The Duke of Garwood and His Bride

CHAPTER 10. BITTERSWEET

Rayne worried over his wife locking herself in her bedchamber. She refused to see anyone, even Rose. She must have been devastated over losing someone she had cared for. Maybe bringing her into Bowham was not a good decision. Everything that happened could have weighed heavily upon her.

His guilt swept over him. Bowham is not a place for a fine lady. Not this time though. Seeing his wife mope over the lives they lost to their faceless enemies just broke his heart into pieces. He had to do something for her to ease whatever she was feeling.

Rayne bade his leave from his soldiers and headed back to the castle. He entrusted his right hand man, Max, to lead their patrol. He had to check on his wife and see how she fared. He rode with speed in his haste to see his wife. He may not actually have married her for love, but he knew the vow he had uttered in front of the altar. He may be a reprobate and a rake but he promised to honor her and he intended to keep that promise. He had never touched another female the moment he married her. He would not dare end up fathering a child outside his marriage. He would not have his own child begging for attention and love. He would not have his own child suffering the same fate he had. Now that he was married, love may still be non-existent, but he intended to live by his vows and promises.

Rayne took the stairs two at a time to reach his wife's bedchamber. Two sentinels stood quietly by her doorway. He knocked softly but heard no response beyond the doors. He gently unlatched the locks and pushed the doors open. The antechamber was empty. He called for her softly. He tried the latch of her main bedroom and twisted them open. He saw the bed neatly done and his wife was nowhere in sight. He called again softly and saw movements in the cushions and covers by the large bay window. He rushed to it and grabbed the ends of the covers. His action met a strong tug of resistance but he tugged the covers harder. His heart broke at the sight of his grieving wife. He knelt beside her and locked her in a fierce embrace, rocking her gently for comfort.

Rayne tossed the covers aside and made her wife sit. He brushed the stray locks away from her face and cupped her lovely sad face. Quietly, he stood and brought her to stand up too. Holding her hand tight, he led her out of the room, not giving in to her quiet resistance. Once they were out of the castle, Rayme called for his black stallion to be brought in. He lifted her up the mighty steed and hoisted himself up. She looked at him with a silent question in her eyes. Instead of answering her, he wrapped his arm around her and kicked the horse's flanks.

Adrienne did not feel like speaking. So, she just allowed her husband to steer wherever they were heading. She watched the greens they passed by and the few locals they met along the way. To her amazement, she started to hear the crashing waves from a distance. She straightened and began to survey their surroundings. She looked at her husband to see that faint smile across his tempting lips. Her spirits lifted up when the vision of the blue waves crashing on the rocks and the shores.

Rayne felt the change in her mood and he was pleased by it. He promised her before to take her for a walk by sea and he decided that today must be the perfect time. He drove his steed into a gallop while he steadied his wife closer to his body. When they reached the perfect spot, he dismounted first and reached up for his wife to help her down. The wind blew hard and played with their locks. Rayne led her to a huge rock and helped her up. Rayne made her sit down and he sat right behind her. He pulled her into his strong arms and made her lean against his broad chest.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled painfully.

Adrienne leaned back and looked up to meet his gaze. Rayne tried to smile but there was more loneliness in his eyes. She squirmed until her position was enough to have a better view of his face. "Whatever for, Rayne?"

"For bringing you here." He said, biting his lip. "I knew Bowham and Garwood Estate is no place for a fine lady, yet I still brought you here."

Adrienne shook her head and held his hand. "It's not you Rayne, neither Bowham nor Garwood." She protested. "My heart just broke for losing our innocent people. I couldn't forget how the old man suffered and I wanted justice for him and his family."

"It's what I want too, sweetheart." He said and hugged her tighter. "But we haven't had that much luck." He said, frustratedly. "The tanner's daughter was found. I'm glad she's alive. But I don't know how she will take everything once she recovered."

"I will do my best to help her. Bring her to me." Adrienne buried her face at the crook of his neck. He smelled so masculine, like musk and spring combined. She loved the comfort that his strong embrace was giving her. She wanted to savor and drown in his tenderness. She needed this so bad and she was glad he had willingly given it to her. Adrienne wrapped her arms around him without inhibitions. She felt her husband flinched from her action. He probably did not expect such an intimate gesture from her.

"Thank you for bringing me here." She snuggled closer to him and breathed his Sweet masculine scent. "This is luxury." She said, "I love it here. It's good to have you here with me." she murmured as she burrowed her face deeper into his neck.

