Tallie's Knight Part 25

return, siT " Ransom? " gasped Tallie."But you can't take him. He's too ill! He needs a physicianimmediately."

The bandit shrugged and turned away."No!" shouted Tallie angrily."I will not allow it!"The bandit turned and regarded her in faint surprise. He grinned, and a gold tooth glinted in the sunlight.

"You will not allow it?"

"No, I won't," she retorted defiantly, and moved to rejoin her husband.

"You will have to kill me before I allow you to kidnap my husband!"

"Be quiet, woman. Stay out of this," Magnus mumbled angrily. His skin looked white and papery, but there was a hectic flush across his cheekbones.

"I will do no such thing. You are in no condition to be dragged off to some horrid bandit lair in the mountains, and even if you were, I still wouldn't allow it!"

Magnus staggered and swore, dashing his hand impatiently across his brow, as if wiping off sweat.

"Hold your tongue and wait with John Black and Maguire."

"I have no wish to wait with John Black and Maguire. My place is beside my husband." And, with that, Tallie pushed one of the bandits aside and took Magnus's arm. She glared defiantly, first at her husband, who was ineffectively trying to detach her from his arm, and then at the bandit leader, who watched them both in amus.e.m.e.nt. He chuckled, then, sobering, reached out and effortlessly hauled Tallie to his side. Magnus lunged out to save her, but missed. Another ragged robber came and held him back.

"R'lease my wife, d.a.m.n you," slurred Magnus, swaying.

"Harm a hair on her head and I'll kill you."

The bandit leader's brilliant green eyes narrowed, and his grip tightened on Tallie.

"Oho, so the English milord cares for his wife, does he? And she for him? Good. A loving wife will ensure her husband's ransom is paid quickly and without fuss."

"You shall not take--' The bandit clapped a hand over Tallie's mouth.

"Take him," he ordered.

Tallie wrenched herself free with a cry.

"No! He is sick! He will die if you take him," she said

desperately."Then how would you get your precious ransom?"The bandit shrugged indifferently."It is a risk we will take.""It is not your risk! I will not allow it!"The bandit grinned."How will you prevent us, little English milady?"Tallie fumed impotently. She could not stop them; she knew it. But Magnus was swaying and shivering in the cold, and unless she did

something, he would die. And that she could not bear. She had to do

something!

"Take me instead," she said.

"d.a.m.n it woman, hold your--' Magnus's angry bellow was cut short as a

rag was stuffed in his mouth. Another man came to a.s.sist the two whowere already holding him."Take you?" said the leader, surprised. His green eyes narrowed."What game are you playing now?" He glanced at Ma- guire, who said nothing.

"No game," said Tallie.

"You clearly will not leave without a hostage.

My husband is too ill to go with you, but I am not. It is a perfectly

sensible arrangement. "

A m.u.f.fled roar came from Magnus. His eyes glared at her over the gag,

charcoal pools of rage and frantic worry in an unnaturally pale face.

"Take a woman hostage?" The bandit regarded her suspiciously, smoothing a finger over his thick, dark moustache.

"Is this one of your immoral English games, milady? You think it will be romantic to dally with a handsome bandit in the mountains, eh?"

Tallie was outraged.

"No, of course not!" she spluttered indignantly."How dare you suggest such a wicked thing? I wouldn't walk two stepswith you if I had any choice in the matter, but I will not let you takemy husband when he is ill!"

"But if he was well...?"

"Hah!" Tallie snorted.

"If he was well you would never have taken us prisoner in the first

place!" She cast a look of magnificent scorn at Maguire, and the silent gaggle of guards he had hired to protect them.

"My husband would never have surrendered without a proper fight!"

To her astonishment the bandit leader winked at Maguire.

"All right, then," the bandit said, 'we take you with us and leave your loving husband to arrange the ransom. "

Magnus surged furiously, but was held down by his captors.

Tallie swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. She had not truly thought the bandits would agree to take her, and she was suddenly terrified.

But she had offered herself, and there was really no choice after all,

she told herself. And the sooner they left, the sooner the others could get Magnus to a physician. She squared her shoulders and stepped forward to speak with her husband, whose eyes glowered over his gag, angry, desperate and fevered.

"It's all right, Magnus. I am happy to do this." She swallowed again.

There seemed to be a large dry lump in her throat.

"Please try not be angry with me. I could see no other way... And if... if I..." She swallowed again.

"If I should not see you again--' Magnus shook his head, furiously chafing at his bindings.

