Chapter Twenty
At times, I was aware of movement, possibly like being on a horse. I also heard Laudine speaking occasionally, but never for long enough to understand if it was to herself or someone else. I tried to fight the spell, remembering that Blanchefleur had said to keep moving, but I would barely be able to think of wiggling a finger or a toe before I was back under the spell. And I had no way to tell how long I'd been under.
I came to fully with a gasp, or I tried to. The rough, foul smelling cloth tied around my head only ended up making me cough and gag, instead. "Ah, my lovely bride, you're finally awake."
Lot's greasy voice behind me had me panicking instantly. I tried to rip the gag from my mouth, only to have a sharp pain at my wrists stop me. "Oh, my dear, it pains me to see you like this," he crooned, sliding his hands down my arms to the rope tying them behind my back. He tugged sharply on the rope, causing me to stumble back and against him. I shuddered, but his arms were around me before I could regain my balance. His arms tightened painfully as I tried to pull free. "And this is why I have to do this, Anna. If you would just submit, this would go so much easier for you," he continued lowly, nuzzling my neck before delivering a sharp bite, drawing a muffled cry from me even as he laughed.
"My lord, the priest is here," Laudine interrupted, somehow managing to sound both sycophantic and disdainful. Her madness bled from every word.
"Ah, thank you, pet. That's my good girl," Lot said, in the exact same tone of voice the kennel master at Camelot would speak to his dogs. But I didn't have time to really worry about that, since a tiny elderly man, who made Gaius look to be in the prime of his life, came toddling in, carrying long cords that I instantly recognized. Terror ratcheted up my spine, making me nearly sob. "Yes, you see that it really was futile for you to have left Ealdor," Lot continued, this time to me. "It only delayed the inevitable. You will marry me, and I will have your lands, and I will have you, for however long you last. It was always going to end this way, even with your little jaunt to Camelot."
"I can't marry you, I'm already married to Gwaine," I tried screaming at him, but it only came out as muffled sobs. Pulling my foot forward, I tried kicking him, but in my soft slippers, it didn't do much damage. Lot merely chuckled and pulled me even more tightly into his arms.
"I like a little feistiness, Anna, but you will submit to me." He growled the last bit, sending more terrified shudders up my spine.
"Your Highness, Camelot's army is coming," a page, looking very young and very terrified, said as he burst into the room. "They're nearly here!"
Lot growled again and squeezed me so tightly I felt my ribs creak and my shoulders nearly dislocate. But I barely felt that due to the burst of hope springing up in my chest. Gwaine was coming for me!
"Don't get to hopeful, Anna, my men are here and worth two of every man of Camelot," Lot told me viciously, but I could hear the slight worry he hid in his voice. "And we'll be married before they even get here. Even the mighty Arthur can't take a wife from her legal husband."
You're not ever going to be my legal husband, I thought, even as I struggled against him. There was no way I was going to make this easy for Lot, and I had to stretch every moment I could to give Gwaine and the others enough time to make it to us. I had no doubt he would come for me, and I knew he would be able to defeat Lot.
But Lot didn't particularly like my struggles. Before I knew it, he hit me in the face, dazing me a bit. His signet ring bit into my cheek, drawing blood just below my cheekbone. "Don't make me hurt you more," he threatened, but I didn't care, even as I felt the blood begin to drip down my face. I would never stop fighting him.
"We do have to have her hands free, for the ceremony," the old man said breezily, like he didn't have a care in the world. I wasn't sure if he was truly as evil as Lot, or if he just was senile.
After a moment of debate, where the old priest refused to do anything until I had at least one hand free ("For the binding, of course," he'd said), finally Lot and Laudine tied my left hand to the leg of the huge desk, leaving my right hand free. But Laudine had a knife to my back, so I couldn't free myself the rest of the way. As they arranged me to their satisfaction, however, I felt something knock against my leg, under my skirts. I still had my knife, the one Gwaine had given to me for a wedding present. A brief moment of elation blew through me, leaving me determined to find a chance to use it. There would only be one, since I would no longer have surprise on my side once I used it, but I would make it count.
A yell, massive and many-voiced, started from outside, followed by a crash that shook the floor, tearing Lot's attention from me for a moment. "How are Arthur's men here already?" he asked, going to the window. I followed, as much as I could on my short tether, but I was still able to see the front gate in flames and many men in Camelot crimson surging through it. "Marry us, priest. Do what you've been brought here to do," Lot hissed at the other man, coming back to my side, far closer than I would ever want to be to him.
The priest nodded, coming to stand by us. "Is there any here who have a reason to prevent this marriage?" he asked, seeming as if he had no cares in the entire world.
I nodded furiously, though without any hope that it would do any good, and Laudine simply pushed her knife further into my back, causing me to squeak in discomfort. "Of course not," Lot spat, glaring at me.
"Oh, but I do," a new voice joined us, causing hope to bloom brighter in my chest.
We all turned to see Arthur coming through the open door, sword already bloody and grin slightly feral. "I know for a fact that Lady Annaliese would never submit to a marriage with you, Lot."
"Arthur, how did you get in here already?" Lot screeched, and I could see his panic in the way he rapidly looked around for any possible exit. There weren't any, unless he wanted to jump out the window and fall nearly fifteen feet to where Camelot's soldiers were fighting his own.
"We had a little help," Arthur replied, calmly walking toward us like there was no threat in the room. "Someone with a very big grudge against you and your pet witch told us about the tunnels under the castle, right after she told us that Laudine had escaped the dungeons and kidnapped Anna."
"Blanchefleur," Laudine hissed, yanking me back and pushing the knife even further into my back. I felt a thin trickle of blood flow down my back, but I couldn't worry about that just yet.
