Love Beyond Time (16 page)

“You
will
come with me,” he said. “You
will obey me in everything.”

“Where are you taking me?” she gasped.

“To our bridal bed,” he replied.

They rode until Danise thought she would
faint from weariness. She did not ask Clodion to stop and let her
rest. She was too proud to ask Clodion for any favors, and she
feared the conditions he might place upon such a rest period.

Clodion soon discovered that keeping her
bound to him by holding on to her braid limited his own movements,
so he released her hair, but he still kept the reins of her horse
in his hands. Danise considered leaping from the horse in a
desperate bid for freedom, even though she knew Clodion was right
when he warned her of injury if she tried it.

Nor did she know where they were or how to
get back to Duren if she should escape. She had not been so far
from camp before. The prospect of wandering about the forest on
foot with Clodion tracking her on horseback was most unappealing.
She decided the wisest thing for her to do was to appear to be
completely passive while staying alert for a chance to get away
from her captor with her horse. Since Clodion was on the brink of
old age, he might need to stop soon. Then again, he did seem
remarkably active for a man of his years who had recently been
ill.

She expected that when he finally did decide
to stop he would try to rape her. Once he had done so he could
insist that she marry him, if marriage was what he truly wanted of
her. Forcing back the bile that rose to her throat at the
possibility of Clodion touching her in any way at all, Danise made
herself think about what he might do and how he would do it, until
in her innocence she thought she knew a way to stop him. He could
not rape her on horseback. He would have to dismount and make her
do the same. He would have to make at least some adjustments to his
clothing, and to hers. If he tried to prevent her from resisting by
holding his knife in one hand and threatening her with it, that
would leave him with only the other hand free for whatever needed
to be done. Knowing of only one way in which a man might use a
woman, she thought if she kept her wits about her and did not give
way to fear, she would be able to wait until Clodion was thoroughly
distracted but had not yet harmed her. She might then be able to
get away from him and escape. Perhaps she could mount one horse and
take the other one with her, leaving Clodion stranded. He deserved
to be left alone in the forest. She began to consider the various
things she might do or say to make him drop his guard.

As they rode along she tried to find
distinguishing characteristics of the landscape that would help her
to retrace her route once she was free, but the forest did not
vary. Danise was so frightened that she no longer cared whether she
could find her way back to Duren or not. It would be far better to
be lost in the forest forever than to be raped by Clodion.

They rode on and on through unending trees
and occasionally thick undergrowth. The land was relatively flat,
with no notable hills or valleys. Nowhere was there a sign of human
habitation. Clodion seemed to know where he was going, but Danise
could see no track, nor any marking that might have been set out to
guide him. The shadows were lengthening when Clodion drew up and
looked around. He sniffed the air, then turned the horses toward
the setting sun and moved forward again.

Danise could smell what Clodion had smelled.
The scent of burning firewood and roasting meat hung on the humid
air. They had not gone much farther before she saw smoke drifting
through the trees and heard men talking. They came out of the trees
into a small clearing by a pool of water, and there Danise’s
fantasies of escape vanished like wood smoke in a high wind.

There were a dozen or so men in the clearing,
all of them drawn up facing the newcomers and all clearly prepared
to do battle if necessary. Each man wore armor and held a sword or
a spear in one hand and a dagger in the other.

“You are late, Clodion.” A broad-shouldered
man whose deep red cloak and ornately decorated metal helmet marked
him as the leader of the warriors stepped forward. “I expected you
at midafternoon.”

“The hunt was delayed in starting,” Clodion
explained. Dismounting, he gave the reins of Danise’s horse to one
of the armed men. “I had to wait until there was enough confusion
to hide the sight and sounds of our departure. Danise made a lot of
noise, as I was certain she would.”

“I don’t care to hear about your cleverness,
Clodion. I wanted to be away from here before sunset. Now it’s
almost dark. We will have to wait until morning, and by then the
alarm will be out.”

