Shipwrecked (12 page)

Anna was curled up
against Rowan’s chest, sleeping soundly from the rhythmic gait of the mare as
they arrived at the inn.  It was well after dark, and the tavern windows were
bustling with life and merriment.  The sounds of fiddlers and singing poured
out into the street, and Rowan smiled, looking forward to the possibility of
dancing with Anna again tonight.

He had reconciled
to share a few more days with her, allowing himself to kiss her, to touch her,
and then he would begin the process of letting her go.  He would force himself,
however difficult it would be to stay away from her, not allowing himself to
succumb to further weakness.  Rowan knew that this would be for the best.  Anna
was promised to another, she was used to a life of riches that he would never
be able to provide.  She deserved better than the penniless, gambling son of a
farmer.  He would force himself to let her go.

“Wake up, sleepy
head,” he whispered into her hair, brushing the blonde mass back from her
face.  She was so beautiful and so trusting of him that it was painful.

Anna’s eyes
fluttered open, and she sat up in Rowan’s lap, looking around to see where they
were.  “Are we going to stay here tonight?” she asked anxiously, rubbing the
sleep from her eyes.  She was nervous about spending the night on the road,
given last night’s unexpected visitors.

“Aye, but first we
need tae see if we can win some money,” Rowan said, raising his eyebrows as he
looked over at Quinn.

Anna slipped down
from the horse and watched as the brothers handed the reins of their horses
over to the stable lad.  The horses obediently ambled after him towards the
barn, ears pricked up in hopes of being fed.

Quinn dug in his
pocket and tossed a coin to Malcolm.

“We don’t have verra
much left, why don’t ye get something for Anna tae eat?” Quinn asked
suggestively, winking at his youngest brother.

Malcolm took
Anna’s hand and tucked it into the fold of his elbow, leading her through the
door and into the tavern.  “What he really means is that I should baby-sit ye
so that neither of us get…” Malcolm trailed off, freezing in his tracks as he
stepped into the tavern.

Anna felt
Malcolm’s arm tense beneath her hand, and immediately, she knew that something
was wrong.

Malcolm glanced
frantically over his shoulder at Rowan, who shook his head slowly from side to
side and motioned for Malcolm to take Anna over to the open seats at the bar.

“What’s wrong?”
Anna asked concern thick in her voice as she scanned the tavern.  There were
groups of men gathered around card tables, and a couple fiddlers playing music
in the farthest corner.  A few couples were dancing and singing to the music,
and she noticed a few men with their heads down on the table, having
overindulged in their drink.  It looked just like any other tavern that she had
been in.

“Nothing’s
wrong…what do ye want tae eat?”

“What’s wrong,
Malcolm?” Anna prodded, this time more insistently. She refused to let him keep
her out of the loop.

Malcolm exhaled
slowly, accepting his defeat.  “This place is filled tae the brim with the
King’s soldiers…English soldiers,” he explained, eyes darting nervously around
the tavern.  “Some of them may be the men that happened upon us last night…we
need tae be careful.”

Anna knew that the
Murrays had every reason in the world to be wary of English Soldiers.  Her
situation with Jonathan further complicated things.

“Oh,” Anna said,
now realizing why the brothers had hesitated when they entered the room. 
“Let’s go then,” she whispered tersely, eyes scanning the room nervously.  She
had heard the men’s voices last night, but had not seen their faces.  There was
no way that she could recognize them.

“We canna leave
now, it’d draw attention tae us.  Most of these men are drunk, sae keep yer
head down and pray that they’ve no heard of Arbor’s reward.”

“Alright,” Anna whispered,
bringing her eyes back to Malcolm.  Her pulse raced in her veins, and it was
difficult to remain composed and collected.

“I hope they hurry
so that we can get out of here,” Malcolm said, voice cracking as he tried to
hide that he was scared.  His eyes scanned the crowd and watched his brothers
hopefully.  They were excellent gamblers, even when they didn’t cheat.  “I’d
rather sleep in the forest again.”

“Me too,” Anna
said, allying herself with Malcolm and patting his arm in reassurance.

