The Dragon Lord's Daughters

by Bertrice Small

  “Oh, Junia,” he replied, “it should not have been the way it was for us. I am as much a victim as you. I am so ashamed that I was forced to violate the girl I love, and wish to make my wife. But I swear to you that I did not know what else to do. He threatened you, and he would have carried out that threat had we not obeyed him. He is the most wicked of men, and there is no stopping him.” There were tears running down his face now, too.

  Seeing them Junia reached up and caressed his cheek. Then she lay her head against his shoulder, sighing as his arms gently enfolded her. “What are we to do, my love?” she asked him.

  He kissed the top of her head, rubbing his chin against her hair. “I do not know,” he told her. “For now, all I can do is keep you safe in this chamber, and see that no harm comes to your brother.”

  “I think my fear is receding,” she told him. “I told you last night and I meant it, Simon, that should the opportunity arise I will kill your father myself. He has made a mockery of our love, forcing us to couple before him and his men.”

  “Be careful, my love, for he is clever as most madmen are. Remember that as long as he holds Brynn his captive he has your cooperation whether you will or not.” Simon kissed the top of her head again. “I will send Elga to you, sweeting,” he said, and arising from the bed he quickly dressed, leaving her.

  Junia got up when he had gone, and picking up her gown from the stool where Cadi had laid it the previous evening, she drew it on. She felt better dressed. She had no hairbrush so she ran her fingers through her long hair until it was untangled. Then she plaited it into a single, thick black braid. Bored, she made the bed, fluffing up the feather bed, and tucking the coverlet neatly. She had no sooner finished when there was a scratching upon the door.

  “Come in,” Junia called and both Elga and Cadi entered the room. The younger girl carried a tray.

  “You should be hungry now, lass,” Elga said. “I’ve brought you a nice trencher of hot porridge, along with some bread and honey.”

  Junia thanked the two women, and sitting on the stool quickly devoured the meal that they had delivered. When she had finished she looked about her, and said, “If I must remain here in this chamber then I must have something to do. Is there a loom upon which I may weave?”

  “Aye! My lady Anne had a fine loom,” Elga said. “Cadi, you must remain with the lass while I go to arrange for the loom to be brought here.” She hurried from the chamber.

  “Thank you for going into the dungeons last night, and seeing that my little brother was all right,” Junia said.

  “ ’Tweren’t no trouble,” Cadi said. “He’s a brave laddie. I wouldn’t want to be in a cell with the rats, and no water.”

  “He has no water?” Junia was shocked.

  “Master gave orders,” Cadi replied. “No food and no water for the boy. He’s going to starve him to death, he says, and then send his body back to your father.”

  “Merciful Mother!” Junia cried, realizing with certainty now that Simon’s father was indeed an evil man. Then she swallowed back her fear and asked Cadi, “How did you get to see Brynn last night?”

  “Gave the guard what he wanted, what they all wants,” Cadi responded.

  “I do not understand,” Junia said.

  “I let him feel me up,” Cadi answered matter-of-factly. “He’s lonely down in that dungeon, lady. He does me a favor. I do him one. There is nothing unusual in it.”

  “You bargain with your body?” Junia was both astounded and shocked.

  “Women ain’t got nothing else of value to bargain with,” Cadi replied sanguinely.

  “I have to see my brother,” Junia said. “And I have to get a skin of water to him that he may keep hidden. He can live without food, Cadi, but he cannot live long without water. When my father comes to get us I will tell him how good you were to me, and he will reward you. But his reward will be greater if his only son is still alive.”

  Cadi nodded. “I’d do it for nothing just to get back at the master for what he did to my sister,” she said. “But I got to be practical, too.”

  Junia nodded. “I understand,” she told the girl.

  “Master will soon go out hunting with his son and his men. That would be the best time for us to sneak down to the dungeons. There will be no one in the hall then, for they will all be in the kitchens preparing the meal for when master returns. When he gets back from hunting he wants his dinner hot, and ready, else the kitchen staff suffers. I can get a skin of water. You will hide it beneath your gown. I’ll do all the talking, and keep my friend busy.”