“It can’t be helped.” Clodion’s tone of voice
suggested that he did not much like the man standing before him.
“Where is the rest of your army?”

“They are camped a safe distance away, near
the Rhine,” said the leader. “It is easier for me to hide here with
only a few men.”

“The days are so long at this time of year
that if you leave at dawn, you shouldn’t have any difficulty in
reaching your army in keeping with our original schedule,” Clodion
said. “You need have no concern for what Charles will do. Before he
discovers where Danise has been taken, you will be long gone from
this place.”

“Perhaps you are right, but I don’t like
having to change my plans once I have made them, not even for a
single night. Since you are here at last, I suppose we need not
worry about a surprise attack from Charles.” The leader lifted both
hands to his head to remove his helmet.

Danise had been watching the two men and
listening to them with a growing certainty as to the identity of
the leader. She bit back a cry of dismay as her fears were
confirmed by the sight of the red hair and sunburned face of Count
Autichar.

“So,” she said, putting all the cold contempt
she could into her words, “the rumors were true after all. You did
not return to Bavaria.”

“Why should I, when the things I most desire
remain here in Francia?” demanded Autichar. “Dismount, Lady Danise,
and surrender yourself to my hospitality.”

With four men standing around her with their
weapons pointed at her and another man holding her horse so it
could not move, Danise could see that she would have to obey
Autichar’s command. She got off her horse and stood glaring at her
host. Autichar burst into laughter.

“I am glad to know you have more spirit than
you showed to me at Duren,” he said. “Has Clodion treated you well?
Has he kept his lascivious hands off you?”

“I would not call it treating me well to
abduct me,” Danise responded. “You cannot think to harm me in any
way and go unpunished by Charles. My father and I are his guests at
Duren, and Charles insists that all maidens be treated with
respect.” She fell silent only when Autichar’s continued laughter
drowned out her words. She could not comprehend what was happening
or why Autichar and Clodion would cooperate to take her away from
Duren. What she did understand was that she would never be able to
escape with Autichar’s men guarding her so closely.

What Autichar referred to as his hospitality
was rough indeed. Their evening meal consisted of stale bread,
beer, and the few wild birds Autichar’s men had killed and which
they roasted on a makeshift spit over the fire. Their only water
came from the stagnant pool next to which they were camped.
Autichar assigned two men to Danise and they never left her side.
Even when she went into a thicket of nearby bushes to relieve
herself, the guards stood one on each side of the bushes until she
was finished. When they all returned to the clearing, Autichar and
Clodion were arguing.

“I want Danise tonight. I have waited long
enough,” Clodion said, his words freezing Danise into immobility
from fear. She could do nothing but stand between her guards and
listen while her fate was decided.

“I cannot allow it,” Autichar told Clodion.
“I will have discipline in my camp. If my men see you or hear you
with Danise, they will want to enjoy her themselves. Then who will
guard this camp? If you had met us earlier, as you were pledged to
do, we could have reached a safer place before dark and you could
have done what you want with her before you leave us. As it is, you
will have to wait until our plan is closer to completion.”

“I want her now!” Clodion sounded like an
overaged child who has been denied a promised treat.

“If you touch her, I will have you tied up
for the night,” Autichar warned. “What you do with yourself is your
own business, but you will leave Danise alone until I say you may
have her, which will not be until I am certain we will not be
attacked while you are in the midst of your sensual transports –
nor while my men are occupied with her. I have not lived so long by
being careless about security.”

Clodion looked at Danise. His face was
flushed, his eyes narrowed, his gaze intense. After a few moments
he stalked away into the darkness and Danise began to breathe
again. She fell to her knees beside the campfire. Autichar sat next
to her.

“Thank you,” Danise whispered.

“Clodion is a fool. The thing that hangs
between his legs governs his every action,” Autichar said. “Don’t
think for a moment that I care what happens to you, Danise. It’s
only a• matter of discipline among my men. When we all reach our
destination safely, and Clodion rejoins us, he can have you. In the
meantime, we carry out our plan as he and I originally agreed.”

