My Father's Keeper

Chapter 7 – Saved!

Ellen spent the next two weeks busily reading through Lord Grey's library. He found it amusing since he had not read some of them in years. The girl would find a quiet corner to read while waiting on for the wash to dry and read.

Today, however, she was on a mission. It was a cloudy day, but it did not rain, just had a dull overcast making it cooler than it had been. She had gained her mission from Mac Dubh who had befriended her along with young Angus. It had been a month since Lord Grey had come and it was now high summer. Lord Grey had not died with Mac Dubh as had been customary. The prisoner grievances were for the most part were going unheard, but Ellen listened. It was cooler in the cell blocks and so at times she would bring the dry laundry there, especially on days when she had prisoner wash and folded it as she spoke to the men.

Angus MacKenzie often came to the cell wall when she was there with small gifts he had crafted of small bits of straw or string. Her favorite was a lovely star of straw he had made, weaving it just so. Ellen had loved it. Mac Dubh had given up admonishing both of them. The lad was happy and had hope and he was powerless to stop the lass. She treated them as people, not animals which made Mac Dubh respect her.

One of the men had been very ill and his teeth were falling out. Mac Dubh had requested she find green plants and heather to make him a tea to help the man fight the scurvy he had. Ellen had agreed and found some greens and had brewed a tea. She nursed the man, even bringing some mashed potato she had hide from her own supper the night before. It helped the man, Lochlann, to gain his strength.

Mac Dubh had been grateful. Lord Grey had heard of her in the cell blocks and though her could have barred her from it, he instead gave her leave to be there to help. Her presence made the prisoners happier and when happier they worked harder. The girl nursed the ill when he could as Blaire would at times, though the cook was often too busy.

The girl had caught up with the laundry and mending that had been put to the side for likely months so she only worked with the kettles Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, giving her ample time to help with the sick, help with the cooking, and explore the moorland. The only stipulation put on her about exploring was she had to be back at sundown when they closed the gates.

The burn that flowed near the prison offered fresh cool water the year round. It came from a spring only three miles to the northwest, she had discovered while walking one day. This was the area she went today with a small bag. She dropped down beside the pool and looked. There was water cress there. Mac Dubh had told her it tasted far better than most of the greens he could find on the moors.

She plucked the stems leaving enough so they would grow back for later harvests. Mac Dubh had given her very good instruction on this.

He had watched her walk passed as he cut peat, watching her move with an odd ease on the uneven ground. The girl was a wonder and she gave the men an odd sense of well being.

He liked and trusted the girl. She reminded him of his daughter Ellen who would be around her age he supposed. Fiery hair and blue eyes just as she had, but Ellen had been lost to him. He had gone into a deep depression hearing from his sister that the boat had been attacked and his family had not been aboard when the boat limped to a friendly port in Italy. He had not heard her speak her name other than the guards calling her Miss Murray. Angus MacKenzie had called her Ella. A bonny name for a bonny lass.

She was not the kind of beauty that men would fight to the death over, but she had an odd sort of beauty and pose that he had not seen since he had left France. That puzzled him. But it was her heart that endeared her to the men. A bonny soul that saw good in everyone and wanted to help.

Still, he looked and saw Sergeant Connor watching her as she bent to collect heather for her vase in her room. Mac Dubh did not like the way the Sergent and his lackey Private Day watched her under their lidded eyes. That look of malice made Fraser uneasy. She was just a lass after all and her innocent kept her from seeing such evils of the world.

She walked back to the prison as the men were returning from their work details. The overcast day made it not at all unpleasant to work considering the men would work every day of every week for twelve to sixteen hours in blazing sun or freezing wind driven snow. However, the sky was becoming darker and there was the distant rumble of thunder suggesting a storm was coming.

Ellen pulled the clothing off the line and walked toward the prison block as she felt the first bit of rain strike her cheek. She touched it and looked up. She walked down the stairs. Several of the guards passed her with a smile. She paused at the end of the block, folding the shirts with an odd delicate care. The cell blocks that were open she laid the clothing on the benches for the men. The ones who had occupants, she passed the clothing to since they had returned from their work details.

She watched as more came in. She could heard the storm. The thunder reverberated through the stone halls. She took a breath. Mac Dubh had not returned with his detail yet, but Ellen wanted to go to her room and watch the lightning and listen to the thunder. She moved to a cell block and lifted the sachet she held to Angus MacKenzie who saw her there and came to the bars.

"I brought you cress." She said smiling at him. She passed him the sachet. It seems such a small amount for so many men, but she knew it would at least help.

He smiled back. "Ta!" He beamed. "Mac Dubh says we mist sloch th' greens tae keep oor wallies."

Ellen nodded. "Healers say so." And her mother had as well.

Ellen had not noticed that most of the guards had left for their supper. However, Sergeant Connor and Private Day were there. Ellen ignored them. She had had an altercation with the private and she had slapped him. Kirkland had been there and Ellen walked away. Connor had never forgiven her for causing him to be reprimanded by Lord Grey.

