Ria Cantrell - Celtic Storm 03 (37 page)

The crofter stammered, “You c--cannot go to the Lord Randall…that monster will come back and kill me and my child.”

“You are lucky I do not kill you myself. Take yourself to the keep and seek mercy for what you have done. I have sworn to protect the lady and because of you I have failed. I will not let harm come to her.”

Drew was pretty certain he had never been so angry in his entire life. He understood why the man did what he had done, but that did not mean Drew was alright with the actions that could have possibly cost Lady Rhianna her life. He left the man staring after him.

Despite the pounding in his head, Drew knew that time was of the essence to get back to du Montefort. He did not have time to think or dwell on his pain now. Instead, he rode with swiftness and efficiency to get to his destination. The bridge was already lowered, and men were milling in the yard, preparing to ride out with Erik. When Drew entered the castle yard, he did not need to explain that something terrible had happened. One look at him told the tale.

“What happened? You have been gone for hours. We were just going to get a search party together. Where is Rhianna,” thundered Erik.

Drew did not know how he was going to tell Erik that the most feared person now had his wife. He said, “Erik…I…failed you. Bring Randall in with you…we need to discuss a serious battle tactic.”

“Battle, what the hell are you talking about? Where is my wife?”

Glancing at the men already mounted and ready to begin the search, Drew felt defeated. He said, “He took her, Erik. I was led into a trap and he took her.”

“Who? Who has my wife?”

Randall looked at Drew and he knew. “Jasper. He has her.”

Hanging his head, Drew nodded.

“Did he act alone?”

“I know not. He had one of your serfs render me unconscious. I only caught a glimpse of him before I succumbed to the blow to my skull. I’m so sorry….”

Erik could not blame Drew. It was entirely his fault. If anyone had failed Rhianna, it was certainly him. He gathered his men and he instructed them to wait. They needed to change their mission from being a search party to one of strategic battle.

Randall had been the last person to be inside of Morcar Keep and so they would need to discuss the best possible course of action. It was futile to send even a handful to try to head Aaron Jasper off. They had several hours lead and at this point, they were probably at the fortified keep of Morcar already. Instead it would be best to bring on a full scale siege of the place once the tactical plans were decided upon. They had to assure that upon their attack, the Lady Rhianna would not be harmed, but how? That was the delicate problem. Erik took his best men, Drew, and followed Randall into a secluded antechamber. Randall sent for Tristan and his captain of archers as well. In a rush of pounding boots down the corridor, the men closed themselves in to make war plans. Erik paced outside of the door while all the men filed in. He had to think and he had to calm himself enough to call upon his training as a soldier, only his heart was getting in the way of it.

Andarra saw the flurry of men rushing into private council with Randall. Erik stood outside and wore a visage of worry mixed with simmering rage. Andarra clutched the missive that she had found on the floor and she fixed her eyes on him. She was brewing a rage of her own. Shaking the missive in front of Erik, she said, “What have ye’ done, boy?”

“I am going to fix it, Andarra. But that is the least of my problems at the moment.”

“Where is my lass?”

Her accent was more pronounced when she was upset. It aided in grating on Erik’s already taught nerves. He just had no love for anything or anyone from that cold wasteland from the north of them.

“We will find her.”

“Find her?” Andarra’s voice rose in outrage. “Ye’ mean the dark lord has her? Do ye’ nae know what he is capable of?” Andarra was in full temper at his statement and so one would say her Scottish was up.

“I promise you, we are going to rescue her.”

“Rescue…this is yer’ fault, Erik Ragnorsen. There is more at stake than just a rescue. Ye’ dinnae’ know what ye’ will lose. I hold ye’ to blame.”

He nodded sadly and he said, “Aye, it is my fault. I cannot deny that, Andarra. I am responsible for all of it and I will not rest until she is safely home.”

“She is with child.”

