The Dark Spawn (Battle Lords of de Velt Book 5)

by Kathryn Le Veque

  He wasn’t sure he liked that at all.

  “I see,” he said. “That is a very difficult life for a woman. I am surprised your father permits it.”

  Corisande shrugged. “As I said, I am their best chance for survival,” she said. “My mother used to go with the army, too.”

  “Two women surgeons?”

  “Indeed.”

  Cole had never heard of such a thing. To think of Corisande de Bourne in the midst of a battle… nay, he didn’t like that at all. A battle was no place for a woman, but he refrained from voicing his opinion. She clearly didn’t see anything wrong with it and he didn’t want to interject his position when he really had no place to. But it occurred to him that if de Bourne sent his army to Berwick, as he had pledged, then Corisande might be going along as the surgeon.

  … and he had a distinct problem with that.

  He’d known the woman a matter of hours and, already, he didn’t like the idea of her in danger.

  It was a most interesting situation.

  “Hopefully, there will never be another cause for you to venture out with the army,” he said, smiling weakly. “The Keld seems to be at peace for the moment. So we shall hope it remains that way.”

  “And you’ll still come back and visit us?”

  “I said I would. I meant it.”

  The way he said it caused her cheeks to flush. He could see it in the dim light of the lamp. But she lowered her gaze, and the lamp, and his glimpse of those pretty cheeks was dimmed.

  “Then I shall be in the stables before dawn with some food for your journey,” she said. “I hope that is agreeable.”

  “I am grateful, my lady.”

  “If I am to call you Cole, then you are to call me Cori.”

  “It would be my greatest honor.”

  “But do not let my brothers hear you. They might think you are being too forward.”

  He laughed low in his throat. “I can handle the de Bourne brothers.”

  “And they think they can handle you.”

  He burst out laughing. Corisande smiled broadly, a big dimple in her right cheek, as she handed him the lamp.

  “As much as I would like to continue this conversation, I am afraid that I must tend a soldier with an infected wound,” she said, holding up the growth in her hand. “That is why I came to collect the moss. But it was most agreeable speaking with you, Cole. I am glad we had the opportunity.”

  His gaze lingered on her. “As am I,” he said. “And it will not be the last time.”

  “I hope not.”

  With a bashful smile, she turned and headed out of the stable, leaving Cole standing there with the lamp in his hand and a big grin on his face.

  Nay, it wouldn’t be the last time he talked to her.

  Not in the least.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “What is the matter with you?”

  The words were mumbled. Cole thought he was the only one awake, but he was mistaken.

  Cole, Addax, and Essien were all sleeping in the same chamber in the knight’s quarters of The Keld. It was the largest room in the block, with three beds crammed into it simply because all of the other chambers were full. It wasn’t that The Keld had so many knights, because the de Bourne brothers slept in the keep, but it was the simply the fact that the space was needed for the soldiers, so the knight’s quarters really wasn’t full of knights.

  It was full of soldiers.

  But Cole didn’t realize that until it was time to go to bed and the servant who attended the men in the knight’s quarters was apologetic and offered to kick some of the soldiers out of their smaller chambers, but Cole waved the man off. They were only going to be there for the night, so it really didn’t matter. He went to bed along with Essien and Addax in the same chamber, but he had ended up lying awake most of the night listening to their snores.

  Or, so he thought.

  Addax was awake, too.

  “What makes you think anything is wrong?” Cole muttered softly, turning to see Addax laying on his belly, looking at him. “Why are you awake?”

  Addax lifted his head. “Because you have been laying there, sighing all night,” he said. He sighed heavily a few times just for effect. “By the Gods, Cole, you sound like someone is punching you in the belly every few minutes and your breath is being expelled at an alarming rate. What is the matter with you?”

  Cole looked at the man for a moment before returning his focus to the ceiling. He’d been staring at it for hours as he lay flat on his back. Staring, thinking… after a moment, he sighed heavily, realizing for the first time that he was doing it.

