Dawn knew then that she had no intentions of telling Cree and Torr that Wintra was not here.
“The two of you leave now,” the man ordered sharply, pulling the dagger from its sheath at his waist and waving it at them to move.
Netty did not hesitate. She hurried out the door, looking relieved that her time here had come to an end. Would she say anything to Cree and Torr when she met them or would she be too fearful?
Cathan bent down to the woman in the bed. “The healer cannot talk, but she can hear and understand you. She will help you.” Her voice turned to a whisper, though Dawn heard her. “I will be back for you.”
Dawn shot her another angry look when she stood. Cathan would save her friend, but what of Wintra? They had wasted time here. Now what would they do?
Cathan stepped around her and Dawn was quick to follow, but it was not Cathan she was after. She pointed to the man and to the door and shook her head, then tapped her chest and waved her hand back and forth.
The man looked to Cathan and demanded, “What does she say?”
Dawn hoped Cathan understood. Dawn had every intention of helping to free the woman in the bed. It was the only way to be done here and resume their search for Wintra.
Cathan realized what Dawn wanted and was quick to relate it to the man. “She wants you to leave the door unrestricted so that she can come and go to get whatever she may need to tend the woman.”
The man looked hesitant.
“How can she do any harm, she cannot even speak?” Cathan said.
For some reason, most believed if one had no voice they had no sense and paid them no heed. She hoped the man thought the same.
“Fine, but do not go wandering around the keep,” the man ordered and hurried Cathan out the door, Netty having already disappeared down the stairs.
Cathan sent Dawn one last look and she saw worry in the woman’s eyes, and Dawn wondered who the worry was for.
Dawn waited until their footfalls faded completely on the stairs, then she dragged the thick plank that had kept the door from opening over to the hearth and laid one end in the fire. She would keep moving it, feeding it to the flames, until the plank fit in the hearth.
She went to the bed and eased herself down to sit beside the woman. She was slim, except for her large, protruding stomach, and had long, dark hair, soft blue eyes, and a pretty face that was much too pale.
“I am Margaret,” the woman said.
Dawn smiled and it took several gestures before Margaret finally said, “Dawn. Your name is Dawn.”
Dawn nodded.
“I am pleased to meet you Dawn and glad to have a true healer here to help me birth my bairn. It is my first one and I am sorry to say I am fearful.”
Dawn shook her head and patted the pouch at her waist, trying to reassure her. Cathan would return soon with Cree and Torr, and Cathan would tend Margaret. There was nothing for her to fear. She hoped wherever Wintra was that she was being tended well.
Dawn tapped Margaret’s arm, pointed to the door, then locked her wrists together and shrugged, hoping the woman would understand her.
“Why am I being held prisoner here?”
Dawn nodded.
“It is a story you are better off not knowing.”
Dawn pointed to her mouth.
“I understand you cannot tell anyone, but please believe me when I tell you that you are far safer never knowing my story.”
Dawn nodded. Her curiosity would be satisfied when Cree freed the woman. He would demand answers from her and Cathan.
Margaret sighed and rubbed her stomach.
Dawn looked at her with concern.
“Not yet, but with the way he twists and turns inside me, I believe it will be any day now.” She yawned. “The fire warms me and makes me sleepy. It has been hard to sleep when it has been so cold.
Dawn gestured for the woman to close her eyes and sleep. It was not long after she did that Margaret lay snoring lightly. It gave Dawn the time she needed to slip out of the room and listen at the stairs. She wondered if Cathan and Netty had finished with the brew and had taken their leave. She thought she caught the sound of Cathan’s voice. She wished the woman would hurry and be done with it. Wintra was somewhere and they needed to find her.
She turned to return to the room when she thought she heard a moan. She listened and it came again, a bit stronger this time. There was only one place it could be coming from and that was the other room. She approached it cautiously, seeing that there was no plank across it, which meant no one was being held captive in there.
The moan came again or was it a cry, Dawn could not tell and she could not walk away from a sound of despair. She lifted the latch and entered the room warily. There was no telling what could be inside.
