“My lord, you are a monster!” Lord Mortimer said, genuinely disgusted.
Hugo de Bohun laughed. “Have some more wine, my lords, and then I will have my son’s leman dance for us. She is quite skilled at the dance, are you not, whore?” He looked down the board at Junia, leering.
“You are truly a pig’s turd, my lord,” Junia replied sweetly.
“Junia, for God’s sake, do not enrage him,” Simon told her nervously.
But de Bohun merely laughed heartily again. “His mother was a good woman, but she gave me a weakling for a son. But this little bitch will give my son strong bastards, will you not, girl?”
“Go to hell, my lord,” Junia answered him in pleasant tones.
Now Rhys took the opportunity to lean forward and look down the high board so he might see Junia, and she get a good look at him. To his host it would appear no more than Lord Mortimer’s companion was interested in seeing the girl. Junia’s eyes met his but a moment, and then she glanced away. It had been enough for Rhys to see that her spirit was indeed not broken as Gorawen had said. The urge to get up and strangle Hugo de Bohun with his bare hands was a strong one, which he wisely pushed away.
“Do not be foolish, de Bohun,” Lord Mortimer said. “Your son has had his way with the girl, and you have accomplished your purpose to ruin her. Who will marry her now, especially with her little dower portion? Ransom her. Surely you do not want your son’s bride brought into Agramant under such circumstances. The de Bellaud family will desire their daughter be happy, and it is an insult to them that your son’s mistress will be in residence when the blushing bride arrives. Surely your coffers can benefit by the addition of two fat ransoms. You can beggar Pendragon, and accomplish your revenge more easily.”
“Why do you tell me this? Are you not the Dragon Lord’s friend?” de Bohun asked suspiciously.
“I am his friend, but I have known all his children since their birth. It pains me to see Junia like this, and to know that young Brynn lies starved and beaten in your dungeons. If you kill them, what is left to you? But if you take all of the Dragon Lord’s wealth from him in exchange for his children, the daughter ruined without chance of marriage, and the son damaged, you will have destroyed the entire family in the end. Is that not a greater revenge, Hugo de Bohun?”
“I must think on it, and especially of why you, who claim to be Pendragon’s friend, would even suggest it to me,” Hugo de Bohun replied.
“You have the upper hand, de Bohun,” Lord Mortimer replied. “How many men do you know who prefer their children to their wealth, eh?” He chuckled. “As for me, Pendragon’s lands match with mine. I could use them. A man must think of himself, eh?” And he chuckled again in such a knowing manner that de Bohun laughed, too.
“For all your civility, Mortimer, it would appear you are a man after my own heart, though you hide it well. But as I said, I must think on it.” Then turning away from Lord Mortimer, he looked back down the high board, and said, “Get up on the table and dance, you bold Welsh bitch! I want my guests well entertained.”
“There is no music, my lord,” she said. “I cannot dance without music.” Then rising from the table she began to leave the hall.
But de Bohun was around the table and after her, with Simon also in pursuit. The older man caught Junia first, and raising his hand hit her a heavy blow, and then another and another. “When I give you an order, whore, you will obey me!” he shouted.
“For mercy’s sake, Father, leave her alone,” Simon said, and he pulled his sire away from Junia whose nose was bloodied. “She is right. She can’t dance without music.”
“Then,” Hugo de Bohun said angrily, “find one of the servants to play for her. I would have her dance for our guests.”
“Let her go up to my chamber, Father,” Simon cajoled. “Her nose is bleeding, and she is already showing a bruise on her cheekbone. She is hardly a pretty sight, is she?”
“The bitch deserves a good beating,” he growled.
“And I will give it to her later, I swear it,” Simon promised. “You can stand outside my chamber and hear her cries.”
“Nay, I will stand in your chamber, and I will watch as you punish her,” he said with a cruel smile.” Then he looked at Junia. “Get upstairs, you little bitch, and wait for your master to come.”
