Twin Curse(22)

Brianna blanched at the thought of introducing him to Mia and Terion. "I'm sorry, Lyall, it's just not possible."

Lyall frowned and stood up. "Marry me then. Now, before we leave. If we  arrive at your village already husband and wife, no one can try to make  you marry someone else."

"Lyall... I..." Brianna looked at him helplessly. How could she even begin to explain?

The ship jerked to one side. The sudden movement caused even Lyall to  clutch at the side of the bed. "Someone's on board. Wait here," he said  shortly

Maybe it was the after effect of the strange dream, but fear clutched at Brianna's heart. What was someone doing on the boat?

Lyall climbed the ladder to the deck and moments later she heard him  arguing with someone. "Can't it wait? I'm in the middle of something."

Whoever he was talking to must have spoken more softly, because she  didn't hear the reply. She did hear Lyall swear loudly, which was most  unlike him. She would have smiled if she wasn't feeling so on edge  herself.

Moments later, the hatch opened and Lyall returned. "We have to go back  to the palace," he said shortly. "Something is wrong, Urster won't tell  me what." He paused for a moment, then said more softly, "We'll figure  out a way to get you home as soon as I've talked to Father and sorted  this out, I promise."

Brianna just nodded. Despite the fact that the urgency to rush home  without pause hadn't left her, she didn't think Lyall was going to  accept her leaving without him. And she couldn't take him with her. She  needed to find another way.

Lyall was silent for the short sail back to the dock. He tied up the  yacht and held out a hand to Brianna. She stared at him for a moment,  and realised she couldn't face his family right now. "I'll wait here, if  you don't mind?"

Lyall searched her face. "Brianna, I know I pushed you about marriage  earlier, and I said I wouldn't. I'm sorry. We'll work something else  out."

Brianna nodded her head and threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Lyall."

He held her tightly for a few moments, kissed the top of her head and  then jumped down onto the dock. Urster met him at the road, and they  talked quietly, heads together, as they hurried to where a pair of  horses waited.

Brianna went back below, closing the hatch behind her and curled up on  the bed. But try as she might, the images from her dream, her mother's  body slumping to the ground, Mianna running towards the troll screaming,  and the blood and death everywhere, haunted her. She rose and paced the  small room, then climbed and opened the hatch, staring towards the  palace.         

     



 

What did the king want? Lyall could be hours. And who knew what could be  happening in her village in the meantime. If the trolls came back...

*****

"Hyah." Lyall slapped the reins on the horse's rump, hurrying him  through the city streets. People parted in front of him. One or two  turned, a complaint on their lips, but it died as soon as they saw him,  and they just hurried out of his way.

He had no intention of listening to Urster if he told him to slow down,  but to his surprise, his father's stalwart advisor said nothing. In  fact, he kept pace beside him, urging his horse to speed.

That worried Lyall more than the hurried summons.

It had better be something damn important to have dragged him away from  Brianna right now. He threw a glance over his shoulder, even though he  knew he couldn't still see the harbour.

She had been so shaken by the dream. And it had to be a dream. She'd  been sleeping beside him, and she had barely any skill with magic to  speak of. There was no way she could really know if something had gone  wrong in her village.

But this might be just the key he needed to convince her to take him  home to her village and introduce him to her family. He had no doubts,  once he got there, that he could convince them to accept him.

He jumped out of the saddle and strode up the front steps, not even  bothering to look back. Someone would take care of the horse. Urster  kept pace. He pushed open the doors to his father's study.

"What's so urgent you had to drag me away from Brianna?" he said without preamble.

King Balen's eyes narrowed as he looked Lyall up and down. "You've  bonded her? Good. You're going to need all the strength you can get."

A sense of foreboding settled in the pit of Lyall's stomach. "What is it?"

"We detected a massive spike of magic from the mainland, to the  northeast, about an hour ago. The rebel mages are back." His father's  words were calm and measured, but they produced no calm in Lyall's  heart.

He had never believed in his father's assertion that the other mages  were still out there, just waiting for their chance to attack, so he  wasn't prepared for the fear that washed over him. Echoes of the stories  he'd heard, stories of magic that almost destroyed a whole continent,  flitted through his mind.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"Nothing. I'm too old for this fight. I've ordered the troops to prepare. You leave for the mainland in one hour."

Lyall stared at him in disbelief. "Me?"

A slight smile twisted one corner of his father's mouth. "You'll do  fine, Lyall. You always excelled in your lessons, and you've matured  well. You're capable of thinking things through on the fly, which means  you'll never been uncertain for long."

Lyall's back straightened automatically at the first words of praise he  ever remembered hearing from his father. "I have to tell Brianna, she'll  need time to pack."

His father frowned. "Are you sure it's wise to take her? We still know  nothing about her past, or where she is from. Hell, for all we know, she  might have something to do with the mages' mysterious re-appearance."

"I may not have any idea where Brianna is from, but I know she's not the  enemy. I trust her to stand by me, and if you want me to do this,  you'll have to trust her too," Lyall said angrily.

"If you trust her so much, then I guess you know what she's doing leaving the harbour in your yacht?"

Lyall's head snapped around at Urster's measured words. He took two  strides to stand next to the man, staring across the roofs of the city  to the harbour. As he watched, Brianna unfurled the sails, and a second  later, an unnaturally fast wind sent her speeding away.

He stared in disbelief.

"Maybe you can't trust her as much as you thought."

Did his father's voice hold a note of sadness?

Lyall shook his head. Brianna wasn't like that. She wouldn't leave  without a good reason. "She had a dream this morning, that there was  some sort of trouble in her village. It distressed her greatly. She must  have gone home to see if her family was in trouble."

That was a rational explanation. It had to be it.

"Seems like a bit of a coincidence doesn't it? She needs to rush back to  her village because of ‘trouble', just as we detect a spike of magic?  Come on, Lyall, the strength of her magic and her choosing this exact  moment to flee without warning? That's too much of a coincidence."

"What if it's not a coincidence?" Lyall snapped. "What if your mysterious mages are the danger Brianna sensed in her village?"         

     



 

His father didn't protest, but the look in his eyes said he doubted.  "Either way, looks like you're headed to the mainland. Don't let  searching for your girlfriend distract you from your real purpose. If  you don't find those mages and deal with them, the whole world could be  in trouble."

"I'll find them." Lyall turned on his heel and strode out of the room,  shouting over his shoulder, "Tell the men we sail in ten minutes."

He was glad that his father hadn't mentioned the most damning piece of evidence against Brianna.

That she had drummed up a very powerful wind for someone who couldn't even perform the most basic magical exercises.





The entrance to the harbour, with its dark, sharp rocks, loomed. How was  she going to slow the ship down enough to navigate them safely? Brianna  really had very little control over the vessel, sending it in one  direction or another by simply thinking of going that way rather than by  any changing of the sails.

She glanced back over her shoulder, but the waves behind her were empty.  She didn't doubt that Lyall would be following her. But she should be  out of Bymere by the time he arrived in the city. The chances he could  find her then were slim.

Her heart ached. She didn't want to leave, didn't even want to imagine  what he would think when he found her gone, and right after she'd told  him she intended to stay too.

She could wait for him to catch up and try to explain what had happened.  She wanted to. But every time she considered the possibility, Mianna's  determined face as she took down three trolls to protect Eryvale and  avenge her mother haunted her.

She should have been there. Leaving her twin had been her biggest  mistake ever. Followed closely by allowing herself to begin to care for  Lyall when she knew their relationship could never be. It had been  unfair to him.