She spoke to Angus as she made a small circle look of sweet smelling heather. She smiled giving it to him through the bars. He smiled at her, accepting the gift. He moved to put it near his sleeping place as she watched, seated on a stool, when she suddenly had a knife to her throat.

"No one will help you now little whore." Connor said dropping his head near her ear.

Angus gasped hearing that. He turned back in surprise and alarm. "Let her gang!"

Connor looked at him as Angus pressed for the bars. "Quiet!" He growled. He then smiled, his hand cupping Ellen's face a moment. He turned her head and kissed her hard enough Ellen tasted blood. She struggled as much as she could even as the knife nicked her skin. The Sergeant smiled at Angus who cried out. "Don't worry laddie." He mocked. "We will return her to you only slightly used."

Day chuckled leaning close. "We will make it easier for you to mount her."

"Ye bastards!" Angus cried gaining the attention of the other men.

Connor then wrapped his arm about Ellen's midriff, pulling her bodily backwards, the other hard holding the knife to her. Day followed smiling evilly even as the men of the blocks cried out. There was little they could do behind the bars other than make enough noise to perhaps be heard by an officer, but the storm was drowning them out.

The girl was pulled into the small side room that held the blankets for winter for the guards and other items not currently in use. She was crying out and struggling as well even as Day smiled at the prisoners and then shut the door behind them.

The girl screamed and Angus clawed to try to reach her even as the men in his cell tried to calm him.

Ellen was thrown down over a table. She gasped as she hit in such a way that she was bent over. The private was there, holding a riding crop. Connor smiled and ripped the girl's bodice and chemise revealing her bare back.

Connor bound her arms with rope before her and then held her bodily as the private struck, taking his revenge for her hitting him. The first few left welts on the delicate flesh, but then they strikes became to break the skin.

Ellen cried out and struggled, fighting for all she was worth.

After ten, Connor nodded to the private that it was enough. He then punched her in the face and blood erupted from her lip and nose. She looked at him defiantly even as he punched her in the stomach, dropping her to her knees on the floor. Her mop cap came off as she cough, blood dripping to the stones. She could feel it running on her back as well even as she shivered.

"Teach you to make a mockery of me you filthy slut."

He hauled her up. She was fighting for air since she was winded as he pressed her bodily to the table. He pulled her skirts up to her waist revealing her lovely bare bottom to them. Ellen gasped and struggled now in earnest as Connor kicked her feet apart harshly.

"No...please!" She struggled as Day held her. "I'm sorry!"

Connor reached up and grabbed her hair that was neatly braided in a Scottish woman's style. The jerk was violent enough to pull some of it free of the braids. She gasped in pain. "Go ahead and cry out whore. It won't save you!" He mocked.

His hand reached passed her frayed bodice and chemise and cupped her ample young breasts. He had shoved her bodice and corset to the side, leaving only her thin chemise on her body. His other hand was behind her, working to free himself from his breeches. As he did so, she violently rolled to the side, catching them both off guard. She kicked Connor hard in the groin and he fell with a cry. Day was so startled by this, he didn't move. She got off the table, drawing her dirk from within her skirts where she kept it.

Day stepped forward and she stabbed him in the arm, her tears and adrenaline fouling her aim. He gasped and stepped back. She went to the door and tripped as the door opened, falling out into the alley between the cells.

Kirkland had been coming in with the last detail. The prisoners were agitated and he looked about. "Shut up, you lot!" He bellowed as the work party came down the stairs.

The lead guard was opening the door was the girl fell into the alley. Dress ripped, face bloody, weeping, holding a large bloody knife, she crawled backwards until she hit the cell wall.

She looked up as a hand touched her. "Lass?" an older prisoner asked.

She cried out and then rolling to her to her battered knees which were bruised from when she had fallen into the alley and when she had taken the blow to her stomach, she pulled herself up, barely holding the ripped dress up in an attempt at modesty. Her petticoats swirled as she whirled hearing Connor and Day burst into the alley heedless of the action in the alley from the returned men and guards.

Ellen scurried to the door that had been cracked open to Mac Dubh's cell, barely able to keep the chemise about her as she ducked under the guard's arm and into the cell. There she went to the very back, pressing backwards between the brazier and a bench making herself as small as possible as she began to weep in earnest, holding the dirk defensively.

The guard had tried to stop her, but failed, but as she passed the Scots, they closed ranks before her watching the English defiantly.

Kirkland looked from Sergeant Connor and Private Day, whose uniforms were in disorder to where the girl had gone and the solid wall of men to Mac Dubh who was watching Connor and Day with malice, fists clenched at his sides.

Kirkland well knew what had just happened. Whether or not they had actually raped her or she had escaped before they had done the deed was irrelevant. The punishment was clear for such a deed. The girl was sobbing. He could hear her. He nodded to the two other guards to go to Connor and Day. The pair did not resist as their fellow guards took a hold of them.

