Gift of Honor (Knights of Honor Book 8)

by Alexa Aston

  Sensing danger behind him, Hal quickly dodged to his left and twirled as the second highwayman’s hand cut through thin air, missing him. Startled, he gaped at Hal a moment, which gave Hal time to slam his fist into the man’s nose. A crunch, followed by a shriek, rang out in the morning quiet as blood spurted from the broken nose.

  But the injury only angered the man. He shook off the pain, murder in his eyes, and came at Hal again, swinging. Each man landed a few blows. Then experience told Hal to turn. As he did, the robber with the broken arm pounced at him. A sudden stinging turned to white-hot agony. Hal shoved the man back as hard as he could. As the robber fell, Hal saw the bloody blade in his hand. Then the thief hit the ground hard, his head cracking against a rock. No movement occurred.

  Glancing down, Hal saw blood stained his gypon. The wound throbbed as if molten lead had been poured inside him. At least he’d sensed the thief’s approach and taken the blade in his side. If stabbed from the back, Hal doubted he would have survived. He pressed his hand to his side, blood leaking between his fingers as dizziness was overcoming him.

  Knowing the other attacker was still nearby, Hal tried to turn to fend him off but he swayed unsteadily. Then sharp pain rippled through his leg. As he fell, he caught sight of the thief standing next to him with a log in his hands. The man must have run with it and swung it, making contact with Hal’s leg. He crashed to the ground awkwardly, hearing a cracking noise. Blinding pain engulfed him. Somehow, he reached for his baselard, fumbling as the highwayman drew near, the log held high above his head. Hal knew he couldn’t defend himself from the oncoming death blow.

  As the man approached, Hal rolled to his side, sucking in a quick breath at the flash of pain that sparked through him. His arm shot out and swiped his blade across the man’s calf. The highwayman screamed, dropping the log, and fell to the ground next to Hal.

  Committing to his next action, Hal slammed the knife against the side of the man’s head, embedding it to the hilt in his temple. The thief froze, surprise on his face, then collapsed wordlessly.

  Hal yanked the blade out, gripping it tightly. Then, as the darkness swallowed him, he caught sight of a woman approaching.

  *

  Elinor decided she would surprise Jasper and meet him. He’d gone to Long Bellbridge, the closest village to them, promising to bring back a few needed supplies. Once, long ago, she had gone to that same village with her mother, standing close as pretty ribbons and cloth were fingered and purchased. Sometimes, Eunice would take Elinor with her when she needed to buy things for the keep. She recalled holding the servant’s hand as she skipped along, excited to be away from the castle, greeting people, petting animals, and smelling fresh bread baking.

  She supposed she could accompany Jasper to Long Bellbridge on his infrequent trips. Just because her father had forbidden her from entering the castle grounds did not mean she could never go anywhere else. Yet in the beginning, Jasper had kept her home anytime he went to the village, wanting to keep her safe. That became their routine and, consequently, Elinor never ventured anywhere. She didn’t regret her time with Jasper but after having been at Whitley recently, she longed to get out and mingle with others. Not those at the castle. They had been far too judgmental of her. Mayhap the people at Long Bellbridge wouldn’t look at her as odd, though. Elinor determined the next time Jasper decided to go to the village, she would accompany him.

  Cutting through the woods, she caught glimpses of Cleo and Horus at play. It was mating season and the two birds, coupled for life as falcons always did, still went through their ritual, as if the game were new to them each time.

  That thought brought her to a halt. Elinor closed her eyes and saw her mother in childbed, her rounded belly swollen and distorted. She could hear the screams echoing in her head as her mother moaned and twisted on the bed, begging for it to end. As lonely as she was, Elinor never wanted a man to touch her so that her belly would grow huge. Not that it would ever occur. The chance of her speaking to a man, much less getting with child by him, caused her to laugh aloud.

