Autumn's Touch

by Elizabeth Rose

  She got up off the pallet and ran to the door.

  “Get me out of here,” she begged him. “Please don’t let him hurt me or take me to his bed.”

  “What?” Nelek crinkled his nose as he made a face. “I’m not sure what you mean.” He entered the room and closed the door behind him. The candle lit up the room.

  “Lord Ravenscar,” she told him. “I’ve heard the horrid stories of what he does to children and women.”

  “Oh, that,” he said with a chuckle, heading over to the table. He set the candle down and then reached inside his tunic and pulled out a small loaf of brown bread and a goatskin of ale. “I wouldn’t worry about the stories. It’s not as bad as you think. I brought you some bread and ale.” He said it with a smile, nodding toward the offering he put on the table.

  Her eyes dropped to the food and drink as a gnawing clawed in her empty stomach. Her tongue shot out to lick her lips. She wanted to eat, but could she trust that the items weren’t poisoned? “Did Lord Ravenscar send them?” she asked cautiously.

  He chuckled again. “Nay. He’s so consumed with thoughts of dying that he didn’t even consider you might be hungry or thirsty. The bread and ale was my idea, my lady. I would have brought you a chicken leg left over from supper, but Oxley beat me to the larder. I’ll make sure I’m faster tomorrow.”

  “Thank you,” she said, grabbing the bread and taking a big bite, continuing to talk as she chewed. “You really needn’t bother. After all, I am leaving here tomorrow.” She swallowed down the bread and followed it with a sip of ale. Then she eagerly took another bite of the bread.

  “You are?” The squire lifted a brow in surprise. “Did Lord Ravenscar tell you he’s setting you free?”

  Her chewing slowed as she contemplated her foolishness. She’d been so happy to see the food that she’d let it slip she was planning an escape. She hadn’t meant to tell him, nor did she want Ravenscar to find out.

  “Nay, he didn’t say that. However, I’m sure once my traveling companions realize I’ve been abducted, they’ll come looking for me.”

  “Are there a lot of knights or warriors on your ship?” asked Nelek.

  “Well . . . no,” she sadly admitted. “But my guard, Lester, is good with a blade and very protective of me. Then there’s the old midwife traveling with me. She’ll search to the ends of the earth until she finds me.”

  “I hardly think an old woman and one guard are going to be able to go up against Lord Ravenscar’s army. They’d better stay where they are. If they don’t, they might end up getting killed.”

  “There’s also the crew of Lord Scarborough’s ship. I’m sure they’d fight for me, too.”

  “So they’re fighting men, then? They’re skilled with weapons?”

  She wanted to tell him yes, but she liked Nelek and didn’t want to lie. After all, he had snuck up to the tower to bring her food. She owed him the truth. “Nay. They are not experienced with weapons. They only know how to sail and trade. But I’m sure they’d fight if they had to.”

  “Lady Autumn, if I were you, I would just stay here until Lord Ravenscar regains his health. All he really wants is for you to heal him. No healer has stepped foot inside the castle walls since Ravenscar took off the head of one that wasn’t able to heal him.”

  “He did what?” Her hand went to her throat and her eyes opened wide.

  “It’s not what you think.” There was a noise from the tower stairs and Nelek looked over his shoulder. “I need to get back to my post outside your door. I hear Oxley coming. He would never feed a prisoner, so mayhap keep this between us.”

  “Yes, of course,” she said, as he headed to the door. “Thank you.”

  He smiled and nodded then slipped out the door, closing and locking it behind him.

  Chapter 8

  Benedict scratched his arm, feeling like he was about to go out of his mind from the itching. He’d slept in the south tower last night instead of his own solar so he could keep an eye on the ship docked in his harbor. If they sent anyone to fetch the girl, he wanted to be the first to know.

  He’d seen Lady Autumn watching him out the window of the north tower last night as he walked the battlements. Her beauty was embedded in his mind and he found himself not able to stop thinking about her. Being curious, he wanted to know more about her miraculous healing touch and her life. He also wanted her to heal him further and bring him back to his ideal health.

