Love Will Find You: The Knights of Berwyck, A Quest Through Time

by Sherry Ewing

  He had just closed the door wondering where Ella could have gone when he heard his name being yelled from down below. He ran to the stairs to return to the hall, hoping upon hope that nothing had happened to Ella.

  Hearing Katherine and Riorden in a heated conversation caused Killian to halt his hurried stride across the chamber.

  “Nay, I will not hear of it, you stubborn woman,” Riorden yelled. “You shall not leave this castle, let alone its grounds, to go traipsing about the countryside in your condition!”

  “Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I’m an invalid, Riorden,” Katherine fumed with hands upon her hips. “Besides you can hold my hand the entire time if you’re afraid of losing me.”

  “You are going to be the death of me, my love,” Riorden sighed before yanking her into his arms and holding her within his embrace.

  “No I won’t and you will let me accompany you,” she answered reaching up on her toes to place a kiss upon his cheek, “because you love me.”

  Before Riorden could answer, Killian interrupted them. “Do ye have some news of Ella?” he asked.

  Riorden shook his head. “Nay, not from any of the guards.”

  Confused, Killian looked between the pair. “Then why are ye calling me as though ye have found her?”

  Katherine turned putting her arm around her husband’s waist before giving Killian a bright smile. “I have a feeling I know where she’s gone.”

  Chapter 14

  Ella pulled at the small boat she had kept hidden in the bushes for years. She had been this way on more than one occasion, although it had been some time since she had been on a pilgrimage to say her prayers. In her future life, she had never been one to go to Mass on a daily basis. In reality, she rarely went into a church, although she still believed in a higher being. But living in the twelfth-century changes a person and attending Mass every morning had become a normal occurrence when she had lived with her husband. If she had not been present during Mass, her people would have thought this odd since she was the lady of Hull.

  As she pushed the boat into the water, she held on tight to the edge before jumping inside and taking up the oar. ’Twas just a short trip across the waterway to the other side and yet the current was strong on the Coquet River. She would need all her strength just to steer the boat and keep it true to her course.

  Killian would know by now she had left the safety of the keep and would be furious with her. But she needed this time unto herself to get her thoughts together on where her life would now lead her. She would beg his forgiveness in the hope he would understand her plight and the turmoil her heart was in.

  Leaving the castle grounds unnoticed had been no small feat. ’Twas as though God had given her a sign when a timely distraction caused one of the guards to leave his post near the postern gate. This allowed Ella to quickly slip through without anyone’s notice. She had been relieved for the opportunity presented to her. She was in no mood to deal with Killian’s anger, nor Katherine’s pleading to use their chapel instead of where she was now headed.

  Making it across the river, the boat bumped into the shore and Ella jumped out narrowly missing her step upon the bank. Her balance faltered and she almost fell backwards into the water. Yet, she righted herself in time and once more tugged the boat up onto the shore. Taking a rope anchored to a bolt, she tied her small vessel to a nearby tree. No sense in taking chances her one way to return to the other side of the river would somehow find its way back into the water to float away and leave her stranded.

  She grabbed a bunch of wildflowers she had quickly gathered on her frantic flight from Warkworth before making her way through the trees. She knew this path well and memories of when she had pulled a half-drowned woman from the river flooded her mind. She had been so afraid the poor lady would not last the night and yet she had lived. ’Twas the day her friendship with Katherine had begun… two women stranded in time, although Ella had not shared such knowledge with Katherine. Both women should have never found their way to twelfth-century England in the first place, and yet here they were, each living their lives as though they had always belonged here.

  Ella found the entrance to what Katherine had said in the future was called the Hermitage. As far as Ella was concerned, the place was little more than a cave. Yet someone had already made what she had considered an altar for her prayers and a place to light a fire to take the chill from the place. She knelt down by the hearth and saw someone had been there at some point since her last visit given the amount of wood and kindling located in a nearby basket. She found the flint she had kept there and began working on a fire. Before long, she had an adequate blaze going. She took off her cloak, grabbed the bouquet, and then placed it on the altar. Kneeling, she began to pray.

  With an earnest heart, Ella prayed for her family whom she had not seen in many years. Did they still search for her or was Time fickle and to them mayhap they had only seen her but yesterday? She begged for their forgiveness for wanting to stay in this place and time so that she, too, could find love. She begged for the forgiveness of her sins, especially in failing her son.

  Faramond… A mother’s love ran deep and yet how would she ever learn to forgive her son’s betrayal? How could she have failed so horribly in his upbringing that her son cared more for his position and the gold in his coffers than he cared about the woman who gave him life?

  Simon… Ella said a prayer for the man who saved her from uncertain doom in the twelfth-century. She supposed she did him wrong far worse than any of her other sins, marrying him while staying loyal in her love to another man.

