Betrayal's Hands

Too confused to do much of anything about his situation, he set about chopping some firewood to keep his body busy while his mind roamed.

*****

Teri awoke in the night, shaking violently from the cold. She was curled up near the now cold hearth, wrapped in a thin blanket which Cor had tossed to her. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the blackness inside the hut, and she could see only outlines. A sound caught her attention. On the narrow bunk, the big man moaned in his sleep.

"I didn't mean for this to happen..." he whispered, nearly inaudibly, "I'm so sorry..." He thrashed about on the bunk, obviously caught in a nightmare. Teri got up carefully from the floor, grateful to be moving to get a little warmth. She approached him, so much less frightening in sleep as he wrestled his demons. With the little light from the window, she could see that his bearded cheek was wet with tears. This unconscious display of compassion finally broke the hold that fear had on her. She was now sure that before her was a man who was certainly not the evil murderer or young children she had feared.

Moving closer, she sat gingerly on the edge of the rough boards, reaching out to touch his face with soft fingertips. "Hush now," she murmured, "may the Lady herself ease you." She began to hum a child's lullaby.

Cor struggled in his nightmare, watching the girl die in his hands, covering him with her innocent blood. Waves of guilt overwhelmed him, and he found himself facing not legions of the enemy, but those he loved. His family, his close friends, all condemning him for the murdering of innocents. In his darkest despair, when he feared he would never recover from the recriminations, a soft sound invaded the dream. A lullaby his mother had sung to him and his brothers when they were small. Something which had banished nightmares then, and did so now. The damning images faded, to be replaced with a feeling of warmth and security.

Teri smiled to herself as the big man took a deep breath and relaxed into dreamless sleep. She sat for a long while, humming and watching him, until finally sleep was to hard to resist. She added fuel to the fire and blew it back to life before curling up again with the blanket.

In the morning it was apparent that the spring thaw had indeed come too soon. Several inches of snow had fallen that night, forcing Cor to delay Teri's departure. With her clothing cleaned and dried, she took to wearing it again.

The cabin became a prison for them over the days that followed. Teri tried to get Cor to talk to her, he seldom had anything to say, leaving her fearful that she was upsetting him. With Krev she could at least usually get him talking about himself. Cor seemed reluctant even to do that. Teri began to suspect some great crime in his past, something he was hiding from or perhaps even ashamed of. Of course Teri knew her own history was nothing she would be willing to share, so she respected his privacy even if her own curiosity was eating away at her.

What Teri could not know was that a growing part of Cor yearned to talk to her. He found himself increasingly captivated by her, and looked forward to the short discussions they did have. Always she seemed to ask the wrong questions though, questions that he would not -- could not -- answer.

Chapter 13

To the north Anna showed signs of returning to who she had once been, but she grew more and more ill as the season changed. Within a few months it became impossible for her to deny, she carried Makan's child in her womb.

Anna was devastated by the realization, and fought to hide it. She also considered trying to void the babe from her body, but it was too late by the time she had accepted the truth. Destroying it would quite probably kill her as well. And so she lived, hating herself and hating the baby within her each day more and more. She was determined to destroy it with her own hands as soon as it was born.

As time passed and her belly grew she was forced to retire from her command, if only temporarily. She would not have her soldiers knowing what it was that she carried within her. How tainted she had become. She sought out her sister and arranged for her to go into hiding to bear the child in secret. Shar arranged a special assignment for her, as far as her soldiers were concerned. A secret mission to strike fear into the hearts of the Aradmathians. None knew the truth.

Winter stayed unusually long, and by the time it was over Anna was nearly finished with her pregnancy. She was miserable with the knowledge of what she carried within her. Shar had her cloistered with a midwife that visited daily in a small homestead a week's ride from the army, out of the way of the supply routes to further conceal her condition from their people.

Anna had also, at one point, put in a request to see Corillius. She had thought long and hard on her behavior towards him and she sought to put it right. Her attitude towards men had grown somewhat rougher than it was before, and it was the only way she found herself able to deal with them anymore. Gone was the camaraderie she had once felt. In its place was the uneasiness of a cat that knew only that the dog would not snap at it so long as the dog knew that the cat would attack it at a moment's notice.

