Flash patted her backside. She willed herself not to flinch. They must think she was still unconscious. Perhaps they will drop their guard. She knew she would have only one chance to escape, if she even got that slim opportunity.
“You speak the truth,” her captor conceded. “Methinks we have put enough miles between us and the earl’s men. We are safe for a while. There is a thick copse yonder. A fair trysting spot if ever I saw one.” He chuckled as he urged his horse into a walk. “This piece of work will not take long.”
Alicia prayed that she would not tremble when they uncovered her. Branches lashed her head and feet as Flash guided his horse through a grove of trees. All too soon, they stopped.
Flash dismounted. “‘Tis a fine place for fine work.”
“‘Tis a bit of honey that I crave,” Demon replied.
Rough hands grasped Alicia by her feet, and pulled her off the horse. She willed herself not to stiffen at their touch. She must not give herself away too soon.
Flash grunted as he hefted her over his shoulder. “She is more than a bit, my friend. ‘Tis a lass to entertain an army. And soft.” His hand fondled her buttock again. Alicia pressed her lips together. She could feel an angry flush steal into her cheeks. Guardian angel, hide my color, or they will know I am conscious.
“This spot is as good as any.” Flash laid her down on the pebble-strewn ground.
One of the stones bore into the small of her back. She remained still. He pulled the cloak off of her. The cool air of the evening kissed her face. She welcomed the scant relief, though she did not move, nor open her eyes. Her stomach churned with fearful anticipation.
Demon sucked in his breath through his teeth. “Pretty piece that.”
“The woman or her jewels?” Flash asked with a trace of sarcasm.
“Both. First we take one, then the other.”
Alicia’s skin crawled at the varlet’s insinuation.
“Cut her loose, Flash. She’s no a-danger. I cannot mount her if her legs be tied together.”
Alicia bit the inside of her cheek.
Flash said nothing, but stroked her hair. Then he drew out his knife. The blade rasped against the scabbard. He began to saw at the thick ropes around her legs.
“Did you ever lay eyes on old King Edward?” he suddenly asked his partner.
Alicia held her breath. Why did the man say something like that?
Demon snorted. “Nay, only ministers of the king’s justice.” He spat, narrowly missing her face.
Flash proceeded to cut the bindings from her wrists. The men were so close she could smell their filth. Her gorge rose in her throat. Flash removed her rings from one hand, while Demon helped himself to the other with many a harsh chortle. Her outsize wedding ring slid easily off her middle finger. Alicia experienced a pang to be parted from it. It felt as if the knaves stripped her husband away from her. Thomas, my heart, where are you?
Flash dropped his booty into his poke, then turned back to her. “I saw King Edward once when I was a lad. Giant of a man, and all golden. Made me almost believe in angels again.” He again took a lock of her hair, and rolled it between his fingers. “She has his look,” he continued, with an odd catch in his voice.
Demon thumped him on the shoulder. “Be ye a Yorkist?” He spat again. “York or Tudor, makes not a whit of difference. The devil take me! Look at the bauble she wears on her breast.”
He started to reach for it. Alicia wondered if she should make her move now. Her muscles strained with the agony of waiting. Flash grabbed his henchman by the wrist.
“Aye, ‘tis a gladsome sight, but soft, my friend. I want to be sure the glittering stone does not slip away, never to be seen again.”
Demon cursed as he tried to pull himself away from the other’s grip. “Calling me a thief, are ye?”
“Aye, you have a most unsavory smile, and are swift of fingers in other men’s pockets. Yet I also know you to be as true a coward as ever turned a back, so do not threaten me with your empty oaths,” Flash replied in a low icy tone. “I will take the jewel myself, and will broker it with one I know whose shop lies near Micklegate. By and by, you will get your share of the coin. Be content with that.”
Demon leaned over her, and shoved Flash. “Content, my foot! You are the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth!”
Alicia trembled as the men fell to cursing each other above her. She realized that her eating knife had been overlooked. It still hung from her belt. A small weapon against two villains, but enough, if she could use it at the right moment. Her hand lay only a foot away from its sheath, yet it seemed like a mile.
