The Gems--Jade Ch. 05

I know it's been quite a while since I've submitted. I've just had so much other things that I've had to handle. I hope you will forgive me. I also hope you enjoy Jade's next adventure. Take care.

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Chapter Five

Dax woke slowly. He was warm and his head rested against something sweet smelling and soft. It had been so long since he'd had just those few creature comforts, he couldn't force himself to give them up.

He opened his eyes slowly and stared down at the winsome feminine flesh. Leather triangles covered satiny full breasts. He nuzzled closer and wished that he had the strength to pull one of those triangles down and suckle on the hard nub he could see outlined by the supple leather.

"King Daxton?"

Her voice was almost as sensual as those firm curves, low pitched and silky. He moaned and snuggled closer, wrapping one shaky arm around her naked, slender waist. "Not yet."

His voice was a harsh grumble and his hands were firm, or at least as firm as he could make them. He burrowed closer.

"My liege, are you awake?"

Daxton closed his eyes tightly and a shudder shook his emaciated body. He lifted his head and stared down at the lovely Jade. "I am sorry, Lady Jade. It has been a very long time since I woke with someone as sweet smelling and soft as you. I find it hard to let go."

He felt Jade sigh and it shook him more to feel her breasts rise against his chest. He wanted her, he wanted to see her smile up at him and open her arms to wind them around his neck and draw him closer. The thought of a woman, a woman of strength and character wanting him sent heat shimmering through him. His cock was hard as stone and he thrust against her slender thigh where it was buried between his legs before he could stop himself.

"King Daxton...I must get up. Please release me!" She pushed at him and he gave way with a heavy sigh.

He wanted desperately to keep her there, to hold her in his arms. He could only blame it on his time as Cassianna's play toy, but he wanted her with a desire stronger than any he could ever remember. He hadn't been with a woman since Cassianna's foul takeover and he yearned to feel Jade's flesh surrender to his hard cock. With a rueful sigh, he released her and rolled to his back.

He fought to stop the moan that tried to escape his lips. His back was on fire. His hands were in fists and he couldn't help but wonder if that was to keep them from wandering back to her sweet flesh.

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Jade felt his sigh and how he clenched his fists. She rose quickly, adding a few pieces of wood to the fire to bring it back to life. Jarvis was gone. He had to be out scouting. Cassianna's men had come very close the night before. Jarvis was mostly worried about what would happen after they split ways. He hadn't said a word, Jade just knew him that well. He would stay with them one more day and then she would be on her own with the King..

She sighed herself as she remembered the night before. The fire hadn't helped Dax feel any safer. She'd gone to him when he began to fight against the blankets and his cloak. Words had come from his mouth, words whose connotations had caused memories she'd thought long dead to spring up. Memories of Caldor and the torture she'd sustain at his hand.

The first touch of Daxton's hands on her body had shaken her more than a little. Her skin crawled and she had to force herself to remain calm. She had to fight the urge to vomit and remind herself over and over that he wasn't Caldor; he wasn't even close to that type of loathsome vermin. She was stronger and smarter and Caldor was dead, dead at her hands.

Though she tried to convince herself that she was safe, that Daxton wasn't even close to strong enough to be a threat to her, but Caldor had conditioned her well. Pleas for mercy tripped over her tongue with just the slightest of touch of a man's hand. She hated herself for it and hated Caldor even more. She hated living with the fear, with that weakness he'd installed in her.

She was nothing like the girl she'd been that night that Caldor rampaged, raped and murdered every man, woman and child in their small village. Few had been spared and those only for the price they would fetch at the slave auctions in the south at Tel-Zara. She had survived the original attack because of that beast's lusts, while the women and girls she'd been raised among were scattered to the four corners of Mal-Tesia.

She stepped further away from Daxton and turned her back to hide the shaking of her hands. She spun on her heel, her head on a swivel. She'd heard something...

