But Ruexner did not stop. He kicked Valten again and again in the side and the stomach. Valten felt one of his ribs crack. God, this can’t be how I die, leaving Gisela at the mercy of this fiend. He was beyond being able to fight back as darkness encroached on his vision and the roaring in his ears increased.
It seemed as if Gisela’s screams were growing closer. The brutal kicking stopped. He heard a loud thud and several startled yells.
He forced his eyes open. Gisela was on top of Ruexner on the ground, pummeling his head with her fists, while Ruexner held his arms up to protect his face.
Valten struggled to get up, desperate to protect her. But the pain in his head and stomach almost caused him to black out. He fell onto his side.
Ruexner would kill her. God, no.
His two men pulled her off him, with Gisela kicking and fighting like a lioness. “Leave her alone,” Valten growled through clenched teeth.
“Take that she-devil back to the clearing!”
Lew began trying to pull Gisela away, holding on to both her wrists.
Ruexner stood and brushed himself off. Then he knelt beside Valten and leaned close to his ear. “I am not finished with you. Next time I plan to give you a scar for a scar. ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ eh? And even your little she-devil spitfire will not stop me.”
Ruexner stood and Malbert pulled on Valten’s shoulder.
“Get up,” Ruexner ordered.
Valten swayed as he slowly got to his feet, keeping his eyes on Gisela, who looked to be holding her own. The blow to his head had made him dizzy. Blood ran down his brow, tickling him. But his stomach and ribs hurt worse. Breathing almost wasn’t worth the pain. He groaned before he could stop himself.
Gisela struggled against Lew, who was holding her by her arms but didn’t appear to be hurting her. She lunged toward Valten, but Lew’s grip held.
Ruexner pushed him forward, making him stumble. He caught himself, but stayed bent over. When they entered the tiny clearing among the trees, Gisela turned and kneed her captor in the groin. The man went down, falling on his knees on the ground. Gisela ran to Valten.
She grabbed his arm. “Are you badly hurt?”
He tried to smile at her, to lessen her anxiety. “No.”
Her hand trembled as she reached toward his temple, where he felt the trickle of blood. But then she placed her soft little hand against his cheek.
“I am well. Don’t worry.” He longed to wipe away the tear from her face with his fingertip, but he was afraid he’d become too unbalanced and fall.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry I caused all this.”
“You didn’t cause it.” How could she think that?
Ruexner snorted derisively, looking at Gisela. “He doesn’t look so strong and fierce now, does he?”
She turned on Ruexner. “You’re a fiend. He never did anything to you. Why do you hate him so much?”
“Because, my dear. He had what I wanted. It’s a harsh world. A man must take what he wants or he’s a weakling and a fool.” He stepped closer to her and lowered his voice. “My father taught me that.”
“How does it feel” — he turned now to Valten — “to look like a weakling in front of this fair maiden? You’re no longer the proud, arrogant future Duke of Hagenheim. You’re just a broken man, at my mercy. And I have no mercy.” He drew his fist back. Valten wasn’t quick enough to block it this time. The fist slammed into cheekbone. The pain in his head thundered like a rainstorm, making him see stars again.
Something soft and warm pressed against his midsection. He blinked. Gisela wrapped her arms around him, getting between him and Ruexner.
“No! I won’t let you hurt him!” She held on until Ruexner grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
Ruexner stared at her. “Why should I stop? I intend to kill him … eventually.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Let him go, please.”
“Why should I?” Ruexner’s cold black eyes glinted.
“If you will let him go, I-I will marry you.”
Ruexner rubbed his bearded chin. “You’ll marry me anyway.”
“No, I won’t. Not if you keep hurting this man.”
“You’ll have no choice. I’ll find a priest who will marry us against your will.”
She faced him defiantly, but there was fear in her eyes.
“But I will take your offer into consideration.” He rubbed his chin again.
“So you agree not to hurt him anymore?”
“Perhaps … for now.”