She was met with complete darkness and she stepped back out and returned to Margaret’s room and fetched a candle. She entered the other room again. It was bitter cold and Dawn shivered even with her cloak on. She stopped when she saw bare feet tied to the bottom of a narrow bed. She held the candle up higher and if she had had a voice her gasp would have echoed through the keep.
There, hands and feet tied to the bed, lay Wintra.
Chapter Six
Wintra blinked her eyes several times, though it was painful, her one eye swollen, having caught a knuckle there when she had attempted to avoid a punch. She forced her eyes to spread wide, the one opening wider than the other. She was dreaming, wishing she was home and Dawn had arrived to be there with her for the birth.
Wintra struggled to speak, her throat dry. “How I wish you were real.”
Dawn hurried to the bed, tapping her chest repeatedly.
“Truly?” Wintra coughed to help clear her throat of the dryness. “It is you? I am not dreaming?”
Dawn leaned over her and gently rested her hand to Wintra’s cheek.
Tears trickled from Wintra’s eyes and she forced herself to keep speaking, though it hurt her to do so. “You came. You kept your promise.”
Dawn grew angrier when she saw how Wintra struggled to talk. She wanted to free her of the ropes but that would have to wait. Wintra needed something to drink. She sat the candle down on the small chest next to the bed and, letting Wintra know she would be only a moment, Dawn ran from the room and retrieved the bucket of water she had seen in Margaret’s room.
She scooped up a ladle full, then slipped her hand beneath Wintra’s head and fed it to her slowly.
The water refreshed her throat and Wintra asked, “Torr and Cree must be here with you.”
Dawn nodded, replaced the ladle in the bucket, then pointed to the floor, shook her head, pointed to the wall and waved slowly.
“They are outside?”
Dawn nodded and reached out to get to work on the rope that bound Wintra’s wrists.
“Torr and Cree will come for us soon?”
Dawn nodded, struggling to undo the knot that held Wintra secure.
Tears continued to trickle down Wintra’s cheeks. “I was so foolish, so stubborn. Torr must be furious with me.”
Dawn shook her head and patted her chest quickly, anxious to free Wintra.
“I know he loves me, and he is probably worried senseless.”
Dawn nodded vigorously, then smiled when the knot broke free, and she quickly freed Wintra. She cringed when she saw that her wrists were rubbed raw.
“I struggled to break free, but it was a useless effort. The wounds are my own fault,” Wintra explained, lowering her aching arms slowly to her sides with a sigh of relief.
Dawn grew alarmed when Wintra’s hand suddenly went to her rounded stomach.
Wintra drew in a breath and let out a long sigh when she released it. “You have come just in time. This wee one is ready to be born.”
Dawn’s worry grew. Cree and Torr would have to arrive soon if they were going to get Wintra away from here or else they would have no choice but to stay and have Wintra deliver the baby here. Dawn knew that she would have to be prepared
for that possibility, and the first thing necessary was to get Wintra fed and the room warm.
She slipped off her fur-lined cloak and placed it over Wintra.
“That feels so good,” Wintra said, snuggling beneath its warmth.
The hearth was small but so was the room and if she could get a strong fire going, it would heat the room nicely and give more light. She grabbed the candle and held it high, searching the room. She smiled when she spotted a broken bench discarded in a corner. She hurried and gathered the pieces, stacking them in the fireplace.
She went to Wintra, tapped her own chest, pointed to the door, then pointed back to the room.
“You are leaving but will return quickly?”
Dawn nodded.
Wintra slipped her hand out from beneath the cloak and grabbed Dawn’s hand. “Please do not be long.”
Dawn crossed two fingers and tapped her chest with them, then tapped Wintra’s hand.
Wintra smiled. “We are stuck to each other.”
Dawn nodded and hurried to the other room, grateful Margaret still slept. The fire was gobbling at the plank she had placed part way in the hearth. Dawn managed to dislodge a large enough sliver, the fire still eating one end, and she grabbed a small hunk of bread off the plate on the chest by the bed and took it to Wintra.
