The Daughters of Avalon Collection: Books 1 & 2

by Tanya Anne Crosby

  Gone.

  Everything was gone.

  The devastation was staggering. Every alder, ash and elm within range of the castel had burnt to nubs, some still nurturing flames. The castel on the motte had been a temporary measure, constructed mostly of pinewood and spruce, making use of the area’s most prominent woods. Sparing only the outbuildings surrounding it, the edifice was consumed.

  Only six months ago, they’d begun construction on a new stone wall to replace the wood palisade; now that was all that remained. And, if there was life to be found within a hundred yards of the motte, it wasn’t immediately evident. It was only after the trio ascended the hillock and Wilhelm picked his way through simmering ruins that he spied movement inside the bailey. Survivors lifted ash-covered faces as he approached, pausing from their searches to reveal eyes that were red-rimmed from tears and smoke. But it was the cook he happened upon first. Bearing a carcass atop his bent shoulders, he came marching out of the ruins.

  “What happened here?”

  “They came like thieves in the night,” said the old man.

  “Who?”

  “The Count of Mortain with his Welsh witch.”

  Morwen Pendragon.

  Terror shook Wilhelm to his bones. “My fa—Lord de Vere? Where is he?”

  The elder man lifted a bony shoulder, peering back into the destruction in a gesture that sank Wilhelm’s soul. He turned again, and the old man’s dirty lips quivered as he hoisted down his burden, laying the ravaged young woman down amidst a growing pile of dead. He straightened the woman’s twisted body, then smoothed her half-charred dress. “I found her in the motte,” he said.

  His heart wrenching painfully, Wilhelm looked closer. Oh, nay, nay, nay…

  Lady Ayleth.

  He recognized her only by the silver cross she wore—a cross he, himself, had given her as a consolation when Giles de Vere left for the seminary—not that Wilhelm would ever dare covet the lady for himself. He simply hadn’t liked to see her pining so long over Giles. He’d hoped the cross would give her comfort. Now, the horror of her condition brought a lump of bile to the back of his throat. Her once lovely face was covered with ash, half peeling away. At the grisly sight, some unnamed emotion overtook him, and he felt like ripping the cross from her neck. But he did not. Hardening his heart and ordering his companions to help, he abandoned his horse where it stood and marched into the ruins himself, reassured that no one would dare relieve Lady Ayleth of her valuables. At six-feet-five and weighing more than sixteen stone, Wilhelm Fitz Richard, bastard son of Richard de Vere, and butcher of Warkworth, was no man to be trifled with—particularly not today, when everything he’d held so dear had been wrenched from his life.

  The scent of death rose with the morning sun, the odor of decay growing thick with the humidity, until the stench was caked into every fiber of his being. Alas, as the day wore on, he continued to drag out bodies, putting them aside to be given a proper burial. Skin charred and sliding off bones, it gave him a heave to the belly every time he hauled out another, but he was duty bound to persevere—at least until he found his lord sire and brother. And then, though sadness might have easily consumed his resolve, he felt the burden of responsibility. At forty, he had been the youngest of his father’s sons, save for Giles, and in one fell swoop, he’d become the eldest, with two half-sisters gone, and an older brother as well.

  Roger de Vere had been the pride of his father’s heart. Now, the firstborn son of Warkworth lay desecrated beside their lord father, and it fell to Wilhelm to look after Giles—St. Giles, they’d called him, not because he was a saint, but because, as a boy, Giles de Vere was more in love with his books than he was with his steel. Unlike Roger, Giles had never aspired to lead Warkworth’s armies, nor did he concern himself with carrying on his sire’s name. But he was the only one who could. Neither Wilhelm nor his progeny could inherit these lands, nor did he bear the lord’s name. His mother had been a lowly servant—well-loved after the death of de Vere’s first wife. His second wife—bless her soul—lived but long enough to give birth to Giles. And the third… here she lay.