Malcolm ordered
them each a mug of ale, and they shared a plate of bread and cheese.  Anna
watched as he chomped hungrily at his dinner, noticing how skinny he was for
his age.  He needed to eat more often, she thought, quelling the growling in
her stomach and sliding the plate over towards Malcolm.

“I’m done, why don’t
you finish it?” she said, standing and brushing the crumbs from her skirt.  “I
need to go find the ladies room.”

“Just doona draw
attention tae yerself…be careful,” Malcolm warned, already chewing a mouthful
of Anna’s leftover bread.

“I’ll be fine,
Malcolm,” she responded, patting his knee reassuringly. 

Being that she was
one of only a few woman in the tavern, it was going to be difficult not to draw
attention.  She stood out like a sore thumb.

Anna walked
towards the far side of the tavern where there was a sign that marked the small
hallway leading to the privy.  She tried the door, and found it to be occupied,
so she leaned back against the stone wall and watched the crowd.  Her eyes
scanned from Rowan and then over to Quinn, but it was impossible for her to
tell if they were having any success.  She thought of how difficult it must be
for them to sit around a table filled with English soldiers given what they had
been through.

The door to the
privy chamber creaked open, and a soldier stumbled out, obviously drunk. 
Losing his balance as he made his way down the short hallway, he bumped into
Anna, grabbing roughly at her breast a he righted himself.

“Hey darlin’,” he
cooed at her, eyes bleary from too much drink.  He looked Anna up and down
hungrily, and brought his hand up to her breasts again, grabbing her entire
breast roughly in his palm and moaning as he touched her.

Anna shrieked in
protest, and slapped him hard across the face, pushing his hands away from her
body.  “Don’t touch me!” she screamed, fighting to remove his groping hands
from her body.

“A feisty one are
you?” the vile man said with a smile, spittle flying from his mouth and onto
Anna’s face.

 His face was pock
marked and he was nearly bald.  Anna thought that he was disgusting.  She
screamed again, voice drowned out by the raucous noise of the tavern.  She
squirmed against him, desperately trying to push his hands away from her
breasts.  He pulled her roughly against his body, and then began dragging her
back towards the privy chamber.

“Rowan!” she
screamed, hoping that Rowan would hear her over the noise that permeated the
room.  “Rowan!” she screamed frantically, clawing at the man as he stumbled
back into the hallway, dragging her with him.

“Stop fighting me,
you bitch!” he seethed, now angry from her protests.

Anna drew up to
her full height and spat in the man’s face, buying herself another chance to
scream for help as he wiped his eyes. 

“Rowan!” she
screamed desperately at the top of her lungs.

He pulled back
hand and slapped her hard across the face, taking her breath away.  She had
never in all her life been brutalized in such a way.

Rowan heard his
name being called out, and he dropped his cards in a panic.  His eyes darted
over to the bar, and he saw Malcolm sitting all alone.

 Anna. 

His heart
thundered in his chest as he sprung from his chair and surveyed the room.  At
last he saw her in the hall next to the privy chamber, struggling to fight off
one of the drunken English soldiers.

Rowan leapt over
the table that stood between him and the privy, frantic to get to Anna.  The
man had her backed into the corner, and was kissing her neck, groping roughly
at her breasts.  Rowan was blinded with rage. He grabbed the man’s uniform and
pulled him off Anna effortlessly, spinning him around.  He drew back his fist
and pummeled the man in the face, rage spilling forth that this man had dared
to touch Anna.

The force of
Rowan’s blow knocked the drunken man down to the floor, and he stumbled as he
tried to get up, falling onto the floor again.

“Run!  Get Malcolm
out of here!” Rowan screamed, eyes wild, demanding Anna to take action.

She ran past them,
pushing her way through the growing crowd that had gathered to watch the
brawl.  Malcolm grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the cool night.  They
ran out to the barn to collect the horses, knowing that they would need to
escape quickly.  Malcolm helped Anna up onto the mare, and then swung up into
the saddle of the black horse.

“What do we do
now?” Anna asked, breathing heavily, heart heavy at the thought of Rowan and
Quinn embattled in a tavern brawl.  “We can’t just leave them!” she said
pleading with Malcolm to wait, to help somehow.

“Aye, we can’t
leave them, but we canna stay right here either,” Malcolm said, scanning the
dusty main street for a safe place to stand watch.