She gobbled down the bread fast while Dawn saw to getting a fire going. It did not take long for the wood to burst into flames and when Dawn saw Wintra in brighter light, tears stung her eyes. Not only was her eye swollen, but her jaw was bruised on one side.
Torr would be furious and out for revenge against whoever did this to her. She did not even want to think what Cree would do.
Dawn leaned over to rip a piece off the bottom of her shift, then went and sat by Wintra and gently wiped the grime off her face.
“I was seeking shelter from the fierce snowstorm. I thought I would get sanctuary here, at least until the worst of the storm passed.” Wintra shook her head. “I was wrong, though I still do not understand why they took me prisoner. What do they want with me?”
Dawn wondered the same herself. Why were they holding two pregnant women prisoners?
Wintra and Dawn both grew silent when they heard footfalls coming up the stairs. Dawn pressed her finger to Wintra’s lips, warning her to remain silent. She went to the door and gave Wintra a nod before stepping out and closing the door behind her.
She stood in the open doorway of Margaret’s room, waiting for whoever was climbing the stairs.
It was Cathan and Netty, and they were arguing.
“You said we would leave,” Netty complained.
“When we are done,” Cathan snapped.
“We are done with the warriors.”
“We are not done with the woman.”
Silence followed until they finally stepped in front of Dawn.
“She is well?” Cathan asked, placing two buckets of water to the side of the door and Netty placed another there as well.
Dawn nodded and pressed her finger to her lips and rested the back of her hand to her cheek.
“She is sleeping?” Cathan asked.
Dawn nodded again, then reached out and grabbed Netty’s hand and tugged her along to the other room. The woman was so shocked, she followed without protest as did Cathan.
Wintra had sat up in bed and looked prepared to flee, but settled when she saw Dawn. There was fury in her eyes and shock in the two women’s eyes that had entered with her.
Dawn did not release her hold on Netty, fearing she would run. She tapped the woman’s chest and pointed to Wintra, then tapped the woman’s head and shrugged.
Wintra spoke up, understanding what Dawn was saying. “She wants to know if you knew I was in here.”
Fear had Netty speaking freely. “I was told never to enter this room or they would give me a good lashing, so I did what I was told.”
“You are Wintra?” Cathan asked.
“I am,” Wintra said, “and do you know why I am being held prisoner here.”
“No, no,” Cathan said hastily. “I only know your husband searches for you.”
“I want to go home,” Netty said. “I know nothing about this and want nothing to do with it. Let me go home.”
Tears gathered in her aging eyes and Dawn realized she was just a pawn in whatever was happening here and that Cathan had not spoken the truth.
“Wipe those tears or the men downstairs will wonder why you cry and keep us here,” Cathan threatened.
Dawn released Netty and she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.
“We go now,” Cathan said and Netty’s eyes brightened with hope.
Dawn glared at Cathan as she gestured.
Once again Wintra spoke for her. “Follow the plan or suffer for it.”
Cathan stepped close to Dawn and whispered, “Let nothing happen to Margaret or you will suffer for it.” She grabbed Netty’s hand and hurried out the door with her, the old woman happily keeping pace with her.
“What goes on?” Wintra asked.
Dawn frowned and shrugged, then shook her head.
“You do not know and it does not matter?”
Dawn smiled as she nodded and gestured again.
“Torr will be here soon,” Wintra said with joy. “I cannot wait to see him.” She grabbed her stomach again and after the pain passed, she asked, “Will there be time for us to leave here before the baby comes? I would much prefer not to birth my baby here.”
Dawn shrugged, letting her know she was not sure.
“At least Torr, you, and Cree will be here, if I have no choice.”
Dawn nodded, held a finger up and hurried out of the room to return with a fresh bucket of water and handed a ladle full to Wintra.
She drank slowly and sighed afterwards. “I am so relieved my husband will be here soon. I have been so worried about the baby.”
