Shipwrecked (22 page)

Chapter Fourteen

“She’s a witch!”
Jonathan Arbor yelled, hatred seething from his mouth as he kicked dirt into
Anna’s face.  “She tried to bewitch me with her evil powers, and when I was too
Godly for her, she went back to the damned Scots that brought her here!”

“I did nothing to
you, Jonathan, and you know it!  Let me explain!” she begged the villagers to
believe her.  “I’m not a witch!” Anna screamed in vain tears of frustration
staining her face as she implored Jonathan and the small crowd in the town
square to listen.

I did nothing
to you but embarrass you when I ran out and didn’t marry you.  That’s why I’m
in here…because you couldn’t stand the humiliation of being denied by a woman
that you thought you had paid for. 

Anna fumed
silently, the rage and hatred for Jonathan now boiling in her blood.  She knew
that her words were futile against his vengeful attack.

“Don’t listen to
her lies,” Jonathan warned the crowd of onlookers that had gathered, being
drawn to the excitement of a witch trial.  “She bewitched him too,” Jonathan
said, pointing at Rowan where he was shackled at the edge of the square.   “She
pulled him from certain death at sea after
she
caused the
Mary
Catherine
to sink with a spell.  She pulled him out of the ocean because
she needed his help in a plot to bewitch all of Williamsburg!”

The crowd gasped
collectively, and in response, a smattering of mud and garbage rained down on
Anna.  There was no escape from the furor of the crowd, and all that she could
do was bow her head in defense as the putrid offerings pummeled her face and
body. 

She had been tied
to a large oak tree in the center of the town square to stand trial for being a
witch.  Her trial consisted of Jonathan Arbor spewing his lies in front of the
magistrate, with no opportunity for her to tell her side of the story. 

Anna was certain
that she was going to die; her only hope was that it would be a quick death,
and nothing long, drawn out or overly painful

Anna’s eyes
flashed over at Rowan, whose wrists and ankles were shackled with heavy irons. 
He was restrained on either side by the hands of one of Jonathan’s soldiers,
and exuded an air of controlled rage that caused Anna’s heart to beat faintly
with hope.           Rowan’s green eyes flashed cautiously towards her, locking
with her own for a split second. Anna’s heart skipped a beat. The courtyard
fell silent to her ears, Jonathan’s lies were quieted, and Anna was comforted
as she looked briefly into the eyes of her lover.  She smiled, ever so slightly
at him.

I love you.
 
She chanted the words over and over in her mind.

“Even now she
bewitches him still!” Jonathan’s voice boomed, condemning the energy that
thrummed between Anna and Rowan across the courtyard.  “The only way to free
this poor man’s soul from her evil is for him to watch her burn!”

The crowd roared
in approval, and Anna’s heart sank.  Not for fear of her own death, but for how
Rowan’s heart would be ripped out if he was subjected to watching her burn at
the stake.

Anna noticed Colonel
Murdock approaching the crowd, and she glared at him, causing him to look away
with what she thought was a hint of shame.  This was the first time that she
had seen him since she left Jonathan’s home and escaped with Rowan.  He knew
that she was no witch, and yet he stood silently at the edge of the crowd,
allowing Jonathan’s madness to carry forth. 

An inhuman sound
startled Anna, and she watched breathlessly as Rowan harbored the strength of
ten men, pulling free from the soldiers who restrained him, and ran
purposefully through the crowd, shackles clinking wildly,  face contorted with
rage. 

The crowd parted
sporadically, and people shrieked as they jumped to get out of Rowan’s path. 
He knocked Murdock to the ground and reined punches down on his face, shackles
clanking loudly as Murdock’s blood covered his fists. 

The middle aged Colonel
was no match for Rowan and he curled up defensively beneath the warrior, hands
trying in vain to block his face from Rowan’s blows.  Rowan pressed the chain
of his shackles tight against Murdock’s neck, choking him as he sputtered and
squirmed.

“This is for Mairi!”
Rowan screamed, possessed by his rage as he tried to choke the very life out of
Murdock. 

Jonathan’s men
were upon him now, pulling him off the Colonel, dragging him away as he fought
with every ounce of his being to get at Murdock again.

Anna stood in
shock, not understanding what had just happened. 

