When The Heart Sings

Chapter 35

The entire group paled and I leaned into Darien's side for protection as I realized that they had planned to use to me to try and control him. The bond twisted lightly between my faint fear and his growing anger.

His arm tightened around my shoulder slightly as a reassurance. My fear eased, he was aware of their games and he wasn't about to let them separate us. I was safe with Darien.

The leader bowed his head, trying to placate Darien after getting caught. "My apologies. I was handed a letter with an official seal. I did try, so if the Council objects to me ceasing to follow their instructions, I will send them to you to discuss the matter. If you heard us, then you also know why we were attempting to follow our orders."

Darien growled, "I don't care. It is their war and I will not let my mate get dragged into it. The orders you were given break the laws in half a dozen different places. If the Council objects to you following the actual law instead of their petty decrees, then they can shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

I winced, Darien was in a rather foul mood. If the Council was smart, they would scatter to the winds so that Darien could never find them. Then again, if they were truly wise, they wouldn't have attempted any of this in the first place.

If they had really expected Darien to carve a path through the enemy lines to get me out from behind enemy lines and back onto Tarulk territory, then they surely should have guessed that he would come back for revenge. Unless they were counting on the enemy or even another Tarulk to kill him before he got the Council house.

The warriors were pale and uncertain of what to make of my livid mate who so easily insulted the powerful Council members. The leader nodded slowly as he evaluated the situation he had been dumped into, "We will hold our peace with you and yours then. Will you remain in the camp until tomorrow?"

Darien shook his head hard, "No, we are going to take a cart and head back north once you provide us enough supplies to get that far."

The leader must have realized that the wisest decision would be to give in to Darien's demands. He bowed his head again, "Of course. Please follow us. You will not want a cart though, many of the roads are so muddy that they are impassible regardless of how often we try to repair them."

Darien narrowed his eyes, but didn't comment. He held me close as we started walking behind the group of warriors.

*       *      *

The leader hadn't been joking when he said the roads were muddy. There were numerous stretches of knee-deep sticky mud that Darien refused to let me even attempt to walk through. He carried me the majority of the time.

The deep mud was a struggle for the other Tarulk as well. Darien was the only one who wasn't tired by the time we reached a campsite. It was used so often by those passing through that people had left tents standing permanently in the damp dirt. Darien had me on his lap as we sat near the fire.

The leader had sent an escort of a dozen warriors with us, much to Darien's displeasure. All of them had sworn to not harm or touch me in the face of Darien's anger. We had not made good time, and Darien was on edge with how close we were to the battlefront.

Alex started a conversation with one of the other warriors as we sat around a campfire, "How often is the enemy advancing and how far do they push when they do advance?"

The man sighed, "Small areas leapfrog out in no pattern we can see or predict. Each spot in the line advances roughly once a week. When they push forward, they come fast and overwhelm any defenses with sheer numbers. All we have been able to do is fall back."