Read Unchained, the Dark Forgotten (2010) for Free Online Page B

Castle.
    The old guards had their secrets. There was a reason they never left.
    One of the new guards walked by, pierced and tattooed, with a chain- mail shirt, leather kilt, stainless-steel coffee mug, and Doc Martens. He waved a hand at Reynard. “Hey, there, Cap’n.”
    “Stewart.” Reynard nodded, overlooking the easy familiarity of the boy. Like the other new recruits, Stewart was a mere puppy, full of jokes and fun. Mac hired men as good with people as they were with weapons.
    Stewart stopped, grinning sheepishly. “I’m going to need to book some time off in August.”
    Mac looked up. “Yeah, what for?”
    The boy’s eyebrows lifted, pierced rings and all. “Honeymoon. Becky said yes.”
    “Well, all right!” Mac said, thumping Stewart on the back. “Did you make her sign an insurance waiver? Y’know, hold harmless against risk and all that?”
    “Why, do you think marriage to me is as bad as an extreme sport?”
    “You tell me.” Mac waggled his eyebrows.
    “Ha, ha. Maybe I should sign one. She said she’d break my neck if she doesn’t get two weeks in the Rockies.”
    “Congratulations! All the best wishes to you and the fair lady.” Reynard shook his hand. “So, you’ll expect your wedding day off work as well?”
    “If you don’t mind.”
    “We’ll consider it,” Reynard said, deadpan. “It might cause some problems with the schedule.”
    Stewart grinned, showing the even, white teeth that all the new men and women seemed to have. “I know you’ll do your best, Cap’n. And I want you at the wedding, if you can come.”
    “Thank you.” Reynard was unexpectedly touched by the invitation. He didn’t bother to say it was impossible to accept. That could wait.
    Stewart ambled away, lifting the mug to his lips as he walked. Reynard studied the young man as he disappeared down the hall. New recruits were desperately needed, but it was all one could do not to resent them for the life they had. Stewart had a woman he went home to every night. He was also mortal and utterly fragile without the devil’s bargain that made the old guards ageless, indestructible, and trapped.
    Trapped. The best he could ever hope for was a dull contentment and devotion to his duty. Stop dwelling on it. Get over it.
    He was picking up these modernisms at a shameful pace. Soon he would even talk like one of these boys.
    That might be fun.
    He imagined himself hurrying home to a woman after a hard day’s work. What would Ashe Carver be like stripped of all her weaponry? There was something of the pirate queen in her fierceness. Would she be soft and womanly between the sheets? Or just as much an Amazon as she had been tonight? He let that question melt on his tongue, savoring all the possible answers and loving the fact she was so different from any woman he’d ever met.
    Evidently, even a brief exposure to the outside world had affected him. Or maybe some of that was just the woman herself. Either way, his imagination was going places he’d all but forgotten.
    Mac finally finished writing. “There. I’ve taken you off the next watch.”
    Reynard wrenched his mind back to his cold, stone reality. “Why?”
    “Someone let that rabbit beastie out of its habitat. I want to go look at the gate again. Come with me.”
    “Are you looking for something specific?” Reynard unhooked the clasp of the leather cartridge box slung across his left shoulder, taking out ball and cartridge and reloading the musket in a drill he’d performed thousands of times. Cartridge. Prime. Load. Ram. If they were walking into the depths of the Castle, he was going to be ready.
    “Specific?” Mac mused. “Maybe. Or maybe just a general vibe. I want to know who opened that gate, and why. You know the residents of this place far better than I do. You might see a clue that I would miss.”
    Reynard slid the ramrod back into its holder beside the barrel of the musket. “Perhaps it was sabotage. By a strange coincidence, there was a