Part 3 (2/2)
”Halt!” he heard from behind.
He twisted in the saddle and stared. In the shadow of the trees, two helmeted knights sat on their horses in battle-ready gear. One held a lance, one held a mace, and David's heart sank. No doubt Lady Alisoun had already been robbed and murdered by these two renegade knights. G.o.d help him, he'd lost the moneyed goose before he'd grasped more than a few feathers. He eyed the sharp point of the lance. And if he wasn't careful, he'd lose those feathers, too.
Without warning, he spurred Louis. The great horse leaped from full stop to full speed in the blink of an eye. David shrieked his war cry as he barreled between the two knights, knocking the lance holder to the ground with his s.h.i.+eld and swinging his sword into empty air as the other ducked and yipped.
The expert a.s.sault David expected hadn't materialized, and the momentum of his forward rush took him into the dense wood. ”Idiots,” he growled, struggling to find a place to turn Louis. ”They're not knights. Must have stolen it all. Come on, Louis, we've got to-”
”Don't.”
The woman's voice stopped him in his tracks. He knew that voice. His ribs ached with the memory. ”Lady Alisoun?”
The underbrush rustled and, calm as a nun, the lady stepped forward. ”Sir David. I thought you had abandoned us.”
She was here. G.o.d in heaven, those were her carts, and she'd been in the hands of those villains for who knew how long. ”Have they hurt you?” he demanded. Her slender beauty appeared unruffled. Her green velvet riding cloak fell in even folds from her shoulders, her hat curved over her head, and her draped wimple held it in place. Not a strand of hair slipped out of its restraint, and no tears marred the purity of her complexion. Nevertheless, guilt caught at David's throat. If he'd gotten to the inn sooner...if he'd skipped the meal...if he'd ridden faster...G.o.d forgive him, he'd failed her. He knew full well what fate awaited her if he failed once more. ”I'll save you.”
”Save me from what?” She glanced toward the road.
He guided Louis in a tight circle.
”From Ivo and Gunnewate?” she asked.
He'd already prepared himself to charge when her words penetrated. ”Ivo and...your men-at-arms?”
”The very same.” With the deliberation that marked all her movements, she disappeared again, then returned leading a palfrey. In a tone of censure, she asked, ”Who else would guard me? You failed to arrive at dawn.”
”I failed to arrive at dawn,” he repeated calmly. Too calmly, if she had but known.
”When I give an order, I expect to have it obeyed. If you are going to be my man, David of Radcliffe, you must do as I say.”
He removed his gloves and urged Louis toward her at a walk. ”So you left the Crowing c.o.c.k Inn to teach me a lesson?”
She hesitated, then inclined her head. ”You might say I am not unhappy to have accomplished that, too.”
He tried to contain himself. He really did. But this...this woman had made him feel guilty. For nothing! She'd never been in danger. She'd been in command at all times, and he'd been charging around like a half-wit. ”Me, a lesson? And if I were a thief and a murderer, my lady, who do you think would have learned that lesson?” She tried to speak, but he leaned far out of the saddle and caught her under the chin. Lifting her face, he glared down at her. ”I just proved that a seasoned knight is more than a match for your puny bodyguards, and there are knights who prowl the roads. They would have taken your goods, killed your men, raped your body, and strung your intestines across a tree.” He let her go and shoved his hand back into his glove in one savage motion.
She touched her chin where the marks of his fingers showed on her fair skin. ”I see.”
”Those men would make your fear of abduction by a suitor look tame. Next time you hire a mercenary, wait for him.”
”Aye, of course.”
”What would it have hurt you to wait? Or to send one of your servants for me?”
”It seems my judgment was at fault.” She mounted her palfrey, urged it toward him, and stopped at his side. Looking right into his eyes with her cool gray eyes, she said, ”Forgive me, David of Radcliffe.”
As she moved toward the light of the road, he stared after her. She'd taken his rebuke so well! She'd weighed his complaint, a.n.a.lyzed his logic, and without making excuses, agreed that she'd acted foolishly. Then, just like that, she'd apologized, sincerely and pleasantly. He pursed his lips in a silent whistle. No wonder she hadn't wed again. Every man in England must tremble when confronted with her sensible att.i.tude, for she made it very difficult for a man to feel superior.