"I'm all yours, sweetheart." Rayne promised and kissed the crown of her head. He craved to make her feel the extent of his desire for her. But in her vulnerable state, he did not want to take advantage of her. His heart suddenly swelled with emotion for his wife and for the tender moment they were having. They stayed that way for what seemed like eternity. The setting sun gracefully enfolded them with stunning hues as they snuggled in full contentment in each other's arms.

*************

Rayne had left early in the morning to join his men in their pursuit of the enemies lurking in the estate. He left his wife under the aegis of his best guards. He shook his head bemusedly as he recalled Adrienne's protests of being left in the castle and how he smothered them with his leisurely kisses. He took advantage of her shock to deepen his claims over her lips. Her eyes stared at him, flabbergasted at his brazen intrusion. Her mouth tasted so sweet like the fresh grapes she had for breakfast.

"You seemed to be in a good mood, Your Grace." One of his men noticed the duke smiling to himself.

Rayne smirked, "I was thinking of my wife. She is something." He admitted with a grin.

"She is indeed a beauty, Your Grace and pretty kind too. I was completely impressed at how she took care of the villagers' health. She was not reticent in serving even the lowliest of the serfs." another remarked.

"She is indeed and being married to her just feels like a cruel blessing. She is a gem but bringing her here is plainly cruel. I'm afraid our situation would take a toll on her gentle heart." Rayne agonized and everyone with him seemed to agree in silence.

The men's pensive mood was distracted when they arrived at one of the towns near the western border of Garwood Estate. The entrance to the town used to be buzzing with crowds but when they arrived, it seemed like a deserted town. His men called out.

"What seemed to be amiss here?" Rayne dismounted his horse and walked into the empty alley.

"Be careful, Your Grace." Max muttered and rushed behind the duke, three others took their positions in front and on either side of the duke.

Rayne unsheathed his sword to prepare in case of an ambush. They assessed the area for any foreign intrusion.

"Father Hopkins!" Rayne cried out for the town priest when they reached the small church. "Father Hopkins! It's me Rayne!" He bellowed once more. The church door slowly gaped a quarter, a middle aged man in brown cassock, peered through the small opening. When recognition dawned on the man, he opened the door wider and ran up to the duke.

"Your Grace!" He exclaimed, fear was evident in his brown round eyes. He rushed outside and half dragged the duke into the church.

"Father," Rayne held the priest's shoulders to steady and calm him.

"Do not wander off anywhere with only too few to guard you, my boy." He warned and led Rayne to sit on one of the pews.

"What seemed to be the problem, Father?" Rayne demanded, suspicion and fear gnawing at him.

"Yesterday, there were men on their horses who came to our town. They all looked menacingly evil. They were large and shady." The priest started, his hands fidgeting on the fabric of his cassock.

"How many were they?" Rayne quizzed.

"Fifteen...twenty…more..." the priest guessed.

"And then?" Rayne prompted.

"They...they crashed into some homes and plundered them. Those who resisted were badly beaten and killed. The women...some were taken and some were left after being severely molested."

Rayne's fists turned white from clenching. His teeth gnashed in indignation. "How many have died?"

"Two women and seven men died. Five women were taken. Twelve women were molested including those who died and those who were taken."

"What did the men look like?"

"They were huge men. All with long hair. They wore black robes. I remember one of them with a gold front tooth and a scar on his neck. Like a burn scar."

Rayne stood and faced the priest. "I will leave ten of my men to investigate and to guard the town."

"Yes, Your Grace. Thank you." He said and blessed the duke.

"Which direction did those men come from and disappeared to, Father?" Max interrupted.

"I do not know where they came from but after wrecking havoc, they rode toward the west.

Max nodded, "Let's head farther west and try our luck."

"Yes." Rayne concurred and stood to take his leave. He signalled Max to follow him and start their pursuit. Rayne left some of his men to guard the town. He was again burning with anger and frustration. He had deployed the men from Durham into the borders of Garwood Estates to the west and south. The reinforcements from Durham are yet to come. Rayne hoped that they would arrive soon enough to thwart these prevalent attacks. "Max, go back to the castle and send a word to my wife. I don't want her to worry. Tell her I will try to be home in the morning. Take Hubbard and Gustav with you and bring some more men."

"I think it is better if you go home, Your Grace. I'll take it from here. Just come back in the morning." Max suggested when he saw the gnawing frustration upon his lordship.

"I won't be able to sleep unless I get my people back." He said sternly.

"Very well, Your Grace." Max agreed though he could clearly see that his lordship needed to take a rest. His head now was getting flooded with vehemence and frustration. He knew that Rayne was again contemplating on how incompetent he was in protecting those that belonged to him. He came up to him and held his shoulders firmly. We will find them, Your Grace." Max consoled.