  “Thank you,” Junia said.

  “Will your da really come for you?” Cadi asked, curious.

  “Aye,” Junia said. “He will come, and woe to Hugo de Bohun when he does.”

  Elga returned accompanied by two men carrying a fine loom, and a basket of multicolored wools. The loom was set up by the chamber’s single window, and with it a lovely padded bench.

  “This is what my mistress sat upon when she was at her loom,” Elga explained.

  “Is the master gone hunting yet?” Cadi asked innocently as the two serving men departed the chamber.

  “Aye, he’s just off else I should never have gotten this loom from the corner of the hall he consigned it to when Lady Anne died,” Elga explained.

  “The young mistress has got to see her brother,” Cadi began, “and I got a plan.”

  “If he finds out you’ve taken her into the dungeons,” Elga said, “he’ll beat you senseless, girl. What if you’re seen?”

  “They’ll all be below in the kitchens, Elga. You know how he is when he gets back from hunting. No one will see us so no one can tell,” Cadi reasoned.

  Elga thought for a long moment. “I’ll go down to the hall and keep watch,” she said. “Will your friend cooperate with you again? He’ll want more than you offered last time, girl. Are you prepared to give it?”

  “I knows just what I’ll give him,” Cadi said with a grin, “and he’ll be a very happy man, Elga, I promise you. First, however, I need a water skin for the young mistress to take to her brother.”

  “There’s one here,” Elga said. “When I ask for another later I’ll say someone must have taken it to fill it and forgot to return it.” She took down the water skin from a peg on the far wall and shook it. “It’s full.”

  Junia took the water skin from the old woman. She removed her gown and put the water skin about her neck, then replaced the gown. The skin was well hidden, and only someone looking closely at Junia would have wondered what the long lump beneath her clothing was.

  The three women left the bedchamber, and slipped quietly down the stairs. As Cadi had predicted there was no one about, and the castle was extremely quiet. They left Elga to keep watch, and descended the staircase into the dungeons where the single guard remained on duty.

  “Stay here a moment,” Cadi instructed Junia, and then she called out to the guard, “I’ve come back to see you, handsome laddie.”

  The guard turned. “You want to see the boy again?” he asked, grinning.

  “It ain’t me who wants to see him, but his sister. Let her, and I promise to make it worth your while,” Cadi tempted.

  “The master would kill me if he found out,” the guard said nervously.

  “The master is out hunting with all his men,” Cadi murmured, and she moved closer to the guard. “Don’t you want to know what I’ll give you, handsome?” she purred.

  “Tell me, and I tell you if it’s worth the chance,” the guard said, pulling her close.

  Cadi leaned into the man, and whispered softly in his ear. Then she licked the ear.

  The guard’s eyes widened. “You swear you’ll do that?” he asked her. One hand plunged into her chemise top, and squeezed a breast. “What about the boy’s sister?”

  “She’ll be locked in the cell with her brother having a nice little visit, while I give you the pleasuring that you deserve for being so kind to a girl like me,” Cadi said, givi
ng him a wink and a smile.

  “All right,” the guard said, his voice filled with his excited anticipation. He took his keys up and opened the cell in which Brynn was imprisoned. “Come on, lady,” he called to Junia, and when she had slipped quickly by him into the cell he locked the door behind her, turning to Cadi with a grin. “Now, my girl, you must keep your promise to me. And do it slowly, lass. No kiss me quick, for as soon as you are done the girl must leave the cell. So if you wants her to have a good visit, you’ll take your time.”

  “I’ll give you the best time you have ever had, my handsome laddie,” Cadi said, slipping to her knees and reaching beneath his garment for his manhood. Finding it she looked up at him coyly, and licked her lips slowly. “You’re going to like this,” she said, and took the flaccid manhood into her hand, and began to lick on it with leisurely strokes of her tongue. The guard moaned softly almost at once. Damn, she thought, he would not be able to hold himself back once she got him in her mouth. She’d really have to take her time if Junia was to have time with her brother.

