“Ye owe us that much!”
Freya stopped struggling. “I… I suppose I do owe ye a good deal,” she murmured.
Senga straightened her tunic. “I’m sorry, lass, but I’m sure Brendan will be fine,” she said softly, laying a hand on Freya’s shoulder. “Ye will be safe here for now. Just keep yer head down for a while, eh? It’ll all blow over. In the meantime, the Abbess wants to see ye as soon as ye are back.”
Freya grimaced. “Am… Am I in trouble?”
Senga sighed. “Very much so, aye.”
Chapter 9
Bloody Linen
Brendan walked quickly, head down, lost in his own thoughts.
What were ye thinking, lad? Why did ye do that?
He shouldn’t have kissed her. It was beyond foolish. What had he hoped to achieve? It had only confused things. It had confusedher, and she didn’t deserve that.
She certainly deserves better than me.
He was glad she was back at the convent, at least. If he knew the Abbess at all, she would keep Freya safe and sound inside for a while, until the ruckus in town died down. It would be safest for the convent and the town if Freya moved on, but he knew the Abbess would want her to be safe, and she would put Freya’s safety over their own. That was just the sort of woman she was.
He hated how relieved he was, knowing that Freya would be in town for a while longer.
His increased pace sent a sharp stab of pain through his side. Wincing, he stopped in a patch of moonlight and lifted up his shirt.
Earlier, when one of the soldiers had swung a sword at him, the very tip of it had sliced across Brendan’s stomach. It was onlya skin wound, barely a finger’s length, and would itch and scab over within a day or two. Nothing to worry about.
He was lucky, of course. If the man had been only a few inches closer, it was likely that the sword-swipe would have disemboweled him.
I’m due a few pieces of good luck, though,he thought moodily, letting his shirt fall back.Even if I’m unlucky in love.
The shirt, of course, was ruined. The tear made by the sword might be sewn up, but Brendan had never been good at scrubbing blood out of clothing. If he was lucky, he might reduce the stain to a faint pink mark.
He would need to avoid town for a while, and avoid Ned’s pub permanently. Although, would it have to be permanent? Surely, Ned could be talked around. If Brendan could dig up some money from somewhere, that might go a long way towards smoothing things over. He didn’t drink in pubs very often, but Ned’s was a convenient place, and the barkeep was probably the closest thing to a friend he’d had in quite a while.
He began to walk on, hunching up his shoulders against the rain. From here, the route home would cut straight across the forest, following one of the main pathways. Of course, the roads were generally very quiet after dark, and now it seemed almost deserted.
An uneasy prickle started up at the back of his mind. The forest seemed very quiet; no animals chirping, no birds fluttering in the trees, not even an owl hooting or a mouse-rustling.
He slowed his steps, straightening up. His heart was thumping, and he couldn’t work out why. Up ahead, there was a roundish clearing, illuminated well by the moonlight. It was the only way forward, on account of highly dense undergrowth on either side. Brendan was only a few steps away from it. He swallowed thickly.
Then the undergrowth moved, just a little, despite the fact there was no breeze.
He exhaled once and turned to run.
He wasn’t fast enough.
Men exploded out of the undergrowth at either side of the clearing. He counted six—no, seven—men, all carrying clubs, and one or two with swords. He made it a few feet back up the path before one of the men hurled himself at him, tripping him up and bringing him down. In an instant, he was pinned down, ribs groaning under the weight of his attackers.
“Well, well, well,” came a nastily familiar voice, a touch muffled. “We meet again, lad.”
With an effort, Brendan twisted to look up, and saw the soldier from earlier, the one who’d torn off Freya’s wimple. His voice was muffled because his jaw and cheek were horribly swollen from where Brendan had punched him, and he was probably missing a tooth or two.
Even though it was a terrible, terrible idea, Brendan grinned.
“Ye look better than before, if I do say so myself.”