Her eyes quickly searched through the shadows. After a few minutes she turned her attention back to the king. "We should get you up highness. I need to check your wounds and we should get some food in you. It will be a long day of riding hard."

"Caldor hurt you."

It wasn't a question. Jade went to the small pile of wood. She stacked a few of the smaller pieces on her arms and then dumped it back on the pile. "Yes. He hurt many before he died." She cringed as she heard the slight quiver in her voice.

The words spoke volumes. "But you killed him, he's dead and you still live. You won."

Jade scoffed and then began to pace. Her hands rose up her arms and she suddenly realized how little she wore. She went to Storm and pulled a cloak off her saddle. "It doesn't feel that way. It would take a lot more than his death for me to feel that." She wrapped the cloak around her shoulders and tried to hide the tears that clogged her throat. After everything that beast had done to her, how could anyone think she'd won? She saw him in every dream, in even the tamest of daydreams. He was always there.

She heard Daxton struggling to sit up and hurried back. She fell to her knees and supported him until he caught his breath. "You shouldn't move unless someone can support you, sire. Your time with Cassianna has greatly drained your reserves of strength."

"Well let's hope he finds more soon. Cassianna's troops are close, Jade. I don't think she took your thievery very well."

Jade jumped, startled. "Dammit Jarvis! I'm going to find you a damn bell. You know one of these days you're going to do that and end up picking yourself up off the ground!"

Jarvis winked at her and picked up the small bucket of water that had been left by the fire. He quickly dumped it over the fire and then scooped up enough sand to finish the job. "Come on, Jade. Move it. We've got to get King Daxton out of here."

Jade didn't bother to comment, just glanced over at Storm. The pony responded to her unspoken request and walked to her. He stood patiently as she helped Dax stand and got him up on the horse's back. Everything else would have to wait. She couldn't afford to have the king retaken, not now, not when she'd done so much to free him in the first place. She waited until Jarvis was on his pony and then tossed him Storm's reins. "Get him to Henri. He'll hide you both until I get there."

Jarvis hesitated. "What do you plan to do?"

"Lead them off."

Jarvis nodded. "Be safe."

She nodded. "Keep him safe. I'll meet you at Henri's in no more than two days." He didn't have time to say more because took a running start at the nearest tree and leaped. She glanced back at Daxton and then grabbed a branch well above her head. "Go!" She started off through the trees toward the sound of a huge party of horses breaking through the bush.

She swung through the trees and ran over branches. She was as quick and efficient on the tree limbs as any animal born upon them. She was soon standing above a riding party big enough to bring down any king. Her eyes widened as she quickly scanned the riders and realized she was seriously outnumbered. "Oh by the gods. How are you getting your tail out of this one?" She didn't have much of a choice. If she couldn't change the course of Cassianna's search party, she would have failed in her task. Failure was not an option she was willing to consider, not when it came to the King and Jarvis. She would do everything and anything she had to do to win-this-day.

She swung down from the trees and flung her cape back from her shoulders. Men surrounded her, men that moved closer and became more unruly the more of them gathered around her.

"I know this witch!"

Jade looked back and her eyes flitted from one man to the next until she saw the one that spoke. He was the one she'd touched, the one she'd used as a ramp up to the top of the rumbled wall. She smiled over at him and then walked up to his horse. With a careful stroke of her hand over the horse's muzzle, she spoke in a soft whisper in the horse's ear and then backed up.

She wasn't allowed to move far back, men and horses crowded her. Hands were reaching for her and a man pushed through them and forced the rest of them back. "You scum! We have a lady come among our midst and you treat her like ruffians

"Lady? This be no lady, sir. This is the witch that helped the king escape."

The lady in question turned to face the supposed leader of these men. She bowed with all the fanciness of a lady of the court. When she stood again, she smiled winsomely. "Actually, my name is Jade."

"Jade? The Jade?"