But Cor she had treated wrongly, and she knew it even if she did not feel it. Having sent for him she waited impatiently, anxious to see him and afraid to see him. Cor was the only one, after all, who had seen her at her worst, when she had been Baron Makan's plaything. She spat at the thought of it, dredging up considerable anger. Yet at the same time a part of her quailed in terror at the memory.

Her sister, Sharlotta, had arrived instead of Corillius. Shar told her of their cousin's fate, how he had ridden back into Aradmath to exact the vengeance upon Makan that Anna herself had called down upon him. She also told her how intelligence had learned that Makan's two daughters had disappeared, one slain and another missing. No more news had come of it, and after many months had since passed, the worse was assumed. Corillius Argondiir, one of the army's greatest single warriors, had fallen.

Anna's mood grew sullen at the news, and she took ill for many days. The rest of her pregnancy was plagued with troubles of one sort or another. It was only the end of it, one cool late spring night, that brought Anna and her midwife any relief.

Several hours enduring the pains of labor finally produced a large baby boy. Anna stared at him, sweat and tears running down her face from the agony of the ordeal. She was in a state of shock, unbelieving that such a thing had come from within her. She stared and she reached for him, her lips trembling. The midwife finished tying the child's cord and dried him off, then wrapped him in a blanket before handing him to Anna.

Anna took the child, then remembered her silent vow to herself. Her hand rubbed down his cheek then settled around his throat. Still trembling, she tried to make her hand squeeze, but she could not do it as she stared into the innocent babe's eyes. She looked away, fresh tears running from her eyes.

"Take him!" Anna commanded, thrusting the boy back to the midwife. Confused, she did as she was ordered, then helped Anna finish her ordeal while the babe rested in a cradle, strangely silent for one just introduced to the world.

While finishing her delivery, Anna's mind wandered. She still sought the death of the child. It represented her slavery and imprisonment to her enemy, after all. But now she had hatched a better way of making it happen. Instead of slaying the boy herself, she wanted to take up the quest that Corillius had failed. She would take her bastard son and confront Makan himself with him Before his very eyes she would spill the boy's blood and then Makan's as well. His whore of a wife could bear him no sons, she knew, and the one he had sired would die in front of him, with him helpless to intervene.

The midwife looked up, alarmed, at the strange laughter that kept coming from her charge while she pushed out the last of the remnants of her pregnancy with her final contractions.

Chapter 14

The questions stopped. Not small insignificant ones, of course, but the probing questions into his past ceased. Cor did not realize exactly when it happened, but he noticed that she had stopped digging into his history.

First one excuse, then another had arisen to keep Teri there. After the snows had finally abated Cor had delayed, making sure winter had loosed its hold. Then she had come down with a stomach flux that had forced him to care for her for a few days. Afterwards he wanted her to gain her strength back. Then he admitted that her help was handy with the garden she had planted behind the hut. He still planned on being rid of her, but it was looking more and more like it would not happen until the fall. Or at least that was what he would gruffly explain when the subject came up.

In the meantime he lashed together some branches to make a cot for her. Using pelts of animals he hunted she finished the cot and made extra blankets for herself. Life was far from easy or simple, but she found herself enjoying it for the first time in a long time. Gone, most of the time, was the fear she had come to live with constantly. In its place was a sense of warmth, familiarity, and security. Cor had saved her, after all, from Krev and from the others that had come for her. Cor had also cared for her when she was ill, something she had not been sure he would be capable of.

Now she knew, or at least suspected, his fondness for her. She knew she thought quite highly of him. Often silent, always capable, he was a rock in the turbulent storm that served as her life. Without Cor she had no idea what she would do, where she would go, or what might happen to her. It bothered her that he refused to admit to himself the things she suspected, and it scared her a little that she might be projecting her own feelings onto him.

