The Bastard, page 3
I knew he was mocking me, but at that point, I didn’t much care. All that mattered was that Rolf was going to keep his promise, and that Anwen would be okay.
5
Rolf and his men were Blackcoats. The King’s guard. Responsible for the safety of the Crown and the city of Camelot as a whole. Still, they were known to be corrupt, and it wasn’t uncommon to see them carrying squirming women about. None of the passersby saw fit to comment, with most averting their eyes and scurrying away, desperate not to be involved.
I followed along, wondering what I was doing. I kept telling myself that Rolf was my friend, that he wouldn’t lie to me. After all, Rolf had been good to me so far. I’d completed many jobs for him. At the same time, I didn’t trust Bryce or Durstan at all. Never had.
That said, what was I going to do if my instincts proved correct?
It was a good question, one to which I had no answer. So I followed along as they headed toward the docks by the river, and tried not to think too much about it.
Finally, we reached Rolf’s destination—a door no different from others we’d passed, set in a stone wall. When opened, it revealed a dimly lit room filled with ropes hanging from the rafters, barrels, a couple of chairs, a pile of sacking that looked like it could be someone’s bed, bargepoles, and more.
It was a storage room. It looked like the type of place a dock worker might use, and it came complete with a wooden plate of moldering food, flies, and rats scampering into the dark corners.
Rolf’s men unceremoniously wandered in and dropped Anwen onto the pile of sacks, and Durstan grinned as she sat up and glared around. The other man, Bryce, closed the door behind me, cutting out much of the light. Yet neither the door nor the shuttered window were perfectly made. There was still enough light to see by, especially when Bryce also cracked the shutters open a little.
Then, he turned to Rolf. “Now what?”
“Now we get a message to our guest’s old man, asking for ransom,” Rolf said.
Durstan hadn’t stopped leering at Anwen since he put her down. But at Rolf’s words, he turned his lumbering bulk about.
“And while we are waiting?” he asked, his intent clear. “It’s been a while since I tasted flesh as fine as hers.”
I wanted Rolf to shake his head, to deny the man absolutely. After all, hadn’t he said more than once that Anwen wasn’t to be hurt? But instead, Rolf cast a glance at Bryce.
“What about you, Bryce? What do you think we should do while we wait?” Rolf said it as if he didn’t have a preference either way, and was merely taking a poll.
I stood there, wanting to say something. But Rolf hadn’t asked me. I glanced at Anwen and saw her expression of horror.
She wasn’t naïve. She knew what was being discussed.
“I think Durstan is lying,” Bryce said finally. “He ain’t never touched a woman like her in his life! Goats, that I’d believed. Pigs, horses, probably them all. And I’d be a bit worried to let him in the same room with a chicken. But a woman like that? He’s dreaming!”
Rolf seemed to see the humor in Bryce’s comment. Nevertheless, he turned away from Bryce and let his gaze settle on me.
“The thing is, it makes sense to keep her in one piece,” he said. “After all, there isn’t a merchant alive that would pay for damaged goods. However, I’m not entirely sure that what Durstan has in mind would be considered damage at all.”
As he spoke, his eyes bored into mine, and I felt he was testing me. Yet that was secondary to me. What mattered most was Anwen’s safety.
“You said you wouldn’t hurt her,” I repeated.
He nodded blithely. “And I’m a man of me word. But as I say, it’s the definition of ‘hurt’ that’s in dispute. What do you reckon, Durstan? Could you have your way with her and not hurt her at all?”
The big brute of a man grinned nastily. “I could give it a go,” he said.
Rolf turned his attention to me, and there was something mocking and disdainful in his expression. “Here’s how I see it,” he drawled. “You’ve proven your usefulness more than once. You have a way about you that allows you to do things others can’t. But the thing is, that isn’t enough. If you’re going to be part of my crew on a regular basis, I need to know I can rely on you. And that you’re willing to do whatever it takes.”
