Chapter 25: Logan's Escape
Julian looked up as someone tapped on the door to his room. "Yes," he snapped out sharply, turning away from the slumped, half-conscious body lying in the middle of the stone floor.
Jubilee moaned in anguish, trying to stifle her sobs as she hauled herself up to a sitting position. She hurt, she hurt so much, dear God, why couldn't Julian let her die? The heavy chain attached to her iron collar clinked as she looked up.
Gallas stood there, and behind him, the man who ran the dungeons. She cringed away from them, trying not to flinch from the cruel gazes raking her nude body, and curled up on the stone, as far away from the coiled black whip as her short chain would allow. Gallas's eyes followed her movement, and he laughed cruelly. "Not much to look at, is she?"
Julian strode back across the floor, grabbed Jubilee's hair, and wrenched her back up to a kneeling position. "Kneel," he ordered her, punctuating the command with a slap. Jubilee ducked her head, bringing one hand up to rub her stinging cheek, and dropped her eyes to the floor, tears falling silently down her cheeks.
"What do you want, Gallas?" Julian asked angrily, picking up the whip and snapping its tip in the air. The sharp crack made the girl jump, and he smiled. "You're interrupting my playtime."
"Oh, I had a piece of good news for you I thought you might want to hear," Gallas said airily, making himself comfortable in a plush chair. "The dungeon master informs me that Sir Logan refuses to forgive the girl for lying. He's told the man that if he ever sees this little traitor…" Gallas placed his boot against one welted, bleeding shoulder and shoved Jubilee, sending her sprawling on the hard stone floor. "…again, he'll kill her himself."
Jubilee's eyes flew up to Gallas's face, and then past him to where the dungeon master stood with a leer on his face. "Logan…he said he'd kill me?" she whispered, her eyes wide and disbelieving. She knew he was angry, the way he'd attacked her when she saw him earlier, but she hadn't dreamed…
"Yes," Gallas enjoyed the look of horror and anguish on the girl's face. Physical agony was so delightful; but there was a certain pleasure to be had in inflicting mental and emotional torture on a victim. And women were so much easier to torment like this than men, because men didn't wear their emotions on their faces. "He can't have meant that…please," She begged him, "Please let me speak to him, Julian."
Julian cuffed her. "That's 'Sir' to you," he snapped angrily. "And he said he'd kill you. Think I'm going to let you walk into his cell?" he sniffed in disdain and flicked the handle of the whip around in his hand. The tip slithered on the floor like a living thing, and her eyes watched it fearfully. "Now how is this good for me, Gallas?"
Gallas smiled. "Well, it means that she is useless. I was hoping that Sir Logan's affection for his one-time squire might give us some leverage over him, but now that he's made his feelings clear, she's of no further use to me." He got up and walked around her, looking at the welts traced across her back. Many, many welts. "And if she's no use to me, I don't want her. Therefore, she's now all yours."
Julian threw back his head and laughed. "Do you hear that, girl? You are mine. Completely. I'll play with you until you're so ripped up and scarred you're no longer attractive, then I'll kill you. And I promise, your death will be very slow and painful."
"Why?" Jubilee gasped out, turning to face him. She half-rose, but the chain attached to the collar on her neck was too short to permit her to stand. "Why are you doing this, why do you hate me? What have I done to you?"
Julian smiled coldly. "You exist," he said. "You ignored me; shunned me, challenged me on the practice field and slashed up my clothes. You chose to serve Logan instead of me. I'm angry with you for all of those things." He snapped the whip, watching her flinch at the sharp snap. "You'll pay for that. You'll spend the rest of your life paying for rejecting me, and your last breath will be in payment for ignoring me."
Jubilee shrank away from the lash, pulling as hard as she could against the collar that chafed her neck. Gallas watched her looking warily at the whip. "You've marked her up pretty good over the last week, Julian," he said. "Have you taken her yet?"
"Many times," Julian laughed. "Many times. She still struggles so deliciously when I do, though; and she still screams so nicely. Would you like to take a turn with her?"
Gallas smiled. "I was hoping you'd ask," he said. "You, wait outside the door," he said to the guard who had come with him. The man bowed curtly, then backed out of the open door and closed it behind him.
He stepped out into the hall and leaned against the wall next to the two other guards standing there beside the doors. "Think we'll ever get a piece of that little slant-eyed girl?" he said to the guard on the right side of the door.
The guard shook his head. "That knight in there don't want to share," he said. "He calls us in sometimes when the girl's fighting him, and he tells us to shift her there, tie her here, and stuff like that…but he never invites us to share. We probably won't."
A high-pitched female scream came from inside the room, accompanied by loud male laughter, and the snap of a whip. Another scream. The dungeon master blinked. "Does she sound like that all the time?"