Chapter
20
The men’s eyelids drooped. Gisela was exhausted but too tense to sleep, and was still trembling after watching Ruexner and his men beat and kick Valten mercilessly. Her whole body ached and sand seemed to have lodged inside her lids, scraping her eyes every time she blinked. When Ruexner announced they would make camp, she nearly fainted with relief.
They ordered Valten to sit in the center of the open space, then they tied his ankles together. Gisela sat down beside him, although not too close, hoping they wouldn’t order her to move.
Ruexner started walking toward her, and she noticed bloodstains on his shirt, under his armpits, and down his sides, obviously from the wounds he’d received from the sword fight with Valten in the tournament. The blood was dry, so someone must have bandaged the wounds, or they had stopped bleeding. It was a shame the injuries didn’t seem to be slowing him down.
Ruexner handed her a flask. Then he muttered something to the other two men and stalked into the woods, probably to relieve himself.
Gisela uncorked the flask and sniffed; it was water. She moved to Valten and held it up. He placed his bound hands over hers and drank. When he finished, she put the flask to her own lips and swallowed the water, with Ruexner’s two men watching her. She hadn’t drunk much in the last two days, and the water felt good going down her parched throat.
Ruexner came back and let one of the other men head into the woods. Ruexner glared at Gisela, then went to rummage through his saddlebag. He came and handed her some dried meat and an apple. He looked at Valten for a moment and then turned and walked to where Valten’s horse was tied. He rummaged through Valten’s saddlebag and found some dried fruit and nuts and gave some to his men.
When Ruexner’s head was turned, Gisela shared the food with Valten.
No one spoke as they ate and then stretched out on the ground. Ruexner threw a blanket in Gisela’s direction, and she got up to retrieve it. Gisela folded the blanket, and she and Valten used it as a pillow as they lay facing each other.
Would Ruexner and his men keep watch? Or would they all fall asleep? If they did, she was sure she and Valten could escape. But Ruexner didn’t lie down. He only propped his back against a tree and watched them while whittling a piece of wood with a knife. Almost immediately, his two men started snoring, but Ruexner looked wide awake.
The next thing Gisela knew, she was blinking her eyes open and the sun was high overhead. Had she actually been asleep?
Valten’s eyes were also open. She turned her head to follow his gaze. Ruexner’s head was lolled onto his shoulder and his eyes were closed. The other two men were still snoring.
Valten whispered, “In my left boot is a dagger.”
Gisela sat up, looking over her shoulder at Ruexner. He still looked asleep. She crawled as quietly as she could to Valten’s feet and slipped her hand inside his shoe, felt the hard handle of the dagger, and drew it out. She immediately went to work sawing through the rope around his ankles. It took longer than she thought. Valten kept his eyes on Ruexner while she worked.
Suddenly, she broke through the rope and his feet were freed. She crawled back toward Valten’s head, holding the knife, and started trying to cut the rope around his hands. The hemp made a soft squeaking sound as she sawed through the tough fibers.
“Wait.” Valten’s hoarse warning made her cease and look at Ruexner. He was moving. Any moment he mig
ht open his eyes and see her kneeling in front of Valten’s hands. She dropped the knife on the ground and held her hand over it to hide it. Ruexner mumbled a bit and rubbed his face. Gisela quickly lay down, only now she was close to Valten, and they were lying face to face. She turned her head so she could better see Ruexner, who was still rubbing his cheek.
Suddenly, Ruexner jerked himself upright, his eyes popping open.
Gisela closed her eyes, feigning sleep. Her heart was pounding, making it hard to keep her breathing under control. As much as she wanted to know what Ruexner was doing, she kept her eyes closed.
She heard faint rustling sounds coming from his direction. Then the crunching of leaves, then more rustling. Someone mumbled something that sounded like, “Your turn.”
Gisela dared open her eyes just a bit. One of Ruexner’s men was walking over to where Ruexner had been sitting and Ruexner was now lying down. Gisela waited, trying not to move. Soon, their guard’s head drifted to the side, and he started snoring again.