  “Bring the girl,” he told Oxley who had come to his door to ask him what to do with her.

  “Aye, my lord.” Oxley left. Sir Gawain passed him on the stairs as he climbed to the tower room to join Benedict and Nelek.

  “Sir Gawain, was the missive written and sent to the ship as instructed?” Benedict paced the floor, still scratching.

  “Aye, my lord, it was,” answered his steward. “The messenger left over an hour ago but has yet to return.”

  Benedict glanced out the window. The ship was still docked. The weather was stable today and they’d be able to leave. So, why weren’t they leaving? He feared that his trick with the missive had not worked.

  “May I inquire about your health?” asked Sir Gawain, still keeping his distance.

  “There is naught more to report than what I told you yesterday,” he grumbled. “The healer told me it’s not the plague nor leprosy, so you needn’t stand halfway across the room.”

  “That’s right,” added Nelek. “I’ve been around Lord Ravenscar constantly and I haven’t fallen ill at all, so you needn’t worry.”

  “Of course not,” said Sir Gawain. “I just saw those bumps on your body, Lord Ravenscar, and I wondered . . .”

  “They’re naught but hives. He’s not going to die, so you can all stop fretting.” Autumn entered the room with Oxley right behind her.

  “Good, the healer is here,” said Benedict, eager to have her work on healing him again.

  “I have a name,” she reminded him. “It is Lady Autumn, so I wish you would use it.”

  His head snapped around as he surveyed the cocky girl. Who was she to talk to him that way? “Talk half as brash as that has gotten one put in the dungeon,” he told her.

  “I know the stories, Lord Ravenscar.” She didn’t seem to fear him this morning, the way she had last night. “You’ve started wars over the fact you didn’t like the way someone looked at you. I’m quite aware of your punishments, but they don’t scare me.”

  “My punishments?” He’d almost forgotten she still thought he was the deceased Lord Ravenscar. He was about to correct her but decided to just keep it to himself for now. A horrid reputation might make her more willing to do his bidding. “Men, leave us.”

  “Nay!” Her eyes shot over to Nelek. “Please, don’t leave.”

  Ah, Benedict realized, it was naught but an act of bravado. “I thought you weren’t afraid of me,” he said, taking a few steps closer, reaching out to pick up a strand of her hair, rubbing it between his fingers, just to make her squirm. “Mayhap you should be.” He only played with the wench but, instead, he was the one squirming inside from his action. He should never have touched her hair. It felt silky and soft and only made him want to run his hands through her long tresses and bring them to his face and rub her hair against his cheek. The smell of lavender wafted from her body, already making him hard below his belt. He hadn’t had a woman in quite some time now and was in desperate need of release. He dropped her hair as if burned and turned to look out the window rather than to tempt himself further. “I said, leave!”

  The men piled out of the room, leaving him alone with Autumn. When he turned back toward her, her face was stoic, once again, and her jaw set firm. Her bright green eyes – the eyes of a cat, stared right through him. He scratched his arm again and then his leg. Then he let out a loud growl. “Damn this bloody itching. Can’t you do something to stop it?”

  “Can? Yes, I can,” she said, no expression at all on her face. “But if I will or not is yet to be determined.”

/>   “What? Do you want me to ask nicely again?” He paced the floor. “If that’s what you’re waiting for, it’s not going to happen. Now use your healing touch to finish curing me.” He held his arm up in her face. With her lips pursed together tightly, her gaze shifted away from him. She held her chin high but didn’t even look at his arm.

  “Aaargh,” he belted out, dropping down onto his bed. “Fine. Healer, will you heal me? There, I said it. Now come do your thing.” He held out his arm again and waited.

  Autumn knew she played with fire, but she wasn’t a dog, jumping at Ravenscar’s command, and needed him to know it. She wouldn’t show fear and she wouldn’t take orders from a man who was naught more than her captor.

  “I will not.”

