Page 87 of Grounded By Love
Goosebumps raced all over her skin. She really wished her guard had been where he was supposed to be. Then she might’ve already been in bed with Kaeldar.
Peering around a corner she still couldn’t find her guard. She would have to make her way all the way across the castle, to get to Kaeldar's chambers.
Frowning she started to make her way there, when a sudden sharp pain coursed through her skull. The floor came crashing up to meet the side of her face, as she crumpled to the ground.
As her vision faded, she watched two rock giant men come and stand over her. She tried to ask them for help, but all that came out was a jumble of scrambled words, as her vision blurred and darkness overcame her.
"I don't know about this." One of the rock giants grumped to the other, as they stared down at the motionless human female. "Kaeldar will be less than pleased, when he finds out."
"The king will have our hides, if we don’t get her out of the castle, and as far as I know, Kaeldar has yet to be crowned king." The second rock giant looked over at the first. "Now get the bag ready, Marn. We don't have time to weigh our options. We need to get her moved and quickly.”
Marn looked down once more at the human female. "It’s a shame we have to get rid of her. She was really starting to make a difference with her healing.”
The second rock giant scoffed. "Stop your mumbling and get going before someone stumbles upon us."
Marn bent down and wrapped the fur bag around the human female. When he stood, he tossed her over his shoulder like a bag of vegetables and off they went.
"I mean it though, Taeg. If Kaeldar finds out what we’ve done, there will be no stopping him from having our heads. I’ve seen the way he looks at this female."
"He won't find out. She’ll have dissappeared without a trace. That is all that Kaeldar will know, so shut up and stop blubbering about it." When he saw Marn was about to start all over again with his complaining Taeg ordered, "Be quiet or you will attract attention to us, and then Kaeldar will know who has gotten rid of the human female."
They made their way through the castle. Every once in a while, they would be forced to duck into an empty room, when someone walked past. Their mission from the king was to capture the human female and take her from the castle without being seen.
The king wanted his son’s distraction to be gone, and Taern wasn’t about to let him down. If they succeeded, he was sure the king would reward them both handsomely.
Unfortunately, Marn hadn't really caught on to the concept of being invisible. He kept trying to talk, and Taeg had to keep reminding him to shut his mouth.
Eventually, they made it to the stables, saddled up their horses, and headed out of the castle without anyone noticing them. The king would be very pleased, and they would be richly rewarded, there was no doubt in his mind.
Kaeldar woke with a stretch. When ever he had Claira by his side, he slept like a baby. He couldn't help it. There was something about her presence that just lulled him into a deep slumber. His little human was doing wonders for him.
Rolling over he let his arm fall over her. His eyes popped open, as his arm landed on an empty bed. Her side of the bed was freezing cold.
Bolting up in bed he looked around the room, and she wasn't any where to be seen. A frowned formed on his face, as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. Perhaps she had left him to go tend to some ill rock giant during the night and he’d failed to notice.
That must be it. His quelled his racing heart, as he thought about it. It all made sense. He would just go check up on her to put any fears in his mind to permanent rest. He could see her leaving in the middle of the night and getting distracted with all her powders and medicines. Or maybe she’d even fallen asleep in her healer’s room.
Kaeldar chuckled to himself. He was delighted she had something to look forward to. It pleased him he was able to bring a smile to her face and that his people were interacting with her at some level. They may not love her, but they sure did enjoy her expertise with healing.
He knew the soldier she had saved a while ago was speaking her praises left and right and that was exactly what they needed, to have someone else on their side. Someone who would spout their praises, a man who was honored for his service to the royal army.
Kaeldar quickly got dressed, strapped a sword to his waist and made his way out of his chambers. He wound his way through the corridors of the castle, so he could surprise her.
As he turned onto the last corridor that led to her healer's room, he noticed the absence of the rock giant guard he’d assigned to follow her.
When he heard no sound coming from the other side of the chamber door, he felt like something wasn’t quite right. Holding his breath he laid his hand on the latch, and then swung open the door only to find the room empty.
No Claira.
A frenzy hit him hard, but he tried to keep his head straight. Panicking would help no one, he had to think about this logically.
Where would she have decided to go other than her healer's room? He thought he’d been clear she shouldn't be going to any rock giant houses. They had to come here to the castle to receive her healing.
Would she have gone against the promise he had forced out of her? It wasn't safe, even with a guard, for her to be walking around the rock giant village.
Not even bothering to close the door behind him, he made his way through the entire castle and through the town. He did his best to find any sign or hint of where Claira might’ve gone.
The whole day passed, and he found absolutely no trace of Claira. It was like she had disappeared into a puff of smoke.
