Return of the Danu Read online

  “I would prefer to choose my own mount and ride without assistance,” she said, eying the hand Ansgar held out to her from his perch on his Frendi. The size of them was daunting when they were on the other side of the garden wall from her. Standing beside them they were massive, and probably struck fear in the hearts of villagers and soldiers alike at a full run. Either of them could squash her small person like a bug. Together they would probably not even feel the bump. It was a good thing she was not afraid of either beast.

  “I did not think Danu usually rode. My brothers mate does but she was not raised Danu, how is it that you ride?”

  “I have always liked horses,” she explained carefully. “The wild ones of the Green were my friends from a young child. You are correct that most Danu do not ride, preferring the safety and speed of traveling the trees. As far as I know I am the only one, and as you said the queen. But I ride very well and would like to do so on this trip.”

  He raised a brow at that. But left his hand where it was and said nothing more. Stubborn Barbarian, she thought irked.

  Then she sighed. The day had already been a long one and the noon day sun was barely upon the sky. To continue arguing with the barbarian would gain her nothing but wasted time. “Do you at least have a good reason why I cannot ride my own mount?” If this was just a continuation of his heavy-handed seduction, she would string him up in the first tree she could find. “Besides your erroneous belief that I cannot ride?”

  “It is safer if you ride with me.” He finally deigned to answer her. “And childhood friends aside, we will be moving fast through harsh terrain, and I do not have time to test the degree of your abilities now. Nor do I need a mediocre rider slowing us down or falling off her horse at the first bramble bush.”

  Elena set her teeth. In her family she was considered the easy going one, but Ansgar the Bloody knew exactly what buttons to push to drive her to anger. That she could see he was not trying to give offense, but brutal honesty was almost worse. She shook off the tension climbing into her neck. She would prefer to ride her own mount on trek to the first area under consideration, but Ansgar had made it clear she road with him or not at all. Later she would take the time to show him exactly how well she rode, but for now. She took the proffered hand and was immediately hauled up and deposited in front of the barbarian. Just as quickly she wished she had continued arguing. Being so close, sitting basically in his lap, with his arms wrapped around her, and her back pressed against the heat of his nearly naked chest, the scent and heat of him bombarding her was …distracting, to say the least. She opened her mouth to say she changed her mind and she was not going anywhere without a mount of her own, when the horse started moving, and her jaw snapped closed with the first lunge of the Frendi’s movement.

  “Tell me what you know of this Western Area your queen would have us claim for a farming city. It was our understanding that the North Western land was inhospitable and the terrain rocky and impassable.”

  Elena grabbed onto the distraction his words presented with welcome relief. Sitting in his arms as the horse moved them together was too much. She forced her mind clear and concentrated on his words. Ignoring the husky dark quality of his voice that told her as much as the hard feel of him, that she was not the only one affected.

  “I can tell you first that it would not have been the Queen who proposed the land, but Betrice. She has a gift for the soil that is rare even among the Danu. If she says the land we are going to see is the best sight for both a city and a farming community than you would do well to listen. Even among the Danu she is gifted.”

  “I was led to believe that there were only a few survivors left and that all of them, besides yourself and your brother were children.”

  “After Quain and I, Betrice is the next oldest at seventeen winters. So you need not get that tone of voice thinking we have somehow tricked you barbarian.”

  He was quiet so long she wondered if he was done talking, but he spoke again, and she could hear the incredulity in his voice. “You have a child picking out the locations for our future cities?”

  Elena rolled her eyes but kept her voice mild enough despite his prickly attitude, which she was fast getting used to. “You need not take that tone either. You could at least wait until you see the area before you judge us so harshly. When I tell you Betrice is gifted, I am not exaggerating. Even among the Danu we can see her worth. And remember the whole point of this joint venture is for all to agree to the proposed land. That means that if it does not meet with your approval, we move on to another one. But I will warn you barbarian, I would not dismiss anything Betrice tells you as the words of a child. She was seven when we escaped the great fire, and it was at that age she led us to the first safe home we found. Untouched by man or fire, it remains to this day safe and welcoming for the Danu.

  My brother might have led us to safety, but it was Betrice who found us a home. She will do no less for the new cities, especially the first one, where she and the rest of the Danu will be living and working besides the settlers to guarantee good harvests for your people. And the end of war for ours.”

  “Quain led you to safety?” His mild words were so without inflection It gave Elena pause.

  She thought about her answer and then spoke carefully, aware that she had his full attention and wanting him to understand her brother was not only the hot head that he had seen. “Where Betrice has a gift for the soil, Quain can find a rabbits trail over cold stone. He was fifteen when he led us out of the fire, I do not think any of us would have survived without him.” She closed her eyes and tried to bite back the shudder as the memories of blood and fire threatened to take her. “We would have all perished in that fire but for him.”

  “Is that how he managed to get over the wall and through the city, his tracking abilities?”

  “Something like that,” she answered vaguely.