I didn’t like where this was heading one bit. I glared at Rolf, aware that Durstan was looking at me like I was some sort of snack. In times past, I would probably have given him a smile and offered some sort of reassurance. “Anything you say, Rolf. No problem.” Something like that. Because I’d been happy to go with the flow.
But he’d never really pushed me before. Never brought me close to any line in the sand. And this wasn’t what I’d signed up for.
“Speak plainly,” I demanded.
Rolf actually laughed. He did that too much, whether angry or happy, and I was beginning to hate that grin on his face.
“The rabbit bares its fangs,” Rolf said dangerously. He cast a glance at his men, who were both grinning at the joke. But I wasn’t. I was still glaring at him.
“It’s like this, Mordie,” Rolf said. “We’ve reached a crossroads, you and I. From here, it can go one of several ways. Either you can show me your worth, and we will keep working together. Or you are done.” He paused, allowing a sneer to twist his top lip. “So, which will it be?”
I looked about, assessing Rolf’s men. Durstan was the biggest, most obvious threat, but Bryce was more wiry and quick. And he wasn’t exactly small, either. As for Rolf, he hadn’t made a move, hadn’t shifted at all. Yet somehow, he still remained the biggest threat in the room.
“Speak clearly,” I repeated, knowing I was treading on dangerous ground. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Mordie, it’s like this. Either you show me that you are loyal to me above all else, or you show me enough that I can forgive the odd lapse in the loyalty department. Either you sit back and watch as we all take our turns at your girlfriend here, or you stand and fight for her honor and show me what you’ve got.”
It was like he’d punched me in the gut. I felt winded and started to become dizzy. I’d heard in the past that Rolf was a bit of a prick, but he’d always been friendly to me.
“Well, Bastard? Which is it?”
It was a question without any real answer, and Rolf knew it. I’d never wanted to see Anwen hurt and still didn’t. But to fight Durstan and Bryce both at the same time?
I wasn’t bad in a fight, but these two were dangerous.
What did that leave? Could I make it past them to the door and simply run away? The cowardly thought made me sick.
Even if I could run, it wouldn’t help Anwen.
Then again, maybe nothing could. Maybe I should have just cut my losses...
No, I thought, hating myself for even considering the option.
It might have been stupid. Foolish, in fact, to risk it all for a woman I had only just met. But she wouldn’t have been in this mess if it weren’t for me. And I was tired of being an opportunist.
It was time to make a stand.
As fast as thought, I drew my knife and crouched low.
6
Durstan didn’t wait for Rolf to signal, or anything. He just let out a roar and hurled himself at me, swatting my knife aside with a contemptuous slap of his hand. I managed to hold onto it, but the blow had unbalanced me, and it was all I could do to lurch backwards out of the way.
I stumbled and crashed into the floor, sending bargepoles toppling over and letting go of my knife to avoid braining myself against the wall. All three Blackcoats laughed at my clumsiness, and I distinctly heard Rolf mutter the word, “Pathetic,” as he watched.
But I didn’t have time to worry about that. I scrabbled away from Durstan and Bryce, both of whom were approaching, Durstan with his hands outstretched and Bryce gripping a piece of wood he’d grabbed from somewhere.
While neither man had drawn their swords, that didn’t mean I was safe. It just meant they didn’t think of me as much of a threat.
I scrambled to my knees, couldn’t immediately find my knife, and so reached for one of the bargepoles.
The pole had a hard, metal hook on one end for fishing ropes from the water. I swung it as hard as I could, whacking it against Durstan’s arm. He let out a roar of anger mixed with pain.
I used the moment to regather my feet and did my best to keep the Blackcoats at bay. And, much to my own surprise, I found myself grinning broadly. Quite by chance, I’d found a weapon that tipped the balance in my favor. All I needed to do was keep the pole aimed at Durstan and Bryce, and they wouldn’t be able to hurt me.
