Threads of Destiny

Chapter Four

Marc bit back a groan as he tried to clear the fogginess from his brain. He was on his back, the hard surface beneath him stone. There was a weight on his chest—a soft, supple, shifting weight. Blinking, he glanced down and stilled.

Kathryn.

Everything came flooding back to him—his flight through time and space, the fight and their desperate escape. The only question was, where were they? Had they made it back to Javara?

He could see a window, the shutters thrown back and its colored glass panes visible. He turned his head slowly and relaxed as the familiar confines of his room met his gaze. The fireplace was cold but he recognized the oak table and the two large, carved chairs that sat beside it. Above the hearth hung a large ornate sword that had belonged to his father. He was home.

He turned his head in the other direction and saw the corner of his large four-poster bed and the edge of a black boot. At least one of the men had made it. Kathryn moaned, drawing his immediate attention. She shifted and her pelvis ground against his, bringing her feminine heat up against his rock-hard erection. It seemed that no matter the situation, he wanted the woman in his arms.

Her hair had come loose from its knot and long tendrils rested across his chest.

Fascinated by the fiery color, he lifted a strand and brought it to his face. It was soft and smelled of flowers. His chest tightened and his cock flexed.

Her eyelids fluttered and gradually opened. He watched, uncertain how she would feel about this turn of events. She seemed to know him, yet she had claimed he was not real. How could that be?

His erection continued to throb and he shifted slightly, trying to ease some of the pressure on his balls. She couldn’t deny he was real any longer. Not with his shaft pulsing against her sex. Even through the layers of their clothing, he could feel her heat.

Her green eyes opened and she blinked several times. Her lashes, thick and long, brushed her cheekbones. Her brows were a reddish brown. Everything about her captivated him. He wanted to know all there was to know about her, to uncover each and every one her secrets. He wanted to strip her clothing from her and spend hours learning the curves and hollows of her body. He longed to bury himself in her heat and bring them both to completion.

“What?” she began and broke off. She jerked away suddenly and he grunted, barely managing to keep his manhood safe from harm as she rolled off him. The satchel she had around her chest smacked him in the head.

He sat up slowly, rubbing his head, not wanting to alarm her unnecessarily. “You are in my room, in Garen Castle.”

She licked her lips and he noticed how plump and pink they were. “That’s impossible. This place doesn’t really exist.

“So you have said. Yet it is so.” He wanted to kiss those lips but forced himself to look away. There was time for that later, once he’d taken stock of the situation.

The dark-haired man was lying facedown a few feet away from them. The other man was on his back, just beyond, one arm flung over his head. A pool of blood was rapidly forming beneath the first man.

Kathryn’s gaze followed his and she gasped when she saw the blood. “Tienan,” she cried, flinging herself toward the dark-haired man. Yanking the satchel over her head, she dumped it aside. “He must have been shot before we managed to get away.” She faced Marc, her skin pale but determination on her face. “Help me.” He scooted over beside them and quickly turned Tienan onto his back. Blood seeped from a wound on his shoulder. It must have come from the strange weapons they’d held in their hands. He glanced around the room but saw no sign of them. For some reason, they hadn’t made the trip. Marc was glad they hadn’t. They were deadly and, from what he’d seen, you didn’t even have to be close to your opponent for it to be effective.

“I need hot water.” Kathryn glanced wildly around the room. “I need an operating room.”

Marc frowned. “An operating room?”

“Oh God. I need to remove the bullet and stitch up his wound.”

“You are a healer,” he could hear the awe in his voice. Healers were rare and valued by all. His woman was indeed a treasure.

“I need a needle, threads, any medical tools and medicines you have on hand.” She turned back to her friend, placing her fingers against his neck.

Marc bounded to his feet and strode to the door. Flinging it open, he let out a roar that was sure to bring people running. In the meantime, he went to the fireplace, crouched down and lit the kindling beneath the logs that lay waiting.

He heard the sound of cloth ripping and turned. Kathryn had torn Tienan’s shirt open. As he watched, she whipped her top over her head. Folding the material, she placed it over the wound. She was still wearing a white garment with lace around the edges. A bra. He’d heard Christina describe the contraption on more than one occasion.

