Redemption by M J Marlow (librera reader .txt) 📕

rose to his feet as they rode up and he looked at Reyma.
“What is she doing here?” he demanded as he looked at Lorenz and Martyn. “Why didn’t you bring the witch?”
“This is the witch,” Lorenz replied and then frowned as Taryn shook his head. “But we were told…”
“This is Marit,” Taryn told them bluntly. “Trapped in the young witch’s body.” He helped Marit off the horse and embraced her. “Poor child,” he said as he cupped her chin in his hand and raised her eyes to his. “How could they not see the truth? She waited until you were weakened, didn’t she?”
“Marit had twins a few days ago,” Lorenz told Taryn. “You truly mean to tell us that the witch changed bodies with the princess while she was recovering from childbirth?” He looked at Martyn. “Then she is in the castle with the babies and Marit’s family.” He looked at Marit. “Is anyone else involved, my lady?” Marit nodded. “Who?” Marit put her hand to her throat and he frowned. “Write it down, my lady. We need to warn the castle.” Marit saw a stick and used it to scratch the name into the dirt. “Taryn, do you know where the lady Susa is?”
“Inside with the farmer’s wife,” Taryn told them. “They were quite astonished when the mules they had bought turned into us the morning after. It would appear Reyma was not interested in whether her spell kept going with us.” He looked at them. “My son?”
“All we know is north,” Martyn told him. “The princess does not know exactly where. She is following their bond, isn’t she?” Marit nodded and he looked upset. “What if it isn’t enough?”
“You do not know Stormkeep then, lord Martyn,” Taryn told him. “We can track our mates across thousands of miles, and dozens of years of separation.” He kissed Marit on the forehead. “She will find him.” The door to the farmhouse opened and Susa came out. She froze as she saw Marit and came forward slowly. Then she threw her arms around her friend and held her as Marit shook with silent tears. “Are you convinced now?”
“This makes what happened last night even worse,” Lorenz frowned. “We’ll tell you later, king Taryn. For now, I think you and the lady Susa and a few of our guards should return to the castle to warn them…”
“No.” Taryn and Susa said together.
“Send a guard back with your warning,” Taryn told the men. “I am going with you to find my son.”
“And I am not leaving Marit for anything,” Susa added. “The stupid men didn’t realize you were in there, did they?” She glared at the men and took Marit inside. “Let’s see what the farmstead has in the way of healing tools.”
While Susa and Marit tended her wounds, the men decided what to do about the warning. They decided to send three of the guards back and waited for Marit and Susa. When they did come out, Marit was looking a lot better. That was the last proof they needed that she was their princess and not the witch.
“You can not tell anyone about this,” Marit warned them. “Berta said that Reyma would murder my children if I told anyone what had been done to me.” She looked at the three guards. “You must find a way to get her and Berta to reveal themselves.”
“We will do our best, Highness,” the men nodded their heads and rode off.
“We should be going,” Marit said as she mounted the horse she’d been given. “His call is wavering; as if he is weakening.” She did not wait but galloped on, sending Tavin as much of her strength as she could and following his mind. She arrived in the harbor town and saw the board. “Verdis,” she nodded as the others caught up with her. “Reyma said she was going to take me to Verdis.” She started for the harbormaster’s office and suddenly noted that people were kowtowing to her. “Make them stop, Uncle,” she said to Taryn.
“It is not something I can stop, child,” Taryn told her. “Your sister put a compulsion on them.”
“She really is my sister?”
“Your aunt Amabet forced herself on Marius on his wedding night,” Taryn told her bluntly. “She said it was for insurance, in case the child Marius gave Margarete was a boy. He knew nothing of it until Amabet appeared on his door the night after his wife had ‘died’ with Reyma in her arms. She said he could have his other daughter, as well, if he would marry her.” He raised the hood on her cloak and the people snapped out of the spell and moved on. “Better.”
“There’s a captain who says he’ll take us up in an hour,” Lorenz said as he returned from the harbormaster’s office. “He says the tavern along the pier has relatively good food.”
“We stable the horses then for our return journey,” Martyn nodded. He took his coin bag off his belt and sent it and the horses with the guards. They walked down to the pier and entered the tavern. “Nice place,” Martyn smiled. “Reminds me of some of the places I frequented before Sysha landed me.”
“You?” Marit laughed at the very image of the proper lord being in a place like they were in. “Lord Solliston, you astound me.” She suddenly froze as pain blazed across her mind and turned to see a man just swinging out of a punch. “Oh my! A tavern brawl!” She laid her hand on Susa’s arm as they sat down and the men surrounded them. “We’ve never seen one before.”
“No one ever mentioned the stench,” Susa sniffed,” or the squalor.”
