Her Match, Her Mate, Her Master

by Vanessa Brooks

  John was impressed. “It is certainly an achievement. There is no damp that I can see either, the floor is quite dry. I think it would be ideal for us; the only problem I can foresee…” he hesitated.

  Hans noted that his friend looked anxious. “You don’t think Linnet will like it?” he queried.

  “Ah well, that is more than a possibility but no, my friend, it is not that,” John reassured him. “No, it is the fact that she cannot cook.”

  Hans chuckled. “Sarah will have to try and teach her the basics before you leave us.”

  John frowned and said, “That would be kind of her, but will Linnet want to learn? She is a very spoiled young lady. In fact, I am only just realising how difficult that fact is going to make living our lives together.”

  Hans went over to the table and sat down, gesturing towards the empty chair. John pulled out the chair and sat down.

  Hans looked at him thoughtfully while filling his trusty old pipe. “John, Linnet is your wife, and it is up to you to set some rules for her. She is young, and as you said yourself, she has been spoiled, but that can change. I have always found a woman’s bottom to be her weak point, and the best lovemaking is always after she has had a spanked bottom. Perhaps time up here alone will bring you closer together. You will have more time to get to know one another, and if you feel the need of company, you can ride down to visit us, weather permitting, of course. It is all down to you, my friend. I will make a beautiful map to guide you to Boston. It will be ready for you to use come the thaw, and it will be a pleasant way for me to spend the dark winter evenings. I enjoy drawing and writing.”

  John said, “That would be most kind, thank you, Hans. You have been a good friend to us. I think you may be right about the time spent up here together, and who knows, perhaps I underestimate Linnet. She is very brave but much too impulsive. She just needs a little guidance. How I wish she had some of your Sarah’s good sense.”

  Hans threw back his head and roared with laughter. “John, when we first lived here, Sarah was a sore trial to me. I cannot tell you the number of times she got herself into mischief. Make no mistake, I had to warm her backside for her plenty, plenty times! She would wander too far and get herself lost while she was sketching and forget she had a stew cooking, until I would find the pan burned over the fire and no sign of my Sarah. She was bitten by a snake during our first year, and we had no idea whether the snake was poisonous or not. We waited for a reaction, not knowing if she would live or die—it was the worst day of my life, I think. Fear not, Linnet will do her growing up in good time with her good husband to guide her. Now let us inspect the barn and then we will see what delights Sarah has packed for our lunch.”

  Linnet had been travelling for about three hours when she saw a plume of smoke rising into the air from trees ahead and slightly to her left. Excitedly, she turned Penny in that direction and picked her way forward slowly. She wanted to surprise John and so went as quietly as possible. As she entered the tree line, she dismounted so that she could walk under the low branches. She crept towards the camp. As she came to a clearing in the trees she saw a fire burning merrily and a horse tethered nearby.

  A saddle and a blanket roll were on the ground to the left of the fire, and she noticed that, oddly, another bed roll lay a few feet away. Linnet frowned, but then her face cleared as she realised that of course it must be for Hans. He obviously planned to show John the route and travel a little farther on with him. She crept over to one of the blanket rolls, giggling as she planned how she would surprise them.

  She tethered Penny back in the trees so that she was out of sight of the camp and then went and unrolled the blanket. Wrapping herself up, Linnet lay on the ground and waited. After a few minutes, she heard male voices. She sniggered and scolded herself; fearing that she would spoil the surprise for John. She lay very still, her heart racing as the men entered the clearing. One of them went to the fire and Linnet could hear wood cracking as he threw kindling onto blaze. Then it went very quiet. Oh ho! she thought, stifling another giggle but failing. They know I’m here!

  She waited expectantly. Suddenly, there was a vicious kick to her side and a male voice shouted, “Bastard, up yer get!”

  Shocked and groaning with pain, Linnet threw back the blanket and found herself staring up the end of a musket. “Well, what ’ave we got here. God damn it… a female! Will… lookee here, there’s a doxy in me bed, just a waiting f’ me t’ give it to ’er!”

