Elfrida nodded dumbly, her eyes round and afraid. Velda forced a smile and hugged her princess, then turned to Lia once more. ‘Promise me you’ll take care of her,’ she said. ‘Swear it now, by the bones of our sacred Saint Ivar.’
‘I do swear,’ Lia said fervently, crossing herself. ‘By Saint Ivar and the holy virgin, I vow to protect my mistress with my life.’
‘Good luck then,’ Velda whispered. ‘Good luck and Godspeed.’
‘Godspeed,’ Lia echoed.
Velda rose and slipped off her smock. She gave them one final heartrending look, then stepped out of the shadows and ran straight past the men. They jumped as she appeared out of the gloom and raised their weapons, then saw it was a lone woman – and a beautiful, naked one to boot. They gave chase and Velda squealed as though in terror and ran into the nearest hut with the two men close on her heels.
‘Come on, my lady,’ Lia urged, seizing Elfrida’s arm and hauling her up. They scurried to the postern gate, the muffled babbling of Velda promising to do anything the men wanted just so long as they didn’t kill her wrenching at their hearts. Then they were through the gate and over the bridge, running towards the town as fast as they could go, two frightened fugitives in mortal danger.
The hencoop was the same but the hens were gone. Watt, the owner, was lying with his throat cut in his own yard. It wasn’t the first corpse they’d seen during their flight and Lia doubted it would be the last, for there were Osburg men everywhere, many of them drunk, many more carrying loot or dragging along some poor sobbing woman. It was a miracle she and Elfrida had made it this far, scuttling into doorways and side streets whenever they heard soldiers coming, running when it was clear.
Lia looked in the boxes and found three eggs undiscovered by the looters. She picked a splinter from the wall with a fingernail and pierced two of the eggs, giving one to Elfrida.
‘But it’s raw,’ Elfrida complained when Lia showed her how to drink it straight from the shell.
‘It’s good for you, my lady,’ Lia said. ‘We need the nourishment if we’re to keep up our strength.’
Elfrida had tired quickly since fleeing the castle, but since she did no work and rarely left her bedchamber that wasn’t to be wondered at. They shared the third egg, then Lia went out for water and something in which to carry it, leaving her charge in the hencoop. Lia discovered an unbroken stone jug amongst the wrecked remains of Watt’s hut and filled it at a horse trough, then hurried back to the hencoop to find a shivering Elfrida huddled precisely where she’d left her.
‘I don’t like this place,’ the princess moaned. ‘It’s so dirty.’
‘And so must you be, my lady,’ Lia said. ‘We’ll be safer as serfs, and few serfs are as clean as us.’ And to Elfrida’s horror Lia rubbed her hands in the dirt and smeared it all over her mistress’s smock, even managing to transfer some hen droppings in the process.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘the smell will help with the disguise.’ Next she got straw and sprinkled it over Elfrida’s head, tangling it in her hair. When it was done Lia doubted anyone would recognise her, not even the queen herself. ‘I can’t call you “my lady” any more,’ she said. ‘You aren’t a princess now, you’re a serf. What name shall we give you? I know… Ulrike. Uli, for short.’
It was an unfortunate choice, perhaps, for it brought to mind Ulrike the miller’s daughter, strung up between the punishment posts, her face twisted in agony as the ash wand cut deep into her buttocks. Hardly a comforting image, with nerves already frayed to shreds.
Elfrida looked unhappy. ‘Can’t I just be Elfi?’
‘It’s too risky,’ Lia said. ‘It might remind people of Elfrida, and we don’t want that, do we? Besides, Uli is almost the same as Elfi, isn’t it?’
Elfrida shrugged, saying nothing. She slumped down on the plank seat with her head in her hands looking very sorry for herself. Lia ignored her and started to plan their next move, but her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps in the yard outside. She grabbed Elfrida and pushed her into a corner, where they hid as best they could behind the grain barrel.
A soldier appeared and began looking in the laying boxes, just as they had done. He was wearing a metal helmet shaped like a bowl and a padded linen coat, and around his waist was a dirty yellow sash. At first he didn’t see them, and Lia prayed he would realise there were no eggs and leave, but he moved along the row and caught sight of them, the barrel being too small to hide them completely.