  She saw something scurry in front of her. Before she could react, Horus had plunged from the air and snatched it up, soaring high again in order to bring his offering to Cleo. She laughed. At least her falcons were happy. Cleo never seemed to be in the pain Elinor’s mother was when she laid her eggs. And both Cleo and Horus shared the task of warming the eggs as they waited for them to hatch. She thought it sweet that Horus participated in bringing his fledglings into the world.

  The road was now visible through the trees. Elinor spied Jasper, who stood looking up. He must be watching Horus give his present to Cleo. As the falconer glanced back down, something moved from the far side of the road. Two men emerged, running full speed, slamming into Jasper. Elinor ran toward them as Jasper fell to the ground, dropping what he carried. One man punched Jasper while the other went to retrieve the bundle of goods from the village. She reached the edge of the forest and then stopped.

  She had only a small knife in her boot and these two large men were dangerous thieves. How was she to protect Jasper, much less herself, from them? Elinor realized they could easily overpower her. Hurt her.

  Kill her.

  But Jasper needed her. That overrode all other instincts to run as she reached and pulled the knife from her boot.

  Suddenly, another man appeared. He assaulted the robber that attacked Jasper. Elinor was close enough to hear the man’s bone break when wrenched behind him. Then the stranger fought with the second thief, smashing his nose, blood streaming from it.

  Before she could cry out a warning, the first robber came at the stranger, who must have heard him approach, for he wheeled about just as the man jabbed him. Elinor saw the knife come away, blood on it, and knew the man who’d come to Jasper’s aid had been stabbed. Still, he shoved his attacker with such force that the man sailed backward and landed on the ground with a thud. He didn’t move. Elinor didn’t know if the highwayman was unconscious—or dead.

  The stranger gripped his side, his face scrunched up in agony. Without warning, the other thief swung a large piece of wood, striking the man from behind. He fell awkwardly. Elinor feared his leg broke with the sickening sound she heard. Somehow, the stranger struck his attacker, who fell. Then in an action as swift as one of her raptors, he drove a dagger into the side of the man’s head and quickly jerked it out.

  She ran over to them. Blood was scattered everywhere, bright against the snow that continued to fall. Neither highwayman moved as she approached, her dagger in hand. They must be dead. Elinor saw the man who’d come to Jasper’s aid turn his head in her direction before his eyelids fluttered several times and then closed. She wanted to help him but Jasper needed her first.

  Hurrying to him, she knelt and lifted his head, cradling it in her lap. Only then did she see the lifeless eyes staring past her. Bile rose in her throat. Her protector had died in a senseless attack. Elinor felt as if her own heart had been stabbed. Life without Jasper was unthinkable. She eased his head back to the ground and bent, tenderly kissing his brow and brushing her hand against his eyelids until they closed. Tears welled in her eyes.

  Wait.

  She needed to help the man who had come to aid Jasper. Elinor rushed to him and placed her fingers against his throat. The beating under her fingertips let her know he still lived. She might not have been able to save Jasper but she owed it to this stranger to do everything she could to keep him alive.

  Chapter 5

  Stopping the blood flowing from the wound in his side was her first thought. Elinor looked around wildly for something to use. She ran to one of the prone bodies and yanked the dead highwayman’s tunic over his head and then did the same with the other thief’s. Rushing back to the stranger, she knelt and tore the cloth of one into long strips since neither highwayman wore a belt at his waist. Then she folded the undamaged tunic and placed it against the wound, pressing down. From there, she wound the strips around his body several times, tying t
hem so they would hold the cloth into place and absorb the blood. The entire time, his eyes remained closed. He grimaced twice as she moved him about but never regained consciousness.

  How could she get him to the cottage? He was much larger than any man she’d ever seen, tall, long-limbed, and broad through his shoulders and chest. Elinor could never drag someone his size that far a distance. Even if she could, it could tear open the gash even more, not to mention his broken leg being jostled about.

