He got up fast, grabbed my wrists, and twisted hard, until the gun dropped, then shoved me to the wall. I stumbled and fell. He yanked me up and shoved me again, banging my shoulder and head. I fell forward onto a knee.
“Ye are so clumsy, Katie, so unattractive.” He yanked me up and shoved me against another wall, and another. “Such a clumsy bitch!” All the way down the hall he shoved me against the walls, until I ached all over from the knocks and bangs.
“Yer husband is goin’ tae hate that ye dinna even bargain for a meal or a glass of water for him.” He shoved me against another door jamb.
I collapsed down the wall, crumbling on the floor in a heap. “Please, can I have a drink for Magnus? Please, we’re thirsty.”
Another man walked down the stairs from the upper floors. “This the Queen Bitch?”
Asgall said, “Aye, if ye are finally finished with the girls upstairs ye can make yerself useful and return her tae the cellar.”
The man was disgusting, he leered with wet lips and the stench of sex. “Want me tae teach her a lesson?”
“Later, put her in the cellar for now, I’m tired of lookin’ at her.”
CHAPTER 59 - KAITLYN
THE WILDERNESS OF VIRGINIA - 1775
That man shoved me against the exterior door and down the two steps to the cellar hatch. He was so gross and handsy, putting his hand on my breast as he forced me toward the dungeon. He smelled drunk and seemed unsteady.
He swayed as he crouched over the hatch to pull away the bolt and then there was a giant forceful heave from below. My husband threw the doors up with his back, knocking Drunk Guy off balance. Drunk Guy careened. Magnus meanwhile leapt through the doors and I shoved Drunk Guy, hard. While he stumbled and fell I grabbed his gun from his holster.
Magnus swung the machete and sliced off the dude’s arm, I shrieked because blood was everywhere — above us, a man carrying a rifle slammed through the back door.
Magnus grabbed my arm and yanked me around the side of the building, tweaking my ankle, as the man shot at us.
I pressed to the house, breathing heavily, Magnus took the gun from my hand, put it in the back of his belt, and jerked his head across the side lawn toward the woods. We ran.
It wasn’t far, we made it to the cover, but it was thick underbrush and tightly packed old trees. It was tough goingas we fought our way through brambles and woods. Branches clawed at me as we ran. We scrambled over a boulder, and then our path was clear. We hit the ground and ran until we were so deep into the woods that we collapsed behind a boulder to breathe.
I thought my heart would explode. I was so out of breath. He put a finger to his lips and then breathed deep, and put his hand out palm down, lower, then lower, he breathed in again slower, looking me in the eye. We matched our breaths — in long, hold, out long. He whispered, “Better?”
I nodded and whispered, “I’m so thirsty.”
He said, “There is a river next tae us, we are goin’ tae hae tae calm ourselves before we approach.”
“I’m going to drink so much water.”
He squeezed my hand. “Ye good?”
I nodded.
He waved for me to follow.
We crept through the underbrush and came to the edge of the river. It was so delicious looking — wide, sparkling water, calm, like the Amelia river, with a blue heron wading between tall grasses at the edge. It looked timeless.
Magnus peered out from behind the tree for a long time, then he nodded. We crept forward, collapsed to our hands and knees, scooped water, and drank from our cupped palms.
I said, “Thank God we have water, I can do anything now.”
He splashed water all over his face and head and whipped his hair back in a spray. Then he slicked it back, looking a lot less like a wild man. I washed my hands in the water taking care to make sure the cut I had gotten was clean.
He asked, “Did he hurt ye?”
I nodded.
“Did he do anything else tae ye?”
