I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and happy new Year! Here's something to kick off the new year for you all. Enjoy!
Just as Derbith said, they waited a fortnight. While there were no more signs of an attack The Kurgan still felt wary about leaving her side. He let her venture around the castle when he was gone but ordered her to never go outside without him. She didn't like it but she accepted it. Day after day and she would walk around the castle while her mate was out scowering the land for Ian Derbith. It simple infuriated him that he couldn't track the man and find him, on the other hand he respected the man for being such a difficult adversary and giving a good chase.
Near the end of the fortnight period The Kurgan was standing in the courtyard looking out at the front of his land as the sun set. He heard footsteps behind but didn't turn around. It wasn't until Arielle stood right next to him did he look down at her. He snaked a possessive arm around her waist and she pressed herself close to him.
"I said you weren't to go outside." He said.
She grinned slightly, "I figured since I'm with you I'd be safe. After all you're The Kurgan, the strongest, fiercest man in all the world."
He grinned at her words, "You speak the truth woman."
"Well of course I do," she retorted. "Why ever would I lie to you? You'd know." She looked up at him with an eyebrow raised and smirked at him.
He growled in his throat and then pulled her up and smashed her lips to his in his possessive way, but on the edge of it Arielle could feel a slight desperation to his action. To help calm that edge she gently pressed her palm to his cheek and pressed her body closer to his, giving him more desperation than he was letting off. He felt it and dragged her inside to their bed. Almost an hour later Arielle was laying on her stomach, completely spent from their vigorous love making. The Kurgan, however, sat on the edge of the bed with only his trousers on.
He sat thinking hard about how best to catch this Derbith man, he looked at the floor darkly and then stood and realized he was completely obsessed with finding this man. Well shouldn't he be? His mate was in danger, his only mate, his life mate. This was his last chance with her and he would do anything to ensure the rest of their never ending future. He stood up and walked over to the balcony doors, leaned on his arm against one of the opened door frames and stared out over the land. Nothing stirred in the light of the half moon shining down.
Silently he shut the door and drew the drapes, blocking the outside world from his own within. He turned back and went back to the bed, he climbed under the covers and firmly held his woman against his body, he felt her gentle breathing and in that instant she became very delicate. No woman had ever brought that feeling out in him. He wasn't a poet and so wasn't about to compared her to anything but she was indeed precious to him. With resentment he closed his eyes to sleep and gather strength to hunt down and destroy Derbith.
Something called to her, something in the waking world.
Arielle's eyes slowly opened and she laid on her back trying to listen. She carefully looked over and saw her master with his back turned to her, his side went up and down as he breathed in his sleep. She sat up and reached out for her robe on the chair beside the bed, a violet colored one with white fur trim and gold threaded leaves.
She tied it around herself snugly and went to the window directly across from her spot on the bed. Looking out she saw nothing, no night prowling animals, no people, not even the trees moved. It was then that she decided she must be dreaming. She heard a soft thudding outside her door, it sounded so distant that it had to be coming from somewhere in the castle. She looked at her sleeping mate and firmly believed she was dreaming because he hadn't stirred when she heard the noise and she knew him to leap out of bed at any sound throughout his domain.
She grinned sleepily, "He must be exhausted. Pushing himself for days without sleep trying to catch Derbith." Another soft thud reached her ears.
In her sleepy haze she only wanted to find out what the noise was and then return to her bed. She stifled a yawn and then silently left the room. No thought of danger crossed her mind. Moonlight streamed in through the tall windows down the corridor and helped light her way to the staircase. She carefully descended them and as she neared the bottomed her curiosity turned to irritation and she hurried silently to find the noise and stop it so she could sleep again.
She followed the noise to the library, a place she was fond of. She pushed open the heavy oak door and it swung inward. She looked around the room but didn't see anything amiss. The thudding came again but now it came from around a corner to the right of her. She padded into the library on barefeet and brushed passed the chairs and book shelves. Despite being a more brutish Immortal, The Kurgan had set up an extensive collection of works from around the world. He never read them of course but being a count he felt he had an obligation to fill a library in his castle, Arielle was glad he did.
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and finally spotted the window that was open. It was a simple window, about five feet tall, three feet wide. It sat in a little alcove and was level with her waist at the sill. It was one that would open and close, unlike most of the others in the library that were made to never open. It was mainly used in the summer to keep a breeze rolling through in the hot days. It was fall now and the window shouldn't have been open but Arielle still believed she was dreaming and so didn't think anything of it.
She felt the cold of the night air come in and shivered as she tightened her robe again. When she reached the window she paused to look out at the moon lit landscape. She looked up at the sky and saw the half moon surrounded by brightly glittering stars, she never had that good of a view in her old world. As she admired the sky she failed to see a figure just outside the window, flush against the wall. She yawned again and leaned forward on her elbows, the figure looked up, dark green eyes glinted in the moon light.
Arielle reached out for the open panes and out of the darkness something shot out and firmly latched onto her forearm. She tried to scream but the sound was lost as she was roughly yanked forward and tumbled head over heels into the outside world. She slammed down hard on her back and further breath was lost, she struggled to regain it. Her 'dream' quickly turned into a dark nightmare as the figure revealed himself to her; Ian Derbith.
Just as she was about to scream again he swooped down and turned her over, shoving a cloth in her mouth and tying another one around it. She struggled and was reminded of a time when The Kurgan did the same exact thing to her. He yanked her up by her hair and then tied her hands together in the front and in a twist he used the rest of the rope to tie around her waist, locking her wrists firmly in place against her body. Her eyes desperately looked back at the library window as Derbith forcefully dragged her away, all that was left were her tears on the grass.
Not a sound was made.