  She ought to address that now that she’d stanched the flow of blood from the tear in his side. Biting her lip, she rotated and straightened the leg to its normal position. The man whimpered softly, pain flickering across his face before he stilled again. She worried about the cold. Already, his face grew pale and his lips seemed to be turning blue. He didn’t wear a cloak and needed to be warmed.

  Rising, Elinor went back to Jasper. Though he’d always been brusque and never minced words, he was a generous soul. He would want her to do everything in her power to save the life of the man who’d tried to rescue him. Though it pained her, she stripped both garments from his upper body. One tunic he wore every day and the other, a larger one, he wore over the first when the weather grew chilled. Bringing them back to the stranger, she didn’t attempt to place them over his head. They would prove far too small for him to wear. Instead, she draped both over him and tucked them around his body, hoping that would help ward off some of the cold.

  Next, Elinor hunted in the nearby woods for a couple of broken tree limbs that would be long enough to strap to the man’s leg on each side. After a quick search, she found two almost the same length and both about as round as the size of one of her fists. Hurrying back, she placed them on either side of his damaged leg. Using his belt and Jasper’s, she secured the splints to his limb as best she could, adding a few of the strips that she hadn’t used when binding his stab wound.

  Working with birds that had broken a wing, she knew how important it was to stabilize and then immobilize the man’s leg so it would have a chance to heal properly and not cause him to limp. Fortunately, she had experience not only with injured birds but people, too, since Jasper had suffered a broken leg many years ago. Elinor planned to follow the instructions the falconer had given her and do for this stranger what she’d done for her adopted father. Once she had this man back at the cottage, she would need to clean both the injury to his side and that of his leg but, for now, this was the best she could do.

  “The wheelbarrow!” she cried aloud.

  Jasper hadn’t used it in ages but Elinor knew exactly where the handcart sat. If she could manage to somehow get the man into it, she would be able to wheel him back to the cottage. A few bumps along the way would be better than taking the better part of the day to drag him home.

  She brushed the hair back from the man’s forehead, only now realizing how handsome he was. Elinor hadn’t really looked at him before since she’d been so worried about trying to save him.

  His hair was black as night, thick and plentiful. Cheekbones as sharp as knives stood out, as did his sensual lips. A tingling rippled through her as she studied him, an unfamiliar feeling that made her uncomfortable and excited at the same time.

  Elinor pushed back his hair again and said softly, “I must go but I will come back for you. I promise,” not knowing whether he could hear her or not. Still, she wanted to reassure him that she didn’t abandon him. At least he still gripped his blade in his hand, the one he’d used to kill the thief. If he awoke before she returned, it might comfort him that he had the weapon for protection.

  Rising, she retrieved the small bundle that had cost Jasper his life. It was too valuable to leave behind for any passerby to take it. Inside contained precious items that she hadn’t the coin to replace, including grain for bread, as well as leather to make anklets, jesses, and hoods for their raptors. Though the Baron of Nelham had always supplied the monies to buy the leather and other equipment for the birds, Elinor did not want to explain to her cousin why she needed more so soon after Jasper had requested the funds.

  She glanced at the stranger one last time before racing through the woods. She wondered how Lord Nigel would react to the news about Jasper’s death. Would he sympathize with her—or send her away and replace Jasper with another falconer who was a male? Nigel was so new to the title and seemed under the thumb of his vicious, domineering wife. Elinor didn’t want to supply the baroness with any reason to be rid of her.

  That meant keeping Jasper’s death a secret—for now.

  Elinor dropped the bundle of goods inside the cottage and located the wheelbarrow. Thankfully, the wheels turned easily as she ran behind it through the forest. She would have to bring the stranger back first and shelter him in the cottage before she returned for Jasper’s body. It would be impossible for her to bury her friend with the ground as hard and cold as it was. She could keep the body behind the cottage, out of sight, and put him in the ground once spring arrived. Something told her that would be wrong. That Jasper needed to be mourned by those who’d known him and have a funeral mass as her father had. Mayhap later, she would reveal that the falconer had passed and a mass could be said for his soul. He had coughed enough over the past year. Since he visited the castle grounds every now and then, people would know Jasper had been ill for some time, especially when they did not see him for a while. She could tell them he’d passed away in his sleep.

