When the silence hit once more she stopped and listened, but not for long. It was better she kept moving, then wait to see if the man caught up with her. The leaves scrunched beneath her feet as they pounded the earth, her chest heaved from the exertion, and her heart pounded with fright.
She had to get home. She had to.
She spotted the cottages through the trees. She was close, so close. She had to make it. She had to. She didn’t know what made her turn her head, fear that she would be snatched or fear that she would feel an arrow in her back.
He was there, but in the distance, too far to reach her to stop her from entering the village and he must have realized it, since he stopped. She thanked the heavens and didn’t delay. She ran as fast as she could and burst past the woods and into the village.
Elysia wanted to cry out with relief seeing her husband approach her cottage. Instead, she shouted his name as she kept running. “SABER!”
He turned and seeing the intense fear in her eyes felt like a punch to his gut. He ran to her.
She gasped in relief when he caught her in his arms and swung her up to cradle her against him. Her arms shot around his neck to hold on tight. “A man. A man in the woods,” she said unable to get anything else out.
Saber kept her snug in his arms, ready to tear anyone to pieces who even attempted to take Elysia from him.
“He told me Rory needed my help and I didn’t question him. I went with him,” she said, shaking her head. “I was so foolish.”
Too trusting, he thought, though didn’t say it, since once again he was reminded of his own deception. He tightened his arms around her, hoping to ease the tremble of fright that shook her. Though he was careful, often forgetting his own strength and not wanting to hurt her.
“What happened?” Rory demanded, running toward them, other warriors following close behind.
Elysia cast an anxious glance around and saw villagers looking on in question. Someone must have alerted the keep. She hadn’t told all of it to her husband, but he nodded, letting her know she should tell them, and she did.
“A man came to the door and told me that Rory had been hurt in the woods and he needed my help. I followed him and realized after traveling rather deep into the woods that I shouldn’t have gone with him. He wasn’t familiar to me, but then I don’t know all the warriors. I also realized his plaid colors were different, a barely noticeable yellow running through the blue and black cloth. I managed to lag behind enough to duck behind some holly. When he discovered me gone, he yelled that I wouldn’t escape him. He also said that he was told I was kind and trusting and that I would easily believe him.” She felt her husband tense around her.
“Why would someone want to abduct you?” Rory asked as if it made no sense.
“I asked myself the same question,” Elysia said.
“Chieftain Emory will want to know about this.” Rory nodded to one of the warriors and he took off for the keep. “We’ll go search. Stay close to your husband and we’ll let you know if we find anything.” Rory looked to the half a dozen or more warriors surrounding them. “Spread out and search.” They hurried off and he turned to look directly at Elysia. “Don’t trust anyone.” He ran off to join the search.
Saber set her on her feet and nodded, agreeing with Rory.
“I won’t make that mistake again,” Elysia said and walked toward the cottage. “What confuses me is why anyone would want to abduct me. It doesn’t make sense.”
Saber followed her but not before taking a quick glance at the woods. He had a good idea of why his wife almost got abducted and if he was right, he’d see someone suffer for it.
Elysia had been hesitant about going to Saber’s cottage for the night. They would be isolated there with no one close by if something should happen. Whereas, her cottage provided the safety of others. Not that she didn’t think Saber couldn’t protect her, but what if more than one culprit lingered about? However, Saber had been adamant about spending the night at the croft and once she had entered the cottage, she understood why. He had added to the size of the bed. With the room small, he couldn’t make the bed large, but the extra width he added was enough to make it somewhat comfortable. She’d been pleased to see it, though anxious as well, since it would not be long now that they would consummate their marriage.