She stiffened. She thought she heard the distant sound of a dog’s deep bark. While the men continued to argue in more heated terms, she inched her hand closer to her belt. Again, she heard the sound of a dog in full pursuit of his prey. This time she could not mistake its tone. Only Georgie howled like rolling thunder. Her heart leapt to her throat. She prayed her ears had not deceived her. Her fingers closed around the handle of the knife.
Alicia froze as one of the men struck the other. She heard the sickening sound of flesh smacking against bone. Demon fell half on top of her, but struggled to his feet almost at once. Peeking out of one eye, she slid the little knife from its case. Neither man noticed her. They continued to flail at each other. Moving as quickly as she dared, she hid her hand with its poor weapon under a fold of her skirts.
Hurry, Thomas! Pray God, ‘tis you!
Flash grabbed Demon by his jerkin. “We waste the last of the light with this fool’s farce.” Giving him a shake, he let go of his partner, then knelt by Alicia. Demon dropped down on her other side.
Her eyes closed, Alicia gripped the knife harder. The hilt bit into her palm.
Flash unpinned her father’s brooch. With a grunt of satisfaction, he added it to his booty in his poke. Demon unclasped her necklace. Then his hand closed over her breast. He squeezed it hard.
She gritted her teeth. Nay! I will not yield up my precious maidenhead to this churl. I belong to Thomas Cavendish!
Without warning she sat bolt upright. Before either man could react, she swiped at Demon with her weapon and felt her blade slice through the flesh of his cheek. The impact so unnerved her, she almost dropped the knife in horror. With a roar, he drew back his hand to hit her, but she curled into a ball. The blow landed on her shoulder.
Flash grabbed her around the waist, though she fought and clawed at him. She searched for another target with her knife. Demon drew his own weapon, twice the size of hers.
Flash clamped a large hand around both her wrists. Still holding her in a death grip, he kicked the dagger out of Demon’s hand. “Are you moonstruck? The lady wants her alive.”
“The bitch cut me! I’ll have my own back at her.”
Flash pulled Alicia behind him. “She is worth nothing to us if she is dead! Use what is left of your sodden brains.”
Demon stalked toward them, his eyes gleaming like a maddened animal’s. Blood gushed down his neck. “She has marked me for life, and I will have my revenge. Get ye gone, Flash, or I will kill ye, too. ‘Tis all one to me!”
Just then a tremendous howling filled the forest. The underbrush crashed with an unseen fiend. All three stood stock-still, and listened as the unearthly sound reverberated amid the dark trees around them.
Demon’s eyes widened. He crossed himself. “‘Tis a pooka hound! He has come to drag us down to hell! God shield me!”
Chapter Eighteen
Georgie burst into the clearing. Even Alicia gasped at the fearsome sight he presented. His wide black muzzle opened, and exposed two rows of large white teeth. Silver strands of saliva dripped from his jaws, as the mastiff rose on his powerful hindquarters, and hurled himself onto Flash.
The man let go of Alicia, and fought to ward off the maddened animal’s attack. They crashed to the ground. Demon stared at the struggle between man and beast with terror-stricken eyes. Meanwhile, Alicia scrambled away from their t
wisting bodies.
“Cavendish! To me!” Thomas’s battle cry filled the air. Silver Charm plunged through the hawthorn bracken into the melee. His rider brandished his sword, looking like Saint Michael the archangel himself.
Demon raised his dagger to plunge it into Georgie. Without waiting for his horse to stop, Thomas leapt from the saddle, and hurled the dark man to the ground. Alicia screamed as her enraged husband lopped off the villain’s hand with a single slash of his sword. The bloody thing fell to the earth, still gripping the knife. Demon shrieked in pain, and clutched his mangled arm to his chest.
His sword dripping with blood, Thomas wheeled round. Flash gripped Georgie by his leather collar, and twisted it tighter. The huge dog thrashed against the choke hold. Without blinking, Thomas thrust his sword between the two. Flash gasped as if all the wind had been knocked out of him. Then he went limp when the sword pierced his heart. Gasping for air, Georgie backed off the body.
Alicia clutched the nearest tree for support. Never had she witnessed such a heated rage. She felt shaken to the core by the display of her husband’s raw power.
