Prophecy Ch. 06

He walked over to where she sat and lifted her in his arms. She moaned and tried to open her eyes, her lashes fluttering as the heaviness of them fought to keep them closed. He took her into his sleeping chamber through one of the flaps and laid her out on his bedding. She was limp as he removed the cut dress from her arms and covered her up. Climbing in next to her he pulled her up against his body and held her spooned against him.

His body ached with a strong need and her soft flesh in his arms made that ache almost painful. She would be the greatest challenge for him as a Seer. She was more beautiful then any Prophet he had met before her and she had reacted so strongly to his touch that he had nearly lost his strength and taken her on the table as she thrashed through the orgasm.

Groaning at the frustration pent up inside him, he climbed back out of the bed. She would sleep soundly through the night thanks to her long trip, the drugs and then the vision. He had time to go and relieve the ache with one of the pleasure slaves and be back in the bed before the young woman woke.

***.::.***

Nobody paid attention to Lauren as she hurried through the camp towards the wagons. She knew she would find Keval near the Queen. That was always where he was.

She crept cautiously between the wagons until she saw him sitting by a fire lost in thought. No one was around that she could see but she could not trust that. Picking up a small rock she threw it into the fire, causing sparks to rise up into the night air. He turned his head and searched the darkness until he found her. He had been sitting in that exact spot all evening. Waiting for either the soldiers to come and take him.

Standing he walked off into the woods. Lauren turned away and snuck around the ring of wagons until she found a dark spot to slip into the trees to go and find him. She hide behind a tree just out of sight and waited in case someone had seen her and decided to follow. When she was sure the coast was clear, she turned and crept into the trees, heading in the direction he had gone.

She was starting to worry she wouldn't find him. The forest was sound asleep, only the occasional whisper of sound from the nocturnal animals that were foolish enough to move towards the army of men. She glanced around at the darkness, never hearing the man move up behind her.

A hand went around her mouth and waist, pulling her back against his enormous frame. She knew in that instance who it was and stifled the scream that had threatened to erupt from her mouth. She relaxed against him and he moved his hand away.

"You could get me dead coming to me like this," he whispered, pulling her back into his lap in the dark underbrush. Anyone passing by would not see them but they would be safe as long as no torches were being used.

"We are safe. I snuck into the Kings tent and listened. The woman lied to him. I know she saw you as clearly as I did but she told him it was a man with dark hair and a scar." She tried to turn in his arms but he held her firm, his large arms wrapped around her to keep her still. She gave in and curled back against his body. She felt so right against him.

He couldn't help the sigh of relief. He hadn't realized how much tension he had been holding in until that moment. Burying his face into her hair he took a deep breath of her scent, "I do not understand how he expects loyalty from even the people he harms. He has gone mad."

She shivered in his arms. The King had taken the sacred ritual of her order and turned it into something dark and obscene. All because of the book he had found of ancient rituals from a time long ago. His mother was probably thrashing in her grave, or glad to be there and not witness to his madness.

Lauren had been raised around him. The two of them had once been friends. Now he treated her as an object. The book had changed everyone's lives and Lauren was convinced that the man in her friend's body was not the King. The Queen she did not doubt. That woman was born manipulative. She was an honest woman but in her honesty, she was cruel.

"It's time for you to leave Keval," she whispered with a soft sigh, "It isn't safe for you anymore."

"But once I go he will know that you and the new Prophet lied. Who knows what he will do," he snuggled against the tree and tried to lighten the mode. "I am content right here in this moment."

She smacked his hand hard enough to make a sharp sound in the forest. He grabbed her hand and they both went still, listening for anyone going to investigate the sound. When they were sure no one was coming he continued, "I am not leaving you here to face him alone."

"I already know what he will do to me and I will survive it. Then we can be together when this is all over but not if you act a damn foul and try to stop my fate." She was getting angry with him. She understood why he didn't want it to happen. She was in no hurry to lose her abilities and her virginity to that man. But she had seen it the moment he had opened that book. Her fate was sealed in the binding made of virgin skin with a tassel made of perfectly preserved white hair.

"Then we shall leave together right now. I will go and fetch a horse and we will head north, ahead of the army."

"I think that would be difficult at present," came a loud voice near them. Keval rose to his full height, his lower body still behind the undergrowth. He set Lauren on her feet and then shoved her behind him so she was pressed between him and the tree he had been leaning against. The King appeared from the darkness around them and then more faces appeared. The knights that followed him so closely were like ghosts in the darkness. Directly next to the King was Arnas, a single bolt cross bow pointed at Keval's head.

"I think I understand perfectly now what is happening. What I wonder is who seduced who into the lie? Was it my childhood friend or the man that came to me from a worthless family?"

Keval snarled, "We were once loyal to you until you found that damned book." He spat on the ground, "You are not the man we knew."

Rage filled the Kings eyes and he snarled, "Take him and lock him up tight. Lock her to the post in my tent. I will deal with her tomorrow."

The King crossed his arms over his chest as men came forward with daggers. The large man started to resist, keeping his body pressed in front of Lauren.

"If you do not go willingly Kavel, you can watch while I take her against a tree while my men hold you down and castrate you."

Keval went very still at the Kings words and then allowed them to pull him away. Lauren was revealed looking pale but defiant, "What he says is true Draven. You are not the man I knew. Someday you will be forced from his body and I can only pray that the man I knew survives it."

The King went forward in two long strides and slapped her with the back of his hand. Lauren could have sworn his eyes had swirled with black in his rage. She tasted blood and touched her lip in surprise.

The King was shaking as he turned away, his eyes normal but sparkling with rage, "Take her away before I end her too soon."

Arnas stepped forward and grabbed her arm before the others could, dragging her roughly through the forest. He didn't speak a word as she stumbled behind him. The guards at the tent looked confused as he stormed past them and took her struggling into the section of the tent she had hidden in earlier. The ground was bare and covered still in sticks and rocks. In the center of the room was a post that had been set into the ground with a ring on the top. A chain ran from it to a metal collar with a large lock.

The trail of holes left by this post could be followed from their home of Balek to this very spot. The King affectionately called it 'The Prophets Post'. It wasn't until Arnas shoved down on her shoulders to force her to kneel by the post that she started to fight. She hated that post and the time she had spent chained to it. As he reached down to pick up the chain she twisted her body and bit down on his arm with all of her strength.

Her mouth filled with his blood and he gave a scream that became a growl of frustration through gritted teeth. She got her feet against his chest and was starting to push when he grabbed hold of her hair and let his weight fall on her, shoving her knees back and pushing the air from her lungs. She released his arm as her lungs started to burn and gasped for air.

The guards came bursting into the room of the tent just as Arnas wrestled the collar around her throat. She spat his own blood at him as he pulled back.

"You will pay for that someday Lauren," he snarled, taking a piece of cloth offered to him to press to his arm and using another to wipe away the blood and spit from his chest. He turned and left with the guards silently behind him. Neither man dared to say a word to their Captain as he stomped off back towards the wagons.

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