Page 7 of Knight of Darkness
Reynard’s bellow of amusement left his lips. “I do not mind a misfortune or two in the service of building our fame. And I quite like those names. Makes us sound fierce for others to leave us in peace. But do not leave out Richard’s name. Who could ever forget the Knight of Mayhem?”
The three brothers looked to one another before another burst of laughter between them rang out in the inn. Wymar cracked his knuckles before pulling his leather gloves from his belt and donning them. “Theobald, pay our bill,” he ordered, after tossing a glance to his brother. “I wish to make certain the young lord will find his tent without being further accosted.”
“Come now, Wymar,” Reynard protested whilst eyeing the warmth of the fire inside the tavern’s hearth. “Must we really rush away, back out into the rain? The night is still young and surely the knight will be just fine.”
Wymar’s gazed turned to his younger brother. “We are done here. Gather up what remains of the meal for Richard and let us go. ’Tis not subject to an open discussion.”
“Best listen to him, Reynard,” Theobald stated whilst he fished out the proper coinage to pay for their meal. “You know he will not change his mind. We were lucky enough to have sat here for as long as we did. We could have been eating whatever meager offerings we had left in our saddlebags instead.”
With their bill paid, the three brothers pulled up the hood of their cloaks to give themselves whatever small protection from the elements they could find. The wind was fierce and Wymar held on to the neck of the garment to keep the hood from blowing back whilst his eyes adjusted to the dim of the night. ’Twas folly to attempt to even find the young man in weather this foul, especially when he had no way of knowing where the lad had made his camp, but he just could not shake the feeling he had in his head that this Lord Elric may have need of his help. ’Twas certainly none of his business as Ratcliff had said but still…
Paying the stableboy another coin for the extra care of Aries, Wymar mounted his horse and the brothers began trudging their way once more through the muck in the road. With the next bolt of lightning, he caught a quick glimpse up ahead of the young lord of his musing who was making his way upon a striking white steed. He was not alone with Ratcliff but was surrounded by a number of men. Seeing he was accompanied by others set most of Wymar’s fears to rest.
They began winding their way through camp. When Wymar spotted his standard, he halted beside his tent and jumped off from his steed. “Do me a favor, Theobald, and see to Aries.”
His brother took the extra set of reins. “You go alone and on foot? You should know better. Who will watch your back? You are not so foolish as to think there is no danger that could find you here, even though we are in a camp of allies.”
“I will be fine and will not be long. If any try to accost me, I can see to myself—though I doubt any will. As you said, we are among allies for our Empress,” Wymar declared. “The walk will do me good after all the riding we have done these many days.”
“I do not like it. Take Reynard, at the very least. He may be young, but he is still good with a blade. You saw to his training yourself, after all.”
Reynard slapped his thigh as he, too, jumped from the back of his horse. “I cannot believe I heard you give me a compliment about my competence with my sword arm. But you are right, of course. ’Tis impressive.”
Wymar attempted to hide his smirk but ’twas hard to remain indifferent to his younger brother. He was only hard on him so Reynard would learn from Wymar’s own mistakes in his youth and not repeat them. “Impressive? What was impressive? The compliment or your strength and skill with a blade?”
Reynard’s hand went to the hilt of his sword and pulled it from the scabbard to swing the blade in front of him. He sliced at the air with an amused smile. “Ha! Both, of course,” he boasted.
Wymar gave the younger man a playful shove. “Go and rest your head, you insolent pup,” he taunted, “lest you be too weary come the morn to even lift such a heavy weapon of war.”
His brothers led their horses away to seek a place hopefully out of the majority of the storm whilst Wymar continued following the young lord’s group. He frowned as they moved throughout many of the campsites for their Empress’s army. Aye, something was strange, indeed, and Wymar cared not that their group still pressed forward.
Their group at last stopped and Wymar saw for himself they had indeed pitched their tents on the very edge of the Empress’s defenses, as far as possible from the battlefield. It didn’t seem likely that there had been no positions closer that they could have taken—not when the lord and his men had already been at the tavern when Wymar arrived. Nay, their placement here, far from the action, had been chosen deliberately—and not by command of the lord, himself. He continued his observation of the group from a distance and saw that mayhap they, too, had figured out for themselves their situation. A shoving match began between two of the knights before the young lord came between them. He sent one of them on his way and Wymar saw he was Ratcliff. Mayhap the imbecile would be standing watch the whole night long.
The young man at last went into his tent alone and Wymar debated on whether or not to intrude and offer his services if he was needed. He paced back and forth for several minutes in indecision before he made up his mind and trudged forward through the mud.
*
Ceridwen swore. Howdare he humiliate her like he did! They had not made an official announcement that they would wed and yet he treated her as though they had already sealed their vows before a holy priest of God, leaving her as his to command. She would have much to tell her father once she returned home about the character of a man he thought should be her husband. The man was a vulgar beast and she would ensure she would not be forever tied to someone of his low character.
Tossing off her cloak, she pulled at a fur pelt and wrapped it around her shivering body. She should have called Arthur to return and help her remove her chainmail but she had wished to be alone with her thoughts, which at the moment were full of nothing but anger and frustration toward Ratcliff. Not just for the way he had treated her at the inn but for his utter failure to adequately perform the task she had given him prior to that. Did he have nothing but air between his ears that he would make camp so far from where the battle would take place on the morrow? How could he have missed something so glaringly obvious no matter how hard the rain pelted the ground, or the wind whipped at the branches of the trees?
There was no doubt in her mind Ratcliff had done it on purpose, but what she couldn’t begin to fathom was what his motives could have been for their current location. Was it just to spite her?
There was the sound of raised voices above the riotous storm outside her tent and the noise pushed Ceridwen out of the musings. She had just about reached for the flap when it was flung open by Arthur.
“You have a visitor, my lord,” he announced for the benefit of whoever awaited outside. Arthur was clearly upset. Though it was too dark to be able to tell for certain whether he was frowning, she could hear the tension in his voice.
“I have no wish to spare any further energy this night arguing with Sperling. Send him away and I shall deal with him on the morrow if there is time.”
“’Tis not Ratcliff but another knight from the inn. He wished to see for himself you suffered no harm and he would not take no for an answer.”
Her brow rose. Curiosity got the better of her. “Then send him in,” she said waving her hand toward the flap of the tent.
Arthur hesitated. “Are you certain?”
Rolling her eyes, she waved her hand again toward the closed flap. She understood his caution, since she usually avoided letting any but her own men see her up close, but it was mostly dark in the tent. Surely that would be enough to protect her from detection. “If I am to see even a hint of sleep this night, then show the man in so I can be done with this matter. ’Tis late and I wish to seek my slumber,” she fumed. She could not imagine who might be wishing to see her unless…
She pulled at the chain helm in order for the metal hood to once more cover her hair. She barely had enough time to ensure she looked the presentablelordbeforehefilled the tent with his presence.Damn… despite the darkness, she could tell that he was even more handsome than when she saw him sitting at his table. If she wasn’t disguised as a man she just might have swooned for the first time in her entire existence. He made her want to feel like a woman with his nearness.
