Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 8

She tried to pull of the sack from her face but her hands were tied behind her.

'Help..." She cried out weakly but her voice was drowned by the sound of the carriage. Her throat was scorched and sore. "Help." She said again.

She moved her legs and hit something, a body. Terrified she pushed herself away from the body as far as possible.

Mary wanted to scream but her body felt heavy. Was she drugged? How did she get here?

She blinked her eyes open and felt someone lift her over their shoulder.

Instinctively she began to kick and squirm.

"Ack!"

"Shut her up!"

She was flung on the ground and suddenly everything went black again.

***At court***

Charles burst through the doors and was quickly followed by his men. The whole court watched as the handsome Duke of Suffolk stormed his way towards the King's chambers.

When he reached Henry's doors he did not wait to be announced.

"Majesty." He bowed.

The King glanced at him for a moment and then stared out the window. "What did you find?"

"They are in Scotland."

Henry let out a frustrated sigh and gripped the window sill. "Find her and tread quietly. The last thing I need is James to be involved."

"Understood."

"And Charles. Forgive me." The king admitted to his friend. "I thought this arrangement would protect her."

Charles clenched his jaw not trusting himself to speak. He did blame him but right now he could not afford to let his emotions distract him.

"My King."

***Elsewhere***

She opened her eyes and instantly felt the side of her face in pain.

Mary groaned as she straightened up her position from the ground. She looked around and realized she was in a barn. She saw Kat hunched over five feet in front of her.

Mary tried to move closer to her but her hands were still bound and she felt completely weak.

She heard footsteps outside the bard.

"How did you make such a stupid mistake?"

"I could not tell which girl it was."

"And you decided to take them both?"

"One was already in his quarters while the other had just entered as I was leaving. How could we know which was his wife?"

"The one who looked like a Spanish harlot."

"But sir. They looked like they could have been his wife."

She heard a smack and a cry.

Immediately the doors burst opened. "One is awake, wake the other. We will have to figure out which one has the accent."

A gentleman in his late 30's with a blond thick beard walked in followed by two other men. The bearded men dressed in navy garments that showed he was of nobleman status.

The other man immediately shook Kat awake and she screamed. "Quiet her."

And Kat received a slap. "Shut up!"

"Scoundrel" The bearded man shook his head in disapproval. "Forgive my subordinate but it seems it's necessary."

He studied them very carefully and the barn became very silent. The only thing heard was Kat's whimpering.

"I now see your predicament Mr. Barrie." He said as he lifted Mary's chin who only gave him a cold stare. "You are very pretty. But what has happened to your face?"

Mary said nothing and looked away from him.

The bearded man smirked at her fierceness. Perhaps she was the Spanish wife of the Duke.

"Which one of you is the Duchess of Suffolk?"

Nothing was said.

"Are you unable to understand? Perhaps if I spoke Spanish?"

"Do I sound as if I have an accent?" Mary whispered. "So it can't possibly be me."

Amused the gentleman lips twitched. "I see and I see your fingers are ring-less."

"Yes,"

The bearded man spun around and kicked Mr. Barrie. " You idiots! Did you not bother to check to see their hands for a ring? How can we pressure the Duke if we don't have his wife?"

"I-apologies sir."

"Never mind. We will have to kill them and get his actual wife. "

Mary eyes widened and before she could think Kat immediately spoke up.

"Kill us?! Do you know who we are?!"

"Please enlighten." Something about his soft mannered tone really irritated Mary.

"I'm the Duke of Suffolk's mistress."

Mary felt herself grow cold in shock.

"And she is Mary Tudor the King's bastard! How can you even possibly think of killing us? Do you want to lose your own head?"

The nobleman laughed. "And why should I believe you? How can I believe anything a woman who is about to die should say?"

"Can you afford not to believe me?"

The nobleman stared at Kat for a long moment before he did anything he turned his heel. "Keep them here and make sure they stay quiet."

"Aye sir."

Mary leaned against the post feeling very weak she wanted to concentrate on how escape but her mind always wondered back to Kat's words. Was it true?

She hated that she felt betrayed and she felt like she didn't have the right to feel that way because even though Charles was her husband it was complicated.

When she heard Kat let out a cry she snapped her head. Mary had to focus, right now she had to concentrate on surviving and her issues with Charles will need to wait.

"Stop crying. They will hear you."

Kat looked at her tearfully, "I can't help it. I'm terrified."

"I am too but we need to think how to get out of here."

"I am sure the King and the Duke will be coming for us."

Mary flinched at the familiarity at which Kat said the Duke's name. "How can you be so sure?"

"I did not lie. Everything I said was an absolute truth!"

"Then that secret man you have been speaking about is the Duke of Suffolk?

"Yes"

Mary let her words sink for a moment and then she cleared her throat. "How long have you and the Duke been together?"

Kat looked at her strangely "8 months. Why?"

"No reason" Mary said. "I thought he would have better taste."

Her companion scowled at her. "You dare to throw snide remarks? When we are held captive and might die."

"We will not die." Mary shot back determined. She shifted her position and instantly something poke her fingers.

"Not all of us can truly claim to be the King's bastard."

Mary shook her head. "No but I did find this." Showing her a shard of glass she discovered in the hay.

*** 3 Days later***

Charles entered into the stables and noticed a man with a stab wound his head. Nearby was a piece of broken of a bloody glass.

"Is he alive?"

His subordinate shook his head. "He's been dead for at least 3 hours."

