Chapter 5

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.

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.