The words hung in the air, convicting Erik. He swallowed the ball of lead that had formed in his throat and he said, “I know. She told me of your prophesy. I suspected it last night when she was unusually tired. I will not fail her, Andarra.”

“Ye’ have already failed her.”

With that, Erik entered the chambers where his and Randall’s men had assembled and shut the door behind him. The weight of his guilt and shame was heavy on his soul. He did not need Andarra to put it upon him. He wore it like a thick mantle upon his shoulders. He had to save his beloved Rhianna. His life depended on it.

~~~~~

The council had met and planned throughout the night. No one slept, especially not Erik. He was utterly sick inside with worry. He tried not to imagine the horrors that had already befallen his beautiful lady. But try as he might, images of terrible things came to the forefront of his mind and it fairly ate him up alive. Drew had a hard time meeting his eyes. He felt wholly responsible for what had happened. Finally, he went to Erik, not as a friend, but as his faithful servant and he knelt before him.

Speaking formally, Drew said, “M’lord. I humbly beg for your forgiveness. I have failed you and I have failed her.”

Erik wanted to blame anyone but himself for what had happened and Drew seemed a good enough scapegoat, but as he looked at his truest friend kneeling before him with his head bowed, he could not have Drew bear the grief and regret that he himself carried. He said, “Stand, Drew. Forgiveness is not mine to give.”

Drew’s broad shoulders slumped at those words. How could Erik forgive him? He knew there was no way that Erik could. But then Erik said, “This is entirely my fault. I cannot forgive you because there is nothing to forgive on your part. You did your best to stay with her when she was distraught over what I had already done. You were set upon and, in truth, I should have gone after her myself. I just thought…you have such a way with her and I was the last person she wanted to speak to at that moment. You and she can reason and talk and you have proven far better at it than I have. I was jealous of it at first, but I then became glad for it. For she loved me, and that was all that mattered. I was glad she found a friend in you. This mess--this is entirely my fault. If I had not petitioned the king to break the marriage decree, none of this would have happened.”

“I had no idea you had done that, Erik. Even from the first when the two of you were in the same room or space, there was no denying the thing that was between you. It was powerful.”

“I was a fool. I thought in that weak moment, that things were not going to be fixed between us. I petitioned the king, like a brooding child. When I did not hear from him, and Rhianna and I found we actually loved each other, I just rather forgot about it. There has been so much going on here in the past two months that I gave it no further thought.”

“Well, what are you going to do about that?” Drew stood, brushing off his trews and facing Erik.

“I cannot even give that dilemma merit at the moment. I have to get her back. I have to save her from the horrors that demon can do to her. Then, once she is back safe and sound, I will take my plea to the king and beg him to reconsider since Rhianna and I are already husband and wife.”

Drew gave a curt nod and said, “He is like a specter from Hades. I do not say this to cause you more heartache, but to stand in agreement with you that we have to get Rhianna away from that maniacal fiend.”

“We ride at dawn. It will take us at least a day to get to Morcar and I would rather have the cover of night to cloak us when we arrive. I hate that we have to wait some hours yet, but we need any advantage we can for our cause. It would not be wise to show up on his doorstep in the light of day and be sitting ducks. This man does not play with any decency. He is evil to the core. He cares not for anything of honor. He plays without any rules that we hold to our code. He answers to one so dark, that he is beyond reason.”

As Erik’s shoulders now collapsed in defeat, his heart was heavy with dread and he continued, “In truth, I do not know how we will be able to help her without him harming her. I have never felt so helpless in all of my life.”

Putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder, Drew said, “We will succeed. I know we will and do you know why I know this?”

“Because you share the Gift that she has. I know; you both told me.”

“Not because of
that.
Because you love her. Erik, I do not know about that sort of love. I have not been graced to feel it, but you have. For that reason alone, you cannot fail.”

“I cannot fail, Drew. I will die without her--I will die if something terrible befalls her.”

“We have to just keep thinking about her strength. She is smart. She is beautiful. She will use what she must to survive…and I know in her heart she will be waiting for you to bring her home.”