"Only when she ain't gagged!" The first guard laughed. "That knight's got one of those scold's bridles for her. 'Cept on this one he replaced the mouthpiece with a spiked ball, and it tears her mouth up something fierce if she tries to scream. So she don't scream much. But yeah, she sounds like that a lot of the time." The guards turned and looked at the door as another scream filtered past the heavy wooden slabs. "I'll say one thing. Gallas takes his girls, beds them, then rips their tongues out and leaves them for us. The knight in there…he ain't gonna leave nothin' for us. By the time he's done with that wench, she ain't gonna be fit for nothing but a shallow grave."
The dungeon guard looked disgusted. "What a waste," he said.
The second guard nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I know. It's a waste. But them's nobles for you, they don't think that the little people like us might want some pretty wenches too." The three men nodded as another cry sounded from behind them, and settled down to wait for the King and Sir Julian to finish.
Gallas stood. "She does scream nicely," he said as Julian wiped the bloodied whip with a clean handkerchief and coiled it neatly back in a box under his bed. "I might ask you if I can use her again."
"By all means, Your Majesty," Julian said, unlocking the chain that held her fixed to the floor and tossing it aside carelessly. "She is a gift from you to me; it's only fair that you should be able to use her too." He grabbed a hank of rope and tied the end around her limp wrists, and tied the other end to the ring in the floor. "Now let's go and get something to eat. I'm hungry."
Jubilee lay, limp and still, waiting until their footsteps had receded down the hall, before opening her eyes and staring with her pain-blurred vision at the ceiling. Slowly, carefully, she rolled over, trying to ease the pressure of her body weight against thepainful red welts across her back and shoulders. She pushed herself onto her knees, unable to suppress all her sobs, and instinctively tried to bring her hands to her mouth to try and stop her cries.
And she felt a tiny slip in the knots that bound her as she pulled on the rope.
Julian usually tied her hands behind her. Why hadn't he done it this time? Maybe he thought she'd be so exhausted and in so much pain that she wouldn't wake up?
Well, whatever it was, she thanked the Goddess for it. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her shoulders, she grabbed the end of the rope in her teeth, working at the knot until it fell free from her hands. She froze for a moment as she heard a step in the hall, but whoever it was walked on past. The guards, she knew, would be in the middle of changing to the evening duty shift.
She had no time to lose. Stifling her cries of pain and resolutely pushing it to the back of her mind, she went to Julian's drawers and dug out two tunics and two breeches. Julian was taller than Logan, but she didn't think Logan was going to mind. Dressing in one set of clothes, hissing at the pain in her back and buttocks and legs, she forced the pain back, helped somewhat by the surge of adrenaline, and then quietly opened the door to Julian's room.
There was no one in the hall. Good. She tiptoed out of the room, closing the door quietly, and slipped into the shadows by the large tapestry hanging against the wall. Slipping from shadow to shadow, she crept to the top of the stairs and listened. Nothing. She crept down the stairs, following the same path she took to the dungeons to see Logan. She stopped before the door that led down to the dungeons and thought for a moment, then retraced her steps to the stables.
Logan's horse had been added to King Gallas's string of horses; not surprising, considering how fine the beast was. The horse laid his ears back and snapped warily at the smell of blood that hung around her, but as she whispered quietly to him, he calmed. She crept to the tack room and got a bridle and saddle, tacking the horse as quickly as she could, her fingers moving swiftly and surely in the semi-dark. The sun was setting, and she knew she had to work quickly. If she and Logan could escape in the darkness, it would be that much harder for the king's soldiers to hunt them down in the dark.
She led the horse out to the courtyard, and left him with the signal to wait. Carefully opening the door to the dungeons, she slipped down them quietly.
Along with Julian's clothes she had also taken a dagger and a sword. The sword was slung across her back, chafing the open welts; but she ignored it with an effort and slipped down the spiral steps until she got to the long corridor. And there, at the far end of the corridor, a guard drowsed a little as he leaned against the wall. The prisoners had just eaten, and were settling down for the night; he wasn't expecting any trouble.
She slipped down the corridor, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, and as a result the guard caught only a glimpse of her out the corner of his eye. By the time he had turned fully around to see who it was approaching him, the dagger was at his neck, slicing deep into the veins and windpipe. Blood squirted in all directions, splattering her and making her sick; but it was either her and Logan, or him, and she knew it. Reaching down, she lifted the ring of keys from his belt and fit the first one in the lock of the nearest occupied cell. Maybe if the guards had to round up all the prisoners she and Logan would have more time to get away. They had to warn King Richard.
Logan looked up as a key rattled in the lock, and stared with hot eyes at the girl outside the cell. She swung open the door and stepped in.
"Get out." He growled.
She stared at him. "Logan, please…I brought clothes, we have to get away, we have to warn King Richard.." she thrust the handful of cloth at him. "I have your horse waiting. Hurry!"
