Dornauld howled as nails pierced his forehead and eyes, and immediately the entire room deteriorated into a massive brawl. Cortez’s men rushed in from the perimeter of the room as the knights in the center of the room began swinging their massive broadswords. Cortez was trapped beneath his brother fighting with one of Dornauld’s men. He crawled underneath the table to get free, unsheathing his broadsword in the same movement.
When Cortez finally came up on the opposite side of the table, it was into a skirmish between his men and a few of Dornauld’s. The massive blade with the de Bretagne crest entered into the fray. What Cortez didn’t see, however, was one of Dornauld’s men making a break for the stairs. Only when James yelled at him did he realize there was a man at the top of the stairs, heading back towards the sleeping rooms.
Diamantha and Sophie were back there. Cortez had never moved so fast in his entire life.
*
Diamantha was in the process of laying out her wet hose in front of the hearth to dry when she began to hear heavy footfalls. Thinking that Cortez might be returning, she was moving towards the door when she heard a massive crash against one of the other doors out in the corridor.
Startled, she jumped back, heart in her throat, as she heard another enormous blow. It shook the very walls. Then another blow on the door across the hall, now accompanied by bellows she couldn’t make out. Someone was yelling angrily. Terrified, she snatched Sophie from her small bed near the entry door and took the little girl with her to the opposite side of the room near one of the cloth-covered windows.
Yanking the cloth away, she could see that they were several feet off the ground and there was nothing between her and the mud below. If she had to jump, there was nothing to break her fall, but there was something going on in the corridor and she would not wait for it to come to her. She had to get out of the chamber.
A loud bang crashed against her door and she screamed with fright, holding Sophie tightly as she sat on the windowsill, putting a leg out of the opening. The door, being poorly constructed, gave way in spite of the iron bolt and a shabby man with a big club burst through. Wood and debris went flying all over the chamber. Diamantha slung her other leg over the windowsill and prepared to jump but was stopped short when Cortez came charging into the chamber.
Like an avenging angel, he arrived just in time and he went after the intruder with a vengeance. Cortez pounced on the man and they both went sailing onto the bigger of the two beds in the room, collapsing it in a violent crash. The man had an enormous club, studded with wicked-looking spikes, and he tried to swing it at Cortez, who had him in a headlock. The man couldn’t get a good swing at Cortez, who had a big arm across the man’s throat and was squeezing as hard as he could.
Within several seconds of Cortez’s strangulation, the man stopped trying to swing the club. He was losing air and losing consciousness, but he fought for all he was worth. It was a life and death struggle until eventually, he couldn’t fight any longer. Everything within him was fading. He went limp as his life drained away.
But Cortez didn’t let go. He held the man tightly around the neck and when he finally stopped fighting back, he loosened one arm long enough to smash it against the side of the man’s skull, twisting his neck grotesquely. The sound of a dull snap filled the room as the spine fractured, breaking in half. As fast as it had started, it was over with deadly finality.
Cortez didn’t stop to rest or regroup, or even offer words of comfort to Diamantha. He was still in battle mode. Breathing heavily, he stood up and pulled the man out of the room by his feet, dragging him back down the corridor and throwing him down the rickety stairs. The man landed in a heap down in the common room, dead for all to see. Such was the penalty for anyone attempting to harm Lady de Bretagne. Cortez wanted that message made abundantly clear.
Still breathing heavily, Cortez staggered back to the room where Diamantha was still sitting on the windowsill with Sophie clutched tightly against her breast. She was becoming soaked from the rain pouring in through the opening but still, she sat there, her eyes wide with terror. It looked as if she was still contemplating jumping. Cortez went into the room, his arms reaching out for her.
“Come out of the window, sweetheart,” he told her. “I am very sorry you had to see that. He did not harm you, did he?”
Diamantha let him pull her out of the window. She even let him take Sophie from her and set the girl back on her bed. But the moment he turned to Diamantha for an answer to his question, she burst into tears and collapsed onto her knees. Cortez was next to her in an instant.
“Oh, God,” he groaned, his hands on her arms, trying to see if she was, indeed, injured. “Where are you hurt?”
Diamantha couldn’t speak. She was overwhelmed with terror. She shook her head, sobbing loudly, before throwing her arms around his neck. It was a gesture of both terror and relief, the actions of a woman who had been too close to disaster before fate in the form of Cortez de Bretagne intervened. She squeezed so tightly that she nearly strangled him.
“I am fine,” Diamantha gasped repeatedly, sounding hysterical. “I am fine, I am fine.”
Stunned by her gesture, by the feel of her against him, Cortez was nearly moved to tears. He hugged her tightly.
“Are you sure?” he asked hoarsely, his face in the side of her head.
Diamantha was close to swooning. She nodded her head furiously and released her hold on him, her hand to her mouth to try to stifle her hysteria. “I thought I was going to have to jump to escape him, but you….” She put her hands on his face, inspecting him for damage. “Are you well? Did he hurt you?”
Cortez smiled faintly as she ran her hands all over his face and head, looking for injury. “He did not hurt me,” he murmured softly, loving the feel of her flesh against his. “I am well, truly.”