  “So, Katrine can control the weather, and is connected to the growing things in the Green, and this Betrice child can what, talk to the soil and know where the richest growing will happen?” He went on before she could speak. “And your brother is a tracker of some kind that can lead you out of danger. But what about Elena?” he asked mildly, and she felt his breath against the side of her neck and knew he had ducked his head and was scenting her hair. A flash of heat followed the warmth if his voice like a caress. She sucked in a breath and knew he heard it and understood what it meant when he leaned a little forward and she felt his lips smile against her sensitive neck.

  She sat up straighter, knocking him back. “I told you already about the horses, I have always had an affinity to animals. If I had not been chosen already to accompany you, I would have probably been sent with Quain to lead you anyway. The Western wilds are some of the most dangerous weaves to enter. You were not misinformed about that, which is why we are a small force of four, rather than the battalion you wanted. I can guarantee the safety of this many, but no more.”

  She felt a sudden stillness at her back before he spoke. The heat had all but leached from his voice, and cold suspicion took its place. “And how did you know I wanted to take a battalion?”

  Elena could have smacked herself. So much for being a super spy among the barbarians. She fought the need to clear her throat and spoke neutrally. Thinking as quickly as she could, which unfortunately was not quick enough in this instance. “You are Ansgar the Bloody, the holder of Horth, and hater of all things magic. You would have wanted to take your whole army if you could get away with it.”

  “You did not say the whole army, you said a battalion, which was a conversation I had in private with the King. How is it that you know the particulars?”

  She was quiet too long trying to decide the best response when he spoke again. “Can the Danu read minds?”

  She nearly sagged in her relief. He might be suspicious of her, but at least he was still just throwing out wild guesses. “Of course not,” she scoffed. Though considering her own gifts he was not that far off. “
I think you are letting your hate and suspicion color your thoughts again warrior.”

  This time the quiet was long and fraught with tension. Gradually he relaxed though and huffed into her hair again. “I suppose that is not your secret after all,” he finally said with some amusement returned to his voice. “If you could read my mind you would have reacted to what I was thinking just then, and no doubt slapped my face in innocent horror.” That had her blinking. And she tried very hard not to ask, but eventually the curiosity got the better of her.

  “What exactly were you thinking?” she tried to keep her voice casual but when he chuckled in that deep satisfied way of his, she knew she had failed. She gritted her teeth. “Never mind, I don’t think I want to know.”

  He nipped her sensitive ear lobe with sharp teeth, and she could swear all the blood in her body heated at the feel of it. She bit back her gasp of reaction and struggled to ignore how all of her body had tightened up and, in some places, wept at his actions.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to know little witch?” He sounded so smug and satisfied she nearly elbowed him in the gut. But restrained herself and reminded her wayward temper that she was an ambassador and a grown woman who did not have to react when provoked.

  “I am sure,” she gritted out and then gave into the impulse and elbowed him anyway. “Can I have some space?”

  He laughed.

  Her elbow hurt, and her temper was not even a little appeased when he answered jovially. “No.”

  Well, she thought, at least he was distracted from wondering how she had gotten the information she had. Eventually though, she knew he would get back to it, and wonder. She would have to be more careful, about so many things.

  Ignoring the predator breathing down her back, quite literally, was a stretch but she breathed in calm and forced her attention away from the distracting heat. Wondered at the new teasing attitude and looked around them at the road and the wilds bordering it.

  She breathed in and could catch the scent of wild growing things, it made her relax just a little, even with the barbarian at her back. If she was being honest with herself, she would have to admit he even brought her a level of comfort. While the Green was her home, it was not without its dangers, even for her, but there was something about the heat and strength surrounding her that assured her that nothing would get past him and get to her. It was a seductive feeling of safety she would do well to ignore. She could not always count on her very own barbarian guard, and it would be deadly to drop her guard and do something foolish, like not pay attention.

  After all she was supposed to be the safe passage for them, not the other way around.

  ***

  The sun had nearly reached its zenith before a distraction presented itself.

  Elena felt something tingle in her gut and she looked around again, this time with purpose, lifting her nose and going deeper into the weave she could reach from the road. It was enough. She put out a feeler of power and was rewarded with information from all sides and far afield.

  She took the time needed to get it all and then sucked in a breath.

  “Ambush,” she whispered low, for Ansgar’s ears alone. “Fifteen men on horses, at the turn of the road about a mile ahead.” Something in her posture or feel must have changed because he did not question her knowledge, no longer flirting but battle tense and ready. Her words did not evoke any reaction but cold calm.

  “Who?”

  “Smells that are familiar in the forest, Gypsies, horse traders.” Elena could not keep the distaste out of her voice. “If I were to guess I would say they are thieves or hired thugs today. Set to relieve travelers of their lives and supplies. Or they could have been hired to target us specifically.” She shrugged. “No way of knowing unless we ask the scout they have posted ahead in the trees. You want me to bring him over so you can ask him?”