Junia ran from the hall without another word. At the high board Rhys FitzHugh again pushed back his urge to slay Hugo de Bohun. Junia was being foolishly brave. She could have avoided a beating by simply saying there was no music instead of defying Hugo de Bohun. This was a man who very much enjoyed giving pain, but then Rhys realized that it was Junia’s very defiance that was keeping her alive. Had she lost her courage and gone to pieces, Hugo de Bohun would have given her to his men and been done with it. She would have never survived. Poor gentle Simon found it near impossible to stand up to his father. He could not save her, and Junia realized it.
The evening had been ended with the terrible scene between de Bohun and Junia. Simon had slipped away after the girl. Lord Mortimer and Rhys watched as Hugo de Bohun rummaged among the firewood by the hall’s hearth. Finally he drew forth a stick about a foot and a half in length, and the thickness of his thumb. He smiled cruelly.
“This will do nicely,” he said to them. “The servants will show you to a chamber, my lords. We will speak again on the morrow.” Then he was quickly gone from the hall.
“I think young Simon made an error in judgment saying he would beat Junia,” Lord Mortimer said, shaking his head. “De Bohun realized it was a ruse and called his son’s bluff. Junia is in for it now, I fear.”
“My wife’s sister is brave, but foolish,” Rhys agreed. “With de Bohun in the chamber watching, Simon will have to lay his punishment on hard. Junia will be sore come the morrow, but she will survive.”
Simon had hurried to his chamber knowing his father would be close behind him. He burst into the room, and Junia turned, startled. “He wants to watch, damn him! I don’t want to beat you, but if I don’t he will, and it will be the worse for you, my darling. I am so sorry!” He took her into his arms, and felt her tremble.
“I do not know how much longer I can be brave, Simon,” Junia told him, her young voice quavering.
“Try to bear the first few blows, and then yell your head off,” he advised her. “That will please him, and then perhaps he will let me let you off. And Junia, do whatever I order you to do no matter how it angers you. He needs to feel I am as much a monster as he is. If I hear him refer to me again as a weakling, I will kill him,” Simon said grimly. “Why is a gentle man considered weak, and a brutal one strong?”
The words were barely out of his mouth when the door to the chamber flew open, and Hugo de Bohun entered. “Here,” he said, handing his son the stick he had chosen. “Wield that well, and the little bitch will learn her lesson fast enough.” He sat down on the bed. “Well?” he demanded.
“Take your gown and chemise off, girl!” Simon ordered Junia. “I’ll not have them damaged. Do you think good coin for clothing grows on bushes? Hurry up, now! It is past time you were taught the lesson of obedience.”
Hugo de Bohun looked at his son, approval in his dark eyes. He watched as Junia quickly obeyed, his glance moving swiftly over her pretty little body. Again he regretted his decision to let Simon have her. She really was a toothsome piece.
“Get over here!” Simon barked at the girl, and when she came he tucked her beneath his left arm, turning her delightfully round little bottom towards his father. Then raising his arm he brought the thick stick down on Junia’s rump. At the fourth blow she began to whimper. By the sixth she was howling. By the tenth she was begging for mercy. Simon looked to his father, but Hugo shook his head.
“Give her a bit more,” he said. “She can take it. If you want, I’ll do it.” He licked his lips in anticipation.
“Nay, I will finish what I began,” Simon said, and began beating Junia once again. At the thirteenth blow she began to sob
piteously, continuing to beg him to stop.
“Give her twenty,” Hugo order his son.
“Nay, fifteen will be enough or I’ll not have my pleasure of her tonight,” Simon said. “Those strips on her buttocks will burn for three days as it is.” He brought his weapon down on her twice more, and then shoved her to the floor. “There, wench, I hope you have learned your lesson. In the future you will address my lord father in a proper manner, will you not?”
“Yes, my lord Simon,” Junia sobbed.
“Now kiss the rod that has chastised you, wench, and thank me.”
Junia did as he commanded, whispering, “Thank you, my lord Simon.”
Hugo de Bohun stood up. “By the rood, my son, I didn’t think you had the balls for punishing a woman, but you have proved me wrong. I will leave you. Fuck her well tonight, and you, wench,” he bent and pulled Junia up by her long dark hair, “give your master the pleasure he deserves. He has done well.” Then Hugo de Bohun left them.
