The thought turned her stomach and she shook her head and tapped her chest to get Colum’s attention.
“You better tell me something good, lass, or I’ll let Goddard take you until you beg him to stop.” Colum leaned in close to her. “He likes to play rough with his women.”
“It’s the only way,” Goddard said proudly. “You give a woman a good rough tumble that she never forgets and she obeys you quick enough the next time. I’ll have the dumb one obeying Cree’s every touch in no time.”
Instinct had Dawn wanting to cringe, but instead she bravely stood her ground. Though with her legs trembling so badly, she had no idea how she remained standing.
She didn’t know where the thought came from but she thanked the heavens for it. She eased her arm free and frantically patted her chest and then quickly demonstrated shoveling food into her mouth. Then she stopped and shook her head making a sour expression and threw her hands up in the air repeatedly.
Colum scratched his head. “What are you trying to say?”
Dawn tried again. She held her wrists together trying to show that she spoke of Cree and went through the process again.
“I don’t understand the idiot,” Cree yelled. “Go get her friend so that she can explain her senseless ranting.”
Dawn panicked. She didn’t want Lila involved at all. Before John could do as Colum bid, she ran to the table grabbed a piece of meat, pretended to chew and then spit it out and made a face that showed disgust.
“Cree didn’t like the food,” John said.
“Is that it?” Colum asked without yelling. “He didn’t like the food so he tossed you out?”
She nodded vigorously and her stomach turned in relief. That was until Colum spoke.
“Who prepared the food for him?” Colum asked with anger.
Dawn couldn’t let Flanna take the blame for this so she was quick to tap her chest. She wasn’t prepared for the slap Colum delivered to the same cheek as before and she stumbled to her knees.
He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her up. “You will spend the afternoon preparing Cree a decent meal and tonight you will rut with him and tomorrow... you better have information for me or I’ll hand you over to Goddard to enjoy.”
She could have sworn that Goddard licked his lips.
Colum gave her a hard shove. “Go and prepare.”
She stumbled though remained on her feet and hurried to the archway leading to the kitchen. She almost reached it when Colum stopped her yelling out her name. She turned fearful she would not escape further wrath.
“You’ll take candles with you tonight,” he ordered. “The devil’s son will enjoy the flames.” Laughter erupted in the hall though stopped abruptly when Colum raised his hand. “And least you think to lie to me then think again, for it’s the smell of rutting I will be looking for on you tomorrow.”
Laughter burst loud again and followed her out of the hall and down the narrow passageway. She stopped a moment to lean against the stone wall and take a breath. How she wished she could scream and cry, but with no voice that wasn’t possible and silent tears would not help her. She had a choice to make. It really was no choice. Either way she would lay with a devil, it only mattered which devil she could tolerate. And she already knew the answer to that.
Tonight she would give herself to the devil’s son and she prayed that God would help see her through it.
~~~
Flanna hadn’t been in the kitchen when Dawn had entered and so she got busy preparing a good stew for Cree’s supper. No one stopped her or offered help, especially when they caught sight of her bruised cheek. It was swollen and growing ever darker and when she chewed it hurt. But there was no time to tend to it now or to her leg that continued to sting. She had to get the stew cooking and make fresh bread and then she would clean herself up and tend to her wounds.
She had just gotten the stew cooking when Flanna entered the kitchen. As soon as she caught sight of Dawn, she issued orders for her staff to finish what Dawn had started and then she ushered Dawn outside.
“Did Cree do this to you?” Flanna demanded once away from the eyes and ears in the kitchen and pointed to her cheek.
Dawn sighed, though it was soundless, as if it was forever stuck inside her and she could never release it and that was how she felt stuck, captured like her sigh. Dawn shook her head.
“Colum did it.”
Dawn nodded.
“Why?”
It took some doing but Dawn was finally able to explain in gestures what had happened.
Tears sprang to Flanna’s tired eyes. “You lied to protect me.”
How did she explain to Flanna that she had lied to protect herself and in so doing had placed Flanna in danger which in turn had her lying again? In the end her lies were meant to protect and so she simply nodded.
“You know you have no choice,” Flanna said sadly. “You must couple with the monster.”
Dawn was pleased that at least Flanna had been kind enough not to tell her that she had to rut with Cree. It sounded more like what animals do rather than humans. She was certain that Lila and Paul didn’t rut and while they coupled, it was more like they made love. Dawn never expected to find a man she would make love with, perhaps couple but she doubted that she would ever find love. No one would ever want to make love with her let alone want her.
Dawn nodded reluctantly.
Flanna leaned in close to whisper, “Lie there and let him have his way and be done with it. It will hurt less and he will want you less if you don’t respond. Play dead beneath him and he will leave you be and you will have the scent of sex upon you to satisfy Colum.
The scent of sex was unknown to her and she wondered if she had ever smelled it on others and had not known what it was. Tonight she would find out, she had to or she would suffer for it.
Flanna placed her hand on Dawn’s arm and her face winced. Flanna was quick to push up Dawn’s sleeve to reveal a dark purple bruise going around her arm just above her elbow.