It was pretty but it exposed far more than it hid. Her breasts weren’t overly large but they were firm and high.

“Check Logan.”

She didn’t even look his way as she tossed the command over her shoulder. He knew she was worried about both men. Pulling his gaze from her breasts, he took the few steps necessary to bring him to Logan’s side. Marc crouched down and inspected the still man’s body. “His arm has a slight wound but it’s already stopped bleeding. He doesn’t seem to be hurt anywhere else.”

Footsteps pounded on the stairs and Jarek bust into the room, sword drawn. Behind him almost a dozen warriors followed, including Zaren and Bador Bakra. They filled the room, all of them staring at the group sprawled on the floor.

“Get Mara and Christina. I need hot water, needles, thread and medicine.” He gave them Kathryn’s requirement quickly.

He heard her gasp. She swayed slightly but her hold on the bandage never wavered. “This is crazy. Maybe I’m dead. Or maybe the General caught me and this is some delusion brought on by torture.”

Jarek stepped forward, sword still held high. “What is going on?” The tone of his voice suggested that he wanted an immediate answer.

Marc sighed, knowing all hell was about to break loose. “The tapestry brought them.”

Kathryn kept up the pressure on Tienan’s wound as she glanced over at Logan.

She’d seen him move the slightest bit a moment ago and knew he was awake but playing possum until he understood the situation. Although the guns were nowhere in sight, she knew he didn’t necessarily need them to defend himself. Both he and Tienan had trained in martial arts and ancient weaponry. In fact, both men would probably enjoy swinging one of those swords that Marc carried.

She was losing her mind. There was no other explanation. She didn’t want to look by the door, didn’t want to face the large group of warriors, all armed, all talking at once. As soon as Marc had mentioned the tapestry, everything had changed. She could sense the excitement bubbling beneath the tension. Would they attack or would they help?

She glanced at Marc and he seemed completely at ease but then again, this was his home, not hers. Not that she had a home anymore. Tienan gave a low moan, more of a sigh really and she leaned forward. “Don’t move. You’ve got a bullet in your shoulder that has to come out.”

He opened his eyes and they were clear and alert. “Where are we?”

“I’m not really sure,” she began.

“You are at Castle Garen in Javara.” The big warrior who’d burst through the door took a step toward them. His sword was still in his hand but at least he’d lowered it to his side. It looked big and sharp and Kathryn quickly remembered the heads of the two guards that Marc had decapitated in one swing. Bile rose in her throat but she swallowed it back.

Had they made a mistake in coming here? Not that they’d really had any choice in the matter. At least now they had a chance.

“I am Jarek.” His brown eyes narrowed as he studied them.

Kathryn shook her head. This was unbelievable and it was just like in the book.

Except this seemed real. She could see the family resemblance between him and Marc.

His coloring was slightly different but the facial features were similar. And just like in the book, his hair fell to his waist with two thin braids framing his face. All the people around them seemed real. She knew that the blood seeping from Tienan was too real to be ignored.

“Kathryn Piedmont.” She gave him a sharp nod.

Jarek took another step toward them, raising his sword the slightest bit. Both men beside her burst into action. Logan launched himself to his feet in one motion and delivered a kick to the midsection of another warrior who had been staring intently at her chest. When the man doubled over, Logan moved in swiftly, landed a karate chop on his arm and grabbed the sword from midair as it fell from the warrior’s nerveless fingers.

Tienan wrapped his arm around her, rolling them both against the far wall. Pushing her behind him, he came to his feet, knees bent, arms loose by his sides, blood seeping heavily from his shoulder. She slapped the bandage back over the wound, ignoring his growl of protest. She wasn’t letting him bleed to death. He could bitch at her later.

Logan placed himself in front of both Tienan and her. The large sword was gripped lightly in his right hand, his feet were braced apart and his knees were slightly bent. He was ready to fight. “You will not harm her.”