  She frowned at the memory of Simon answering a summons from the king and word reaching her that her husband was accused of treason. Confused, she turned to her grown son to find the cause for the king’s belief that Simon would have done such an offense. Yet, by the time Faramond reached London, ’twas too late. He returned with his father’s body to bury in the family cemetery. Simon was barely in the ground before she confessed her origins to her son, who threw her out of his life as though he was tossing out the refuse. She shuddered and prayed for Simon to forgive her.

  Henry… she had loved him for so very long, and had dreamed of returning to his side for thirty years. Was it really just yester eve that their paths had crossed only for him to not have even the slightest idea of what they would one day mean to one another? She prayed for him to forgive her for all that would never be.

  Killian… Within one heartbeat her feelings had changed so much so that she was now in love with another man other than Henry. Aye, she loved Killian, may God above forgive her for that too. She had spent so many years traveling near and far just to pass time ’til she could be reunited with the one man she had thought she had crossed time for. How ironic was it that she was on the threshold of meeting him when she finally faced the truth that the man she crossed Time for had been waiting at Berwyck all along?

  She was a fool because only a person who was daft in the head would take so long to discover the man she truly loved with every breath she took had been right in front of her every single time she wandered to Berwyck’s gates. She prayed that Killian, too, would forgive her for being blind to all the wasted years they could have shared together if only she had opened her eyes to see the possibilities loving him would offer.

  She prayed for strength. She prayed for the safety of those she loved, both in her past life and those in her present. She prayed for…

  Ella raised her head and peered into the darkness beyond the light of the walls surrounding her. Something was out of place and yet she was unsure what noise had alerted her enough to disturb her vigilant prayers.

  She held her breath as a dark shape took the unmistakable form of a man at the entrance. She smiled, knowing Killian had found her. She stood, ready to welcome him and finally profess the love she felt for him in her heart. Yet her face fell when the man came into the light of the room and her heart faltered at what fate now had in store for her.

>   “Hello, mother,” Faramond sneered. “’Tis time for you to come home.”

  He stepped forward with rope in hand, even as Ella let out a bloodcurdling scream. Yet, she knew no one would hear her for none knew her whereabouts. Faramond laughed causing Ella to feel faint knowing she was now in his hands. May God above help Killian find her, for he was the only one who could save her now.

  Chapter 15

  Faramond struggled getting his mother out of the boat and onto his horse. ’Twas sheer luck he had come across her figure in the early morn as she scurried from the nearby castle. He had followed her at some distance to watch where she might be headed without escort. When she pulled a boat out of some bushes and made her way across the river, he had backtracked and tossed a coin to a fisherman who ferried him across the water. Following her footsteps had been easy enough since she did nothing to hide her tracks.

  “Let me go, son,” Ella declared, her voice sharp. “There is nothing you can gain by taking me hostage and returning me to Hull.”

  “On the contrary, mother,” he answered as he touched his heels to the side of his horse putting the steed into a canter. “The king has plans for you and if I can deliver you, he has promised to reward me.”

  “The king wants me at court? I hardly see what His Majesty would want with an old woman.”

  Faramond laughed. “He does not want you for himself, madam. King Henry has made an arrangement of marriage for you. I understand ’twill be a contract that will earn him a great advantage and will serve him greatly.”

  “M-marriage? T-to whom?” she stuttered. She swayed in the saddle and he made a grab for her before she fell and he would have to go through all his efforts to get her back on his horse.

  “Does it matter? ’Tis of no import to me whom you are to wed. Suffice to say your king demanded I return you to Hull. Once we return home, I shall send a runner to London to inform him that you have willingly agreed to his wishes.”

  “I have agreed to nothing!” she fumed. “How dare you treat me thusly? I am your mother and deserve your respect.”

  “You deserve nothing, witch! Do you honestly think I have easily forgotten your crazy talk of being from the future? Do you think I have forgiven you?”

  “You are still my son,” she yelled, causing the birds in the treetops to take flight.

  “Then as your son, I am also lord of Hull and you shall obey me and the king’s directives as to your future.”

  “You cannot do this to me, Faramond. Please, I love another.”

  He pulled on the reins of his horse and tugged on the ropes ’til his dame faced him. “Think you I care who you love? Love is for fools. Coins and obedience to the crown are all that matters. My reward will be great and I will finally be able to claim my heritance that has been denied me.”

  “Denied you. You are the rightful heir to Hull,” she cried out. “How can the king deny you the right to be lord of your own castle?”

  Faramond gave a sarcastic laugh. “Aye… how could you have known, since my father was accused of being a traitor and plotted against King Henry, that my title would be stripped from me? How could I have known when I tossed you from the grounds that I would actually need you someday to claim my lands?”

  “That is ridiculous. Your father was no traitor.”

  “And I attempted to argue the point but there was proof such was the case. The only way I could reclaim my inheritance was to return you to Hull. Your marriage was arranged. My only problem was I could not locate you. Now that I have, everything will fall into place. Your new husband will send an escort fit for a lady of your station and you will be married before the king. Afterwards you shall travel to your new home in Spain—”

  “Spain?” his mother cried out.