“Where else do you hurt?” Flanna asked with concern.
Dawn raised her skirt and they both winced though only Flanna’s was heard. Her left leg was scraped from knee to ankle with a purple bruise just below her knee.
“Go to your cottage and clean up and then rest,” Flanna ordered like a concerned mother. “I will let you know when the food is ready.” She almost turned to leave but stopped and looked to Dawn. “I have heard tell that once a woman tastes the devil’s son there’s no satisfying her. She returns to him again and again. Do not taste of the devil. Do not touch him. Do not become a slave to his evil passion.”
Dawn made her way to her cottage, her thoughts in turmoil. She had spent little time with Cree, though more than anyone else here. She certainly couldn’t say that she didn’t fear him. He was a man to be feared by the sheer size of him alone, not to mention his strength, which was something she sensed whenever she entered the small shack where he was imprisoned. She wondered how the weak structure could hold him.
Most of all she wondered what she had done that upset him so much that he had thrown her out. She worried that it was because she had touched him. She had meant no harm by it. She couldn’t explain why she had done it. She only knew that she could not stop herself. It was as if he needed her comforting touch.
She entered her cottage to find a crying Lila and Paul there.
“Are you all right?” Paul asked.
Dawn nodded. She could tell that he was upset and knew why. He had felt helpless to help her and had to restrain his wife from helping her for her own good and all of it did not sit well with him.
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” he said and stopped next to her to give her shoulder a squeeze. Then he whispered, “Thank you, Dawn; you are a true friend.”
She understood that he thanked her for shaking her head at Lila, warning her not to interfere and her eyes grew misty. As soon as the door closed behind him Lila flew at her and they hugged tightly.
“I feared greatly for you and for me, for I do not know what I would do without you,” Lila cried.
Dawn kept hold of her. She needed Lila’s comfort as much as Lila’s needed hers. Lila often spoke for Dawn especially when she had been taunted by others. Lila was always there to verbally defend her with remarks that struck as sharply as an arrow’s point. Dawn on the other hand had been there for Lila if anyone should attempt to physically taunt her. Being taller than most women had helped intimidate which usually resolved the issue. But there were times when they were young that they both got into scuffles, neither ever leaving the other to fend for herself.
That was why this was so hard for Lila now. There was nothing she could do to help Dawn and that was precisely what Dawn explained to her in gestures that Lila easily understood but objected to.
Dawn in return patted Lila’s protruding stomach.
Lila sighed. “I know, Paul reminds me of the same, the babe comes first.”
Dawn nodded vigorously.
“At least let me tend your wounds,” Lila said.
Dawn nodded and smiled. It would do them good to share this. It would make Lila feel that at least she had done something to help Dawn. And Dawn needed this calming and caring time with Lila before she faced Cree once again.
Unfortunately, Flanna burst through the door out of breath. Lila and Dawn helped her to a chair and she struggled between breaths to deliver her message.
It turned Dawn pale when Lila said, “Cree wants her now?”
Flanna quickly explained that Colum searched for her. And that he was pleased that the prisoner Cree had requested her return. He had ordered a basket of food to be prepared quickly and that candles were to be added to it. He had then sent Goddard to the kitchen to collect Dawn. When he didn’t find her there someone in the kitchen suggested that she was probably at Flanna’s cottage. As soon as Flanna had returned to the kitchen and heard she had rushed to Dawn.
Dawn wanted no contact with Goddard and saw she and Flanna immediately left Dawn’s cottage and hurried to the kitchen. She snatched up the waiting basket and was on the way to Cree when she met up with Goddard.
He sneered at her and leaned close to whisper, “The scent of him better be strong on you along with some information or you’ll soon find my scent heavy on you.”
She didn’t acknowledge his remark with a nod or a gesture; she simply continued walking, her legs trembling terribly.
John, the guard, said nothing to her when she stopped in front of him. He opened the door and kept his distance from her letting her enter of her own accord and then closed and latched it behind her.
Dawn heard Cree stir in the corner where he usually sat. The food she had placed on the blanket was still there, though barely touched. He didn’t acknowledge her presence and so she moved to the blanket and began gathering the food to place in the basket she had left there. Keeping her hands busy also kept her mind occupied since she would rather not think of what was to come.
Rain clouds had fast moved in obliterating the sun and promising rain possibly for the remainder of the day. That meant the hut would lack light and though she had the candles she didn’t know if she should use them. She feared that the more clearly she could see Cree the more frightening he would appear.
The decision was made for her when she removed the candles from the basket to get at the meat pie beneath. Once Cree saw them he grabbed them.
“Finally light,” he grumbled and quickly set to lighting them.
He took a hunk of bread and scooped out the middle and inserted a candle creating a holder for it. He lit three more and did the same placing them around the blanket. He then turned his dark eyes on Dawn.
His murderous glare sent a chill racing through her clear down to her bones. He appeared ready to kill and she had no doubt that his look alone could send a man to his knees and have him begging for mercy.