Even Rolf seemed impressed, but Bryce and Durstan’s expressions were a matched set of fury and hate. I jabbed at them, one at a time, moving quickly enough so they couldn’t grab my pole and tear it out of my grip.
“Are we done?” I yelled at them. I shot a glance at Rolf. “Have I shown my value yet? Or do you want to see more?”
“Foolish boy,” Bryce said in reply. “We have only just begun.”
With that, Bryce stepped to the side, opening a space between him and Durstan. It quickly became difficult to guard them both with my pole, and they knew it. Each of them took turns to feint toward me, pretending to lunge when I was covering the other.
I began sweating with the effort and wondered what I had to do to end this.
Bryce lunged again, and I jerked the tip of the poll toward him, then Durstan got in on the act. This time, I swept low, hooking the man’s ankle with my pole, and using all my strength to upset his balance. He hopped and turned half around, so I charged at him and knocked him flat on his ass.
For good measure, I gave him a solid kick in the guts, then spun to face my remaining opponent.
Only too late did I see that Bryce had used the time to pick up a heavy piece of tackle, a wooden piece of equipment that I vaguely thought might have something to do with ropes and the unloading of cargo. It was as big as my head. And Bryce was swinging it like he meant to fling it right at my face.
At the last moment, I tried to duck beneath it and out of the way. But the heavy piece of wood caught me a solid hit on my shoulder, and I dropped the pole and fell onto the floor next to Durstan, who was already back up to his knees.
The huge man looked at me with a grin, and that mixed with the blood on his face only added to his menacing demeanor. “You ain’t even a warm-up,” he said. “Your girlfriend had more fight in her than you do.”
I clutched at the pole again, but Bryce stomped on my hand. I howled as Durstan grabbed the pole and wrenched it away from me. He used it as a support to help him back to his feet and then loomed over me like a giant.
This time, I couldn’t scramble away. There was nowhere to go. And there wasn’t anything handy to fling at him.
The fight was over.
“You think you can kick me and get away with it?” Durstan growled. “Well, two can play at that game!”
With that, he began kicking me with his heavy, booted feet, lashing out again and again. All I could do was curl into a ball and bring my arms up to protect my face. It wasn’t the first beating I’d ever suffered, and I figured I could take it. At some point, however, I realized Durstan wasn’t alone, and that Bryce had joined in. Beyond them, I could sense Rolf and wondered why he didn’t put a stop to the beating.
As each solid blow landed, I started to think that maybe they weren’t going to stop.
What would happen to Anwen? From my spot on the floor, I could see her trying to get free from her ropes. But even if she managed that, she would have to fight her way past Rolf and his men if she had any hope of escaping.
In any event, I was done. I couldn’t save her. All that was left to do now was wait until Durstan or Bryce’s boot caught me in the head hard enough to turn out my lights, and whether I would wake up again or not was up to the fates.
I prepared myself for oblivion, expecting nothing more, and was as surprised as anyone else when the door burst open and a monstrous, shaggy beast of a dog bounded in.
The dog was quickly followed by two men wielding knob-ended clubs, and they didn’t hold back.
By then, I had caught enough blows to my head that I could barely see straight, and the world had started to darken. But I still understood that these men wore the gray coats of protectors rather than the black of the Blackcoats, and they didn’t hesitate for a moment.
They were Hellfire and fury, and laid about the kidnappers with gusto.
Rolf, Durstan, and Bryce were taken by surprise. Bryce aimed one more kick at my head, then started to yell as the dog launched itself at him.
The world faded out for a moment.
When next I could see, the Blackcoats were all gone, and Anwen was sitting up on her pile of sacks, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists. One of the Graycoat guards stood above me, a knob-ended club raised in his hand.
“What about this one?” he asked.
Anwen gave me a look of disgust. “He worked for them, too,” was all she said, and the knob-ended club descended.
