AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Husband?" she gasped with surprise.
A soft curse sounded over her head and then the man or men dragging him immediately released their hold on his hands and began to crash away through the woods. Merry pushed herself up off her husband to glance after them, but she was too slow and it was too dark in the woods. All she could make out were the dark shapes of trees and bushes surrounding them. Whoever had been dragging her husband away from camp had disappeared.
A groan from Alex drew her gaze back to her husband, and Merry shifted next to him again, finding his head by feel in the dark.
"Husband?" she whispered, running her fingers gently over his face and hair until a groan of pain and the feel of something warm and sticky made her stop.
"Blood," Merry muttered unhappily, wishing she had a candle or torch and could better see the wound.
"Merry?" Alex growled, his voice sounding alarmingly weak to her.
"Aye. Can ye stand?" she asked. Getting him back to the safety of camp was her main concern. Her arrival had obviously startled and scared off his attackers, but they could always come back, and might very well do so did they realize she was by herself. Besides, Merry could not take care of his head wound in the dark. She wanted to get him back to the safety of the tent as well as the candlelight it offered so that she could tend his injury.
"Stand?" Alex echoed, and concern rose up in her at the vague sound to his voice.
"Aye," Merry said grimly, and hooked her arm under his to help him sit up. "Come. We ha'e to get back to the tent, husband."
"Aye, the tent," he muttered, and with her help managed to get to his feet, but Merry was taking most of his weight and it was hard work. She could tell he wouldn't be able to stay on his feet long and just hoped it would be long enough.
There were several times Alex stumbled and Merry was positive they would fall and she wouldn't be able to get him back up, but they did make it in the end.
The candle was still burning brightly when they staggered into the tent. Merry was a bit breathless and her arm and leg muscles were trembling from the night's activities as they staggered to the bed of furs.
"Here," she said breathlessly, pausing beside the pallet. "Lie down and--"
Her words died on a murmur of concern as Alex just suddenly collapsed. It seemed obvious that determination alone had got him back here and he didn't have a lick of energy left. Merry wasn't surprised. She was done in herself and wouldn't have minded collapsing as well, but couldn't afford the luxury.
Fortunately, Alex had dropped across the furs so that he lay on them diagonally. That was good enough for her. While she'd prefer he be on them properly, she wasn't going to force him to further exertion to get on the furs the right way and didn't have the energy to try to move him around herself.
Leaving him where he was, Merry moved to the chest to collect her bag of medicinals as well as the candle and then returned to kneel beside him so that she could examine his head wound. While there was blood, she was relieved to note that the injury itself didn't look too deep or damaging. It was the second injury he'd taken to his head in a matter of days, however, so her relief wasn't complete.
Merry quickly tended the injury, cleaning it up and then placing a bit of clean cloth over it to act as a temporary bandage. She then sat back and simply peered at her husband. He appeared to be either sleeping or unconscious. Since he hadn't made a sound while she'd cleaned the head wound, she suspected he was unconscious, but did give his arm a little shake and whisper his name in the hopes of stirring him if he was only sleeping. She needed to know exactly what had happened and if he'd seen who had attacked him.
Unfortunately, her efforts were for naught, he was definitely unconscious.
She sat back on her haunches and merely stared at him, her mind now running through the different strands of information floating about inside her head. There were now three things to consider. Her husband had been attacked tonight and dragged away. Where his attacker was dragging him to and why was unknown, but she doubted it had been for a good purpose.
And then there was the previous incident. It might have been another attempt to knock him out and drag him off as had apparently happened tonight, but it could have killed him.
But then there was the matter of his dilated eyes and drunklike symptoms tonight. He'd been drugged, she was sure of that, and suspected it wasn't the first time. Recalling all those nights that she'd thought him drunk since their marriage, she now suspected he had instead been drugged. Merry took a moment to feel guilty for thinking so poorly of the man, but then pushed that aside. She could feel her remorse and apologize to her husband for it later. Right now she needed to get to the bottom of things. She needed to figure out what he'd been given and why. There were several things she knew of that might have caused the dilated eyes, and several other things that might have had the same effect as alcohol and made him appear drunk, but there were probably a lot more that she didn't know of. It would help if she understood what the drug he'd been given had been meant to do. Obviously, it hadn't been meant to kill him, for surely after more than three weeks he would be dead from it? Yet the only symptom he'd displayed was the drunkenness. Well, that and he had been terribly randy tonight, she acknowledged.
Merry suspected that was a side effect of whatever drug or tonic he'd been given as well. It just hadn't been natural. Last night had felt completely different from their passionate moments at the waterfall and the night before in their tent. Then he'd been passionate and excited, but slow and gentle. Last night he'd been almost mad with need and had taken her repeatedly...as he had on the night before this trip, when they'd consummated their marriage. But even that night he hadn't been as desperate and almost frightening as this night. He'd been like a man possessed tonight.
