The Battle Lord's Lady (34 page)

“Yes, sir.”

Liar
, a little
voice in her head said, but Atty remained silent.

Nodding pleasantly, Collaunt lifted his mug
of whatever he was drinking and took a sip. “Guards! Bring in the
prisoners!” Giving Atty another oily smile, the Battle Lord said,
“I’m going to enjoy the festivities. I think you’re going to find
them a bit...entertaining...as well.”

Atty’s eyes locked on the doors at the far
end of the room, hoping, praying. What seemed like an eternity, the
doors finally opened, and a fully armed escort dragged in their new
prisoners. Her heart sank. She knew he had told her it was part of
their plan, but somehow she’d wished they could have found another
solution.

“Isn’t this an interesting turn of events?”
Collaunt commented almost nonchalantly. “Not only do we get to have
the pleasure of D’Jacques’ company, but we also get to be
intimately introduced to his Mutah whore as well,” he informed the
crowd.

“We entered under the flag of truce!” MaGrath
yelled. A vein stood out in his forehead, pulsing from anger.

“You entered my compound, therefore you
trespassed,” Collaunt replied. “In Bearinger, trespassers are hung.
Which is why...” His voice trailed away as he turned back to Atty.
His eyes flickered momentarily behind her, and Atty glanced over
her shoulder to see four heavily-muscled, half-naked men standing
at attention against the wall. They were watching her with
undisguised expectation. A shiver of fear ran through her as she
remembered what Yulen had told her. Those men had been specially
selected to deflower her should she still be intact. There was no
doubt in her mind that Collaunt had ordered them to make the act as
brutal and as degrading as they could.

“Pastern!”

From one end of the room, the little
physician emerged from a small huddle of people. “Sir?” he
addressed the Battle Lord.

“I want you to examine the Mutah woman and
tell us if she’s still a virgin.”

Pastern glanced at Atty, then back at
Collaunt. “Here? Now?”

Collaunt scowled. “Yes, here and now! Guards!
Strip her!”

“Wait!” Pastern held up his hand and looked
around at the varying looks of shock and disgust evident on the
faces of the people in the room. “Show her some modicum of decency,
sir, even if she is a Mutah! Give us a curtain.”

Collaunt also noticed the people’s mute
disapproval. For once he backed down. “All right. Use one of the
tablecloths.”

Atty’s eyes locked on the blue-gray ones
staring back at her as two guards each grabbed one of her arms. She
forced her mind to focus on their few moments they’d had together,
on the warmth of his hands on her chilled skin, the way he’d
stretched himself over her to keep away the cold, how he’d tried to
make the difficult transition as easy as possible. Her memories
were the only way she could keep her sanity at that moment.

A tablecloth was pulled from an empty table,
and two more guards held it up to chest level. Pastern retreated
behind the thin shield and proceeded to undo her pants. He pulled
them down to her knees, then reached up between her legs with one
hand.

Another flash of pain overtook her, and she
gasped from the intensity, biting her lips, unable to stop herself.
Yulen struggled briefly against the ropes that were cutting off the
circulation in his hands.

Pastern emerged, wiping his hands on the
corner of the material. “She’s lost her maidenhead, but it’s been
recently. The tear’s still fresh,” he loudly announced.

A look of disappointment came over Collaunt’s
face. “Aww. That’s too bad. What did you use, Mutah? A stick? A
rock fragment? Did you entice one of my guards?”

“Go to hell,” Atty muttered.

“Oh, but not before I have a great time here
first,” Collaunt chuckled. He made a motion with his hand, and to
Atty’s immense relief the four would-be rapists exited the
hall.

“Okay, you’ve managed to deprive me of one
spectacle, but the Battle Lord has been generous enough to provide
me with the opportunity to prove another point. Ladies! Gentlemen!
Let’s move this party to the courtyard where I’m sure you’ll find
the next activity to be quite entertaining!”

Atty’s guards escorted her out into the yard
adjacent to the main hall. She searched the crowd of men and women
who had followed them outside, but she couldn’t see where they’d
taken Yulen or MaGrath.