  Linnet scrambled to sit up. She was shocked and couldn’t speak. A second man ambled over, she noticed he carried a musket as well. She stared back at them in horror. They looked very similar to one another with scruffy beards and dirty, odd-looking clothes made up of a mixture of leather and fur. One of the men was slightly thicker set than the other, and he wore a fur cap that seemed to have the tail from the animal still attached. It was this man who spoke to her. “Well now, where did yer hail from, little lady? Come t’ warm our old bones at night, ’ave yer?”

  Linnet swallowed, she tried to speak but when she finally found her voice it sounded unnaturally high. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I am really most terribly sorry, gentlemen. I thought to surprise my husband who is, um, camping somewhere in these parts. I actually thought this was his camp. Please excuse my error.”

  The two men looked at each other and stared at Linnet. They began to grin. Linnet shifted uneasily, disliking like their horrible leers. “Hoity-toity… English are yer, an’ is yer husband English, too?”

  The man who had spoken pronounced ‘husband’ with a fake accent, mimicking Linnet. She nodded. “Why yes, I am, but my husband is American. He was only a small boy when he moved to Boston.”

  “Boston, yer don’t say! Long way from home, ain’t yer?”

  Linnet tried to smile breezily. “Please, no need to concern yourselves; I’ll just be on my way! I expect my husband is camped a little farther on and he will be wondering where I have got to.”

  The man who was doing all the talking frowned. “There ain’t no one camped around here, missy. We’d know, see, this is our regular trapping area. I’m Ned and this ere ugly bugger’s Will. I hope I didn’t hurt yer none miss, when I kicked yer arse? I thought you was another trapper, takin’ advantage, like.”

  Linnet had no idea how to reply, she simply shook her head. What on earth was she going to do? More to the point, what were they going to do with her? She shuddered with a mix of fear and disgust.

  Chapter 10

  John and Hans arrived back late afternoon. As they were getting nearer to the farm, they could see someone approaching them rapidly on foot. They realised as they drew closer that it was Sarah. It soon became apparent that she was running whilst waving her arms frantically at them.

  “What do you mean she’s gone?” John hadn’t intended to sound sharp but he was stunned.

  “As I said, she is gone and Peter, too.”

  It was Han’s turn to look shocked as he breathed out his son’s name. “Peter?”

  Sarah sighed. Really, men could be so obtuse at times. “Linnet left here this morning. As I explained, apparently, she thought you had left to travel to Boston. Peter went after her at lunch time when I returned from berry picking. He felt bad about telling Linnet you had gone on a journey, and when my back was turned, he left here to go and fetch her.”

  Hans looked thunderous. “Why did you let him go?” he yelled.

  Sarah flushed with temper. “I did not let him go, Hans. Peter left here without my permission! I told him he was to stay here and wait for you both but the next thing I knew, he was galloping off towards the river.”

  The two men dismounted. Hans muttered furiously in Dutch, something he rarely did nowadays and only when he was extremely agitated.

  Meanwhile, Linnet was feeling rather pleased with herself. She had left Penny tethered a little way away from the camp, initially because she thought she was surprising John, but now it was to be her salvation because when the men were asl
eep, she planned to escape quietly. They wouldn’t even hear Penny riding off until it was too late for them to give chase. She’d been lucky so far, the men had argued over her fate. The talkative man insisted that he wanted to bed her, but to her huge relief, the thinner man, Will, had protested. Linnet heard him say that he thought they should wait until they were certain that John and his friends—Linnet had told them there was a whole party of men out hunting together—were not in the immediate area. Will didn’t want any trouble. His partner, Ned, finally agreed with him and shrugged, admitting it might be better to wait and see.

  Linnet was relieved to have overheard the men, she felt slightly less afraid than before. She tried to endear herself to Will, smiling at him whenever he glanced at her, in order to show her gratitude and enlist his support. The men cooked some fish they had caught earlier over the fire and gave her a stick with a burnt fish speared onto the end. She had nibbled dubiously at it, but was surprised to find it tasted good, and she was so hungry, she devoured every last morsel. She tried to stay awake while the men made preparations for the night, building up the fire and tending to their horses.