  Within the cell the brother and sister hugged each other silently. Finally Junia put Brynn back from her, and looked at him. “Your face? What happened to your face?” she asked him.

  “It was when Hugo de Bohun hit me,” Brynn said. “It hurts like the devil. I suppose it looks bad.”

  “Aye,” Junia told him, and then pulling her gown over her head she lifted the water skin from around her neck, and handed it to him. “Don’t drink too much,” she cautioned him. “Lord Hugo means to starve you, and give you no water. Hide the skin beneath the straw. Only drink it when you must. I don’t know if I can get another to you. He’s out hunting, or I couldn’t have snuck down from my chamber. I am confined there.” She drew her gown back on as she spoke.

  “What of Simon?”

  “Filled with remorse. He does love me, Brynn, but alas, he is helpless before his father for he has naught but what Lord Hugo will give him.”

  “Da will kill the de Bohuns, father and son, when he gets here,” Brynn said.

  “Let him kill the father,” Junia said. “I still want the son for my husband.”

  “The castle is well fortified,” Brynn noted. “You’d be surprised what you can see hanging upside down on a horse.” He gave her a small grin.

  “Oh, Brynn, this is all my fault! I am so sorry!” Junia cried.

  “Shut up,” he muttered. “You couldn’t help falling in love, and you didn’t know he was the wrong man. Da will come for us, you may be certain, sister. And then Hugo de Bohun will regret his perfidy.”

  “Simon and I have in our ignorance but escalated the feud,” Junia said sadly.

  “There will be no more feud after Da comes,” Brynn replied grimly. “He will wipe the de Bohuns out root and branch, and I will help him.”

  “Brynn!” Junia was shocked by the venom in his voice.

  “I’ll never forget what was done to you, sister,” he told her grimly. “Never!”

  “It wasn’t Simon’s fault, Brynn. By doing what he did he saved me from his father and his rough soldiers,” Junia tried to explain.

  “He should have fought his father to preserve your honor before he allowed himself to be put to you like a stallion to a mare,” Brynn replied. “Do you not understand, Juni? You have been cruelly dishonored. No man will have you now.”

  “Simon—” she began, but he cut her short with a wave of his hand.

  “Our da will kill Simon, sister. Pray God his foul seed did not take root in your womb,” Brynn responded angrily.

  Junia pressed her lips together to keep from screaming. Her brother was right. Their father would take his revenge on all the de Bohuns for what they had done. She put her hand into the pocket of her gown, and pulled out a chunk of bread. “Here,” she said, handing it to her brother. “I don’t know when or even if I can get any more food to you. Don’t let the rats get it, Brynn.”

  He took it from her, and began cramming the bread into his mouth. He was hungry, and he was a growing boy. He had had no food since the previous morning, and his sister was correct when she said he was unlikely to see food again soon. Outside the wooden cell door they heard the guard begin to moan and sob. Brynn looked to his sister questioningly. “What the hell is she doing to him?” he asked.

  “Look if you will,” Junia said. “I don’t want to know.”

  Brynn walked over to the door and looked through the grate. The serving wench was on her knees before the guard, and she was sucking on his cock for all she was worth. The look on the guard’s face was one of pure bliss. Brynn grinned. He had been recently entertained in such a manner by one of his father’s serving girls. It was a most pleasurable experience. He would remember to see the girl was spared when his father brought fire and sword to lay waste to Agramant. “Give the wench my thanks for what she has done,” he told Junia, carefully blocking her view of the grate. “Tell her she need have no fear of the Pendragons even when they bring war to this castle.”

  Junia nodded. “Take a sip of your water, and then hide the skin well,” she advised him. “ ’Tis all I’m likely to be able to get you.”

  Outside of the cell they heard the guard give a muffled shout, and after a moment or two Cadi’s voice said, “Now wasn’t that worth the risk, handsome?”, and the guard’s assent. Another moment passed, and they heard the key in the lock of the cell door. Brother and sister embraced quickly.

