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Aye.
Badly?
When silence followed and lingered, his anger and fear grew.I am coming for you, Fia. Stay strong.
“Argus!” When his friend reached him, he ordered, “Come with me.”
Varrick rushed into the keep, through the Great Hall, and down to the dungeons, where he found the Abbott’s cell open and empty.
“How?” Argus asked, shaking his head.
“Worth!” Varrick said. “He probably came done here and offered to watch the prisoners so the warrior could join the battle. Then he and the Abbott abducted Fia.” It had been his first thought when he’d heard his wife say two. “I should have alerted everyone to his betrayal.”
“And cause the foolish ones to join with him?” Argus shook his head. “You did the right thing. You have never questioned yourself. Do not start now. You said she was abducted? How do you know that? And how is it even possible? There is only one way to leave here?”
Varrick could almost hear his wife saying the same as Argus. There was no place for doubt in his mind when he had his wife to rescue and a battle to win.
“Unless they knocked her out, carried her up a ladder, and dumped her over the wall,” Varrick said, thinking that if she was having trouble reaching him then it was likely she had suffered an injury to her head. Knocking her out and dumping her over the wall would fit that possibility. “And trust me, Argus. Fia has been abducted.”
It didn’t take long to find where the ladder had been placed and left against the wall along with the two warriors who guarded the area, both dead. A fate he intended for Abbott John and Worth.
“It stopped!” someone shouted. “The fighting has stopped.”
Varrick ran to the gate and up the stairs to see that the warriors had retreated a distance away from the castle walls. They stood as if they waited and only moments later torches were spotted moving toward the castle walls and as they got closer…
“Lord David,” Varrick said, recognizing the man on a horse in the lead as he approached and stopped not that far from the entrance of the castle walls.
“Listen well people of Clan MacThore,” Lord David shouted for all to hear. “I have come to free you. Lord Varrick has grown weak and fallen prey to the witch and the evil in the forest that commands her. His warriors no longer trust him. They come to me with their fears and plead to me for help.”
Worth stepped forward, holding a torch high for all to see him.
“This young warrior of yours cares so much for his clan’s survival that he bravely carried out the task I asked of him to save his clan from the witch and her evil.”
“Traitor!” Marsh shouted.
“I see Lord Varrick is not the only one the witch has under her spell,” Lord David bellowed. “How many of you has she bewitched into trusting her, believing her nothing more than a healer? Do not let her steal your souls. Join with me in the morning to set the witch ablaze!”
Fia was shoved forward out of the darkness to stumble and almost fall.
“And send out your worthless Lord Varrick to join her!” Lord David bellowed.
Fia searched the battlements for her husband and when she spotted him, she did not take her eyes off him. She held tight to them as if he held her in his arms, feeling his strength, his courage, his love.
Varrick gripped the wood rail in front of him to stop himself from bolting over it and running to his wife. The height alone would break more than one bone and he would be useless to her. But seeing how she fought to hold herself erect, her chin up, when he could see the pain in her eyes, was almost too much to bear for him. He had told her he would keep her safe and he had failed her.
Love you.
It was weak but he heard her. His response was strong.
I love you and I will come for you.
Her smile was not only filled with love but confidence that he would save her, and her strong belief in him tore at his heart.
“The witch burns at dawn. Send Lord Varrick to join her and free yourselves. I will be a good and fair leader and keep you all safe.”
“LIAR!” Harold shouted from the battlement, having insisted on joining the fight to save his new home. “You starve and beat your people. You did it to me and my wife.”
“Another poor soul who fell prey to the witch’s power,” Lord David shouted. “You have time to think on this. Do not be foolish. Save yourselves from evil. And, Lord Varrick, if I see you or any of your clan attempting to rescue your wife before morning, I will release my hounds on her and let them tear her to shreds.” He whistled and growls and barks were heard before four wolfhounds appeared, their snarls continuing as they stopped near Lord David.
