The Captive Maiden

  Ruexner pushed the priest aside and pulled Gisela through the door of the church, his hand like a vise on her arm. Gisela caught a glimpse of Valten, being held by three men, as Ruexner shut the door behind him and started up the steps to one of the towers.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “If we can’t be married, then you will be my prisoner.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” Gisela said, trying to reason with him. “You can let me go. You and your men can —”

  “You lied about your mother’s name being Fordola Russdorffer, didn’t you?”

  “No. That was her name. She died when I was very young.” Perhaps their mothers really were sisters.

  “I don’t want to hear anything else from you.” Ruexner halted on the steps, blocking her escape, and pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket.

  Gisela tried to run back down the steps, but he grabbed her arm. She fought him, tearing at his fingers and their grip on her arm until he wrapped his big arms around hers and pinned them to her sides. He pulled her hands around her back and tied her wrists together.

  “You will be sorry for this.” Gisela was so angry she felt tears of pure fury in her eyes. “Duke Wilhelm will bring justice on you. You will not get away with it if you hurt me or Valten.”

  Ruexner continued pulling her up the stairs of the tower by her arms.

  “You’re hurting me.”

  She heard a door open, and Ruexner dragged her inside. He sat her down on a wooden bench. Something went around her ankles. Ruexner was tying them together, just as he’d tied her hands together behind her back. Then he tied a cloth over her eyes, knotting it behind her head.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  He didn’t say anything for a moment. “This is about Valten and me. He has to pay for what he did to me.”

  “What do you plan to do to him? Haven’t you hurt him enough? Just please let us go,” she whispered out of desperation. Perhaps the man possessed a shred of goodness.

  “Almost.” Ruexner’s voice was low and gentle. “Almost you persuade me. But Valten and I must end our fight now, once and for all. I will take him to my castle in Bruchen, and there we shall have our final duel.”

  She heard him turn and start to walk away. “Please, don’t hurt him. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to fight Valten. You can let us go and never have to see us again.”

  “I don’t expect you to understand.” He seemed to hesitate at the door. For long moments she didn’t hear anything. Had he left?

  The door squeaked open, then closed with a bang.

  “O God, please help Valten. Please protect him. Please.”

  Ruexner’s grimy henchmen held on to Valten and surrounded him, his hands tied behind his back, when Ruexner came back down the stairs without Gisela.

  “Where is she?” Valten demanded, looking straight at Ruexner.

  “She is safe,” Ruexner said, his eyes flashing with malice.

  “Will you kill an unarmed man, inside a church?”

  “I’m trying to decide if I want to take her with us when I bring you to Bruchen.”

  “I’m ready to fight you. Give me a sword now and let’s fight. Even with a broken hand and broken ribs, I can still defeat you.”

  Ruexner seemed to be savoring the moment, based on his evil grin. “No, I don’t think so.”

  Ruexner went to speak to his men, leaving two in charge of Valten. When he came back, he told the priest, “We’re taking over this place tonight. My men are tired and need sleep. Now get out.”

  “You can’t do that. This is a church.” The priest seemed genuinely upset, unlike how he had reacted when Ruexner had almost forced Gisela to marry him against her will. Although he had delayed the marriage, speaking slowly, as if hoping someone would come to their aid. He’d also refused to go on once someone had declared an impediment.

  “Get out, or my men will throw you out,” Ruexner growled in the priest’s face.

  “Bishop Fulco will hear about this.”

  Ruexner ignored the priest as one of his men escorted him out the back door.

  Ruexner wrapped a piece of cloth around Valten’s eyes, blindfolding him. “I shall keep you upstairs. Perhaps we will bring you some supper in a few hours, if you are quiet.” Ruexner then pulled him forward.

  “Why blindfold me?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I suppose I want you to feel helpless. If you can’t see where you are, you might not be able to escape.”

  “You’re a sick and deviant brute.” Valten’s rage was beginning to get the better of him. Lack of sleep was making it difficult to think. He needed to try to reason with him and project confidence. “You know the king will not approve of what you are doing. He will strip you of your knighthood, and possibly worse.”

  Rough hands forced him to climb some stairs. Undoubtedly they were the stairs leading up inside the church tower. Gisela had been taken up the same stairs.

  “I don’t worry about the king. He will reprimand me, but if I give him a few valuable trinkets for his coffers, I suspect he will forgive me. And instead of killing you, perhaps I will demand a ransom from Duke Wilhelm when I defeat you in a few days.” Still guiding him up the stairs, Ruexner added nonchalantly, “As it turns out, Gisela is the daughter of my mother’s sister. Strange, but it is apparently true. Therefore I shall marry her off to one of my knights. Who do you think she would better suit — Malbert or Lew?”

  A door creaked opened, then Valten was pushed into a room of some sort. Hands on his shoulders forced him to sit, then they tied his ankles together.

  The men shuffled away, Ruexner laughed, and the door shut.

  He was already working his feet, trying to take off his boots. If he could get one of his boots off, the rope might slip off with it.

