The Lady of Skye (closed)

Kitty felt her stomach drop painfully as Oliver appeared, releasing her husband from his cell. She didn't run as she wanted to. She knew that they needed to face this head on and together. If her husband had once been a decent man, then he could be one again. She had to believe that.

Tamblin surged forward and snatched Kitty's arm to drag her up the stairs. Several people who saw them pass by immediately went to hide away and tried not to make any mistakes that might incur Tamblin's wrath. As they came down the hall towards their room, they came across Ashelin. Seeing the madness and how he dragged Kitty along, Ashelin's anger overcame fear. "Tamblin, let her go!" Ashelin demanded and came to try to pry Tamblin's hand from Kitty's arm. All she got out of it was a dizzying blow across the face that made her crumble when her knees went weak and she couldn't see straight. Tamblin continued on past her with Kitty and practically tore their bedroom door open.

Kitty gasped in pain as Tamblin surged forward and grabbed her by the arm in a brutal grip. He jerked her along the staircase and through the great hall on his way towards their chambers. She saw terrified servants hid from their king as he terrorized their queen. She stumbled a few times, the palms of her hands scraped on the stone floors as he continued to drag her.

"Tamblin! Stop!" She screamed at him, Ashelin trying to stop him until he slapped her across the face and sent her to her knees. "Tamblin! Please stop! Love, think about what you're doing!"

Tamblin was deaf to Kitty's pleas, and once he had her in their chambers, he spent the next few hours taking every liberty from her that he could take, ending it with a severe beating that left Kitty bruised and even a bit bloodied. He'd struck her before, but this was outright assault and he didn't stop until she lay naked with a bleeding nose and lip, covered in dark bruises on their bed. He nearly broke the door off the hinges on his way out and it slammed shut behind him. From there, he went to the cellars and that was where he would remain for the rest of the day and night. Two men and a woman entered during the course of the day, not knowing Tamblin was there, and found themselves beaten half to death.

It was Ghell who came to find Kitty not too long after Tamblin had gone, fearing for her life.

Kitty struggled to get away, beating at her husband's strong shoulders. Soon, though. She was reduced to screams for help that echoed along the corridors of the keep. Of course no one came to help the queen of Inverness. The screams stopped as her voice grew hoarse and the will to fight left her. She simply lay there, wondering what had happened to her husband.

When Ghell came into the room she didn't stir. Her eyes were open, staring at the fireplace as she hugged her knees tightly against her chest. There was only one thought on her mind and it wasn't for her.

"Take the children away from here." She murmured, trembling as those words left her lips. "Please, Ghell."

"Ashelin and Warwick are trying to do just that," Ghell murmured. "But Oliver's men won't let them leave..." Everything had gone back to the way it'd been in the midst of Tamblin's madness in the span of a way. "But they won't let anything happen to the children." He wanted to do as she asked, and he could have if there were only one or two children. He could've scooped them up and run south until he was within the safety of the king's lands. But with five children and with his devotion to Kitty, he couldn't manage it. Warwick and Ashelin couldn't do it either with Warwick's ruined leg and the fact that Ashelin could never outrun Oliver's men.

Ghell wrapped a blanket about Kitty's shivering form, kneeling before her. "Seamus is going to slip away tonight... I'll try to get the children out with him and hide them in his cart."

"When they're with Brian and Marianne, I'll go to Skye. He wouldn't follow me there. My parents would throw him out." Kitty said softly, wincing as the blanket scraped across her bruises and cuts. "Send Brogan and Selena with Seamus. Take Ciaran and Cole yourself. Let Ashelin and Warwick care for Durban."

"I'll do what I can... but I have to take care of you first." Ghell knew it'd cause her pain and he was as careful as possible as he scooped her up and carried her to a nearby spare room where he could tend to her and let her rest on clean sheets in the quiet. He could do little for the bruises, but he could tend to the cuts and blood. By the time he was done, he'd helped her into a light nightgown and tucked her into the bed. "Rest," he murmured, unwilling to leave her side. He was just like Seamus and Marius, always putting her well-being above any other responsibility.

Kitty's sleep was plagued with nightmares even though Ghell was there the entire time. When she finally woke again, she felt exhausted and she was in pain. Instead of hiding away, however, she dressed herself and let the people of Inverness see just what Tamblin had done to her. She wanted the rumors to flow and she wanted him to face the wrath of his people. It was the least he deserved.

There were a few unattached people who packed up and left that very day, unwilling to face Tamblin's wrath twice. There were others with families who began preparing to leave. However, the majority were outraged and were not about to give up their beloved land and homes, and certainly not about to stand for the horrible treatment of their beloved queen. A revolt was brewing, that much was certain.

Come nightfall, Seamus was allowed to leave by the guards, but Ghell was caught trying to sneak out a window to meet Seamus with Brogan and Selena when Brogan began to cry. Ghell was arrested with no lack of physical brutality and thrown in the keep's prison to await Tamblin's judgement. Seamus, meanwhile, was run out of Inverness, forced to flee on horseback without the chance to take his possessions with him. Ashelin and Warwick were unable to try anything under such heavy guard and scrutiny, and so resigned themselves to caring for the children and trying to convince Oliver to let Ghell free to help them. Oliver was in control now, and it seemed his men had been just waiting in the shadows to regain their positions. The men in the dark cloaks were back and they had a chokehold on Inverness in a single day.