Diamantha couldn’t stop crying. She was absolutely terrified. “Good,” she wept. “I am glad. But what happened? Who was that man?”
Cortez shook his head, his arms still around her, trying his best to comfort her. He glanced over his shoulder at the destroyed door, wondering what would have happened if he had been a few seconds too slow. He couldn’t even think about it. It made him feel sick to his stomach. Standing up, he pulled Diamantha with him.
“It does not matter who he was,” he said. “He is no longer any concern, but it looks as if he broke our door. We will move across the hall for tonight.”
Diamantha was shaking so badly that she could barely walk. Cortez collected her, sleepy Sophie, and the animals, and moved them across the hall into a smaller room with two small beds. He put Sophie down on one, Diamantha down on the other, and set the cage down next to the hearth. All the while, Diamantha could hear the sounds of fighting going on in the common room. It sounded like a war.
“What is happening out there?” she asked, her voice sounding exhausted and weak. “I thought you said you were only going to speak to the man?”
Cortez poked at the smoldering peat, throwing a few sticks of wood on it to get a blaze going. “He demanded money in exchange for allowing us to pass through his town,” he replied. “I was not going to pay him. He was then inclined to demonstrate his unhappiness at my refusal.”
Diamantha’s tears were fading but she was still rightly upset. Wiping at her eyes, she stood up on unsteady legs and made her way over to her daughter, who was lying down on her little bed. In fact, the girl hadn’t uttered a sound through the entire event and even now, she was nearly back asleep. Diamantha stroked her daughter’s forehead, pulling the covers over her. Seeing that her daughter was well, and calm, helped Diamantha to relax. Things were well now. Taking a deep breath, she turned for Cortez.
“What will we do now?” she asked quietly, making her way over to him. “Will we still remain here tonight?”
Cortez finished with the fire and stood up. “We will,” he said. “I will go now and see how the situation is faring. I’ll have the innkeeper bring you some food so that you may eat an
d get some rest. We will leave before dawn.”
He started to move past her but she grasped his arm. “What about you?” she asked softly. “Will you not eat and sleep, also?”
He nodded, gazing down into her beautiful face. Her hand was still on his arm and he could feel the heat of her touch through his mail, making his heart race.
“I will eat and sleep eventually,” he said.
He gave her a weary smile and continued to the door, but she stopped him one last time. “Where will you sleep?” she asked.
He sighed heavily, looking at the two small beds. There was hardly room for two adults and one small child. “I will find someplace, I suppose.”
Diamantha moved towards him, her expression sincere. “Please…,” she said. “Please come back here. You may sleep with us.”
To Cortez, it seemed like an open invitation. He could hardly believe his ears. “If that is your wish,” he said gently. “It might be a bit… crowded.”
Diamantha shook her head. “We will make do,” she said. “Please return to us when you have finished. I… I believe I would feel much safer if you did.”
Cortez didn’t have to be asked twice. Impulsively, he reached out to touch her on the cheek. “I will return, then,” he promised. “Rest assured.”
Diamantha shut the door behind him after he left but she didn’t bolt it. Her thoughts lingered on the man, on his heroics, and she realized she was starting to see something different about him. This night had been full of revelations for her regarding Cortez de Bretagne. Her first impressions of him had been that of a spoiled, forceful man, but the past several hours had seen that opinion drastically change. There was more to Cortez de Bretagne than his good looks and arrogant manner. He is a good man, James had said. More and more, she could see that James had been correct.
After a meal had been delivered by the harried barkeep and her satchels had eventually been brought up to her by one of Cortez’s men, Diamantha was sufficiently calm enough to prepare for bed. She had brought soap and other toiletries with her, all carefully wrapped in a soft pouch, and she washed her face with rose-scented hard soap and brushed her teeth with a frayed reed and a mixture of ashes of burnt rosemary and mint. She was still in her traveling clothes, the heavy blue woolen ensemble that had seen her through rough weather, and she happily peeled it off, stripping down to her shift, and hanging the clothing up on one of the pegs near the hearth to dry out.
In the darkness of the room, she took her rag and soap and washed herself as best she could, drying off with a small piece of linen she had packed just for that purpose. Her long hair, braided for travel, was unbraided and brushed vigorously with a horsehair brush before being braided again for sleep. All the while, Diamantha’s thoughts lingered on Cortez and on the events of the night. It was only their first day of travel. She could only pray the rest of the journey was easier.
The little animals were stirring in their cage so right before she went to sleep, she poured some of the milk the barkeep had brought up for Sophie into the small wooden bowl, watching the babies drink hungrily. Even the rabbit sipped at it. She put a few bread crusts, part of an apple, and a few pieces of meat into the cage as well, sealing it up for the night. When she finally laid down to rest, sleep was nearly instant.
When Cortez returned to her well after midnight, it was with great anticipation and a bit of nervousness. He was a bridegroom, after all, and he wanted their first night together to be something pleasant and memorable. Given the rocky nature of their entire association, he could only pray for the best.
Posting guards in the corridor so he and his knights could sleep without fear of reprisal from Dornauld and his men, he entered the small room with the two small beds, looking forward to the night to come. His thoughts were already heated, thinking of her soft flesh against his, and when his eyes grew accustomed to the weak light in the chamber, what he saw sent his lustful thoughts into ironic disappointment.