Logan stared at the girl. It was a trick, it had to be a trick…she was lying to him, trying to trick him… he remained sitting where he was, staring at the clothes. "This is some trick Julian dreamed up, isn't it. He put you up to this."
"No! Please, Logan, we don't have much time!" Jubilee cried in panic, shoving the clothes into his hand. Please! Get dressed! I am not the traitor, please, I swear!" She reached down and grabbed something from her foot. "Logan, please. Would the queen have given me this if she thought I was a traitor?"
Logan took the tiny gold band and stared at it. On the ring, worked in enamel, was the Queen's Seal. His eyes took in the detail, and although he didn't quite believe it, he thrust the ring in his pocket and started to shove his feet into the breeches and tunic. Maybe… "I'm still mad at you," he growled, but now he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
She sighed. "Be mad later. Come on!" As they ran out of his cell and down the corridor, they heard the sudden sound of shouts and screams. The soldiers had discovered the prisoners escaping.
Logan growled and pulled his hand out of hers. "You…it is a trick!" he snarled. "You set me up!" he ran away from her, up the steps and out into the courtyard, ignoring her panted pleas for him to stop, to wait for her. And there, wonder of wonders, was a saddled, bridled horse standing in the middle of the confusion in the courtyard. Logan didn't waste a minute. He sprang into the saddle, grabbed the reins, and reared the horse, letting his horse's hooves lash out at the nearest soldier. The man fell back, shrieking as a hoof print appeared in the middle of his chest. It might be a setup, but he was damn well going to do his best.
Jubilee appeared at the top of the steps and flung herself into the courtyard. "Logan, please!" she screamed desperately. "Please, take me with you!"
Logan wheeled his horse, looked at her. Maybe…maybe he should…
And then the door at the far end of the courtyard burst open, and a river of green and blue clad soldiers came pouring out. Jubilee stared at them, then drew the sword at her back. "Go!" she screamed. "Logan, go! Warn the King!"
Logan turned his horse and rode away, urging his horse at a gallop toward the front gate. Behind him, he heard the clash of swords, and risked a quick look back just in time to see the small figure go down under a mob of blue and green. Nothing he could do now. He couldn't go back.
He turned his horse's head toward the front gate and galloped on through.
Jubilee screamed in pain as her body struck the ground hard and Julian's sword was wrestled from her grasp. The sword was longer than she was used to wielding, and she was awkward with it. She had known that. But maybe…just maybe…she had bought Logan some extra time…
They bound her hands behind her with rope, and forced her to kneel as Gallas came storming out into the courtyard. "What's going on!" he screamed, almost apoplectic with fury. "What's going on here? What's the commotion about! I was eating supper!"
The head guard knelt, trembling. "Your majesty, the prisoners tried to escape. We got all of them but Sir Logan. He got on a horse and got away." He kicked Jubilee hard. "This one," he held up the keys, "got out of Sir Julian's room, went to the stables and tacked up a horse, and let the prisoners and Sir Logan, out of their cells."
Gallas grabbed a handful of Jubilee's hair and yanked her head back. Anger suffused his face, and he screamed at her, "Why? I gave you to Julian, I spared you having to live in that filthy dungeon, how could you repay my kindness by betraying me?"
Jubilee spat at him. "You truly don't know," she snapped angrily. "I don't want your kindness. You weren't kind, giving me to Julian. I'd rather live in the dungeons than in his room and in his bed! He tried to break me...I'll never break! I'll die before I bow to the will of people like you!" Her words angered him. His foot came up, jabbing hard between her thighs, in her stomach, in her face. Her nose bled; scabs inside her mouth opened and started bleeding. She clenched her teeth, biting back her cries of pain.
He gave up, finally, puffing from exertion. "Take her down to the torture chamber, strip her, and tie her to the whipping post. I want her whipped, do you hear me? Whipped! Tortured! I want her broken. Keep her tied there until you hear from me. Take it in shifts, but I want her whipped until she begs for mercy!" Jubilee screamed in terror, but the guards dragged her down the spiraling stairs, down into the bowels of the dungeon, as Gallas started giving orders to the soldiers to send out search parties for Sir Logan. It was hopeless, and they knew it, but he had to try something. Anything.
The guards weren't gentle. Jubilee sobbed in pain as they tore the blood-soaked tunic from her body, reopening the wounds from her vicious beating of a few hours before. As they dragged her into the torture chamber and tied her between the posts, she hoped she had succeeded, that she had bought enough time for Logan to get away. He had the Queen's Seal with him as well. When he reached Richard, and told him about the traitor, the sight of the ring would convince him that Logan was telling the truth, and they would take steps to protect the king.
As the torturer picked up a long, cruel bullwhip, she closed her eyes and prayed for death to come swiftly. As the lash cracked across her already throbbing back, sending spikes of white-hot agony into her brain, her last coherent thought was that she wished she knew who the traitorous Duke was.