  She must have fallen asleep at some point because she jolted awake suddenly to the most terrible screams—a horse, she surmised. The noise was punctuated by the fearsome roars and growls of some fierce, wild creature. Petrified, she scrambled to her feet. Will ran across to her, signalling for her to stay quiet. He grabbed hold of her, towing her along with him. They ran into the darkness and the terrible racket followed them, echoing loud in the still night air. With the horrible shrieking still ringing in her ears, Linnet stumbled and staggered along in wake of the men. Finally, they reached the river, where the men urged her into the shallow water, dark and oily in the faint light cast by the moon. She shuddered with cold and fear as she put her foot into the icy, fast-flowing water. It was horrible not knowing what was underfoot. They began to push their way against the current, upstream in single file, stumbling on slippery moss that covered the stones under their feet.

  Linnet whispered to Will in front of her, “Whatever was that creature?”

  Will turned his head and she saw the pale oval of his face in the faint moon light. “Bear,” he whispered. Linnet was none the wiser.

  The water was so cold, the strong current tugging at her legs. She was thankful she had had the foresight to put on a pair of John’s trousers that morning, it would have been impossible to walk against the swift waters with long heavy skirts weighing her down. They trudged on for what seemed like an age before they scrambled out of the water onto dry land. The men knew where they were going. Soon they stood before a large rock face. Will started to climb and then it was Linnet’s turn to follow. When she refused, Ned wasted no time in argument. He simply grunted and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder, climbing slowly up behind Will, who had already reached the top, whereupon he leant over the lip of the rock and grabbed hold of Linnet under her arms, hauling her up onto the flat top of the huge rocky outcrop. At last, they were all safely up. Linnet shivered from the wet, she was so very cold.

  “What was that creature?” she managed to ask again between chattering teeth.

  “Black bear, perhaps a grizzly, a nasty one, too,” said Ned.

  “What is a grizzly?” Linnet asked.

  “Yer a real green horn, ain’t yer, girly? Bear, a big ol’ grizzly bear, been tracking it nigh on a week now. Clever old bastard, this un is too!” Ned spat sideways to emphasize his point. Linnet gagged with disgust as the phlegm blob hit the rock beside her.

  Will grunted in agreement as he unrolled a blanket that he’d had the foresight to grab before they had left their camp. The two men seated themselves on either side of Linnet and wrapped the blanket over all of them. Although grateful for the warmth, she was embarrassed to be sandwiched between the two rough men. She covered her confusion with chatter. “A bear, you say? Well, what was all the screaming? I thought it sounded more like a horse, and why did we walk in the river?”

  Will answered her questions. “A grizzly tracks by smell, and can’t smell our tracks in water, an’ this ‘ere rock bein’ high enough up, will carry our scent in the opposite direction to the camp where the bear is now, see? We should be safe enough ’ere till mornin’.”

  Linnet felt relief. “So what shall we do in the morning?”

  Ned put his arm about her waist and gave her a squeeze. “Don’t yer worry, darlin’, the bear will be long gone by dawn. Mostly bears sleep durin’ the day at this time o’ the year, they is ready to hibernate. Anyways, yer got Ned t’ keep yer safe and cosy, eh?”

  Linnet shifted, uncomfortably aware of his arm snaked around her waist. “Ah, hmm, good, thank you,” she muttered uneasily. Despite everything, she was beginning to feel sleepy. Anxious that she might lean into one of the men if she fell asleep, she sat with her head resting forward upon her knees, her arms clasped around her legs. She had no intention of giving these men any ideas.

  Meanwhile, John and Hans decided to ride out despite the evening gloaming. As it darkened, they found that they could follow the trail by pale moonlight. Once they reached the river, it would be easier to keep on track, marked by the course the river took. They rode silently, each man with his own grave thoughts. Hans led the way.

