“How do you feel? Any headaches?”
He looked down at her with warm, grateful blue eyes. “None.” He swung his leg over the horse and dismounted, then reached up for her.
His hands spanned her waist and she placed her hands on his shoulders. Strong, amazingly muscled. She could feel rippling strength beneath her hands. For a moment, she stared at his face. Healing magnificently. The bruise around his eye was fading and his lips were almost back to normal except for the cut. Back to luscious, beckoning fullness. She mentally shook herself and stepped away from him.
He looked at the inn again and started toward it.
She trailed behind as he tied the horse to a nearby tree. She remembered the last time she had been here. She had rushed in to find him being beaten by five of the townsmen. He was laying on the floor, unconscious and bloodied. When she had first seen him, she didn’t think he would survive.
He glanced at her. “You look as hesitant as I.”
She shook her head, pushing the image from her mind. It disturbed her more than she was willing to admit.
The main room was dark and empty, except for a low fire in the hearth.
Eoos stepped past Mercy, scanning the room. His hand immediately went to his waist, where his scabbard would be. Tingles danced across the nape of his neck. An uneasy feeling filled him, and he suddenly wanted to rush from the inn. Instead, he stepped deeper into the room.
He looked at the fire and stopped before the flames. Warmth washed over him. He knew he had been here. This spot was familiar, like an old worn pair of boots, but his memories wouldn’t come. He glanced over his shoulder at Mercy.
She stood with her hands clasped before her, staring at him with concern.
He grinned weakly, trying to comfort her. He knew she had not been at the attack until the end. And then, there came another image, one he had seen before. Mercy shouting, standing over him as she tried to push the other men back. She had stopped the attack.
Again, he looked at the fire. Another hot burst of pain erupted in his mind and he saw other flames. A torch, maybe. More shouting. Agony ripped through his mind. Shouting that echoed. He couldn’t hear the words. A broken sword.Hisbroken sword.
He felt hands on his shoulders, guiding him to a chair. He pressed his temples, wanting the agony to stop but needing to find out who he was, what had happened to his sword.
“Eoos!” Mercy called, worried.
Her voice came from far away. He opened his eyes to look into her large blue ones.
The door opened and a small girl emerged, wiping her hands on her brown cotton dress.
Images descended over Eoos like a rain. The girl speaking to him; a round bellied man shaking his head and waving his arms. “Outside!” the man cried. Blows rocked him. Again, and again they hit him. Pain with each strike. But he did not attack the men. He knew he could kill some of them with his fists, but he didn’t.
“Eoos!” Mercy shouted, shaking him.
The agony filled his head until he wanted to cry out, until it blinded him and he could take no more. He clenched his teeth and willed the images away, but they would not be banished. He saw men standing over him, their fists descending again and again. He covered his head to protect it from the blows as well as the pain in his mind.
Something wet and cool pressed against his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Mercy wiping his brow with a damp wet cloth. The fire in his mind eased and the pain slowly faded. He looked at her worried stare. “I saw them,” he gasped.
“Them?”
“Simon was one of them. But I couldn’t see why they attacked me.”
Mercy wiped the cool cloth down his cheek, over his jaw. “It doesn’t matter. You must stop. This is too much. Too early. Wait until you recover more.”
Eoos had to agree with her.
“Me da wants to know if he is going to pay,” the small girl said timidly.
Eoos looked at her in confusion. “Pay? For what?”
“Your room at the inn.”
Room. Eoos glanced up the stairs. More memories flooded through his mind until his head felt like it was being split open. Mercy was right. He needed to rest.
“Tell Bartholomew that I will pay,” Mercy said. “Can you go and get some ale?”