She peeked around Tienan’s shoulder, icy sweat rolling down between her shoulder blades. She shivered. She didn’t want to die this way.

Marc was standing with his arms crossed, shaking his head. Jarek had lowered his sword, disbelief in his eyes. No one spoke.

“What’s going on in here?” The woman stepped through the doorway and the men moved aside to let her into the room. Her hair was so blonde it was almost white and fell in a thick mass to her waist. Her figure was what could only be described as lush and she was carrying thick towels and some jars in her hands. She blinked, her eyes so blue that Kathryn thought that they couldn’t be real.

The woman stopped beside Jarek and cocked her eyebrow at him. The warrior’s face softened as he peered down at her. If Kathryn was correct, this would be Christina.

The woman glanced at Logan and then beyond him, her gaze resting on Tienan.

“You’re injured.” She turned back to her husband.

“We didn’t do it,” he grumbled. “The tapestry brought them.” Fear appeared in Christina’s face and she took a step away from them. Marc rested his hands on her shoulders and Kathryn felt a flash of jealousy rock her to her core. It was as if she’d caught her man cheating on her. As if feeling her gaze on him, Marc looked her way and slowly removed his hands from Christina, letting them fall to his sides.

“The tapestry did not come for you, Christina.” Marc reassured her. “It came for me.”

Kathryn now understood the woman’s fear. She obviously didn’t want to return to her own time. This wasn’t the time to start into some long explanation. “This is all fine and good,” she spoke up, ignoring Tienan’s low grunt of disapproval. “But Tienan is bleeding to death while we’re gabbing.” He was still steady in front of her but she could sense his waning strength.

Logan held the heavy weapon in front of him, the blade never wavering. “I will have your word that you will not harm Kathryn.” She noted that he didn’t mention his own wellbeing or Tienan’s.

Christina’s eyes widened. “They would never hurt a woman.” Her disbelief seemed to relax both men but Logan still didn’t lower his sword. He had his eyes on Jarek, the obvious leader of the bunch.

“Women brought by the tapestry are special and are to be treated as such. No one will harm her here. The penalty for such a thing would be death.” Jarek met Logan’s gaze.

Marc strode forward, obviously reaching the limits of his patience. “Enough. Mara is outside the door with hot water and more supplies. If I’d wanted any of you dead, I would have left you all behind.”

There was that. She tried to nudge Tienan forward but it was like trying to move a brick wall. She appealed to the only other sensible person in the room—the other woman. “You must be Christina.” When the blonde woman nodded, Kathryn continued. “I’m Kathryn Piedmont. This is Tienan.” She indicated him with a tilt of her head. “The man holding the sword is Logan. We come from Earth.” That last line sounded like something out of a cheesy, twentieth century science fiction movie.

Christina’s eyes widened and she smiled. “I’m from Earth originally too.” Pushing past her husband, she strode forward. Logan stepped out of her way, uncertainty on his face. Kathryn knew he’d never raise a finger to hurt Christina. Slowly, he lowered the sword until the point was touching the stone floor.

Kathryn nodded. She’d known that from the book. “I think we come from vastly different times, though.” Wrapping her free arm around Tienan’s waist, she tried to take some of his weight on her. She could feel his muscles beginning to tremble.

“Bring him over here. We can talk more later.” Christina motioned to Logan. “Help her move your friend to the bed.”

Kathryn shook her head. “The table is better for surgery. He’s got a bullet in his shoulder.”

Christina became all business, directing the men to clear the table and move it closer to the fire. An older woman bustled into the room, carrying a large kettle of steaming water. Behind her, several men hefted an even larger kettle into the room, setting it over the fire.

The warriors all crowded around, no one leaving. Marc eased her gently aside and placed his hand over hers on the bandage. “I will hold it in place. See to your supplies.” She hated to leave Tienan but knew Marc was right. “Okay,” she turned to Christina. “What do you have in medicines and medical supplies? I need a scalpel and something to act as forceps.”

The women conferred and Kathryn quickly came to realize that Mara was the one with the knowledge. The woman offered up some herbal concoctions to speed healing and to deaden the area around the wound. As a botanist, Kathryn was intrigued by the salves. She definitely wanted to talk to Mara and pick her brain later.

