Another Artifact. That explained it – and that the dragons were somehow involved.
“What about him?” Darcy gestured to the other man as Jack led him to two sturdy horses, already saddled.
“He lives here and wants to be out of sight as soon as possible. We can talk once we are safely away.”
He needed Jack’s help to mount. All the things he had never thought about needing two hands for! But nothing could lower his spirits now, not his weak arm nor the untrained farm horse, not even the pain in his side with each step or the ache in his bruised face. He was free, and Jack was alive!
He turned the horse to follow his brother to the edge of the field and off into the woods. Or, more accurately, his horse followed its stablemate, since breaking the two-handed rein habit was harder than Darcy had anticipated. Onto a narrow path, up the hill, climbing, climbing. Past switchbacks and streams, cutting across clearings and rock fields.
Questions bubbled up in Darcy’s head as he watched his brother’s familiar riding stance, but there was no chance to talk.
Finally Jack reined in at the top of a steep slope that left the horses breathing hard. “We had best let them rest a bit before we tackle the last part.”
Darcy managed to dismount, although it was more a matter of sliding down the side of the stolid farm horse than anything his riding instructor would recognize. An involuntary grunt escaped him when his feet hit the ground, jarring his rib.
Jack courteously ignored it, instead uncapping a flask and holding it out. “Wine?”
Darcy took a gulp, and then a second. After days of nothing but dried bread and small beer, it tasted rich and luxurious. The warmth of it spread through him.
“Take it all,” Jack said. “You need it far more than I.”
He could not argue that. After he had drained it, he handed it back. “You are a sight for sore eyes, brother.”
Jack laughed. “The same to you, although your eyes look particularly sore! Do you remember when I blacked your eye, that time when you tried to stop me from running away from home?”
Darcy could not help smiling back. “It was unforgettable.”
“And your lynx pounced on me.” Jack snapped his fingers. “Your lynx! I should have known you must be the prisoner. Word is that the soldiers are afraid to leave the village after two of them were mauled by a lynx. Guess he did not like how they were treating you, eh?” He chuckled.
“They deserved it,” Darcy said. “But you – we thought you died at Salamanca. Why have you sent no word?”
Jack’s grin faded. “I wish I could have, but I am a prisoner here. They do not let me communicate with anyone.”
Darcy eyed him with frank disbelief. “A prisoner who rides free on rescue missions?”
Jack shrugged. “I gave them my parole. My word of honor that I would not escape or try to send a message. Would you have me stay locked in a cave always? I would lose my mind.” He sighed. “This is the first time they have allowed me to go so far. I begged for the opportunity.”
“Who? Who is holding you captive?” He had assumed Jack was somehow allied with the Nest, but surely dragons did not take prisoners.
“The dragons, of course. Oh, not in a terrible way; they are gentle captors who treat me as an honored guest. One who simply is not allowed to depart.”
“But why? What did you do?”
“That is the strange thing – they will not tell me. Only that they must keep me. They are very apologetic about it.”
It made no sense. “How did you escape from Salamanca?”
Jack uttered a short bark of laughter. “The last thing I remember was lining up for the battle, ready to fight, and then I awoke here.”
“Did you take an injury to your head, then?” That could explain his loss of memory.
“Not that I am aware of. The first thing I recall was being in the Nest here, with my heart pounding and naked as the day I was born. Not a scratch on me apart from a nick from shaving that morning. Halfway across Spain and most of France in an instant, though I did not know it at the time. And dragons everywhere.”
They must have sent him through a Gate. Why could he not remember? Dragons had the ability to take memories away, but was there any reason they would do it to Jack? His tired brain could make no sense of it. “Sounds terrifying. It is hard enough to discover dragons are real without all of that.”
“Oh, I already knew about them. I met a dragon once at Pemberley. He asked me if I wanted to be a dragon companion, something about having spilled my blood on the old Dragon Stones, but then he found out I wanted to be a soldier and said it could not work. The worst part was the binding, that I could tell no one.”
Darcy could sympathize with that. “I had no idea. Well, thank God you are alive.”