  “You see?” Addax said. “There you go again. Are you ill?”

  Cole pursed his lips wryly. “Nay,” he said. “I am not ill.”

  “Are you in pain?”

  “Nay.”

  Addax rolled his eyes. “You will be the next time you sigh like that and do not tell me what the issue is.”

  Cole grinned, lopsided. “I do not even know where to start.”

  “Then there is a problem?”

  Cole didn’t say anything for a moment. “Ad, let me ask you a question.”

  “Ask, my friend.”

  “What do you think of Audie?”

  Addax looked at him curiously. “Audie? Lady Audrie?”

  “Aye. You know her nickname is Audie.”

  “She is a pretty girl, well-educated. Why?”

  “Do you like her?”

  “I’ve not had a great chance to know her, but what I have seen, I like.”

  “You know that our families are expecting me to marry her.”

  “I know.”

  “Let me ask you another question.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “What do you think of Lady Corisande?”

  Addax’s head came up, the dark eyes glittering. “Ah,” he said after a moment. “I understand now.”

  Cole looked at him. “You do? Then explain it to me.”

  Addax pushed himself up, swinging his legs over the side of the mattress. “What do you want me to explain?” he said. “Lady Corisande is beautiful and she is a fresh face. She is simply new and interesting. You’ve found a pretty new girl to look at.”

  Cole rolled onto his side to look at him. “I have seen plenty of beautiful, fresh faces in my life, but not one of them has made me feel like I’ve been struck by lightning when I look at her.”

  “Not even Mary?”

  Cole shrugged, reflecting on the wife he’d lost. “I do not know,” he admitted. “With Mary, my feelings for her were a calm and comfortable thing. But with Corisande… all I know is that I feel bolts of lightning rush through my veins when she looks at me and we had a nice conversation earlier this evening when I left the hall. It is difficult to describe, but talking to her… it is so easy. The words simply flowed and I do not converse easily, Ad. You know this.”

  “She makes you feel comfortable.”

  Cole nodded. “I look at her and all I want to do is smile,” he said. “Christ, that sounds like madness even as I say it. But the way she handled herself when Canmore took her a prisoner speaks of her inner strength. I have never seen a woman handle herself so well in the face of danger.”

  “And that impresses you?”

  “It does.”

  Addax scratched his head. “Then mayhap you should keep away from Audrie de Longley until you can figure out if the attraction to Corisande de Bourne is something more than simple infatuation. But you do have a commitment of sorts with Audrie, Cole. This could get… tricky.”

  Cole sat up. “There is no commitment,” he said. “Simply an expectation that has never been spoken aloud. I have never asked to formally court her. Audie is charming and witty, but there is also a superficialness to her. When I speak to her about my life, about my interests, she listens politely and immediately starts talking about herself again. It would be nice to have a wife who was interested in my likes and wants again. Mary was.”

  “And you
think that Lady Corisande can replace Mary?”

  Cole shrugged. “Not replace her,” he said. “It is not my intention to replace her at all. But if I could find an intelligent woman who showed interest in me, that would mean something. With Audie, everything you need to know about her is right there in front of you. There’s nothing deeper with her. No wants, no dreams, no desires.”

  Addax regarded him in the dim light. “And you sense something deeper in Lady Corisande?”

  Cole half-nodded, half-shrugged. “I don’t know what I sense,” he said. “All I know is that she makes me sit up and take notice in a way Audie never has. She’s like a goddess on the mountaintop and I am but a lowly servant at her feet. The woman is far too good for me and I know it, but that does not stop my interest in her.”

  Addax was grinning at him. “Then mayhap you should explore that,” he said. “Es and I can return to Pelinom and tell your father what has occurred here with Canmore. Why not remain here under some pretext? Get to know Lady Corisande and see if she’s really the goddess on the mountaintop that you think she is.”

  Cole shook his head. “I would like to, but I cannot,” he said. “I must tell my father personally what we have discovered, but when that is finished, I will return here if I can. I have promised myself that. And I have promised Corisande, too.”

