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Authors: Donna Fletcher

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Donna Fletcher Short Story Collection (6 page)

BOOK: Donna Fletcher Short Story Collection
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That thought had Honora getting right to the
point. “Why do you need me?”

Sudden sounds of scurrying animals startled
him and before Honora knew what was happening he scooped her up,
tossed her over his shoulder once again and started running.

The realization that he had not forced
himself upon her when they had stopped had her wondering if he
indeed had captured her for a different reason then she had first
thought. And perhaps it was one not quite so terrifying,
though...

The thought sent a frightening chill through
her. What if he intended to sell her? It did happen. Raiders came
on shore scooping up men, women and children and sailing off with
them to sell in faraway lands, never to be seen again.

The thought of never seeing Cavan again,
never having his arms around her, never kissing him, never making
love with him tore at her heart. She would not want to live without
him. They were one and they could never survive separated. And then
there were her children. The thought of never seeing them grow into
fine men and women nearly shattered her heart.

No matter what it took, she would stay strong
and do all she could to get away and return home. And she would
start now.

Honora began pummeling his muscled back and
kicking frantically. He yelled for her to stop, but she wouldn’t.
The more she struggled to free herself, the more difficult it was
for him to keep hold of her, and as soon as he released her, she’d
run. She continued her assault, though her hands throbbed from
hitting hard muscle.

He must have had enough, for he dumped her on
the ground. She scrambled to her feet, all set to run. She wasn’t
fast enough, his hand reached out and grabbed her arm, but she
refused to surrender. She tightened her hand into a fist and as he
took hold of one arm she swung with the other.

His arm instinctively flew up, his elbow
catching her arm with such force that it sent her fist flying into
her jaw.

She knocked herself out, collapsing in his
arms.

~~~

“I’m going to kill him,” Cavan said.

Ronan nodded. “I’ll help you.”

“Good, for I want him to suffer, worse than
we did at the hands of the Barbarians, before he dies.” Cavan
rarely recalled his year of captivity any longer, Honora had made
that possible. She occupied his mind so much that there was barely
room for anything else.

He thought about last night and how excited
and frantic their lovemaking. Most time they didn’t rush. They
lingered in the beauty of making love. But last night there had
been urgency to their coupling. He didn’t want to admit it, but it
had seemed almost as if—

He shook his head, refusing to give the
maddening thought credence. It was crazy to think that somehow they
had sensed this separation and had striven to connect as deeply as
possible for fear—

With a sharp shake of his head he refused to
believe that they would never see each other again. He would never
allow that. He would search until the end of time to find Honora.
He loved her beyond all reason. Even he had yet to fully grasp the
extent of his love for her and her for him.

“Honora is a wise woman,” Ronan said. “She
will do what she must to survive.”

“That’s what I fear,” Cavan said.

The snow started falling just as they reached
the designated spot. Cavan ordered his men to remain mounted while
he and Ronan dismounted and with careful steps examined the ground
a few feet away.

“I’ve got a track,” Ronan said, gently
brushing the light snow away.

Cavan hunched down next to him to take a
closer look. He didn’t like what he saw.

Ronan voiced what Cavan wouldn’t. “He’s a big
man.”

Cavan stood with a jolt. Honora would never
be able to fight a man of that size.

Ronan rested his hand on his brother’s
shoulder. “Do not underestimate your wife. She will do well until
we get to her.”

Cavan wanted to believe that, prayed that it
was so, but another part of him feared for what his wife might
suffer. And nothing—not the warrior’s size, not his skills—would
stop Cavan from making him suffer.

“We’ll need to take it slow so that we can
follow the tracks,” Ronan warned. “But with him on foot and
carrying Honora, he can’t have gotten far.”

Cavan ordered his men to remain mounted and
follow behind him and Ronan. He didn’t need to tell them to remain
alert. They were well trained warriors and knew without being told
that though they followed only one set of tracks, it didn’t mean
there couldn’t be more men lying in wait somewhere.

They crept along while Cavan wished they
could plunge forward, and the only thing that kept him sane was the
thought that each crawling step brought him closer to his wife.