Thomas stepped over the dead man, and strode to her side. “How fare you, Alicia?” he asked with infinite tenderness. He took her cold hand in his warm one, and kissed her nerveless fingers.
She tumbled into his arms. Her blood roared in her ears. “W…well, my lord,” she answered when she could find her voice.
Dropping his weapon, he crushed her against his chest, and buried his face in her unbound hair. “Did…did they…? Are you…harmed?”
She slipped her arms around his waist. “Nay, but ‘twas a near thing.” She could feel his heart thudding against her own. She could not stop shivering.
His lips trembled. “I have never killed a man before.” The two of them clung to each other in silence for several long minutes. Thomas’s warmth seeped into Alicia. Laying her head on his shoulder, she drank in the comfort of his nearness, and wept with relief. His great body shook with emotion.
Andrew and the guards milled around the small clearing within the thicket of hawthorn. The exhausted Taverstock rode in the squire’s saddlebag. When he saw his master and mistress, he uttered several hoarse barks. Meanwhile, Demon’s screams of pain had subsided to moans.
Lifting his head, Thomas stared into Alicia’s eyes. “Later, I will make amends to God for my killing, but, by my troth, I would have skinned the villain while he still lived until he begged for death, if he had touched—”
She placed her hand over his lips before he could say anything else. The force of his anger frightened her. “I am whole, Thomas. All they took was my jewelry—and your wedding ring.” She showed him her bare finger.
He brushed his lips over her ravished hand. “You shall have it back anon—with interest.” His eyes gleamed in the dusk.
Her skin burned where he had caressed her. She started to reply, but Thomas turned to Andrew, and lifted Taverstock out of the leather pouch.
“Here is your true champion.” He held out the little dog to her. “I have never seen Tavie run so fast, nor so far before. He guided us from the clearing where you had been attacked to the old wagon track before his legs gave out. There Georgie picked up your scent, and led us onward.”
Alicia took the terrier, and cradled him against her. Tavie closed his eyes, and sighed through his nose.
“He and Georgie shall have a special feast when we return home.”
Thomas traced his knuckle down her cheek. “Aye, they deserve it, but first, I must finish what was started.”
He strode over to Demon, and nudged the prostrate churl with his boot. “Cease your caterwauling, fool. Tell me your master’s name and his intent.”
Demon acted as if he had not heard Thomas. He continued to rock on the ground, and cry.
The tall knight knelt beside him. “Speak, butcher’s cur, or you will lose your other one in a trice.”
The varlet only whimpered, “My hand, my hand! How can I make my living now?”
Thomas grabbed the man’s good hand, and raised his sword. Alicia stifled a scream. Her husband’s beautiful blue eyes glowed like ice chips. He looked like the angel of death.
Demon squealed like a stuck pig. “‘Twas no master, but a lady,” he babbled.
Thomas flourished his sword an inch above the man’s arm. “Come again, I did not hear you well enough. The name of your master, churl!”
Alicia took a step forward. “He speaks the truth. I heard them say ‘twas a lady who had hired them to abduct me.”
The man nodded. “By my mother’s soul, ‘tis a rich lady named Isabel Cavendish, who waits for us at the Black Dog Inn on the Ainsty road.”
Alicia gasped. She had not realized how deep Isabel’s hatred had flowed. What would Lady Cavendish have done with her?
“Why?” Thomas’s voice crackled like ice in February.
Demon sucked in his breath. “She claimed to be an agent for King Henry. She said your lady was an enemy of the king, and that he would pay a rich ransom for her.”
Alicia closed her eyes, and breathed a prayer of thanksgiving. Isabel would have delivered her up to certain death—and all for a few coins in return.
Thomas swore a blood-chilling oath. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword. For one terrifying moment, Alicia thought that he meant to run his blade through the brigand. Instead, he slid his weapon back into his scabbard.
He spoke to one of the men-at-arms. “Crocker, take this piece of vermin into your care. Bind up his wound so that he will be healthy when he hangs in York.” He glanced at Flash’s inert body. “Throw this offal over his beast, and bear both knaves to the master gaoler of York with my compliments. Andrew, escort my lady and the dogs back to Wolf Hall, and see to their comfort. I have some business to attend to in Ainsty at the sign of the Black Dog.”
