Broken Highlander's Blood Oath (2 page)

“I am so much more comforted now, my lord, having met your brother.” Analise walked quickly through the back hall toward her chamber while she spoke. “He is quite special, don’t you agree?”

“Aye, but are we entered in a foot race I’d not been aware of, my lady?”

Analise laughed, it was a lilting sound, but she kept her pace. “Nay, my lord, however tis best not to keep my stepbrother waiting.” She cast a serious glance at Lord Shancy. “He could have a foul temper, you see.”

“Aye,” Shancy said, agreeing as he tried to decide what actions he should take. It was difficult to speak to a lady about perverse matters, and the intended donnybrook auction of her was rife with perversity. However, it was then it added up in his mind just what the fair lass had implied.

“Special? Did you say Donan was special?”

They had apparently reached Lady Analise’s chamber door, because she stopped outside of it and looked up to him. She was a contrast of vivid fey innocence with the curvaceous body of a more mature woman.

“Aye, my lord.” Analise was blushing and she found herself wanting to leave her baron with a word, and this would be her last chance. Say something to his brother and she was sure Donan, as his brother called him, would hear of it. “Lord Donan touched my soul with simply a glance that must never be mistaken for pity for I have none for so well made a knight, who is the true caretaker of a maiden’s resolve.”

Shancy was impressed with the earnest seriousness of Lady Analise’s expression and words. Aye, here was a lady of fine regard who wouldn’t let a wee bit of crippling stand in her way to see the truer man.

“Please, my lord, tis maidenly fancy and surely not meant for a brave lord’s serious thoughts,” Analise teased with a clear smile. “Nonetheless, I would beg a favor and please return without me and offer my regrets, for I believe it could be best if I stay inside these chambers the rest of this eve.” Analise promised silently to do penance for the lie, she dislike being dishonest.

“Aye, my lady, stay put and with the door firmly bolted,” Shancy agreed, relieved that it could be a solution and also giving time to ponder the entire matter. He'd not expected the gift of a solid door and chamber beyond. It had to be a type of storage solar.

“Of course, my lord, and it has been a pleasure to meet a true gentleman.” Analise curtsied with her purple skirts spreading out on the gray stone flooring beneath her feet as Shancy acknowledged her with a bow.

“My Lady Analise.” On the way up from his bow, Shancy added, “You using the firm bolt and telling of a wee illness should anyone try to disturb you, would be a thought.”

“Yes, my lord.”

With that said, Shancy waited for Analise to enter her chamber and to hear the sound of the firm bolt, before he ventured only a rock-throw away, to stand contemplating the dilemma.

Chapter Two

Donan thought it could be said of him that he was fleet of mind where he was no longer fleet of foot. It inspired great ingenuity to live life without the use of his legs. So with the warm and tender handprint of a golden nightingale still lingering on his palm, he also knew that he couldn’t ignore the lass’ plight.

Ah, but the point was, what could a mere cripple hope to do and how far was he willing to pursue the forbidden fruit? He had ten of his good knights there at Granville Keep, so force could be engaged and fairly won. His men were good—bloody good. They were from a tight group that had survived the crusade and more than enough other ventures.

“The succor ripeness of my prize is yielding more tantalizingly high prices,” Lord Armand drawled, to Donan’s impassive face. A trial that was, keeping his face from showing his anger. “I must warn you, Eagle, Lord Mondon has offered a virtual fortune for just one night
and
the maiden’s virginity.” Armand twirled his thin mustache. “I must admit that I’m thoughtfully considering it.”

Donan’s stomach turned rancid as he wondered where the rabid crowd that dared to call themselves nobles came from. It was a testament to the debauchery of Henry’s court that these men could come to such foul means without any fear of reprisals from their sovereignty. Nay, that treasonous backstabber Henry would probably applaud the ingenuity of auctioning a fair and helpless woman’s virtue. Donan couldn't forget it was Henry that likely killed, in cold blood, his own brother with an arrow in the back, and then imprisoned the better man for the throne, Robert—Robert who was the one shining light from all of William the Conqueror's’ heirs.  

“And after her maidenhead is yielded you could perchance auction her again for permanence, at a lower price. I for one would be eager to afford the reduction,” Lord Chaffery said.

“Lower?” Lord Armand eyed him.

“Of course a man would have to consider the possible bastard,” Lord Chaffery added hastily.

“And the lady? She agrees to this method ... this auction?” Donan strove to keep the words from choking him. It was difficult, although he knew the answer; he had to hear it from the knave's own mouth.

“The lady obeys her brother in all matters,” Lord Armand snapped, now watching the back hall with angry anticipation. Then, he turned back to Donan like a hungry hound. “Yourself and this brother of yours, you heard of this little gathering where?”

Donan treaded lightly, he could only assume the lord of the castle knew of the perverse auction, although Donan was there quite innocently. Shancy and he had been on a journey from visiting his English holdings, left to him from his mother’s father, the first Baron Barnard, and they were returning home.

Granville Castle had offered a night's dry sanctuary in their journey and it was a mere happenstance they were there.

“Lord Granville mentioned it and I of course could not let it pass.” Donan watched Lord Armand’s gaze move past his legs, clearly assuming what Donan had implied, that he needed to purchase a lady of permanence, for he could not win one because he was lame.

Donan considered it was past time to leave Lord Armand’s putrid company, and then determine what to do. Unfortunately, Donan could only see one clear way out of the situation for the gentle lady and that was by using force; however that would leave the necessity of an honorable marriage for the lady afterward.

Christ, he'd never intended to ever press marriage on his younger brother, however Shancy would be the only one that had enough station and legs to be worthy of Lady Analise.
Jesu,
could he stand by and watch his brother marry the fair lass? Donan’s fingers tightened into a fist, what a fool he was being. What an utter fool.

