***
The murmur of a small stream played in the background as they slept that night. It had also provided the combatants a way of washing away the evidence of war.
Claire watched William where he lay a few feet from her. He seemed to be aware of her eyes on him for he looked over at her and smiled. Then he rolled over and settled himself for the night.
Claire sighed. She had hoped that they would have found a place off by themselves. William, on the other hand, told her that, since he would be meeting her family soon, he would not be doing so with a guilty conscience. He had too many strikes against him already when it came to being accepted by her family.
Then there had been the matter of posting a guard. Two men were posted in two-hour shifts. Claire had assumed that she would be taking a shift, but William would not allow it. Claire tried to argue, but the looks she received from the men very much said that they agreed with William. Feeling outnumbered, she swallowed her indignation and stomped off into the forest for a time.
When she came back, William had whispered, “Sorry, Claire, but it’s only proper.” Claire was too tired to argue, and when she lay down on her blanket, she was almost thankful her sleep would not be disturbed.
The morning brought a quick breakfast, then Claire helped William secure one of the silver swords, from the slain soldiers, across his back. It was hidden by his cape, yet easily accessible. Carrying the two swords changed how the stable manager saw himself. Whether he wanted it or not, he was becoming a warrior.
The other sword went to Lassiter, the lieutenant of the guard who, William discovered, already had a sword strapped to his back. How the man fastened another sword to his back was beyond William. The man seemed unencumbered, and neither sword could be seen.
For the next two days, they walked, rode, and rested but briefly. They made their way across Mercia by road at night but kept to the forest during the day. By the middle of the second night, Claire was most grateful that William had shown her how to not fall off Brunneis while she slept. Though she was determined to be strong and do as the men did, from time to time, she could not help but doze off as she rode.
Thankfully, there were no more attacks, and between the cat naps and walking to ease the horses’ backs, they made it to the Northumbria border in good time. Once they crossed, William told the men they would be making camp for the night.
“But Will, York is only a half day’s ride from here,” Claire complained upon hearing his orders.
“Claire, the horses need proper grazing,” was all he said, then rode off in search of a defensible campsite. His hasty exit left Claire fuming. He knew she was not happy with his decision, but he was feeling too uneasy to continue on.
As he searched for a campsite, he also tried to pinpoint where his unease was coming from. The way ahead should be clear now that they were beyond Mercia, but William still felt going forward was an error.
‘Maybe I’m just being a coward,’ William thought. ‘That could be it,’ he reasoned. During the long ride, William came to the conclusion that, no matter what his chances were, he would ask Claire’s father for her hand in marriage. Just thinking of how that conversation might go had William’s gut twisted in a knot.
Finding a stream running through a small meadow, William rode back to the group with the news.
The men welcomed the chance to rest, but Claire remained opposed to the stay. They were just too close to her home and family to stop now.
Riding toward the campsite, the argument between them got more and more heated. Reaching the site, William jumped off Luto, but Claire urged Brunneis on.
“Claire, you can’t … Brunneis needs the rest,” William called after her.
The young woman never looked back.
“Make camp,” William yelled to the men as he remounted the stallion. “We’ll be right back.”
“Claire … wait!” he shouted as Luto galloped to catch up.
***
William tried to reason with Claire for a couple of miles before he realized that, if the two of them were to get back to the campsite, he would have to confess to what was really bothering him.
He did not mention his feeling that the way forward was more dangerous than that which they had just come through. That, he had no basis for. But not wanting to meet her father smelling of the miles they had traveled was something that he knew Claire would understand.
Gathering his courage, he told her, “Claire, I want to be presentable when we ride into York. I have something important to ask your father … and I think he would be more likely to let a clean soldier have your hand in marriage than a grubby stable manager.”
Claire, her mouth gaping open, stopped Brunneis. “Do you mean that?”
William gave a short laugh. “I hope so. That’s my plan, anyway. I’m pretty nervous about talking to your family.”
Claire dismounted and walked over to Luto before saying, “What about me?”
“You?” William fumbled for an answer. “I’m not sure what you mean, Claire.”
“What makes you think I’d want you for a husband?” Claire clarified.
“I just … I guess I just hoped … from what we said before …” William fumbled.
“You could have asked me,” Claire said, pointing out the obvious.
“I …”
Summer was just starting. Northern England had yet to get hot. But, at the moment, William could have sworn that the temperature had risen considerably.
“I mean, you’re right about our positions in life,” Claire continued. “I am a respected woman of medicine and the daughter of an earl. You are a horseman. But,” Claire paused, “there is only one way you can be certain about my heart.”
For the first time since being exposed to the concept of reading another’s mind, William sincerely wished he could. If that were the case, he could simply think, ‘Will you be my wife?’ and he would know her answer without having to risk saying it out loud. With hope in his heart, William thought the question with all his might.