Murdock stood,
purple color draining from his face as oxygen rushed back into his body.  He
straightened his uniform and brushed the dirt from his pants, scowling at Rowan
from under his bushy eyebrows.

“I thought you
went down with the ship.  Did your brothers survive as well?” Murdock asked
vindictively, eyes locked with Rowan’s.

Rowan did not
respond, his chest rose and fell raggedly with the effort of his breathing.  He
stared at Murdock, intent on finding a way to free himself again so that he
could finish the old man off.

“I guess I’m to
blame for booking your passage on the same ship.  You wouldn’t have met
otherwise,” Murdock sputtered as he rubbed his neck which was bright red from
Rowan’s assault.

Rowan’s eyes grew
wide as he put the pieces together quickly.  His eyes flashed at Anna in
understanding.  Her eyes were wide with horror as she too solved the puzzle.

Murdock had booked
both of their passages to the New World.  The same man who had raped and killed
Mairi had brokered Anna’s betrothal to Jonathan Arbor.

“Jonathan informed
me that Miss Stanton didn’t hold up her end of the bargain, choosing to bewitch
a man with her evil powers.  It never occurred to me that you might be that
man,” Murdock said as he studied Rowan, still trying to collect himself after
falling victim to Rowan’s explosive rage.

“It’s Mrs.
Murray,” Rowan corrected Murdock through gritted teeth.  “And ye ken damn good
and well that the she is no witch.  Ye were the one that
bought
her for
him, and accusing her of being a witch will tidy up this mess!”

Murdock’s eyes
skittered nervously from side to side, scanning the crowd to see if there was
any hint that they might believe Rowan’s accusations.

“No rational man
under his own control would attack his superior in such a manner, especially
when he is shackled and outnumbered twenty to one!” Murdock seethed,
embarrassed that Rowan had nearly choked the life out of him in front of a
crowd of onlookers.  “It is clear that she has possessed you, she forced you to
do her bidding right before our eyes!” he shouted, seeking to rile the crowd
again.

The crowd took
Murdock’s bait and shouts of “Witch!” and “Repent!” rung out heavy in the air
as their fervor intensified.

“I am a forgiving
man,” Murdock said loudly to the crowd as he approached Rowan.  The soldiers
tightened their grips on Rowan’s upper arms, seeing that his muscles were tense
and ready for another attack as Murdock ambled towards them.  “I spared your
life once, and I’m willing to do so again because I believe that you were
powerless to resist Miss Stanton’s evil magic.  I’ll allow you to live out the
remainder of your life and indentured slave, as was my original offer, but only
after I do you the service of beating her spell straight out of you,” Murdock
said, voice now escalated with viciousness.

“Ye make a play at
givin’ me mercy when it is ye that shall need tae beg for mercy come judgment
day,” Rowan seethed.  “Now it’s not only Mairi’s blood, her life on your soul,
but ye stand by in silence as they convict Anna of a crime that ye ken damn
well she didna commit.  It is
you
that shall rot in hell, Murdock,”
Rowan proclaimed as he spat on the ground, challenging Murdock to carry forth
with his punishment. 

“Remove his shirt
and tie him to the post!” Murdock barked at the men restraining Rowan. 

Rowan did not
fight them as they removed his shirt, and he walked bravely to the whipping
post with his chestnut head held high, holding Anna’s terror ridden gaze for a
split second before allowing the soldiers to bind his shackled wrists to the
post.

“No!” Anna
screamed as she fought her restraints.  “Leave him alone, Murdock!”

Murdock ignored
her pleas.  He would not be bested in front of his men, and he intended to
teach this reckless Scotsman a lesson.  He could not risk having the true
nature of his dealings back in England and Scotland being exposed. 

Murdock clenched
his jaw with the exertion of snapping the whip and splaying open the skin of
Rowan’s back.  The force of the blow pushed Rowan’s body forward against the
post, but he withstood Murdock’s lashing in silence, teeth gritted together as
the whip slashed open his skin, trails of blood raining down his back to stain
his pants.

The pain of the
whip was so intense that Rowan’s knees felt weak, for an instant he thought
that he might fall from the blinding pain.  He focused his mind on Anna and
shut out everything else, using her as a talisman against crying out.  He would
not shame her by crying out.

