threw his head back, clenching his teeth. “Ah, Willow.” He groaned, then reached his hand out to feel for a pulse. When he felt it, faint as a fading whisper, he nearly screamed out. He stroked her face gently with the back of his knuckles. “It’s me, Willow. I’ve returned for you.”
Willow’s eyes opened to slits. She licked her dry, cracked lips. “Caleb?” She swallowed hard, wincing with pain that invaded her from some part of her body she did not voice. “Caleb, you found me.”
“It’s alright,” Seth rested his cheek against her hair. “You’re going home.”
Willow didn’t hear him as the thick darkness covered her again. She saw an angel before her. He had eyes made of beautiful blue streams and lush green grass, with hair to match the sun. He smiled at her, loving her more than she could remember when she was awake. She reached for him, to touch the carved lines of his shadowed jaw, but he was fading…fading…He called to her, his voice echoing in the shadows.
When she opened her eyes again, she felt like there was a castle on top of her. Someone was standing over her, and she smiled.
“Hello, Martin.” Her voice was nothing but a shadow of a whisper.
“Oh, Willow flower.” Martin began to weep. He sat down next to the blanket Seth had covered her with before he ran to get her father. “Look what he did to you.”
She tried to reach out for his hand, but pain shot through her, coursing through her body like fire. “I was afraid you were dead, Martin.”
“Not unless we’re in hell,” Martin said, wiping his eyes. “Willow flower, Seth has found your father. But there’s something I heard your father say to Galin.”
“My father?” she repeated, not really understanding what the old man was trying to tell her.
Seth raced back into the room with Baltrasard close behind him and Martin slipped into the shadows. He crouched in a dark corner and watched the king cover his eyes and weep like a child. And then he screamed, and Martin had to cover his ears at the terrible sound.
A little while later, Willow was wrapped tightly in clean sheets to keep her broken body immobile. Her father leaned over her, whispering in her ear while she was lifted and carried carefully up the stairs.
Seth took Martin’s hand and pulled him gently from the corner he was hiding in. “Am I free?” The old man trembled.
“Yes, you’re free,” Seth told him, then started for the door, following the others.
“Seth, wait!” Martin called out. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Can it wait?” Seth asked impatiently. Martin shrugged his bony shoulders and watched Seth leave.
Baltrasard walked quickly and deliberately down the hall toward the room he left Galin in. His face was void of any emotion, and when he reached the doors, he opened them slowly.
Galin jumped from his seat, his eyes darting to the king’s guards while they bowed. Baltrasard’s dark eyes never left Galin’s face, nor did he slow his pace when he entered the room. His hand slipped beneath his cloak and returned a moment later clutching his broadsword. He didn’t blink as his blade sliced through the air, making it whistle. The cold expression on his face did not change when he looked at Galin’s head on the floor at his feet.
Chapter 29
Seth searched the plains just outside of Culderia for Drakar after being informed by some of the other Catchers in the church that the one he sought had gone out with some of the others to hunt more slaves. He searched a full league’s distance before he saw them, their black robes snapping in the wind as they hunted.
“Drakar!” Seth screamed, drawing his sword and kicking his mount to go faster.
Breaking away from the others, Drakar took off in a cloud of dust. Seth chased him for another half a league, but the huge Catcher was getting away. He turned on his horse to regard Seth with a victorious smile. His eyes opened wide in horror instead. For riding up behind Seth were the Warriors and the sound they began to make as they thundered closer churned both Drakar and Seth’s blood to ice.
Seth turned just in time to see them passing him as though he wasn’t there. And then one of them took the lead after Drakar, his lean body bent forward on his mount.
“Ride, Caleb!” We’ll get the others,” Seth heard one call out. His heart stopped in his chest.