Simon moved swiftly to the door, and slammed the bolt home. He heard his father laugh knowingly outside in the hall, and then his footsteps moved away. Turning back to Junia he enclosed her in his arms.
“Did you have to hit me so hard?” Junia said.
“Did you want him to beat you? It would have been far worse if he had, and he would have given you twenty blows, Junia. You know I am sorry,” Simon told her. “Let me find some salve for your welts.”
“If you hadn’t suggested beating me in the first place . . .” Junia said irritably.
“I didn’t think he would want to watch,” Simon replied. “I thought I would beat the bed and you would howl while he listened outside the door.”
“Considering how I was violated, Simon,” Junia told him tartly, “you might have realized he is a man who enjoys watching pain.”
“Bend over,” he told her. “I’ll put the salve on you.”
“Ouch! Oww!” she cried as his fingers rubbed the ointment over her wounds.
“I’m sorry, Junia. Oh, damn! All I wanted to do was to love you, and to wed with you. How did it come to this nightmare we are both living?”
“No more,” she told him, straightening up, and she took his face between her hands. “I feel the same way, Simon. I just wanted to be your wife. Nothing more. Now there will be war again between our families, and we cannot stop it.”
“He’s a greedy man, Junia, and Lord Mortimer made a strong case for ransom,” Simon noted. “Who is the man with him? Lord FitzHugh.”
“My sister Averil’s husband,” Junia said. “I would speak with Rhys if I could. Have you seen my brother today?”
“Aye. He is in remarkably good condition considering he has been denied sustenance these last few days. Father gave him a good hiding with his favorite leather strap yesterday, but your brother is still strong,” Simon told her.
“He has always been a brave lad,” Junia remarked.
“Junia,” he said low, pulling her close.
“No,” Junia said. “I cannot bear it. I am sorry, my love, but you must give me more time. And I am truly sore from the beating you have given me. I think I will not sleep in my chemise tonight. I don’t want to get the ointment on it.”
He sighed, and let her go. “You will have to sleep on your belly, I think,” he told her. Since that terrible day at Mryddin Water they had not coupled. Junia claimed she could not bear to be touched, and he understood, although he longed desperately for her. He knew to have her again would be but to dishonor her further. Junia was not his wife, and unless a miracle occurred she would never be his wife. How his father would have laughed him to scorn, but he still remembered the look on her lovely face when he was forced between her spread thighs that day. Her cry of pain when he shattered her maidenhead would remain in his memory forever. He could not force her again. He knew she still loved him. He saw it in her eyes. But if Junia would not have him as a lover, then he must abide by her decision. He joined her in his bed, turning away from her so as not to disturb her.
In the morning Hugo de Bohun met again with Lord Mortimer. “I will make an agreement with you,” he said. “You may have the lands bordering your own, but I want everything else, including Dragon’s Lair. If Merin Pendragon will agree to that, I will return his children to him.”
“Alive and well,” Lord Mortimer said sharply. “You will not damage them.”
“Alive and well,” Hugo de Bohun agreed, “and I will not damage them.”
“That means you feed the boy, and release him from his dungeon,” Lord Mortimer pressed his companion.
“I will feed him, but he stays in the dungeons until I have his father’s word,” de Bohun countered.
“And his sister can see the boy,” Lord Mortimer said.
“Why not?” Hugo de Bohun laughed.
“Then we are ageed?” Lord Mortimer said.
“We are agreed,” Hugo de Bohun replied.
“I will return to the Dragon Lord and tell him of your wishes,” Lord Mortimer said.
“He will not agree,” Hugo de Bohun answered.
“I think he will,” Lord Mortimer responded. “He loves his children well.”
“Then he is a bigger fool than I have always believed,” the lord of Agramant said. “Have some breakfast, Mortimer. Where is your companion?”
“He wanted to check the horses before we depart. I think my beast got a stone in his shoe yesterday. Rhys said he would look at the animal’s foot, and remove the stone,” Lord Mortimer replied without hesitation, but he wondered where Rhys FitzHugh was.