  Wilhelm dropped his mistress’s fragile arms, wondering how her Scots-loving sire would fare with news of her death. Their youngest daughter—younger than de Vere’s youngest child—was good and dead. Arms akimbo, he glared down at the lady’s body, scarcely recognizable in its wasted state, but suddenly, he spied the gleam of silver clinging to her charred finger and he bent to retrieve the sigil—a lion sejant holding in his dexter-paw an axe, and in the sinister, a tilting-spear. It was a perfect match to his father’s, a smaller, more delicate version of the lord’s ring. Both now belonged to Giles—the weedy brother he hadn’t seen in years and who’d broken Lady Ayleth’s heart.

  Examining the ring—a sigil that would never belong to Lady Ayleth—he stood considering the brother who’d never loved her and felt a prickle of envy… and… a needling sensation at the back of his neck, almost as though someone could be watching… and then laughter. Hideous laughter. Distant and spine-chilling, the sound clearly mocked him.

  You will never inherit, because you are unworthy… from dust you were born, to dust you will return… forgotten.

  Closing his fist about the silver and gold bejeweled sigil, Wilhelm’s dark eyes studied the landscape—the still smoking fields, the distant glitter of the ocean…

  There was nothing out there… nothing… and yet, as the ring cut into the tender flesh of his soot-stained palm, he still heard it… the tittering of fate for a man who’d dared to love where he should not…

  Unworthy, the voice said. Forgotten.

  “What is it?” asked Edmond, who’d ridden back with him from Reading and then worked tirelessly beside him all night long.

  “’Tis naught,” Wilhelm said, shaking it off, attributing the gloom to his grief. And still, he felt a hovering darkness that unsettled him to his bones. “I would have you ride for a priest,” he said. “St. Giles must be told, but I cannot scribe the letter myself.”

  “Bamburgh?”

  “Might as well.”

  “Will he come?”

  The glow of the raging fire must have lit the night sky for leagues, and yet, no more than six leagues away, the lord of Bamburgh had never bothered to dispatch men to their aid—not even for the sake of his daughter.

  “He’ll come,” said Wilhelm. “If only to shrive his daughter. ’Tis Lady Margaret who lies at my feet.”

  Both men peered down at the fire-wasted body, and when Edmond lifted his gaze, Wilhelm nodded, opening his fist to reveal her sigil ring. “All accounted for now,” he said. “Lucy, Alice, Roger, my Lord de Vere, and…” He looked down at the barely recognizable corpse, giving it a nod. “…Lady Margaret. No one has survived.”

  For all the hope his father bore, Warkworth was now without a lord. Even if the Church agreed to dispense Giles, there was no guarantee King Stephen would give him the seat, not if his father had been declared an enemy to the crown.

  Edmond scratched his head, averting his gaze, looking as though he might weep and perhaps, he would, because his thoughts had clearly ventured in the same vein Wilhelm’s had: They were lost without a lord. Edmond returned his watery gaze to Wilhelm, and said, “Well… we still have Giles, right?”

  There was little wonder it was phrased as a question. Despite that this was now Giles de Vere’s birthright, he might not agree to leave his Church, not for a pile of rubble and bones.

  “Go on… fetch the priest,” Wilhelm said, with no small measure of disgust. “Then, while you’re at it, get on your knees and pray to God Giles has what it takes to see our lord avenged.”

  Only after Edmond was gone did he mutter for his ears alone, “If he does not, I will.” And he glared at the motto on the lady’s ring. It read: virtute duce comite fortuna—led by virtue, with great fortune.

  It was their family dictum.

  But not anymore.

  Chapter 1

  London, January 5, 1
149

  Flanked by two of his men, William d'Aubigny, the earl of Arundel marched into the King’s Stables. Not only was he Stephen’s loyal man, he had doubtless had some hand in the burning of Warkworth, and realizing as much, Giles de Vere stopped short of the stable yard, eyeing his elder half-brother with no small measure of concern. He slid off his mount, intending to avoid a confrontation at all costs. So much as he loved his sable, a row with Arundel would prove infinitely more troublesome. His brother would tear the king’s pet apart and their dispensation would be denied long before their bargain could be ratified.

  Thankfully, Wilhelm didn’t notice the man. “We can’t leave the horses here,” his brother complained. “We’re not so poor we can’t spend the coin to stable them properly.”

