Free Captive Rose by Miriam Minger

glancing nervously at the captain who stood beside
her. "I have come in his stead to administer your treatment."
    "I am glad," Guy replied, still shocked by
her unexpected appearance. His eyes swept over her. "I was beginning to
wonder if you were ever coming back."
    God, she was beautiful! he thought, noting her look of surprise. Her dark blue linen head veil framed her
oval face, emphasizing features as delicate and ethereally lovely as an angel's.
Only the long, looped braid hanging well below her waist made her appear
earthbound, for her hair was not blond but a glossy black, and so silky he
longed to reach out and touch it.
    He restrained himself, knowing he might well get his
hand lopped off if he did. Instead he had to content himself with looking at
her and inhaling her rose perfume. Yet why was her expression so somber?
Something was wrong. He could see anxiety in her huge, violet eyes.
    "The captain has just given me some grim news
which I must impart to you," she said, as if reading his thoughts. "The
governor's messenger who was sent to Acre over a week ago with your letter of
ransom is dead."
    Guy tensed. "Dead?"
    Leila nodded. "Some Bedouin herdsmen found his
horse wandering in the hills northeast of Acre. The messenger's body was lashed
to the saddle, his throat cut. The Bedouins guessed he'd been dead for several
days, judging from the stench and the look of him, exposed to the hot sun, the flies
. . ." She was unable to finish, her lips pressed together. She looked
slightly ill.
    "When did they find him?" Guy watched as she
lifted her chin resolutely, swallowing hard before she answered.
    "Two days ago. The herdsmen have only arrived in
Damascus within the past hour to return the body to Governor Mawdud . As you can well imagine, the governor's anger is
great." She cast an agitated glance at the man next to her. "The
captain was ordered to give this news to my master as soon as he arrived at the
prison, but since I am here, he insisted I should tell you now rather than wait
until Sinjar Al-Aziz was also present."
    Guy felt an icy coldness growing in the pit of his
stomach. "What about the letter of ransom—"
    "It was not found on the body."
    Guy absorbed this news, his mind racing. If the
messenger no longer had the letter, then it must have been stolen, or lost.
Surely it could not have been delivered to Edward. He and Guy were as close as
brothers. Edward would never . . .
    A chilling realization struck him. "The governor
thinks Edward had the messenger killed, doesn't he? That it's Edward's way of
saying he refuses to pay the ransom."
    Leila was amazed. The crusader's perceptive response
was hardly what she would have expected after the enraged shouting she had
heard from him just before she had entered the cell. Hardly what she expected
from looking at him, either.
    He appeared even more the barbarian with his dark,
heavy beard and dirty sirwal . His slightest movement
screamed the strength he possessed, proof of his swift recovery since she had
last seen him. She also sensed a desperation in him which made her very
thankful for the guards' wary protection. She had no idea why the crusader
would have been demanding to see her, but she certainly wasn't going to ask
him.
    "I do not presume to know the governor's mind,"
she replied, "but yes, so this unfortunate event could be interpreted. Yet
Governor Mawdud —"
    "You tell your high and mighty governor for me
that Edward wouldn't leave me to rot in this stinking prison!" Guy stated
fiercely. "For one thing, he's no cold-blooded killer like the butchering
lot who set upon us in the Lebanon mountains . Thieves
could have murdered the governor's messenger, native Christians, rival Arabs,
anyone! It matters not that the letter of ransom was missing. There is no proof
that Edward ever received it."
    Guy's vehement words echoed in the small cell and
thundered into his brain. He felt he was fast losing control. He glanced at the
open door, weighing his