Second Age of Darkness

by Diane Lindmark

  Edmund turned and headed back to the wall. To his great annoyance, they must've been just outside of rifle range. They didn't see a single man go down.

  "Dammit! What the devil are they waiting for? It's been three hours," demanded Christian, on the verge of panic.

  Edmund sighed and looked disgusted at his son's lack of backbone. "They are waiting for you to become nervous and panic. This, my lad, is called psychological warfare. The best thing to do is just wait."

  Malachi and his men kept them waiting another hour, but once they decided to attack they wasted no time. Men charged forward carrying ladders. Edmund opened fire taking out some of the ladder bearers, but he saved his last two rounds. Those were for Malachi. Edmund shifted his gaze from the men carrying the ladder to the men following behind them. As soon as the ladders went up, their second wave was already climbing them. He looked around, then he cursed Christian's cowardice. He was no longer on the wall. The first man had not even reached the top of the ladder when two things happened simultaneously. Edmund realized that they had no battering ram, but a large group of men were headed straight for the gate and he heard the gates open. He cursed whatever man had betrayed them and opened the gates. He swore silently as he charged his first enemy soldier killing the man before he even reached the walkway. Two more men died, barely coming over the walls before he caught sight of Malachi in his courtyard. He knew it was Malachi the moment he saw him. Edmund drew his pistol and pointed it at Malachi. His first shot missed, his second didn't.

  Part 2

  King Malachi

  Chapter 7

  Stargazer Castle, Scottish Highlands

  June 18, 2231

  Duff sighed and looked around. The room looked secure enough. He considered exploring the castle. He had been told he was a guest. He shook his head. Probably not a good idea. Deciding it was safer to remain in his room, he crossed over to a small shelf with five books on it. He read the titles: '4:50 to Paddington', 'Great Expectations', 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles', 'A Solitary Stone', 'Without Remorse'. He picked up each one and examined them. He decided on '4:50 to Paddington'. He picked up the chair, crossed over to the wall, and seated himself with his back to the wall and began reading. He had become so engrossed in his reading - it had been a long time since he had anything new to read - he completely lost track of the time.

  He was startled when he heard someone moving down the corridor. He gripped his knife tightly, then he heard a knock at the door. "Enter." The slave entered carrying a tray. She crossed over to the bed and placed the tray on it. Picking up a side table, she moved it over to beside him. She smiled at him. He had arisen at her entrance, now she waved him back into the chair as she went to retrieve the tray. "I'll get that. You don't need to wait on me."

  She ignored him and returned with the tray. Picking up the pitcher, she poured him a glass and handed it to him. He took it dubiously and stared at it. She smiled and gave a little giggle. She waved her hand over everything and pointed to herself, then she made as though she picked up something imaginary and started cutting it. Then she started making other gestures. After a minute he thought he knew what she meant and asked, "You prepared everything yourself?" She smiled and nodded. He hesitated a moment. "So you're telling me it's safe to eat?" She nodded.

  Duff pitched his voice low and asked, "You don't trust your King, do you?" She looked terrified and put her hand to his mouth and shook her head fiercely. After a moment she moved her hand and put her hands together in a pleading fashion, then she put a finger to her lips and went back to pleading. "You wish me to be silent as you're afraid he'll hurt me?" She nodded. Still speaking softly he said, "I'm not worried for myself. I'm worried for you. He's going to kill you one of these days. Please run away with me, I'll protect you." She smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder.

  Her eyes alighted on the book he was reading. She picked it up and grinned. She tapped the book and frowned, then smiled. "You're asking if I like the book." She gave him a dazzling smile and nodded. "I think I'd like anything new. We don't have a lot of books in my house, but I like it. It's interesting, I'm just afraid I won't get a chance to finish it." She pressed the book into his hand and then pressed it against his chest and then pointed at him. She crossed over to the shelf with the books on it. She picked up 'Great Expectations'. She stuck out her tongue and made a face. He started laughing. "You don't think it's very good?" She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. She picked up each one of the other books and held them up for him to see, smiling at each one, then she crossed over to his pack where he had dropped it on the floor, opened it, and shoved the books inside. "I don't think your King's going to like you giving me his books." She made a face and shook her head, then she made a circle over her head with her fingers pointing out like a crown. "The King?" She nodded, then she held out her hands in front of her like she was reading a book, then she made the gesture for king again and then went back to reading and shook her head. "The King doesn't read books, or does he not read at all?" She crossed back to him and took the book and then shook her head. "The King doesn't read so he won't notice they're missing, is that what you're getting at?" She smiled and nodded, then she indicated the food, curtsied, and excused herself.

