Free Knight Errant: A Highland Passage Novel by J.L. Jarvis Page B

at Robert. “Of course, ’tis not as refreshing as the River Earn, but it will have to do.” He glanced at his men. “Put her in it.”
    The men tied a rope around Violet’s waist and lowered her into the deep tubular hole. On the way down, she tried to climb back up hand over hand, but they dropped her suddenly, making her free fall the last few feet. One of the men warned her that if she didn’t untie the rope and send it back up, they would pull her back up and make her wish that she had.
    The leader smiled at Robert. “Oh, but we didn’t give you a chance to bid your lady farewell.”
    Robert lunged at the priest, but two men held him back. All he could do was glare.
    “Let him see her down there all alone—but unharmed—in the dark, lonely pit.” The scar-faced priest gave him a crooked smile. “Now, I believe our business is complete.” As he turned away and started to walk toward the village, he said, “Throw him over the edge.”
    Robert fought them, fueled not only by the drive to survive but for Violet, whose life depended solely upon his survival. They held no weapons, for they needed none. They struck with precision, almost too fast to be seen, let alone anticipated. Unlike any fighting he had seen, they used their hands as if they were spears or knives, then they jabbed with their elbows and knees. Robert had only his strength to oppose their uncanny speed and deft maneuvers, but he fought well. With his right fist, he landed a solid blow that sent one man staggering back. He followed with his left, while the others looked on as though entertained.
    When he turned to them, one of them turned sideways and kicked while the other flipped him over to land on his back with a grunt. Tasting defeat, not to mention the dirt, he imagined Violet languishing in that oubliette until she died a slow, painful death, and a rage roiled within him that brought him renewed strength. He looked up to determine where each man was, then he sized up their strengths and chose the one he had the best chance of defeating. With a bellowing cry, he lunged for him.
    But the others pulled him off their companion and used the momentum to back Robert to the edge of the stone wall that overlooked the ravine. He was bent backward over the ledge, his shoulders pressed hard by one priest while another grabbed his feet and upended him. By sheer force of will, Robert hung on and took the one holding him over the edge with him. The two fell, still struggling as they brushed past branches and twigs on their way down.

NOT FORGOTTEN
    T he priest landed with his back wedged where the base of a branch met the thick trunk of a tree. With his fall partly broken by his now-dead attacker, Robert fell back from the branch as leaves rustled and twigs snapped. He randomly grasped for anything that might stop his descent until a branch caught his doublet and held him suspended. He struggled to breathe before the branch snapped, and he fell to a nearby branch below, where he held on. Secure for the time being, he thought of Violet and steeled himself for the climb down from the tree. Sharp pain shot through his chest to his side, but he forced himself to keep inching his way down the tree. From branch to branch, he proceeded with battered hands and unbearable pain in his ribs. A wrong move could send him to his death and Violet to hers, so by sheer force of will, he kept on, despite the blinding pain. He arrived at the last branch, which was ten feet from the ground. On another day, dropping to the ground would have been nothing, but he had not yet fully recovered from having been poisoned, and now he was sure he had cracked at least one rib. The drop to the ground would be his undoing. But he had to get Violet. So he fixed his mind on what had to be done, and he let himself fall.
    He awoke, having passed out from the pain. How long he had been lying on the ground, he couldn’t tell. Slowly, he rose and climbed up to the castle. He took a long way