With Dreams Only of You Read online

  The afternoon passed as he continued to run his hands over the horse’s legs, finally pulling the animal off the side of the road and onto a flat ground of melting snow. He carried peat with him to start fires and, in this frozen world, it was the only thing that would burn, so he removed several heavy pieces of peat from his saddlebag, cleared the snow from a large circle of ground, and set about building a fire right in the middle of it. He was simply killing time, of course, waiting for his shadow to make an appearance. He was fairly certain whoever it was would appear at some point soon. It was too cold to hide away without a fire and night was approaching. So was a storm, he suspected, as the winds began to pick up. Aye, Eryx was fairly certain whoever it was would announce himself soon unless the shadow had run off altogether. Only time would tell.

  So he built a fire with the peat and pulled his horse next to it so the animal could enjoy some of the warmth. He pulled forth some food that he’d brought with him; dried animal jerky and several small apples and pears. He fed some of the apples to the horse as well as some of the grain he’d brought for the animal. The horse ate rather well as Eryx petted the beast affectionately, as he had owned the horse for several years. He was like an old friend. Still, Eryx waited, anticipation filling his veins at the eyes that were undoubtedly watching him. He knew he wasn’t wrong. He knew someone was going to make a move at some point and he tried to stay low, sitting by the fire, to make a smaller target. In a hunched position, he ate and stayed warm. Nearly two hours after pulling off to the side of the road, his wait came to a head.

  A figure appeared in the distance, on the road in fact. Eryx stood up, watching the tiny figure as it moved rather swiftly for such bad road conditions. Eryx remained crouched by his fire, watching the approach and coming to realize as the minutes passed that the traveler was not a knight. A small figure was wrapped tightly in a cloak, the ends of which were blowing in the chilling wind. The horse was big, and hairy, and as it drew closer, he caught a glint of a breastplate on the animal.

  But the rider must have spied him because he came to a halt several hundred feet away as the horse shuffled nervously. The wind picked up and blew the ends of the cloak around again but the rider remained, his focus on Eryx from what the man could tell. It was difficult to know, as the rider wore a hood and it was difficult to know which direction he was fixed upon. Warily, Eryx stood up and went around the front of his horse, peering at the rider and using his horse as a shield.

  And that’s when realization hit him.

  “Eryx!”

  Frederica cried his name as she abruptly spurred the horse forward in his direction. Startled by the knowledge that Frederica was in his midst, Eryx broke out from behind his steed and ran to her.

  “Freddie!” he gasped as she pulled her frothing animal to a halt. “What in God’s name are you doing here?”

  Frederica nearly fell off the horse as she tried to dismount, so great her haste. She ended up tumbling into Eryx’s arms and he held her tightly, hugging her against his frozen mail. She threw her arms around his neck, holding him with all of the relief and joy she was feeling. She had spent the past several hours fleeing from Pelinom, riding a frozen landscape and terrified she would be too late to help Eryx or worse, never find him at all. Coming upon him had been sheer luck, indeed. Knowing how very fortunate she was, she could scarcely draw a breath as she clung to him.

  “Have you seen Robbin?” she demanded fearfully. “He left Pelinom shortly after you did.”

  Eryx released her enough so that he could look her in the face. “Robbin?” he repeated, confused, but then, it suddenly struck him. My shadow. It’s Robbin! “It is possible that he is tailing me. I have had someone following me for the better part of four hours. But that does not tell me why you are here. What has happened that you should risk yourself riding alone from Pelinom?”

  Frederica still had her arms around his neck, incapable of letting the man go. Now that he was in her arms, she swore that she would never, ever let him go.

  “I think he means to kill you,” she said. “I had to come and warn you!”

  His confusion deepened. “How could you possibly know that?” he asked. “Did someone tell you?”

  Frederica nodded fervently, opening her mouth to reply when the sounds of thundering hooves caught her attention. Looking over to the west, she saw a heavily armed knight ride over the crest of a frozen hill, very near to them. He wore a helm, visor down, and held a wicked-looking crossbow in his right hand. Frederica screamed as Eryx grabbed her.

