Godiva: Unbridled Page 11

  Thomas backed away from the window, but almost simultaneously, the giant man had kicked in the door. It banged on its hinges, knocking over a dress form as the hulking figure entered the tailor shop. Thomas scrambled to the back of the shop, but with no rear exit, he was trapped unless he could get around this muscular man who advanced on him.

  “You made holes, to watch!” he grunted, his thick accent menacing. “Deviant!”

  Thomas sidestepped around the sewing tables, eyes fixed on the front door. But the wide bulk of the man hardly fit inside the small shop with all its tables and equipment, and he pushed it aside as he made his way toward Thomas, the narrow shafts of light from the many holes cutting across his face.

  “Holes in all shutters!” the man shouted in his guttural voice. “Fool! To steal glance at noble woman!”

  The man was upon him then. Faster than his size would have suggested, the leather-clad giant took three fast steps and grasped Thomas around the neck, throwing him to the floor. On his way down, Thomas grabbed for a pair of cutting shears, but before as he jabbed them into the man’s forearm, the unyielding weight of the giant came down on him, and he heard his shoulder snap. Howling, he rolled to the side, but the huge man flipped him onto his back, popping his shoulder back into place. Thomas cried out, screaming in pain and terror as the warrior pinned him to the floor, holding his legs with one knee, his chest with one arm.

  “No respect for law,” said the man, his face dangerously close to Thomas’. He spit out a cork that was in his mouth and brought a bottle to Thomas’ lips. “For your eyes, only darkness.” The bitter liquid poured into Thomas’ mouth and he spat it out, but not before choking on some that went down his throat. The weight of the man lifted, and immediately was gone. Stunned, Thomas tried to sit up but sickness overwhelmed him and he curled back to the floor, his stomach rejecting the poison, retching and choking and wailing from the pain. He tried to slide himself away from the bitter smell of the liquid that he’d spat on the floor, from where he’d been sick, but could do no more than roll over, and face the open door. Moaning, trying to speak through the heaving of his guts and the gasping of his breath, his eyesight grew blurry, then dim. Words wouldn’t form, his mouth felt numb. In desperation, he reached to his neck and brought the whistle to his mouth, blowing into it as his eyes went dark and he lost consciousness.

  Godiva wasn’t even aware of her naked state, she was so keenly attuned to all her surroundings. She glanced down every side street, every passageway that she and Thomas had discussed as a potential escape. There weren’t numbers of men stationed at every block like she’d feared, no soldiers lined the street that in her wildest fears she’d imagined. It was simply the town, eerily quiet and absent of people. When she got to the center intersection, where Merchant Road intersected Hill St. she saw the giant horse that the big man had been on, but she didn’t see the man. She looked around suspiciously, half expecting him to lunge out from a hidden area and grab her right off her horse. As she came to the end of the road and saw the blacksmith’s yard, she knew this was almost over. Trying not to glance over at the tailor shop, she noticed that the big man was standing in front of one of the windows, staring straight ahead as she rode by. Her brow knit into concern. Why was he standing there? Then just as she rounded the corner to the smithy’s yard and was readying to command Niklada into a gallop, Leofric rode up from the side yard behind the blacksmith’s shop. He got close enough to grab the cheek piece of Niklada’s bridle.

  “Leofric,” she said, startled. “I will not go back. I’m leaving, right now!”

  “I know,” he said. “I saw you, the other night. When you came to plan your escape. I thought that you might come under the cover of darkness. So I’ve spent the last week or so sleeping in the guard tower of the arch.”

  “Let me go, Leofric.” Godiva reached back to the tassels, quickly fastened her cloak. “I have to leave here, now!”

  “Edwin will not let you go so easily,” Leofric said. “You must come with me. I’ve arranged a place for you to go, where you can stay in safety.”

  “I have a place to stay in safety.”

  “I saw the man you were with. Who is he?”

  “It’s not your concern.”

  “You loved me once.” Leofric moved his hand from Niklada’s bridle to lay it on Godiva’s hand. “I thought if you ever left Edwin that you would come to me.”