  All was quiet, then he heard a sniff, and a woman’s voice from several feet away said, “Who is there?”

  “Gisela? Is that you?” His heart tripped at her being in the same room.

  “Valten!” She sounded like she was crying.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No.” Her voice cracked and she sniffed again. “Are you?”

  “No.” He managed to hold one boot down with the other and pull his foot out. Then he was able to shake off the rope binding his ankles. Then, after fumbling for several moments with his boot, he gradually worked it back onto his foot.

  Now he could walk. He stood up and took a step forward, his hands still tied behind his back. But with his vision completely obscured by the blindfold, he wasn’t sure where to go, and he could easily lose his balance if he ran into something.

  “Valten,” Gisela was saying, “I’m so sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you.”

  “You didn’t cause this trouble, Gisela. Ruexner did. And it’s more my fault than yours.”

  “But you risked your life to save me.”

  “Of course. You were in danger.” He moved slowly toward her voice.

  She sniffed again. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

  His shin bumped into something, another bench or stool, maybe, and something slid to the floor with a thump. He hoped Ruexner didn’t hear it below them and come to check on them.

  “Keep talking.” He needed to hear her voice to find her.

  “I pretended I didn’t know you because I knew you didn’t remember me.”

  Remember her? What was she talking about?

  “I was there when you bought Sieger. You bought him from my father.”

  “I did?”

  “You were fourteen years old, and I was seven.”

  She must have been the little blonde girl who’d looked so upset that he was taking her horse. “So Sieger did know you.” No wonder his horse had acted so happy to see her that day at the stables. He had thought she had placed a magic spell on his horse, but instead, they had known each other from when Sieger had been only a foal.

  “The truth is —” Her words were interrupted by a s
ob.

  It tore at his heart to hear her crying, she who had been so brave and fierce in the face of so much danger. If only he could get to her. If only he could comfort her, but he couldn’t see her, couldn’t even put his arms around her, since his hands were tied behind his back. But at least he had thought of a way to get their blindfolds off. If he could just get to her.

  “The truth is,” she went on, “I pretended I didn’t care about anything. I tried to tell myself I didn’t care about you. But I do care. The truth is, I love you.”

  She loved him. The words made him stumble and pause to restore his balance.

  “You are brave and strong and good, noble and kind. I love you and I think you’re …”

  His knee bumped into the bench she was sitting on, and he sat down beside her, so close their shoulders and knees were touching.

  He leaned down until his cheek touched her soft hair. She caught her breath but didn’t pull away. He lowered his face until he felt her breath on his chin.

  “You think I’m … what?”

  Chapter

  28

  Gisela’s heart faltered, then started pounding against her chest at Valten’s warm breath against her cheek.

  “You think I’m … what?”

  His nose touched hers. He was pressed against her shoulder. He radiated heat, as he’d no doubt been fighting and struggling against his attackers earlier. She leaned forward until she felt his stubbly beard prickling her face.

  He seemed to be waiting.

  “I think you’re wonderful,” she whispered.

  His warm lips brushed her cheek and his voice was gruff. “Will you marry me, Gisela?”

  Her heart seemed to leap into her throat. She had to swallow it down so she could say, “Yes.”

  More deliberately this time, he rubbed his cheek against hers, melting her insides at the strangely wonderful prickling sensation. Slowly, he moved his lips over her face, kissing her cheek, closer and closer to her lips. Gisela moved her head slightly. Valten’s breath caressed her lips, then he covered the corner of her mouth, gradually slanting his lips over hers until he was kissing her, and she was kissing him back.

  She couldn’t see him and couldn’t touch him with her hands, but she was keenly aware of his lips touching hers in her first true kiss, her senses filled with Valten’s own smell of leather and the outdoors.

  He’d come back for her, risked his life yet again for her, and from the way he was kissing her, she didn’t think he asked her to marry him out of obligation. Maybe he even loved her.

  After several moments, his lips moved across her cheek, stopping at her blindfold, which slipped up and off her head.

  She could see him. Oh! He was so beautiful! She leaned forward and kissed him again.

  Valten pulled her blindfold off with his teeth. He had to stop kissing her so he could figure out a way to escape, and he needed to be able to see to —

  Her lips were suddenly on his again, and he lost his balance and almost fell backward off the bench. Now that he’d finally been able to kiss her, she apparently liked it. He had thought she would take off his blindfold first, but he wasn’t about to complain.

  When she pulled away, he couldn’t think about anything but her and her kiss. Then he felt his blindfold slip off his face.

  She was so beautiful, with her lips all red from his kisses, her hair tumbling around her shoulders and forehead, and her cheeks blushing pink. She made him restless to kiss her again.

  But he had to get them out of there before Ruexner came back.

  “Turn around,” Valten said, slipping off the bench to kneel beside her.

  “What?”

  “Turn around so I can try to free your hands.”

  Gisela turned so that her back was facing him. This was going to be awkward, given his broken hand, but he couldn’t think of any other way to get them free. The cloth that Ruexner had tied around her wrists was knotted tightly. He set about pulling at the knot with his teeth, trying to loosen it.