  “Come with me,” he said, his voice commanding and steady. “Hurry!”

  “If you move, I will kill you where you stand!” the knight with the crossbow yelled, muffled by his lowered visor. “Remain still!”

  It was Robbin’s voice. Eryx would know the man anywhere. Disobeying the command to remain still, Eryx shoved Frederica behind her horse for protection and, true to his promise, Robbin let the crossbow fly. The arrow sang through the icy air, striking Eryx in the right shoulder. With a grunt, Eryx sailed backwards with the force of the blow, landing on his back on ground that was as hard as stone. Without his helm, he struck his head and was immediately knocked unconscious.

  Seeing Eryx lying motionless with an arrow in his shoulder, Frederica screamed and ran for him, falling to her knees beside him as Robbin rode up. The man’s charger was frothing, snorting, and bloodied from the difficult ride he’d been forced to endure, but Robbin could not have cared less about the beast. He dismounted the horse, unsteadily, and stumbled over to where Eryx lay unmoving on the ground.

  “I told him not to move,” he said angrily, looking at Frederica. “Can the man never do what I tell him to do?”

  Frederica was struggling not to sob as she felt for Eryx’s pulse. It was rapid and steady. Then she looked at the arrow. It hadn’t penetrated too terribly deep as far as she could tell. What upset her the most, however, was the fact that Eryx had hit his head when he fell. There was no knowing just how badly he had hurt himself. Terrified, furious, she swung viciously on Robbin.

  “What have you done?” she raged. “You foolish, idiotic man! Why did you do this? You had no right or reason to do what you just did!”

  Robbin looked at Eryx on the frozen ground, feeling no pity for the man. Finally, Eryx was incapacitated and that was all he cared about. Reaching over the unconscious man, he grabbed Frederica by the arm and yanked her to her feet.

  “Get up,” he snarled. “You and I are riding to the first church we can find and I will have the priests marry us. You are coming with me!”

  At that moment, Frederica turned into a wild animal. She kicked Robbin twice but, failing to dislodge his grip, she threw herself to the ground and tried to make it as difficult as possible for him to drag her along. She was not going to go willingly with him, not in the least. She was going to fight him until her dying breath.

  “Let me go!” she demanded, hissing and growling. “I will not marry you, Robbin le Somes! I hate the very air you breathe! You are a disgusting and repugnant creature and I will hate you until I die!”

  Robbin was having a difficult time maintaining his grip. She was on the ground as he tried to drag her now, but she was kicking viciously and managed to catch him in the knee. He gasped in pain and his grip loosened but he didn’t let her go completely. With a renewed but awkward grip, this time on her hair, he continued dragging.

  “You will not hate me for that long,” he said, sounding breathless yet confident. “You will see that this is the best thing for you. You will be Lady le Somes and that will be the end of it.”

  He pulled Frederica through a patch of frozen, dead grass and rocks, but that move worked against him. Frederica got her hands on the rocks that were lying loose on the soil and she began pummeling Robbin with projectiles. Rock after rock flew and hit him in the head, neck, and back as he tried to protect himself and continue dragging her at the same time. It made for a rather awkward struggle. Frederica got a hold of a coup
le of smaller rocks and threw them at his winded horse, who bolted away when the rocks hit him in the haunches. Thrilled at her small victory, she picked up a rather large rock and pitched it right at Robbin’s head.

  The rock made contact, enough so that Robbin lost his balance and let her go. Panicked, Frederica scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could back in Eryx’s direction. Robbin ran after her and ended up chasing her around her horse until he caught a piece of her cloak. He yanked hard, causing her to fall back on the ground. As her horse, frightened with the battle, ran off, Robbin jumped on top of her.

  Frederica screamed and fought wildly as Robbin tried to pin her arms to the ground. She twisted and heaved, using her booted feet to kick him from behind. Robbin simply put all of his weight on her, trying to force her to stop fighting him.

