Chapter 2

Godfrey brought the daughter-in-law in, and I confronted her with the evidence. She crumpled like a piece of wet paper. When Godfrey held her up, I noticed her wince, and directed him to remove her blouse. Not to my surprise, her back was covered with the same type of welts and scars as the slave girl's back had been.

"Who did this to you?" I demanded.

"My husband," she replied in tears. "I didn't want to do it, but he beat me until I agreed."

Estridge interrupted us again, on his return from checking the other rooms.

"My Lord, you need to see this also," he told us.

He led us to a rear room that he had just come from. The old wife lay on the floor. She had been beaten badly, and had died sometime earlier on the floor. When the daughter-in-law saw this, she screamed and fainted. We were returning to the front room when there came a knock on the front door. It was the cavalry sergeant. He saluted the Count.

"My Lord, we caught this one and two others trying to sneak out of the village." he said. It was the village chief's son.

"Put him in irons, Sergeant. Also the other two. I will deal with them shortly. Keep a guard on them," Count Henry ordered.

This whole time, I had forgotten about the slave girl who was the start of the whole thing. I asked Estridge about her.

"Where is the slave girl? How is she?"

"She's in the other room," he said. "You can see her if you like. She's in some pain, but able to talk." I entered the room to see the girl who was on her stomach on a bed of sorts. Her back was covered in yellow salve, and she was crying. As she saw us, she tried to rise from the bed, but pain overruled her efforts, and she fell face forward onto the bed again.

"Please," she moaned, "my baby! I need my baby. Who will care for her?"

"Your baby is being cared for by one of the other women," Estridge told her. "She will be fine."

I moved a chair over near the girl, and sat in it. I could now see her face, and she could see me also. She was a mere slip of a girl being only about five feet tall and thin, no more than 95 pounds. Small breasted and narrow of hip, but obviously not too narrow to have a baby. She had chestnut brown hair, large blue eyes, and a cute nose. She was certainly not more than 17 or 18 years old.

"Do you know who I am, girl?" I asked.

"You are the Executioner," she replied. "Am I to die, Master?"

"No, girl. I'm not here to punish you. Master Estridge assures me you will recover quite well. It will take some time though. But now tell me your name. How are you called here?"

"My name is Ruth, Master," she replied.

"Ruth, tell me why they were beating you when I arrived in the village."

"This afternoon, Brad, the chief's son, and his friends, wanted to take me into the barn to fuck me. I only had my baby two weeks ago, Master. I told them I was still too sore, and refused to go with them. Brad hit me, and one of the others took my baby. She started to cry. They wouldn't give her back to me. I tried to fight them, but I was not strong enough. Brad dragged me to the whipping post and tied me there. He started to beat me." Her breathing had gone ragged during the tale, and she was now crying.

"Ruth," I said, as gently as I could, "you have done nothing wrong. Brad is the one who has done the wrong. Poisoning his father, killing his mother, beating his wife - a free woman, and lastly abusing you, a slave girl. For all of these things, he will be punished, I assure you." Ruth looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Please Master, when can I have my baby back?" The wail in her voice was heart rendering.

"I'll check," I assured her. Outside, I spoke with Estridge.

"Ruth wishes to have her baby with her," I told Estridge.

"My Lord, she'll do better without the child to care for. She needs to heal up first," he insisted.

"Estridge, my friend, we have traveled many miles together. You know I'm not easily swayed or a fool for a woman. Please believe me, this girl needs that baby. It's the one thing in her life that is hers. She will get better a lot faster with the baby than without it. The child is her entire life. Let her have it. It will do no harm, I promise; and it's the human thing to do."

The baby was brought in. Ruth beamed when she saw it. When she went to rise from the bed to take the baby, the agony in her body dimmed her smile, but did not erase it. Estridge and I helped ease her to her side. The woman handed her the baby. As soon as she held it, she smiled at us, and thanked us. We covered her with a light blanket and left, for she had quickly fallen asleep with the baby in her arms.

Out in the main room, I discovered that the Count was in the process of becoming very drunk, very quickly. I checked with Godfrey. He assured me that all was well. The prisoners were secured, and would keep until morning. He had men on patrol around the village to insure that nothing went wrong. The Count would be all right tomorrow, hungover, but all right, he also assured me.

Dinner was being served under the tree where I had related the news from the capital. I returned to the village chief''s house after eating. It was late by now. My bedroll and saddle were there, as were Estridge's. I lay down by the fire and was soon asleep.

In the morning, I awoke with a crick in my neck. Estridge was beside me, snoring away. I staggered outside to clear my head, and take care of my morning business. Godfrey was there.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" I asked him.

"Oh yes, my Lord. I had a nice nap after getting things sorted out. We have a good cavalry unit," he assured me. He also told me that breakfast would be served shortly under the tree we had used yesterday.

I woke Estridge, saying only one word, "Breakfast". He went to check on his patients first. The village chief was weak, but doing better. Ruth still found it hard to move. He called one of the village women over and instructed her to help Ruth out of the bed and to the latrine, to watch the baby, and insure that Ruth was fed. Brad's wife was also doing well after her back had been treated.

As we were eating, the Count staggered out to join us. He looked like hell, and was definitely hungover. He sat across from me but didn't eat. He brooded instead. Estridge finished eating and left to attend to his patients. He was going to see anyone in the village who had a medical problem. Sick call if you will. Count Henry finally broke his silence.

"How could this happen?" he demanded in a horse voice, "So close to the Manor, and in a village where I know the people. The outer villages, they had some problems, minor problems; but here, my God, where have I gone wrong?"

"My Lord, in my job, I have observed that things go wrong in the best of families, and under the best of circumstances. It seems to be human nature. You have found the problem, and are correcting it as best you can. No one could bring the chief's wife back, remove the marks from the wife's back, or the slave girl. We should be thankful that we were able to stop it before things got any worse."