Masters of Medieval Romance: Series Starters Volume 1

by Kathryn Le Veque

  “I must go and say my farewells to Ghislaine,” he said. “You will tell Aramis that we depart within the hour.”

  A word from Téo stopped him. “Gate,” he said. “It is merely a suggestion, of course, but why not leave Jathan here with the lady? He can act as her protector as well as provide her with company. You may feel better about leaving her behind if you do. And he can prevent her from trying to follow us.”

  Gaetan scratched his head thoughtfully. “An excellent suggestion,” he said. “Although I doubt Jathan could stand up to the formidable Lady Ghislaine should she try to follow us, I will leave him with her just the same.”

  Leaving Téo to inform Aramis of their coming departure, Gaetan headed down through the neat stone village, inspecting it as he went along and seeing that there was, indeed, minimal damage from the raid last night. In fact, it looked as if there had been absolutely nothing amiss only hours earlier. There were women in front of their cottages, sweeping their stoops, who smiled timidly at him as he passed. Even children, playing on the avenue, came to a halt as he walked by. But one little girl, perhaps four years of age, began following him. Gaetan didn’t notice her until she ran up beside him and tugged on his tunic.

  Curious, he came to a halt when he saw the child. Unfortunately, he’d never been very good with children and he wasn’t sure if he should speak to her or just keep walking. Not to be rude in front of all of the people who were watching him, he bent down to be more at the child’s level.

  “Can I be of service, my lady?”

  The little girl looked at him with her enormous brown eyes, bringing up a dirty finger to point at a missing front tooth. Gaetan peered at it.

  “Did you lose your tooth?”

  The little girl nodded and another child, a boy of about seven or eight, ran up behind her and began to pull her away from the big knight.

  “She lost it last night when she was running away from the Men of Bones,” the boy said, his speech that odd mix of Latin and Saxon just like everyone else in the village. “She wanted to show you.”

  Gaetan fought off a grin. “That is a terrible casualty,” he said. “I am sorry we could not prevent it.”

  The boy looked him up and down, an expression on his face suggesting he rather liked what he saw. He was used to the men around him, sometimes weak or colorless, or both, but this enormous knight in mail and leather in his midst was an example of what men could grow in to. Perhaps that was what he wanted to grow in to, someday.

  “You fought with swords,” the boy finally said. “I saw you.”

  Gaetan nodded. “We did, indeed.”

  “Will you teach me to fight with your big sword?”

  Gaetan did smile, then; he couldn’t help it. He rather liked young eager boys, willing to learn, willing to fight. But he had tasks to attend to and time was growing short, so he simply nodded his head.

  “Mayhap I will, someday,” he said. “In the meantime, learn to fight with the smaller blades that your men use. Understand how to use that blade before you use a bigger one. When it comes time for that, I will teach you.”

  The child simply grinned, brightly, and Gaetan went along his way. It was a rather nice village, he thought, peaceful when it wasn’t being attacked by bone-wearing barbarians. He was starting to see why these people protected their way of life so fiercely – it was worth protecting.

  Coming around the corner that led to the row of cottages where Ghislaine’s hut was situated, he saw the women at the pond, washing their clothes in the early morning. As he walked by the pond, every lady turned to look at him. He felt rather on display.

  Approaching Ghislaine’s cottage at the end of the row, he could see Jathan sitting out in front of it, cleaning his weapon. Drawing nearer, the door of the cottage suddenly opened and Lygia appeared, closing the door very quietly behind her. She and Jathan caught sight of Gaetan at about the same time, and Jathan set his sword aside.

  “Good morn to you, Gaetan,” Jathan said. “’Tis a fine day.”

  Gaetan acknowledged the priest. “I have come to see the lady,” he said. “Is she awake?”

  It was Lygia who spoke. “She is not, my lord,” she replied. “Her leg was paining her a great deal after she returned to her cottage last night and old Pullum gave her a potion to make her sleep. I am afraid the lady is dead to the world right now.”

