Page 19 of Knight of Darkness
“Take that,” she called out with a satisfied grin when she successfully defended herself. Yet such a grin quickly faded as the other mercenary caught her arm and pulled her into his burly arms in a crushing embrace.
“You are going to pay for hurting my friend,” John sneered, bringing back his arm.
His palm landed on her cheek in a slap hard enough to cause her skin to feel as though ’twas on fire. A scream erupted from her mouth before his descended upon her own. She gagged as his tongue made every attempt to penetrate past her closed lips. She refused to be taken here in the forest with no one around to hear her call for help. Thinking quickly, she lifted her foot and jabbed the heel of her boot into the knight’s leg. ’Twas enough for him to loosen his grip and yet she was far from done with him. Lifting her knee, she jammed it with all her might right into his unprotected manhood.
Howling from pain, he fell to the ground. “You bitch! You shall pay for this,” he managed to bellow out before he pulled himself into a fetal position.
Ceridwen would have laughed in triumph but she had no time for Martin quickly took his friend’s place. “I shall teach you a lesson on how a proper whore behaves,” he sneered before shoving her onto the ground whilst his knife made quick work of her hose. His mouth attacked her neck whilst he fumbled with his own hose.
She pounded on his back for all the good it did her. His strength was no match for her own meager frame. “I am no whore!”
“You will be by the time we get through with you,” he laughed pushing her legs apart.
Ceridwen continued to struggle but she was tiring and clearly not about to win this battle. Unable to push this beast of a man from her body, tears ran unbidden down her cheeks with the thoughts of her virginity lost to rape. She clenched her eyes shut waiting for the inevitable… but instead she heard a deep grunt from the man atop her before she felt the full, slack weight of his body upon her. She could not breathe and again she pushed at Martin who barely budged. Of a sudden he rolled off her but ’twas only because of a man towering over her who had used his boot to kick him off.
She expected to see Arthur had come to save her. Instead, Ceridwen viewed Norwood standing in the cool night air shirtless and dripping wet. His arm held his sword toward the other ruffian upon the ground. The one who almost defiled her had a knife sticking out of his back, clearly dead.
He held out his spare hand toward her. “Get up,” he ordered pulling her to her feet. She stood there numb, unable to even utter a word. “Are you injured?”
“N-nay. I am w-well.” Was that really her voice stammering her answer as though she was some defenseless female?
“You do not appear, nor sound,well,” Norwood growled out before pulling her into his chest as though to protect and keep her safe. She could hear his heart beating rapidly beneath her ear and yet his outward appearance showed he was nothing but calm.
“Let me go. ’Tis highly inappropriate for you to be holding me thusly,” she huffed yet he only tightened his grip upon her.
“Be still and let me dispatch our unwanted company.” He pointed his sword at the mercenary attempting to gain his feet. “If you are wise, which I doubt you are, you will leave now unless you wish to join your friend in death. Never bother the lady again or you shall answer to me. She is under my protection.”
“I am not,” Ceridwen murmured trying to wiggle from his grip but he held her firmly yet gently all the same.
“Be quiet,” Norwood stated as they watch the man scamper away. “Where is your sword?”
Ceridwen muttered her answer so low he repeated his question. “I forgot my blade in my tent,” she at last said.
He placed his sword within his scabbard then took her by both arms and gave her a shake. “Have you no sense, woman? What made you leave your weapon behind? ’Twas careless and could have cost you your life.”
“I was unsettled by a troubling dream and was not thinking clearly. I am truly thankful for your intervention, Norwood, but the scolding is unnecessary. I am well aware of my foolishness. I do not need you to reaffirm how much my negligence may have cost me.”
“Dream or not, I would not have thought you capable of making such a costly mistake. Come with me,” he said as he began pulling her deeper into the forest.
She was alarmed but only briefly. “Where do you think you are taking me?”
He continued onward in silence until he came to the small stream Ceridwen had heard earlier. His appearance now made sense since he, too, had apparently wished to clean himself in the water. His tunic had been left on the rocky bank and he went to pull the garment over his head. He picked up a drying cloth he had left behind and looked her over. “Do you wish to wash yourself?”
“Will you stand guard?” she asked for she would like nothing more than to wash away the foulness left behind by the two men who had been bent on taking her.
“Aye. Do not be long.” He tossed her the cloth and turned his back before taking up his stance to ensure her privacy.
Ceridwen hurried to the stream and began splashing water upon her face and arms all the while thinking Norwood’s debt had now been repaid in her eyes.
Chapter Eleven
Wymar waited somewhatimpatiently as he heard more than saw Ceridwen whilst she cleaned herself in the stream. Earlier, he had barely taken advantage of the water himself before he heard the screams of a woman in danger. Since there were not many women roaming about camp at such an hour, Wymar had had no doubt in his mind just who had been in peril.
Coming upon her when she was about to be taken had caused fury to erupt inside Wymar like he had never known before. Men who took advantage of a woman in such a way had never sat well with him. But to see Ceridwen on the verge of being raped had almost been his undoing.
Tossing his dirk into the back of the unsuspecting man gave Wymar no remorse nor did he feel any sympathy for the dead man when he kicked the cur from the lady’s body. He could not miss seeing how her hose had been cut away from her body and hung low upon her legs. She had been shivering, most likely not from the cold but fear.
“Are you almost done, my lady?” he asked.