“Wouldn’t be a proper tavern brawl without it,” Taryn laughed and turned his eyes on the fighters. “There are a couple of men across the room who are looking too closely our way,” he leaned back and told Martyn and Lorenz. “I suggest you stand ready to remove our ladies…” He was on his feet as the men from the table he’d mentioned rose to their feet and came across the tavern. “Gentlemen. Can we help you?”
“You’re a long way from home, borderlanders,” the shortest and fattest of the band snarled. “Don’t want your kind up here; frightening our women…” He looked at Marit and Susa. “Ooh! See you brought your own with you. Is it true what they saw about borderlander sluts?” He was held up off his feet as Taryn grabbed his collar and yanked him off his feet. “Meant no offense, lord. But you bring pretties like that in here; there’s going to be trouble.”
“Lookit that hair!” one of his even more inebriated friends marveled as he pulled on Marit’s hair and she had to rise or lose it. “She must be one of the star folk with hair like this!” He cupped his hand on Marit’s chin and looked down into her eyes. “Is that what you are, pretty? A star child?”
“What she is,” Taryn snarled and sent the first man flying, “is my niece. You will take your hands off of her immediately.”
“Sorry, lord,” the man said as he backed away and tripped over his own feet.
He knocked over a servant and the pitchers and goblets went flying. The brawl intensified and in the uproar, the third man of their party grabbed Marit, his large hand over her mouth and carried her out through the kitchen. She was stuffed inside of a barrel as she screamed and tried to push off the lid that was being nailed down. She heard another scream and knew the sound of it. Susa was being handled in the same manner.
“They wouldn’t know how to treat such pretties,” a man laughed and sat down on the barrel holding Marit.
“They can’t keep a better eye on them,” another man laughed, “they deserve to lose them.” He shoved something in the hole in the barrel and Marit began to gasp for air. They were being drugged. “I like the red one. Looks a right active piece of fluff.”
“I could lose myself in the star child’s dark eyes,” a third voice, familiar from the conversation at the table. “A true child of the heavens.” He heard the thumping and gasping stop and pulled out the drug soaked rags. “Ready for transport, boys. Which way?”
“They wanted to go to Verdis,” the first man spoke again. “Nothing up there but the tower.”
“Right nice place for a slap and tickle then,” the second man spoke up. “We have a little fun with the pretties. Leave them trussed up and send their men after them. No one hurt.”
They nodded and carried the barrels holding their prisoners down to the pier. They carried them down to the captain’s cabin and locked the door. Then they took their places in the crew and watched as the borderlander men split up and sent half their party aboard to go to Verdis. The ship set sail, as Andrew had schedules to keep and could not wait the tide. Lorenz and Taryn watched the crew sharply and knew that these men knew something. Two hours later, they were dropped off at the harbor town of Verdis. They watched as the ship continued upriver.
“Those men are up to something,” Taryn told his companion and their guards.
“Then by all means,” Lorenz said stiffly, “let us follow them. If we stick close to shore we should catch sight of them.”
While their men trudged along on foot, Marit and Susa were being unloaded from the ship several miles up river. Marit bit her lip to keep from crying as the barrel was dropped and she hit her head. She felt Susa’s pain and sent her mind out to heal. The lid was raised off of the barrel and she was yanked out roughly and dumped on the ground. The three men who had approached their table only a few hours before and a fourth man, tall, lean, and cold-eyed, stood in a circle around her and Susa.
“Stand up then, pretties,” the newcomer laughed as he blindfolded Susa and then dragged her up on her feet. He ripped her cloak off and then her over gown. “Let us see what we have to enjoy.”
“Don’t you touch her!” Marit snapped and slapped the man across the face. “She is not yours to abuse.”
“A virgin!” the man’s eyes shone with joy. “Then by all means, we must not damage her. We can sell her back for a high price to your companions.” He looked at the other men. “We shall just have to make do with you, star child.” He yanked Marit away from Susa and she was held as one of the men bound Susa’s wrists behind her back and then hefted Susa over his shoulder and carried her inside the ruined tower. Marit tried to follow. “Don’t worry about your pretty friend, lady. He will lock her in the tower and then return for our play.”
Marit was taken into the building and forced down on the floor on the bottom level. They bound her wrists to a thick iron ring in the wall and the leader cut off her clothing as she kicked at him. He laughed in delight at her ‘spirit’ and then opened his trousers and had his turn with her. He was rough, but not brutal. Marit remembered suffering far worse. When each man had his turn, they covered her with a blanket and took out a pack of cards.
“Far too pretty to let loose, brothers,” the shorter man said as he glanced over at Marit. “By all means, let us sell back the virgin,” he said as he deliberately lost a hand and went to sit next to Marit,