The Bloody Quarrel (The Complete Edition) by Duncan Lay Read Free Book Online

say where.”
    He turned away and she saw him clench his hands into fists, before beckoning to Ely and rattling off a long string of Kottermani.
    “Through the city to the fields outside the walls,” Ely translated.
    “Then let me fetch a hat and water and we shall leave,” Bridgit said calmly.
    Ely’s eyes were wide with terror and Bridgit added a little snap to her voice. “Tell him!”
    Ely gabbled the message and Gokmen let out a roar of frustration, but Bridgit refused to be hurried. If she obeyed everything he said then she was handing all the power to him. And if someone had done something wrong, she needed every bit of help she could get. The memory of what he had done to Sean and Seamus would never leave her. But every time a thought came to the surface, her other worries dragged it back down into the depths.
    Gokmen was nearly apoplectic by the time she was ready and charged off up the street. Bridgit set her own pace, which was much slower and resulted in another torrent of angry Kottermani.
    “It is too hot for me to walk fast,” she told Ely with a calm she did not feel.
    It was of course also a chance to see as much of the city as possible. The place was a rabbit’s warren and any chance to understand better how its streets flowed had to be taken.
    None of this put Gokmen in a better mood by the time they got outside the city and into the fields, where a pair of Gaelish women were kneeling in the hot sun, surrounded by guards.
    From the expressions on many of the guards’ faces, Bridgit could guess what they thought the punishment would be, and she felt sick. She pushed that down ruthlessly. The women were not from Baltimore but she recognized them as mothers from Killarney.
    “What is going on here?” she demanded. “Get them out of the hot sun! Do you want to kill them? They will be ruined as slaves if you treat them like that!”
    But Gokmen had obviously had enough. “They tried to escape!” he roared, pointing at the two women.
    “That cannot be so,” Bridgit said, keeping her voice soft, and quiet. “They know what is at stake and that their children are at risk. Let me ask them what happened.”
    The two women turned towards her, hope and fear warring on their faces.
    “We weren’t running! We just needed a piss but the guards wouldn’t let us go. We just wanted to go away from the fields, not on the crops,” the younger said urgently.
    Bridgit tapped Ely on the arm. “Tell him that,” she instructed. “Make it clear that they were doing it to protect the crops and the people who would be eating them.”
    Ely nodded and spoke to Gokmen, before receiving a blast of Kottermani.
    “He doesn’t believe them,” she said.
    “They must be punished. They know the sentence. Five guards each,” Gokmen said roughly. “No one will try it again once they see that.”
    Bridgit would never have taken that from Fallon and she was not about to accept it from another man, even if he was a slave master. Instinct took over. “Now listen here!” Bridgit stormed closer and jabbed him in the chest with her forefinger. “If you had already made your judgment, why call me out here?”
    “To explain it to the others,” Gokmen growled down at her.
    Bridgit crossed her arms again. “You are wrong and you will not punish these women,” she snapped.
    Gokmen shook his head. “You are not in charge here. They will be punished and, if you argue, then you will share their punishment.”
    She took a deep breath. Part of her wanted to bow her head and agree, crawl away and go and lie on her mattress. If those men raped her then that would be the end for her baby. They could not harm her unborn child. That thought blazed through her head and the Bridgit who had hidden Kerrin and then gone out to fight took over. They would not harm her child. She had no weapon this time but her wits and courage. That would have to be enough.
    “Wrong,” she countered. “You will release them and escort me back to the