  “She knows of your interest?”

  “Nay,” Cole said. “But it is quite possible that she will at some point soon.”

  Addax grinned, his white teeth flashing in the dim light, as Essien suddenly rolled onto his back.

  “By all that is holy,” he muttered, putting his hands over his face. “Will you two shut your bloody mouths? How is a man supposed to sleep?”

  Cole started laughing as Addax used his blanket to beat his brother, who yelped and ended up grabbing the blanket. A full-scale brawl was about to erupt but Cole stood up, putting himself between coiled Essien and snickering Addax.

  “Enough, you idiots,” he said. “I get that enough from my own brothers. I do not need it from you two.”

  Essien cooled down, but only a little. He fell back on his bed, his arms over his eyes. “Cole, if I were you, I would stay away from Lady Corisande,” he said.

  Cole was heading over to the basin of freezing water to wash his face in the pre-dawn darkness. He struck flint and stone to light the oil lamp on the table before glancing at Essien.

  “Why?” he asked.

  Essien grunted. “Because if she is anything like her sister, she is an annoying monstrosity.”

  Cole grinned as he turned back to the basin of water, collecting a bar of lumpy, white soap next to it that smelled of pine and rosemary.

  “I saw that she was paying you an inordinate amount of attention last night,” he said as he splashed water on his face. “She is a pretty little thing.”

  Essien’s arms came away from his face. “She is pretty, but she pinches,” he said, making pinching gestures. “She’s got crab claws and she uses them. I swear to you that my entire left side is bruised from her pinching.”

  Cole lathered up his stubble with the soap and picked up the razor that was next to the basin, one belonging to Addax.

  “The bruises are badges of honor,” he said as he carefully shaved his left cheek, using a small bronze mirror on the table. “Since when do you complain if a pretty girl leaves marks on your body? That has never bothered you before.”

  Essien yawned. “Normally, it would not,” he said. “But the youngest de Bourne sister is far too much of a child for me. I like my women older. And less pinchy.”

  Cole washed off the razor in the water. “With your ugly looks, you are lucky she finds you handsome enough to pinch,” he said. “Speaking of ugly, what was done with Canmore’s body?”

  Addax answered as he pulled his tunic over his head. “Ares sent it to the priests at St. Oswald’s,” he said. “It was a terrible way to die, but mayhap better than the way the rest of his men died. I suppose the man should be grateful for small mercies.”

  Cole finished with the right side of his face, ignoring the comment about Canmore’s army. He knew that Essien and Addax had been somewhat sensitive to what his father had done at Fountainhall and Cole wouldn’t be put in a position where he had to defend his father’s tactics to them, Essien in particular.

  Ajax de Velt was beyond reproach, in his opinion.

  “My father will be very interested in the mention of Berwick,” he said, changing the subject slightly. “Canmore never mentioned Berwick to him, so that is a new and curious bit of information.”

  “Will he move troops there?” Essien asked.

  Both Cole an Addax nodded, but it was Cole who answered. “If that is where the Northman ships intend to enter England, then he’ll have to,” he said. “My suspicion is that we shall all be going to war very soon and William Marshal will be heading north, if he is not already.”

  Addax was pulling on another tunic to protect against the cold morning, but his movements were slowing. “Cole,” he said after a moment. “I have been thinking… your father left a survivor from Fountainhall to deliver a message to King William.”

  “He did.”

  “Was that wise?”

  Cole had just finished shaving his chin. “What do you mean?”

  Addax straightened out the tunic. “I mean that sending a survivor back to William the Lion means that the king will know that we are aware of his plans,” he said. “Do you not think he will adjust for that? He may change his plans altogether.”

