"If it is coin you want, I will gladly give it. Just release my friend. It is not necessary for you to use such extreme measures."
The man shook his head and laughed. There was no humor in it. "Oh, but I must disagree. There is every reason for me to use extreme measures."
That voice-Jacqueline knew it. But it could not be. No man was that stupid. "Who are you?"
Reaching up, their assailant pulled back his hood, revealing his face. "You wound me, Jacqueline. Have you forgotten me already?"
Jacqueline stiffened in reaction. "What is it you want, Nicholas."
"Nothing much really. Just to make you suffer as you have made me."
"Hurting Beth will not change anything."
"Maybe not, but it will give me some satisfaction in the doing of it.
Nicholas was a man who no longer cared what happened to him. Jacqueline could see it in his eyes. She had to do something to get Beth away from him. There was no telling when Terric and Edwin would arrive at the inn.
"Let Beth go. It is me you really want."
"Are you offering yourself in her stead?"
Seeing the desperate, pleading look in Beth's eyes, she knew there was no turning away. "Aye, I am. Let Beth go, and I will go freely with you."
Nicholas took some time to consider her offer. In way of an answer, he roughly shoved Beth from him. "I accept."
Before Nicholas could grab her arm, Jacqueline quickly placed Jordan in Beth's arms. Under her breath she quietly whispered, "Watch where he takes me. Terric will want to know."
Forcefully taking hold of her arm, Nicholas pulled her away. Shooting Beth a last glance, Jacqueline then allowed herself to be dragged from the inn yard.
* * * *
A short time later, Terric and Edwin arrived at the inn. An extremely distraught Beth pounced on them. She began talking and crying at the same time. Most of what she said was unintelligible, but Terric managed to pick out Jacqueline's name and gone.
Taking Beth by the shoulders he tried to calm her down. "Slowly now. What happened to Jacqueline?"
Swallowing back her tears, Beth took a deep steadying breath. "It was Nicholas. He was here, at the inn. He has taken Jacqueline."
Having picked up on Beth's distress, Jordan began to wail. Taking his son from her, Terric quieted him by rocking him in his arms. "Now, start from the beginning and tell me how this happened."
* * * *
Jacqueline dragged her feet as Nicholas proceeded to pull her through the fairgrounds and then through the town streets. She had a feeling he really had no idea where he was taking her. Not once, but twice now he had steered them into a dead end alley. When he did it for a third time, he pushed her up against a wall and brandished his knife. Jacqueline held her breath, expecting the worst to happen. Closing her eyes, she waited for the blow to fall. But it never came.
One minute Nicholas had her pinned up against the wall, then the next, he was gone. Cracking open one eye, Jacqueline found Terric standing over the fallen minstrel. He held the point of his sword to Nicholas's chest.
Rage was emanating off Terric in discernible waves. Jacqueline placed her hand on his arm. "He is not worth it, Terric. Let him go."
"He can always come back to hurt you again."
"Aye, but he will not. Look at him, sniveling in fear. He is too much of a coward to try again."
To prove her correct, Nicholas whimpered. Terric snarled at him. "Since my wife has asked me so nicely, I will do as she asks and let you go. But the next time, I will not be so forgiving." To push home how serious he was, Terric turned his sword and cut a shallow cut across Nicholas's chest. The minstrel whimpered again.
Realizing how lucky he was to escape with such a minor wound, Nicholas jumped to his feet and raced off. Terric then pulled Jacqueline into his arms and held her tightly to him. She allowed it for a few seconds, then began to smack him on the back, trying to get him to ease his hold upon her.
"I am fine, Terric. He did not hurt me."
"It would have gone much worse for him if he had."
"How did you find me so quickly?"
"Beth sent me in the right direction. But it was pure luck that one of the people I asked happened to see you pass by."
"However you did it, I am happy to see you."
Pulling her close again, Terric claimed her lips in a demanding kiss. All the fear he had felt, and desperation, he conveyed in his kiss. He did not care where they were. He needed this.
Once he brought his emotions back under control, Terric softened the kiss, then released her lips. "Come, we should return to the inn. Poor Beth had worked herself into a state before Edwin and I arrived. It would be cruel to keep her waiting."
"Aye. Now maybe we can have a normal life."
Accepting the arm Terric offered her, Jacqueline placed her hand atop it. Exiting the alley, she could see the sun was just beginning to set. The sky was painted in shades of blue, mauve, and pink. A beautiful ending, for a somewhat calamitous day, she mused. She truly hoped their lives could be like every other person's now. She had everything she could ask for. A husband and a child.
Looking lovingly up at her tournament knight, Jacqueline thought her life could not get much better than this. She was complete.
The End
A Tournament Knight Page 24