Teri felt not only safe around him, she also felt liberated. For the first time since he had set foot on the road out of Duth Darek, she had a sense of freedom about her. She felt as though anything were possible, she had only to imagine it. She owed that feeling to Cor, she knew, and she wished she could show her true gratitude to him in ways other than the simple ones that often went unnoticed.

She had even tried going out of her way to raise his interest in her, in ways that women knew best. She let him catch her partially clothed on occasion, whether washing or changing. She would even offer to nurse the minor injuries he acquired; scrapes, scratches, and bruises though they were. She rubbed his shoulders once, in the hopes of relaxing him. While doing so she marveled at the strength she felt beneath the clothes he wore.

Somehow he always managed to wash himself or change when she was not around, adding to her sense of mystery. It was only a one room hut, she did not understand when, where, and how he managed it!

Teri wanted to help him as he had helped her. It became her driving obsession. Before she could figure out a way to make it happen, however, fate intervened.

Cor sat at a table in Mung's Place, listening to the latest snippets of conversation he could hear. He saw Mung from behind the bar, the troll shorter than average for his race but still massive compared to everyone other than an ogre or half-ogre. What concerned him was that Mung kept looking at him. Not at the crowd, so much, but at him.

Finally, at the point where Cor was past being uneasy and ready to leave, Mung made his way out from behind the bar and over to his table. He traded jokes with a few of the patrons on his way over, then finally stopped in front of Corillius.

"You should leave," Mung said bluntly.

Cor looked at him, then shrugged. "Alright," he said, pushing his chair back and standing up.

"Briam's Crossing," Mung continued. "Word's spread that you've got the girl with the reward on her head."

Cor looked at him, eyes narrowing. "What reward?"

Mung chuckled. "Took me a while but I put it together. You're not so stupid. I don't know how it came down, but there was a lot of guys after that girl, and you ended up with her. Asked around, I did. You killed some trolls up north of here."

"So why warn me?" Cor asked him, confused by Mung's behavior and his seemingly random thoughts.

Mung shrugged. "I like it quiet around here, good for business."

Cor's eyes narrowed. There was more to it, he was sure, but he was just as sure that he would not get it from the troll. "Alright," Cor said again, tossing a few coins on the table for the ale he had drank and then turning to the door. He stopped and looked back. "What's the reward for?"

Mung shrugged. "Word is a thousand gold for her safe return."

Cor cursed. "Return to where?"

"Duth Derek's all I know."

Cor nodded. "Thanks," he muttered.

Mung grinned. "Just keep it civil in the Crossing, that's all I ask."

Cor left the tavern and shook his head outside of it. A society minded troll, what next! Chuckling darkly, he turned and stomped off back towards his cabin, wondering with each passing step if he would be there in time.

*****

Teri was taking her time washing, hoping Cor would return early. She luxuriated in the feel of the warm rag against her skin, wiping away the sweat and dirt from working in her garden. She lingered as she washed her chest, feeling her breathing quicken at the sensations the washrag caused her stiffening nipples. She even moaned lightly, wishing that Cor was there and that he would help her with her problem.

The door slammed open, startling her. She dropped the rag into the pot filled with water and stared at the intrusion. Cor looked around the cabin, then his eyes fell on Teri. He paused, his eyes taking in her nudity like a dehydrated man drinking from a stream. He shook his head and growled, seemingly annoyed with himself. Averting his eyes he walked in and grabbed up the set of clothing she had made from the pelts of wolves he had slain when he caught them either in his snares or trying to steal the things he had caught in his snares.

"Put these on, it's time," he said.

"Time for what?" She asked, confused, excited, hopeful, and startled.

"Time to leave," he said.

Her worst fears came crashing in on her. "You're sending me away?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

He looked at her and sighed. "We are leaving," he said again, emphasizing the word 'we'.

"Where are we going?" Teri asked, her spirits buoyed slightly, but the sudden change still left more questions than answers.

Cor just shrugged and moved to another trapdoor in the floor. In this one he removed his mercenary garb he had worn long ago, in what seemed like another life to him. He clenched his stomach muscles and took a deep breath as he stared at it, then began to gird it on.

