“My blade pierced his chest, Garrick,” she said quickly. “He may not have died from the wound, but there will be a scar—the proof you seek.”
Garrick moved to Cedric, who was grinning from ear to ear. “I have many scars,” he said confidently. “Which would you like to see?”
Garrick ripped open Cedric’s tunic nonetheless, but indeed there were many scars. With slumped shoulders, he pushed Cedric toward the door.
“I will take you back to where I found you.”
“Do not think I will let this insult pass,” Cedric sneered.
“Because of the ravings of a madwoman, you attacked me and dragged me here to be further insulted.”
Garrick shrugged, too disillusioned to care. He had put all his hopes into this confrontation, shunning common sense and praying that Brenna’s story was true. Now…
“Do you wish to challenge me, Cedric?”
“Nay, I am no fool!” he retorted. “But my father will know of this!”
“I am sure he will.”
“Garrick, wait!” Brenna cried. She could not believe that Garrick had given up so easily. He would never believe her now, and even if he swore it did not matter, she knew it always would.
“Brenna, there is no point in prolonging this.”
“He has another scar, Garrick, like no other! ’Tis long and jagged on the front of his hip. I saw it when he tried to force himself on me.”
She watched the color leave Garrick’s face before she finished. Cedric also blanched, but she saw this too late. He panicked and acted quickly, raising his bound fists to strike at Garrick from behind. Garrick fell forward against the table, hit his head, then slipped to the floor and was still.
Brenna stared in disbelief. It was as if she were reliving the scene in the woods when the bear attacked Garrick. He lay unconscious or dead, but the beast was still alive, still threatening. She looked for her dagger, but she was too late. Cedric had it and was trying to cut through the ropes that bound him. Brenna raced to him, but he pushed her away with a mighty shove. She fell, but scrambled to her feet and ran for her other weapons. Again she was too late. Cedric was free and behind her before she reached her crossbow. He jerked her about, then slapped her to the floor.
“I want you to know what to expect, wench,” he said in a frenzied voice. “I nearly died because of you, and would have if Arno had not come when he did to stop the bleeding. I could not follow you then, but I did when I was well enough. Only I learned from a slave that you had not returned and were thought dead. The slave lied, I see.”
“Nay,” Brenna said in a whisper. “I rounded the fjord, and this took many weeks.”
He laughed. “’Tis no wonder he did not believe you. If you could endure that, then you will last long for what I have planned for you.”
“Do not be a fool,” Brenna said, her blood chilling. “Garrick wanted only the truth; that is why he brought you here.”
“And so he has it. It went well until you mentioned the scar that he gave me in our youth. Only he and I knew of it. ’Twas an accident, but one I have never forgotten—nor has he.”
He looked at Garrick with loathing, and Brenna caught her breath. “If you go now, ’twill be the end of it. I will see that he never seeks you out again.”
“Yea, I suppose you could do that. You have power in your beauty. But you will not be here to see to anything. You will come with me.”
Cedric started for Garrick, pulling Brenna’s dagger from his belt. Brenna gasped and jumped to her feet. She caught Cedric’s arm and jerked him back to face her.
“You cannot do this! He saved you when I would have killed you. Hesavedyou!”
“He must die, as you will also. But first you will suffer the agonies of your Christian Hell. Your fate was set when you tried to kill me!”
“If you kill him, then you will die too—if not by me, for I will surely try, then by his brother or father. They are not fools. They know my story and if they find Garrick dead and me gone, they will know you did it.”
“Nay, wench, they will blame you,” he laughed.
“I would not kill the father of my son, the man I love with all my heart.”
He saw the truth in her words and hesitated. At last he noticed Selig in the corner, playing undisturbed with his wooden toys, thankfully unaware of the tragedy around him.
“If you are so intent on having revenge against me, then take me far away where Garrick cannot find us. But let him live, for your own sake.”