Gisela waited. She wanted to make sure Ruexner was asleep. When she couldn’t wait any longer, she turned to face Valten. His gray-green eyes were staring right at her. How could he look so handsome with a bruised eye and dried blood at his temple? She sat up on her knees and he held his hands out to her as she took up the dagger again and started sawing the thick rope. How tight it was on his wrists! His fingers were purple. She was desperate to get the cruel twine off him, but she didn’t seem to be making much progress.
“You are very brave,” Valten whispered.
She stopped, only for a moment, to look into his eyes. The admiration in them made her heart grow and press against her chest. She kept sawing even harder, but trying not to cut his arm or fingers in the process.
“But don’t tell Ruexner you will marry him. Because you won’t.” His jaw seemed to have turned to stone and the soft expression disappeared.
His words made a warmth come over her neck and travel up to her head that had more to do with anger than his handsome face.
“I said that so he would stop beating you,” she huffed. “Would you rather I let him pound you to death?”
She kept working on cutting through the rope instead of looking him in the eye.
“You won’t have to marry him,” he continued, as if she hadn’t said anything, “because I will rescue you.”
The determination in his voice sent more warmth through her. “I couldn’t bear to see him hit you again. But I would never marry him. I would get away from him somehow.” She couldn’t help adding mischievously, “Maybe I will rescue you.”
He made a growling noise in his throat, and she was hard-pressed to keep from laughing. Her amusement at least took her mind off how horrible she felt seeing him get beaten. After all, it was only happening because she had been foolish enough to get herself captured by that despicable Ruexner. Earlier, when they’d stopped to face their pursuers, how elated she had been to find that Valten had actually come himself to rescue her! Immediately afterward, she’d felt horribly guilty, since he was certain to get hurt, or killed. She should have prayed for him to stay away, to let his men rescue her.
The rope was so tight that her sawing at it was causing it to chafe his skin. She became afraid his wrists would bleed. “I’m so sorry I’m hurting you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Keep cutting.”
He shifted his weight a bit, and Gisela paused to get a better grip on the knife.
“My men have orders from me not to follow us. They will gather the rest of our men and come to Ruexner’s castle in Bruchen, which is where Ruexner is taking us. But we can avoid any of them getting killed if we can escape.”
“I am afraid Ruexner will kill you before we ever reach his castle.”
“No. He’s jealous and cruel and wants to humiliate me. But he has some kind of plan for when we reach his castle. He’ll keep me alive until then.”
She could feel the intensity of his gaze on her. She stopped and looked up at him.
“He’s already hurt you.” She had a sudden thought and grabbed his arm, squeezing to ensure that he was listening. “Promise me that if you get a chance to escape without me, you will do it. He won’t kill me. Go find your men and come back for me.”
His eyelids and brows lowered. “You don’t know me very well or you wouldn’t say such a thing. I won’t leave you.”
He was angry. How could he be angry with her for wanting him to be safe?
Frustrating man. At the same time, hadn’t he performed enough feats of skill and strength and bravery in the tournament to inspire her belief that he could save her? If anybody could, it was Valten.
She whispered, “Even with a broken hand, you are the knight I’d most want and trust to rescue me — and I know you can do it. You are the boldest, bravest, most noble knight in the Holy Roman Empire.”
That seemed to soothe him. His brow lifted and he gave her a good long gaze that made her wonder if he would like to kiss her as much as she would like to kiss him. But no … they didn’t have time for such thoughts. He would surely scold her for them.
Abruptly, the knife sliced through the last fiber of the rope. His hands were free.
Her heart beat faster. What would Ruexner do if he caught them trying to escape? Would he kill them? He would at least beat Valten again.
“What are you doing?”
Gisela’s heart leaped painfully inside her.
She turned with a jerk while hiding the knife in the leaves. Ruexner came toward them with his sword drawn.
His two men roused themselves and were soon on their feet, arming themselves with swords.