Teri watched, surprised, as he fit the mismatched armor on. It looked to be patchwork, but his familiarity with it and the effectiveness with which it was worn made her certain that Cor was every bit as formidable as he looked. He glanced up at her as he stood up and cinched the belt around his waist with a hatchet at one end and a long sword at the other.

"Get dressed!" He snapped at her, not bothering to ogle her beauty this time.

Teri jumped, realizing she was brazenly displaying herself to him. She stepped into the patched together leggings and then pulled on the loose fitting top. She slid the supple moccasins she had made onto her feet and hurried over to her pile of belongings, which had grown in the months she had stayed with Cor. She slipped the things she felt she would need into her pack and stood ready. She was amazed, in hindsight, at how differently she valued material possessions now compared to when she had first run away from her former life. Now she valued function over wealth. Utility over fashion.

"Here," Cor said, tossing her a Nordlamarian short sword.

She caught it awkwardly, yelping slightly in surprise. She looked at it, tucked safely in its scabbard, and wondered at what she could ever hope to do with it.

"Just in case," he offered, then slipped his own pack over his back and headed for the door. "Let's go," he said, walking out and into the Darkwood in the evening.

Teri swallowed nervously then tied the weapon around her waist. She looked longingly at the cabin, suspecting she would never know a time as peaceful and free as she had just known, and then turned and followed the man she had come to know as a protector instead of a captor.

****

As they moved through the darkening woods, Teri ran through her mind, trying vainly to figure out what could have spurred Cor to such strange action. He set a grueling pace and she was hard-pressed to keep up. Panting, she struggled along behind him, feeling a bead of sweat run down and curl under her breast. Finally she was nearly to her breaking point, and gasped, "Cor...Please..." and collapsed to the forest floor.

Cor looked back when he heard the plea, just in time to see the girl sink to the ground. He quickly made his way back to her side. "We can't stop yet," he said.

At her pained expression, he growled, "Come then, I'll carry you." He reached down and lifted her to her feet. "On my back."

He crouched and she clambered up onto his broad back, locking her hands around his neck and her legs around his waist. He thought for a moment that he would certainly like to be between her legs, but this was neither the time nor the place. Once she was settled, he took off running again, a relentless pace, even with the extra weight. She sighed, settling her face against his back, concentrating on holding on.

As the sun began to rise over the horizon, seen only as a pale haze in the forest, Cor slowed his pace and finally stumbled to a halt near an enormous oak stump. Teri raised her head to see where they were, seeing still nothing but the forest. Cor dropped to one knee, releasing Teri's legs, and she slowly slid to the ground. A tortured moan escaped her as her abused feet hit the ground.

"Will you tell me now what this is about?" she asked softly, moving around to look into his face. He still had not moved from where he had settled.

"Who wants you Teri?" He countered, his face tight and angry for a moment. She looked at him, confused, not knowing what he meant. He growled, "There is a thousand gold reward for your return to Duth Darek." He spat the last like a curse. Teri paled, stepping back and away from him.

"You aren't taking me back there..." she swallowed hard, "are you?"

Cor swore, wiping the sweat from his brow before replying. "We've been heading North all night." He dragged himself to his feet and closed the distance between them. "Who wants you back so badly?" Suspicions lay heavy on his mind, and he hoped there was nothing to them.

"My betrothed..." She whispered in a tiny voice. "A monster." Suddenly she began to shake so hard that her teeth chattered. "More than even Krev. His intentions, at least, I understood." She looked at the growing dawn, "Krev at least kept me safe, virgins bring a better price, he said." A tiny hysterical laugh escaped her. "I know only a little of what awaits me if I am returned to Duth Darek, and I will not go there." For a moment, Cor could see the core of steel which had kept the girl alive through the winter.

"You were promised to another against your wishes?" Cor said, ignoring the strange feeling in his stomach.

Hugging her arms to herself self-consciously, Teri nodded. Cor grunted, his thoughts hard to pin down. "And you ran from him, how did you come to winter with the half-ogre?"

"Krev?" Teri asked, personalizing him. "I stumbled onto his bandits, he saved me from them."