  Ravenscar’s face clouded over. He stood slowly, facing her. His eyes sought out hers and narrowed slightly as he made his way across the room, watching her like a wildcat stalking its prey. Be strong, she told herself. Don’t let him control you. She stood still and tried her best not to let him see her knees shaking beneath her skirts. He walked up to her so close that their bodies almost touched. Then he leaned forward and spoke in a soft but low voice, directly in her ear.

  “I could kill you right now for speaking to me that way.”

  The heat of his breath on the nape of her neck caused her to shiver. “But you won’t,” she said boldly, looking from the corner of her eyes. She watched him grimace as he scratched at the hives on his shoulder.

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “I’m the only healer you have, and you told me yourself none other will step foot inside your castle walls. If you kill me, you will never be cured.”

  “What difference does it make?” He removed a dagger from his waist belt, running his finger along the flat edge of the blade. “Since you told me you wouldn’t help me, I don’t see a reason to keep you around any longer.”

  “Then release me,” she said, hoping he would let her go.

  “Then again,” he said, putting back his dagger and reaching out to touch her hair again. “You are comely. I haven’t had a wench in my bed for some time now. God’s eyes,” he said, dropping her hair and scratching his nails against his chest this time.

  Thankfully, he was wearing a tunic and Autumn couldn’t see his bare chest. With thoughts of his sturdy, muscular physique along with the way he was touching her hair and standing so close, she found herself welcoming it. She’d never been with a man before and wondered what it would be like to couple with the mighty Lord Ravenscar. She caught herself being foolish again and shook her head, wishing away the thought. What was the matter with her? This man was horrid and did things to people that they didn’t deserve. Why in God’s name would she ever be attracted to someone like that? She focused, once again, on the fact he was keeping her there against her will.

  “Keep scratching your hives, and they’ll spread,” she told him.

  “What?” he looked up and gritted his teeth, shaking his head as he scratched at his cheek. “Why won’t you heal me? What is the matter with you? I even asked you instead of commanding you. What is it you want from me?”

  “I’ll heal your hives and whatever else is ailing you, but I’ll not use my gift to do it,” she said.

  “Gift? What gift? Do you mean your healing touch?”

  “That’s right. I’ll heal you as any other healer would. With herbs and poultices and potions only.”

  “But that will take too long. I need to stop this infernal itching now!”

  “Then bring me to the kitchen where I can find some herbs. I can start making the poultices right away.”

  “Nay. I’ll not walk amongst my people looking like this and scratching like a dog.”

  “If I don’t have the herbs . . . I can’t do the healing.”

  He stared a hole through her, making her afraid he’d deny her request. But instead, he called out for his guard. “Oxley,” he yelled.

  The door to the tower room opened and the big burly man stepped inside. “You called, Lord Ravenscar?”

  “Take Lady Autumn down to the kitchen to find the herbs she needs to heal me.” He spoke to the man, but his eyes stayed on Autumn all the while.

  “Aye, my lord, said the guard, stepping forward and taking Autumn by the arm.

  “Don’t let her out of your sight, you do understand?” he said. “If she escapes, you will pay for it with your life.”

  “Yes, my lord,” said Oxley, taking Autumn out into the corridor. Autumn walked with the man down to the kitchen. She had wanted to mingle amongst the other people of the castle and, hopefully, disappear into the crowd. Escape was the only thing on her mind, and this would be the perfect opportunity to do it. Then again, if Ravenscar killed Oxley because of her, she’d feel terrible. As much as he was her enemy, she didn’t want the ogre to die because of her. Now she wasn’t sure what to do.

  Not long after Nelek, Autumn, and Oxley left the room, there was a knock at the door. Benedict rushed across the floor, yanking open the door, thinking it was them. The itching was driving him out of his mind and he was glad they were back. “It’s about time you returned.” He stopped, realizing it was naught but his steward and the messenger. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?” he asked.

  “The messenger has returned after delivering Lady Autumn’s missive,” said Sir Gawain.