  Gaetan was disappointed. “I see,” he said. “I do not wish to wake her, but I wanted to tell her that my men and I are leaving this morning. We must finish our task and we cannot wait until her leg heals, but I wanted to reassure her that we will return for her. I will return for her.”

  “I can tell her, my lord,” Lygia said. “Even if you tried to wake her now, she probably would not remember the conversation. Pullum’s potions are powerful.”

  Gaetan was growing more disappointed by the moment. He was hoping for a sweet word and a tender kiss with Ghislaine. But as he pondered his disappointment, he noticed that Jathan had stood up and was gathering his things around him, preparing to depart with the rest of the knights.

  “Nay, Jathan,” Gaetan said. “You are not going. You will remain with the lady as her protector and companion until I return.”

  Jathan, too, now had the look of disappointment. “But… you may need me, Gate.”

  Gaetan shook his head. “I realize that, but it is more important to me that you remain with Ghislaine.” He could see that Jathan didn’t understand, so he sought to clear up the man’s confusion. “It is far more important for her to remain here so that her leg may heal. Moreover, I am giving you a very important task of protecting my future wife. Will you do this for me?”

  Jathan’s eyes widened. “Wife?”

  A glimmer of a smile appeared on Gaetan’s lips. “Aye,” he said. “I know it is shocking, but believe me when I tell you it is the truth. The lady and I intend to wed, so it is very important to me that you remain with her while I go to retrieve Kristoph. Please, Jathan… will you do this?”

  Jathan still wasn’t over his shock that Gaetan and Ghislaine were to be married, but he nodded. “Indeed,” he said. “If you wish it.”

  “I do,” Gaetan said. Then, he looked to Lygia. “I would thank you for the great care you have taken of Lady Ghislaine and for the great care you will continue to give her while I am away. Please assure her that I will return as soon as I can. And I am leaving the dog here as well. I am assuming he is in the cottage with her?”

  Lygia nodded. “Passed out like a drunkard on the bed next to her, my lord.”

  Gaetan’s grin spread. “That sounds like my dog,” he said. Then, he looked at the door of the cottage. “May I take a look at her before I go? I promise I will not wake her.”

  Lygia nodded and very quietly opened the door, allowing Gaetan to stick his head inside. He immediately spied Ghislaine over on the cozy bed, sleeping so heavily that she was snoring. His gaze upon her was warm, wishing with all his heart that he could speak to her before he left, but it was not meant to be. He hoped she understood. It only made him want to return to her that much faster.

  With a sigh, he backed out of the cottage and carefully closed the door behind him.

  “It is good that she is sleeping,” he said. “She needs to rest. Jathan, I will take my leave of you here. Make sure she knows I will return.”

  Jathan was well aware of the determination of Lady Ghislaine. “And if she tries to follow?”

  Gaetan turned to look at him. “Tie her to the bed if you have to. Do not let her come after me. That is a command.”

  Jathan nodded his head, watching Gaetan head back in the direction he had come. He wasn’t particularly thrilled at being left behind when the rest of the knights were going to rescue Kristoph but, in a sense, he understood. Someone had to stay behind to protect Lady Ghislaine and he was the logical choice.

  But he wasn’t happy about it.

  As Jathan wrestled with his disappointment, Lygia was watching Gaetan until he disappeared from view
. Then, she turned to Jathan.

  “Would she really try to follow them?” she asked.

  Jathan picked up his cleaning rag and resumed cleaning his blade. “My lady, you have no idea what Ghislaine of Mercia will do. I have never in my life seen a more determined or courageous woman.”

  Lygia thought of the rather pale woman sleeping the sleep of the dead in the cottage. Other than being quite beautiful, Lady Ghislaine didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary to her. She was curious.

  “Truly?” she asked. “Will you tell me why you say such things?”

  Jathan looked at her, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Lady Ghislaine is worthy of the great tales told about her,” he said. “In fact, some day I may write them all down. Here, now; sit down and listen. I think you will be amazed.”

