Chapter 7 Part 5

Nikki was feeling much better than she had in a long time. She had managed to give Miguel something to think about and in the process cool the passionate stud off. Oh, he was indeed handsome, she admitted that readily, but her heart belonged to another.

She also reveled in the thought that she had a friend in the Citadel. Someone had slipped her that oak leaf the day before and it had been like the first daffodil after a long dreary winter.

She had been listening with minor satisfaction as Miguel gave her jailer a good tongue lashing. She was not very fond of her jailer either. He had made repeated attempts to gain her favors by suggesting that he could arrange a more comfortable stay if only she would do a few things for him as well.

When she heard the key in the door, she fully expected that she was in for a beating of worse. But the figure that stepped through the door was not her jailer. It was one of the household guard. For some reason she did not feel the usual fear or repulsion. As for the guard, he simply stood there for a moment. Then set a bundle on the floor and removed his helm.

"Avery!" Nikki ran into her mate's arms as he met her halfway across the floor. She planted her lips against his and prayed for time to stop. Fortunately it didn't and Avery pushed her away, reluctantly and gently.

"One moment, beloved," he said as he stripped the guard's clothing from his back. Beneath he wore his normal camouflaged trousers, but no shirt. His boots were looped around his waist and he quickly removed the issue clogs and donned his deerskin boots. Liberator was slung across his bare back. The smooth, muscular chest was covered in sweat from the upstairs sprint.

Avery handed the bundle containing the Tome of Creation to Nikki and drew Liberator. He quickly carved a hole in the side of the wall and watched as the stones fell to the ground.

Sheathing the sword, he lifted Sam's body and drew Nikki close to him. "I need your help," he whispered. With his free hand he reached into his belt pouch and took forth a small sprig of mistletoe. "My magic is detectable here," he told her. We need your power to get us out of here." He placed the sprig into her small hands.

"I knew you would come," she replied. Then without another word, she kissed the small, but potent plant and entered a trance perilously close to the edge of the cell. A sudden gust of wind would send her to hear death, Avery feared, but he dared not interfere with her magic.

Noise erupted from the palace below. A gong sounded and rang again and again as some one beat continuously at it. Voices full of panic filled the air and far below people ran in every direction. At one side, of the structure, smoke poured steadily from a portal. Apparently the fire was spreading. That was good. It would give them more time.

"Bastard!" Nikki screamed. She whirled and fell into Avery's free arm. "The warlock has erected a barrier." Her eyes were full of defeat. "Twice now you have put your faith in me and twice I have failed you."

Avery kissed her cheek and brushed the tear away. "Nonsense," he said. "If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be alive today. And even if my life ends here, I’ll be happy for I’ll have had my share of years of total happiness."

A sound from beyond the broken wall interrupted them. "Griffin's!" Nikki cried as two of the great forms floated into view Two huge creatures each with the body of a giant lion with the wings and head of a massive bird filled the sky. "I got through after all." The creatures hovered in the air near the opening.

There was a small ledge a few feet below their cell wall, and Avery stepped out onto it. It led around to a parapet. The griffins both landed and await their passengers. Avery placed Sam's limp form across one griffin. "You ride with Sam," he suggested. "I weigh more than you two do so let's not overburden our friends here." He took his mate by the waist and gave her a boost up. Was she putting on weight?

Under Nikki's direction, the creatures took flight and winged northward. It appeared that they had made their escape good. "Dear," Nikki called to him as they flew across the rooftops of Aspberg.

"Yes?" Avery answered.

"These griffins were not summoned by me. They claim that they never heard my call. They were sent by a friend."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Avery called back.

"What?"

"Anyone who sends such a gift, I’d be more than happy to call friend," Avery clarified.

The griffins flew steadily north for several hours until the edge of the Great Deep, the massive forest lands of the east, came into view. The griffins landed at the tree line. They had not given any further communication after having stated that a friend had sent them.
When they landed. Avery dismounted and helped Nikki to the ground. He was certain she had put on weight, but he attributed it to too little activity. It was not surprising considering that she had been locked up for several months.

"I'll be glad when we can get you home and into some decent clothes," he told her as he retrieved Sam's body. "Those Blackheart robes don't do you justice."

"They are comfortable enough right now," Nikki assured him.

When they were dismounted and away from the griffins, the majestic creatures took to the air again. "What now?" Avery asked.

"I can use magic to get us home," Nikki suggested. "Now that we are in the woods, that warlock can not block my power."

Avery shifted Sam's body into an over-the-shoulder carry. "Well by all means, make with the hocus-pocus."

Nikki glanced sidelong at him. "'Hocus-pocus'?"

Avery waved the question off. "Sorry, love. I’ve been hanging out with a pair of comedians for the last month or so."

Nikki nodded and embraced the ranger. On tiptoes, she reached up and gave him a kiss. For the moment they were in no danger and were at luxury to share their feelings. Nikki held her mate close. "I missed you so much," she whispered against his chest.

Avery held the embrace long and tenderly, but conscious of the fact that they were still on the run, he gently pushed the young woman away. "Get us home, beloved," he said. "Then before a warm fireplace, we can give of ourselves to each other." Nikki smiled a sly and knowing smile that was both arousing and unsettling to the ranger. She was definitely up to something.

She took more of Avery's magic plants. The mistletoe and holly and oak leafs were ground between two rocks into a pulp and mixed with rainwater collected from a calm pool nestled deeply within a thicket of underbrush.

When she was done making her concoction, she took a handful of the goo and spread it generously upon the nearby trunk of a broad oak. She then took a second scoop and applied it to Avery's free hand.

"Be sure that this hand is the last thing to enter the portal," she told him. "This hand is what will close the doorway behind us."

"Where’re we going?"

"Just like a mage," she explained, "a druid can also move magically over great distances, and just like mages, we too must know the place where we are going. Unless your playmates have cut my trees down, we should have no trouble getting home."

Avery understood. He had a fair working knowledge of lower powered druidic magic, but he was not well versed in the magic of higher levels of power. "I’m right behind you, dear," he said, confident in Nikki's power.

Nikki reached out and took him by the arm that was balancing Sam over his shoulder. "Here we go." She reached out with the hand that was covered with the potion. As her hand touched the surface of the wood, her flesh seemed to become translucent and passed deeply into the wood. Avery followed as she pulled him into the wood behind her. He held out his free hand as she had asked and the door closed behind him.

Nikki led him for what seemed like many long minutes. There was no sensation except for that of walking through a body of water. Then abruptly, they were standing at the edge of the clearing around Nikki's cabin.