"You let her go?" Ronin asked in disbelief. "Did you not think to consider my feelings?"
"Of course I did," Dugald replied. " 'Twas Channa Leigh's decision to go."
Ronin blinked, and blinked again. "I dinna believe you."
" 'Tis true nonetheless. I forbade it, but she vowed she would go. The wizard would accept nothing else."
"But... what will he do to her?"
Mara shook her head. Tears glistened in her eyes. "Sure and it would have been better that I died than she go with the lord of Darkfest Castle."
"Nay," Dugald said, quickly crossing himself. "Dinna speak of death."
"I canna help it," Mara said, and as if a dam had burst deep inside her, tears flooded her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She looked at the two men, no longer trying to hide her sorrow or her fear for her daughter's life.
"I'm sure she's well," Dugald said, discomfited, as always, by his wife's tears.
Ronin nodded. "Of course she is," he said hastily.
"But the stories..." Mara sobbed, unable to go on.
"Well, 'tis sure I am that they're naught but tales told to frighten children," Dugald said.
Ronin nodded again. "Aye, my mother told them to me oft enough when I was a lad."
Mara collapsed into a chair, her face buried in her apron.
Dugald looked at Ronin and shrugged.
"What do you really think he'll do to her?" Ronin asked, keeping his voice low so Mara could not hear.
"I dinna know. There have always been tales told of the lord of Darkfest Castle, but I've never known anyone who has actually come to harm at his hands."
With that dubious bit of comfort Ronin took his leave, determined to find out for himself how Channa Leigh fared at the hands of the wizard. She had been promised to him, and that made her his, as his horse and his crossbow were his. And he kept what was his.
It was a long walk up the mountainside. Time and again, Ronin ran his hand over the hilt of his sword. No man he had ever met could best him with bow or blade. No man would take Channa Leigh. She had sworn to be his wife, and a betrothal was as binding as a marriage; he would not share her with another, not even with the wizard of Dark-fest Keep.
The castle rose like a sleeping beast at the top of the mountain. Hewn of gray stone, it was a forbidding place, surrounded by tall trees.
Ronin paused when he reached the door, some of his courage deserting him as he gazed at the life-size wolf's head carved into the dark wood. It was remarkably lifelike, so much so that he wouldn't have been surprised if the creature had growled at him.
Chiding himself for his foolishness, he rang the bellpull, heard the sound echo and re-echo through the interior of the castle.
Moments passed. Impatient, he rang the bell again.
And then the door opened, and he found himself looking up into the face of the lord of Darkfest Castle.
"What do ye want?" the wizard demanded, his voice brusque.
"I've come for Channa Leigh."
"Indeed? Who are ye?" Darkfest asked, though he knew full well who the boy was.
"I'm Ronin the hunter," he replied, his voice overloud. "Channa Leigh is my betrothed."
"Come back in a year."
"Nay. I will take her away with me now." Ronin met the older man's gaze, refusing to be intimidated by the wizard's size and reputation.
"She is to be mine for this year," Darkfest said, his voice implacable. "I willna release her one day sooner." He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Be gone now, lest I turn ye into a newt."
A shiver of unease slithered down Ronin's spine, but he had come too far to turn tail and run. He was a hunter, a warrior, with a warrior's pride. Better to die with honor than be branded a coward.
Darkfest smiled faintly as he read the younger man's thoughts. Foolish youth, he thought, ready to die rather than surrender. Almost, he felt sorry for the boy. He could extinguish his life with the wave of his hand. It was a tempting thought, more so when he imagined the boy wed to Channa Leigh, taking her to his bed, planting his seed within her.
A wave of jealousy swept over him. Hardly aware of what he was doing, he had lifted his hand, ready to strike the boy down, when he heard Channa Leigh's footfalls on the floor.