The lord of Everleigh was with Junia in Simon’s chamber. He had been brought to her by Cadi, and Simon had left them alone to speak.
“My father is coming?” Junia said.
“Aye, he will come, but it will not be an easy or a simple thing to breach the walls of this castle. Why the hell did you disobey your father and meet with young de Bohun that day, Juni? Have you any idea the troubles you have caused with your willful behavior? You’ve been raped, and are now without honor, lass. What are we to do with you when we get you back? Not even a convent will have you now.”
“I only went to say good-bye,” Junia said. “And I hoped that his father would have been willing to end the feud between our families.”
“Your lover is a good lad, but a weakling, Junia. He did not protect you from his father and his father’s men. He allowed Brynn to be captured. He is afraid of his father, and frankly I’m not surprised. Hugo de Bohun is a monster. It would take a very strong man to stand up to such a beast, and young Simon has not the courage or the fortitude to do so.”
“But he did protect me, Rhys. He is the one who had my maidenhead. No one else. And we have not joined our bodies since. He loves me, and he wants me for his wife. He was forced to take me by his odious father who threatened to have me himself, and then pass me on to his men. Simon did what he could under the circumstances, and as for Brynn, there was no way to aid him. He jumped down into the midst of de Bohun’s men, wounding one, and then immediately going after the master.”
“I will tell your father what you have said, but the problem still remains that we are going to have a hell of a time successfully storming Agramant to rescue you and your brother,” Rhys replied.
“I know another way into the castle,” Cadi, who had been sitting in the shadows, said as she arose and came forward. She curtsied to Lord FitzHugh. “But if I tell you, my lord, you must swear to me that old Elga and I will be spared the Dragon Lord’s wrath. We have done our best to help the lady Junia, and keep her safe.”
“Oh, Cadi!” Junia cried. “You must tell us!” She turned to her brother-in-law. “Rhys? Swear to me that Cadi and Elga will be safe from Da. They really have been very good to me. Cadi has helped me to see Brynn. We got a water skin to him, which he has kept hidden, and that is why even without food he can survive. Please! I cannot bear much more of this terror I face each day in Hugo de Bohun’s custody. You must swear these two women will be sa
fe!”
“Cadi, you have my pledge and my warrant that you and Elga will be kept safe from the Dragon Lord’s revenge. I will tell him of your care of his daughter. But you must both remain by her side when the castle is taken else you be mistaken for the others,” Rhys explained to the girl.
“We two are the only women servants in the castle, my lord,” Cadi said.
He nodded. “Now tell me of how we may enter Agramant undetected.”
“There is a passage that goes from the dungeons beneath the walls and the moat. It opens out into a cave in the forest beyond,” Cadi explained.
“How do you know this?” Rhys asked her.
Cadi grinned. “My friend, who is stationed to guard the lad, my lady’s brother, showed me a few days ago.”
“Why would he show you such a thing?” Rhys wanted to know.
“Well, my lord, I’ve been giving Davy certain pleasurings so that my lady can visit her brother. He finally wanted more than I have been offering, and so I told him to meet me in the forest where I would give him whatever he desired as long as my lady could keep on seeing the lad. Being a lusty fellow, he agreed,” Cadi said with a grin.
“ ‘Meet me in the dungeons,’ he told me.
“ ‘I said in the woods,’ I told him.
“ ‘Trust me, lass,’ he said.
“So when the mistress and I snuck down into the dungeons two days ago,” Cadi continued, “he let her into the cell as usual, and then taking me by the hand led me around the corner and there, my lord, was a door in the stone wall. Davy selected a key from his warder’s ring, and opening the door, let me through. He had taken a torch from the wall before we entered this tunnel, and so I could see more or less where we was going. It were a nasty place, but when we reached the end of it, there was another door that opened out into a cave. I was so surprised, and he laughed. After I’d given him his pleasuring I walked from the cave to discover I was in the woods just beyond the clearing. I could see the castle, and everything. We returned the same way we came.”
Rhys nodded slowly. He took the girl by her arm, and looked down into her plain face. “This is the truth, lass?”
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