Collaunt casually walked up to where she was
being kept restrained. He snapped his fingers, and a servant came
running up behind him to drop something in his waiting palm. Atty
stared at the expression of delight on the Battle Lord’s face as
the man grinned at her before addressing the crowd.

“I’m sure everyone by now has heard about the
marvelous exploits of this woman warrior. About how she managed to
kill a bull ferret almost single-handedly with one arrow. How she
mowed down sixteen strong and highly-skilled soldiers with her bow.
How she is so fast, so accurate, so meshed with her weapon that
nothing and no one can equal or best her. Well, we’re also aware of
the rumor that says that once she loses her virginity, she also
loses that edge with her weapon. She loses that very quality that
made her unconquerable. Ladies and gentlemen, our illustrious Mutah
is no longer a virgin, as verified by the good doctor. So now let’s
see if the story proves true. Let’s see if she can save the life of
her Battle Lord.”

The guards moved aside to let Atty see down
the expanse of the courtyard. At the other end of the compound
Collaunt had erected a gallows. She could feel herself growing cold
with dread as she noticed Yulen standing on the trap door. A noose
had already been pulled and tightened around his neck. Below the
platform, MaGrath stood bound and held immobile by two more
guards.

Something sharp nudged her arm. She glanced
down at the bow and single arrow in the Battle Lord’s hand. Numbly
she took them.

“When I signal the executioner, he’ll release
the trap door,” Collaunt instructed, informing her as well as the
silent crowd. “You have the one arrow to break the rope around
D’Jacques neck while he slowly strangles to death. Don’t expect me
to wish you good luck, Mutah, because, obviously, I don’t want you
to succeed.”

“Then why even give these to me?” Atty
snarled at him. “This bow is too small. The arrow is too short.”
She motioned toward the gallows with her head. “It’s got to be a
good fifty or sixty yards. This weapon doesn’t have that
range!”

Collaunt chuckled. “And here I’d been
told you could perform miracles! Maybe I need to find the people
who told me such fabrications and have them punished.” As fast as
lightning, his eyes glittered with rage and his face went dark.
“
No more stalling
, Mutah! You
have been given your one chance! Show me!
Now!
” he hissed, spittle flying from between his
teeth, and he threw a fist into the air.

The executioner pulled the lever, releasing
the door beneath Yulen. Atty screamed as the shortened rope around
his neck was enough to begin strangling him, but not long enough to
break his spine as a normal hanging would.

“One arrow, Mutah! Make it count!” Collaunt
yelled in her ear.

Atty lifted the bow, the arrow nocked, and
focused on the thick rope. Great, racking sobs burst in her chest
when she realized Yulen had ceased to struggle against the cord,
giving her a better chance of hitting her target, but it was
costing him dearly. He would be unconscious within seconds.

“Fire
,
Mutah!
Fire!
”

Even if she could pull enough pounds on the
string to get the arrow all the way down the corridor, even if she
could somehow, miraculously, get the arrow to the rope, the little
barb on its tip wouldn’t be sharp enough or strong enough, to break
the cord. Collaunt had checked all his bases. With her failure,
Yulen was dead. She would soon be dead. And Alta Novis would be
forfeited to Collaunt.

She took a deep breath, drew back on the
string, and aimed.

As she expected, Collaunt heard her prepare,
and he turned his head to look down the corridor. He turned to
look. The guards turned to look. Everyone in the compound turned to
look.

At the other end of the compound, MaGrath
tore himself away from Yulen’s death struggle to see all eyes
focused on the gallows. He saw Atty looking down the arrow’s shaft,
then she lifted her face.

He knew what she was going to do a heartbeat
before she did it.

Atty grabbed the arrow by its shaft and
swung her arm outward as she screamed with anger and vengeance. The
dulled tip punctured Collaunt’s jugular vein and made a loud
pop!
when she jerked it out. Blood
began to arc into the air like a scarlet fountain. Before anyone
realized what she’d done, she bolted down the corridor, running
with a swiftness that astounded MaGrath even as he remembered Yulen
telling him about her fleetness of foot.