  “Well?” he asked impatiently. “What did they say? Did they leave? Is the ship gone from our docks?”

  “It is,” said the steward with a nod of his head.

  “Aye, Lord Ravenscar,” added the messenger. “It worked almost exactly as you planned. The ship left the harbor.”

  Benedict looked up at that remark. “Almost?” he asked. “What does that mean . . . almost? Are they gone or not?”

  The messenger’s eyes darted over to Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain nodded and then answered for him. “Almost everyone on the ship left the harbor. There were only two who stayed behind.”

  “Two stayed behind?” He scratched behind his ear. “Whatever for?”

  Commotion and shouting was heard, and then two of his guards came down the hall holding on to a man. He wore the crest of Whitehaven on his tunic. Benedict wondered who he was and what he was doing this far from his home that was on the west coast of England.

  “I’ll kill you before I let you harm a hair on Lady Autumn’s head,” said the man struggling against the guards. Benedict’s men had already removed the captured man’s weapon belt, but were having a hard time holding him down.

  “Who are you?” he asked, already knowing it was the guard Lady Autumn had mentioned.

  “I’m Lester – personal guard of Lady Autumn. You touch her and I’ll have your head.”

  “So, if you’re her guard . . . where were you last night?” asked Benedict with a chuckle. “Not much of a protector if you ask me. Throw him in the dungeon until I decide what to do with him.” Benedict reached down and scratched his ankle. He was feeling miserable. Besides the itching, his head still throbbed. The fever was gone, but his joints still ached as well.

  “Aye, my lord,” said his guards, hauling Lester away.

  “Who else stayed behind?” he asked, wondering of the loyalty they must have for Autumn to risk their lives after they were told the plague was inside his castle walls.

  “Just the old woman,” said Sir Gawain.

  He looked up in surprise. “The healer?”

  “Aye.”

  “Good. Bring her to me. With two healers, I should be well in no time.”

  “Your squire is headed up the tower stairs with her as we speak,” said Sir Gawain. “She is old and moves slowly, my lord.”

  “You’re both dismissed,” said Benedict with a nod, leaving the door open and walking back to look out the window. Things were going better than planned. The ship had left and he would have the guard as leverage to make Lady Autumn do what he wanted. And now with two healers, he was feeling fortunate. If one didn’t cooperate, he would make sure the other did.
He’d be healed in no time.

  “Lord Ravenscar, I’ve brought the old healer,” said Nelek from the door.

  Benedict was smiling and turned around, but his smile disappeared when he saw the old woman standing with his squire.

  “Nairnie,” he said, just above a whisper, not able to believe his eyes.

  “Hello, Benedict,” said the old woman, walking into the room. “I imagined a lot of things about ye over the years, but never had I thought ye’d stoop so low as to fill the shoes of the infamous Ravenscar.”

  Chapter 9

  Benedict stopped itching and stilled when he saw the woman from his past. What was Nairnie doing here? He never figured he’d ever see her again.

  “Nairnie. It’s been a long time.” His eyes stayed transfixed on the woman who had saved his life as a child and raised him as her own son for four years.

  “It’s been fourteen years now to be exact. So, this is where ye went.” Her eyes scoped the room. “I’m ashamed of ye, Benedict. I never thought ye’d return here of all places.”

  “You know each other?” asked Nelek.

  Before Benedict could answer, the door opened, and Oxley and Autumn entered. Autumn had a basket of dried herbs over her arm and was carrying a tray with a flagon of wine and what looked like a steaming hot cup of liquid. Her eyes lit up when she spotted the old woman.

  “Nairnie!” She put down the basket and tray on the bedside table and fell into the woman’s arms in a hug. The sight brought a lump to Benedict’s throat. He remembered a time his mother used to hug him like that. After the death of his parents, he lived with Nairnie. It took years for him to accept her but, eventually, he let her hug him like that, too. He’d always felt safe in Nairnie’s arms. And loved. “Where is Lester?” asked Autumn, looking around the room. “Has he brought the rest of the ship’s crew to save me?”