“But enough about me,” Miles said. “Let’s go find the Behemoth.”
Drusilla blanched yet again. So much for fantasy worlds being under control.
“There’s still the problem of the river,” she replied. “It seems to have wrapped itself completely around us.”
“Yeah.” They’d reached the top of the hill, which was bald of everything except brush and a few graceful trees, and from their vantage could clearly see that they were surrounded by water.
“Well,” he said after a moment, “I guess we wait.”
Drusilla looked at him. “Wait? That’s hardly a heroic response.” Or a heroic adventure. What was going wrong tonight? Why couldn’t she slay dragons, defeat wizards and just generally star in her own video game?
“Maybe not,” he said, patting his mount on the neck. “But the truth of the matter is, Drusie, Olfard can’t keep this up forever. He’s an old man. He’ll get tired, and the spell will wane, and next thing you know, we’ll be crossing dry land.”
She scowled at him. “My hero.”
He laughed. “Brains beat brawn any day. Well, any day you’re dealing with a cantankerous old wizard.”
She wanted to argue with him but had trouble coming up with a good reason to. Then it struck her. “My dad is seriously ill, you know. I don’t have a lot of time to waste.”
Something in his face changed, surprising her. He was not the typical hero at all. Typical heroes didn’t get a soft look in their blue eyes, or a gentle curve to their mouths. “I’m sorry, Druse. I really am. How bad is it?”
“He’s doing okay at the moment. But I don’t know how long it will last. And I have to find this key before…before…”
She was going to cry. But tough warrior princesses didn’t cry, so she looked away and swung down from her saddle. With a quick gesture, she signaled Zeke and Tertio to take up watch a distance away. Far enough away that they wouldn’t see the glistening of her eyes. She wished she could send Miles even farther away. For some strange reason, she did not want him to see her weakness.
Too late. He was already beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” he said quietly. “I’m really sorry. If you want to cry…”
“No!” She barked the word and dashed her hand across her eyes. Princesses were tough. She’d been tough all her life, learning to be a fighter rather than a simpering clotheshorse, learning to deal without having a mother. Learning to be a woman in a man’s world because someday she was going to be alone on the throne of Morgania.
“You’re strong, Drusie,” Miles said, stepping back. “Tears aren’t weakness.”
“Maybe not in your world.”
“Anyway,” he continued, letting the subject drop, “Olfard has gotta run out of steam soon. Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to wield that damn staff of his?”
She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “No. Do you?”
“I tried it once. While I was going to Behemoth taming school, I took a part-time job working for a wizard. Had to wield one of those damn staffs up and down and all around, and when you’re doing the water thing, it weighs a ton. I vastly prefer charming Behemoths.”
“Do you have any other kind of magic?”
He smiled. “Could be. Maybe you’ll find out.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that glint in his eye. Deciding it was safest to ignore it, she tethered her horse to a tree near some tasty grass and sat cross-legged on the ground, watching the river that ran all around the base of the hill.
A minute later Miles joined her, sitting near enough to be present, but not near enough to make her uneasy.
“Why,” she asked him, “do you think he did this?”
“Krusti Olfard? Who knows. The guy’s cranky. We’re too close. What other excuse does he need?”
“Well, if we were too close, why didn’t he just use the river to drive us south? Why did he encircle us?”
Miles rubbed his chin; she could hear the rasping of the stubble on his cheeks. “Good question,” he said presently. “But there’s no explaining Krusti.”
“You know him?”
“I’ve met him. Briefly. He doesn’t encourage gabfests. In fact, he’s single-minded, if you ask me. When he gets to waving that staff of his, you’d better get out of his way.”
“Well, I don’t care what his problem is. I haven’t got forever to get that key.”
“Sorry, Princess, but it doesn’t matter whether you care. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re trapped.” He pointed toward the water. “And it’s getting closer.”
A wet splash on her wrist was all the confirmation she needed.
Drusilla jerked back from her keyboard, looking at the water drops on her wrist. A moment later, something heavy and wet snaked around her ankle.
Cal was leaning over the cubicle top, laughing at her. “Boy, you sure are out of it tonight. Olsen here has been telling you to move.”
She swung her chair around and looked into the face of the night janitor, who was swinging a string mop around her cubicle as if she wasn’t even there.
“You got me wet,” she said.
He looked up at her, his face annoyed. “Not my problem. Next time, don’t get in my way.”
Cal laughed again. Frustrated, Drusilla refused to leave her cubicle. Instead, she turned around and resumed typing data. This night couldn’t end soon enough. Even her sanity-saving daydream wasn’t going her way.