Rowan’s silence
enraged Murdock further, and he brought the whip against Rowan’s bloody back
with increased fervor.  “Cry out, Murray!  Break the spell that the witch has
cast upon you!” he screamed, face reddened from exertion as he continued to
crack the whip against Rowan’s back.

Rowan remained
silent, muscles now trembling in response to the intense nature of his pain. 
Sweat poured down his brow as he fought to remain silent, and it mingled with
the smell of copper that now hung heavily in the air; the smell of his own
blood.

Fearing that he
would kill Rowan, Murdock stopped abruptly and dropped the whip to the ground. 
He was enraged that the Scotsman had not cried out, yet he did not wish to have
the burden of taking another life resting on his soul.

 He had not meant
to kill Mairi, and her memory tormented him still.  He remembered her eyes,
desperate, fearful and full of hate as he took her, and in a moment of madness
with his fingers tight around her neck, he had squeezed the life from her
body. 

It was her death
that had caused Murdock to spare the lives of the Murray brothers.  The look in
Mairi’s vacant eyes peered directly into his soul, condemning him to an
eternity in Hell.  Why had he killed her?  It had been an accident, it had
happened before he even realized what he was doing; a moment in which he seemed
to be functioning outside of his own body. 

Grasping feebly at
redemption for his sin, Murdock had granted mercy to the Murray brothers; opting
to transport them to the Colonies rather than kill them on the spot. 

Murdock’s
shoulders heaved with the effort that it had taken to whip the Scotsman, his
breathing was ragged and sweat poured down his brow.  The weight of his sins
bore down on him fully now; his lust had taken the life of Mairi, the maid
betrothed to the eldest Murray brother, and he was about to take part in the
murder of another innocent woman: Anna Stanton. 

Murdock’s eyes
shamefully found Anna’s hollow gaze across the small courtyard.  Tears streamed
down her cheeks, and she stood stone faced, helpless against the restraints
that bound her to the tree. 

Murdock knew that
he had taken advantage of the penniless, yet proud Miss Stanton at her moment
of greatest weakness.  Greed had motivated him to coerce Anna into marrying
Jonathan Arbor, knowing that Arbor would pay handsomely for a wife of such high
breeding; even if her family was now out of good fortune.

His eyes traveled
back to Rowan Murray, back flayed open and struggling to remain standing by
leaning against the post to which he was tethered. 

Shame boiled up
inside of Murdock when he took in fully what he had done.  This poor man had
suffered enough already, likely having lost most of his clan in the uprising,
losing his home at Murdock’s expense, and being transported to the Colonies. 
Murdock was ashamed at what he had done to the young man, and realized that his
soul needed redemption more now than ever.

“Take him to my
quarters and tend his wounds,” Murdock barked, eliciting a look of bewilderment
from both guards standing next to Rowan.  He rose to his full authoritative
height and bellowed, “That’s an order…snap to!”

Knowing that it
was unacceptable to question their superior, the guards made haste to untie
Rowan from the post.  His knees gave way, and one of the large men caught him,
wrapped Rowan’s arm over his shoulders and helped him to walk.  The effort of
this exertion proved too much for Rowan, and he blacked out, his head lolling
forward on his chest.  The second soldier hoisted Rowan’s other arm over his
shoulder, and together, they half drug him away.

“You’ll not
understand this now, Arbor, but release her too,” Murdock asserted, nodding his
head in Anna’s direction.

“See!  She has
bewitched the Colonel too…right before your eyes!” Jonathan marveled for the
excitement of the crowd, whose fury began to intensify in response.

“She’s no witch!”
Murdock challenged Arbor, his voice authoritative as he faced the crowd.  “Get
you all home, there’s nothing else too see tonight,” he warned the crowd, who
stood fast.  “Untie her,” he said sternly, daring Arbor to defy his order.

“You can’t be
serious, Murdock?” Jonathan questioned, panicking at Murdock’s sudden change in
demeanor.  Although the Colonel was his superior, he had paid him handsomely to
acquire Anna’s betrothal, and he expected this alliance to hold fast.

“I said untie
her…that’s an order!” Murdock snarled, hatred for Jonathan boiling up in his
veins.  Murdock had been enchanted by Arbor’s riches and his ruthless desire to
make his way up the ranks of the military through whatever means possible;
honest or not.