‘Fuck me!’ he exclaimed, jumping back in surprise. He drew a long dagger and approached cautiously. ‘Come out of there,’ he growled, ‘or I’ll gut you, I swear.’
Lia stood up slowly, picking up a handful of straw as she did so. Elfrida rose too and shuffled close to Lia, whimpering.
‘Get ready to run,’ Lia whispered, then threw the straw and grit in the soldier’s face. ‘Now!’
She dashed for the door, dodging the hand that clutched at her, hearing Elfrida panting right on her heels. Then she was outside, free and clear, and elation filled her. No clumsy oaf like him would catch them now.
‘Lia!’ Elfrida squealed. ‘Lia!’
She stopped and looked back. Elfrida was struggling in the man’s grasp, trying desperately to tear free. He sheathed the dagger and held onto her with both hands.
‘Better one than none,’ he declared, ‘though I’d rather it was your sister. Keep still, vermin, or I’ll give you what for!’
He shook her and Elfrida began to cry, so reluctantly, on legs as heavy as lead, Lia walked back to the coop, remembering her earlier promise to poor Velda. ‘Don’t hurt her,’ she called, the soldier looking up in surprise, as though expecting her to be long gone. ‘I’ll do anything you want if you don’t hurt her,’ Lia said. ‘Anything you want. Just let her go, please.’
‘Let her go so you can bolt like rabbits?’ the man sneered. ‘No, I don’t think I’ll be letting her go. You come here.’
Lia hesitated. All her instincts told her to run, but she couldn’t leave Elfrida. She’d sworn a vow, but even without that she wouldn’t abandon her mistress.
‘Come on,’ the brute said, ‘you can trust me. I’m an archer, not some bastard man-at-arms. We always keep our word.’
Lia took a step towards him, reassured by the fact that he hadn’t hit Elfrida, only shaken her, and had put away his dagger the first chance he got. ‘You won’t kill us?’ she asked fearfully.
‘Kill you?’ the soldier echoed with a sudden, lopsided grin. ‘I’d as soon kill my dear old mother as you two ducklings. I won’t deny I plan on sticking something in you, but it ain’t no dagger, that’s for sure.’
Lia ventured closer still, not quite trusting him but having no other choice, and when she was just a pace away his hand shot out with surprising speed and grabbed the front of her smock. Her own hands rose instinctively and she tried to pull free, but he was too strong for her and drew her close with no effort at all.
‘Two for the price of one,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘Born lucky, that’s me.’
He tied them together with a leather thong from the pouch on his belt, Lia’s left wrist to Elfrida’s right, pulling the knots tight so they couldn’t easily be undone. Then he mauled them in turn through their thin linen smocks, apparently making sure they didn’t have a hidden knife or other weapon. He searched them thoroughly and didn’t miss the opportunity for a bit of amusement, pinching their breasts and rubbing between their legs, grinning unashamedly all the while. Then he led them away, holding fast onto Lia’s right wrist. Lia needed to tell Elfrida something, and as it was obvious he wasn’t going to let them out of his sight let alone earshot she had to be clever.
‘I’m Lia,’ she said, addressing herself to their captor. ‘This is my cousin Uli, short for Ulrike.’
‘Cousins?’ the soldier said. ‘I took you for sisters.’
‘No,
we’re cousins. We’re from Three Elms. That’s a village not far from here, to the north. Isn’t that so, Uli?’ She looked at Elfrida, who nodded. Lia hoped she remembered in case anybody asked.
‘I’m a village lad myself,’ the soldier said. ‘Willem’s the name. I’m an archer.’
‘We know,’ Lia said. ‘You told us already. And archers always keep their word, don’t they? That’s what you said.’
‘And what word would that be?’ Willem asked craftily. ‘I don’t recall any word given.’
‘You promised not to hurt us,’ Lia firmly reminded him, though she couldn’t remember if he had or not with everything being so hectic. ‘My cousin, Uli, she isn’t well anyway, and the apothecary couldn’t diagnose what’s wrong with her, so you wouldn’t want to fuck her, would you?’ Lia babbled, her mind working overtime. ‘You never know what you might catch off her, so if you’ve a mind to abuse us you’ll have to make do with just me.’ The part about Uli’s ailment just popped into her head as she was speaking, though she didn’t hold out much hope he would fall for it. Why settle for only her when he could have both of them?