Erik raised an eyebrow to the last statement and Drew tried to smile and he said, “
That
is because of the Gift.”

Then seriously again, he said, “I feel it here.…” Drew tapped his chest and he nodded his affirmation in emphasis of his words to Erik.

~Chapter Forty-Six~

Rhianna stood in the private chamber of the man she feared most in life. He was the embodiment of what nightmares were made of. So many thoughts were racing through her mind. The one that pinned her with conviction was that no matter what she and Erik would face, she had to live. She was not sure she could ever forgive Erik, but she knew that nothing would ever change that she had loved him; even if the words Jasper had spoken were true. Her love was real, regardless of what his motives had been. Out of the love she had born for Erik, she had conceived a child and for that reason alone, she was prepared to do anything to live. Only as she gazed at the monster before her, she was not certain just how she was supposed to survive. She needed to think calmly; if calm could be something a person could attain in such a situation. She knew Aaron Jasper was sadistic and cruel. He had taken great pains to show her some of his handiwork in order to frighten her to his will.

He had given her a
tour
of his dungeons and she heard first-hand the tortured wails and moans of those stuck within the walls below the crumbling stones of Morcar Keep. She was not sure if he wanted her to know that he would be happy to have her suffer the same if she did not bend to his will or if he wanted to impress her in some sick way. It was almost as if he had great pride in the destruction of men that were imprisoned within those terrible cells. He took her past the oubliette where the pitiful cries of a woman raked at her soul. Rhianna had no idea who that woman was or what she had done to receive such a fate, but her heart went out to her. No one deserved to be thrown into a pit to be forgotten. She knew the word, oubliette meant “to forget” and it was a cruel small space that a person was put without food, water or other base comforts to be left and to be forgotten. The woman would die eventually of starvation or of thirst, but madness would come first. Already the sounds of her screams, rants and ramblings marked one who had embraced insanity.

Rhianna again had the strange thought that though Aaron wanted her frightened, he also wanted her to be impressed with his twisted capability for cruelty. Several times during the ride to Morcar, he had made mention of the power that would be theirs, once harnessed with her. That was the thread of hope that she would hold on to and use to benefit her survival. She had to make him believe that she could eventually be won with the promise of power from dark magic. She first had to appear horrified, which she truly was, but then she had to make it seem that she would embrace the lure of the Dark so that he would spare her for his own benefit.

Her logical mind was warring with the terror that was engulfing her soul. Not only was she horrified by what Aaron had so proudly shown her, Rhianna was beside herself with fear of what he could do and would happily do to her if he did not get his will. It nearly stopped her cold, but Rhianna could not afford to allow fear to paralyze her now. She watched his movements as he circled her; leering at her with his one good eye. With each assessing look from him, he grunted his approval. Rhianna’s skin crawled. He licked his lips as he extolled the shapes of her breasts or the juncture between her thighs. There was something else she learned about this animal and it was that he wanted her. He had no qualms about describing the disgusting things he wanted her to do with him. He proclaimed, in great detail, the acts he wanted to perform with her.

Rhianna had to fight the urge to vomit each time he procured some carnal act he had envisioned her to engage in. She did fight it, because this lust he had for her body and her magic was the thing she could best use against him. May God have mercy on her soul, she would play into it to save herself and to save Erik’s babe.

Aaron Jasper smacked his lips again, like a man who had finally received a tasty treat. Haughty as she was, she was so damned beautiful. He could not wait to have her warming his bed. Even though she was his captive, she stood there like she owned the place. He thought about giving her a come-uppance and to teach her to learn her station, but something about her strength belied the power she possessed and Aaron wanted that even more than he wanted her body. He did not want her to relinquish even one drop of it until he had found a way to harness and use it. Only after he had obtained it, he would tame her and use her body for his pleasure.