  “—thus ensuring my fortune and good name are restored. If God grants me one wish, ’twill be to never set eyes upon your evil face again.” He flicked the reins and put his horse back into motion.

  “I cannot marry someone I do not love, Faramond,” she whispered frantically, wondering how she would ever survive in a place so foreign and where she did not even speak the language. “Please… do not do this to me.”

  “You will obey me and your king.”

  “Tell them I am dead or you could not find me. Surely you can do at least this much for the woman who gave you life?”

  “You will obey me,” he repeated. “Now shut your trap lest you wish to be gagged. I have no issue performing such a service if ’twill ensure your silence.”

  His mother clamped her lips tight and refused to look upon him, not that he cared. Faramond’s thoughts lingered upon the riches that would now come his way once his troublesome mother was no longer in his care. She did not need to know he was the one who anonymously accused his father of being a traitor. Faramond never thought that throwing his mother from Hull’s gates would threaten his plan to gain full ownership of Hull. He would not be such a fool again!

  Chapter 16

  Killian raced Mystic through the village alongside Lord Riorden and his knight, Caldwell. Lady Katherine had protested against staying behind but in the end, her husband would not see her, nor the babe, possibly injured by riding upon a horse. Instead, Katherine had reminded Riorden of the location of the Hermitage and approximately where they would need to cross the river to find it.

  They slowed their steeds when they reached the bank of the river and, before long, they were rowing their way across, pulling their boat onto the other side of the shore and making their way through the foliage. The mouth of a cave in the rock face loomed before them.

  Riorden led the way into the darkness.

  “How is it that I have lived here for many a year and have never known such a place existed?” Caldwell muttered.

  “I did not wish to draw attention to the place. Even I never knew this place was here and I grew up at Warkworth,” Riorden said as he continued onward.

  Killian muttered a curse. “I think we are wasting our time. How would Ella get herself across the river?” he asked rubbing his arms. “It took a fair amount of strength tae row the boat myself, never mind she be a small woman.”

  Riorden laughed. “You should learn, mon ami, never to underestimate what drives a woman to do anything once she has her mind set to any particular task.”

  “But how would she know this place even existed?” Caldwell inquired.

  “She has never divulged such information to me but, needless to say, she has come to this Hermitage for many years to say her prayers. Katherine showed it to me after she returned to Warkwork, although I refused to allow her to come here on her own.”

  “With good reason, no doubt,” Caldwell stated.

  “There is a light up ahead. Mayhap we have found the lady after all.” Killian rushed forward, ready to give his lady a sound tongue lashing for her foolishness.

  He stumbled to a sudden halt, causing Riorden and Caldwell to almost bump into him. The chamber was vacant and yet a fire was still lit and warmed the room. Given the overturned stool and the marks upon the dirt beneath their feet, a scuffled had occurred.

  Riorden went to the altar and picked up the fresh bouquet of flowers, even while Killian picked up Ella’s discarded cloak from the floor. He held her garment up to his nose and could smell the sweet fragrance of the woman he had come to love. “She was here.”

  “Aye,” Riorden declared, “but obviously she is no longer and, from the look of things, the lady did not leave on her own accord.”

  “Faramond,” Killian hissed.

  “You are sure?” Riorden asked.

  “Who else would take her,” Killian growled in anger. “I swear, if her son has harmed her in anyway, I shall take great pleasure in killing him.”

  Quickly dousing the fire, they ran to the boat and were once more rowing their way across the river. Killian’s nerves were stretched to their limit for it seemed as if it took a lifetime to make their way to the other bank.

  Riorden disembarked and made his w
ay to a fisherman who was just leaving the dock with a basket of fish.

  “Are you certain?” Riorden inquired slapping his gloves against his leg.

  “Aye, milord, I took the gent across the way,” he said pointing to the other side of the river.

  “Was he from the village?” Killian asked, hoping such would be the case but he had a feeling in his gut he already knew the answer.

  “Nay, sir, ’e be a stranger to me. Said ’e be lookin’ for his mother, ’e did. Saw no reason to not ’elp the gent out,” he said wringing his hands. “Did I do somethin’ wrong, milord?”

  “Nay. You are not at fault.” Riorden proclaimed. He took a coin from the pouch at his belt and tossed it to the man. “For your troubles.”

  “Thank ye, milord,” the man bobbed before taking off towards the village.

  The three men made their way to their horses. Mounting up, Killian put on his gloves. “I make for Hull,” he announced.”

  Riorden gave Beast a pat upon his neck while donning his own gauntlets. “You need knights to watch your back.”

  “Nay, I will travel faster alone.”

  “Do not be a fool, Killian,” Riorden ordered. “You are not prepared and have nothing with you to sustain your travels, let alone a rescue.”

  “I have managed before with much less,” he proclaimed.

  Riorden’s brow rose as he took in Killian’s meager possessions. “You have your horse and your cloak. How much less could you survive with?”

  “’Tis enough. Besides, I have trained with the Devil’s Dragon. Surely there is no need tae tell ye, of all people, that I can survive.”