  “They’ll be fine,” Giles reassured, although he wasn’t entirely certain that would be the case. “We’ll be in and out before the sun sets.” Anyway, he reasoned, the stable hands were well accustomed to handling the surplus. Already, a stableboy had spotted them and was on his way.

  By the saints, his brother was as loyal as they came, but already he had a bee up his bum. If Wilhelm were to have his way, they would walk into the king’s hall, wielding torches, and set the entire palace to flame—an eye for an eye. But patience and cunning were far better options. Such things were better finessed.

  Vengeance is mine, I shall repay, saith the lord.

  Reluctantly, Wilhelm slid off his horse. “If you say so, but do me a favor, Giles: Whatever he says in there, don’t trust the pillock. Mark me, if you bring that witch home, she’ll report everything we do, and once, again, Warkworth will be left in ruins.”

  Less than five months after the fire that had ravaged their lives, Warkworth was well in the process of being restored, but doubtless the king already knew this. It could well be that they would slap Giles in irons even before he had the chance to stand before Stephen, and, regardless, if they did not leave with the dispensation, there was every chance all the work they’d accomplished would be undone. As it stood, Warkworth remained defenseless.

  Waiting for the stableboy, Giles lowered his voice, urging Wilhelm to do the same. “You must trust me,” he said.

  “I trust you. I do not trust her.”

  And regardless, the bargain was made. Nothing Wilhelm could say would sway him, and there was so much more at stake than just Warkworth. “I promise you, Will, I’ll keep the lady in her place.”

  Clearly unappeased, Wilhelm’s scowl deepened. “She, too, is a witch, Giles. Did your seminary teach you so little? How came you to the foolish notion that you could bend such a woman to your will?”

  Both men fell silent and the look on Wilhelm’s face was fierce as Giles handed over the reins to his sable. Undaunted, the boy peered up at Wilhelm and said, “Happy Yule, m’lord. Dunna worry! I’ll keep ’em safe.”

  Impressed, Giles smiled at the lad. There weren’t many grown men brave enough to speak to his brother whilst he wore that churlish look on his face. “See you do, lad, and I’ll pay another ha’penny each.”

  “Yeah, m’lord,” said the boy excitedly, and he stood waiting while Giles pried the lead out of his brother’s hands.

  He waited until the lad was gone and then said, “If you cannot control yourself in the presence of our king, I wouldst suggest you find yourself a pub to drink away your woes whilst I go bargain for the return of our keep.”

  There was no question; they would avenge their kinsmen. But one thing at a time, and right now, Giles needed that dispensation to build. Without it, all his plans would be thwarted.

  Wilhelm mumbled something unintelligible, though Giles understood him anyway. His elder brother and self-appointed guardian would never willingly abandon his side, but God help them both if Wilhelm should open his mouth. He prayed the bloody fool would find the strength to at least attempt to hide his loathing. Only once they were far enough from the stables, he reassured him again, “You must trust me, brother. I know what I am doing.”

  “And if, by chance you do not, you will die in there today, and if you do, Warkworth will be lost.”

  As true as that might be, it was a risk Giles was forced to take. For his own part, he would have had done with the entire affair, and walked away, leaving vengeance for its own time and place, but there were too many who depended on him now. Whether he liked it or nay, the titles and lands were his to command. And yet, make no mistake, he did not like it. He had never aspired to be lord. His eldest brother had spent the entirety of his life training for the day he would inherit Warkworth—Roger was the one who’d earned the right to wear the sigil now adorning his little finger. But without Giles, the seat would be lost, and without the seat, there would be a weakness in their defenses. His brother didn’t have the bloodline to hold it, nor, in truth, did it serve Wilhelm that he’d been his father’s emissary, stealing messages to King Henry’s widow at Arundel.

  Adulterine castel.

  How those words galled.

  They had far more right to their adulterine castel than Stephen did over the chair he occupied. Henry himself had awarded those lands to his sire. He hadn’t taken the seat per force, only to live his life anticipating betrayal at every turn—and rightly so perhaps. The king’s own brother—the same fool who’d awarded Stephen the keys to the trove—was now rumored to be courting the Empress Matilda behind his back.

