the head with all the teeth. Sever it if you can."

She nodded, her body rigid as she scanned the area around them and took a deep breath. "Don"t you have more of the glowing sticks? Do they work on fly traps?"

He shook his head. "No, they don"t. It just works on insects, not plants or wildlife."

She shivered as the giant fly traps rose in front of them, half as tall as the trees. He wrapped his left arm around her waist in front of him. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "You"re doing so good, princess. Keep fighting."

She shivered again and leaned back, twisting her neck and nuzzling into his neck. He barely dipped his head and hugged her tight when the ground began to slope slightly downward. He could feel her fear, but he couldn"t–no, he wouldn"t–let anything happen to her.

He pulled back, tightening on the reins.

They were going in the right direction and almost to there. The first fly trap latched onto her leg like a dog. He tensed, ready to turn to cut it and free her. But she sliced it off under the head, and it rolled to the forest floor.

He grunted approvingly and turned back to the right, swinging his axe repeatedly. He felt one bite his left boot, but she shifted in the saddle, swiped, and it fell off with a thud.

The axe split the hard stalks relentlessly. He wrenched it from the side of the head of one with just enough time to strike at another. Over and over, the axe became an extension of his arm, and he lost himself in the battle.

Thankfully Ryder barreled ahead, used to the terrors of the forest, and they eventually made it to the other side. As the last of the fly traps fell away, he panted and looked around, petting Ryder"s side

"Good boy," he murmured.

Eirwyn panted. "Good boy? What about me?"

He chuckled and kissed her hair. "Good girl, princess. You fought like a true warrior."

She sighed and leaned back against him. He wrapped her in his arms and reached for his wayfinder, turning Ryder to circle the ever descending basin.

She wiped the juice from the fly traps off on her cloak and took a deep breath. "What"s next? Is there any break in all this, or is it this constant battle into the center the entire way?"

He showed her the wayfinder. "The helroses are next, then there is an abandon ruin where we can stop for a few hours rest. It"s haunted, so I"m not sure how safe it is, but it should be better than the forest."

Her lips thinned and then she sighed. "Great. That"s just what we need. Ghosts."

He grinned and felt her ass pressed against his groin. His hunger for her had only grown since he"d been with her yesterday. He"d woken up this morning with a huge hard on, but there had been no time to remedy it. The movement of the ride and pressure from her body was growing increasingly difficult.

Now that it was fully light, she"d thrown her hood back. He leaned forward and kissed under her ear, feeling her shudder and whimper as he whispered, "It could be worse."

He pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arm up to cup her breast. "I didn"t get to play with these earlier, but next time..."

He trailed off as she moaned and arched her back. Some flying creatures swooped down toward them, and she waved a hand in annoyance.

"Shoo," she said, and the bats flew away. He blinked, sitting up and looking around. Now wasn"t the time to be fooling around. They had to stay alert.

He let his hand drop but it fell against her pussy, making her gasp, so he pressed his fingers to her clit then moved his hand to her thigh.

He cleared his throat. "So you shooed away bats. The owl warned you of danger. But the giant eagle hunted you anyway?"

She shrugged. "Most flying creatures like me, but I felt nothing from that giant eagle. I"m not sure why not. I"ve always assumed it was something to do with being drakin. I can feel things from them."

He nodded. "That"s pretty convenient."

"The birds and the shadows help me sneak in and out of the palace."

"Tell me about your escapades, and I"ll tell you about mine," he said, kissing under her ear again.

She chuckled, relaxing slightly against him as she explained how she would escape the palace through the cellar and entertain the tavern folk. He handed her some jerky to eat when she finished.

He was just beginning to tell her about the time he took down a rogue lion when the helroses appeared in front of them. A solid wall of thorny rose bushes stopped them in their tracks. They went about ten feet high and choked out the trees.

She leaned forward as if peering into the bushes, but said, "I can"t see a thing."

He glanced down at the wayfinder, the faint moonlight barely helping. "If the map is accurate, it"s only a hundred feet thick."

She snorted. "Only. How do we get through?"

He turned the horse and lifted his axe, slicing down and cutting neatly through several vines. Immediately they vines regenerated, producing two more for each one severed along with making the thorns lengthen.

Ryder danced back away from the growing wall of bushes. After a few seconds, it stopped.

Knox rubbed his hand on the back of his neck as he thought. Finally he sighed and pulled a glow stick from his back.

Eirwyn watched him and said, "I thought those wouldn"t work on plants?"

He nodded, his lips pursed. "Regular glow sticks won"t. This one is a flame blade. It"ll keep the fire to only what it touches, that way the fire won"t spread into the forest."

"So it"s relatively safe?"

He nodded. "But the problem is it"s only supposed to last a few minutes."

"Supposed to? Haven"t you tried it before?"

