The General Read online

  Gabriella had to remind herself several times not to underestimate her enemy. He was good, even better than she expected, which didn’t happen often. He definitely equaled either of her brothers, and she considered that giving him a lot of credit. They fought until both were sweating profusely. They had been sparring for over an hour with neither missing a move nor showing signs of slowing down.

  “You really must be scared that I might win that kiss,” T’Harris tried to divert Gabriella’s attention from the match, if only for a second. He had to admit, she was every bit as good as he had been told. He could feel the effects of her strikes throughout his entire body. He was going to be hurting when this was over.

  “Your tactics won’t get you out of the mess you got yourself into. If you want a way out, concede,” Gabriella

  “You do realize you are going to hurt after this is all over,” T’Harris told Gabriella.

  The thought didn’t slow her down. In fact, T’Harris could have sworn Gabriella might have even sped up slightly, even as she answered, “Not as much as you, or your wounded ego.”

  “I will make you a deal, when we are through with the match I will massage your muscles if you will work the kinks out of mine,” T’Harris teased.

  Gabriella refused to take the bait, although she did respond, “Go find yourself a willing Dark Elf, T’Harris. That shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  “Call me hard to please, my Gabriella, but only the best will do for me. I promise to give in equal measure, and I know you would love the things I will do with you,” T’Harris taunted.

  “It isn’t going to happen,” Gabriella replied.

  “Of course it is, and I am looking forward to learning every inch of your delectable little body. I could use some softness in my life, and you look like you could fit the bill beautifully,” T’Harris continued. In some ways, he was beginning to seriously wonder if he had made an error in judgment by starting up a conversation at this time. He was wasting valuable breath.

  Gabriella’s eyes narrowed, even as she continued her assault on T’Harris. She didn’t like the images his words were bringing to her mind. She had stayed away from any physical complications in the past for this very reason. She had always suspected that the reality of being intimate with a man would rob her of the attention she needed to do her job properly. She was not going to allow anyone to ruin her well-laid plans. Nothing was going to change in her life, not if she had anything to say about it, which she was going to make sure was the case.

  T’Harris smiled widely, as he watched Gabriella’s eyes narrow and shift again. It was the first indication she had given that his words were having any effect. He added to what he said to further confuse the issue, thinking that sooner or later, she would have to give. “You like the idea of my touch and I would make it good for you, you have my word on that. Not an inch of your body would be spared, not by my hands, lips, teeth, or tongue. Would you do the same for me, my Gabriella? Would you knead my muscles, taste me, and then lick me into a delicious state of mindlessness?”

  “I don’t need to, your mind is already doing that to you on its own,” Gabriella stated, as she feinted to the right, and caught T’Harris off guard, when he fell for her ploy. The match ended shortly thereafter, as she finished disarming him in five smoothly executed moves. She slid her swords into their respective sheaths, then turned from him to walk off the field. Her task was done.

  “Damn,” T’Harris softly muttered to himself, as he fought to catch his breath. This meant he had to honor the wager. He had lost this battle, but the main one hadn’t even begun, not by any stretch of their imagination. He was going to have to find a different way to win his prize.

  “No one can defeat Gabriella when it comes to swords,” Mariss spoke, as he came to congratulate T’Harris on a well-fought battle. The man had certainly handled himself well. No one had lasted this long on the battlefield against his sister before. He also knew something about this couple that few seemed to have noticed. They were Life Mates. It wasn’t going to be easy for T’Harris to win his bride, but Mariss was sure the Elf was up to the challenge.

  “I admit, I have never faced anyone who can fight like she can,” T’Harris answered.

  “It is going to be difficult to get her to say those bonding words, maybe even more than you suspect. Are you up to that battle of wills?” Mistral asked.

  “I am already planning out the next phase of my campaign,” T’Harris admitted to Mariss and Mistral, although he wasn’t sure if it was wise to confide in Gabriella’s brothers. They should be guarding her back, not exposing it to him.

  “I know what you are thinking,” Mistral spoke, as he placed a friendly arm around T’Harris’ shoulders, as if to help him from the field. “Brothers protect their sisters, but when it comes to helping them elude the machinations of a Life Mate, that is another matter altogether.”

  “What are you proposing?” T’Harris asked.

  “You need help, and we are the two best strategists in the Elven Empire,” Mariss stated.

  “I believe it is time we had a little chat about our Gabriella. No one knows her better than we do,” Mistral stated.

  “We can also tell you had quite an impact on her already,” Mariss added.

  “This is what you are going to have to do to win our sister and get her past her biggest fear when it comes to accepting a Life Mate,” Mistral began his instructions.

  T’Harris raised a hand to halt the instruction as Mistral mentioned Gabriella’s fear. He especially wanted to know what he was facing along this line, before he began his attack. He had always believed it was important to know about the weaknesses and strengths anyone he was about to do battle with had. At the same time, he didn’t want to hurt her. This could become a delicate balancing act, especially if it were something that might cause her pain or extreme discomfort. He had the perfect people at his side to give him any information he needed about his Life Mate and, despite his misgivings, he decided to use them if he could, “So, what is her greatest fear, when it comes to a relationship such as ours?”

