The King's Executioner (25 page)

“I will not see her placed in harm’s way,” Paine said.

“Either will I,” the King snapped, “which is why you will remain by her side at all times.”

“Aye, my King,” Paine said and kept tight hold of Anin’s hand.

Anin stepped closer to her husband when the King of the dal Gabran entered the feasting hall. He was a large man, not only in size but in presence as well. It seemed as if he took up the whole room, though when King Talon stepped forward, Comgall appeared small in his presence.

“Why are you here in Pictland and why did you not send a message of your arrival?” King Talon demanded.

Anin was surprised when King Talon spoke in his own language and even more surprised when Comgall answered him in the same.

“For fear your stubborn nature would refuse to welcome me,” Comgall said in a voice so deep it filled the room.

“So you admit you fear me?” King Talon challenged.

Comgall’s face grew red. “I fear nothing and I am not here to argue with you or war with you.”

“Then why are you here?”

“To claim my daughter!”

Comgall, King of the dal Gabran walked over to Anin. “You are my daughter and you will come with me.”

Paine pushed his wife behind him. “Anin is my wife and she stays with me.”

Comgall turned an angry scowl on the King. “You will give me my daughter or I will go to war with you.”

King Talon walked over to Comgall. “You do not come into my home and demand anything. Anin is the daughter of Cathbad and Blyth of the Girthrig Tribe. Can you prove differently?”

Comgall pointed a finger at Anin. “Her mum knows the truth. Let your executioner get it from her.”

That had Anin hurrying around her husband. “No, no one will hurt my mum.”

“Blyth of the Girthrig Tribe is not your mum.”

“Then who is?” Anin demanded.

“I will speak to my daughter before I speak to anyone else.”

All eyes turned to see Anin’s mum walk forward, her husband Cathbad at her side. Both came to a halt in front of King Talon.

“You will speak here and now,” King Talon ordered.

“I will not,” Blyth said. “I will speak to my daughter alone or I will not speak.”

Cathbad shook his head. “Blyth, obey the King.”

Blyth shook her head and tears filled her eyes. “Forgive me, my King, but I must speak to my daughter alone first.”

Anin rushed forward before Paine could stop her. “A word, my King?”

King Talon nodded and walked to a corner of the hall, raising his hand as he did to stop Paine from following.

If it had been anyone else, Paine would have followed, but he would not disrespect his King. And he was still close enough to protect his wife if necessary.

“My King, for the short time I have been here I have served you as you wished and will continue to serve you along with my husband. But I beg of you to allow me this private time with my mum. I wish to hear what she has to say to me before it is said in front of others.”

“I will grant you this favor, Anin, if you give me your word you will be truthful with me in what your mum tells you and that you will touch her to make certain she speaks the truth.”

“You have my word, my King.”

“Then it is done. Go to your husband.”

Paine stepped forward when his wife rushed to him and took hold of her, tucking her tight against him.

“You can speak with your daughter first,” King Talon announced when he stood in front of everyone again.

“You let a woman dictate to you?” Comgall said with brewing anger.

“You let the mother of your child escape you along with your child?” King Talon retaliated.

“That does not concern you. You will give me my daughter,” Comgall shouted.

King Talon stepped forward abruptly. “Make one more demand in my home and I will see you and your men slaughtered, then I will ride to dal Gabran land and claim it my own. Now hold your tongue until I say otherwise.”

“The truth will be heard after I speak with my daughter,” Blyth said, stepping forward and holding her hand out to Anin.

Comgall looked ready to shout and another quick step forward from King Talon silenced him.

The King looked to Paine. “Take the two women to the High Chambers room and guard the door.”

Pain nodded, though he needed no order to do so. He would not stray far from his wife. He took a stance outside the closed door once Anin and her mum entered and Wrath came and took a silent stance beside him. Both their presence assuring no one would venture past them.

Mother and daughter sat next to each other at the long table and Blyth reached out and took Anin’s hand. “Forgive me, my daughter, and please understand what I did, I did with your true mother’s blessings.”

Anin squeezed her mum’s hand and waited, wishing she would wake and find this nothing more than a dream.

