Shipwrecked

by Jenna Stone

  “Wake up, sleepy head,” he whispered into her hair, brushing the blonde mass back from her face. She was so beautiful and so trusting of him that it was painful.

  Anna’s eyes fluttered open, and she sat up in Rowan’s lap, looking around to see where they were. “Are we going to stay here tonight?” she asked anxiously, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She was nervous about spending the night on the road, given last night’s unexpected visitors.

  “Aye, but first we need tae see if we can win some money,” Rowan said, raising his eyebrows as he looked over at Quinn.

  Anna slipped down from the horse and watched as the brothers handed the reins of their horses over to the stable lad. The horses obediently ambled after him towards the barn, ears pricked up in hopes of being fed.

  Quinn dug in his pocket and tossed a coin to Malcolm.

  “We don’t have verra much left, why don’t ye get something for Anna tae eat?” Quinn asked suggestively, winking at his youngest brother.

  Malcolm took Anna’s hand and tucked it into the fold of his elbow, leading her through the door and into the tavern. “What he really means is that I should baby-sit ye so that neither of us get…” Malcolm trailed off, freezing in his tracks as he stepped into the tavern.

  Anna felt Malcolm’s arm tense beneath her hand, and immediately, she knew that something was wrong.

  Malcolm glanced frantically over his shoulder at Rowan, who shook his head slowly from side to side and motioned for Malcolm to take Anna over to the open seats at the bar.

  “What’s wrong?” Anna asked concern thick in her voice as she scanned the tavern. There were groups of men gathered around card tables, and a couple fiddlers playing music in the farthest corner. A few couples were dancing and singing to the music, and she noticed a few men with their heads down on the table, having overindulged in their drink. It looked just like any other tavern that she had been in.

  “Nothing’s wrong…what do ye want tae eat?”

  “What’s wrong, Malcolm?” Anna prodded, this time more insistently. She refused to let him keep her out of the loop.

  Malcolm exhaled slowly, accepting his defeat. “This place is filled tae the brim with the King’s soldiers…English soldiers,” he explained, eyes darting nervously around the tavern. “Some of them may be the men that happened upon us last night…we need tae be careful.”

  Anna knew that the Murrays had every reason in the world to be wary of English Soldiers. Her situation with Jonathan further complicated things.

  “Oh,” Anna said, now realizing why the brothers had hesitated when they entered the room. “Let’s go then,” she whispered tersely, eyes scanning the room nervously. She had heard the men’s voices last night, but had not seen their faces. There was no way that she could recognize them.

  “We canna leave now, it’d draw attention tae us. Most of these men are drunk, sae keep yer head down and pray that they’ve no heard of Arbor’s reward.”

  “Alright,” Anna whispered, bringing her eyes back to Malcolm. Her pulse raced in her veins, and it was difficult to remain composed and collected.

  “I hope they hurry so that we can get out of here,” Malcolm said, voice cracking as he tried to hide that he was scared. His eyes scanned the crowd and watched his brothers hopefully. They were excellent gamblers, even when they didn’t cheat. “I’d rather sleep in the forest again.”

  “Me too,” Anna said, allying herself with Malcolm and patting his arm in reassurance.

  Malcolm ordered them each a mug of ale, and they shared a plate of bread and cheese. Anna watched as he chomped hungrily at his dinner, noticing how skinny he was for his age. He needed to eat more often, she thought, quelling the growling in her stomach and sliding the plate over towards Malcolm.

  “I’m done, why don’t you finish it?” she said, standing and brushing the crumbs from her skirt. “I need to go find the ladies room.”

  “Just doona draw attention tae yerself…be careful,” Malcolm warned, already chewing a mouthful of Anna’s leftover bread.

  “I’ll be fine, Malcolm,” she responded, patting his knee reassuringly.

  Being that she was one of only a few woman in the tavern, it was going to be difficult not to draw attention. She stood out like a sore thumb.

