Page 69 of Enslaved
Tor had her mare saddled and ready for her when she arrived at the stables. She let him lift her into the saddle when she heard the dogs barking. Marcus was astride Trajan with Romulus and Remus circling him with excited yelps when she rode into the courtyard.
“Diana, the huntress, you are indeed a goddess today.”
“Where are the others?”
“What others?”
“You can’t hunt boar alone, ’Tis too dangerous!”
“I have the dogs, I have an extra pack horse. That’s all I need to hunt boar.”
A frisson of fear curled inside her belly. He had no gun, no crossbow, no pack of hounds, no attendants.
“Don’t be afraid, love, I’ll protect you,” he vowed with unconscious arrogance.
Diana straightened her shoulders. “Afraid? I’m not afraid! With all my heart I trust you to keep me safe.” She wished she felt as brave as her words. “I love adventure!” she cried, taking off like the wind toward the forest.
Marcus easily overtook her before they reached the trees, and once they entered the forest, their pace was slowed considerably. Sunlight came through the tall trees in great shafts, setting the red and gold autumn leaves ablaze. Where the trees were too dense for the sunlight to penetrate, it was dim and shadowy.
Diana stayed as close as she could to Marcus. She realized the forest must be filled with unseen danger for she could clearly hear animals crashing through the underbrush and also detected strange rustlings in the fallen leaves. Marcus controlled the pair of mastives with sharp orders or they would have taken off after the first deer they scented.
The air, heavily scented with pine and bracken, was filled with bird calls, some twittering, some screeching their warnings that danger approached. Marcus seemed to know where he was going so Diana swallowed her apprehension and followed. They came to a clearing surrounded by massive oak trees and there, large as life, stood a wild boar with its head down rooting out acorns.
Marcus spotted it long before it saw him. He gave the dogs a hand signal to keep them quiet, followed by another signal for them to take chase. Diana stopped breathing. The beast was so ugly, fear gripped her throat. In that terrible moment she wished she hadn’t come. More, she wished she had never suggested this terrible thing they did. Marcus didn’t need a weapon, she thought wretchedly; his dogs would tear the boar apart.
They took up the chase immediately. It ran well, despite its heavy belly and short legs. She watched in horror as it tried to gore the dogs with its viciously sharp tusks. Her mare was so nervous it began to toss its head and blow through its nostrils. Her hands tightened on the reins to keep it from bolting. Marcus was out of the saddle in a flash, running close on the heels of his baying dogs.
In horrified fascination, she watched them run the entire length of the clearing. It slowly dawned upon her that Romulus and Remus were only nipping at the boar’s ears, while warily keeping their distance from its vicious tusks. The mastives were well trained to prevent the boar from escaping into the forest. It was their job to keep it in the clearing. Finally, with one on either side, the dogs brought it down.
Marcus flung himself on top of it and grasped its tusks so it could not gore him. The boar, now maddened by anger, fought like any enraged wild animal would whose life was threatened. Diana’s hand was pressed to her breast. She felt as if her heart were ready to burst. She no longer feared for herself, or even the dogs. All her concern was focused on Marcus. His bare arms and legs were already bloodied from deep scratches and she feared he would be badly wounded any second. Her heart pounded so heavily, she heard it inside her eardrums until she became faint. She loved him so much she could not bear to see him hurt and bleeding!
Chapter 21
As Marcus wrestled with the boar, sweat glistened on his face and the bulging muscles of his bare arms, then mingled with the blood from his scratches. Incredibly, the boar’s struggles lessened and Marcus took a rope from his belt and bound its back legs together. Then he wrapped the rope around its tusks and pulled its head down to its front feet, securing it in such a way that it was totally immobilized. He left it on the ground and came to her across the clearing, grinning with satisfaction.
“You didn’t kill it,” she said in a stunned voice.
His grin disappeared. “Are you disappointed?”
“Oh Marcus, no! It was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.” She reached out her arms so he could lift her down to him.
“I stink,” he said bluntly. “A boar’s odor is disgusting.”
“I don’t care,” she said, flinging herself upon him so that he was forced to catch her. “You are so reckless! My heart stopped beating, I was so worried for you.”
He let the dogs go off after a hare, while they sat on a fallen log so that Marcus could catch his breath. “I couldn’t do it without the dogs,” he explained. “I’ve trained them to go for the ears so they won’t damage the boar. I take them back to the fortress, to a large boar enclosure where we breed them. That one is a little female.”
“Little?” Diana repeated in astonishment.
“Males are much larger, but not nearly so valuable.”
“Am I hearing you correctly, Marcus Magnus? Are you actually admitting that a female is superior to a male?”
He grinned at her, tucking an errant curl behind her ear. “It takes only one or two males to keep a score of females impregnated and breeding litters.”
“What happens to the males?”
“We eat them, of course.” He took his axe from his saddle and built a temporary holding pen from sturdy branches, then set sharp stakes about it, explaining, “I don’t want wolves to get it while we hunt the next one.”