Medical tools were harder to come by. There was no scalpel but plenty of sharp knives. When Christina explained what a scalpel was, Marc had drawn a wickedly sharp-looking dagger from a sheath just inside his boot and handed it to her. Kathryn quickly dropped it into the kettle to boil.

Her eyes fell on her purse and she grabbed it, ripping the zipper open. Digging into it, she found a small sewing kit with several thin needles and some thread. She knew she had a set of eyebrow tweezers in her makeup bag. They were small but they were better than nothing. She plunged the tweezers, thread and several needles into the pot of boiling water to sterilize them.

She also found a small bottle of aspirin, which would help with fever. Tienan was bound to have one. She only hoped that the medicine that Mara had would keep infection at bay. Right now, that was a bigger concern to her than removing the bullet.

When she had everything she knew could be of help, she tossed the bag under the table for safekeeping.

“Okay.” It was force of habit that had her reaching for the cuff of her blouse to roll it up. She muttered as she touched bare skin. She’d sacrificed her top as a bandage and she’d been running around in nothing but her bra ever since. Everyone had seen her this way. She muttered under her breath. There was nothing to be done about it and her bra was as decent as if she were wearing a bathing suit top for swimming.

Putting it out of her mind, she motioned for Mara to fill a bowl with hot water. She glanced at Tienan and noted the white lines of stress around his mouth and eyes. “How you holding up?”

“I’m good.”

She heard the low grunts of approval from several of the men behind them and barely resisted rolling her eyes. Men! The stupidest things impressed them.

Kathryn tried to give him a reassuring smile. “This won’t take long.” Turning away, she began to focus on the job ahead.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder. “What can I do to help?” Marc was a solid presence behind her. For some reason, just his being there steadied her, made her feel better. Which was crazy. He was a complete stranger. Still, she couldn’t deny how he made her feel.

“I’ll need you to hold his feet and legs. Logan will hold his shoulders.” Marc glanced at Logan. “I am bigger. I should take his shoulders.” She shook her head. “Both Logan and Tienan are much stronger than they look.” Turning aside, she blocked out everyone in the room. She plunged her hands in a basin of hot water Mara had poured from the smaller kettle she’d set beside the hearth, grabbed the bar of soap beside it and began to scrub. When her hands and arms were as sterile as she could get them, she shook off the water and let them air dry. One of Mara’s helpers removed the dagger from the boiling water and handed it to her without touching the blade. The sterilized tweezers, needles and thread were laid out on a clean towel. It was a pitiful assortment of implements but it was all she had.

Bending over Tienan, she stared at the blood-saturated bandage. Logan had stripped away the remainder of Tienan’s shirt. “Hold him.” She waited until both men had moved into position and reached for the edges of the makeshift dressing. She didn’t mean to look at Tienan but she couldn’t help herself. He gave her a crooked smile and then closed his eyes.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, she peeled back the bandage and studied the wound. She dipped a cloth into a clean bowl of warm water and began to clean around the edges of the hole. Once that was done, she anointed the area with the salve that Mara assured her would help deaden the area. With nothing else to be done, she picked up the dagger and gripped it firmly but not too tight. Placing the tip on the edge of the wound, she began.

Time lost all meaning as she worked. First, she widened the hole and then came the arduous search for the bullet and fragments of cloth and bone that might have collected inside the wound. Her fingers cramped as she manipulated the tweezers, swearing under her breath whenever she lost a piece and had to try again.

Tienan’s back arched when she made the first incision. But Logan held his shoulders on the table and Marc pressed down on his legs, not allowing him to move.

Tienan never made a sound.

She knew he was still awake and aware of what was going on. Anyone else would have passed out by now but both Tienan and Logan had an extremely high tolerance for pain—another gift from their years of training. Mara worked alongside her, keeping the site clear of blood. From the sureness of her actions, it was obvious to Kathryn that the older woman had seen her share of bloody injuries.