Charles knelt over the body and saw that he was a commoner, the hired help.

"What else did you find?"

"We found this earring." Charles took the earring from him. It was topaz with pearls embedded around it. He frowned and fingered the detail he was sure this didn't belonged to Mary.

"There must be another woman." He said realizing there was no proof Mary was here.

"You're grace! At the field!"

Charles rushed towards his men at field an on his way there was blood trickled on the ground.

Anthony approached him and handed his a headpiece which he instantly recognized.

"Which way?"

"The forest and from what I can see, she is injured."

Charles stomach sank at the thought of Mary bleeding and it was quickly replaced with anger. He blamed the king and himself for putting her in danger however he couldn't let it consume him. He needed to be level headed, find her and bring her home.

"They took two women." Said another of his men.

"Two?"

"Perhaps it wasn't intentional."

"Fools." Anthony hissed

"Mount your horses! Now!" Charles called.

*** In the forest***

Mary and Kat slid down a hill under the ledge of a tree; luckily they were concealed with a dense amount of bushes and rocks.

Kat moaned in pain as Mary slowly untangled herself from her and checked to see if their pursuers of caught up to them. There was no one. Mary let out a deep breath and let go of the bloody glass in her hand.

"Are they there?" Kat panted weakly.

Mary shook her head and leaned against the rock. "No."

"I can't go on."

Kat bit back tears and nodded as she cradled her side.

"Yes you can. You just need to rest." Mary encouraged. Their great escape did not go as smoothly as she hoped and resulted in Kat getting stabbed as their guard lashed out with his dagger as they headed to the field. Mary reacted and stabbed him in the neck . She wasn't sure if she killed him but she couldn't think of it otherwise the guilt would just kill her and she needed to focus on surviving.

"Let me see the wound." She ordered lifting Kat's hands. It was deep and there was so much blood. Mary saw Kat's entire side of her dress is drenched. It was amazing she could stand or even run. Mary immediately pressed on it to stop the bleeding. At this rate she was going to die.

"Is it bad?."

"No." She lied as her eyes stung

Kat gave her a weak smile. "I don't believe you."

Mary began to cry. "I am so sorry. This was my entire fault." They were after her and now Kat is dying and she could not help but feel guilty.

Kat burst into tears and nodded in acceptance. If someone had told her two weeks ago that she would be running for her life with Mary she'd laugh in their face. And yet here they were, two ladies, two young girls on the run on their lives and now she was dying.

After what felt like hours crying they both settled down in a daze. Kat looked deathly pale, her lips white and Mary knew it wouldn't be long. "Y-you should go. Go without me." Kat said in an audible voice.

"No. I won't leave you here to die alone."

"Please. You have a chance."

Mary shook her head and wrapped her arms around Kat and lay on her lap. "I will not leave you."

"Then we will both die."

Mary stared into Kat's deep blue eyes. "We all die at some point but we should not die alone." she said sadly.

"I was terrible to you."

"You were but it was nothing I could not handle." She laughed lightly.

Kat's eyes welded up in tears. "Forgive me." she pleaded.

"There is nothing to forgive." Mary smiled sadly unable to control the fresh tears falling from her eyes. "Just rest and save your strength."

"What use is it to save one's strength is you are dying."

Mary swallowed and berated herself for being insensitive. "It sounded like the right thing to say." she said sheepishly. Mary hated that she felt helpless; she did not know what else she could do to help or comfort Kat. Suddenly she closed her eyes and started to pray.

*** 45 min later***

Mary eyes flew open when Kat started to cough and she immediately patted her back to help her. She looked up from her position and frowned. Did they really lose them or are they hiding, waiting for a good time to strike.

She sat back down and saw Kat staring at the sky in a daze; Mary knew it wouldn't be long now.

She shivered, "You must be cold."It was freezing and she rubbed Kat's arms in an attempt to warm her but it was probably futile.

"I don't feel anything." She breathed.

Mary stayed quiet unsure what to say. "I never thought we would be able to be civil to each other."

Kat blinked and the corner of her lips twitched. "Neither did I."

Mary nodded and tears started to fall.

"They didn't make a mistake."

"No."

"You are Charles's wife?"

"Yes." She admitted and somehow felt like a huge weight had left her shoulders. "It was my fault that they took you and now- " Mary stopped unable to finish the sentence.

"No...I- I was in his chambers waiting for him." Mary noticed tears roll down her face. "I'm sorry."

"You did not know. No one knows."

"It was only one night. "

"It doesn't matter."

" I saw how he looked at you in Hatfield" She wheezed. "It should have been obvious."

Mary looked away. "Please..."

"Hate me."

" I can't"

Suddenly Kat breath shortened and she began to pant. " I was desperate...lonely…my twin sister had just died." She was panicking. "And he was kind to me.

"Hush, try to calm down." Mary told her as she smoothed Kat's dark hair. "You do not need to explain anything."

She ignored Mary and continued to speak with a shaky breath. "I was not what he wanted ...what he needed."

Mary remained silent for a moment and then opened her mouth. "I understand. I forgive you Kat...please do not torture yourself."

Kat gazed back at Mary and let out a deep breath. "I am tired."

"I know." Mary whispered and gave her a small smile. "Rest."

"Yes. I will." Kat closed her eyes and it would be last time Mary would see them open.

I know many of your have been wondering when Mary will get pregnant but I think there is too much going on that they need to figure out before bringing any babies lol.