‘That I won’t do, as tasty as you are,’ he said, confirming her fears. ‘She don’t look ill to me, but being the nice fellow I am I’ll grant her a day’s grace to get well anyway. Tonight I’ll fuck you and leave her in peace, but tomorrow night she’ll be fucked as sure as moonrise. You’ve got till then to get her used to the idea.’
Lia sighed. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for, but she knew it could be worse. A lot worse, given that he was from Osburg, Attland’s most bitter enemy.
‘Nearly there now,’ he said. ‘I can’t wait to see the lads’ faces when I walk in with you two.’
The ‘lads’ turned out to be a dozen or so men who had taken over a house in the merchants’ quarter. ‘No eggs,’ Willem announced as he herded his two prisoners through the door, ‘but I did find a pair of ducklings.’
Heads turned in their direction and suddenly everyone was talking and laughing at once. Several of the men got up for a closer look and some wanted to touch as well. One, older than the rest and sporting a grizzled grey beard, grabbed Lia from behind and began to grope her.
‘Lord bless me,’ he wheezed, ‘you should feel the teats on this one! I’ll be chewing on these beauties tonight or I’m no archer!’
‘Then you’re no archer,’ Willem said, shoving him away and recovering his prize, ‘for no one but me gets to try her tonight, nor her cousin either.’
‘What?’ the bearded man cried indignantly. ‘I hope this is no more than a bad jest, Willem son of Ragnol. Share-and-share-alike is the archer’s motto, as you well know.’
‘Aye,’ Willem said dryly, ‘as it was the day afore yesterday when you found that keg of ale, Osric son of Podi. You weren’t too keen on sharing then, as I recall.’
‘That weren’t the same,’ the other man protested. ‘One keg weren’t enough to go around.’
‘Funny you should say that,’ Willem countered, ‘for it’s two ducklings I’m wanting on my plate tonight, and two’s all we have, unless my count is off.’
That was met with raucous laughter and yells from the others, some siding with Willem, some with the bearded man, but Willem ignored the lot of them and led his two prizes upstairs to a bedchamber; the merchant’s own, to judge from the size of the room and the richness of the furnishings. He closed the door, and locked it for good measure.
‘Sit down,’ he said, pointing to the bed, so Lia and Elfrida sat; and not before time, Lia thought, for Elfrida looked about ready to pass out with fear and exhaustion. It wasn’t surprising she looked just about done in, what with the flight and the dreadful news about the king, not to mention the sheer horrors of the last few hours.
Willem undressed, glancing sideways at the two young women as he did so. ‘Will she run, your cousin, if I cut the thong?’
‘No,’ Lia said. ‘She’s too tired. And she’ll stay close to me in any case.’
He stripped off his underthings, putting everything in a neat pile on the floor with his boots on top. Stark naked, he took out his dagger and moved to them. His skin was pale and covered in dense patches of sandy hair. His cock hung between sturdy thighs, long and thick, and swaying as he cut the thong that bound them, giving Elfrida a stern look as he did so.
‘Don’t run, missy,’ he warned. ‘If you run I’ll set the lads downstairs after you, and they’ll hunt you like a wolf pack chasing a hind. Only when they catch you there’ll be no quick death, though you’d pray for it, believe me. You listening, Uli?’
Elfrida nodded, her eyes drooping. Lia helped her out of her filthy smock then drew back the bedding and covered her over, tucking her in. She was asleep in seconds.
‘How about you?’ Willem asked. ‘Will you fall asleep on me too?’
‘No,’ Lia said. ‘It’s not only archers who keep their word.’
She drew off her own smock and saw his expression change as he looked at her. ‘By Saint Kathryn,’ he muttered. ‘You’re a sight to behold and no mistake.’ His cock rose swiftly and Lia couldn’t help but blush at such visual adoration, then she lay down next to sleeping Elfrida, on top of the bedding rather than beneath it. Willem moved over her and she parted her legs. He entered her, wasting no time, and was soon thrusting hard, his cock a sturdy rod inside her.