  Duff stood there staring at the door for a long time. Finally he sighed and seated himself. He ate his dinner. It was very good, though it did not escape his notice there was no meat. All it was was cabbage stew with a bit of carrots and a sliver of cheese and one slice of bread, barely enough to satisfy the hunger of a child. He considered for a long moment, then he slowly shook his head to himself. No, he couldn't imagine that the slave slighted him. This was probably the best they had to offer and given what he was learning quickly about their King, he found himself greatly concerned about the children. What were they eating for dinner? He stared at the beer dubiously, then picked it up and tentatively tried it. To his surprise, it was actually quite good. Then he reconsidered. No, King Edmund would want his alcohol well-made; wouldn't matter to him if the children were starving as long as he had a full belly and his needs satisfied. When he was done, he moved the table over near the door. Pulling out his bedroll, he laid it on the side farthest from the door. Placing his sword just under the bed so it was out of sight, but he could easily get it if he needed it, he made himself comfortable on the stone floor. Better not to be where he was expected to be. He moved the lamp to the bedside table farthest from the door and sat reading.

  Duff awoke with a start. His hand slid under the bed and wrapped around the hilt of his sword. He forced himself to continue breathing normally. He wasn't sure what had awoken him, then he heard the door shut softly and bolt. It was another moment before he heard bare feet padding across the floor towards him. His mind raced trying to figure out who had entered his quarters. The lamp was still burning brightly and as she rounded the bed, he saw her before she saw him. She jumped and gave a slight gasp. "What the devil are you doing on the floor?" demanded Sylvie in a soft whisper.

  Duff released his sword and sat up. "One could ask you, lass, what the devil are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?"

  "I thought you might need something."

  Duff tilted his head so he could see the mantle clock. "You thought I might need something at five past midnight?" demanded Duff as he appraised the lass in front of him. She was a very attractive creature with red brown hair and hazel eyes. She was pale and slim, but nicely shaped and the nightie she was wearing was so thin he could see her hard nipples and the curves of her breasts and hips. He also knew she had nothing on beneath it. Her mouth had opened and shut several times, but yet she still hadn't decided what she was going to tell him. "Your King made it very clear he doesn't want me consorting with his women. I suggest you leave before he gets any ideas about you."

  She moved to stand next to him and then dropped down on her knees. "I'm Sylvie."

  "Duff … Why are you here?"

  Sylvie pursed her lips as she appraised him.
He was nice-looking, clean, and clearly intelligent, or he would have been sleeping in the bed. She compared him to their own men, most of which were scrawny, filthy, smelly, mean, and stupid. All in all, he compared quite favorably. "Aye, I think you'll do quite nicely," she said more to herself than him.

  Duff opened his mouth to ask her what she was on about, but before he had a chance, she kissed him. He started and pulled away so quickly he hit his head on the bedside table. Grabbing his head, he said, "Dammit, that hurt!"

  Sylvie started. "Oh dear! I am sorry, but if you don't want to wake the guard listening, I suggest you not yell like that again."

  Still holding his head he stared at her. "How do you know they're asleep?"

  "Because I brought him some tea a wee bit ago and I made sure it had plenty of sleepy stuff in it. He won't be getting up any time soon - unless of course, you wake him with all that hollering."

  "Why did you drug the guy guarding me?"

  "Because I don't want him to tell the King that I had sex with you now, do I?"

  Duff stared at her. She had spoken in that matter of fact tone that women use to make you feel like you just said something incredibly stupid. Though in this case, he really didn't understand what was stupid about his question. In fact, he was starting to think he might be unconscious or dreaming. As he continued to stare at the earnest look on her face, he realized he was neither dreaming nor unconscious and she was dead serious. "And why are you wanting to do that?"

  "What do you care? I thought all men cared about was sex and if I'm willing to have sex with you, why would you care what my reasons are?" she said, looking irritated as she crossed her arms over her chest.

  Duff blinked and continued to stare at the lass. She was young, but she was definitely in earnest. "You don't know me or anything about me. Why would you want to share my bed?"

  "First off, I was offering to share the floor with you because that up there is the bed. This is the floor and as I previously stated, my reasons are none of your business." To her complete and utter astonishment, he scooted back down, put his forearm over his eyes and looked as though he was going to go back to sleep. "What are you doing?"

  "Going back to sleep. I should think it was obvious."

  "You would rather go back to sleep than have sex with me?" she asked incredulously.

  Without removing his arm from his eyes he said, "I don't know what's going on and I don't know why you're doing what you're doing, but I do know that your King said he'd cut the throat of any woman I laid a finger on. So I'm definitely not getting involved in this unless I know what the hell is going on."

  Sylvie's jaw dropped and her hands fell into her lap. As she stared at the man, she tried to remember if she'd ever heard of any woman offering sex and being turned down. She racked her brain and could not think of a single incident. Men never turned women down for sex. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. "You wouldn't understand."

  "I would have to agree. I'm not going to understand if you don't tell me."

  She wanted to hit him. He was still lying there with his arm over his eyes trying to sleep and yet he also was managing to look incredibly smug. "It's a very long and complicated story, but let's just say I hate the King and I want to get even with him at any cost to me. And if I do this, the only person who will get punished is me, but it will make him angry. It will take something from him that he wanted and planned on, and since I can't kill his son, I can do this." She sniffled and wiped her tears away angrily.