‘Only if you come off that horse and ask me properly,’ the thought shot back.
Chapter 24
They walked hand-in-hand for a way leaving Luto and Brunneis to follow on their own. Before reaching the campsite, they mounted the horses so that their return would look as casual as possible, though that was difficult for both of them.
‘She said, yes,’ kept running through William’s mind. He was still in a state of shock. He was glad that the evening had no disturbances to deal with. He was sure his decision-making processes were functioning at a very low level at the moment.
Claire kept reminding herself that the façade she and William should be presenting was of two people that had just come to terms after a heated argument. She kept having to wipe a dreamy smile off her face.
Neither of them had much of an appetite that night and sleep came in short snatches. But they woke the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world.
William came back from bathing in clean clothes. When he walked into view, Claire had just taken a bite of crusty bread that promptly went down the wrong pipe as she gasped at the sight of him. Coughing and choking, she tried to catch her breath. This was a William she had never seen, and it was a sight that, even though she was peering through streaming eyes, was very impressive indeed.
‘Those look like his best clothes,’ she thought, in wonder. ‘If he packed them for the trip, that would mean that he has been planning to ask my father for my hand. Oh my, I really did not realize what was going through his mind.’ She understood the courage it took for someone of William’s standing to be ready to ask an earl for her hand. That was why she had been willing to be with him without the formality of marriage. ‘William is a very determined man,’ she thought. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and smiled up at him.
The men looked at William questioningly but did not voice those questions. William was in charge of their expedition, and they treated him like t
he adopted son of the earl that he was. They busied themselves with breaking camp and were soon on the road.
***
A half day later, they were approaching the wooden walls of the Earl of Northumbria’s keep. Instead of coming in by the shorter southern road which led right up to the gate, William had taken Claire aside and asked her if there was an approach that would let them see the entire battlement as well as its surroundings. The uneasiness that had come over him yesterday was flowing through his body like a river in flood, and he knew to pay attention to what it was trying to tell him.
Claire led the small troupe along her favorite path home which approached from the southwest. It wound through the lofty hills, and when they came to a clearing on the highest hill, they could see an encampment to the north of the walls around the keep. There were enough tents pitched there for at least a thousand soldiers. Flying over the largest tent was the standard of Mercia.
“Maybe they’re here for Father’s coronation?” Claire said without conviction.
“Begging the lady’s pardon,” William’s lieutenant said, “but the numbers that many tents would hold is far too many for a social call or even an occasion of state.”
“Will, follow me,” Claire said as she led them forward, “we can get closer by taking this road. Up ahead there is a grotto where we can enclose the horses and proceed on foot. We do need to be cautious, don’t we?”
William nodded, “We do, I’m afraid. Claire,” he continued, “is there anything I should know about Mercia that I don’t now know.”
Claire squirmed under the penetrating look. She was unsure of what she should do. The situation seemed to call for the truth, but she was sure Edyth had told William what he needed to know to stay safe. ‘Maybe,’ she thought.
Just as she had decided that Edyth had underestimated the danger and was about to tell Will the truth, he touched her arm. Stopping the horses, they examined the path ahead.
“Road guards?” Will questioned her.
“They look familiar,” Claire answered seeing the two men William had spotted. “But … Will … something isn’t right.”
“What do you mean?” Will noted that the men had stepped onto the road. He was pretty sure their party had been seen.
“If those two are the men I’m thinking of, they used to be much thinner. They never had that much muscle.”
“Claire, they could never have been thin. Those men are brutes.” William shook his head as his mind flashed back to another man of the same mass. “Don’t they remind you of the man that attacked us on the plateau?”
“Oh no!” Claire choked. “Will, they have been turned into monsters.”
Claire could have kicked herself. She had waited too long. She should have never agreed to keep anything from William.
“Will … don’t be mad,” she begged.
“Claire, if there is something I need to know, now would be a good time.”
The horses were getting jumpy. They smelled the danger and were shifting restlessly, trying to move away from the strange creatures.
Grabbing Brunneis’ mane to keep herself in the saddle, Claire gulped and started talking as fast as she could, “Will, not all people are human. There are even some that can change a person into a monster with a single bite. One of those beings is from Mercia, though I fear he might now be in the keep with my family.”
“So, you’re saying that these used to be your father’s guards, but they have been turned into monsters by this non-human?”
“Yes! Those two guards were once human. Now they are not. They are stronger, faster, and deadlier than you can imagine. Those teeth can rip your shoulder off in one bite. And those claws … you know what they can do.”
“Claws! You said it was a poison knife, Claire!” Claire looked at William with pleading in her eyes. “This is insane. Claire, how do we defend ourselves?”
“Just like Jorunn told you. You cut off their head at the base of the neck.”