"Oh, so you've heard of me. How nice. Maybe one day we can sit and swap stories around the campfire." She backed up as much as the crowd would let her and then she twirled, her cloak spreading out and striking the men with the weighted ends of her outerwear. It worked even better since the cloak spread open and allowed the men to see what she wore underneath. When she had cleared the crowd of men out, watching as they backed away. Then she gave one courtlier bow. "If you can catch me..."

There was a low murmuring in the crowd as she took off and used a couple of the men that were just trying to pull themselves back up.

The tree she picked was a huge oak that had an abundance of branches big enough to support her weight. Jade danced around on them, throwing kisses and taunts until she had them riled up to the point of cutting down the oak. When axes were brought forth, she twirled once more and then easily skipped to the next tree. Grabbing a branch of the next tree, she waited for the men to realize she'd moved. Tree by tree, she led them away from the king.

Some of the men decided to try her way of moving through the forest and Jade laughed as they leaped to branches too slender to handle their weight. More than one heard the ominous creak of the branch before they were falling on them men under them. She taunted and teased them until they were in an uproar. Then she climbed a bit higher and disappeared.

The leader of these men growled and cursed, turning his horse in a full circle. He jerked back in shock when Jade hung from a branch above his head and patted his cheek. Before he could recover from the surprise, she was gone once more.

She couldn't help but smile as she listened to the familiar sounds of flesh hitting flesh and the sound of a man trying to get unruly soldiers back in line. He tried but he was screaming to the wind. Jade had done her job well. She reached up and took hold of another branch, sitting high in the tree above their heads and laughing silently.

After watching the mayhem below, she took a running start and grabbed another branch and then another. Taking a wide route, she quickly made a circuit through the forest. She wanted to know where Cassianna's men were. She came upon a small group of soldiers, though these men were much better organized and heavily armed. There were only six of them but she knew instinctually that they wouldn't fall for her seductive charms. She sank down on the limb close to the trunk of the tree.

Easily picking out the leader from the other five men, she watched as he took a map from a pouch tied to his waist. He stood right under Jade and spoke quietly to a man who had to be his second. They were close to each other and spoke almost silently, irking Jade. She was going to have to take chances with this crew.

She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. For an instant she was sitting on a branch, then there was a sudden pull and snap, then she was above herself. She rose and rose until she could see the forest surrounding the tree she still sat on. A tiny golden light shone not too far from where she was. She had no choice now. Those men would catch up to Jarvis and Dax. She closed her ethereal eyes and felt her way through all four directions of the forest until she found what she wanted.

With a smile, she let herself be drawn back to her corporeal form. There was a feeling, as if she was fitting into herself from the feet up. Then, with another snap, she was back. She had to raise her hand and shade her eyes as the dizziness that always came from using that part of the witch's curse. She had to be in her body for this next step.

She took a deep breath and stood, her feet instinctively finding purchase upon the wide branch. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath than she sent out her call.

It vibrated through the trees and circled the forest until she found him. Her message was delivered with tiny shivers of herself into the receiver. Than it jumped and flowed through and around the encampment before speeding on to the next and the next.

The sound of an angry big cat was loud and Jade smiled. There was another loud roar and another, but these came from different directions. She could see the men below glancing around and then pull their swords. They didn't look nervous. One or two of them even looked eager.

Those two would be hers. Her grin became wider when one of those roars came from directly above and behind her. Lifting her hand, she scratched the familiar gray and black striped cat that was almost as big as she was.

The cat butted her head against Jade's hand and began purring.

"I knew I could count on you, Becks." She nodded down at the men below. Becks butted up against her once more than continued circling. The cats, different colors and sizes as well as species, would do anything she asked of them. That was just what she'd done. She'd called them. Now she had enough weapons at her disposal to finish these men off.

For an instant, she wondered if this was necessary, if King Dax was actually worth the chance of losing one of her precious cats. She closed her eyes and his face hovered there. Even dirty and skinny, his eyes burned with intelligence and courage. She had to get him out and away which meant that these men had to die.

