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The two robbers laughed. Wulfric could hear Anna gasping for air. It felt like his insides froze solid at the thought of Anna being raped by them.
“If you let her go now, I’ll let you live,” he said in as calm a voice as he possibly could.
“You wouldn’t dare...” the man holding Anna and the pouch began, but before he had said anything else, Wulfric had jumped from his horse and taken his own knife from him.
Wulfric shoved Anna to the ground, then stabbed the man with his own knife. He turned around just in time to see the other man, attacking him from behind with the spear. He avoided it, hauled the man up and threw him to the ground, then took the spear from t and stabbed him with it.
He looked around panting, searching for Anna. She was half sitting, half lying on the side of the road. He reached her in two quick steps.
“Are you alright, Anna?” he said breathlessly and crunched down next to her. Anna only looked at him with wild eyes. He gently tipped her head back to look at her neck. She had a small line where the knife had been, but it was not a deep cut and it hardly bled.
“You’re bleeding,” Anna said and put her hand on his throat.
Wulfric instinctively felt the spot that she was touching, then looked at his fingers. He was bleeding, more than her, but still it was not a lot.
“Lucky for me that they don’t know where the coronary artery is,” he said and tried to smile.
He was still so shocked about the fact that Anna could have been taken from him in an instant, that he was not able to control his breathing. He wanted to hold her tight but did not know whether she would appreciate that. He helped her up from the ground. He felt Anna’s legs shaking.
“Are you able to stand on your own?” he said, still holding on to her.
She nodded but was about to collapse when he let go of her. Wulfric quickly put his arm around her to support her. It felt completely right to be standing so close to her. Like she belonged to him. The two men had even assumed that she was his wife. He glanced in the direction of the two dead men. Their faces would haunt him tonight he knew, but he could not have done anything other than what he had done.
“Are you okay?” Wulfric asked again and looked at Anna. She looked up at him.
“No,” she said. “I’m not. They wanted to rape me and kill the two of us...”
She started to cry uncontrollably as she said it. Wulfric held her firmly. She hid her head in his chest and put her arms around his waist. Wulfric felt bad for enjoying it, but he did. He liked that she wanted him to comfort her.
“I would never have let them harm you,” he said in a mild voice and had to control his impulse to kiss her hair.
“But you did not even look at me,” Anna said, while still crying.
“I wouldn’t be able to concentrate if I saw how distraught you were. I’m sorry. All I wanted to do was to get us out of the situation as smooth as possible,” he said.
Anna looked at him and wiped her tears with one hand, while her other hand was still resting on his back. Wulfric wondered whether this was an appropriate time to kiss her. He was lowering his mouth to hers, when he looked up again. He heard the carriage behind them. They both turned around and let go of each other.
The driver and Joana both jumped from the box.
“What happened?” Joana said with wild, curious eyes.
“Why don’t you help lady Harold to the carriage and make sure, that she is comfortable?” Wulfric said to her. Joana nodded and supported Anna back to the carriage. Wulfric and the driver helped each other drag the bodies from the road. Wulfric took their weapons and his pouch back.
“We’ll alert the bailiff in the next town,” he said as he tied his pouch to his belt again. He got hold of his own horse and examined its legs, while the driver did the same with Anna’s horse. Luckily both horses had not been injured by the string across the road. Wulfric removed it and looked around. Besides the two dead men everything looked like a forest path normally would.
He nodded to the driver, who tied Anna’s horse to the back of the carriage. Wulfric held his own horse by the reins as he walked over to see how Anna was doing. She was staring into thin air.
“Lady Harold? We're ready to go now.” Wulfric said in a soft voice. “How are you doing?”
“I just...” Anna said but could not go on.
“Perhaps Joana should sit with you in the carriage and keep you company?” Wulfric suggested.
Anna turned her head and looked at him.
“I’d actually feel safer if you were sitting in here,” she said.
Wulfric thought about it for a long moment. There was no way that he could sit right across from her right now. He felt restless due to the fight, and the lust from earlier was still present in his body.
“I’ll ride,” he said. “Joana will keep you company if you want her to.”
Anna shook her head and leaned against the back rest of the carriage. Wulfric felt a pang of panic. What if he had offended her so much that she would never speak to him again? Then he shook his head and mounted his horse. There was no way, that he could be sitting in the cramped space in the carriage with her right now. Not without reaching for her and holding her tight. And that might offend her even more than him refusing to ride with her in the first place.
“We’ll stop when we reach the next inn,” Wulfric said as the carriage started to rumble along. “That way you’ll have plenty of time to rest.”
“But you wanted a long day of travelling today,” Anna said and moved to look at him through the window of the carriage. Her eyes looked like they were made of glass.
“Of course not, not now,” Wulfric said as he rode alongside the carriage.
“I don’t mind that we go on,” Anna said and looked away.
“Let’s see when we reach the next inn,” Wulfric said diplomatically, and she did not argue with that. “Try and get some sleep.”
“It’s impossible for me to sleep in this heat,” she said.
“You were sleeping before...” Wulfric began but was silenced when he remembered the sight of her legs.
Anna did not respond and leaned back again. Wulfric was about to ride in front of the carriage when she leaned forward again to look at him through the window.
“Are you sure, that they won’t come back?” Anna said.
“The two men won’t come back. They’re dead. As for other robbers... I doubt it. I even find it strange that they were here, this close to the town. They most have been desperate.”
“Maybe there are other desperate men...”
Indeed, like himself, Wulfric thought.