Dawn reassured her, though worried herself. It took stamina to birth a baby and Wintra had used much of her strength to try and free herself. Having not eaten for a day or so did not help either. Dawn prayed for an easy delivery, not knowing if Wintra would have enough strength left to deliver the bairn.
~~~
Torr paced the forest floor, running his hand roughly through his hair and mumbling to himself. He stopped suddenly and looked to Cree. “I will wait no longer. I am going in to get my wife.”
“Aye, we will as soon as Cathan and the old woman reach us,” Cree said, pointing past the trees to the keep and wondering why his wife was not with them.
Torr stepped forward eagerly. “They did it. Wintra is no longer alone and now we know what we will face once inside.”
It seemed forever to Cree, and he was sure to Torr as well, before the two women reached them.
“I leave now and bring no more trouble to my door, for I will speak the truth to whoever asks,” Netty snapped as she and Cathan entered the forest and when the old woman laid eyes on Cree and Torr, she rushed away.
“What is that about?” Cree demanded.
“There is no time. Dawn is with Wintra on the second floor and she has been kept tied to a bed, her wrists are rubbed raw and her face is bruised.”
Torr went to charge past Cree, but Cree held him firm. “How many are in there?”
“Eight warriors and a handful of peasants who would bless you for freeing them, for they are being kept against their will,” Cathan said.
“We leave now, so few will present little difficulty to us,” Torr said and Cree agreed with a nod.
Before they could step forward, one of Cree’s warriors came charging at them on his horse.
Words rushed out of him as he reined his horse to a stop. “A large contingent of warriors head this way and will be here soon enough. Whether friend or foe, I do not know, but I know there are too many for us to defeat them if necessary.”
Cathan grabbed Torr’s arm. “We must get in the keep. We cannot let them get her.”
“Who? Who wants to take my wife and why?”
“They do not want to take her. They want her dead and they will see that every one of you die with her,” Cathan said and Ardit rushed to her side.
Cree scowled. “You will explain, woman, once this is done.” He looked to his warrior. “You know what to do.”
The warrior nodded and took off.
Cree, Torr, and the remaining warriors approached the keep on foot, their horses trained to wait nearby until summoned. Once at the door, Cathan pounded on it. This time a servant answered and Cree gave him no time to speak. He shoved the door open so hard, it hit the servant, sending him tumbling to the floor.
“Seal the door,” Cree ordered to one of his warriors.
Torr fought off two pitiful men, anxious to get to his wife.
He and Cree caught sight of a large man running toward the stairs. Torr lunged at the warrior, attempting to stop him, and knocked him out with the hilt of his sword.
Cree let out a roar that quivered the stone and echoed throughout the keep.
~~~
Dawn heard her husband’s battle cry and hurried to Wintra, yanking her cloak off her and easing her legs off the bed, getting her ready to stand. She pointed to her bare feet and shrugged.
“They took my boots,” Wintra said.
Dawn slipped the cloak around Wintra’s shoulders before slipping her own shoulder under Wintra’s arm, then she eased her up on her feet.
“Torr and Cree are coming for us?” Wintra asked anxiously.
Dawn nodded and took the brunt of her weight as she helped Wintra out the door to lean her against the wall. She held her hand up, gesturing for her to stay there, then she ran to the other room.
“What is happening?” Margaret asked, trying to get out of bed, her large, round stomach hampering her efforts.
Dawn rushed to her, pointing at her, then tapped her own chest.
“I should go with you?” Margaret asked nervously.
Dawn nodded and threw the blanket around the woman’s shoulder, got her boots on fast, and helped her out of the room. She moved faster than Wintra, but then she had not been tied to the bed and deprived of food. She stood Margaret beside Wintra and the two women exchanged questioning glances.
Dawn hurried back to Margaret’s room and grabbed a piece of the plank that had broken off, its tip ablaze. She knew the flame would not last, though she hoped it would last long enough. She returned to the two women to stand protectively in front of them. She looked as if she held a torch, but it was the only thing she could think of that would serve as a good weapon.
Highlander's Rescue A Cree & Dawn Short Story (Cree & Dawn Short Stories Book 4) Page 5