  “Gabriella calls it the family curse, handed down by her Tratchar ancestor, Eden,” Mistral began.

  “Triplets, and the fact that Eagle Claw females tend to be very fertile,” Mariss declared.

  Considering the position Gabriella held in the Elven Empire, T’Harris could understand why she would be nervous about this, and what it would mean for her. She definitely would become a liability on a battlefield if she became pregnant. It wouldn’t be something that bothered her with other men, but with him, it would be a major concern. He was her Life Mate and would be able to impregnate her. For some reason, that didn’t seem to bother him as much as he felt it should. In fact, the thought of Gabriella showing signs of carrying their children not only felt right to him, but filled him with a sense of pride and worth.

  The smile that crossed T’Harris’ face was definitely noticed by Mariss and Mistral as they exchanged glances across the back of his shoulders. They grinned happily. They were tempted to feel sorry for the smitten Elf, but this was their sister’s Life Mate. He deserved everything he got from both ends of the spectrum. Gabriella was going to be a definite challenge, but even they had to admit she would make this Elf a mate to be proud of. With what they had seen of this man, they had to admit, it was going to be an interesting match.

  T’Harris listened to Gabriella’s brothers talk, as they walked on either side of him. He didn’t have the heart to tell them he had several plans figured out already that sounded better to him than anything they had come up with so far. He had done a lot of listening to different people. While they had talked about the High Lord General Eagle Claw in the past, he had a good idea of what it might take to wear her down. It began with a suspicion that while she was proud of who and what she was, in some little corner of her mind lived a little girl that would have loved to play like the others had. That little girl had grown up and watched on the sidelines as her friends h
ad gone on to find lovers and, in some cases mates, but she had held herself in check throughout her own life. The woman that had developed over the years now wanted out, but had no idea how to break through the bonds that confined her. She was no different in that way than her Dragon.

  T’Harris figured he was going to need to exercise every molecule of patience he could find to help Gabriella cross the border joining the two halves of her character. He had a feeling that under all those years of enforced control beat the loving, passionate heart he was looking for. He was going to love bringing that part of her out of hiding, because he was certain that the only one who would ever see this side of her, was him.

  CHAPTER III

  T’Harris politely listened to Mariss and Mistral talk for several hours, before he decided he had heard enough. There were a few interesting tidbits in amongst what he considered general nonsense from them, but for the most, what they told him was pure fiction. This was something he had expected and could sense. He decided to discard most of their ideas. He believed things were going to be difficult enough over the next while without adding their advice to the mix. He bowed to them, as he made excuses to leave, and then walked off, deciding as he did that it was time to do some hunting and acting on his own.

  Gabriella didn’t spend much time hanging around the practice field after her sparring match with T’Harris ended. Instead, she answered an order from Lariel to report that came to a quick and unsatisfactory end. He was tense and seemed irritated about something. He told Gabriella that he was looking for a report on any suspicious activity in the valley. There had been none to offer, which didn’t seem to please him. Lariel seemed to be expecting Gabriella to know about something specific, but couldn’t or wouldn’t give a reason for it. In the end, Lariel ordered Gabriella to leave the Elven Empire immediately, to check on what was going on. Lariel told Gabriella that when she had found out what was happening in the valley that might cause him discomfort, she was to return with her report and not before.

  Loriel knew that Gabriella would know his real reasons for sending her away. He, however, couldn’t resist his need to keep T’Harris away from Gabriella. Lariel had seen how they looked at each other, and he knew what their reactions meant. Gabriella had found her Life Mate, and it had angered him on several levels. T’Harris was the man who had bested him on the practice field, and now he held the future of a woman he felt was too good for him in the palm of his hand. In the back of his mind dwelled a doubt if the Guardian could love her the way she deserved. This meant that they needed to be separated so the union never got the chance to develop. Sending Gabriella away was the only thing he could think of to accomplish this. He would put an entire mountain range between the prospective lovers to keep her safe from this Elf if need be.

  T’Harris followed the bond thread connecting him to Gabriella and frowned, as it appeared to lead out of the main area of the Elven Empire. Why? What had happened in the valley during the last few hours that specifically needed her? He shifted into Dragon form and took to the sky with the intention of hunting her down. It was the fastest way he knew. It wouldn’t take him long to locate her from the sky, and he could cover more territory faster than anyone would be able to on horseback. It all depended on how much of a head start she had.

  Gabriella wasn’t at all pleased with Lariel’s order to go to the valley. She couldn’t see any sense in journeying to that part of the Elven Empire when there were no problems forthcoming that anyone could sense. It was also the fist time she could remember him ever questioning her judgment. Why? Did he have an ulterior motive, or did he know something no one else did. No one could be sure with him, as his sight gave him power few were able to equal. What was even more frustrating was that he never shared his visions with anyone. She would have appreciated a little extra input on this mission, especially since it went against every instinct she possessed.

