Heart of Darkness Read Free

rider
approached.
     
    "The Night Rider," came the eventual
response. It was definitely a man's husky voice.
     
    Whether it was fear or some other impossible
to name emotion, his words had ripples of tension shuttling up and
down her spine. The tiny hairs at her nape fluttered as she tried
to calm herself down.
     
    "Why do you hunt me down as though I'm the
fox and you the hounds? What right do you have?" she declared
indignantly.
     
    The only response she received at first was a
gravelly chuckle.
     
    "As both Wolfe Sinclair and the Night Rider, I have every
right to hunt you down. You know why I seek you. Just as you know
why I have been following you."
     
    Staring up at him with bewildered eyes, she
felt anxiety strum her nerves to fever pitch. Isabeau had no idea
as to why this man would be seeking her. All she did know was that
she had been running to avoid a similar fate to that of her
parents'.
     
    As far as she had always been aware, there
had been no real or definite reason for her beloved mama and papa's
deaths. Only supposition.
     
    But, was this man their murderer?
     
    By admitting that he had been following her,
was he also admitting to the slaying of her parents?
     
    She damned her muddled brain's confusion as
her thoughts were sluggishly processed and no answers, intelligent
or otherwise, were forthcoming.
     
    With a tortured voice, she replied, "I do not
know why you're following me."
     
    He laughed again and she winced at the
harshness behind his tone. In her mind's eye, she saw the flames
that licked at her family home. The thatched, straw roof smoldering
as it was consumed by a fire to end all fires.
     
    The man behind the voice seemed capable of
anything. Perhaps that was her fear talking, but then, what other
emotion should she be feeling in so malevolent a situation such as
this one?
     
    Wincing as she placed her scratched palms
against the leaf-strewn ground, Isabeau shakily climbed to her feet
and stood defiantly before him.
     
    "You killed them, then..." she stated quietly
and was horrified when he laughed. The sound menacing in the
darkness of the wood. She flinched at what she took for an
admission of guilt and waited with bated breath for his reply.
     
    "Who haven't I killed? Your sheriffs would be
most pleased to pin the majority of the unexplained deaths on the
shoulders of my brethren and I."
     
    She swallowed, the convulsive movement adding
to the nausea that had settled uncomfortably in her stomach.
"That's no answer. Your evasion does not befriend you to me,
sir."
     
    He sniggered. "And I am certain that if I
treat you like the veriest maid, you would come running into my
out-stretched hands. You have led me a merry chase, fair lady, but
no more. You will return with me and mine to my land and submit as
your kind should."
     
    "My kind?" she screeched, her anger lifting
her voice to a higher than normal pitch.
     
    She could only thank the Goddess as the
horses seemed to react to her screeching anger and they skittishly
moved and jolted their riders. All of the thirteen horseman rushed
to soothe their horses and she took the opportunity to flee their
circle.
     
    Within five steps, she felt herself being
hurtled to the hard ground and her head simultaneously being
slammed against it.
     
    Grunting at the pain that rushed through her
from both the hit to her head and the consequent heavy weight of
the man's body landing atop hers, she wheezed, "Get off me, you
brute!"
     
    Instantly, she was spun around and dragged to
face him. The intimacy of the position was not lost on her and she
struggled to move away from him, striking out with her hands and
feet. Isabeau was only allowed this freedom for a few moments,
until her hands were captured and her legs pressed against the
ground with the weight of his own bearing down upon them.
     
    His hands slid upwards, along the length of
her wrists and then suddenly, they were touching her fingers. A
sharp zip of energy jolted her and her