Mossy’s ancient table was meeting with an ugly death as the soldiers kicked and hacked their way through it. Bartholomew grasped his sister savagely, pulling her with him as he fled across the room. Mossy, lost amidst the chaos of Arissa’s shrieking and crashing furniture, pressed himself against the wall as the struggle ensued.
Bartholomew had a specific destination in mind as he pulled Arissa across the floor. His never-used armor and blemish-free broadsword lay several feet away, wrapped and protected in a dilapidated old wardrobe. Mossy had always kept it for him, waiting for the day when Bartholomew overcame his thespian stage and chose to follow the path of a true earl.
He had, in fact, come up to Mossy’s sanctuary to retrieve his armor and fight beside his father. Now, for another reason, he was in desperate need to reach it. Yanking his stumbling, hysterical sister behind him, he struggled with every ounce of strength he possessed to reach the broadsword in time.
Arissa fell to her knees as they reached the ancient wardrobe and Bartholomew ignored her for the moment, tearing open the splintering door and plunging into the contents. The broadsword, buried beneath the armor, was difficult to locate.
The soldiers were advancing. Arissa watched their approach, her breathing coming in panicked gasped. As Bartholomew struggled for the sword, her gasps became a hysterical chant.
Hurry, Bart, hurry!
…. please, hurry!
The evil warriors were nearly upon them. With a triumphant grunt, Bartholomew withdrew the broadsword just in time to meet with an opposing blade. Arissa cried out in fear, scampering away from the clash of swords. Unfortunately, the threatening soldier engaging Bartholomew in battle was far superior in skill and strength and Bartholomew knew instantly that he was badly outmatched. With every stroke, every parry, he was being driven further and further into the ground.
His heart ached for Arissa’s fate. He damned himself for choosing to pursue the finer arts in nature and, for the first time in his life, he regretted his decision not to become a knight. Were he knight, he would have been better able to protect his sister from the intruders. Were he a knight, he would have been able to save his own miserable hide.
“Riss!” he hollered. “Run!”
Arissa heard his shout, startling her to her feet. But as she attempted to obey her brother, the second soldier intercepted her.
“You are not going anywhere, lass,” he growled.
She screamed, whirling away from him as he tried to grab her. He caught her hair net, tearing it free of her scalp, and cascades of black silk tumbled to her waist. Shrieking with terror, Arissa scrambled away from him as fast as her quaking legs would take her.
“I shall not hurt you, girl,” the soldier tossed the net to the floor, oblivious to Bartholomew’s frantic attempts to dispatch his opponent; he was watching in horror as the second soldier pursued his sister. “Come peacefully.”
Arissa mind was a void of panic. She stumbled on a piece of debris, regaining her balance and persevering with determination across the room. Terror gripped her, the desperate need to run for her life the only matter she could manage to comprehend. But as she crossed the floor and cameupon Mossy, she was not so utterly selfish that she would leave him behind to be butchered. As badly as Bartholomew needed to protect her, she was desperate to defend the frail old man.
“Get up!” she grasped him by the arms, pulling him to his feet. “Come with me!”
But Mossy resisted in a surprising show of strength. Shirking her grasp, he shoved her toward the door. “Run, Riss! Find Richmond!”
She gasped, half with fear and half with disbelief. “I won’t leave you!”
“Ye must!Run!”
On the opposite side of the room, Bartholomew let out a loud grunt and Arissa turned with horror in time to see her brother’s opponent disengaging his sword from the young man’s gut. A scream rose to her lips as her brother crumpled to the cold stone, a victim of his own protective instinct and a lack of knightly talent. He simply could not let them take his sister without a fight, and he had paid the ultimate price for his selfless attempt.
Arissa was frozen to the spot in terror, watching her brother’s blood flow upon the floor. She simply could not believe what she was seeing; her sweet, intelligent brother having met his end defending her against a pair of invaders who had dared breach the sanctuary of Lambourn.
Hot tears sprang to her eyes, tears of shock and disbelief. For the moment, she had completely forgotten about the pursuing soldiers as she watched her beloved brother bleed to death before her eyes. Unfortunately, her stunned horror provided the soldier who had been pursuing her the opportunity to close in and, before she realized it, a heavy mailed glove clamped down on her arm.
“You are coming with me!” the soldier boomed, pulling her into a vise-like grip.
The second soldier kicked a piece of broken furniture out of the way, moving for the door. “We have no time to waste, Lyle. The servant’s gate is our best option.”
Arissa was still reeling from her brother’s demise, almost non-resistant when the soldier captured her. But hearing their voices seemed to snap her out of her lethargy, and she suddenly turned into a fighting, spitting cat.
Lyle was the unfortunate recipient of a rake of nails across his face, catching him in the cheek and nose. He yelped with surprise as Arissa struggled against him, her frail strength no match for his power.
“Enough of that!” he snapped savagely, easily capturing her hands. “Princess or no, I shall beat you senseless if you do that again.”
Arissa heard the reference but did not comprehend the meaning. In fact, she seemed to disregard his threat as well, for her struggles did not lessen. If anything, they increased as Lyle dragged her toward the door.
“Get to the horses,” he grunted to David. “Wait for me just outside the gate. We shall have to take the long route to keep le Bec off our trail.”
“Le Bec is in the middle of a siege,” David pointed out, helping him move the twisting, fighting captive through the door. “I doubt her absence will be discovered for several hours yet.”