“The water will ebb in a minute,” she told Miles, once again firmly planted on the hilltop with him, the horses, and Zeke and Tertio.
“How do you know?” Miles asked.
“Because something got into my world that shouldn’t have. It’ll go away.”
He looked at her, brows lifted. “Like this is your world? Only yours? Isn’t that just a bit egotistical?”
She scowled at him.
“Oh, yeah, a real princess,” he said sarcastically. “Like this isn’t my world, too.”
With a sigh, she gave up. Clearly things weren’t going to go her way. None of them. For whatever reason, events were taking on a life of their own.
“I mean,” he said, leaning toward her, “I’m here, too, Princess, oh high-and-mighty one.”
“Will you cut it out?”
“Why should I? Just because you happened to be born in a palace doesn’t make the rest of us mere ciphers. And surprise, surprise, we don’t always do what you think we should.”
Instead of feeling stung, she merely felt sad. Very sad. When she looked at him, she could feel her eyes burning. “Life almost never does what I want. Nor do the people in it.”
His mouth was open, as if he were about to continue his tirade, but the words never came. His expression changed, annoyance slipping away, gentleness moving in.
“It seems that way sometimes, doesn’t it?”
“Most of the time, if you want the truth. I just figured my big adventure ought to go my way just a little.”
“It will,” he promised, suddenly all heroic and firm. “We’ll find that key of yours.”
“It’s not your problem, you know.”
“Of course it is. I made it my problem. Besides, I have a Behemoth to tame.” He smiled. “We’ll do this together.”
“Why?”
“Just cuz.”
Then, without so much as a by-your-leave, he scooted over beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.
“You’re a pretty good princess,” he said bracingly. “I realize I haven’t known you that long, but it’s obvious, anyway. I mean, you’re willing to put your life on the line for Morgania.”
She didn’t know how to reply to that.
“You could just have chosen to stay home and marry a prince.”
“Gag me with a spoon,” she said.
He laughed. “Not a homebody?”
“Not me. It’s not that I object to the idea of a prince someday, but I’m not gonna hang around the castle and supervise the maids.”
“Exactly. You’ll be an active ruler. A partner in Morgania. You’ll take care of your people.”
She looked up at him, wondering why he was saying these things. “It’s my job,” she said finally.
He nodded solemnly. “The really good people in the world never make sacrifices.”
Startled, she almost pulled away. “What does that mean?”
He touched her chin with his finger, a warm, gentle touch that made her want to fling herself into his arms. “What that means,” he said, “is that the good people do what’s needed and never see it as a sacrifice…even when others would.”
“Oh.” She still didn’t know how to take that. But she didn’t have time to think about it, anyway. Because his head was lowering and his face was swimming closer, and she realized that she was about to be kissed by a man.
A real man. Not the childish gropings of her boyfriends from school, but the knowledgeable, knowing kiss of a man.
Her heart quivered and something deep in her belly quivered, and her quest and the river suddenly seemed far, far away.
In fact, it was receding a bit. She looked furtively around and realized that Zeke and Tertio were nowhere in sight. Which meant they couldn’t save her. Then she looked at Miles again.
“I don’t usually move so fast,” he said.
“Move?” Her heart began hammering like a wild thing.
“Um…” He seemed to realize that was a mistake, but it was already too late as far as Drusilla was concerned.
She scooted away from him. “Move? Move? Is that what you’re doing? Making a move?”
He winced. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You’re just like all the rest. Moves and scores, like a woman is nothing but a goal post.”
His eyes widened, then a snicker escaped him.
“What’s so funny?”
“I didn’t mean it that way at all. But now that you mention it, it does sound funny.”
She glared at him and considered chopping his head off with her sword, but the fact was, she wasn’t really as bloodthirsty as that, and besides, she needed him to tame the Behemoth…if they ever found it.
“You’re disgusting,” she said.
“No, I’m not. I was simply apologizing.”
Her jaw dropped. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
“Not at all, Princess.”
“Yeah, right.” She folded her arms and looked at the river. It was subsiding, but not fast enough to please her.
“Really.” His voice was a purr, and it was coming from way too close. She hunched her shoulders, trying to hold him at bay.
“Princess,” he said, “I wasn’t making a move on you. I was trying to say that…well…I was getting carried away. I usually wait until I’ve dated someone to decide whether to kiss her. I…just wanted you to know that I don’t kiss every woman I meet the first time I set eyes on her.”