"Please, my love, I... I do not want what may be our last moments... Oh, please, do not be angry with me." Tears filled her eyes as she laid her hand on his cheek. He stilled, his eyes boring into hers in a silent, frustrated message. She tried to tug his gag away, but it would not budge, and the bandit beside him growled an incoherent warning, so with trembling lips she reached up and kissed him fervently on an ice-cold cheek.

"I love you, Magnus," she whispered, and clung tightly to his body, as if she would never let him go.

"Enough," said the bandit, and with another kiss Tallie released Magnus, tears spilling down her cheek.

The bandit regarded Magnus for a brief, solemn moment.

"She will not be harmed," he said at last.

"We are bandits, si, but we do not harm women." He took Tallie by the arm and led her away.

"Mais, non, non. You cannot take milady into the mountains," cried Monique, suddenly aware of what was happening.

The bandit ignored her and kept walking.

"Elle est enceinte!" shrieked Monique in desperation.

The bandit froze. He glanced at Tallie's face, down at her stomach, then at her face again. She was gazing at her husband, her eyes filled with a mixture of joy, anxiety and entreaty. The bandit did not need to ask; her stomach might be flat, but confirmation of her maid's story was there in her eyes, for all the world to see.He swore long and violently, released Tallie's arm in disgust andstamped across to Maguire. An argument ensued, in a language Talliehad heard somewhere before. She stared at the arguing men and the truth suddenly dawned. It was Gaelic. A maidservant at Miss Fisher's had been Irish, and had taught Tallie a few words.

"You betrayed us, Maguire," she cried.

Maguire started, looked across the small rocky clearing at her and

shrugged in a manner which uncannily echoed the bandit's.

Tallie noted the way the two men were standing and her eyes widened in sudden suspicion.

"He ... he's your brother," she accused.

"He has the same long, thin face and the same nose... and your eyes are

green, too, only not so..." Her voice tailed off.The bandit turned and grinned, his gold tooth glinting in the light."Correct, milady," he said in perfect lilting English."The Maguire brothers at your service. I am Antonio." He bowed."And my little brother, Luigi."Tallie ignored him. She turned to the erstwhile majordomo."Why, Maguire? Why did you do it?"Maguire sneered and shrugged."The wars are over and a man must earn his living somehow. And we have no love for English lords. It was an English lord who hanged our father and grandfather, an English lord who drove us from our homeland--' His bandit brother interrupted, " And English lords who have provided us with a steady income since we took to living in the mountains like our mother's people. " He glanced from Tallie back to Magnus.

"But it seems we will get only the pickings of the baggage this time, for it is one thing to hold a man to ransom, but if an English lord died on us we would have the authorities hounding our every footstep. And I do not kidnap pregnant women."

He turned and shouted orders, and the clearing suddenly became a hive of activity as the bandits packed up every portable item that could possibly be of any value.

"Adieu, milord," said Maguire the bandit.

"I envy you your wife--she is your real treasure. Au revoir, bella donna." He took Tallie's hand and kissed it lingeringly, quite as if he was a gentleman born and not a ragged mountain robber. In moments the banditti were gone, Maguire the younger and his false guards with them. The others watched them go until no echo of their leaving remained in the cold mountain air.

Tallie rushed to relieve Magnus of his dirty gag and bind t ings. He spat the gag out, gasping for breath, and tried to say something, but his knees buckled beneath him and he sank to the ground, clutching at Tallie as he did so.

"Oh, help me, please," she cried to the porters.

"Let us be gone from this dreadful place immediately. I must get my husband to a physician at once. Quickly, we must go!" She turned to beckon to one of the men but found her wrist caught in a hard, feverish grip.

"Don't ... leave ... me," Magnus grated hoa.r.s.ely, fixing her with a wild, agonised stare.

"Not... leave... Not--' He collapsed, insensible.

"Signora, the fever has broken." The dapper silver-haired physician bent over Tallie, speaking in a gentle voice.

Tallie stared up at him dazed, blank incomprehension in her face.

"It means your husband is over the worst," the physician explained.

"He will be well soon. A week, perhaps, before he can get up. He needs to rest." He looked at her and his face softened.

"And so do you, signora. You are exhausted."

Tallie blinked at him as his words slowly sank into her tired brain.

Magnus was going to get better. He would live. Tears flooded her eyes as she turned back to the still figure on the bed beside her. Magnus was breathing more easily now, and his skin was drenched with sweat.