Rayne only nodded. "Just please send a word to my wife. Tell her we are fine so she wouldn't worry."

" I will, Your Grace. She's such a fine delicate lady she need not fret over such dire conflict we are facing."

"She's quite something." Rayne tried to smile just remembering his wife's lovely face.

Max laughed as he mounted his steed. "Looks like you've taken quite a liking to her."

"Who wouldn't fall for such loveliness. Even her heart was beautiful enough."

"I couldn't agree more, Your Grace." Max's horse started on a slow gait and sped up when he kicked its flanks. "I shan't be long, Your Grace!" His words faded with the wind as he raced away.

**********

It took three long days for Rayne and his men to finally catch up with the group that attacked one of his towns. The soldiers from Durham who came with Max to join their pursuit were really good trackers. One of their leaders, Claude, was generous enough to teach him the techniques in tracking down their enemies.

Their perseverance paid off when they finally reached the camp of the men who sacked their town. Rayne gave the orders to attack but one of the men from Durham opposed him. Rayne frowned in annoyance.

"Let's wait until night falls, Your Grace." The man named Claude said.

"They might get away by then." Rayne countered, his anger brewing from his soldiers' dissension.

"They won't be leaving anytime, Your Grace." Claude explained. "See those men cooking up above their makeshift hearth and those setting up some tents. They must be camping for the night."

Rayne strained his eyes to carefully observe. Claude must be right. Some of them were busy setting up tents and some were gathering around

"We wait until nightfall then." Rayne conceded.

"Let's remain as inconspicuous as possible. They mustn't feel our presence lest we might lose the upper hand, Your Grace." Claude murmured. "Let's retreat quietly until we can safely leave our horses so their noises would not alert those brigands. I will take three of my men to sneak up in their camp and locate their hostages. I will give a signal once I get them safely out or if things get out of hand."

"Alright. What signal should we look out for?" Rayne listened intently.

"The arrows of Durham have their voices." Claude smirked. "We have signal arrows that whistles when launched. We use these arrows to give out the signal to attack. Our burning arrows signal for help under an attack." He elaborated. "Hasn't your lady wife told you that, Your Grace?"

"No. We haven't talked much about Durham. I'm afraid she'll miss her home once she starts talking about it " Rayne muttered as they made a slow and careful retreat.

"You should start asking her. You will learn a lot from her strategies. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree anyway."

**********

Claude led two of their men to conduct a stealth mission to locate and recover the hostages. They snuck into the camp while most of the thugs lay dozing the night away. Only a few remained awake to keep watch. One of Claude's companions motioned for them to split up zoning the area. Each of them raked the camp of tents to locate the hostages. The trio reconvened without any luck. They had one more tent to sneak upon, but it was right in the middle of the camp and it was well guarded. They saw the men who entered it earlier. He must have been the leader of this pack. The entire tent had sentinels around it and breaking through them was next to impossibility.

The trio exchanged glances. One of them mimed his plan. He put out a small metallic tube and placed a tiny needle inside. He took aim and blew through the metallic tube. The needle launched and landed on the neck of one guard. The guard scratched and swatted his neck. The trio counted to ten and the guard fell on his knees and began vomiting. The other guards rushed to the injured man and began asking him. The injured guard breathed heavily and lost the ability to speak. His mouth opened and shut yet no words were spoken. Two guards dragged the injured man away and tried to figure out what was happening to him.

The trio quietly cut through the unguarded side of the tent and peered through the darkness to sense for any movement. When they felt the stillness inside, the trio slipped into the tent as quietly as a snake would. The trio waited until their eyes adjusted to the darkness inside and they could figure out the silhouettes of everything that was inside. When they could finally see through the darkness, they saw what they were looking for. Three women huddled and crouched together on the dirt floor. They were breathing raggedly, a good sign that they were alive. Rousing them to wakefulness would be crucial. They might scream and attract unwanted attention from their abductors. One of Claude's companions took the opportunity to rouse the women by gently tapping their shoulders and spoke to them softly.

"We are from Garwood! Stay as quiet as possible. We have come to rescue you."

The women stirred into wakefulness, their fears were soothed upon hearing the reassuring voice of a woman who said would rescue them.

"Where are the others? Father Hopkins said there were five of you?" Claude asked softly as they unbound the women who they realized were half naked. Claude had to shed off his shirt to clothe one of the women, while his two companions shed their cloaks and cover the other two.

"One was taken by the other group of these scums. They went on ahead to the port. They said about sailing off early in the morning." One of the women answered, shivering in their disheveled state.