~~~

Honora felt the strength of strong arms
around her and a gentle hand patting her cheek and urging her
awake. It had been a nightmare. The whole horrible ordeal had been
nothing more than a bad dream, and she was now safe in her
husband’s loving arms.

She turned and snuggled her face against his
chest as she so often did. But when his arms didn’t wrap tightly
around her and when she realized it was fur her face snuggled
against—her eyes popped open wide.

Her nightmare was real. She lay in the arms
of her captor, his face so close to hers that she could see a small
scar that curved at the corner of his right eye.

“You knocked yourself out,” he said.

Annoyed at failing to escape and embarrassed
at her own stupidity and waking much too intimately in his arms got
her anger sparking. “I want answers and I want them now!”

“No time,” he said and stood, hoisting her up
with him.

Honora winced when a sudden pain radiated
through her jaw. Her free hand went to her face and she winced
again when she connected with her swollen jaw.

“It’s already darkening. You throw a hard
punch,” he said in what sounded like admiration.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“No time for questions,” he said.

“It’s answers I’m looking for.”

“Not now,” he said and went to scoop her
up.

“No,” she yelled. “I’ll walk.”

He yanked her arm up that he held tight at
the wrist and gave it a shake. “I’ll not be letting go of you.”

Honora didn’t like the finality of his words.
It was as if he intended to keep her forever and the thought sent
her stomach rolling.

“My husband will come for me,” she said as he
started them off on a brisk pace.

“I have no doubt he will, and he can have you
back when I’m done with you.”

Hope sprung in her chest sending her heart
beating wildly. He would return her home,
after
he was done
with her. Hope suddenly plummeted. She would return home—but at
what cost?

It didn’t matter she told herself—nothing
mattered but getting home.

There was another thought to consider though.
Cavan would not allow this matter to go unpunished, and well he
shouldn’t. This was Sinclare land and the Sinclares protected all
on it, especially the chieftain’s wife. She had to have information
to give to her husband. Besides she was curious as to her
abductor’s identity.

“Tell me your name,” she insisted.

“It’s not important.”

“It is to me.”

“Why? So your husband can hunt me down after
all this is done?”

“You know my husband well, for that is
exactly what he will do,” she said, hoping the threat might make
him change his plans.

He stopped abruptly, giving her a yank as he
did.

She collided with his hard chest and her head
snapped back. And once again pain rippled through her jaw.

“Tyr.”

Her mouth dropped open in complete shock.

“I see you have heard of me. Now do you
really want your husband to do battle with me?”

Honora shook her head.

“Then give me what I want and I will let you
go. There will be no need for your husband to die.”

He gave her a slight shove to start walking
and once again they were traveling at a good pace.

Honora felt as if her breath had lodged in
her throat and when finally she freed it with a cough, she knew
that she would do anything so that her husband would not battle the
mighty Tyr.

He was a legendary warrior. Some of the Norse
people believed him a god. Anyone who entered battle with him died,
not one survived. And it wasn’t that he was a ruthless warrior, he
was a warrior skilled beyond the ordinary and that was why many
believed the tales. He simply could not be killed—he could not
die.

Honora kept the hectic pace Tyr set and told
herself over and over and over that she must do whatever he asked.
She had to. It was the only way to save her husband’s life.

~~~

Cavan wished they didn’t have to stop so
often. He feared the more they did they more distance his enemy
gained. But Ronan knew what he was doing and Cavan bowed to his
skills.

“Is something wrong?” Cavan asked realizing
Ronan was taking longer than usual in examining the tracks.

Ronan rose slowly.

Cavan knew something was wrong and said,
“Tell me.”

“There was a scuffle here.”

“And?” Cavan asked when Ronan didn’t
continue.

“From the marks on the ground I’d say someone
went done and it wasn’t the Norseman.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Cavan said through
gritted teeth.

“Your chance should come soon.” Ronan
hesitated to continue, but did. “The earth is still warm. They
lingered here probably longer than they should have.”

Cavan’s nostrils flared and his jaw
tightened. “That could only mean one thing, Honora was—” He
couldn’t’ finish. He could not say aloud that his wife suffered a
blow that had left her unconscious.

“We should alert the men and be on our way,”
Ronan said.

“He’s mine,” Cavan said, his hands fisted so
tight at his sides that his knuckles turned pure white. “No one but
me is to touch him.”

“The warriors know that.”

“Good, then let’s go,” Cavan said. “I miss my
wife.”

No longer did Cavan think of their slow
progress. His only thought was revenge—and he would have it—blood
would run this day.