“This is all my
fault…” Anna said voice trembling, eyes forlorn as she watched helplessly as
the brawl intensified in the tavern window.

“Anna, it’s no yer
fault!”  Malcolm said, seeking to reassure her.  “They’ll be alright…they ken
how tae fight, and most of those soldiers were sae drunk that they may not even
be able tae land a punch.  Bloody English,” he said, shaking his head in
disgust.

Anna swallowed
hard.  She was English.

“Let’s go wait
over there,” Malcolm said, pointing to a secluded place across the street from
the tavern.  The shadows would allow them to hide with the horses, and when
Rowan and Quinn came out, they would be able to get to them quickly.

Neither Anna nor
Malcolm wanted to voice their fears out loud, so they guided the horses across
the street silently, watching the raging brawl through the windows of the
tavern.  Anna noticed that her hands were shaking, and she wondered if Jonathan
Arbor was one of the men in the tavern.

                                                            ***

Minutes passed
silently, with tension heavy in the air while Malcolm and Anna waited. 
Suddenly, the tavern door flew open and first Quinn and then Rowan scrambled
outside, running as if the devil was on their tails.

“Bloody Scots!” Resounded
the shouts of the English soldiers from inside the tavern as the door swung
shut.     

Malcolm whistled,
alerting his brothers to their position hidden in the shadows, and Rowan and
Quinn changed course, running to meet them.

“We’ve gotta go!”
screamed Quinn, breathing heavily as he swung up into the saddle behind
Malcolm.  Malcolm kicked the horse in the ribs, and they were racing through
the blackness of the night.

Rowan ran up to
Anna, holding his side gingerly, and swung up into the saddle, landing with a
groan.  He took the reins from her and spurred the horse into motion, breathing
raggedly.

“I think I broke a
rib,” Rowan winced from behind Anna, moaning softly as the jarring of the
galloping horse jostled him broken bones.

Anna put her hand
on top of his, as he gripped the pommel of the saddle.

  “How badly are
you hurt, Rowan?”

“I’ll survive,” he
said.  “It’s my bloody ribs that hurt like hell,” he said, groaning.

“Let’s stop so
that I can wrap it,” Anna said, thinking that she could rip some fabric from
her gown and bind Rowan’s chest so that the jostling of the horse wouldn’t pain
him so much.

“We canna stop, at
least no yet…they’ll be after us,” Rowan explained, breathing still ragged. 

“Did they know it
was me?” Anna ventured cautiously, hoping that they did not.

“I doona think
so,” Rowan responded.  “They werena Arbor’s men.”

Anna did her best
not to lean back against Rowan, even though her back became stiff with the
effort of holding itself upright.  They rode on for a couple of hours without
speaking, staying close to Quinn and Malcolm so that they didn’t become
separated in the dark.

At Quinn’s
insistence, Malcolm reined their horse to a stop.

“I doona think
that they’ll follow us this far tonight, they were far too drunk.  Let’s stop
and get some rest,” Quinn said tiredly, sliding down from the horse.

He walked over and
helped Anna down from the mare.  She was careful not to bump Rowan as she got
down.

“Need a hand,
brother?” Quinn asked, sensing that Rowan might be hurt worse than he was
letting on.

“Aye, I’m not sure
how tae get down without hurtin’ myself further,” Rowan nodded, taking his
brother’s outstretched arm and bracing himself against Quinn’s shoulder as he
slid off the horse, face twisted into a painful grimace.  Rowan remained bent
over wincing, breathing heavily right where he had landed on the ground.
“Bloody hell,” Rowan said under his breath as he straightened up painfully.

Malcolm and Anna
led the horses to a clearing that was well off the road, stumbling often in the
dense undergrowth of the forest.

Quinn helped Rowan
navigate through the trees, and settled him gently onto a fallen log.  He then
went about the business of starting a small fire, hoping that they were far
enough away from the soldiers so as not to draw their attention.

Anna and Malcolm
joined the older brothers around the fire, and as the blaze took hold, it shed
light on the gravity of the brother’s injuries.  Being that Quinn was closest
to the fire, Anna saw his face first.

“Oh my God,
Quinn!” she exclaimed, rushing to his side.