He shook his head. "No, it"s a prototype. But it has to work well enough, or the dwarves wouldn"t have sold it to me."

He took a deep breath. "If we get trapped inside the helroses–"

"We"ll figure it out as we go," she smiled tightly at him, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. He blinked in surprise, forcing himself to stay still and not turn his head to meet her lips.

She finally leaned back, and she smiled.

He blinked down at her. "What was that for?"

She smiled. "For luck."

His chest swelled with pride to know that he"d made her happy. Another part of him swelled to think of her soft lips on something other than his cheek.

She turned back to face the hedge, and he clenched his jaw in determination. He clicked the small gem on the side and the large gem on the top produced a small, thin blade of fire the size of a full-length sword.

He took the reins and turned the horse, swinging the blade and cutting neatly through the hedge. The vines and thorns sizzled as they were severed, but they didn"t grow back. He hacked with a fury, fighting against time more than the vines, and nudged the horse into the hedge.

He was a lumberjack. He was used to working days at a time to fell timber, hauling whole logs by hand, stripping the bark and dragging wagons to the edge of the forest to sell.

Yet all too soon even his arms started to shake. He glanced back, the end of the now tunnel of roses showing him the starting point. The blade began to flicker, and he redoubled his efforts.

He swung in savage fury, cutting a path through with his blade. He grunted with every swing, and the blade began to flicker again. He slid off the back of the horse and went around to lead them, swinging with a ferocity that wouldn"t stop. Couldn"t stop.

If they got stuck in the helroses, Eirwyn would die, and he couldn"t let that happen.

His muscles burned. Sweat dripped into his eyes. And still he kept chopping at the blasted helroses. The cloyingly sweet scent of roses threatened his nose, making him sneeze.

It was like the roses were alive and attuned to his weakness. The scent hit him again, and he sneezed and swung even as the blade flickered. He felt Eirwyn"s hand on his back, and she slid her hand down his arm to the blade.

"Let me," she said softly.

He showed her the blade with shaking hands. "Keep the gem pressed down. Don"t let until we"re through."

She nodded, biting her lip as she took the flame blade and began to hack and chip away at the helroses. The scent gave a haze to the air as he grabbed Ryder"s reins and pulled him behind Eirwyn.

He covered his nose with his elbow, trying to keep from breathing in the too sweet smell. It didn"t seem to bother her though as she didn"t sneeze even once. She swung in an arc, her small frame belying her strength.

He"d thought she was delicate before, but she was no wilting long-lost princess. She was Eirwyn, his drakin warrior who refused to back down in the face of danger. She pressed forward, never giving up, and a small part of him felt guilty.

He"d given up on his foolish quest to break the curse long ago. If their places had been reversed, Eirwyn wouldn"t have given up. She would"ve figured it out long before now. He wanted to be worthy of her, but she was a damn princess.

He"d never be worthy of her.

But maybe he could try. His eyes refocused as he peered in front of them. The roses were thinning out.

She grunted and swung, finally breaking free as the flame flickered and died. They had to squeeze Ryder through the end, but they finally made it.

She leaned on her knees, panting from the effort like she"d run a marathon. He held his axe, prepared to defend them if something else jumped out.

He looked at the overgrown rows of flowers. There were barely discernible paths through them. One led to a gazebo, one led to a bench under a tree. Another led to a group of small wooden buildings that were almost too dangerous to go into. They looked like they would fall down at any moment.

He straightened with a frown.

"What the hells is this?"

She stood and shook her hair behind her, the thin braids looking like a halo as the sunlight landed on her head. He looked back around them, as she said, "I think we"re in a garden."

Yet another path, the one they were closest to let to a sprawling castle. He"d never seen one up close before. He"d only seen the one in Demerel when he"d escorted Eirwyn to the front steps.

This mansion rivaled the palace in style but was on a smaller scale than the one in Demerel. Narrower but perhaps taller. He craned his neck. Its peaks swirled into the afternoon sky. He saw clouds circling the spires, and some of them he couldn"t even see the tops.

"Dear gods, it goes up to the heavens," Eirwyn said in awe. If she was awed–someone who"d grown up in the palace–he knew it was something to behold.

"Is this the ruins on the map?" she asked.

He pulled out the wayfinder and checked, then looked back up. "Yes, it is. It doesn"t look to be too ruined, though."

She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Right, let"s find a safe place for the night." And off she strode toward the mansion.

He smiled and dropped Ryder"s reins as he began to munch on the tall grass by the hedge. He followed her through the overgrown path. She had cried that first night when she"d been kidnapped by Scarlet, but since then, she"d grown stronger. Had it really only been a week ago that he"d met her?

He shook his head, hoping she was right about the safe place. He wanted more time with her. More time to talk with her, hear her hopes and dreams and stories. And maybe even her cries of passion.

This haunted mansion might not be so bad after all.