  Anna walked towards the far side of the tavern where there was a sign that marked the small hallway leading to the privy. She tried the door, and found it to be occupied, so she leaned back against the stone wall and watched the crowd. Her eyes scanned from Rowan and then over to Quinn, but it was impossible for her to tell if they were having any success. She thought of how difficult it must be for them to sit around a table filled with English soldiers given what they had been through.

  The door to the privy chamber creaked open, and a soldier stumbled out, obviously drunk. Losing his balance as he made his way down the short hallway, he bumped into Anna, grabbing roughly at her breast a he righted himself.

  “Hey darlin’,” he cooed at her, eyes bleary from too much drink. He looked Anna up and down hungrily, and brought his hand up to her breasts again, grabbing her entire breast roughly in his palm and moaning as he touched her.

  Anna shrieked in protest, and slapped him hard across the face, pushing his hands away from her body. “Don’t touch me!” she screamed, fighting to remove his groping hands from her body.

  “A feisty one are you?” the vile man said with a smile, spittle flying from his mouth and onto Anna’s face.

  His face was pock marked and he was nearly bald. Anna thought that he was disgusting. She screamed again, voice drowned out by the raucous noise of the tavern. She squirmed against him, desperately trying to push his hands away from her breasts. He pulled her roughly against his body, and then began dragging her back towards the privy chamber.

  “Rowan!” she screamed, hoping that Rowan would hear her over the noise that permeated the room. “Rowan!” she screamed frantically, clawing at the man as he stumbled back into the hallway, dragging her with him.

  “Stop fighting me, you bitch!” he seethed, now angry from her protests.

  Anna drew up to her full height and spat in the man’s face, buying herself another chance to scream for help as he wiped his eyes.

  “Rowan!” she screamed desperately at the top of her lungs.

  He pulled back hand and slapped her hard across the face, taking her breath away. She had never in all her life been brutalized in such a way.

  Rowan heard his name being called out, and he dropped his cards in a panic. His eyes darted over to the bar, and he saw Malcolm sitting all alone.

  Anna.

  His heart thundered in his chest as he sprung from his chair and surveyed the room. At last he saw her in the hall next to the privy chamber, struggling to fight off one of the drunken English soldiers.

  Rowan leapt over the table that stood between him and the privy, frantic to get to Anna. The man had her backed into the corner, and was kissing her neck, groping roughly at her breasts. Rowan was blinded with rage. He grabbed the man’s uniform and pulled him off Anna effortlessly, spinning him around. He drew back his fist and pummeled the man in the face, rage spilling forth that this man had dared to touch Anna.

  The force of Rowan’s blow knocked the drunken man down to the floor, and he stumbled as he tried to get up, falling onto the floor again.

  “Run! Get Malcolm out of here!” Rowan screamed, eyes wild, demanding Anna to take action.

  She ran past them, pushing her way through the growing crowd that had gathered to watch the brawl. Malcolm grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the cool night. They ran out to the barn to collect the horses, knowing that they would need to escape quickly. Malcolm helped Anna up onto the mare, and then swung up into the saddle of the black horse.

  “What do we do now?” Anna asked, breathing heavily, heart heavy at the thought of Rowan and Quinn embattled in a tavern brawl. “We can’t just leave them!” she said pleading with Malcolm to wait, to help somehow.


  “Aye, we can’t leave them, but we canna stay right here either,” Malcolm said, scanning the dusty main street for a safe place to stand watch.

  “This is all my fault…” Anna said voice trembling, eyes forlorn as she watched helplessly as the brawl intensified in the tavern window.

  “Anna, it’s no yer fault!” Malcolm said, seeking to reassure her. “They’ll be alright…they ken how tae fight, and most of those soldiers were sae drunk that they may not even be able tae land a punch. Bloody English,” he said, shaking his head in disgust.

  Anna swallowed hard. She was English.

  “Let’s go wait over there,” Malcolm said, pointing to a secluded place across the street from the tavern. The shadows would allow them to hide with the horses, and when Rowan and Quinn came out, they would be able to get to them quickly.

