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Chapter 16: Teresa
I felt completely awkward and self-conscious walking back into the main room with Ryan following me, helping me carry the food into the room. I watched as the men ate heartily, devouring everything that I had prepared. My spirits rose too when I saw that all but Arthur dipped their goblets into the wine to drink. I smiled inwardly, knowing that tonight was their last night to live. To my dismay however, Arthur never touched the wine. He stayed alert and watched as his men excused themselves to go sleep.
Finally, it was just the two of us. I had stayed in a corner, watching them silently as they ate. Now Arthur stood up and made his way toward me. Before I could move, he had grabbed my arm and was now dragging me up the stairs to the second floor. Apparently, they had already done their share of touring the house while I had cooked for them and he made his way to the master bedroom, locking the door behind us. He finally threw me across the room and I crouched on the floor, terrified of what he'd do to me. "I see that Ryan and Jacob had their fun with you," he chuckled quietly, indicating to my battered and still naked body.
He went to start up the fire and soon the room was lit brightly, casting off strange shadows onto the walls. "Now, it's my turn."
I whimpered slightly as he forced me to the bed and let him have his way with me. I knew that now wasn't the time to fight. He was too awake and alert. I could only hope that a chance would come later…
I woke up in terror the next morning. I hadn't even realized I'd fallen asleep. I could hear Arthur downstairs raging. I knew he just found the others lying there dead. I scanned the room, trying to find anything that would help me in this last fight. I didn't have enough time though because the next thing I knew, Arthur had come up behind me and was now holding me up from the hair. "You little bitch!" He screamed as he threw me across the room.
Before I could recover from the impact against the wall, I felt him beating me incessantly. I grew numb as he kicked and tossed me around the room, venting off his anger and yelling obscenities at me. He knew he was lost and this was his final payback. No one had come from the village to the house and that had meant that they'd lost there too. He was desperate to at least leave something behind before being killed himself by the villagers. And his intent was to kill me.
He drew his sword. "Nothing's going to give me more pleasure than watching your head roll off your body." His face had turned white with anger and his eyes blazed. He raised the sword above his head and I took my chance.
I dodged the oncoming sword, feeling it hack off some of my hair but I didn't care. I rolled off to one side and grabbed the poker from the fireplace. The two of us circled each other. I was tired and he knew it but he still wouldn't overestimate me. He had already done that too many times and all had resulted in great losses.
Thankfully though, he grew impatient at waiting and went in for a jab. Once again, I was able to elude his attack and jabbed him with the hot iron. He roared in pain as the blood ran freely from his wound on his left arm. He grew careless and this was to my benefit. His accuracy greatly decreased and I found myself giving him more wounds to scream about.
Somehow, I found the energy to keep going and knocked his sword out of his reach. As he went to reach for it, I heaved with all my remaining energy and plunged the poker into his gut. I stood back, panting before turning to go. Pain raced up my leg though and when I turned back around, I saw that he had taken a dagger and thrown it in one last feeble attempt. He had another dagger and threw that as well, this time lodging it into my side.
Biting back the pain, I slowly made my way to his sword. I felt my body protest as I hoisted the blade and went to his body. Anger filled my body as I watched his life leave him. I took the sword, angling it for his throat, and went for the kill.
My body had had enough though, and I lost consciousness.