Jade never took the act of killing lightly, but she would do whatever was necessary if it was necessary. To save the King meant doing whatever needed doing to keep him safe. With a loud whistle, she dropped down onto the shoulders of one of her two targets. This one infuriated her with the string of claws that he wore around his neck like a trophy. He grunted at her weight but didn't go down. Instead he reached back and grabbed the back of her neck when she tried to flip off his shoulders to get some distance between them. Instead, she ended up on her back on the ground with him on top of her.

She fought, dropping her sword to pluck one of her knives from her boots. But he blocked her hand and then took both of hers above her head. She struggled but he had her trapped, his body pressing intimately down on hers. Her only hope was her cats. She tried to stare around her to search for Becks but her captor kept shifting his weight so that she couldn't see anything but him.

He stank, that was the first thing that went through her mind. He had a straggly beard that was full of bits of food. His long hair had been braided in tiny plaits that he kept tied at his neck. He opened his mouth as he was panting, trying to keep hold of her and she did a double take. For a man as dirty and nasty, he had teeth that had been colored in with a paint stick. Otherwise they were beautiful, even with not a single missing tooth.

She let out a piercing whistle and then stared at the man again as he let out another whistle. It was the whistle that she used to call off her cats. How did he... How could he... She stared into his eyes, beautiful, blue eyes and she had her answering.

She brought her head up and hit him square in the forehead, biting back the groan of pain that wanted to escape her lips. "Get off of me, you pony's backside!"

The man sat up and helped her sit up. Then he began petting and talking to her cats as if they were his own. He even got a few swipes of rough tongues as the cat's showed their affection.

"Cal, where did you get that necklace?"

"That's the first thing you say to me after I saved your life?" He sounded put upon and unappreciated but Jade knew he was being himself.

"You expect me to thank you, Calin Trask! I was probably saving your damned life." She got to her feet and rubbed at the knot that was growing at the top of her forehead. She glanced around to note that her cat's had done what needed doing without her help. They were sitting by their kills, some licking their paws of the dull red blood. When they saw her, one by one, they rubbed against her. She checked them for wounds but they seemed to come through this skirmish unharmed.

She glanced at Cal, desperately trying to hide the fact that she was glad to see him. "So what are you doing with some of Cassianna's losers?"

"Seemed like a good job at the time," Calin said with a laugh. "She was looking for fighters with experience. Besides, she's something else to look at, you know?"

Cal reached out and touched the side of her mouth. She jerked her head back and wiped the side of her mouth with the back of her hand. She hissed at the dirt on her hand got into the split lip. "You son of a bitch."

"I did that?" He sounded as innocent as a newborn babe and it irritated her more.

"How in the hell did I ever put up with you."

"Uh...Wait a minute. I was the one that pulled you out of that damned ditch and bandaged your wounds. I was the one who let you ride with me. I was also the one who helped you with the magicks."

"Yeah," Jade bit back the chuckle that was trying to escape. "And I let you have the pleasure of my company."

Cal slung his arm around Jade's shoulders and walked her toward the horses the men had tied between two trees. "See one you like?"

Jade ducked under his arm and went unerringly to a black pony that had two white feet and pulled it's reins from the tether rope. "I'll take Jasmine."

She slipped up, onto her back, only to find her butt causing a small cloud of dust on the hard ground. "You should know better by now Jade. Jazz only has one rider, me. Where's Storm?"

"Hopefully almost to Henri's." Jade got to her feet and reached out to grab Cal's hair, laughing as the wig slid off, taking the ugly beard as well. "What is with this getup?"

"Let's get moving, Jade. I wouldn't want to be found standing in the middle of Cassianna's top hunters. We can talk on our way to Henri's."

Jade went to the horses and released them all except for the one she decided to ride. She pulled the saddle off the pony's back and allowed a grimace of disgust. Then she picked up a handful of grass and used it to quickly rub down the pony. Then she easily hopped on the pony's back. "Let's go."