Chapter 20 #2
“What about ye, Spring?” asked Cromwell. “Are ye goin’ to turn yer back against yer family?”
“Ye are no’ my family,” said Spring, raising her bow and nocking an arrow, aiming it right at Cromwell’s heart.
Several of his men drew their swords, but Cromwell stopped them from going after Spring by lifting his hand in the air.
“Let us take her,” begged Gawl.
“If she so much as hits me with that arrow, make sure to kill Bodil and Egil as soon as she does,” snarled Cromwell.
Spring held the tension tight on the bow, wanting to kill Cromwell, not caring that he was the man she’d considered her father her entire life. However, she would not do it at the expense of her brothers’ lives.
“Ye lied to me!” she yelled, tears filling her eyes.
Her anger mixed with a new vengeance was flowing through her.
“Ye never cared for me at all. Ye only used me, as well as ye used Bodil and Egil.” A lone tear ran a crooked course down her cheek as she tried her best to bury her emotions.
She needed to stay strong to stand against Cromwell.
She couldn’t act weak or vulnerable at such a crucial moment.
“What? Ye’re cryin’?” asked Cromwell, glaring at her with a mixture of laughter and disgust. “Stop it, Spring! Ye are a warrior and a descendant of Vikings. We dinna cry. It makes us weak. Have I taught ye nothin’?”
“I’m no’ a descendant of Vikings. And I canna help cryin’ because I am bairned and emotional.”
“Bairned?” A shadow crossed Cromwell’s face. “How the hell did that happen?”
“I’m married!” she spat.
“Ye werena supposed to get pregnant. Ye were only there to find a way to get us into the castle.”
“Mayhap ye should have thought of that before ye traded me like a side of meat, just as a means to get what ye wanted.”
“She actually seems to like Gordon,” said Dearg. “If she were my daughter, I’d put her in her place, Cromwell.”
“Nay, ye wouldna,” said Spring. “Because yer daughter, Vika, is in love with Shaw’s son, Donel, just like I’m in love with the boy’s faither.” She kept the arrow aimed at Cromwell’s heart.
“That’s a lie!” shouted Dearg. “Vika doesna even ken the lad.”
“It’s no lie and she kens him better than ye think. She is bairned as well,” said Spring. “Our clans need to align for real and we’ve already got the means to do it.”
“We’ll never align with the Gordons,” said Gawl. “What are ye thinkin’?”
“Magna, put down the bow,” warned Cromwell.
“No’ until I put this arrow through yer heart.”
“Ye’re too weak to do it, but if ye think ye can release that arrow, then go ahead and try,” Cromwell taunted. Deep inside, she felt her fury rising. All she needed to do was release the arrow and the horrible man would be dead.
“Nay! Wait,” said Bodil. “Let us talk to her, Da.”
“We’ll talk sense into her,” said Egil, heading his horse toward Spring.
“Ye’ll never change my mind,” said Spring, her hand loosening a little on the bowstring.
“Spring, let us talk with ye.” Bodil rode his horse up to her with Egil at her side.
“Listen to us,” whispered Egil. “We believe ye.”
“We’re goin’ to pretend to do what Cromwell wants, but we’ll try to talk the rest of the clan into turnin’ against him,” Bodil whispered.
“Now, go,” said Egil, “before he catches on to our plan.”
“Ye canna do it,” laughed Cromwell, goading her to be the hardened warrior he turned her into even if it had never felt right in her heart.
He was right. She had changed since she’d married Shaw.
As much as Spring hated Cromwell right now, something in her would not let her kill him.
She felt weak and vulnerable and defeated.
Tears ran down her face at a good pace now and she cursed inwardly for letting the clan see how weak she’d become.
“Come with me and save yerselves,” whispered Spring to her brothers.
“We’ll be all right. Just get back to the castle and warn Shaw that we’re comin’.” Egil spoke with his back to the others.
Totally deflated, she loosened the tension on the bowstring with a sigh.
“I kent ye’d come around to yer senses,” said Cromwell, looking pleased by her action.
“After we seize the castle, I’ll take Spring and even the whelp she’s carryin’,” said Gawl. “It’s the least ye can give me after all I’ve done for ye, Cromwell. Mayhap, it’ll help make up for the loss of my brathair, thanks to her.”
“Fine, take her,” said Cromwell, “I dinna care. She’ll need someone strong to keep her in her place. But I want the whelp to raise as my own.”
“No one is takin’ me and no one is takin’ my bairn.” Spring pulled back the bowstring again and, in one fluid motion, shot her arrow straight through Gawl’s heart. He dropped dead to the ground on contact.
“Get outta here, now,” Bodil said under his breath.
“Come with me,” Spring begged her brothers, one last time.
“Let’s do it, Bodil,” said Egil. “There’s nothin’ here for us anymore.”
Spring shot a few more arrows randomly into the air to hold back the men. Cromwell dismounted his horse and fell to his knees to check on his good friend, Gawl.
Quickly, Spring and her brothers turned and rode like the devil back to Edinvale Castle with the rest of the Gunn Clan right behind them.