Alicia touched his arm. “Nay, my lord,” she told him in a quiet voice. “I will go with you.”
His eyebrows knit together into a dark frown. “’Tis not a matter for a woman.”
She lifted her chin. “Isabel is my enemy, not yours. She wanted to betray me unto death. ‘Tis my right to face her.”
Husband and wife stared at each other for a moment, then Thomas relented. “Your beauty hides the heart of a lion, my sweet. You do your noble father proud.” He gathered her into his arms once again. “Breed me only warriors,” he whispered in her ear. “Methinks I could not handle more than one woman made of your fiery mettle.”
He took Tavie from her, and handed the sleeping dog back to Andrew. “Care for my heroes until we return, Master Ford.”
Bending in his saddle, Andrew swept his master a courtly bow. “‘Tis my honor and pleasure, my lord.” He tucked Taverstock back inside his saddlebag, then whistled to Georgie. The rising moon caught a sparkle in the boy’s eyes. “We will prepare Wolf Hall for a grand celebration. Godspeed, my lord and lady.”
Thomas patted Andrew’s gelding on the rump. “And with you, lad.”
The squire turned his horse about, then disappeared through the hawthorns. Georgie followed behind him with his long tongue hanging nearly to the ground. Some of the men-at-arms trussed Flash’s body across his horse while others tied Demon into his saddle. Thomas slipped his arm around Alicia’s waist.
“Are you certain sure you want to see this affair to its end?” he murmured in her ear.
She leaned against him. “On my life, Thomas. My very life.”
He pressed his lips to hers. At first, he only caressed her mouth. His touch sent a thousand tingling shocks through her body. She rose on tiptoe, and returned his kiss with fervor. He twined his tongue with hers as if he would devour her, then he pulled away. She clung to his shoulders. Her mouth burned with his fire.
“We ride,” he whispered, his hot breath fanned her cheek. “We will meet the devil’s handmaiden in her lair. Later, by God, I will do you full justice.”
His promise made her heart leap for joy.
He lif
ted her onto Silver Charm’s saddle, then swung himself up behind her. “Kirby, Ozwald, attend on me, and follow!”
Thomas spurred his charger into a canter. Alicia held tight to the pommel as the horse swept through the hawthorn branches. The cool night air blew into her face. Thomas pulled her back against his solid chest.
“‘Tis good that you accompany me, my sweet,” he said. “Your pure heart will keep me from doing an injury to that shrew.”
She squeezed his arm that held her around her waist. She gulped great draughts of air, and thanked all the saints in heaven for the gift of her husband and protector.
You chose wisely for me, Sir Edward Brampton.
Isabel had waited until nearly midnight for her minions to return with their prize. When the candle on her sideboard began to sputter in its wax, she decided that they had been unsuccessful that day. No use to lose her own sleep over their ineptitude. She climbed into the inn’s sorry excuse for a bed, pulled the covers up to her chin, and had no difficulty falling into a deep sleep.
The chamber’s door burst open with the force of a whirlwind. Wood splintered against the plaster wall. Isabel bolted upright. In the dim light of the moon through the tiny dormer window, she saw her room fill up with men brandishing swords and daggers. One of them grabbed Meg before the imbecile maid could utter a scream. Isabel shielded herself with a pillow.
“Who dares to disturb my sleep in this unholy fashion?” she demanded in the bravest voice she could muster.
Someone struck a flint to the candle. In the flickering light she beheld Thomas standing over her. Wildfire danced in his eyes.
“Good evening, Isabel,” he growled.
She snorted in reply. “What jest is this, Thomas? I am in no mood for any mad prank of yours. Begone!”
He bared his teeth like one of his dogs. “No jest, sister-in-law, unless you consider abduction, theft and rape to be entertaining.”
Her words of rebuke died on her lips when Thomas stepped aside, and she saw Alicia standing next to him. The woman’s long hair hung unbound and tangled; her rich gown was torn and muddy. Despite her fear, Isabel felt a certain satisfaction with her usurper’s bedraggled appearance.
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