The guards holding Yulen and MaGrath were
taken by surprise by the girl hurtling directly toward them. They
were even more shocked when she skidded to a stop in front of one
of the gentlemen guests and pulled his dagger from his belt.
Reaching back, Atty hurled the dagger forward with every ounce of
strength she had toward the rope. There was a loud snapping sound,
and Yulen fell to a heap through the trap door. But before he had
vanished through the floor of the gallows, Atty had ducked into the
crowd. The guards, still unaware of what had happened to Collaunt,
left MaGrath and went after her.

MaGrath turned around to see the dagger a few
feet away, sticking into one of the posts which supported the wall
of the compound. He ran up the gallows steps, pulled it from the
log, and jumped through the hole in the floor.

Yulen was nearly unconscious, but he’d
managed to roll away from the trap door before MaGrath fell beside
him. The physician sawed away at the ropes as sounds of the hunt
escalated outside. This time he could make out the screams of
people saying the Battle Lord had been stabbed. Someone else cried
for help. The Battle Lord was bleeding to death.

As the last rope fell away, he helped Yulen
to his feet as the man fought for breath. “Atty,” he managed,
coughing.

“She’s given us a chance to escape. Let’s
go!”

“Not without Atty.”

“Trust me, Yulen. She’ll join us. Don’t throw
away this advantage she’s given us!”

MaGrath led him from behind the gallows to
see chaos in the compound. There was a small doorway set in the
wall a few yards away, one of the secondary exits facing the forest
edge of the compound. Tugging on Yulen’s sleeve, he ducked and
raced for it. Within seconds they were outside of the wall, and
together they ran for the protection of the forest five hundred
yards away.

Once they had penetrated the green barrier,
both men fell to the ground, struggling for breath. MaGrath managed
to crawl over to check Yulen’s neck, grimacing at the raw and
bleeding burn.

“Wh-what happened?” Yulen asked. His voice
was faint, his vocal cords swollen.

“She stabbed Collaunt in the jugular with the
arrow.”

“Did she...manage...to break the rope?”

“With the arrow?” MaGrath grinned.
“Nope. She grabbed some guy’s dagger and threw it, and
that’s
what broke the
rope.”

Yulen rolled onto one elbow and stared at
him.

MaGrath nodded, enjoying the man’s surprise.
“Yes. You heard me right. She threw a dagger.”

The Battle Lord paused for only a second.
“With which hand? Her right, her left, or both?” he asked before
breaking out into a smile. He started to chuckle along with
MaGrath’s soft laughter, but the effort hurt too much.

“If you two keep that up, Collaunt’s men
aren’t going to have much trouble finding us,” a voice dryly
commented from behind them.

Yulen rose to his knees as a warm and vibrant
Atty launched herself from the bushes into his embrace. They held
each other tightly, both of them trembling slightly as they
reassured themselves of each other’s presence and well-being with
tender words and one slow kiss. After a while, Atty pulled away to
give the physician a well-deserved hug and quick kiss on the mouth.
Following that, she bent over to examine the wound on the Battle
Lord’s neck.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, my
love,” she whispered.

Yulen shook his head. “My fault. A kink in
the plans I hadn’t counted on.” He eyed her. “A dagger?”

She gave him an innocent look in
return. “Why are you so shocked? You didn’t think the bow was
the
only
thing I was skilled
with, did you? How do you think I earned my Ballock?”

“How are you with a sword?” Yulen asked. “Any
chance I might find you challenging me to a duel sometime in the
future?”

“Forget it. They’re too heavy and too
unwieldy. But you should see me with a foil. I even learned a few
tricks with one!”

A sound in the distance alerted them. Atty
and MaGrath pulled Yulen to his feet and she guided them deeper
into the forest, away from Collaunt’s advancing troops.

“Atty, did you kill Collaunt?” Yulen asked
her the next time they paused for a breather.

“I stabbed him in the neck with that dulled
arrow he gave me. Served him right.”

“Is there any way he could still be alive?”
MaGrath whispered.

Atty shook her head as her eyes glittered
with the memory. “I was trained so that when I hunt, I aim to
either capture or kill. With him, I wanted nothing more than to
kill.” Her face grew grim. “I knew the moment I stabbed him he was
a dead man.”