Gisela froze. Valten’s right hand, positioned beside her, was as tense and hard as steel. What could they do, armed only with a knife, against three men armed with swords? Best to pretend that Valten was still bound.
“You have a knife. I saw it. Throw it down to me,” Ruexner ordered, slowly advancing toward her.
Gisela glanced at Valten. He gave a barely perceptible nod.
She threw the knife on the ground. “His hands were bound too tightly.” She wasn’t about to apologize to him. “You beast. I insist you loosen his bonds.”
“I believe you already loosened them for him.” Ruexner sneered, showing the chipped tooth on top and a missing tooth on the bottom. “How kind of you. Now stand up, both of you. Lew.” He turned to his henchman. “Pick up that knife and tie his hands again.”
Lew looked at him strangely, but after a slight hesitation he picked up the knife and moved toward them. Gisela helped Valten to his feet.
Ruexner threw Lew another rope.
“Not so tight this time,” Gisela ordered.
Lew moved toward him with the rope. Valten lifted his hands toward the guard. When he did, Lew jumped back, as though expecting Valten to attack him. But Valten just stared.
Gisela moved back in front of Valten to look at his hands. The left wrist was protected by the splint on his broken hand, which reached past his wrist. But his right wrist was bloody and raw from the rough rope. She sucked in an anguished breath at the sight of it.
“Tie him up again, now.” Ruexner sounded like he was running out of patience.
“No!” Gisela glared at Ruexner and pulled Valten’s arms around in front of her as she pressed her back against his chest. “You are purposely hurting him in any way you can.”
“I suppose you would like to tie it yourself?” Ruexner’s smile suddenly vanished. “Do you think me a fool?”
“No, but there’s no reason to tie the rope so tight. He’ll lose his hand.”
Valten cleared his throat just above her head. It occurred to her that he might be embarrassed at the way she was defending him. But she was only trying to save him from pain and permanent injuries.
But he would appreciate her interference if Ruexner actually listened to her. She hoped.
Ruexner snatched the rope out of Lew’s hands. He waited for Gisela to step aside, but she refused.
“I won’t let you hurt him.” She tugged Valten’s arms tighter around her, careful not to touch his broken hand or his bloody wrist.
She felt Valten shrug. “What can I say? Women are softhearted creatures.”
He was pretending to be amused.
Ruexner’s face twisted when he looked at Valten over her head, then he stared down at her a long time before saying, “I will allow you to first wrap a cloth around his wrist.”
Gisela watched as the villain cut a piece off the end of Valten’s bandage and handed it to her. She took it from him and wrapped it gently around Valten’s raw wrist.
“Now step aside, and I will not tie the rope so tight.” He smiled through clenched teeth.
She wasn’t sure she should believe him, but she hardly had a choice. She moved as Ruexner asked but watched closely as he tied the rope. The man did indeed seem to be making it looser this time. Thank you, God.
Ruexner finished tying the rope and stepped away from Valten.
“You see? I am not a beast.”
He took a step toward Gisela, and she took a step back.
“I don’t wish to hurt you. But I also can’t have you trying to escape. You must tell me where you got the knife.”
Gisela involuntarily glanced at Valten, then back to Ruexner. She said nothing.
“Where did you get it? Do you have any other weapons hidden on your person? Must I search you?”
“No!” Gisela took another step back, then perceived his two henchmen hovering just behind her. “I don’t have any weapons. I was at a ball.” She had the urge to call the man a number of unflattering names, including lack-wit and jackal-pate. “What would I be doing with a weapon at a ball, where I’d planned to dance all night?”
“She got the dagger from me.” Valten looked almost bored, as if the answer should be obvious. “But that was the only weapon I had.”
“Search him,” Ruexner ordered.
The other two men cautiously approached Valten. Even with his hands tied, he looked dangerous. But Valten stood still while the two men searched him for weapons. They made him sit down, and they took off his boots and looked inside them, but found no more weapons. After all, he’d been at a ball too.