  Neither Anna nor Malcolm wanted to voice their fears out loud, so they guided the horses across the street silently, watching the raging brawl through the windows of the tavern. Anna noticed that her hands were shaking, and she wondered if Jonathan Arbor was one of the men in the tavern.

  ***

  Minutes passed silently, with tension heavy in the air while Malcolm and Anna waited. Suddenly, the tavern door flew open and first Quinn and then Rowan scrambled outside, running as if the devil was on their tails.

  “Bloody Scots!” Resounded the shouts of the English soldiers from inside the tavern as the door swung shut.

  Malcolm whistled, alerting his brothers to their position hidden in the shadows, and Rowan and Quinn changed course, running to meet them.

  “We’ve gotta go!” screamed Quinn, breathing heavily as he swung up into the saddle behind Malcolm. Malcolm kicked the horse in the ribs, and they were racing through the blackness of the night.

  Rowan ran up to Anna, holding his side gingerly, and swung up into the saddle, landing with a groan. He took the reins from her and spurred the horse into motion, breathing raggedly.

  “I think I broke a rib,” Rowan winced from behind Anna, moaning softly as the jarring of the galloping horse jostled him broken bones.

  Anna put her hand on top of his, as he gripped the pommel of the saddle.

  “How badly are you hurt, Rowan?”

  “I’ll survive,” he said. “It’s my bloody ribs that hurt like hell,” he said, groaning.

  “Let’s stop so that I can wrap it,” Anna said, thinking that she could rip some fabric from her gown and bind Rowan’s chest so that the jostling of the horse wouldn’t pain him so much.

  “We canna stop, at least no yet…they’ll be after us,” Rowan explained, breathing still ragged.

  “Did they know it was me?” Anna ventured cautiously, hoping that they did not.

  “I doona think so,” Rowan responded. “They werena Arbor’s men.”

  Anna did her best not to lean back against Rowan, even though her back became stiff with the effort of holding itself upright. They rode on for a couple of hours without speaking, staying close to Quinn and Malcolm so that they didn’t become separated in the dark.

  At Quinn’s insistence, Malcolm reined their horse to a stop.

  “I doona think that they’ll follow us this far tonight, they were far too drunk. Let’s stop and get some rest,” Quinn said tiredly, sliding down from the horse.

  He walked over and helped Anna down from the mare. She was careful not to bump Rowan as she got down.

  “Need a hand, brother?” Quinn asked, sensing that Rowan might be hurt worse than he was letting on.

  “Aye, I’m not sure how tae get down without hurtin’ myself further,” Rowan nodded, taking his brother’s outstretched arm and bracing himself against Quinn’s shoulder as he slid off the horse, face twisted into a painful grimace. Rowan remained bent over wincing, breathing heavily right where he had landed on the ground. “Bloody hell,” Rowan said under his breath as he straightened up painfully.

  Malcolm and Anna led the horses to a clearing that was well off the road, stumbling often in the dense undergrowth of the forest.

  Quinn helped Rowan navigate through the trees, and settled him gently onto a fallen log. He then went about the business of starting a small fire, hoping that they were far enough away from the soldiers so as not to draw their attention.

  Anna and Malcolm joined the older brothers around the fire, and as the blaze took hold, it shed light on the gravity of the brother’s injuries. Being that Quinn was closest to the fire, Anna saw his face first.

  “Oh my God, Quinn!” she exclaimed, rushing to his side.

  His face was a myriad of cuts, scrapes and bruises, and his right eye was beginning to swell closed.

  “Believe me, they got the worst end of the deal,” Quinn smirked, recounting the blows that he had served up to the English soldiers. “They got me a few times, but Rowan and I fight dirty,” he said, glancing in Rowan’s direction. He was still seated on the log outside of the circle of light provided by the small fire. “Plus, we did get away with this!” Quinn exclaimed, placing a large purse heavy with coins into Anna’s hand.

  “Quinn! This is a fortune!” she exclaimed, knowing that this purse held more than enough money to finance their entire trip to Williamsburg. “At least you won’t have to gamble anymore,” she said, tossing the purse back to Quinn.

