The Earl's Keeper

Seventeen - Mine

William cursed and muttered profanities as he found himself in a junction betwixt the back allies.

Slum housing encased him as if he were in a great maze. Just how far did the chit run? He groaned as he made a decision and took the right.

He hadn't gone far when his throat seized up as he heard the sharp cry of a woman ring out. The sound piercing through the heavy air of the back streets. His gut instinct told him he already knew who it was.

Mia!

His legs pounded the soft dirt beneath him as he turned back towards the direction of the sound. William dodged and weaved between the few people milling about as they threw him curious glances. Until he heard the same cry and found a slip of a quiet side road not far from where he had initially taken. As he turned the corner, the sight before him triggered a torrential wave of pure, blinding rage.

A scruffy dishevelled man had Mia pinned up against the wall. Her face crushed sideways against the brick, and a knee forced between her legs. His hands roaming all over her body, and his intentions crystal clear. He was hoisting up her skirts, and searching for a way in. She struggled beneath his weight as the bastard breathed hotly into her face. The acrid stench of liquor and vomit making her nose curl up with disgust. She had almost gagged herself if fear had not frozen her.

Mia's mouth had been silenced with her attackers hand. She could feel his dirty fingers foraging for her flesh. Refusing to give up, instead, she lifted her knee with a staggering force and caught the filthy man right in the crotch. He chocked out a startled cry and hissed in pain, momentarily loosening her from being pressed to the wall.

"I'll treat you extra nice fer that yer little half-breed wench!" His throat gurgled the mixture of raspy tones that grated the ears unpleasantly.

He was just about to lunge at her, when Mia did not know what happened next. One second she was against the wall with the dastardly villain before her, the next, something rocketed into his side and sent him zipping past her and tumbling straight to the floor.

Two figures now tussled on the ground. The much larger of the two stood up, dragging the filthy bugger with him.

"William!" Mia uttered in disbelief. Her voice rising to a high pitched and surprised squeal.

He looked back at her for a moment, his eyes dark pools of abyss and filled with rage. So much rage.

"You piece of shite!" He roared at the man, and proceeded to bloody his face with a blizzard of well aimed punches. "That-" punch, "was-" punch, "my-' punch, "bloody-" punch, "Wife!" Punch.

He laid into the man with as much force as he could muster, until he heard a cry of protest behind him. Mia stood, almost shaking, against the wall. Her grey eyes large and round, and horrified, as she took in the sight of the bloodied pulp of a man. Her hands covered her mouth to muffle her cry. It sobered him instantly. To see her looking at him like that. As if...he was a monster.

William threw the would be attacker away from him with disgust. The man slumped wordlessly to the ground, unconscious.

"The bastards alive, if that's what you're worried about." He mumbled, trying to contain his fury. Pulling out his handkerchief, he began wiping his hands of blood and grit.

He frowned as pain zinged through his right hand. He'd busted a knuckle on the cretins face. Great.

Mia couldn't take her eyes off the disfigured profile of the other man. Lying in a messy heap on the dirt. She never did see something so vile this close to her eyes. Father had always protected her from this side of life as best as he could. She couldn't believe William a man capable of something like that. She had always thought him harmless. How she had misjudged his wrath.