“What plan, Autichar?” Danise told herself
she had to stav calm and she had to learn as much as she could
about Clodion’s dealings with Autichar. She wondered what the final
destination Autichar had mentioned could be, and where Clodion was
going, since Autichar had just said he would be rejoining them
there.

“Clodion was not really sick, you know. He
only pretended illness to disguise his absence from Duren while he
and I met in secret to make our arrangements.” Autichar tore a
chunk of bread apart and offered a piece of it to Danise. His hands
were dirty and he smelled as if he had not bathed for days. Danise
did not want to make Autichar angry. She took the crust of bread
and pretended to gnaw on it.

“I am surprised to find you and Clodion
friends,” she told him, “because you are so unalike.”

“Whoever said we are friends?” Autichar’s
voice was soft. “I merely pointed out to Clodion that we could help
each other, so that both of us could achieve our fondest
desires.”

“I know what Clodion wants,” Danise said with
a shiver. She was about to ask Autichar what he wanted when he
spoke again.

“You are too inexperienced to know anything
at all about a man like Clodion,” he said, still in that same
quiet, insinuating voice. “You imagine he would have married
you.”

“He has repeatedly told me that is what he
wants,” Danise cried, exasperated by Autichar’s superior attitude.
“What you are saying makes no sense.”

“I assure you, everything Clodion has done
makes perfect sense to him. The first thing you must learn about
Clodion,” Autichar went on, “is never to trust him, never believe
anything he says. Clodion’s life is dedicated solely to the
satisfaction of his lust. Unfortunately, lust has its consequences.
In Clodion’s case, the consequences are several wives, all now dead
and their dowries long ago dissipated, half a dozen concubines who
brought him nothing but themselves, and far too many children. All
of them, concubines and children alike, expect to be fed, clothed,
and housed by Clodion. A life like his can make the richest man
into a pauper.”

“Then he needs a wife with a larger dowry
than mine,” said Danise. Before she could say anything more,
Autichar interrupted her.

“I told you, he no longer intends to marry
you,” Autichar said. “At first Clodion believed your father had
amassed great riches from his many battles with the Saxons, and at
that time, Clodion might have wed you. But Savarec is an honest man
who turns the Saxon loot over to the royal treasury as he is
obligated to do. Not that the Saxons have ever provided much in the
way of useful goods. A few furs, amber, a little gold, the
occasional slave – it’s hardly worth fighting them at all. Clodion
was furious with Savarec when he discovered the true size of your
dowry. I believe he expressed his feelings to your father. He
certainly told me how he felt, and that was the end of his
intention to wed you.”

“Then why,” cried Danise, “has Clodion
continued to pursue me, knowing my father is not a wealthy man? It
cannot have been for my person. I am not a great beauty and I made
it clear to him how much I dislike him.”

“Your dislike in itself would be enough to
pique Clodion’s lust,” Autichar said. “He enjoys subduing unwilling
women. He will have you before he’s done with this plan of ours.
It’s a pity, because whether you think so or not, you are a beauty.
I would have relished taking you myself. But I cannot, I have given
my word. You are part of the bargain, a small portion of Clodion’s
payment.”

“What bargain?” Danise asked, curiosity
warring with her intense fears for her own safety. “What
payment?”

“Clodion needs gold,” Autichar said. “Gold in
huge amounts such as only an important ruler could provide.”

To Danise’s knowledge there was only one man
besides Charles who could have a large supply of gold in his
treasury, and that man was a friend to Autichar.

“Duke Tassilo is going to give Clodion gold,”
she whispered.

“You are intelligent as well as beautiful.”
Autichar gave her an approving glance. “There you have it. We all
know how little Duke Tassilo loves his cousin Charles. Tassilo was
delighted to learn that he has his own devoted man in Charles’s
camp.”