Diamantha had asked him to return to sleep with them, but now he saw that she hadn’t meant what he’d hoped she had meant. Diamantha was snuggled into one of the small beds with Sophie, leaving the other small bed for Cortez to sleep alone. He was sleeping with her, all right, all by himself in another bed.
He fell asleep watching Diamantha’s slumbering form from across the darkened room.
CHAPTER TEN
Cortez awoke to movement in his bed.
It was dark in the room and he could feel something up against his belly, something warm and soft. He could also hear a whispering voice, too. Without moving his head, he opened his eyes to little slits and looked down at the midsection of his bed, just in time to see Sophie standing there.
She had something in her hands and as he struggled to focus in the darkness, he could see two kittens and a baby rabbit up against his torso. Sophie had the fox kit in her hands, telling it that it would be safe now as she put it next to the others. Then, she took hold of Cortez’s blanket and covered him back up with the baby animals nestled against his belly. Like any good mother, she was tucking them all in.
“Sophie?” Cortez whispered. “What are you doing?”
Sophie turned to Cortez and, seeing that he was awake, went over to stand next to his head. “I am putting them to bed with you,” she told him.
“Why?”
“Because they were afraid.”
“I see,” he replied, looking at her sleepy little face. “How do you know they are afraid?”
She turned and pointed to the cage, now open, nestled next to the nearly dark hearth. There was hardly any fire at all. “They were shivering,” she said. “They were afraid.”
It was very cold in the room with the fire out and he suspected the animals weren’t afraid as much as they were simply cold. He thought he should get up and stoke the fire but didn’t want to move too much with four small animals tucked against his torso. He opened his mouth to say something but the stabs of tiny claws as the kittens happily kneaded the skin of his belly had him wincing. Cortez’s deep, dark secret was that he was ticklish as hell, and the baby claws were about to send him into fits.
“Ugh,” he grunted as tiny stabs poked at him. He tossed the covers back and went straight for the scratching kittens, picking up the entire menagerie in one big hand. “Sophie, sweet, can you please bring the cage over here? We should put them back so I may rise.”
Sophie obediently padded over to the cage on the floor and picked it up, bringing it over to him. Cortez took the cage, gently putting the animals back inside. Then he closed the door, sitting up on the bed. Both he and Sophie hovered over the cage, inspecting the little animals.
“I will find them clean straw before we leave,” Cortez told her, looking at her little blond head. “Have you fed them yet this morning?”
Sophie shook her head and Cortez patted her on the top of her soft hair, rising from the bed. His bare feet met with a very cold floor and he headed over to the fireplace to stir the embers a bit. As he moved, he happened to glance at the other bed only to realize that it was empty. Diamantha was missing. Fear gripped him.
“Sophie,” he tried not to sound panicked. “Where is your mother?”
Sophie shrugged. She was more interested in the animals. “She left.”
Cortez was already yanking on his boots. “Where did she go?” he asked, fear in his tone. “Did she say where she was going, sweet?”
Sophie shook her head again, her hands in the cage as she petted her kittens. Cortez didn’t linger. He secured his last boot and bolted to the door. He paused, however briefly, before exiting as he looked pointedly at Sophie.
“You will say here,” he told the little girl. “Do you understand me? Stay in this room and do not leave.”
Sophie nodded again and even looked at him, her big eyes staring straight at Cortez. He could only pray she understood what he was telling her, so he rushed out of the room and shut the door. As he seemed to recall, the child had a habit of slipping away. He didn’t want
to have to turn the town upside-down looking for an errant little girl.
There were soldiers in the small corridor and he headed straight for them. “Where did Lady de Bretagne go?” he demanded.
The soldiers, three of them, pointed towards the stairs. “She went that way, my lord,” one of them said.
Cortez was already moving to the rickety old stairs. “The little girl is still in the chamber,” he told them. “Make sure she stays there. In fact, one of you go into the room and sit with her. Keep her in your sight and keep her safe at all costs.”
The soldiers nodded but Cortez didn’t stick around to confirm the understanding of his orders. He was already flying down the steps, his gaze searching out every corner of the common room looking for Diamantha. It was full of people sleeping on the floors, on the tables, but no sign of his wife. His wife. It still seemed odd to think that way. He had a wife again and it was the best feeling in the world. It was also the most vulnerable. He would have been devastated if something happened to her before he got the chance to truly know her. When she was out of his sight, he felt frantic. Vulnerable. As he charged towards the entry, he heard hissing behind him.
Whirling around, he saw Diamantha coming in through the rear entrance to the tavern. She was gesturing at him, trying to get his attention. Relief such as he had never before experienced washed over him, rendering him weak. After a deep breath and a hard swallow to regain his composure, he went to her.
“Where did you go?” he asked, trying not to sound demanding or accusing. “I woke up and you were gone.”
Diamantha was back in her traveling clothes, the heavy dark blue woolen dress and cloak. In fact, she appeared refreshed and lovely in this early hour. She pointed to the door she had just come through.
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