  Jathan had been right. After the story of their trip north from the battle near Hastings, she was amazed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  ‡

  Distraction is Deadly

  Later that morning

  Outside of the village of Rock Cross; Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

  “We are on the right path,” Gaetan said as he dismounted his horse, speaking to his knights who were either on the ground resting or standing near the cold clear stream he’d left them by not an hour earlier. “The priest said that we are to continue up this road until we come to a larger road. The path to Tenebris will be to the east along that larger road, about half a mile. We will see the fortress on the rise through the trees.”

  It had taken little more than half a day since leaving the Tertium village to come within a few miles of Kidderminster. They knew that Tenebris was nearby but without Ghislaine’s direction, they weren’t sure, exactly, where it was. They needed help. Passing a farmer on their way north, the farmer directed them to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, a relatively new church as far as churches went, but the only one in the area other than a larger church in Kidderminster. Gaetan thanked the farmer, threw him a coin, and then continued on to the church as they’d been directed.

  Coming up the road from the south, the block-steeple of the church came into view and Gaetan left his men by a stream in a thicket of trees and proceeded onward to ask the priests if they knew where Tenebris was located. His concern was that the priests might know of, or be loyal to, Alary and he didn’t want word to reach Alary that nine Norman knights had been seeking him.

  One knight making an inquiry would seem far less threatening.

  Therefore, Gaetan went on alone, forcing himself to keep his mind on his task when all he wanted to do was think of Ghislaine. It was strange how much he missed her, considering he’d only known the woman a matter of weeks. Now, he couldn’t even remember traveling without her. His arms ached to hold her but he comforted himself with the knowledge that the sooner they regain Kristoph, the sooner he would return to Ghislaine.

  Under the guise of being an old friend of Alary of Mercia, Gaetan was able to extract a satisfactory answer from the solitary priest at the church and he had now returned to inform his men. Once he finished delivering the news, he brought his horse to the stream to drink, crouching down beside the animal to drink himself while his men began to gather their horses in preparation for departing.

  “We shall make it to Tenebris easily before nightfall,” Téo said as he pulled his horse up from greedily eating thick wet grass. “Do you intend we should remain here tonight and set out in the morning?”

  Gaetan shook his head. “Nay,” he said, standing up and shaking the water from his hands. “Even with the delays we have suffered, Alary was still traveling far slower than we were. We should be at least two days or more ahead of him, but we cannot be entirely certain. On the chance that he has made better time than we estimated, I will send Wellesbourne and St. Hèver into Kidderminster to watch for his party passing through. If Alary has two hundred men with him, then he will be easily spotted. Meanwhile, de Reyne and de Russe can ride head to scout out Tenebris. We need eyes on the place to see its strength and layout.”

  Intelligence gathering was necessary in a situation such as this and everyone agreed, for the most part. “What is the plan of attack?” de Lara wanted to know. “If Alary is carrying two hundred men, we must have something precise planned so that when he comes, we are ready.”

  Gaetan pulled his horse out of the stream and moved to mount the saddle. “That is what the rest of us will be doing,” he said. “We will be scouting the road between Kidderminster and Tenebris to determine the best place for an ambush. That is the only way we will be able to take on a greater number.”

  “That is assuming Alary has not yet made it to Tenebris,” de Lara said quietly.

  That was the key to all of this. If Alary had already made it to his fortress, then they would have to think of something else. There was something ominous in that thought. Gaetan vaulted into the saddle and gathered his reins as his men began to do the same.

  “Exactly,” he said. “Let us get along with what must be done.”

  With that, they tore out of the thicket and back onto the road again. Beneath clear skies and a rather lovely day, they reached the main road from Kidderminster in under an hour. Suddenly, they were right where they wanted to be, on the very road they had been seeking, and Gaetan found himself looking in the direction of the city even though he couldn’t see it. Still, they were here, ready to intercept Alary’s army, and the moment wasn’t lost on him.

  They’d been waiting for it for the better part of several weeks.