  “Leofric… I cannot…” A door slammed in the distance and Godiva turned her head toward the road. “Did you hear that?” Leofric shook his head.

  “Godiva, you must listen. The knight that Edwin hired is ruthless. He will find you wherever you hide. He will track you in the forest, in the woods, in the fields. He does not sleep. He does not tire! You must come with me. It is the only way you can escape.”

  A crashing sound followed by a wailing scream made her gasp. “Thomas!”

  “Godiva, we must go, now! He will come for you. He will come for me too, once he knows that I’m helping you escape.”

  “I don’t need your help, Leofric!”

  “Godiva, you do, you must follow me, and fast. Come now, make haste!”

  The not-so distant, screeching whinny of the knight’s giant horse pierced the silence and Leofric rode away. Godiva looked back at the road, knowing it wouldn’t be empty for long. What was that scream? Had it been Thomas? Or was her mind playing tricks on her? She leaned into Niklada, watching Leofric as he gained distance.

  “Niklada,” she cried, tightening her legs on the mare. “Geh! Go, run!”

  The horse broke into a gallop, and Godiva held on with all her strength as they fled across the field toward the west. In her mind—or was it real—she swore that she could hear the whistle that Thomas had carved for them, carrying on the wind that blew past her as she rode away from town.

  I truly hope you enjoyed this book! Please leave a review or contact me jennydare@outlook.com

  Author’s Notes:

  Who knew that the Lady Godiva legend and the Peeping Tom story were entwined? I didn’t, and finding out was what let to my writing this novel. Please take to heart; this is a very fictional story. Some of the names and places have roots in fact and in history. But very soon after the names and places, the historic accuracy ends and entertainment takes over. Even the accepted Godiva tale is much debated, and the story widely told today is most likely enriched with details added throughout the ages depending on cultural and social themes of the time. For a nice historical breakdown of the “real” Godiva story, there are many sources on the Internet. These notes are to dispel any belief that I intend to retell history, as that was never my goal with this story. Rather, I saw two characters that play a part in our pop culture even today and I thought it would be fun to put them into an alternate situation.

  The middle ages are much romanticized and if we kept to historical accuracies in our entertainment, it really wouldn’t be much fun. Every time I see a period movie or TV show where the actors are sparkling clean with shiny, well-kept hair and perfect, gleaming white teeth I roll my eyes and grimace at first, then just get on board for the ride. We all like to look at pretty things, right? So I took some creative liberty with this story as well. I completely acknowledge: this book is rife with anachronisms. In medieval times, bathtubs and bathing in general certainly wasn’t a daily thing, but it leant such a wonderful element to the story, I decided to mix in a little 19th-century luxury to an 11th century setting. But I also loved some of the historical things I learned as ideas came to me, and the shaving method with the seashell is actually pretty accurate. Look it up. It’s good stuff.

  As for Godiva herself as an historical character, once I started writing Unbridled, I then did a little reading on her (in that order) and I was having internal battles with the character I was creating versus the character she actually was. Fiction, right? But I couldn’t quite separate everything, so I changed some pretty big things in this story. In history, Godiva was married to Leofric, the Earl o
f Mercia. In this story… her husband is his brother. Still the Earl of Mercia, but a bit of a person swap. I’ve got lots of reasons for doing that, which may or may not come to light if this series goes on beyond this single novel. As for Thomas, my “Peeping Tom” character, he is also much changed. The addition of Peeping Tom in the Godiva tale would have come much later, 18th century from what I’ve read whereas here, he’s a main character right there in the middle of the year 1025. So again, plenty of anachronisms, but all in the name of entertainment.

  This all said, take it for what it’s worth. I certainly mean only to entertain, stretch a little creative muscle, spread a little love (or sometimes a lot, and frequently, depending on the scene) and ultimately, I hope this is a small escape that you, as the reader, have enjoyed. My sincerest thanks to all who have read this book, and I welcome any feedback. As a writer who normally plays in a much different genre, this has definitely been an interesting and lovely place to visit. Please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon, as reviews do contribute so much to the success of a book and it will also give me a barometer as to the interest of continuing this as a series.

  Click here to return to chapter 1