The brutes had started toward them.
“There has to be another way,” William declared. “I would rather not get near those claws again.”
“Okay … okay,” Claire said as she racked her brain as the monsters moved closer. “Think, don’t panic,” she told herself, then to William, “There’s a part of the brain that, if you destroy it, it kills them.”
“How?”
“An arrow in the eye might work!”
William quickly strung his bow and pulled an arrow from his quiver. “Which eye?”
“Either,” Claire said, not letting on that she had no idea. Then, as she saw William raise his bow, she blurted out, “Seriously … from this distance?”
“I’d just as soon they not get any closer,” William responded, letting the arrow fly.
His aim was true. The monster on the right let loose a roar that no human could possibly make. Its knees buckled, and as it fell forward, an explosion shook the air around them.
“What the …” William exclaimed, too stunned to finish his curse.
“When you kill them, the head explodes,” Claire explained. “Will!” she screamed. The other brute was racing toward them.
William nocked another arrow and took aim. Luto moved restlessly under him. “Steady,” Will soothed him. The horse snorted but held. William loosed the arrow. It took out an eye, but the monster kept coming at them at an incredible speed.
Ripping another shaft from his quiver, William nocked it and let it fly. As the arrow left his bow, William reached for his sword and touched a heel to Luto’s ribs. Luto leaped to the left, giving William room to swing his sword at the beast. But before William could strike out, the monster’s head exploded, spraying horse and rider. The stench was horrible.
William whirled Luto around to check on his men. They were struggling to control their horses that had never experienced this type of combat before. But true to their training, the horses stood their ground even though they whirled and jumped around.
“Sir, what was that?” the lieutenant asked.
“Claire?” William demanded, looking at the woman beside him.
Claire contritely nudged Brunneis over to the men and began to explain what they had just witnessed. They could not deny what they had just seen, and though they did not want to, they understood the truth of her words.
William unhooked his water bag and did his best to wash the muck off Luto and himself. As he did, he thought about the morning’s icy cold bath. Now it was as if it had never happened.
Chapter 25
Claire kept glancing anxiously at William. It was apparent that he was angry. She did not blame him. He had every right to be upset. What had Edyth been thinking? To let him go on believing something that was not true when he was at their home and under her protection was one thing, but to let him go into this situation without full knowledge of what he was facing was … “Ridiculous!” Claire muttered.
She glanced at William again. ‘Isn’t he even going to look at me?’ she wondered. ‘I should have stood up to Edyth,’ she moaned to herself. ‘But she is a Piretian. She’s over a million years old. I thought she knew best.’ Considering what had just happened, she knew better now. If Will had not been the marksman he was, things would have turned out far worse.
‘Oh Will,’ she thought, ‘you are the most amazing person. I’m so sorry. Please, look at me.’
William stopped fussing with Luto and turned to look at her. Claire inhaled sharply realizing that he had heard her thoughts.
“I don’t have enough arrows,” he said.
“Will, I don’t understand,” Claire said as she urged Brunneis to William’s side.
“If those tents are filled with hulks the size of those two,” he said dully, “I don’t have enough arrows.”
“Will, I am so sorry. Please, forgive me,” she entreated him.
William walked to Brunneis’ side and slowly looked up at her. “How long have you known about all this?”
“I saw Jorunn kil
l a couple of them,” she explained quickly. “Two days later, I was on the road to Wessex.”
“Not once did you think to tell me?” Claire could hear the hurt in his voice.
“Edyth swore me to secrecy,” Claire admitted. “But honestly, I thought of little else.”
“Why didn’t she want me to know?” William asked incredulously.
“The difference between the way things are and the way we believe it to be is an impossible leap for most. She was afraid that if she told you before you were open enough to accept what you heard, you would reject the truth.”
“So?”
“That kind of rejection can only be achieved by closing down a lot of who you really are. Will, you’re special, and the lady knows it. Your ability with horses … Will, there are only a few people capable of doing what you do naturally. You can talk with the horses, and at some level, that’s something you’ve always been able to do.”
“How is knowing about the things that can get me killed going to interfere with all that?”
“I don’t know … but I’ve seen it happen. Maud was with me when Jorunn killed the two monsters. Yet the next day, she had no memory of it.”
“Maud … your sister?”
“She swore it never happened.”
William looked at her thoughtfully. “I didn’t remember how I got my gut cut open.”
“I think that was different. You were poisoned. And … and I was told to lie to you.”
“You really were very good at it,” William said. The accusation in his voice made Claire flinch.
“I hated it!” she cried. “And the more I came to know you, the worse it was.”
“You should have stopped,” William stated flatly as he turned back to the stallion and took another swipe at the muck. “He needs a bath.”
***
“Sir,” Lassiter said, “the men are asking what we should do now.”
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