“Who did this to you?” he demanded.
It was a harsh whisper that warned of retribution if not answered and Dawn reacted instinctively. She scrambled to her feet and backed away from him hoping the shadows would swallow her and protect her.
He was on his feet before the first shadow wrapped around her.
Chapter Eight
Cree grabbed her arm and her face pinched in pain. He cursed releasing her and scooped her up to carry her back to the blanket. He sat her close to the candles and gently pushed up the sleeve of her blouse.
His temper soared once again upon seeing the handprint that had left a large purple bruise, bound to grow worse by morning, around her upper arm. On closer examination he thought he saw two different prints and it fired his temper even more that two men had laid hands on her.
He then wondered if she had been hurt elsewhere or worse... “Has someone forced himself on you?”
She shook her head.
“Where else have you been hurt and don’t bother to lie to me or I’ll strip you bare and see for myself.”
She had no doubt that he would and so she lifted her skirt to show him her right leg.
He winced at the skin that had been rubbed raw from her knee down along her shin with a substantial bruise forming just beneath her knee. He didn’t hesitate; he reached for the bucket of water and placed it beside him. He then took the cloth that had covered one of the baskets, soaked and rinsed it in the bucket and began to clean her leg.
Her leg jumped from the pain.
“It needs cleaning and I do not have a light touch,” he said unapologetically and continued cleaning it. “This wound appears as if you were dragged. Who did this?”
It was not a request and while she did not wish to answer him, she knew she had little choice. And she knew this was only the start of his questions. But why should he care what happened to her? Then she recalled him telling her that he protected what belonged to him. And for some unfathomable reason he believed that she belonged to him.
She did what she had to do; she answered him. She pointed to the door.
“The one called John?” Cree asked understanding her.
She nodded.
“It looks as if two men left their prints on your arm. Who?”
She pointed again to the door.
“John and who else?”
She held her left hand up to a short height and placed her right hand next to it at a higher height.
Again he easily understood her. “Colum’s right hand man Goddard?”
She was not surprised that he understood her gesture but she was surprised that he knew the man’s name, though he probably had learned about Goddard when he had been captured.
She confirmed with another nod.
Cree looked up at her now and again as he worked on her leg, watching to see if he was causing her too much pain. But she appeared to bear his brute tending with patient courage. Her shin looked much better once he cleaned it, though the bruise had darkened and would no doubt pain her until healed as would her arm.
Once he deposited the cloth in the bucket he rested a gentle finger to her bruised cheek. “Did Colum do this?”
She nodded.
“How many times did he hit you?”
She held up two fingers.
“Why did he hit you?” He saw the hesitation in her eyes. “You’ll not keep it from me; I’ll have my answer.”
Somehow she thought that he always got his answer and with whatever means possible, though she had never expected that he would tend her. And she never expected that he would care that she’d been hurt... though as he had told her... she belonged to him.
She answered, pointing to him and then to herself, then she held up her hands and gave a shove in the air.
Cree had already surmised that he had been the cause but to hear it, he almost laughed at the absurdity of hearing a mute and yet he had heard her and much too clearly. He did not like the idea that she had suffered because of his own foolishness.
“I sent you away so Colum punished you,” he said to confirm what he had suspected.
She nodded, though much too slowly for Cree.
There was more than she was telling him. “Why else did he punish you?”
Dawn felt trapped more than she ever had in her life. And having no voice to speak her mind, cry out her sorrow or pain or even laugh made her feel trapped beyond measure. But now stuck between Colum and Cree she wasn’t sure who to fear most. Lying to either one of them could bring her suffering, but what was she to do?
Cree gently caught her chin with his fingers. “You will tell me and I will protect you.”
But who will protect me from you?
Dawn didn’t know what to do and thankfully Cree saved her from having to make a choice.
“Colum expects you to get information from me, doesn’t he?”
She nodded with relief. She hadn’t told him; he had realized it himself and so she did not feel guilty of divulging the truth. But what now that he knew? Surely he would not share information with her.
He released her chin, though his fingers drifted to her bruised cheek and faintly traced the purple area. “I will not see you suffer for me.”
Dawn didn’t know what he could do to stop Colum. He was locked away, a prisoner, while Colum was free to do as he pleased. And he was one man against many, though if his reputation proved true that would matter little. It was said that he alone could kill dozens of men and yet he touched her now with tenderness that surprised her. She had not thought him capable of compassion, but his gentle caress told her differently.
“You will obey me and I will see that you are kept safe.”
Obey. It seemed as if she forever obeyed someone but then it was necessary to survival and she would do what she must to survive. Her mum had taught her that and so much more. She had taught her that to survive she had to have patience, listen, hear, and learn.
Was she not hearing something he was trying to tell her?
She took his hand that rested on her cheek and she thought she felt him startle, though it was such a brief reaction that she couldn’t be certain. She squeezed it and then pointed around the confined space and at the locked door.
Highlander Unchained (Highlander Trilogy 1) Page 6