  Cole wiped off the remaining froth from his face. “I am certain that my father considered that,” he said. “On one hand, we capture Canmore and glean what we can from the man and we kill any witnesses to our activities. No one knows what happened, or where Canmore is, and the Scots continue with their plans to charge into England. On the other hand, we raze Fountainhall, capture Canmore, and let William know that we are well aware of his plans and we have demonstrated what we will do to him should he try to enter England. It gives William pause, of course. But does it make him amend his plans? I think they are already in motion. He cannot change them. We are going to Berwick and he will probably go there, also. We will try to prevent the Northmen from entering the River Tweed and he will try to prevent us from stopping them.”

  Addax could see the logic. “Assuming King William realizes we know of Berwick.”

  “If I were the king, I would assume that.”

  Addax conceded the point. “Then we shall tell Lord de Velt what has transpired here, and then we’re off to Berwick,” he said. Then, he scratched his head wearily. “I do not think I have had a day’s rest since coming to England, Cole. Between The Marshal and your father, it has been quite eventful. Has it always been like this?”

  Cole smiled weakly as he reached for his own clothing. “Pelinom and my father are usually quiet for the most part,” he said. “That is why I chose to serve William Marshal, why I have followed the man’s directives for the past ten years. I feel as if I am accomplishing something.”

  “And what have you accomplished?”

  Cole’s smile grew. “I shall be instrumental in helping prevent a Scottish invasion, for one,” he said. “In truth, the vast majority of my work for The Marshal has been in Scotland and on the borders. I speak Scots, without sounding like an Englishman, so I am perfect for the task. I have found it rewarding. Haven’t you?”

  Addax nodded. “Indeed, I have,” he said. “Who knew that two skinny lads from a faraway land could find such adventure in England. And such friends.”

  Cole slapped him affectionately on the shoulder. “Such friends, indeed,” he said. “Now, why don’t you seek out Lord Alastor and tell him that we are departing. I told him last night that we would be leaving before dawn, but it would be polite to bid him a farewell. I shall meet you in the stables when you are finished.”

  Addax, fully dressed, headed out into the common room where their mail and protection were stored on frames. There hadn
’t been enough room in their small chamber to keep everything with them, so Cole finished dressing and headed out into the common room himself, donning his mail and the black and red tunic bearing the great-fanged boar’s head of Ajax de Velt.

  Even as Cole headed out into the icy morning, his thoughts were not on his journey ahead, but on the young lady sleeping safe and sound in the keep off to his left. He thought fondly of those pale green eyes and silky blonde hair he’d like to run his hands through someday. Someday when her brothers weren’t around. It was true that he could handle them, mostly, but it would be easier if he had his brothers, Julian and Cassian, with him. No one would tangle with the de Velt brothers, not even the overly confident Sheriff of Westmorland.

  The thought brought a smile to his lips.

  He’d return to The Keld, for certain. And he would bring reinforcements with him.

  The faint light emitting from the stable caught his attention up ahead and he headed for it.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Where are you going?”

  Corisande froze midway through pulling a heavy robe over the shift and woolen dress she was wearing. It was a very cold morning, before sunrise, and there was frost on the windowsills so she was dressing warmly.

  But a hissing voice had her pausing.

  “Go back to sleep, Gratiana,” she whispered. “I have duties to attend to.”

  Gratiana de Allington lifted her dark, messy head. “At this hour?”

  Corisande waved at her, a gesture that suggested she lay back down. “We have visitors departing this morning, if you must know,” she said. “I also have an ill soldier and I wish to see how he fared through the night. Is there anything else you wish to know?”

  Gratiana shook her head and lay back down. She was a curious girl, but that only went so far in the early hours of the morning. Thankful that she didn’t have to deal with more of Gratiana’s questions, Corisande pulled the fur-lined robe tight and headed from the dark, warm chamber.

  The keep of Castle Keld was a big, cold block of ice on mornings like this. The stone it was built from literally turned to ice when the temperatures dipped, making the walls slick and the floors slippery. It was mostly dark in the stairwell except for a few intermittent torches and Corisande could see her breath hanging in the air as she carefully made her way down to the entry.