‘Try not to… wake Uli… she needs… to sleep…’ she whispered between his thrusts.
‘I’ll try,’ he grunted, ‘though I’m making no promises.’
Lia raised her legs and wrapped them around his waist, and as Willem pressed a kiss to her lips and told her she was a good girl she closed her eyes, accepted the first stirrings of pleasure, and began to move with him.
Chapter Fourteen
‘Is there anything to eat?’ Elfrida asked. ‘I’m starving.’
‘I don’t know,’ Lia confessed. ‘I don’t suppose they want us dying on them, so I should think they’ll feed us… if there’s any food in the house, that is.’
She and Willem had fucked till the early hours, in all the positions Velda had taught her and a few new ones besides. Willem would rest from time to time, and when he was ready off they’d go again. To help him get hard she would suck his cock, and he licked her in turn. It reminded her of happier times, though Willem was far less refined than Velda had been, slurping between Lia’s legs greedily like a man dying of thirst when her juices were the only drink to be had in all the land. She wondered where Velda was, and what was happening to her. She hoped she’d found a Willem of her own and was as safe as she could be.
Sated at long last Willem rolled away to sleep on the floor, which seemed strange, as there was room for all three on the bed if they snuggled close. Lia slipped under the covers and Elfrida murmured in her sleep, having slept through the prolonged, animated passions of Lia and Willem.
But now it was dawn and she was awake and demanding food, so Lia got out of bed and went to the window, for there was no point trying the door. Willem had already risen and dressed and left them locked in the bedroom, where Lia had laid planning their escape until her mistress stirred and started making her demands. Willem seemed a kindly enough man, but she judged the others were a different matter, especially Osric, the one with the beard. The sooner she and Elfrida were away from them the better.
As she looked out of the window she saw that that route was denied them also. It was a precarious drop to the street below and they had no means to lower themselves, and she wasn’t really sure Elfrida would be able to slide down a rope even if they had one.
There were people milling around in the street, and not just Osburg men. Attlanders were up and about their business too, for life goes on, even in a town occupied by the enemy. It was a hazardous affair, however, and in the short time Lia watched she saw one young woman seized by soldiers and dragged shrieking into an alleyway. Even if they e
scaped Willem and his archer band, Lia knew their problems were far from over.
She heard the key in the lock and turned as Willem entered carrying a bundled cloth and a stone flagon. ‘Morning, ducklings,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Sleep well, did you?’
He spread the cloth on the bed and Lia saw bread, half a roasted chicken and two red apples. Her mouth watered at the sight and she realised just how ravenous she was. Elfrida sat up in bed eyeing the food hungrily.
‘Just plain water to drink, more’s the pity,’ he said. ‘There was cider, but the greedy buggers downstairs finished it off last night.’ He chuckled to himself. ‘They’ve all got sore heads this morning though, and serve ’em right, I say. Tuck in; it’s all for you. I had mine already with the lads.’
He watched while they ate, his eyes on their bodies. Lia couldn’t believe he was still thinking about sex after their strenuous activities during the night, but evidently he was, as his next words proved.
‘It’s your turn tonight, Uli, don’t forget,’ he said. ‘We’re away soon, me and the boys, off to the moneylenders’ quarter to see if we can’t squeeze some gold out of their fat fingers. They’ll claim it’s been stolen already, like they always do, but it’s a miracle how the story changes when you hold their feet in the fire. No need for you to worry about interlopers though, cos a couple of lads will stay on guard downstairs. I’ll lock the door again when I go out so they won’t be tempted to pay you a call. No,’ he chuckled again, ‘they’ll have to wait a while longer to dip into you two, like it or not.’
‘You’re going to share us after all?’ Lia said heavily. ‘With Osric and the others?’
‘Aye,’ he confirmed. ‘I’ve intended to all along. That’s our way in the company, sharing the women and the loot and suchlike. But they won’t get a sniff till I’ve had my fill, for that’s our way, too. Three more days, maybe four, and then I’ll pass you over. If you’re smart you’ll grab what sleep you can between now and then. There’ll be precious little when that lot get their paws on you, believe me.’
Bondmaiden Page 12