“And your interest, Eagle, what price has it?” Lord Armand asked with sharp intent. “You would not want to be left out of the bidding.”

“Nay, I would not,” Donan replied through thinned lips. “And I can assure you my bid will be the highest I’ve paid yet.” Donan forced his mouth into a strained smile toward Lord Armand’s raised brows. “And you shall be well compensated, that I can be promising you,” Donan finished in a harsh undertone.

The uproar began with the bells tolling Sextants, and not many moments afterward Donan had rolled his chair away from Lord Armand and Lord Chaffery with some inane excuse to pee. The lecherous lords had begun to seem angrily perplexed, then alarmed when their prize didn’t return to the front hall of the Keep.

Donan continued to watch them race toward the back hall at the same time two of his knights lifted him, still sitting in his chair, out of the front entryway of the Keep.

“
Find
her,” Donan ordered Shancy as they met on the top stair leading into the Keep.  “I’ll be hitching myself to my stallion, but we need to make the gate!”

Donan grimaced at the jostling of his knights Faye and Dun, who tramped through the muddy Bailey toward the stable. The rain would help them later, but then it stole precious moments while Donan prayed for a bit of luck. Where was she? Shancy had reported seeing Lady Analise stealing out of her chamber after he'd deposited her there. That she was trying to escape her stepbrother's vile plan was obvious, but which direction? The postern or the gate? Time was of the essence and it was moments like that, when he was hungering to run off into the action, which left him feeling the most impotent.

* * *

“Darn-darn,” Analise hummed under her breath.

She'd not thought about the extra men Armand had brought nor where they might be placed, and the mare she was attempting through great fear to abduct, was not a willing victim. Oh, how she disliked horses ... nay, she was terrified of them. She kept trying to think that the mare was gentle and the brown-dappled beast did look as fearful as she felt.

“Halt!”

It was Red Kife:
Analise saw out of the corner of her eye. Mary mother of God, if it had been anyone other than Red Kife. Nay, he was more akin to Kife the savage brute force!

“You, slut! I’ve got ye now. Come here, little twat!”

It was a lurid bellow and Analise dropped the mare's halter, not knowing what to do with the blasted piece anyway. Then, she skittered around to the other side of the mare, eyeing its tall back while hysterically thinking perchance she could leap up on it.

“Twat!”

Oh
twas Kife, leering down at her over the mare's back with both of his hands stretched outward. Analise ran, slipping in the mud, skidding on her knees when a force of nature, made into the fist of Kife, grabbed her cloak from behind and jerked. She screamed or she tried to, but the cloak tie with Kife’s wrenching force behind it, choked off her terror. Frantically, she grasped the tie and she pulled it free, stumbling up and forward as it loosened.

“Nay!” Kife bellowed, lunging behind her, but God chose his moments and Analise managed to avoid his lunge, slipping down the hill in the mud toward the gate. She knew the whimpering sounds she heard were her own and hysteria was following close behind, but all she could think of was that gate. If she could just make the gate!

God, however had given her only that one moment, because as she ran the world in front of her suddenly shifted into a fiery blackness, and she screamed, looking upward at the demon sucking her sight.

Donan's arms swooped downward from Xavier’s towering girth and he grasped Analise beneath her bosom with a strong arm bent around her delicate ribcage, to lift her before him up onto the stallion’s back. The deed was made easier by the leverage of the thick straps that held his legs to Xavier’s flanks on either side, but also made more taxing because of Lady Analise’s hysteria and the churning approach of the red knight.

“Glenncannon to me!” Donan bellowed, holding a strong arm indelicately across the large mounds of Analise’s straining bosom. She had yet to understand that he was a friend, and while her struggles did not daunt him, he was afraid she would twist off Xavier’s back, and hinder his defense of the red knight’s imminent attack.

By the rood, he’d found her now and he’d
not
let her go.

Donan grasped the thick oaken shaft of one of the crutches he carried, which were shoved into a pommel hole on the side of his gear. He whipped the crutch free, likened to a solid battle staff and he swung it one-handed at the red knight’s head. He was strong of upper body, stronger than most for the effort he used to carry his useless lower portion. The thud of the impact drove up his arm as a loud thwack sounded in the Bailey.

Donan was certain he'd broken some skull and it left him feeling immensely satisfied. He'd seen the red knight trying to run Lady Analise down like an animal, and worse he'd heard the man’s lewd taunts. What he wouldn't give to the devil himself, he thought, to take to the ground and finish the brute.

“Donan to the gate!” Shancy bellowed somewhere off to the right and behind him.

“Analise ...
you
bitch!” Lord Armand’s screeching echoed in the Bailey yard as he appeared through the Keep's front way.

Analise stopped fighting him and she whimpered in fright. “Please do not let him have me. Please!”

Xavier bunched his withers into a leap forward as Donan called instructions to the warhorse. Xavier was voice trained and Donan gave the great stallion his head, as he spoke in Analise’s ear. “You are safe, my lady. I vow to keep you safe.”

Analise must have caught some of his words and further believed them or perhaps she was too afraid to care, because she wrapped her arms about his waist and buried her face into his chest as Xavier raced toward the gate.

Chapter Three

An hour later, Donan swiped hard at the rain gutting his vision as puffs of steam blew out of his nostrils.

He heard Shancy shout, “They are right behind us! We must part ways!”

Donan considered bringing Xavier to a halt, but the men that pursued them were too close for even a moment’s respite. He agreed with Shancy’s assessment. However, there was one glaring fault in the plan. “You must take her, Shancy! A man with
no
legs—”

He never got to finish, as Shancy shouted, “There's no time, brother! Go! Go! We will draw them away!”