  “Cease!” he roared. “You will cease this ridiculous behavior! You are going to be my wife and that will be the end of it. I am a more appropriate husband for you. Can you not understand that? I bring titles and property with me. I am better than de Reyne by far. Why can you not see that?”

  Frederica was like a madwoman, twisting and fighting and scratching at him. He was so well protected that the scratching wasn’t making any mark until she managed to get close to his face, raking two of her nails across his nose. Robbin howled, hands to his face, and Frederica managed to push him off of her. Flipping onto her stomach, she struggled to her knees in another attempt to get away, but Robbin grabbed her from behind and fell forward on her, trapping her beneath him.

  “Now,” he said, his nasty breath hot in her ear. “You are going to regret that move, you little chit. I am going to take out every transgression you’ve committed against me on your soft, white hide. For the bloodied scratches on my face, I will make sure your virginity is taken with much the same violence. Your actions beget mine, lady. But if you calm down and cease your struggles, then I may show mercy. Do you understand me?”

  He was heavy with all of his armor, smashing her into the frozen earth, and for the first time since their fight began, Frederica began to feel the first true pangs of fear. She was quite certain he meant what he said about abusing her but she could not stop fighting him. She would not.

  “Never,” she hissed, twisting underneath him and realizing she was quite exhausted. She wondered how much longer she would be able to resist. “I will never obey you and I will never do anything other than hate you. You are a vile, horrid man and I will kill you the first chance I get. I will slit your throat and take pleasure in it!”

  Robbin managed to get a hand under her chin, holding her head back against him. “You will not speak of slitting throats,” he said. “It is most unbecoming for the future Lady le Somes. But I can promise you this. I will carve my name into your backside and take great pleasure at your screams of pain. I will mark you as a woman has never been marked before. I will erase every last memory of Eryx de Reyne from your mind and you will worship me, do you hear? You will worship me!”

  Frederica screamed as he licked her ear, by his mouth. “You can never erase him from my heart,” she cried. “I love him and that will never change no matter what you do! You cannot take him from me, ever!”

  In response, Robbin suckled on her tender ear before biting it hard enough to draw blood. Weeping hysterically, terrified of what would happen if she stopped fighting, Frederica clawed at the earth and struggled to get away from him, positive that if she didn’t escape then she was as good as dead. But as she labored to break free, an odd thing happened. Robbin, who had been holding on to her quite snuggly, suddenly lurched as if he had been struck. As Frederica bucked and writhed, trying to dislodge him, his hold on her slackened considerably.

  Freedom! Her mind screamed as she dug her fingers into the frozen ground in an attempt to pull out from under him. But rather than hold tight to her, claiming his quarry, Robbin emitted an odd hissing sound and went completely limp. Then, he slid off of her and a pair of hands reached down to pull her to her feet. Astonished, Frederica found herself looking up into Eryx’s pale face.

  Ashen, and very angry, Eryx was very much alive. His head was killing him and his shoulder throbbed, but he was indeed living and breathing. Having briefly lost consciousness when his head hit the frozen ground, he had awoken to Frederica’s screams and it had been enough motivation for him to overcome his wooziness, rip the arrow out of his shoulder, and plant the barb deep into Robbin’s back. The man had tried to kill him but he would never have another chance. Now, the game was ended. Eryx would see to that.

  The competition for Frederica’s hand was over.

  “Eryx!” Frederica screamed when she realized the man was conscious. “Sweet Jesὑ, you are alive!”

  “I am,” he said, sounding exhausted and furious. “Alive and well, no thanks to Robbin.”

  Frederica was still in panic mode. “Then run with me,” she said, grabbing hold of him and trying to pull him to safety. “We must get away from him!”

  Eryx stopped her, his big arms holding her face. “No need,” he said, forcing her to look at his face when she tried to turn and see where Robbin was. “He cannot harm you again. Are you well, love? Did he hurt you?”

  He cannot harm you again. It was then that her panic faded and Frederica began to realize that there was no longer an arrow sticking out of Eryx’s right shoulder. The hole was open and the mail and tunic surrounding it were bloodied, but the arrow itself was gone. Furthermore, she was coming to realize that Robbin was no longer a threat – Eryx was clear in his statement that Robbin could no longer harm either of them and he certainly held no sense of urgency about defending himself. For all of the panic and terror Frederica had just experienced, it was apparent that the situation was over. Still, she looked at Eryx with great bewilderment.