“I was on my way home alone from visiting my sisters, though your da had not wanted me to go being so close to the time you were to birth. But I had no worries. I had already birthed four sons without a problem, one more would not prove difficult.

“I was not far from home when my pains came on suddenly. I thought I could make it the rest of the way, but fate thought differently. A terrible thunderstorm struck. The slashing rain would not let me take another step and so I sought shelter in a dwelling I came upon. To my surprise, I found a woman getting ready to give birth. We helped each other as best we could and I delivered before her,” —Blyth paused, a tear in her eye— “my daughter did not breathe one breath. I had no time to mourn. The woman was about to give birth and she was having difficulty. She birthed a daughter and had only enough breath to tell me to keep her as my own and when the time came her tribe would claim her.

Blyth squeezed Anin’s hand tight. “Fate had given me the daughter I had lost and the moment I took you in my arms I knew you belonged to me. I worried every day that someone would arrive and claim you. When your strange abilities surfaced, I grew even more fearful so I warned you against them. And when the King chose you to be his Queen, I feared the truth of your origin would finally come to light and it could do you more harm than good.

“You have my heart, Anin, you had it the moment your mum asked with her dying breath that I take you and keep you safe and I gave her my word I would. You were my daughter from that day on and you always will be.”

Blyth spread her arms out and Anin fell into them, throwing her arms around her, and not because the King ordered her to touch her, but because her mum wanted to embrace her, hold her tight, and give her of her heart completely.

Tears welled up in Anin’s eyes. Not only did she feel how deeply her mum cared for her, but she also felt her mum’s worry and suffering through the years that someone would take the daughter she loved away from her. She also felt the deep sorrow she felt for the woman who had given birth to Anin and how strong her conviction was to keep Anin safe for her true mum.

Blyth sat back and continued. “I placed my daughter’s lifeless body in your mum’s arms, wrapped them in a blanket and left them for her husband to find, since she had told me he would come for her. She told me nothing of your father and I was glad of that. Your da knew nothing of my secret. He believed you his daughter and he still claims you are his daughter though he now knows the truth. I confessed all to him on our way here. Now I fear what my secret will do to you and possibly others.”

“I trust my true mum knew what she was doing when she had you take me. Now the rest is for fate to decide.”

Blyth shook her head. “No, it is for King Talon to decide what your fate will be.” She looked away a moment, then turned back to Anin. “There is something else your mum told me, though she made me give my word I would say nothing and only tell you when the time proved right... you are of the Wyse Tribe. Your mum was a Wyse woman.”

Anin shut her eyes a moment relieved to finally know the truth of who she was and oddly enough she heard the Giantess in her head.

Be who you are.

She had never been able to be who she was, since she had never truly known who she was, but now she did and she did not have to think herself different or strange anymore or fear what she was capable of doing. She could finally be... a Wyse woman.

Anin hugged her mum. “I am grateful you were brave enough to save me and grateful my mum was brave enough to give me to you.”

“You have my heart, Anin, and you always will.”

“And you have my as well, Mum.”

Mother and daughter hugged and with hands gripped tight they left the room, Paine and Wrath following them into the feasting hall.

“Tell the truth now,” Comgall demanded, glaring at Blyth. “Tell them all how you took my daughter and left the woman I gave my heart to, to die, leaving your dead daughter in her arms,” Comgall accused.

“Let her speak,” King Talon ordered.

Blyth, with Anin by her side, repeated the story she had told Anin, though said nothing of Anin being of the Wyse Tribe.

The King gave a glance to Anin and she gave a slight nod, letting him know it was all true.

Comgall disagreed. “Eviot would have never let you take our child. She knew I was searching for her. She knew I would find her.”

“But you did not find her in time and she would not see your child die and for some reason she feared others finding your daughter, for she made sure I gave my word to keep her safe, and I swore I would give my life to do so,” Blyth said.

Comgall shut his eyes and shook his head, his hands fisting at his sides.

“Eviot was your kept woman?” King Talon asked. “Your enemies searched for her?”

