Achilles smiled weakly. “She has made me see otherwise.”
Alexander simply nodded, still astounded that the fighting knights he’d known had fallen in love with another. As he said, it was truly surprising. He didn’t reply to Achilles, instead looking to Caius, who seemed to be baffled by it all. But one thing was certain – it gave the journey to Aysgarth a much more critical feel. This wasn’t simply a folly for Achilles to steal away a woman he was obsessed with.
This was Achilles retrieving the woman he loved.
Much more critical, indeed.
Richmond wasn’t too terribly far from Aysgarth as far as distance went. It was precisely sixteen miles and they were making excellent time. About five miles out, however, Caius called a halt and gathered the knights around him.
He had some decisions to make.
“I am stopping the army here because I do not want Aysgarth catching sight of them,” he said. “They could very well think I am rushing to lay siege and that is not my intent, but I do not want the army far from me or from Aysgarth once I enter.”
Alexander spoke quietly. “Remember that there are about a thousand mercenaries in a field to the west, Cai,” he reminded him. “If there is trouble, there are those reinforcements for Aysgarth, so you will want to position your army out of sight from them.”
Cai nodded. “Indeed,” he said. “My thoughts are this – we shall enter Aysgarth and determine where the lady is and I will see for myself the strength of Aysgarth in terms of manpower and command. Aysgarth has always been a sleepy fortress and not much of a threat, but that may have changed. If they are, indeed, allied with de Meynell, and I walk in there as a representative of William Marshal and Richmond Castle, I may be putting myself in grave danger. I understand that. And that is why I have brought my army – I may need them if de Tiegh decides I am the enemy.”
“My lord,” Morgan de Wolfe spoke in a deep, rich voice. “If we are here to retrieve the lady, as you say, then why do you need to enter in order to assess Aysgarth’s strengths? Surely that can be done by reconnaissance. You can stay out of sight.”
Caius shook his head. “I need to see de Tiegh,” he said. “The man has remained ambiguous in his loyalties long enough and I want to see the interior of Aysgarth and assess the situation for myself.”
“And if there is trouble and de Tiegh decides you are the enemy?” Morgan pressed.
Caius glanced up at the sky, the dwindling day. “It will be nightfall soon,” he said. “I will stay for the evening meal and for all de Tiegh will know, I am simply a visitor. But if you do not see me by dawn – if you do not see any of us by dawn – assume we are being held against our wills.”
“And how do we proceed, my lord?”
Caius looked to Morgan and Kevin. “I want you two to remain with the army,” he said. “If you do not see us before dawn, then you will have to get into the castle somehow. But if you do, know that the mercenaries will probably be alerted and you must prevent them from getting to the castle.”
Morgan nodded, but it was Kevin who spoke. “We can send a contingent into the castle while the rest of the army holds off the mercenaries.”
“There are a thousand mercenaries, Kevin,” Achilles spoke. “We have seen them, gathering in a field to the southwest. They are fully armed.”
Kevin understood. “Mayhap we should have brought more men with us, then.”
But Caius shook his head. “I do not want to deplete Richmond,” he said. “You’ll be able to hold the mercenary charge with fewer men if you plan accordingly. But if you do not see us by dawn, come in and get us.”
“Aye, my lord,” Kevin replied.
Caius pointed at Morgan, but he spoke to Kevin. “Morgan knows my army and this area, so listen to him,” he said. “But I will trust you with the tactics since you are a Marshal knight. That means you must be clever. And you are a de Lara, which means you are better than most men.”
Kevin wasn’t particularly happy that he wasn’t going into Aysgarth with Alexander and Achilles, but he understood the need for strong command for the army. After a moment, he simply nodded his head and Caius turned around, facing west, towards Aysgarth. They were on a rise, looking down into the green and fertile Wensleydale vale, with Aysgarth in the distance.
“That is the River Ure down in the vale,” he said, pointing to the heavy line of trees that meandered down in the valley. “Take the army down to the river and follow it. It is heavily-forested all the way to Aysgarth, which sits right next to the river. You can use the trees as cover and get as close as you can to the castle. Make sure you can see both the gatehouse and the mercenary army. Hide there until you receive word from one of us. Is that clear?”
Both Kevin and Morgan nodded. “Aye, my lord,” they replied in unison.
“Be gone with you.”
With that, the knights began to move back through the ranks, shouting out commands, and the army began to move off the road and down the sloping fields, heading for the trees that marked the river below. Achilles, Alexander, and Caius watched them go, waiting until they were all shielded within the trees before turning for Aysgarth in the distance.
“Remove your standards,” Caius told them. “We do not want to announce who we are any sooner than we have to.”
They peeled off their tunics, Achilles and Alexander with the Pembroke colors and Caius with the Richmond colors of blue and red. They stuffed them into their saddlebags, tucking them away and simply leaving the mail coats and heavy under armor. They began to move down the road, discussing their plans once more.
Now, it was time to carry them out.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Susanna.”
It was dark in the vault and Susanna, pushed beyond her limits of exhaustion, had fallen asleep on the musty straw. But a soft voice pierced her veil of slumber and she sat up instantly, before she was even fully awake, only to find herself staring at her brother.