  “Aye, and it’ll be safer for us not tae stop in the villages along the way tae Williamsburg. We can send Malcolm in for supplies; it’ll be much less conspicuous that way.”

  “Good idea,” Anna said softly. She felt guilty that the Murray’s were going to such lengths to get her safely to Williamsburg, but on the other hand, she did not want them to hand her over to Arbor’s men. She knew that she was safe with the Murray’s, and honestly, she was growing to care for all three of them.

  “Can you check on him?” Quinn whispered very quietly into her ear so that Rowan wouldn’t hear. “I’m afraid that he’s hurt worse than he’s lettin’ on. He’s got tae much pride tae let me take a look at it.”

  Anna’s heart sank as she walked silently over to where Rowan was sitting on the log. “How badly are you hurt, Rowan?” she whispered, sitting down next to him on the log.

  “It’s nothing that won’t heal, but my ribs hurt something fierce,” he confessed, still doubled over with pain, cradling his right side.

  “How did they get broken?” Anna asked quietly, needing to know so that she could fully sympathize with what Rowan had endured on her behalf.

  “With a chair. One of them broke a chair against my side.”

  “Oh Rowan, this is all my fault…I’m so sorry!” she stammered as she saw how badly Rowan was hurting.

  “Yer fault? It’s not yer fault. It was his fault for touchin’ ye! I wanted tae kill that bastard!” Rowan said eyes lit with rage.

  Anna swallowed hard, not sure of what to say. Despite Rowan’s denial of this being her fault, she knew deep down that it would not have happened had she not been traveling with the Murray brothers. They would be far better off without her.

  “Can I take a look?” Anna asked cautiously, afraid that Rowan would rather nurse his wounds in private. “You’ll need to come closer to the fire so that I can see,” she coaxed, reaching down to take Rowan’s hand.

  “If it makes ye feel better. There’s no much that ye can do tae help broken ribs,” Rowan said, knowing that he would get little relief from his pain.

  Anna led him over to the fire, and helped him sit down again. Quinn and Malcolm were already snoring peacefully beneath their blankets, being completely exhausted from the day’s events. Anna was thankful that she could now be alone to tend Rowan, knowing that he wouldn’t want to reveal any sign of weakness in front of his brothers.

  Anna settled herself down next to Rowan and gasped when she saw his face in the firelight. “Rowan,” she whispered, reaching up a trembling hand towards his face.

  Rowan looked away, focusing his eyes down at his hands. Anna traced her fingers carefully along the line of his jaw, gently taking his chi
n between her finger and thumb, tilting his face from side to side so that she could look at his injuries.

  His upper lip was split open badly on the right side of his face, and there was dried blood from a bloody nose crusted to his top lip. His nose looked like it had been broken; it was swollen badly, but still straight. There was a nasty gash on his left eyebrow that had left a trail of blood down the side of his face.

  Anna reached up a finger and traced it ever so lightly down the bridge of his nose, causing his eyes to flicker up at her, and then dart away.

  “Don’t fash…it was broken, but I fixed it already. It’ll heal straight, and I’ll be handsome as ever,” he chuckled, and then stopped abruptly. Laughing hurt his broken ribs.

  Anna’s finger slowly traced the lines of his lips, watching the firelight dance off his skin, illuminating his purple bruises. She ran her fingers carefully down his jaw line, feather light touches exploring his skin. Again, she grasped his chin between her thumb and forefinger, forcing it up so that he would look at her.

  Rowan’s eyes met hers to see tears streaming down her cheeks as she examined his face.

  “Doona cry, sweetheart,” he whispered, reaching up his uninjured left arm to wipe away her tears.

  “Thank you, Rowan,” she said softly, leaning forward just barely touching her lips to his so as not to hurt him further. She caught his hand and held it up between them, examining it in the firelight. He had beautiful, graceful, masculine hands. Anna extended each of his fingers carefully as he watched her intently, checking to see if he had any broken bones. His knuckles were swollen and bloodied, being that he was left- handed; this was the hand that had taken the brunt of his punches.