  Greedy, feckless liars, all of them.

  And, even so… Giles had no stones to throw, because he, himself, was going into the king’s hall with every intention of defying Stephen in the end—and God have mercy on his soul.

  God have mercy on Eustace if Giles ever faced him.

  The atrocities the king’s son had committed—not only to Warkworth, but across the realm—were unspeakable, and it was one thing to slay one’s rival in combat, yet another to lay waste to an entire donjon full of innocents.

  The suffering his poor sisters must have endured was enough to make Giles rage against the heavens and put a fist to the ground in defiance of all he’d been taught. Their sweet faces haunted him ruthlessly, and despite that he hadn’t been there to witness their end, he saw it all through his brother’s eyes. Even five months later, Wilhelm’s fury burned hotter than the embers he must have picked through the night of the fire. Sixty good souls were lost that day, and it was impossible to forget to grieve whilst they were still cleaning up debris.

  Perhaps equally as much to bolster himself as to remind Wilhelm of their purpose, Giles halted before the palace door. He turned to face his brother, reaching out to put a calming hand on Wilhelm’s shoulder.

  Giles, himself, was a good stature—six-foot-one and fourteen stone—but his brother towered over him still. “Will you, please, try to control yourself?”

  Wilhelm frowned, clearly piqued over the fact that Giles would endeavor to instruct him at all. Lord or nay, Giles was the younger son, the one less fit. He was the boy their father never even once considered as his heir, and for all intents and purposes, Wilhelm was far more suited to the position.

  “Dunna worry. I’ll keep my gob shut,” Wilhelm promised, and Giles lifted a blond brow.

  “And your dirk?”

  Traces of a smile tugged at his brother’s lips, but he nodded nonetheless. “Aye… the dagger stays where it is… lest there be an apple to peel.”

  Giles coughed to conceal his laughter, and he looked at his brother sternly. “You must trust me,” he entreated again.

  “’Tisna you I’m worried over, Giles.”

  And yet, it was, and if Giles weren’t in such a rush to be done with the entire affair, he would have argued, because, after a fashion, Wilhelm must not trust him at all.

  There had been enough words spoken between them for Giles to know that Wilhelm did not feel Giles measured up to the task ahead. And nevertheless, he recognized fear in his brother’s countenance, and guessed the truth: Wilhelm wasn’t so much angry; he was afraid—for Giles. Because this was the first time since the
burning that they would be forced to stand and face their tormentors. Wilhelm must fear he had been summoned to his death. And, after all, who could say it wasn’t so? If, indeed, Stephen had a mind to, he could take Giles’ head, or imprison him, and give Warkworth to any man of his choosing. It was well within his bounds to do so, even if it might not be fair. But, the one thing they had going in their favor was, of all things, the very devastation Eustace had wrought upon their lands. There weren’t many barons who would think it a boon to be offered a ruined estate, just a stone’s throw from unruly Scots. And yet, to allow Warkworth to slip to the enemy would be the gravest of mistakes. Despite that it lay less than thirty miles from Bamburgh, it was not destined to be another gem in Scotland’s crown. Warkworth’s location was crucial to England. The bulwark would give Stephen a much-needed foothold in the north and a significant port of entry. Without Warkworth, there would be no allies to man the northern shores. But it would take gold to rebuild—gold other barons might not spare, but gold Giles had aplenty.

  So, this was the carrot Giles had put before the ass: Give us the dispensation to rebuild, not of wood, but stone, and Warkworth will serve God’s anointed sovereign. So it was agreed. Although, in addition to his fealty, Giles also promised to take a wife of Stephen’s choosing—and this was the bee buzzing up his brother’s bum: The daughter of Morwen Pendragon, the witch who’d burned their home and murdered their kin.

  Alas, there was so much he wished to say to his brother, and so much he could not. And barring that, he smiled, clapping Wilhelm on the shoulder. “Should we walk into a trap, I give you leave to take as many heads as you like.”

  “For Warkworth,” whispered Wilhelm, another smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  Giles nodded. “For Warkworth,” he returned, and between them, the whispered words were as much a call to arms as any they might have uttered on a battlefield.