  Now, Gaetan’s focus was where it should be as thoughts of Ghislaine were tucked away. He was on the eve of a battle and thinking of the woman he adored would only be a distraction, and every knight knew that distraction was deadly. His thoughts shifted to Kristoph and what the man must have suffered these past weeks being the prisoner of a madman.

  Kristoph was strong, he knew, but even the strong had a breaking point. This was the instant where he showed Kristoph just what brotherhood meant – it meant that men were not forgotten and that the bonds of warriors were stronger than the bonds of blood.

  This was that moment.

  With a lesser traveled road and a heavy forest of trees to their back, the knights looked to the west where Tenebris was located. The landscape was a little hilly, but none of the bigger hills and dales they had seen further south. For the most part, it was flat. Gaetan looked from east to west along the larger road, which was heavily traveled from the ruts in it. There were, however, thick lines of trees on both sides of the road to the east, but those trees dwindled the further west the road went. In fact, he could see the trees tapering off altogether not too far to the west. Beyond was the flat lands of meadows.

  “Look to the trees,” he said, pointing off to the east where the trees came right up to the road. “That is where we shall make our stand, right here before the forest thins out too much. If we catch Alary and his army there, they will have nowhere to go.”

  Téo, Aramis, and Luc were up alongside him, looking at the landscape. “If Alary is smart, he’ll have two hundred men in close quarters to protect one another while they are traveling,” Luc said. “If that is the case, we use crossbows as the weapon of choice – three of us in the front, three along the flanks, and then three in the rear. We can hold an entire army hostage that way and extract Kristoph.”

  Gaetan nodded, looking up to the height of the trees. “That was my thinking exactly.”

  He spurred his horse down the road towards the trees they were discussing and his men followed. St. Hèver and de Moray entered the tree line to both the north and south side of the road, inspecting what was back in the forest, as the rest of them came to a halt about midway down a particularly dense line of trees. They were all looking about, inspecting it, noting the visibility from the road among other things. Satisfied, Gaetan was the first one to speak.

  “Bartholomew and Kye will head to Kidderminster now,” he said, motioning both men out of the trees and addressing t
hem when they came near. “Remember your instructions; you are to remain out of sight. Do not let Alary or any of his men catch sight of you or we may have serious problems. Once you sight them, come back to us as quickly as you can. We will need time to prepare for their approach.”

  Wellesbourne and St. Hèver nodded sharply, goring their steeds forward and tearing off down the road, eastward bound for Kidderminster. As the two of them took off, Gaetan turned to Aramis and Lance.

  “You two head out to scout Tenebris,” he said. “Careful you are not sighted. We do not want to alert them to our presence.”

  Aramis nodded. “We will be cautious.”

  Gaetan watched them go, thundering down the road and disappearing from view when the road curved. Now, it was him, Téo, de Moray, de Winter, and de Lara. Gaetan turned to the remaining knights.

  “It will be up to us to determine the best place for an attack,” he said. “Go now and mark your spots. Come to me when you are ready and we shall put this plan into action.”

  With confidence, the others began to spread out, searching for the best place from which to launch an ambush. As Gaetan watched them go, his attention inevitably turned to the east. He wished very much that he had his entire army with him, but there was no time to spend on regrets. Nine Norman knights had to fend off two hundred Saxon soldiers and pray the Saxons didn’t kill Kristoph before the knights could rescue him. That was the gist of the situation and everyone knew it. Gaetan wasn’t quite sure what he would do if he saw Kristoph murdered before his eyes, before he was able to get to him.

  A praying man, he began to pray very hard that it wouldn’t happen.

  Please, God… just give me the chance to get to him. That is all I ask….

  Ghislaine only woke up because the dog had left her bed, jostling her when it did so. Then, he scratched at the door, wanting to be let out, so she sat up and tried to collect her wits before staggering over to the door and opening it for the dog to go out and do his doggy business. As she opened the door, however, she saw Jathan sitting against the wall of the cottage, sharpening a small dagger with a stone.