But it made no sense that someone would drug her husband to make him want to bed her. And how did that tie in to these attacks when he was knocked out?
A throat clearing behind her made Merry pause and glance toward the tent flap. The sun had obviously risen, for she could make out the shadow of someone standing outside the flap, and now that she wasn't lost in her thoughts, she could hear movement and voices coming from outside. Everyone was up and probably wondering when they would set off, she realized.
Standing, she moved to the tent flap and pushed it out and up to find Gerhard standing outside.
"Oh good, I did not wish to wake you, but--Oh." He paused abruptly, the look of relief that had crossed his face when she'd first appeared switching to discomfort and even embarrassment as he glanced over her dress.
It was only then that Merry recalled that she was still wearing naught but Alex's tunic. She felt herself flush and instinctively let the flap fall back into place, hiding her. Whirling from the flap, she then rushed to her chest, shouting, "I'll be just a moment. Don't go away."
"Er...Aye, my lady." Gerhard's voice came muffled through the flap and then was followed by "Actually, I just wished to speak to Lord d'Aumesbery. Is he already up and about? He is not in the clearing. Did he perhaps go--"
"He's here," Merry interrupted as she threw open the lid of the chest and quickly dug out the first gown that came to hand.
"Here?" Gerhard asked, and she could hear the uncertainty in his voice, and knew he was wondering why her husband had not gone to the flap rather than she. Then he cleared his throat and said more loudly, "My lord? The men are all up and wondering if we should break camp. What shall I tell them?"
Merry made a face, but merely dragged off her husband's tunic and swiftly pulled a chemise on over her head. The gown she'd grabbed followed quickly and she moved back toward the flap as she tugged it into place.
"My lord? Oh." Gerhard blinked and stepped back as Merry threw the flap up again. He opened his mouth to speak again, but whatever he said died on a startled gasp when she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the tent.
"My lady, what--?" The question died in his throat as she pulled him to the bed of furs and his ey
es landed on Alex. "What in hell is going on?"
He was on his knees beside his lord at once, reaching to remove the cloth she'd covered Alex's head wound with.
"What happened?" Gerhard asked with dismay as he saw the bit of blood on the cloth. It was the only evidence there was. The new wound was barely visible through the thick strands of Alex's blond hair. "Is this from the other day? Did it open up again? What--?"
"Nay," Merry interrupted. "'Tis from last night. This morning really, I suppose. It happened only little more than an hour ago."
Gerhard turned hard eyes on her. "What did you do to him?"
"Me?" Her eyes widened with amazement, and she shook her head as she struggled with the anger that quickly followed. "I didna do this to him. Alex left the tent and I think someone hit him over the head and tried to drag him off. I stumbled upon them some distance away in the bushes and me appearance was enough to startle them off. He was semiconscious then and between the two o' us we managed to get him back here, but he blacked out soon as he hit the furs."
Much to her relief, he seemed to accept her word. At least the accusation left his expression and he relaxed, and then muttered, "Damned Scottish bandits."
When Merry started to shake her head, he suddenly flushed, and said, "Sorry, my lady. 'Tis probably English bandits. We are still close to the border."
She clucked her tongue impatiently at the apology. She hadn't been offended at the accusation of Scottish bandits and there had been no need for him to apologize. "I doona think 'tis bandits at all. Not this time and not last time."
"Last time?" he asked with surprise, and then relaxed. "Oh, you mean the boulder by the waterfall. Alex said he thought 'twas probably an accident, or possibly a bandit thinking he'd found an easy target, but he saw no one near the boulder."
Merry clucked with impatience. "Well, I did see someone up there and I am sure 'twas no accident."
"Who did you see?" Gerhard asked at once.
She scowled at the question. "I am no' sure."
"Was it a Scot or Englishmen? The clothing should have told you that much," he pointed out.
"I doona ken," she admitted unhappily. "I just caught a glimpse of a figure moving away. But I did hear a grinding sound before I saw the boulder falling toward Alex. So did he. 'Tis what saved his life. It made him look up, see the boulder coming, and try to get out of the way, else it would ha'e hit him flat on the head."
Gerhard glanced to Alex at this news and admitted, "He did not mention that to me and so I thought--"
When he cut himself off sharply, she glowered and said, "So you thought I was just a panicky female. Well, this morning's events should prove otherwise." Merry was silent for a moment and then added, "It also makes me doubt 'twas just a bandit."
Gerhard raised an eyebrow in question and she gestured to Alex.
