Chapter 17
After what felt like an eternity of jostling, the cart came to a stop.
Eahlswith waited, hoping to be freed from her bonds now that they were out of the town.
Surely her captors didn’t think she would run, alone in the wilderness, in the snow and at night?
Even she had the presence of mind to understand that it would be useless.
Then she heard Ealawynne and Godstan argue from their place on the driver’s seat.
“Why did you stop?” Her sister sounded more than a little annoyed.
“Why do you think? In this snowstorm I can’t see where I’m going,” was the equally curt reply.
“I’m not risking breaking my neck when we fall into a ditch or worse.
A little delay will not hurt. No one will find out your sister is gone before the morning and when they do, they will have no idea where she went or that she was abducted.
They will simply think she’s gone out of town for a day or two.
I say there is no rush, so we might as well sleep under the cover of the trees instead of getting back out in the open fields. ”
Eahlswith closed her eyes, relieved beyond words. The longer it took them to reach their destination, the better. Wrapped as she was, she had not noticed that it had started to snow but indeed, she agreed with the man. No sense in risking their lives if the conditions were treacherous.
Besides, he was right. No one would worry about her disappearance for days, if not weeks, instead assuming she had gone to the Norseman village to see Cwenthryth.
Even if the cart had been seen leaving her house, people would remember seeing “her” in the driver’s seat with a friend, just like she had been seen the other day with Magnus and Agnes. There would be no cause for concern.
A moment later, she felt someone, Godstan judging from the strength of his grip, lift her into a sitting position and then remove the cloth covering her head.
Meeting his gaze, she nodded and looked down, hoping to make him understand she wanted him to untie the cloth that was digging most uncomfortably into the sides of her mouth.
“I think she wants us to remove the gag,” he told her sister, who was climbing down the cart in turn. “I say ’tis quite safe to do so.”
Ealawynne made a sort of grunt that could have passed as an agreement and a moment later, Eahlswith’s mouth was freed from the tight bond. The relief was indescribable. She moved her tongue gingerly, tried to close her mouth and found that everything hurt.
“How did you know where to find me?” she asked, her throat so dry that her voice came out like a croak. It was all she had been able to think about as they’d traveled and yet she had not been able to come up with a suitable explanation.
“You thought you were quite safe, didn’t you? Well, you’re not as clever as you think.” Her sister smirked, not even trying to hide her satisfaction. “A few years ago a man from our village was asked to deliver a message to you by a dying traveler, I believe?”
Eahlswith’s blood froze in her veins. Edwin. Of course. How had she not thought of this? Indeed, as he lay dying he’d asked the villager who’d discovered him, the priest’s nephew, to go tell her about his death. How had she not thought it meant that someone knew where she had gone to live?
“That man is one of Godstan’s closest friends,” Ealawynne carried on, clearly enjoying herself.
“Last month during an innocuous conversation, he let slip that he’d last seen you in a distant town once, when he delivered the dying man’s message.
That’s what finally allowed me to put my plan into action.
I got the idea to use you to feign my death months ago, but I didn’t know where you had disappeared off to.
Thanks to Cuthbert’s innocent comment, I was able to find you. ”
What a stroke of bad luck. Eahlswith gritted her teeth, refusing to cry, when it would serve no purpose. She had to find a way out of this mess instead.
“Give me something to eat and drink,” she begged.
She was thirsty but that was not the only reason for the request. If they untied her hands, she might be able to loosen the ties on her ankles while they were not looking.
Then when they retied her hands, she would wait for an opportunity to flee. Even with tied hands, she could run.
Ealawynne laughed, the sound jarring. “Do you think we have food to spare on a dying woman? You can have a few handfuls of snow and be happy about it.” She turned to the man who was tethering the horse to a nearby sapling. “Godstan, bring her some snow.”
Snow… The memory of the day she had eaten snow with Sven assaulted Eahlswith and this time tears did roll down her cheeks.
Where was he now? Had he heard what was in store for her?
Had he managed to free himself? Very few people visited her at home.
The ones who did would not insist and leave when they knocked on the door and she didn’t open.
Would he die of thirst in her storeroom, when he could not get out of the rope she’d used?
