Chapter 4 #2
Serena stepped into the clearing just as she heard the sound of ripping cloth. She had known who the woman was. Eawyn was her friend. And she knew the knight from the hall when she had first served the Normans their evening meal. His leering glances had made her uneasy.
With one hand, the swarthy dark-haired knight held the woman in his grasp while wrenching down her tunic and shift, tearing the cloth still further. Eawyn struggled to pull away while clutching at the torn fabric with her free hand, trying in vain to cover her naked breasts.
He reached out to touch one of the pink-tipped mounds of pale flesh, and Eawyn let out a pathetic wail.
With lightning speed, Serena moved her bow into place nocking an arrow and pulling it back, ready to fire.
The knight threw Eawyn roughly to the ground, falling heavily atop her. With her hands pinned beneath his weight, there was nothing Eawyn could do to fight off the inevitable.
“Release her!” Serena shouted.
The knight did not stop but mercilessly squeezed one of Eawyn’s breasts, while violently sucking the other into his mouth. Eawyn writhed beneath the Norman, struggling to free herself while he shoved his other hand between her legs, pulling up her tunic.
“Stop, I say!”
The knight turned to see Serena’s poised bow.
Rolling off Eawyn, he rose from the ground, dragging the terrified woman with him, still holding her in his punishing grip.
“Ah, another young beauty…and this one with a toy in hand. Come join us wench and we shall have good sport. There is more than enough of me for the both of you.”
With cold determination Serena looked into the dark eyes of the beefy knight, who unlike his fellow Normans, wore a mustache and short beard and was all the more menacing for them.
“I will not miss my mark, Norman. Let her go now, or I’ll dispatch you to hell where you surely belong.
” She would not hesitate to kill this man who would defile one of Talisand’s women.
The vengeance she craved ran strong and deep.
Not just for Eawyn, but for her father, Talisand and all of England.
Still holding the struggling Eawyn, the knight laughed.
Serena would give him one last chance. She aimed for the arm that held her friend. Letting the arrow fly, its metal tip sank deep into the fleshy part of his arm, sending a warning the knight could not ignore.
With an oath, he let go of Eawyn. “What have you done, wench?” He looked at his arm dripping blood. “For this you will pay!”
“I think not,” Serena said. “Now, move away from her.” Serena quickly nocked another arrow. This one she would aim at his heart.
“Nay, I shall have my feast here in the woods,” he said defiantly, his dark eyes crazed as he gripped Eawyn with the hand of his uninjured arm. “And then I shall have you before I kill you!”
“Say your prayers, Norman, for hell awaits you!” About to let her arrow fly, Serena heard heavy footfalls behind her, snapping twigs.
“What goes here, Sir Hugue?” The blond knight who was companion to the Red Wolf stomped into the clearing and stood next to Serena. In a gentle voice he said, “It was good your aim went amiss, Sarah. You do not want the death of a knight laid upon you. Put down your bow. I will handle this.”
Serena slowly lowered her bow but did not take the arrow from its place, nor her eyes from the one called Sir Hugue. Inside she still seethed.
At the blond knight’s words, the knight who held Eawyn released her and stepped back, lowering his head as if a humble suppliant.
To Serena, his submission appeared feigned.
His arm where the arrow pierced it dripped blood but he seemed not to notice.
“Naught but a bit of sport, Sir Geoffroi. And for it, I took an arrow in my arm from the wench.”
Eawyn ran to Serena who dropped one of her hands from her bow to wrap an arm around the distraught woman who was desperately trying to cover herself.
Serena whispered in her ear, “Do not reveal my identity.”
Eawyn’s dark tresses had come loose from her plait to fall in strings around her face and her blue eyes were full of tears, but she nodded even as she continued to sob.
“The maid does not look willing to me, Sir Hugue.” Sir Geoffroi’s voice brooked no excuse. “What were you thinking? Do you not know the Red Wolf’s rules concerning the women?”
“Aye, I know his rules,” Sir Hugue scoffed. “We are not to take a lady unwilling. But surely that does not include the servants!”
The knight named Sir Geoffroi narrowed his eyes at the other man’s words. “It does and you know it.”
Serena was aware that most knights only respected the virtue of women of their own rank, but she had heard the words of the Red Wolf. He held his men to a higher standard. Though she had doubted the truth of it at the time, now she believed.
Before Sir Hugue could answer, Serena spoke, her voice livid with disdain.
“Even if that could excuse him, which it does not, Eawyn is no servant. She is the lady of the west manor and widow of Ulrich, one of the old thegn’s most trusted men.
Though she is now on foot, she would have ridden here on a horse.
Her black palfrey cannot be far. This Norman should die for the offense he has shown this gentle woman.
” She let go of Eawyn and raised her bow, again aiming at the knight’s chest, sincere in her desire to see the miscreant dead.
Sir Geoffroi’s hand on her arm stayed her pull on the arrow. “Put down the bow, Sarah. I will protect Eawyn.” The blond knight took off his mantle and draped it around the sobbing woman’s shoulders, covering her nakedness. Glaring at the knight before him, he ordered, “Come with me, Sir Hugue.”
Reluctantly, Serena lowered her bow. The knight called Sir Hugue uttered a disgruntled noise and followed Sir Geoffroi. The blond knight rested his hand protectively on Eawyn’s shoulders, and with gentleness guided her in the direction of the manor.
Her heart still racing from the encounter, Serena went in search of her rabbits and Eawyn’s horse. She hoped Sir Geoffroi would report to his lord what had happened. The Red Wolf would see the knight who had harmed Eawyn was punished.
Or Serena would see to it herself.