Feu Sauvage: A Sequel to Flamme Éternelle

Double, Double Peine Et Trouble

"There's a village just south of here where many still practice pagan religions," Bash said as he and Mary rode along at a steady pace down a winding path through the woods.

"Why would they do that?" Mary asked, believing that those who didn't follow the church would go to hell.

"It's their faith, Mary," Sebastian said. "These regions are peaceful and produce a good deal of wood and furs that the palace purchases. We let them keep their faith because they work so well this way."

"So it's an alliance between religions," Mary nodded; she understood matters of state.

"Yes. And hopefully they'll be inclined to help us," Sebastian cast a sideways glance at the queen of Scotland. She stood out like a gem in the mud, which she was in the wild of the forest. "What do you have on under that?"

"Beg your pardon?" Mary asked, startled.

"Well, you aren't very well disguised..." Bash smirked.

"I wasn't aware that I would have to be hiding my identity," Mary shot back.

"The people we are going to see aren't fond of people from court," Bash paused, unsure of what else to tell her.

It was then that Mary noticed the difference between her attire and Sebastian's. He had changed from regal, well-made jackets and pants with strong leather boots into a hand-spun shirt and pants with older riding boots. She was wearing a riding dress that was embellished along the neckline with gems and gold thread, her hair was done up with expensive gold pins and her riding boots were new and hardly broken in.   "Well what do I do? It's not like I brought a change of clothes-" Mary was silenced as an arrow whizzed past her cheek. "Get down!" Sebastian dove for the reins on her horse and steered them away at a gallop. Trees flew past them as Sebastian tried to evade their attackers. More arrows followed them, along with the sound of snapping branches and crunching leaves as their attackers ran after them.

"Bash. Bash!" Mary cried as she fell from the racing horse and tumbled through the underbrush.

"Mary!" Bash yelled, trying to turn the horses around. But they were frightened and going too fast to stop. He and the horses sped away into the forest, leaving Mary Queen of Scots on the ground in a heap.

Mary held still, hoping that her attackers hadn't seen her fall, but she had no such luck; they found her. Two men grabbed her and pulled her sharply to her feet, pinning her arms behind her back. Mary stood tall, her chin high; a queen did not struggle or show pain. A woman stood before Mary, her skin was not nearly as fair as the Queen's and her face was disrupted by a series of scars on her cheeks and forehead. They were three interlocking swirls; a Celtic knot, but Mary was not very familiar with that particular knot.

"Queen Mary," the woman said, a small smirk on her lips and an amused tone in her voice. Her accent betrayed her as not being Scottish or French, but other than that, Mary could not place it.

"You know my name, but I don't know yours," Mary replied coldly.

"That is none of your concern; I don't give my name to untrustworthy people," the woman replied, turning and motioning for the men to follow her. They did, dragging Mary with them.

"How do you know if I'm not trustworthy? We have not met before now," Mary continued.

"We don't need to have met. You are royal, a member of the court; one of a circle of backstabbers claiming to be friends," the woman mused. "I don't need to know you."

"But you know of me."

"I do, but everyone knows who you are."

"How is it fair if you know who I am, but I don't know who you are?" Mary demanded.

"Life isn't fair, Queen Mary," the woman replied, closing the subject to further discussion. Mary had the feeling that the woman used Mary's title only to patronize her.

Unsure of what else to do, Mary trudged along through the woods with her captors, praying that Sebastian would find her. She knew she would not be able to escape; she was outnumbered three to one and her arms were locked behind her back in vise-like grips. Mary prayed to God and whoever else was listening that someone would find her and help her; she needed to get back to the castle or Francis would start to worry and her lies would be uncovered.

Farther off in a clearing, Sebastian had finally calmed the horses down enough to turn them around and start heading back. He could see the path that the horses had trampled, but he had no way of knowing where Mary would be.

This was bad. Very, very bad. He needed to find her and quickly or France and Scotland would be looking for new queens. Bash made his way back to where they had been attacked and dismounted from his horse. Where had they gone? There were signs of a struggle where Mary had fallen, and footprints of three other people near there, but after that, it looked like they had flown away. Bash looked around, if it was the people that he and Mary had been going to visit who had attacked them, he knew exactly where to find Mary. But if it had been someone else, Mary could be anywhere. Bash shook his head and looked up through the tree branches towards the gods. 'Please help me,' he thought.

A storm was brewing in France, starting over the Royal palace and spreading to cover the country. Lightning flashed in the bruise colored clouds and thunder rolled like deep, ominous laughter. Mauvais could see the separated lovers in the woods in her mind's eye, both pleading for divine help; she would intervene soon enough, but for now, she had a French prince to seduce.

Author's Note

Hello, my lovely readers! I'm so sorry that it took me forever and a day to update, but I've been very busy. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully it won't be another three months before I update. Please vote and comment to let me know what you thought of this chapter! xox