When she stood for a moment and stretched out the kinks in her back, she felt Marc’s large hand against her spine, rubbing it and lending her his strength. She turned her head toward him. He was watching her, his face calm but serious.

She went back to work, renewed. She didn’t know how long it took her but finally she felt certain she had removed every piece of foreign matter. There had been several small bone chips, but thankfully, the bone itself was intact with no breaks or fractures.

Given his genetics, Tienan would heal rapidly and with no serious complications. Or at least she hoped he would.

Picking up a bowl of hot water in which Mara had mixed something she guaranteed would keep the wound from becoming infected, Kathryn poured it over the wound, flushing it out.

When that was done, she picked up the threaded needle and began to place small, fine stitches in his flesh, closing the wound. The medicinal paste came next and she smeared it over his blotchy red, swollen skin and then placed a soft pad over it and wrapped strips of linen around his shoulder to keep it in place.

Mara worked tirelessly next to her, removing bloody and wet linen, replacing it with fresh and generally doing anything that Kathryn asked of her. The afternoon had waned as she’d worked and now candles blazed around her. Many of the warriors were standing around her makeshift operating table, holding a thick taper high, giving her the light she needed to work.

When she was done, Tienan opened his eyes. They were blurry with pain but he offered her a smile. “Thank you,” he mouthed, no sound coming from his lips.

Kathryn felt a tear roll down her cheek. She raised her shoulder and swiped her face into it. She wasn’t going to break down and cry in front of a room full of strangers.

“No problem. Just don’t make me have to do it again.” Tienan’s eyes were already shut tight, his breathing even. “Now he goes to sleep,” she choked out. Turning aside, she plunged her hands in a bowl of tepid water and washed away as much of the blood as she could before grabbing a towel to dry them.

Logan released Tienan’s shoulders and straightened. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. “Thank you.” She patted his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart. “You know there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for the two of you.”

He nodded, then released her.

“It was then she remembered that Logan had been wounded as well. “What about your arm?”

A lock of hair had come loose from her bun and he tucked it behind her ear. “It is nothing. I’ll clean it later but it is already mending.” She nodded, knowing that their genetics made them very fast healers.

Kathryn sensed Marc behind her and sighed. She wasn’t ready to deal with the situation she now found herself in. She wanted to clean up and then she wanted to sleep.

Tired. She was so damn tired. Her life had been a pressure-packed tightrope walk for weeks now and her body was showing the strain. As if on cue, her stomach began to ache. And who the heck knew what a jump in time and space had done to her physiology. That is, if she truly believed that’s what had happened.

At this point she didn’t care.

Mara patted her on the arm before gently lifting Tienan’s head and putting a pillow beneath it. “You did well. Get some food and rest. I’ll watch over our patient.” She glanced at Logan.

It was the “our” that did it for Kathryn. She knew that the older woman would care for Tienan. “Thank you. For everything,” she added. Mara smiled and nodded as she draped the patient in a thick fur covering.

“I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

Kathryn handed her the bottle of aspirin. “If he wakes with a fever, give him three of these.”

“Are you done?” Marc’s voice was so close to her ear that she jumped.

“For now.”

The words were barely past her lips when he swooped her off her feet and into his arms. She grabbed his shoulders for support as he turned. “What about Logan?”

“I’ll be fine.” He stood next to them, his gaze on Marc. “I’ll watch over Tienan.” Some look passed between the two men that Kathryn couldn’t understand and she was too damn tired to try to figure it out. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, she’d get the lay of the land and make a plan. Tonight she just wanted a bath and bed.

The men all stepped aside as Marc carried her toward the door. Only Christina stopped them. “I prepared the guest room at the end of the hall and left some clothing for Kathryn.” She patted Kathryn’s arm. “We’ll talk in the morning. I’m sure you must have dozens of questions.”

“Hundreds.” Her voice slurred and she yawned. “Sorry.” Christina laughed. “Rest. There’s plenty of time to get your answers. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” she agreed as Marc carried her out of the room.

As they left, she heard Jarek talking to Logan. “What was that move you used to disarm Mennoc?”