The next morning, Tamblin emerged from the cellars with a minor hangover and a foul mood, ignoring or fending off anyone's attempt to speak to him with a murderous glare. He had only one intent, and that was to see his firstborn and make sure the boy was still there and not being turned against him. For Durban's sake, no one dared stop Tamblin and make him angrier. Thankfully, Durban was the single person treated with any semblance of gentility by Tamblin, and Tamblin refused to part with him.

Kitty tried her hardest for those she loved the most but it seemed their plans were doomed to fail. The children remained with Ashelin while she healed from her attack but there was one person she would see released no matter. Kitty gathered her courage to find Tamblin and she was surprised to see Durban playing at his feet.

"I don't ask for much." She said softly sd she looked at her husband. "But I would like Ghell released back into my service. As much as you dislike him, Tamblin, he cares for our children and he saved Brogan's life."

Tamblin was sitting at his desk in the room he'd previously slept in separate from Kitty, and he turned to fix her with a dark glare. "'E's outlived 'is usefulness... if y'want 'im, ye'd better make it clear t'him tha' if he tries anythin' behind my back again, I'll 'ave his hide fer a rug." He reached to his belt and detached a key from his keyring and threw it to the floor in front of Kitty. "Give th'key t'Oliver when yer done..." He turned back to his work, but paused to see Durban going to his mother for her attention. He didn't like it, that much was clear, but he didn't stop the boy. If there was anything he still held onto even in his dark mind, it was love for his son.

Kitty bent to retrieve the key, lifting Durban into her arms and holding her son tightly. It did her heart good to know that he still needed her. She kissed his dark hair, turning to leave Tamblin to whatever he was working on.

"We'll have a cuddle in bed once we're done." She murmured to Durban as she passed by the shadowed figures in the hall on her way to release Ghell.

When Kitty came to Ghell's cell, she found him laying on the floor looking absolutely ripped up and beaten. Oliver hadn't been any kind of gentle with him, and even though Ghell's fur hid most of the evidence, there were clear lashes across his back. He was awake, but moving from where he'd been thrown into the cell hurt far too much. Laying on his stomach, he turned his head slightly to see Kitty. "I tried..." he murmured.

"I know." Kitty said softly as she placed Durban just outside the cell door before she entered it for herself. "He's allowing you to stay."

It was all she could say because there were people listening. She knew that Oliver wasn't far away, watching the both of them closely. She helped Ghellto his feet, supporting him as he gained his bearings. As they slowly moved from the cell, Kitty paused and offered the cell key to Durban. Oliver wouldn't dare touch Durban and it was the only thing Kitty could do to spite her husband and the shadowy figure that lurked.

Durban took the key without really understanding what was going on, but he kept it close. Oliver wasn't too far behind them as they left the prison. He left them be once they were out. Once they reached Ghell's room, the wolf sat down on the edge of the bed, biting back a growl of pain. Durban seemed to know he was distressed, and climbed up beside him. Ghell looked to Kitty then, "I'm sorry, Kitty..."

"Don't be sorry." Kitty said softly as she helped to tend to Ghell's injuries as Durban sat beside the wolf with a very concerned expression on his face. "There's nothing to be sorry about. You tried. That's all that matters."

"I'll find a way to try again, Kitty, I promise," Ghell murmured, gritting his teeth when she pressed the bandages over a particularly painful area of his back. "I'll find a way to get you out too..."

"No." Kitty said softly as she finished patching him up, pulling back to look at the wolf that meant so much to her. "Ghell, he'll kill you. He would probably kill me..."

She wanted to say that he might even kill the children, but with Durban sitting there, she didn't say it. She gently took Ghell's hands and held them tightly, letting out a sigh.

"I need you here with me. Probably more than you could ever know." She admitted.

"I'll remain as long as you need me," Ghell promised her softly, sitting forward to pull her into a gentle embrace. "You know I'd do anything for you." Despite being brought on by Tamblin to defend the family from the outside world, Ghell had been attached to Kitty from the first moment and had defended her and her children from absolutely everything he possibly could inside and out of the keep. If it was out of romantic love, Ghell hadn't said it yet, but it was definitely some kind of love whether familial or not.

Kitty held Ghell tightly, her dear friend the only anchor that she had in her strange life. She needed him there with her and she desperately needed Tamblin to leave them all alone for a while to heal. The children needed their father. She had touched him once before. She was almost convinced that she could do it again and perhaps they could be the happy family that they all needed.

When they emerged to gather up the children with Ashelin and Warwick, Selena was quite upset as her father had completely ignored her in favor of Durban, and Cole and Ciaran looked quite terrified even at the mention of the man. So much work had been reversed.

Kitty did her best to take her children's minds out of the situation and to make sure that they were happy. It meant the world to her that they had good lives and that they were cheerful. However, she knew she would have to confront Tamblin about how he treated them all. It was not a fight that she looked forward to in the least.

Tamblin kept his distance at all times, giving Kitty few chances to even catch a glance of him. It was several days of walking on eggshells around the usually half-drunk king before Kitty saw him sober after breakfast, but definitely angry and hung over. He was sitting on one of the small benches in the east wing drinking water and chewing herbs to chase away the splitting headache.

Kitty decided that day that she would confront her husband. She found him hung over, looking miserable and dark as she stopped in front of him with folded arms across her chest.

"Tamblin." She said softly. "Look at me, love."

She refused to speak until he had looked at her. "Where have you gone?" She asked him once his dark gaze was on her. "Where is that man that loves me and of his children?"