"What happened here?" Kirkland demanded, as if there was any doubt. It was clear as day what had transpired.

The overlapping Scottish voices started to make his head hurt as everyone seemed to wish to tell him what had happened to the lass.

"Silence!" He bellowed.

Still the Scots rattled on about him and he narrowed his eyes.

"A' o' ye shut it!" Came a stronger, deeper voice behind him.

He turned a little to see Mac Dubh standing there, arms before him with his chains.

The prison became eerily quiet other than the sobs from Ellen.

Mac Dubh nodded to Angus who was standing, his own small fists at his sides as he watched Connor and Day. Thankfully there were bars between him and the redcoats or his look said he would likely try to kill them. He was panting angrily.

Kirkland followed the prisoner leader's gaze and then nodded. "Angus MacKenzie." He said. "Step to me."

The young man took a breath, trying to calm himself and did come forward.

"Now. What happened? I know you are her friend." Kirkland said.

Angus took a breath. "She brought us oor linen sur. 'n' some water cress. She wis waiting fur mac dubh, sae she wis captain."

"And what else?" Kirkland asked.

"Connor 'n' day tried tae rape her sur." Angus said very slowly, his gaze murderous as he looked back at the pair.

There was a low growl from the Scots. It was a low sound that set Kirkland's hairs on the back of his neck up. It was the same sound a cornered dog made. Low, angry.

Connor took a breath spreading his hands. He had been able to become at least presentable at least. "She was willing to give us a favor is all. The lad is just jealous."

Angus launched forward at them, but Mac Dubh caught him before the guards could react.

Fraser looked at the captain. "Sur, ye hae nearly twa hundred witnesses wha say otherwise." He said looking about at the men about them in the cells.

Kirkland nodded. "I need to speak to the girl."

"She won't let anyone near her." Someone said. He lifted his arm revealing a gash. She had cut him with her knife.

"She's terrified." Fraser said recalling his own wife after the deserters had nearly raped her right under his nose. His wife had mostly shut down, but this lass was surrounded by men, terrified, and acting like a cornered animal, defensive, angry, and lashing out.

Mac Dubh took a breath. "Let me talk to her."

Kirkland nodded slowly and followed Fraser into the cell. He looked back at the guards holding Connor and Day. "Arrest them until further inquires can be made." he ordered.

Connor protested, but they were taken away coldly. The guards who held the pair were both fathers with daughters. No one took kindly to rape.

Ellen was against the wall whimpering, trying to hold the chemise up, with little success. Trapped she pressed herself further against the dank wall. The stones pressed dirt into the wounds of her back, but she didn't feel it as yet.

Mac Dubh ordered the Scots to step back, even as he moved forward two paces. He squatted down gently, knees snapping as he did. Angus moved to try to go to the lass, but Mac Dubh's hand shot out and stopped him. Fraser shook his head.

Angus frowned, but then stepped back with the others.

Fraser spread his hands as wide as he could with the chains about his wrists as he moved forward a little.

"I won't hurt you lass. It's me. Mac Dubh. Jamie Fraser. You know me."

She looked like a trapped hind, eyes wide, breathing erratic, looking about in fear. She held the knife defensively.

Fraser continued to speak in calming tones as he would a skittish mare. He spoke in Gaelic as he finally came into touching range. She had allowed it as she listened, somewhat hypnotized by the voice that spoke in the soft hissing language.

"It's all right, my heart. Calm. Be still. No one will harm you. I promise. Good lass. Listen to my voice. Let your body calm." His gentle baritone made her drop her guard enough that he was able, in a swift movement, to disarm her. He handed the dirk behind him and the captain took it to hold on to.

Her eyes lifted and she tried to get further into the wall, moving to the side, trying to get away.

"Don't hurt me!" She sobbed hands and willow arms up defensively.

Mac Dubh shook his head. "Ne'er mah wee lamb. Come ." He said softly. "Seo." He repeated in Gaelic.

She shook her head and he sighed. He then reached forward quickly, startling everyone in the room as he pulled her into his embrace, hard, looking his chain behind her so she could not back away from him even if she somehow escaped his iron grip.

This action made her struggle in earnest even as he spoke again in soothing tones near her ear. After a time, he body stopped fighting and she clung to his sleeves, plucking at them as she cried softly.

He kissed her brow, whispering he would not let her go and that she was safe over and over again in Gaelic.

She pulled back her head, no longer fighting him as she looked up at him with an odd sort of wonder in her eyes that reminded him of a small bairn.

She swallowed thickly and then sniffled as she touched his light bearded cheek. "Papa?" She whimpered in a soft child-like voice.

He looked at her startled, but then, energy and adrenaline gone, she fainted dead away at such an alarming rate that he could barely catch her back to him as she dropped backwards to prevent her from harming herself against the stone floor.