  The moment Gabriella entered the tunnel that connected the main part of the Elven Empire with the valley, she ceased to exist for T’Harris. Her sudden disappearance surprised him so much he nearly fell from the sky. Where had she gone? He wasn’t fooled into believing she no longer existed, he would instinctively know if something happened to her, even without the bond thread connecting them. He wondered how she had managed to hide so effectively from him.

  With careful aim, as he was entering a heavily wooded area, T’Harris spiraled into a clearing the forest very close to where he had last felt Gabriella’s presence. She had been riding toward a mountainside. It was barely large enough for Thrax to land in, but he decided it was worth the extra effort. He had landed in worse areas. Sometimes the Guardians had no choice but to shift in midair as they came into places like this. An Elf learned quickly how to aim for a tall tree if his Dragon couldn’t find a safe parcel of land to set down in. To an Elf in free fall from shifting from his Dragon form, branches gave him something to hold onto as he plummeted through the air. In his case, grabbing on to a sturdy limb was one of the first things he had leaned to do. He had nearly killed himself during the first attempt he made to change over woodlands during his novice year. With the way his brethren tended to tease, it had taken him over three years to live it down.

  T’Harris landed in a part of the forest that seemed to be little more than a break between rows of trees. A small brook ran through a rock edge, while more woods surrounded the entire area. There were very few signs that anyone had ever passed through, other than a pathway barely big enough to allow a single horse to follow. It was all he needed to track Gabriella through. As soon as he had a clear trail, he sent out a seeking thread, to see where the path led. His query returned quickly with an answer. It had returned upon striking stone at the side of the mountain. When he sent another in a different direction, it brought back the same answer. This meant she had travelled to the mountain, and then disappeared, but how?

  T’Harris knew nothing about the tunnel that led from the Elven Empire to the valley they protected. It was not widely spoken of, and in years past, most Elves that knew about it had forgotten its existence. His family figured amongst those who had pushed the memory of this part of the Empire to the side. He needed more information. This meant he had to return to where he started to find someone that might know the reason for his problem. He was lucky to find Mariss and Mistral within moments of landing. They quickly filled him in on the existence of the tunnel, and he returned to the mountain.

  With the information he needed, T’Harris turned his attention back to tracking Gabriella once more. As she had come from the developed part of the High Kingdom, it made sense for her to head towards the mountain range to get to the other side, but why would she disappear? Was the tunnel part of some hidden boundary only a few were aware of? He decided he was going to have to travel on foot to find his answers, and the only place he could get there was where she had entered the mountainous area.

  According to what T’Harris understood from the information Mariss and Mistral gave him, this part of the forest had once formed the outer edge of the Elven Empire. It was for this reason the ancient Tratchars had made this part of the forest difficult to travel in. T’Harris agreed with their tactics, as well as their reasons. The type of trees they had cultivated here would keep unwanted visitors from their lands. But at the moment, he wasn’t very impressed with having to walk through the area himself. It was much too easy to get lost, and by the time he got to the place where he figured Gabriella had gone, the sun was beginning to set.

  As dusk began to set into the area, the woods took on an ominous aura, and T’Harris grew frustrated by the amount of time it took him to walk what he noticed had been a short distance. How had Gabriella’s horse managed to get through all the bushes and bramble? His frustration made him short tempered enough to want to get Thrax to burn a way through the forest, something that was definitely not a good idea. It would damage the foliage and cause a lot more trouble than it would be worth. It didn’t help that there was still no sign of where Gabri
ella went. This was something he found played havoc with his nerves. The signs of her passing had disappeared along with the vegetation covering the rocks on the edge of the mountain. When he reached the edge of the forest, there was nothing but bare rock, which gave nothing away to say she had traveled in the area, even when he knew she had to have come in this direction.

  T’Harris frowned, as he viewed the heavy forest he had left behind, and then the sheer cliff rising in front of him. Where could she have gone? He sent out another seeking thread, along with the instruction, “Find Gabriella.”

  It didn’t take long before T’Harris got an answer. Gabriella had entered a tunnel through an opening that was hidden by a glamor. He wasn’t looking at a sheer wall of rock as he thought, but part of an opening to the entrance that went under the mountain. The information the thread brought back about her was that she was travelling as fast as she could through the interior. He only spent a moment wondering where it led, before sending another seeking spell to show him what lay beyond the entrance, as well as where it went.

  The pictures the thread brought back to T’Harris showed him that the tunnel extended from one side of the mountain range to the other. It showed Gabriella, as she travelled, as well as what he could expect to find on the other side. The land there was as well forested, as it was where he was now. It remained that way for over a mile, and then opened to a large meadow. There would be lots of space for a Dragon to land in his area, and as she had to travel overland to get to the other side, he figured it would make a good resting area.

  As T’Harris shifted, he launched his body into the air. In Dragon form it wouldn’t take him long to reach the other side. He would wait for Gabriella to reach him there.