  That would give her time to prove to her cousin how valuable she was. How he needed her as Whitley’s falconer. That it would be unwise to send her away when the people in the keep depended upon the falcons she trained to provide game to eat.

  It would also allow the stranger time to heal and be on his way.

  Elinor arrived back at the road. The snow came down hard enough now that the two highwaymen had started to disappear. Sometimes, the baron sent soldiers to patrol the roads near the castle. She didn’t know how frequently that occurred but, more than likely, they would be the ones to discover these bodies. If they happened by while she returned the stranger to the cottage, they would also discover Jasper’s body.

  Setting down the wheelbarrow, she hurried to Jasper and grabbed hold of his ankles so she could drag him from the road and into the forest. He was light enough that she accomplished it without much effort. Elinor placed him next to a fallen log, which partially hid him. His body was far enough from the road that she doubted anyone would spot it, especially with the snow falling.

  Returning to the cart, she wheeled it over to the man who had almost given his life for Jasper, worried that he might still lose it because of the injuries he’d suffered. She was no healer. She could only do the best she could to try to save him.

  Wincing, Elinor grabbed under his arms and lifted his upper body from the ground, knowing how much it would hurt him if he awakened.

  “God’s teeth!” the man roared.

  She promptly dropped him.

  *

  Hal’s side screamed in pain, jarring him awake. Hands grasped him under his armpits, trying to drag him somewhere.

  “God’s teeth!”

  His hand tightened on his baselard as he glanced down and saw two branches lashed to his leg with a couple of belts and strips of cloth. The leg throbbed dully, while the place where the highwayman stabbed him burned white-hot. Then his head hit the ground. Whoever tried to move him had released him. Looking up, he saw the face of an angel leaning over him.

  Had he died?

  Surely not. He’d asked Father Dannet once if people felt pain after death. The priest assured him that pain did not exist in Heaven. That Hal would get a new body from the Christ and spend his days glorifying the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  Unless he’d gone to Hell. Now that was a place where pain would be constant. But not like this. Hell was supposed to be a lake of burning fire, utter agony with souls constantly screaming for relief. As far as he knew, he was lying in the snow. And the pain was manageable. Not nearly what he would expect from
hellfire and damnation.

  He studied the face hovering above him. The woman was no angel, for she had no wings of pure white. Still, she was a welcomed sight with her warm brown eyes and heart-shaped face.

  “I am so sorry,” she apologized. “I was trying to move you to the wheelbarrow. It’s just that you are . . . so . . . heavy. So large.”

  Hal noted she was of medium height and slender and dressed as a boy, just as his sister, Nan, often was. He pushed himself up on one elbow, the one opposite the knife wound in his right side, biting back the foul words that came to mind.

  “Are you the one who straightened my leg?”

  “Aye. And bound your side. I will do better for you once I can get you back to the cottage.”

  “I doubt I can walk anywhere at the moment.” He paused. “And I’d rather not be dragged through the woods if it’s all the same to you.”

  She brightened. “I won’t need to drag you. As I said, I’ve brought a wheelbarrow. If I can get you into it, you can ride in comfort.”

  A dimple flashed in her left cheek for a moment. Hal’s heart skipped a beat. He looked about and spied the cart only a few feet behind him.

  “Help me to my feet,” he said. “I can stagger the few steps to it if I’m standing.”

  The woman lifted material that rested on top of him and set it aside. He still held his baselard.

  “May I take this?” she asked, indicated the dagger.

  He hesitated a moment and then handed the weapon to her. Elinor put it in the wheelbarrow then knelt and gripped his upper arm tightly. She might be slender but her fingers were strong. Using his right leg to push off, somehow the two of them manage to bring him to his feet. He didn’t think he could hop on the good leg because he didn’t want the bleeding that had subsided to start up again.