Dear Lord, please let him be safe. He had done nothing to deserve being involved in this nightmare.
“Here.”
Her sister placed a heap of snow on a sack of cloth next to her head.
There was no other option but to bury her face in it and try to catch as much of it as she could before it melted.
Once Eahlswith had lapped at a few mouthfuls of snow that did little more than wet her lips, Ealawynne put the gag back in place.
“It wouldn’t do for you to call to any passerby, would it?
Not that I expect many in this weather and at this hour but you never know.
” She settled herself in the cart, making a nest amidst the various bundles and furs.
At least they had everything they needed to make themselves comfortable.
As consolations went, it was a small one.
“Now, we are going to get some sleep so we can set off tomorrow at first light. Hopefully it will have stopped snowing by then.”
Sleep. Eahlswith closed her eyes. Did they really think she would be able to sleep with her body trussed up and her mind in turmoil?
But to her surprise, she soon found herself drifting off into oblivion. Then suddenly she was jolted awake when a hand landed on her breast. A hand belonging to Godstan, who had elected to lie between the two women when he’d joined them for the night.
“Awake, little captive?” he whispered, bringing his mouth to her ear.
She shook her head, more a way to indicate that she didn’t want him to touch her than to answer his question. But yes, she was now most definitely awake—and dreading what was about to happen.
The hand over her breast gave a squeeze. “Mm. I love tits.”
Yes, unfortunately she already knew that. And if he thought her sister’s were perfect then he would like hers also, as they were identical.
Please, please, she silently pleaded. Ealawynne, wake up. Save me from this nightmare.
“I could loosen your bonds, you know,” Godstan carried on, “if you allowed me certain…liberties, shall we say. I could even remove the gag from your mouth.” He allowed a finger to stroke her cheek, the gesture almost tender and all the more terrifying for it.
“I bet it is hurting you. I could help, slip something far more pleasant between your lips, something warmer than snow.”
Eahlswith fought the nausea roiling in her gut. With her mouth gagged the last thing she wanted was to be sick. Dear God, she’d thought her situation dire earlier today but it had just taken a dramatic turn for the worst.
She started to squirm, hoping to wake her sister up.
Surely Ealawynne would object to her lover touching another woman?
But even if she did not and agreed he was owed some reward for helping her, then Eahlswith would be no worse off.
She had to try. She arched her back and let out a scream that came out as a moan.
“Eager, are we?” the man chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m—”
“Godstan, what are you doing?”
Thank the Lord. Ealawynne had finally woken up. Eahlswith stopped moving. With bated breath, she waited to see what her sister would do. Anything was possible coming from a woman intent on killing her.
“I’m warming myself up with our captive’s lovely body,” the man answered, not in the least worried that Ealawynne might find this explanation unsatisfactory.
“It is not often a man finds a lover with a twin sister that looks so much like her. I think I should be allowed to see whether fucking her will feel the same as fucking you.”
Oh Lord.
“That’s not why I brought you here.”
“No. But now we are here, and my balls ache something fierce. This is every man’s fantasy.” He sat up and gave a grin. “I’ll tell you what. You don’t have to be left out. You two could pleasure me, and I can return the favor. I swear I won’t leave either of you wanting. What say you?”
If Eahlswith’s gag had been removed in that moment she would have spat in his face. Fortunately, for once, her sister seemed to agree with her.
“I say that you’re mad,” she said, sitting up in turn to look at him. “If you want to rut, it will be with me, no one else.”
Godstan let out a frustrated growl then reached out to his braies. “Open your mouth then,” he ordered, his voice gruff. “And you had better make sure you put your heart into it so that when we’re done I don’t feel like I’m missing out.”
Wishing she could block her ears, Eahlswith screwed her eyes shut.
Sven tightened the girth on Gulltoppr with renewed determination.
Last evening instead of bemoaning a situation he could not change, he had made sure to get some rest while the snow was swirling around the forest, doing its best to pierce the cover of the trees.
No point in wasting energy lamenting his situation, he simply had to find the cart today and free Eahlswith from her abductors.
The alternative was too dire to contemplate.