“Ye daena need them, mo leannan. Dost ye need tae retch intae the bowl once more?”
I shook my head.
“Alright, I want ye tae hold the vessel. I am goin’ tae pick ye up.”
He pressed it to my stomach. Then he put an arm under my back and another under my knees and hefted me from the bed.
“What am I... what am I doing with it?”
He held me cradled in his arms. “Ye will twist it when I say, ‘aye twist it,’ but not now.”
“...lot of pressure.”
“I canna do it. I am carryin’ ye. Ye hae tae be brave.”
He stalked from the room and crept quietly down the stairs. At the bottom step he listened and peered into the shadows, then he carried me through the kitchen to the back door. I clutched that vessel as if my life depended on it.
Madame Agnes held the door for us.
The day was toobright after having been inside for so long. I flung an arm over my eyes.
Torin grabbed the reins of Lambo and Ferrari and began running, pulling them along.
I croaked out, “Dude?”
“He’s at our heels, mo leannan. Right behind us.”
Two men rode on horseback from around the inn, chasing us.
Torin yelled, “Hold on!”
He ran, jiggling me up and down, the men chased — I was worried about Dude, about our horses who were unused to having us run beside them.
Torin yelled, “Twist it!”
He had sweat rolling down his face, his stride long, but I was heavily bouncing in his arms. I pulled the vessel up from my lap and then I felt a man grab Torin’s arm, jerking him off stride.
The vessel flew from my weak grip.
Torin stopped and flung us both to the ground, onto the vessel. “Grab it!”
I tried, but I was too slow. He plucked it up, and thrust it into my hands. “Go!”
He was punching and fighting a big ornery man on top of my legs. Instead of being helpful, I moaned.
I needed to twist the vessel, but I couldn’t get my body to work.
He let go of the man he was fighting, and swung his hand out, grabbing our horse’s reins. He wrapped them around his left hand. I got walloped pretty good as the creep swung — Torin body-slammed him down. The man slumped across my feet.
Torin dropped to his ass and shoved the man off me with his feet. He grabbed Dude and dumped him onto my stomach, plucked up the vessel, and twisted it while straddling my thigh.
Och nae, lass, daena let go.
I don’t know if he said it or if I just heard it.
The last thing I saw was Dude, standing on my chest, and Torin looking down on me, his jaw set, his expression grim. “Hold on, mo leannan, hold on,” and then the world went dark.
25
