The Devil of Nettlewood (The Anarchy Tales) Read Online Free PDF Page A

could not be soft in a hard world.
    Dawn broke. Whilst he brooded on the deaths of innocents and the remedy for future such massacres, a flash of movement caught Spur’s eye. A heartbeat later, a bare-breasted young woman glided past him like an eerie specter. ’Twas as if she never saw him.
    But he spied her. At least he thought he had.
    To clear his sooty vision, Spur blinked, then blinked again.
    There could be no mistake. Despite the improbability of it, there she was, heading toward the bonfire in the middle of Lord Harold’s devastated courtyard.
    How could this be?
    No one had survived the fire. He had checked the settlement twice. The thoroughness of his search left Spur with but one conclusion to draw.
    The brazen, half-naked woman was a camp follower, most likely the female companion of the mercenary commander in charge of this destruction.
    What else could he think?
    She wore no coif, a symbol of modesty in women, and she had about her an indecent air, a wanton air her half-garbed state only emphasized. She looked ill-used, pawed. Fucked . He recognized that look. Prostitutes who worked the London stews carried the same air of abandonment. Dull to her surroundings, she wandered about, seeking out her murderous lover, no doubt. All mercenary leaders had such sluts at their disposal.
    “Filthy whore,” he muttered under his breath.
    In light of her fraternization, she would get no consideration from him. Lie down with wild dogs, rise up with fleabites. ’Twas Spur’s practice to eradicate all vermin on contact.
    After retrieving his blade, Spur went after her, a loping stride that closed the gap between them in short order. He came alongside her, so close he swore he could almost smell the mercenary leader’s cum on her, so near he did see the discoloration of the cur’s fingers on her pale skin. Her nipples, praiseworthy in size, showed the vestiges of her lover’s caresses. The marks adorning the distended tips were fairly fresh too, still red and angry, as if she had only just recently finished rutting with the cur. A celebratory fuck after wiping out a whole village of innocents.
    Some more innocent than others.
    In the course of his search, he had discovered a newborn babe cradled in his mother’s arms, fire melting their flesh together for all eternity.
    Spur’s jaw jutted beneath his helm. Jesus! His urge to strike out, to lash out, to strangle with his bare hands the coldhearted bastard who killed infants could not be denied.
    Where is he? Where is the guttersnipe who did mass murder here? Drawing and quartering is too good for the monster.
    Quickly now, before he lost his only connection to her thug lover, Spur overtook the half-naked whore. A gloved hand on her bare arm, he swung her around to face him.
    At another time, in another place, her features might have mesmerized him. Lovely, symmetrical, and with more than a hint of intelligence, the composition of her face only repelled him in the here and now.
    And still his cock stirred.
    Not with desire. Even the thought was repugnant. He could never desire an accomplice to slaughter. Nay, his cock stirred with something else.
    Vengeance.
    The raw passion of retaliation cried out for release.
    Here was someone on whom to vent his bloodlust. He shook with the righteousness of the punishment he would mete out.
    Mail armor gauntlets encased his hands. The press of steel studs against her soft skin would most certainly pain her. With grave deliberation, he dug his fingers deeper into her silky flesh.
    Scream, whore, scream!
    But nay. Thwarting him, she made not a sound, not even a pained whimper, but stared silently up into his helm’s guard, slack of jaw and vacant of expression.
    Her glazed-over brown eyes moved him not at all.
    Naturally she would look dazed—her mercenary lover had no doubt abandoned her. Her lost and bewildered mien, as if she had not quite grasped the enormity of her participation in murder, combined with her rogue lover’s