Samuel was in her cell, holding a torch. He was standing over by the cell door, which had been opened by one of de Meynell’s men. Clearly, they weren’t going to allow the brother and sister to speak privately. When Susanna saw who it was, she rubbed at her eyes, struggling to wake up.
“Samuel,” she muttered, trying to get a look at him in the darkness. “Are you well? Have they hurt you?”
Samuel was looking at his sister with the greatest of sorrow. “Nay,” he murmured, very conscious of the de Meynell man standing by the cell door. He came closer so they could not be overheard. “I am unharmed. But they seem to have beaten you from head to toe.”
Susanna blinked at the bright light of his torch, lowering her head and running a hand over her mouth. “I must look terrible.”
“Is anything broken?”
“Not that I can tell. Surprisingly, no loose teeth.”
“That is good.”
There was a lull in the conversation until Samuel crouched down in front of her so he could see her better. Moreover, their conversation would be less likely to be overheard.
“Why, Susanna?” he breathed. “Why did you do it?”
Susanna was moving her sore jaw around gingerly. “Is this the brother asking or the ally of de Meynell?”
“The brother.”
“You know that de Meynell was down here trying to interrogate me. I did not tell him anything.”
Samuel sighed faintly. “He is watching me like a hawk sighting prey,” he murmured. “I think he is waiting for me to try to send word out as well.”
“I am surprised that you are not down here in chains alongside me.”
Samuel sat back on his heels. “To tell you the truth, so am I,” he said. “I may be, yet. But for now, I have a reasonable amount of freedom because you did not tell him that I was the one who gave you the information. I suppose I should have been smarter about it, but I did not think you would do what you did. You still serve de Winter, don’t you?”
Susanna didn’t reply for a moment. “You can stop as
king questions, Samuel,” she said. “I will not tell you anything that you can, in turn, tell de Meynell.”
Samuel grunted unhappily. “You are my sister,” he said. “I will not tell him anything you tell me in confidence, I swear it. You did not tell de Meynell that I told you about Richmond, so I swear upon my life that I will not repeat anything to him that you tell me. Please, Susanna, tell me what is going through your mind. Why did you try to send that information to Richmond?”
Susanna thought long and hard about her reply, but the truth was that she didn’t trust her brother with a confession. She believed he would not voluntarily tell de Meynell, but he might very well crack under pressure. She didn’t want to put him in that position.
Besides… there was something more important on her mind.
“Sammy,” she said quietly. “Will you do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“I need your help.”
“Other than the obvious, what do you need?”
Susanna looked up at him, her eyes glimmering with emotion. “The two knights that escorted me to Aysgarth,” she said. “Achilles and Alexander. You remember them, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Achilles is going to return for me.”
Samuel frowned. “But why?”
“Because he wants to marry me.”
Samuel’s eyes widened. “He does?”
“Aye. But you must send word to him not to come. He must not return.”
Samuel held up a hand. “A moment, please,” he begged. “Susanna, you have a knight who wishes to marry you? I find that incredible. Do you want to marry him?”
She nodded, struggling not to tear up at the thought of Achilles. “Aye,” she said hoarsely. “Very much. Sammy, I love him. He must not come back here for me. There is no knowing what de Meynell will do to him if he believes he is in league with me.”
She had a point and Samuel frowned. “But what can I do?” he asked. “They are watching me closely. If they catch me trying to send a missive out of Aysgarth, I will be in the same predicament as you.”
Susanna knew that. She didn’t want to jeopardize Samuel, but she didn’t want Achilles to walk into a dangerous situation, either. It was a horrendous choice that she had to make and perhaps even an unrealistic expectation that Samuel should jeopardize himself so for her.
But she had to ask.
“Then you must watch the gatehouse for his return,” she said. “Are there any soldiers that are loyal to you?”
Samuel nodded. “A few.”
“Have them watch the gatehouse when you cannot. Tell them to watch for Achilles and when they see him, they must hide him from de Meynell. You must tell him that he must leave.”
Samuel shook his head. “He will want to know why,” he said. “If the man wants to marry you, surely he will not leave you in this situation.”
Susanna was trying not to become agitated. “Then tell him I have left,” she said. “Tell him I have gone somewhere – anywhere – and that I am expecting him to join me. Tell him anything so he will leave, Sammy. Please.”
Samuel could see the great emotion in her eyes, unusual for his normally-stoic sister. That told him that this situation, and Achilles, meant a great deal to her. Frankly, he was stunned. But he was also intensely curious.
“I think you need to tell me everything, Susanna,” he said quietly. “Who is Achilles? Who does he serve? And how did you meet him?”
Susanna didn’t want to tell him, but she supposed she owed him that much. She was asking him to do a great deal based on faith. Therefore, she was inclined to tell him as much as she dared.
“He is part of a group of elite warriors called the Executioner Knights,” she said quietly. “He serves William Marshal.”
Samuel’s eyebrows lifted. “Then he is a Pembroke knight,” he said. “That story he gave me was a lie.”