Claude cursed quietly and instructed the women to move as quietly as possible as he led them outside. His two other companions remained in the area to seek out the other victim. Claude safely snuck the women away when a woman's shrill cry broke the stillness of the night. Claude thought it was time to send out the signal. He shot an arrow up in the night sky and it whistled like a banshee out for a prey.

Rayne and his men sprang out of their positions and rallied into the rousing group of bandits in the camp. To their stunned observation, almost half of the dozing men did not even stir amidst the commotion. Then suddenly as if to answer his bewilderment, the moon revealed itself behind the clouds and unraveled to them the bloody corpses of what they thought were the sleeping bandits.

Rayne's attention was stolen by the screams of a woman coming from one of the dark tents. Rayne and his men fought their way into the camp in a fierce sword fight. While fighting off his enemy, Rayne tried to figure out which tent the woman was screaming from. He strained his ears through the sound of clashing swords. Then he saw two figures crash into one of the tents, swords in their hands. He tried to run into their direction but his path was blocked by another ruffian who brandished his sword in front of him. He fought the man with all the skill he could muster, releasing his pent up rage against those who dared to trample upon his dukedom. Rayne ended the fight with a savage strike against his opponent's neck. His sword dripped with his enemy's b***d. He looked around him to check if his soldiers were still standing. To his relief, everyone from Garwood was the last man standing.

Rayne smiled from their victory and upon seeing the faces of the women they had rescued, his chest heaved with relief. Just then he remembered the figures whom he saw entered the biggest tent in the camp. He ran toward it and some of his men followed him. Rayne barged into the entrance to find four d**d men scattered inside. One was even gruesomely tied to a pole inside. Rayne and his men scanned the surroundings for anyone hiding but there was none. Then they heard the women outside start crying. They all rushed outside only to find an additional woman amongst their rescued females. A black ragged blanket draped around her body.

"Calm down, ladies. We'll get you home." Rayne said to the wailing women. The woman draped in black blanket turned around upon hearing his voice.

"Your Grace!" She cried out and ran to him.

To Rayne's horror, he recognized the young woman who ran up to him. He wrapped his arms around her as her body came crashing to his. "Corinne!" He exclaimed ghastly as he enfolded her in his arms. The girl was barely fifteen and she had been through hell at the hands of these ruffians. He knew the girl very well and his heart burst with anger as he growled like a ferocious lion. The young girl sobbed against his chest and held onto him tightly. She was like a sister to him. "Damn bastards!"

"Your Grace, let's get moving. Let us bring these women back to their town and let's go after the other hostage the other half of these thugs had taken." Max cut through his master's outcry.

Rayne composed and recollected himself. "Time is against us. I know you're all exhausted, but we can't let one of our own people be dragged away from our lands!"

Claude stepped up, "Give me your orders, Your Grace and I shall head out in pursuit of those thugs while you bring these women back. Time is crucial here, Your Grace."

"No, Claude. I know you're tired too. As much as I want to pursue them now, I also cannot risk exhausting my soldiers' strength. How are we to fight them if we are too weak and tired to even keep our eyes open. It has been three long days since we raced after these ruffians. Let's wait until the sun rises to give our men a few hours rest."

"Your Grace, trust me, just give me your order. I will bring her back!" Claude tried to convince the duke.

Rayne stared at Claude and tried to fathom his eagerness to pursue their enemies. He wanted to go after those bastards but he knew he must bring Corinne back to her sister.

"Fine. Take the men you need. We shall follow before the break of dawn." Rayne finally conceded.

"I'm better off alone, Your Grace." Claude said.

Rayne frowned. "We don't know how many of them took off. How can you take them down and rescue the hostage?"

"Give me until noontime tomorrow, Your Grace. I shall bring you the woman." Claude said confidently.

Rayne hesitated. He couldn't imagine sending one man into a mission against god knows how many. But he saw determination from his eyes.

"Alright. But I won't send you alone. Take at least half of the men with you." Rayne ordered.

"I beg your pardon, Your Grace, but please, leave this all to me." Claude said, his defiance veiled by his pleading voice.

"What are you trying to prove, Claude?" Rayne countered, almost exasperated by his adamant insistence.

"I'm not trying to prove anything, Your Grace. I just said I can do this alone. Trust me. I will be back tomorrow with the last victim."

"And if you don't?" Rayne snorted.

"I will come." Claude insisted resolutely.

"We will see about that, then." Rayne uttered. "Be on your way."

"You'll see, Your Grace." Claude sneered and turned his heel around and headed for his mount. He sauntered confidently and rode off with not a single backward look. He knew they were watching him and he had to look confident to ease their doubts. None of them saw how he grimaced and bit his lip so hard for what he has gotten himself into.