  Duff pushed himself to a seated position and pulled the lass into his arms as she sobbed on his shoulder. "I can understand being angry and I can understand wanting revenge, but you shouldn't make love to a man you don't even know just to accomplish that end."

  Sylvie pulled away and started wiping her eyes. "What's making love?"

  Duff stared at her. She had to be messing with him. Then he studied the lass for a long minute. He knew she was far too upset to be messing with him. "Love making is what sex is supposed to be when a man and woman come together. Surely your mother told you that."

  "My mother died when I was four, and my older sister, she's married, but her husband, he's an animal and I hate him. If I could carve out his heart, I would, but I have never heard a woman refer to what men want from us as that. Around here you either capitulate and have sex with them, or they rape and beat you." She started crying again.

  "Then I agree with you. If your brother-in-law behaves that way, he is an animal. That's not what it's supposed to be like."

  She looked up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she slid onto his lap. "Then show me what it's supposed to be like."

  Duff looked down on her. He realized he walked right into that one, and now that she was on his lap with her arms wrapped around him, he was finding it a lot harder to say no. He'd never had a woman come on to him before. Granted, all the women he knew were married or were too young for him. She started kissing him. Lord God, help me or I am a lost man, he thought to himself as he tried not to kiss her back, but he was failing miserably and he knew it. At this point, he knew resisting was pointless because he didn't want to. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed her back. Their kissing became more and more heated. A thought struck him and he wrenched his mouth free. "Are you married?"

  She hesitated a long moment. "No, the King purchased my sister and I as virgin brides. I am betrothed to one of his men and I'm supposed to marry him in three months." She went back to kissing him.

  Duff found he couldn't focus on kissing her and try to sort out what she just told him. His conscience was at war with itself. One part told him he was taking what was not his to take; the other told him it was hers and she was freely giving it. He wrenched his mouth free again. "Do you have any idea what he will do you?"

  She pulled her nightie off over her head before she answered him. "Aye, I do, better than you." Then she wrapped one arm around his neck as she lay down on her back pulling him towards her.

  Duff stopped trying to resist and gave in to his desire. Afterwards, he held her tightly to him. "Did you enjoy the experience?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.

  She blushed and looked away. "I would've thought it would've been obvious. I did very much. I didn't expect it to be like that."

  He squeezed her thigh tightly. "Well, I thought as much, but I didn't really know."

  "Why didn't you know? Did I react differently than other women you've been with before?"

  He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't really know what to expect. I enjoyed it very much. It looked like you enjoyed things. I've never been with a woman before, so I had nothing to compare it to."

  She pushed herself up and looked down on him. "What? Do you mean you've never been with a woman before?"

  "All the women my age are either dead or married, mostly dead." He leaned back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling.

  "What do you mean all of your women are dead? What did you do to them?" Sylvie demanded, looking frightened.

  Duff suddenly looked insulted. "We didn't do anything to them. There was a terrible plague ten years ago."

  Sylvie hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that. All right, I shouldn't have thought that you would have. I'm sorry, please forgive me?"

  Duff wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Listen, tomorrow when I leave, come with me."

  She shook her head. "I can't. If I run away, he'll punish others."

  "Is that how he gets all of you to obey? He threatens others?"

  "Aye, it is. If I don't obey, he'll punish Abby, or the slave. If Roberta doesn't obey, he punishes the slave. If Abby disobeys, he punishes me or the slave. He always punishes the poor slave, even if the cook does something wrong, he punishes her."

  Duff narrowed his eyes at her. "I can't believe you call her the slave as though she's not a person, like she doesn't matter."

  "I wish I could call her something else. When we talk to her, the three of us, we always call he
r Healer. When we talk to others we call her the slave because that's what they know her as. She doesn't have a name. Well, I mean, I'm sure she does, but nobody knows it, not even Roberta, and she and Roberta are very close, and the slave was here before Abby and I came here. I went and asked Gertrude; even Gertrude doesn't know her name and none of us, not one of us, have ever heard her say so much as a word. I once heard Abby ask Gertrude why the slave didn't just end her own life. It would take her out of the pain and misery. I know I would."

  Duff interrupted her. He gripped her by the arm and shook her. "Don't go doing anything to get yourself killed, okay? Your King is going to have his hands full dealing with Malachi. He is not going to have time to notice you, so don't go drawing attention to yourself. Don't go getting any stupid ideas! No matter what happens, you stay alive! No matter what happens, you won't have to endure it long! Malachi is going to overthrow your King. Malachi has nothing to lose anymore and your King has his back into a wall. Whatever you have to endure, you won't have to endure it long and then you'll be free. So stay alive no matter what! Promise me you will stay alive!"

  "Stay alive for what? So that when your people take over I can be your slave?"

  Duff shook her. "Dammit lass, get it through your head! We're not like your men. Nobody is going to force you to do anything you don't want to do. Nobody is going to take anything from you that you're not willing to give them."

  Sylvie didn't know why, but she desperately wanted to believe that he was telling her the truth and that Malachi would make things better. "I'll make a deal with you. I will go out of my way to stay out of trouble, if you will make love to me again."