  “You must go now, lady,” the guard said.

  “Take care of yourself, Brother,” Junia told him.

  “And you also,” he replied as she left him. The door was firmly closed and locked. Brynn Pendragon found himself alone again. He listened as his sister’s footsteps faded away.

  The two young women hurried up the winding stone steps and back into the hall again where Elga was awaiting them. Without a word the trio quickly made their way upstairs to the chamber where Junia was supposed to be imprisoned. Once there they heaved a collective sigh of relief.

  “I don’t know what you did to that guard, Cadi, but thank you!” Junia said. “He certainly seemed happy enough when we departed the dungeons, and you gave me time for a good visit with Brynn.”

  Elga raised an eyebrow, while giving Cadi a swift look. Then she said to Junia, “How is the laddie?”

  “His face is bruised terribly from where your master hit him yesterday,” Junia said, “but he will live, and his spirit is not broken.” She did not mention that Brynn spoke of nothing but revenge upon the de Bohuns. Elga and Cadi had been kind to her, but they still belonged to the de Bohuns and would have a certain loyalty to them.

  “The loom is set up for you, child,” Elga said.

  “Then I shall sit down and weave,” Junia replied. “It is as good a way to pass the day as any.”

  “Will you be all right if we leave you for a short while?” Elga asked. “We do have other duties about the household, for there are few women to serve. We shall replace the water skin when we return.”

  “I will be fine,” Junia assured the two women, and bowing, they left her, but Junia heard the key in the door’s lock turn with a click. She was truly imprisoned now.

  Chapter 16

  Merin Pendragon looked about the hall. “Where are Junia and Brynn?” he asked of no one in particular.

  Ysbail shrugged. “I never know where my daughter goes these days,” she said, and looked to Argel and Gorawen.

  “I have not seen either of them today,” Gorawen said, and that knowledge gave her a sudden uneasy feeling. She turned to Argel questioningly.

  “Brynn came to give me a morning greeting, but I have not seen him since,” Argel answered.

  “This is most strange,” Gorawen replied slowly, looking past them to the windows in the hall where the sun could now be seen setting.

  “I have never known my son to miss a meal,” Argel noted. “Where could they be, if indeed they are together?”

  “Search the castle!” the Dragon Lord said.

/>   “Nay, they are not here,” Gorawen replied. “I am certain of it! They are past games, and if they were here would now be in the hall for the meal.” She looked to the Dragon Lord. “My lord, you must go to the men at the keep’s entrance and ask if they have seen Brynn and Junia.”

  He nodded, and swiftly departed the hall. At his gate Merin Pendragon questioned the men now on guard duty. “Were you here this morning?” he asked them.

  “Aye, my lord, both of us were. We will be off duty shortly,” one of the men-at-arms responded.

  “Did you see my daughter or my son leave the keep today?”

  “Aye, my lord,” the man answered. “The lady left first, and the young lord went perhaps fifteen minutes afterwards. Both traveled in the same direction.”

  “And they have not returned?” the Dragon Lord questioned.

  “Nay, my lord, they have not returned,” came the reply.

  “And you did not think it odd that my son and my daughter departed here this morning and have not yet come home? Nor have you thought to inform me of this fact. You have already locked the gate!” He was shouting now.

  “But the young lord and his sister always ride out,” the guard protested.

  “And they also ride back,” Merin Pendragon said angrily. “When have you ever known my children to remain outside the gates after sunset, you witless boob!” He shouted for the captain of his guard, and when the man had come running he told him what had happened. Then the Dragon Lord said, “Send these two witless dullards back to the fields where they obviously belong, and gather together a troop of men with torches. I think I know where my children have gone. But whether they are still there is another matter entirely.” Then turning, he hurried back into his hall where his women awaited him anxiously.

  “They both rode out this morning, Brynn a short while after his sister. I suspect he was following her, and I suspect she was going to Mryddin Water to meet with that cursed de Bohun boy,” the Dragon Lord told the trio.

  “Aii! She will ruin herself, the foolish slut!” Ysbail cried.