  John realised after a while that he could hear a faint sound. He stopped his horse, listening hard. He thought he could hear a distant voice calling—yes, there it was again. “Hans, listen!”

  Hans drew in his horse; he, too, could hear the faint shout for help. “It means us leaving the river path. I do not like it, we could get very lost in the dark.”

  John was desperate to follow the voice; he was frantic with worry for Linnet but he knew that Hans must be equally worried about his young son. John was a sensible young man and he knew that Hans would have more luck tracking the two miscreants than he.

  “I’ll stay here by the river’s edge while you go and search, Hans. You know the country better than I. If you get lost, fire your pistol, then I will fire mine in response—that way, you can trace the sound back.”

  Hans reined his horse in and turned it so that he could put his hand on John’s shoulder. “Are you sure of this, my friend? Would you rather go and I wait?”

  John shook his head. “Go. As I said, you know this area of country.” John reached out and slapped Hans’s horse’s rump, then horse and rider disappeared into the darkness. John stilled his horse, listening to the sound of hooves receding into the distance. Dismounting, he tethered the animal. He might as well try to rest; he might be in for a long wait.

  Hans, meanwhile, drew in his cantering horse. Moving forward slowly, he listened intently for the sound of the cries but now there was only silence. He went some way ahead and reined in, listening, but still nothing. “Peter? Linnet!” he called into the night, his voice sounding hollow and strange.

  He heard the whisper of the night breeze and the faint rustling of grass and trees but no voice replied. He tried again, “Peter! Linnet! Answer me!”

  Hans listened. This time, he heard it, a reedy voice, slightly louder now but unmistakably that of his son. He trotted his horse for a short while, following the direction of Peter’s voice. He stopped to listen, calling again, and this time there was no doubt about the reply. “Pa! Pa! I’m over here! Pa!”

  Hans jumped down from his horse, running toward the sound of his son’s voice. “Keep calling, son, so that I can find you. Just keep calling!”

  “Pa! Pa! Over here, Pa, I’m under a tree!”

  Hans saw movement under a large, looming tree, then he spotted his son. Gathering the boy into his arms he clasped him to his chest. “Peter, oh thank the Lord!”

  He loosened his hold and took the boy’s pale cheeks between his palms, gazing anxiously into his small face. “Are you hurt?”

  Peter tried to nod. “My leg, I think it’s broke, Pa! The horse was snake-bit, I think, he threw me, bucked and bucked and then he collapsed and, Pa, he died! Oh Pa
!” Peter’s small face was awash with tears.

  His father rocked him, crooning to him in Dutch. Then he lifted him onto his horse and turned back towards John.

  Linnet awoke to sunshine; she was curled up on the sun-warmed rock. It took her a moment to realise where she was, and she was surprised to find herself alone, with no sign of the two trappers. After scrambling back down the rock’s steep side—much easier in daylight than the climb of the previous night—she decided to pay a call of nature and bathe quickly in the river. She needed to wash away all the grime of the last couple of days. She was drying herself with the blanket in seclusion, surrounded by low shrubbery, her clothes placed on a bush beside her, when she heard the unmistakable crack of twigs and the sound of stealthy footsteps. She froze, holding the blanket high under her chin. Ned appeared, his eyes narrowed lustfully at the sight of her near nakedness. His thin lips slackened with desire and his feral gaze boldly raked Linnet’s semi- naked body.

  “What d’ we ’ave ’ere then?” he drawled.

  He placed his musket carefully against a tree trunk, his eyes not once leaving her body.

  Linnet glanced over at her clothes. Could she reach them? “Why, Ned, you startled me. Is-is Will with you?” she stuttered, looking beyond Ned to find Will.

  “He’s off tracking that old bear, determined to get it, he is. Damn thing killed all our mules last night.”

  Linnet wished Will was there, she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the way Ned was staring at her. “Could you hand me my clothes, please?”

  He ambled over to them, scooping up her things. Holding them in his hand, he grinned at her. “These, yer mean? Come an’ get ‘em, girly.” He swung his arm so the clothes swayed slowly to and fro.