The beating I’d gained from the boots of Bryce and Durstan had already set up an ache that reverberated through my bones. But the knob-ended club was like a cannonball in comparison.
It hit me flush on the back of the skull. I saw stars, then blackness.
Strangely, my ears kept on working for a few seconds more. I heard the huge dog whine for attention, and Anwen say, “Good boy. You found me.”
Then, as I listened to Anwen and her rescuers leave, my hearing faded as well.
7
I dreamed of beautiful women. Not of Anwen, but the one from years earlier, the woman who’d given me my wooden amulet.
Yet it wasn’t that scene which played out in my mind, but another, from earlier still.
It was an image of frantic activity and fear.
The woman I’d seen before held me tight as she hurried through wide halls of polished stone, past columns of gold and magnificent works of art on the wall. It was a place of luxury like no other, and even my poor, rattled brains understood that such majesty was to be revered.
Yet the woman hurried along, paying no mind to anything save for the need to move.
“But why must you take him?” said someone, another woman of extraordinary beauty, yet pale and wan, as if she had been recently ill. She struggled to keep up with the woman who’d given me my amulet.
“Because of the prophecy. The King will try to kill him. If you wish to see your son live, this is the only option.”
At this, the beautiful, sickly woman seemed to crumple. She stopped hurrying, and instead stayed in place, her face becoming an image of anguish and pain.
“But I won’t survive outside the castle,” she whispered.
This brought the first woman, the one who was holding me tight, to a halt. She gave the sickly woman a look of empathy.
“I know,” she said. “Yet even if you stay within it, your years will be few.” She reached out a hand to touch the sickly woman’s face. “I wish it were otherwise, but there is nothing I can do. But as you die, know that your son will continue to live. I will see to it.”
The beautiful, broken woman would not be consoled, and her tears flowed in rivers. She seemed on the verge of collapsing onto the polished stone floors but held her place. In fact, after another moment, she drew herself up as tall as she could, gathering her dignity.
“I wish your words weren’t true,” she said. “But I know they are. So take him, and with all haste, leave this place behind you. Keep him safe. And when the time comes, tell him who he is.”
At this, both women caught the sound of footsteps behind them, and the beautiful, sickly woman’s expression became one of anxiety.
“Go now. I will delay them as best as I can. Hurry! And by all the fates, please keep him safe.”
The dream faded with an image of the woman who’d given me my amulet hurrying further down the extravagant corridor, with me in her arms.
For an unknowable length of time, the dream was all I knew. My sleeping self was oblivious to everything else. Not even the pain of my bruises got through.
Then, I could feel rough hands upon me, pawing at my tunic and breaches until they found the wooden amulet at my chest.
Suddenly, I was awake. I scrambled up into a sitting position and battered the groping hands to the side.
“What the hell are you doing?” I barked, and that was enough. The questing hands were already gone, and their owner shuffled away.
Only then did I get my first glimpse of where I was. And even then, it was far from clear. One of my eyes was swollen shut, and the other wasn’t far behind. In addition, my head was pounding, and I could feel the results of every kick that had landed.
But it didn’t take a lot to figure things out.
The stench of vomit, shit, and piss. A press of dirty men wearing rags and exuding despair. Rough stone at my back, and a hint of iron bars beyond the men around me.
And rat dragons feeding on a naked corpse lying on the floor.
I was in jail.
It took a few minutes to clear the fog from my brain. Fortunately, it seemed that the beating I’d taken had left me bruised but unbroken. While my head ached, and two of my teeth felt loose, I still had all my fingers and toes, and most of my skin remained intact.
I’d lost my satchel and my coin pouch. And, while I’d been sleeping, somebody had stolen the boots from my feet.
It wasn’t the first time I had seen the inside of this jail, and if I’d had to bet, I would have put money on having once been held in this very cell. It was more of a cave, really, with bars at the entrance. The city jail was built into the caverns below the castle.