  “Please.” He said mildly enough. “If you can do it without alerting his friends.”

  She turned and looked over her shoulder at the warrior and gave him her own version of a battle smile. “I think I can manage that.” Then with a thought and a wave of magic she turned the Green around the hiding man into a trap. With no noise, and very little time a clump of vines danced before them. A man so covered in Green as to be unseen but for his terrified eyes.

  He was strung upside down and nearly close enough to the first two horses that Beck and Lor rode nearly into him before they halted abruptly. Beck tilted his head to try to get a look at the face of the man hanging before them. He turned to look at Ansgar and Elena. “Something we need to know?”

  Chapter Ten

  Ansgar eyed the man trussed like a gift for them and might have winced in sympathy, knowing as he did from recent experience just what that felt like. But the stranger was a thief and a killer most likely, he deserved much worse than a Danu snare.

  “How close are the rest?” he asked Elena the question, knowing that somehow the witch would know. How she knew what she knew was another matter for another time. One he would not be distracted from a second time. His Danu witch was keeping far too many secrets. But for now, they had other battles to be fought.

  She lifted her head, as if she would smell them on the air, and he did the same, and caught no hint of men or beast, only sweet Danu witch and the normal smells of man and beast on the trail.

  Beck cursed. Since he was looking at the them Ansgar raised a brow to him.

  He looked grim. “Her eyes are flashing with Danu magic.”

  Ansgar wanted to see that for himself but now was not the time. He had seen it before though and knew what the sight of power in those beautiful witch eyes looked like. It seemed to make Beck uneasy, which was good. If he had the same reaction to it that Ansgar did, he would have to kill one of his oldest friends. Even he could not say why his body tightened with desire when she glowed with power. But then just looking at her grubby from the garden with no hint of magic made him hard. Naked in the bath… he cursed his inattention and got his mind back to the matter at hand. Shifting back in the hope that the witch would not notice his reaction. Pressed as they were together on the horse, it was not likely to help. He both cursed and felt thankful for his confining armor. It helped keep him contained but was mightily uncomfortable at the moment.

  “They are far enough that unless he makes a lot of noise, they will be none the wiser. Though we needs be careful anyway. Around the next bend is the start of the rock cliffs we will follow, sound travels strangely where it is not swallowed by the Green.”

  “Then we will ask him quietly,” Lor said looking pleased at the idea.

  Beck pulled a long thin blade and twisted it to catch the speckles of light through the foliage. Like most of the North road this section of road was bordered on both sides by wild Green. Not as overgrown and sentient as in the deep wild, but enough that travelers knew better than to stop and wander away from the road. If they did, they were likely to never be seen again. But this thief was a gypsy by birth, outcasts while not Danu, could and did survive in the outskirts of the wilds collecting horses and robbing the few foolish or desperate enough to be on the road.

  Elena shifted the gypsy with a thought until he was standing on his own two feet, all the vines but those around his torso and neck backed away and hovered threateningly. He looked from the royal purple of Ansgar’s cloak to her Danu Forest wear and glowing Green eyes, and blanched.

  She had the feeling if he could have spoken, he would already be begging for mercy and asking for forgiveness. Was it a surprise because no names were mentioned, or because they were attacking random passerby? The second was not likely. This was not a well-travelled stretch of road by any means.

  She kept her voice low and flicked her wrist, lifting the man off his feet and bringing him closer as if he weighed next to nothing. “Speak,” she said. “We would like to know why you and your distant companions are on the road waiting for us, but if you raise your voice above a calm whisper you will not get a second chance t
o beg for mercy.”

  The vine around his neck loosened just enough that he was no longer starting to turn purple and he sucked in breath and spoke as quickly as he could draw it into his lungs. “We did not know the female he wanted belonged to the blood prince, or that she was Danu.” If he could have fallen to his knees, Ansgar had no doubt that he would have.

  “You speak as if ignorance excuses your actions,” Beck said, fingering his knife and drawing the panicked eyes his way briefly.

  Ansgar pointed at the man and caught the eyes of his witch and motioned until she brought the man close enough to look in his eyes. “Who sent you for the female and when?”

  “Yestereve, we were told to wait at the bend of the Western trek from Haven, we did not like it. It is a foolish place to linger so close to the wild, but he offered enough gold to make it worth the risk. He said there would be a red-haired female traveling with Southern warriors. He did not say Danu red, or that she was of the blood.” The man looked ready to swallow his tongue. No money would be worth trying for a Danu at the edge of the wild.”

  “So, it was my soldiers and a female under our protection that you sought to take?”

  The man swallowed hard and winced with pain from the grip of the vine. “That you did not know you sought to take my female does not excuse your actions. Any female traveling these roads is under the protection of the army. Attacking any of mine is a death sentence.”

  “Please,” the man blubbered meeting Ansgar’s implacable regard with desperation. “I can tell you how many await and where. Spare my life and you will know everything.”