She pursed her lips, not wanting to believe him. And also wanting to. Mixed up, in short.
“Really,” he said again. “I’m sorry I offended you. I just wanted to kiss you so bad….”
If there was a woman on the planet, this one or the real one, who could resist that, it wasn’t Drusilla. Reluctantly, almost shyly, she looked at him from the corner of her eye. Not many men had wanted to kiss her in her life, and most of those had had their eye on the goal post.
“No scores,” she said.
“Hell no. What do you think? That I notch my bedpost? I just wanted to kiss you. Really, really wanted to kiss you. Although at this point, I’m beginning to wonder why.”
That stung. She turned her head, looking at him fully. And once again his face softened.
He touched her hair ever so lightly, sending a quiver through her. “You haven’t been treated very well, have you.”
It didn’t sound like a question, so she was relieved not to have to answer it.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was suddenly low, husky, his breath a warm caress on her cheek. “I guess, being a princess, people want you for all the wrong reasons. That’s terrible. But…I just want a kiss. Just a little one, if that’s okay?”
Before she could answer, he took matters into his own hands. His warm lips touched hers, light as a butterfly’s wings, the merest brush.
But the effect on her was as huge as if he’d set off a bomb in her center. She quivered. She thrilled. She ached.
And she wanted more.
It was impossible to know who moved, but all of a sudden their lips were melding, pressing, caressing. Everything inside her turned soft, compliant, yielding.
And when his arms locked around her, she felt she was in the safest place on earth.
They broke apart, just an inch or two. He looked as startled as she felt. Then they came together again, the kiss deepening, a promise of greater things to come.
Drusilla’s fingers dug into his back, clinging to leather and cloth, wanting to get as close as she could. Needing to be closer still. Aching for things she could barely imagine.
All thoughts of her quest vanished, all thoughts of the river, Krusti Olfard, her dad, everything just flew from her head. This moment, this very now, was all that existed.
“Ahem.”
They jolted apart and looked around. No one was there.
“Did you hear that?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Ahem.”
“Miss Morgan,” said a stern voice, “you’re not typing.”
Drusilla jumped and looked around to discover that the shift supervisor was standing at the entry to her cubicle.
He was a thin man with a long funereal face.
“I’m sorry?” she said, confused.
“Miss Morgan, I’ve been alerted to the fact that you haven’t entered data in the last five minutes.”
Damn that computer upstairs. Damn the keeper of that computer.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wise. I’m…having a cramp.”
“In your hand?”
“Uh, no.”
The excuse had the desired effect. His face reddened, and he began to back up. “Do you need to go home?”
“No, sir. I, uh, took something for it.”
He nodded quickly. “Very well. Very well. Do what you can….”
He fled.
Drusilla would have laughed, except that he might hear her. Except that she was really annoyed he had disturbed her daydream.
On the other hand, getting so involved in a daydream that she forgot to do her work wasn’t a good thing. She didn’t want to lose her job.
Sternly telling herself to pay attention to the numbers and skip the fantasy for the rest of the night, she put her fingers to the keys again, located her place and began typing.
The fantasy, however, would not be banished….
“Time to move,” Miles said briskly. “The river’s down. And I don’t like hearing things that aren’t there. Some wizard has his sights on us for sure.”
Reluctantly, Drusilla got to her feet. “But why? We haven’t done anything yet.”
“I’m beginning to wonder if word hasn’t gone out that you’re looking for the key.”
Their gazes met, and at once she felt a thrill and a chill. “But no one should know. I only told my dad, Zeke and Tertio, and you.”
That last suddenly seemed powerfully significant. All the good feelings his kiss had given her began to drain away.
He looked indignant. “Who the hell would I have told? I haven’t been away from you for a minute since we met.”
“True.” She sighed and looked at the ground beneath her feet. “This isn’t going at all the way I thought it would.”
“Nothing ever does.” He sighed. “But somebody else is paying attention to what we’re doing. This is one coincidence too many. Voices in the air. Sheesh.”
Zeke and Tertio returned then, marching steadily over the brow of the hill. “The river’s passable, Princess,” Zeke said. “We can go now.”
“It’d be better if I knew where to go,” she said, feeling inexplicably sad, as if something had been lost.
“Well,” said Miles, “there’s a rumor of a Behemoth over on Mount Ayth.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “I was headed in that general direction. It’d be a good starting place. I know there are caves big enough on Ayth.”
So that was the way they set out, wading through the almost dry River Mopenwachs and through the dark wood beyond.