~~~

Honora’s eyes turned wide when she saw the
make-shift shelter. There was a hole at the top where the campfire
smoke could escape and a crude piece of animal hide hung in front
serving as a door.

He shoved her forward, as if anxious and she
knew the time had come. She hoped Cavan would understand. She hoped
she had enough courage to do what she must. She hoped it all would
be over soon and she could go home. But most of all she wished this
was not happening that she was home with her family celebrating the
holiday and Addie’s wedding.

Tyr gave her another shove.

She stumbled and he steadied her, and she
couldn’t help but ask again, “What do you want of me?”

“A babe,” he said and shoved her into the
shelter.

~~~

Cavan followed close behind Ronan. The snow
was falling in earnest and soon it would be too deep to find any
tracks. They were close, Cavan could feel it. They couldn’t lose
the tracks now; they couldn’t. He had to get to his wife. She was
waiting for him.

Ronan stopped, raising his hand in warning
for others to do the same.

Cavan stilled. He knew this was it. A few
more feet perhaps and...

The bloodcurdling scream ripped through the
cold air, shivering most of the men.

Not Cavan.

He dropped his horse’s reins and lunged
forward in a dead run, Ronan following quickly behind him. The
warriors took hold of the two horses and followed their
chieftain.

Cavan burst passed the trees and the scene he
came upon fired his anger beyond control.

A large Norseman was exiting a poorly
constructed shelter, a dagger in his hands—and it dripped
blood.

Cavan let out a fierce roar and lunged at the
Norseman.

~~~

“Cavan! Cavan, stop it!” Honora screamed.

Her husband paid her no mind. He and Tyr
continued rolling around on the ground, fists swinging.

“Stop him, Ronan,” Honora pleaded when
Cavan’s brother came upon the scene.

Ronan walked around the battling men and
arched a brow when he caught a look at the dark bruise and swelling
on Honora’s jaw. “Looks to me like he deserves what he’s
getting.”

Honora grabbed for a heavy stick from the
nearby batch of firewood, ready to thrash the two men when another
bloodcurdling scream pierced the air.

The horrific sound froze everyone but Honora.
She ran into the shelter.

Tyr got to his feet and rushed after Honora.
Cavan followed along with Ronan, after he directed the warriors to
circle the area.

“It’s all right, Thora” Honora said to the
woman writhing in pain on the bed of pine. “Help has arrived. We’ll
be getting you to the healer soon.” She wiped the woman’s sweating
brow with a wet cloth. “I know it’s hard but try to rest between
the pains. I need to step outside for a few—”

The woman grabbed Honora’s arm. “Do not leave
me, please. Please I beg you.”

Honora looked to Cavan who had walked over to
stand beside her. “Let Tyr explain this to you while I tend to
Thora.”

Cavan reached out and gently touched the
bruise on her jaw. His eyes flared with anger and he said much more
calmly than he felt, “First, he’ll explain this.”

Honora sighed. “Not his fault. Mine.”

“There is not an acceptable reason for him to
have hit you,” Cavan said directing his attention to Tyr.

“He didn’t,” Honora explained. “I suffered
the blow on myself.”

“What?” Cavan asked incredulously.

Thora moaned and Honora rested her cheek on
her husband’s. “Please, trust me. It’s not what you think. Speak to
Tyr and prepare to leave. We must get Thora to Zia as soon as
possible.” She pressed her lips to his cheek and then whispered, “I
knew you’d come for me. I love you so much and please, please trust
me on this.”

BOOK: Donna Fletcher Short Story Collection
11.49Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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