"It's amazing what blood is willing to do against blood, when pushed far enough," Arthur conceded. "But she's safely back in Camelot, and you'll never see her again, and Anna is coming back with us. It's up to you if you want to end the day alive or dead."
"Did you come to challenge me for this trinket?" Lot asked, flinging a hand in my direction. His attention was wholly on Arthur, and so he didn't see the priest skulking in the background. I had to confess, I didn't pay him much attention, either, not until I felt the rope on my left wrist suddenly go slack.
Arthur laughed, though entirely without mirth. "I would, since this whole incident has caused my wife considerable worry, but no, Lot, I am not here to challenge you over Anna. I'm simply here to deliver the challenge for the man with the proper right to do so."
Lot scoffed at that. "'The proper right'? And just who has the proper right?"
"Her husband," Arthur said, grin growing as Lot's face paled.
"Me." Gwaine, my beautiful husband, stalked through the doorway, looking more furious than I'd ever seen him. And he was absolutely the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen, even for the blood staining his sword and armor, and Lot's knight he dropped to the ground after running him through. He looked to me for a moment, and his face shuttered. "You dare, Lot?" he hissed, approaching the king with a coiled grace. "You dare take my wife, and you dare to strike her? You'll die for touching her."
A sneer crossed Lot's face, but it was weak, and everyone knew it. Including his knights who were pushed into the room by the rest of my friends. "You married my trinket before I could, hm? Well, no matter. I'll simply kill you and marry your widow." He picked up his own sword from the desk and lunged toward Gwaine, who blocked it and parried.
As their fight progressed closely, I slowly reached my hand into the neatly concealed slits in my skirts. When I started to move, Laudine gave me a sharp shake, but nothing followed, so I assumed she was too busy watching the fight and worrying over Lot to really pay attention to what I was doing. I wiggled the knife free, then, just as Gwaine feinted right and struck left, hard on Lot's sword arm, I jabbed it back into Laudine's belly, then twisted. I remembered my lessons well.
Her scream startled most everyone, but Gwaine barely paused in disarming the king facing him. And I barely noticed him, too busy knocking Laudine out with the butt of my knife. I may have hit her several times, but I wasn't risking her interfering again.
"Do you yield?" Gwaine asked, his sword at Lot's throat while both men breathed heavily. Though Gwaine's was more from repressed rage than exertion. "Do you yield and swear to leave Anna alone from this day on?"
"Is she really worth all this trouble?" Lot hissed, but was still wise enough not to move. "One little trinket for all of this?"
"Absolutely," Gwaine answered, his eyes finding mine for just a moment.
But that was enough for Lot to take advantage of, lunging for his sword. Until Gwaine's sword sliced deep into his leg. He howled, curling into a ball and clutching his wounded limb. Lot's knights started to move to him, but Camelot's knights stopped them with swords and knives to their throats. "Do you yield?" Gwaine spat at him, his sword once more at the king's throat. "I don't want to kill you, or rather, I shouldn't want to kill you. But I swear to every god I will kill you if you do not yield and vow to never touch Anna again."
Sneering, Lot glared up at my husband for a long moment, until he finally deflated. "Fine," he said. "I'll leave her alone."
"Do you hear that, knights of King Lot?" Arthur demanded, royal authority ringing through his every word. "Your king has given his word that he will not touch Lady Annaliese. You have witnessed it, and you know the consequences of him breaking it."
Each of the defending knights looked uneasy. If Lot broke his vow, made in front of another king, he could easily lose allies over it. At the very least, he would lose esteem, and not just from other royals. His own nobles, including the knights in front of him, would no longer be able to trust him, if any still did.
"Do you accept his vow, Lady Annaliese?" Arthur asked me, looking me over with veiled concern.
Lot's glare was now focused on me, and I still felt my skin crawl. "In front of these witnesses, I accept his vow. And his life will be forfeit, should he choose to break it."
"Yes, it will," Gwaine seconded, not looking happy at all that he had to stand down. But he did so, and moved so that Lot's knights could tend to him. And my wonderful husband came to my side, dropping his sword to hold me desperately. "Are you hurt anywhere else, my love?" he asked me softly, looking to the cut on my cheek.
"Not really," I replied, reveling in the safety his arms enfolded me with.
"I'd rather see her dead and my castle burnt to the ground than to see her in another man's arms."
Lot's mad words startled me, making me look just in time to see him charging straight at me and Gwaine, a dagger in his hands. He was much closer than I had realized, and Arthur moved to intercept him, but I knew he would be too late. And I wasn't sure who he was aiming for first, but I knew I would either be dead or mourning.
Gwaine, my beautiful, incredible, brave Gwaine pushed me behind him and turned to Lot in one swift motion. I screamed as Lot crashed into him, but something made it catch in my throat. Lot's face was frozen in shock, then he stumbled back, my knife buried nearly full-length in his belly.
"Thanks for giving me an excuse to kill you, mate," Gwaine huffed, clutching his arm. "Not like I needed another, but still, thanks."
Transfixed, I watched as the man who'd tormented me, in both my waking and sleeping hours, for over a year gasped his last breaths. And then Gwaine was at my side once more. "It's over, love. He's gone. He can't hurt you anymore," he whispered, cradling me in his arms again.
AN: And here's the next chapter! I felt like I was channeling The Princess Bride and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves a lot while writing it, but I did watch those movies a lot as a child, so I can't help it if it bleeds into my writing. They sort of helped to form my imagination. But hopefully my heroine is a bit more willing to save herself than either of those. And we're almost done, just another two-ish chapters, including the epilogue, to go. Thanks for sticking with us!