Comgall nodded as he opened his eyes and kept his chin high. “When I found Eviot in that dwelling, she and the baby wrapped together, I thought my enemies had gotten to her and killed them both. But my enemies would have never left them as I found them. They would have slaughtered them. Something was amiss, but it would not be until years later when those on my council attended one of the trading gatherings you began with your reign that he saw Anin,” —Comgall looked to Anin— “the exact image of her mum that I began to wonder what had happened at that dwelling. When I sent a man to speak to the Lammok to find out who the lass was, and he did not return, my suspicions grew. I traveled here while a small troop of my warriors were dispatched to find out what they could and only one returned with news that my troop did not survive an attack by the Drust and the one I searched for was on her way to Pictland with the King’s executioner. I was on your land without permission, without your protection, so I cannot lay blame on you for the loss of my warriors. But I came to claim my daughter, and claim her I will. You had no right joining her with your executioner. Only I, her father, can say who she can wed and I forbid a union between her and the executioner.”

“You will not take my wife from me,” Paine warned.

“That is for your King to decide, not you,” Comgall said.

“We will speak in private,” King Talon ordered and his personal guard followed alongside him as he walked to the High Council chambers, Comgall and his guard trailing behind.

Paine did not like the King going off to discuss the fate of his wife without him being present, but there was little he could do about it. But no one, absolutely no one was taking his wife away from him. He would take everyone’s head before he would let that happen.

“You are wed to the executioner?” her mum said as if not believing what she had heard.

“I am,” Anin confirmed, “and I am pleased and happy to call him my husband.”

“You chose him?” her mum asked, glancing at Paine as if she still did not quite believe it.

“I did and he has my heart. We are one,” Anin said with the conviction of one not to be swayed.

Her mum looked from one to the other several times before saying, “If he is your choice, then nothing more matters. It is what I wanted for you, to choose for yourself as Lammok women do.”

“Perhaps it is what you wanted,” Cathbad said, “but it will be the King who has the final say.”

“I do not care what the Kings says. I will not be taken from Paine,” Anin said and stepped closer to her husband.

“Worry not, no one will take you from me,” Paine said and slipped his arm around her to pull her tight against him as if daring anyone to pry her from him. Yet he did wonder what the King would do to keep at least a tentative peace with the dal Gabran.

Food and drink were brought to the tables and most sat to eat, though some guards both Picts and dal Gabran remained standing, watchful of all that went on.

Anin had no wont to eat, concerned too much with her fate. Her insides tightened when she heard the door to the High Council chambers open and the King and Comgall entered the feasting hall.

The King stopped a moment to speak briefly with Wrath, then he proceed along with Comgall to stand in front of the long table.

Anin held tight to her husband’s hand, her chest pounding.

“Anin, come here,” the King called out.

Paine stepped forward with Anin to stand in front of the King.

“I order you to go with your father, Comgall of the dal Gabran Tribe.”

Anin shook her head and turned to Paine just as Wrath and his warriors descended on him, ripping at his hand that held hers. “No! No! I will not go!”

Paine cursed himself for leaving his battle axe by the table and squeezed Anin’s hand until he thought he would break it.

Comgall shouted and his guards descended on Anin.

“No! No!” Anin’s screams echoed through the feasting hall.

Suddenly her mum was by her. Even though weapons had been taken from her upon entering the stronghold, it did not matter. She used her fists, knocking warriors to the ground. Her da also joined in ripping warriors off Anin.

Paine roared like a mighty animal and threw off the men who were trying to hold him and tried to get a firmer hold of Anin, but more warriors descended on him.

Tears began to cloud Anin’s eyes. She felt the fierce pain that stabbed at her husband at the thought of her being ripped away from him and it tore at her heart. She fought with all her might not to let go of him, not to let the warriors tear them apart. But it proved useless. More warriors piled on Paine until they took him to the ground and her hand slipped from his grasp.

Her mum and da had been yanked away from her and one large warrior held her firm around the waist as she kicked and fought to break free. She looked to the King. “How could you? He called you friend.”

“I do what I must,” the King said and looked to Comgall. “Take her.”

The warrior hoisted her off the floor and as he carried her away, she screamed out, “Paine! Paine!”

Paine could not move, too many warriors were piled on top of him, holding him down, his arms spread. The pain in his chest at hearing his wife scream out to him for help and him unable to reach her was far worse than any torture he could inflict.

“I will come get you, Anin! I give you my word, I will come for you!”