ChapterTwenty-Four
Brienne shivered herself awake in the cold mist of the morning. Thehaarwas so thick she could not see more than a foot or two away from her. Corann shivered his sleep. She felt him and heard him, but he did not wake. Brisbois had given her a potion for him he said would ease the man’s pain, and it held him in sleep’s grasp now. As she tried to pull the blanket over him, the rope around her wrists kept her from doing so.
“Brisbois? Can you untie my hands?”
She peered through the heavy, moving fog and listened for his reply. Nothing. Had he moved away then, called to some duty by Lord Hugh? Then she noticed the unearthly calm that the fog seemed to cause, for she could hear no one and nothing.
Then it came. His war cry split the silence, and her blood surged at the sound.
William was coming for her!
She needed to free herself and help Corann so they were ready when he got to her. Scrambling to her knees, she tried to loosen the knots. Brienne could still not see into the fog, and it seemed to thicken around her.
“Brienne?” a soft voice whispered from a few yards away.
Before she could answer, the attack began, or attacks, for she could hear fighting in three directions. Men rushed through the camp with torches, trying to defend their lord.
“Brienne? Are you here?” It was Aislinn, the girl from Marcus’s people.
“Aye, and Corann,” she whispered back. “I need help getting free. Where is William?”
Aislinn reached her side, cutting through the rope and checking Corann. “We must hurry. His distractions will last but a short time.”
“Aislinn, what are you doing here?” A man joined them then, grabbing the girl and moving her aside. “Does Marcus know?” he asked as he uncovered Corann and knelt next to him.
“He needs me,” she answered back.
A wind began then, whipping the fog into swirling shapes.
“Get him!” Aislinn looked at her. “We must get away now.”
Brienne stood, ready to follow her to William. The man gathered Corann and put him over his shoulder. Standing, with Aislinn helping him to balance Corann, the man pointed in the direction they must go. She’d taken one step when flames of fire came for her. Moving at an incredible speed, the living fire seemed to hop from torch to torch, growing and changing until Lord Hugh stood before her, illuminating the area around her.
Aislinn was exposed, too, so she grabbed for Brienne’s hand when the fire landed at her feet around her. Shocked by Lord Hugh’s ability to move from flame to flame, Brienne screamed out in pain, for she still could not change and knew she would die. Lord Hugh shifted partly to human form, maintaining a burning grip on her. Since she could not overpower him, she watched in horror as he called out more orders to men he clearly had at the ready.
“Brisbois! Take her now!”
Brisbois stepped from the shadows and grabbed Aislinn, wrapping his huge arms around her and tightening his hold until she could not move.
“She is more valuable than the half-dead one,” Lord Hugh said. “My thanks to your warblood for providing me with one of the most powerful priests I have ever encountered.”
Brienne watched helplessly as Brisbois dragged Aislinn along with them. Lord Hugh’s men gathered behind them, protecting them as they mounted their horses and rode to the circle. The sun broke over the horizon as they reached it, and Brienne could see the field where Lord Hugh’s men already were in position to defend. He rode through the line, and they closed behind him. Reaching the lower of two circles, he dropped her to the ground and dismounted.
The same low hum she’d heard as they’d sailed past the castle on the coast was here, too. But it grew louder with every step they took up the hill. And her power flickered within her, too, unable to resist the call of the stones.
Brisbois stared at her as she allowed it to rise through her skin. Lord Hugh shifted to his fiery shape and continued to surround her, controlling her, but as she watched Brisbois, she remembered what he’d done for her. He’d stopped giving her whatever Lord Hugh was adding to the water to keep her powers from answering her command. Mayhap he hoped she would remember her promise to make his death a quick one?
“Is Paulin within the circle?” Lord Hugh called out.
“Aye, my lord,” Eudes replied, grabbing the reins of their horses. He handed a torch to Brisbois.
“Brisbois, take the priest to him. Make certain she reads the signs and is ready when the warblood arrives.” His torturer dragged Aislinn, crossing into the circle and taking her to the altar stone.
“William will not open the gateway for you,” she said. “He will sacrifice himself before he helps you bring . . .HER. . . into this world.”
“Ah, sweet Brienne.” He laughed as he dragged her closer and closer to the stones, which began to glow and hum louder. “He would not do a thing to save himself, but for you and the seer and his father, he would go to hell and back. And that is exactly what I intend for him . . . and you.”
He used little force against her, believing her still compelled by the magical potion he’d been feeding her. Brienne allowed it and did not reveal that her strength and power and ability to change were back and were even stronger because of the stones that seemed to be the source of it. She waited, giving William a chance to save Aislinn before she would take Lord Hugh through the barrier in the heart of the circle and let their fireblood seal it over them.