  “He did not hurt me,” she said. “But he tried to kill you!”

  She was still edgy, still fearing for her life, and Eryx finally turned her around so she could see Robbin’s body. He wanted her to see that there was no more danger, not ever.

  Frederica gasped when she looked upon Robbin’s corpse, seeing the man lying there with his eyes open wide to the gray sky above and the big arrow sticking out of his back. But in seeing his deceased form, it occurred to her that it was really, truly over in more ways than one. All of these months of contention between Eryx and Robbin, contention that had turned deadly because of Robbin’s unhealthy obsession, was finally finished. No more fighting, no more avoiding Robbin when he showed up at Pelinom unannounced. No more fear or aversion of any kind. As the knowledge sank deep, Frederica felt so much relief that she nearly collapsed with it.

  “Finally,” she whispered, turning away from the sight of the dead knight. “Finally, it is finished. Sweet Jesὑ, it is truly finished.”

  Eryx had his good left hand on her shoulder as she turned towards him and lay her head on his chest. He put his arm around her fully, holding her sweet body against his, as his gaze lingering on Robbin.

  “It was foolish of him,” he said, feeling some small amount of pity for the fact that the man used to be his best friend. They had, in years past, had some good times together, and he would miss that man he used to know. “Obsessions can change people. He was obsessed with you from the moment he met you and it grew steadily worse. It did not have to end like this. Had he only done the polite thing and graciously bowed out when he saw that our feelings for one another were mutual, none of this would have happened. But the discovery of the sword… the Gladius… somehow pushed him into madness for some reason. That is where his lunacy truly began.”

  Frederica turned to look at Robbin one last time before turning away from the man and shutting him out of her mind forever. She simply couldn’t feel the pity for him that Eryx did. He had tried to murder the man she loved and there was no compassion for him whatsoever in her heart. Gazing up at Eryx, her thoughts lingered on the Gladius.

  “I wonder why?” she asked softly. “Why should that ancient sword cause hi
m madness?”

  Eryx shrugged. “Because he did not find it,” he said simply. “Because I gave it to you and he did not. It was not the sword itself but what it represented – a gift from me to you. He was jealous.”

  Frederica understood that. “Jealousy is a curse in and of itself,” she said quietly. “Mayhap that is what the sword meant to Robbin – jealousy. It is no wonder he sided with Willew when she accused the sword of bearing a curse. Mayhap in his mind, it did.”

  Eryx tore his eyes off Robbin, gazing down into Frederica’s lovely face. “That would make sense,” he replied thoughtfully. “Whatever curse fell upon Robbin with the discovery of the sword, it was his own doing. Mayhap… mayhap the sword is whatever people believe it to be – a curse, a source of dead souls, or a symbol of the man who once wielded it and the woman who once loved him. Mayhap it is all of these things. It is what you believe it is.”

  Frederica nodded faintly, reaching up to stroke his stubbled cheek. “I believe it is the greatest gift anyone has ever given me,” she whispered. “Whenever I look at it, I see you. I see love.”

  He smiled at her, pulling the woman tightly against him as his lips hovered over hers. Looking down into her eyes, he was aware that he had waited for this moment all his life, something he had dreamed of, once. With dreams, he thought to himself. Funny how he should think of those words at this moment because they were words he’d once dreamed of when he’d first become commander of Corchester Castle. He’d spent that first night on watch, gazing off at the Roman castle in the distance, and when he’d slept, it was with those words upon his mind. With dreams…. Now, for some reason, with Frederica in his arms the words somehow made sense. He wasn’t sure why or how, but they did. She was his dream, his love, and his future.

  “The sword is a symbol of life beyond the ages,” he reflected, his hot breath in Frederica’s face. “It represents something that has never died, can never die. A symbol of something meaningful and eternal, as my love for you is.”