“It was.”
“And de Sherrington? He lied, too?”
“He did. But they did it because of the mercenary army attached to Aysgarth. They were afraid that you would not let them leave, fearful that they would report what they saw to William Marshal.”
Samuel was rather annoyed that he’d been lied to. “I had no intention of not allowing them to leave,” he said. “It is not as if I can hide a mercenary army, so it would do not good to throw them in the vault. I am sure word has already reached William Marshal one way or another.”
“And mayhap it has already reached Richmond, too.”
“Then why did you send that missive?”
“Because Richmond must know that the Duke of Brittany is coming. They must prepare.” She looked at her brother, feeling great frustration. “Samuel, how in the world could you become allied with Witton de Meynell? The man is ambitious and rash. He is going to get you killed with his dreams of great alliances and delusions of power.”
“I told you how. I gambled away everything.”
Susanna knew that but she simply couldn’t believe it. She was a fighter and always had been; she didn’t understand the complacency her brother was showing. It made her angry.
“Then it is time for you to do something about it,” she said. “You are a Blackchurch knight, which means you are one of the best in the world, yet you follow de Meynell around like a puppy and blame it all on the fact that you gambled away everything to him. Samuel, I am in a good deal of trouble. If you do not help me, de Meynell is going to send me to his wife’s father as a concubine. He told me if I show any measure of resistance, then he is going to let his soldiers have their way with me. Is that what you wish for me? Your only sister?”
Samuel’s jaw was ticking as he listened to her, disgusted by what she was telling him. “Of course I do not wish that for you,” he said. “But you got yourself into this by sending that missive. That was your choice, Susanna. No one forced you to.”
“That is because I am a warrior of honor. Unlike you, I keep my vows.”
Samuel’s eyes narrowed. “If you want me to help you, insulting me is not helping your case.”
“You are free because I did not tell them where I got my information. Do not make me regret that decision.”
“Then what do you want me to do?”
“Help me escape.”
He looked at her, incredulous. “From the vault?”
She shook her head, eyeing the soldier at the cell entry. “De Meynell said he would move me into the apartments,” she said. “I want you to help me escape from there.”
“How?”
“We will have to think of something. If we do not, then my dreams of marrying Achilles are at an end and I become another man’s whore.”
Samuel eyed her unhappily, but he was obliged to help her. He knew he could never live with himself if he did not. Susanna was far too great to end up as the concubine to a Thuringian count. Between the two of them, she had always been the greater sibling and Samuel had always admired her because of it. He knew, for a fact, that if he were in trouble, she would risk everything to help him.
It was time for him to show a fraction of his sister’s courage.
“That will not happen if I can help it,” he said. “For now, I will tell my men to watch for Achilles and once you are moved into the apartments, we will do what needs to be done.”
For the first time since being tossed into the vault, Susanna was starting to feel some hope. “Thank you, Sammy,” she whispered. “I knew you would not abandon me.”
Samuel simply nodded in response, standing up from the damp straw and making his way out of the cell, past the de Meynell man who locked it back up when he was gone. With him, he took the torch, and the vault was once again pitch dark.
But to Susanna, it didn’t matter. She had hope now and she was going to cling to it with every bit of strength she had. She knew Samuel was frightened, fearful of betraying the man he gambled away his legacy to, but she knew that, deep down, he had the resolve and determination to do what was right. She’d se
en that side of him, long ago, so she knew it was in him, somewhere.
Now, he was going to have to dig deep to find it again.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The flimsy gatehouse of Aysgarth was open.
Achilles, Alexander, and Caius entered through the open gates without any resistance at all. They were barely even questioned. But Caius was the first to notice that a few of the men at the gatehouse were wearing a distinctive red tunic with a thin white cross on it. He’d see that before.
It was the House of de Meynell.
Immediately, he was on his guard.
The three knights reined their horses to a halt in the outer ward and as Caius announced himself to one of the soldiers and declared he’d come for a visit with Baron Coverdale, Achilles and Alexander noticed that the blacksmiths were still working at full capacity and the smell of hot steel was heavy in the air. Nothing seemed to have changed from the last time they were there.
It was Achilles who finally took their horses over to the stables as Alexander remained with Caius, waiting to be greeted by Samuel. But Achilles had no intention of stabling the horses because he intended to find Susanna and leave immediately, so he had the grooms put the horses in the small corral and feed them. He didn’t even want their saddles removed.
When he fled, it was going to be quickly.
He wanted to be ready.
God, he was nervous. His stomach was in knots. He wasn’t sure where to start looking for Susanna, or if she would find him, so he remained with the horses, watching Alexander and Caius in the distance as they spoke to a couple of soldiers. He was taking his time in gathering up his saddlebags when he noticed that one of the soldiers that Alexander had been speaking to was now heading in his direction. He didn’t think much about it until the man walked right up to him.
“My lord?” the soldier said. “You are Sir Achilles?”
Achilles eyed the man warily. “I am.”
“Coverdale wants to speak to you. Will you wait here?”
Starless Page 16