  Gisela was silent as he chewed on the knotted cloth, pulling and yanking at one side of the knot, then the other.

  “I’m sorry you had to come after me again.”

  Valten stopped long enough to say, “Stop saying that.” He tugged on the cloth some more, not seeing any progress yet. “I told you, it’s more my fault than yours. Ruexner is my enemy. I should be begging forgiveness from you for allowing him to get within a foot of you.”

  She was quiet as he worked on the knot some more. He began to think the knot was loosening ever so slightly, so he got up and, with his back to her on the bench, he began using his fingers to try to pull the knot loose. His hand throbbed so painfully he caught his breath, but he kept working.

  “But you were the one who was hurt. You were beaten and pummeled —” Her breath hitched, as if she was starting to cry again.

  “Please, don’t cry. It’s nothing that won’t heal. Besides, you’re worth it.”

  A sniffle. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  “I’m sure I can do better than that, if you won’t cry anymore.”

  She laughed, sniffed, then drew in a long, deep breath. “All right. I promise not to cry … if you want to say more pleasant things.”

  He liked the smile in her voice. He pulled at the knot while he thought. “You have the most beautiful hair, eyes, nose, and especially lips, that I’ve ever seen.”

  She sighed. “That’s very pleasant.”

  “I like the way you don’t become hysterical in dangerous situations.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And you are very good with horses.”

  “Yes?”

  “And you kiss exceptionally.”

  “Compared to whom?”

  He continued to work hard on the knot, deciding how to phrase this. “Truthfully, you are the first girl I’ve ever kissed.”

  “Oh.” She sounded pleased. “And you are the first boy — or man — I’ve ever kissed.”

  If he’d been feeling warm and happy before, now he felt downright sunny, like the rays were filling his insides and radiating from every finger and toe.

  What foolish things went through a man’s mind when he was contemplating marriage to the most beautiful girl in the world.

  He worked harder at the knot, plucking at one side, then the other until, he felt it slipping free. Yes! The cloth fell from her wrists.

  She turned and threw her arms around him, and he found himself kissing her lips again. She was so wonderfully eager, it made him groan.

  “Sorry,” she said, pulling away, but keeping her soft little hands around his neck, apologizing as if she were to blame for the kiss. “I should untie you first.” She started to get up, then seemed to notice that her ankles were still tied together. She bent and pulled at the knot.

  Valten got to his feet and watched her make quick work of her ankle bonds.

  “There.” The cloth around her ankles came loose and she tossed it onto the floor.

  She stood up and moved behind him. “Oh. Your poor hand.” The splint that Frau Lena had made for him had fallen off in the struggle with Ruexner earlier. Her fingers lightly caressed his throbbing left hand. “You need a healer. Your hand is so swollen and bruised.” She started working at the bonds around his wrists, but her touch was too gentle.

  “Don’t worry about my hand. Just get me loose any way you can. Yank on it if you need to.”

  “Very well, but I will try not to hurt you.”

  “Ruexner will cause much more pain if we don’t escape.”

  She pulled harder at the rope around his wrist, her fingers slipping and bumping against his broken bone. The pain was intense, but he’d been living with it for days now. He could endure it better if he was free and Gisela was safe.

  Finally, he felt the rope loosen, then Gisela pulled it free.

  “Got it!”

  Valten turned to face her and she threw her arms around him again. We have to get
out of here, his mind told him, but he decided he had enough time for another kiss. And Gisela obviously agreed.

  Gisela could hardly believe she was kissing Valten. If it didn’t feel so much more exciting than she’d ever imagined, she might think she was dreaming. But this was too real to be a dream — his warm arms around her, the tenderness in his kiss, the eager way he pulled her in …

  Valten pulled away, stared hard at her for a moment, then quickly strode to the only window in the entire room, which seemed to be some kind of storage space.

  Could it be true that she was going to marry this man? “Heaven.”

  “What?” Valten looked over his shoulder.

  “Nothing.”

  He opened the shutters and pulled the glass casement open. Gisela hurried to his side and looked out too. It was a long way down. That side of the church faced the woods on the edge of town. No one was within sight.

  There was no sign of the tenderness that came into his eyes when he had kissed her. Instead, his face was a picture of cold determination as he turned away from the window.

  “Help me collect all the cloths and ropes they used to tie us.”

  She and Valten picked up their discarded blindfolds and bonds, and Valten began tying them together. First he tied the two blindfolds together. Then he added the two cloths that had been around Gisela’s wrists and ankles, then the ropes from Valten’s ankles and wrists. He tied them carefully, testing each knot by having her hold one end while he yanked the other end.

  Valten searched the room for any other bit of cloth or rope but found only one short piece of rope. After tying it on, he said, “Take this end.” They stretched it out between them.

  “This will only reach halfway to the ground, if that.” Gisela frowned.

  “It will be enough.” He went to the window and started tying it to the window casement.