”Ivo,” she called. ”Gunnewate! Pick yourselves up off the ground and let's move along. If we're to make George's Cross in only four days, we'll have to use every moment of sunlight.”
David rode out of the woods to see Ivo trying to hoist the armor-clad Gunnewate onto his feet. He guided Louis around the two men. The steel clanked, out-of-tune notes against the harmony of the forest.
”Hurry!” Alisoun clapped her hands lightly, her leather riding gloves m.u.f.fling the sound. ”The carts have gone ahead and as Sir David aptly demonstrated, we're vulnerable to attack.”
Smiling, David lingered behind and told them, ”Aye, you'd best hurry, my good fellows. The way you're lolling around here, you'd think a knight's armor weighs eight stone.” Setting Louis in motion, he called back, ”It can't weigh more than five.”
He chortled at the cursing he heard, then galloped ahead. Alisoun had reached the creeping carts and now moved along beside them, seeking the open road where the dust would not bother her. Following her, David spoke to her drivers as he pa.s.sed them. The surly peasants stared as if they'd never heard a n.o.bleman who could converse in their vulgar English language. He spoke again, wanting them to answer, knowing that in this possibly hazardous situation he might have use for their strength and their stout poles. Each tugged on their forelocks and muttered greetings, and he counted that brief communication as a success. Then he rode to join Alisoun and said, ”My lady, your men-at-arms are not knights, so why do you let them cavort in knight's armor?”
She cast him a troubled glance. ”They do not carry the armor well, I know, but my chief knight, Sir Walter, remained behind at George's Cross as a safeguard against whatever trouble might be brewing. Two of my mercenary knights, John of Beauchamp and Lothair of Hohenstaufen, accompanied me to Lancaster, but they spoke of receiving a better offer while in the town.” She lowered her voice. ”Apparently, they accepted it, for they failed to return to the inn two days ago, and they took six of my men-at-arms with them.”
”That's what you get for hiring a German mercenary. They're an unsavory lot, good for nothing but slitting your throat while you sleep.” He ran a finger across his neck as an ill.u.s.tration. ”But...John of Beauchamp? I've fought alongside John. He's a good man. I can't believe he'd abandon his pledged lady until he'd finished his obligation.”
”Yes.” She turned in the saddle and examined the carts as if she could protect them with her gaze. ”So I thought, also.”
”Did you-” He hesitated. Did she search for John? How did a lady search for a mercenary? Visit the alehouses and lift every drunkard's head? She'd done that with him, but- ”I sent Ivo to look for John and my men, but he heard a tale that they had all ridden for Wolston with their new master.” She shrugged, an elegant lift of the shoulders. ”It's difficult, sometimes, for a mercenary to take orders from a woman.”
”Aye.” David had sympathy for that, and he scratched the half-grown beard that p.r.i.c.kled his skin. ”So you dressed Ivo and Gunnewate up in armor. Where did you get the armor?”
”One suit is mine for one of the squires in my household. He'll soon earn his spurs, and I outfit all the boys I have fostered.”
Impressed in spite of himself, David said, ”That's good of you.”
”The other...Ivo found it.” She watched the road intently. ”It's John's.”
Pulling Louis in front of Alisoun's horse, David grabbed the reins close to the palfrey's mouth. They halted in the middle of the track, and he said, ”There's foul play.”
”So I suspect.”
”John would never leave his armor. Do you know what a full suit costs?”
”I just said I had purchased one.”
”It's too expensive for a landless knight to abandon.”
”Much too expensive.”
The serenity of her expression never changed. Her demeanor never changed. She had all the vivacity of a stone statue on Ripon Cathedral, and he swore long and eloquently. ”Don't you care that a good man in your employ has probably been murdered?”
”'Tis a misdeed I deplore deeply, and I lit candles in his name, praying for his safe return and his soul, should it have departed this earth.” She controlled her horse easily, her gloved hands light on the reins. ”What else would you have me do?”
He didn't say it, but he thought, Wail a little. Wipe a tear from your eye. At the least, profess terror for your own safety. But that was stupid, and he knew it. He abhorred women who behaved so melodramatically, and he didn't want to be saddled with one now.
”The carts will be on us if we don't proceed,” Alisoun reminded him.
He released her horse and they moved along the road. It wound upward now, going deeper into the wilds of Northumbria. Englishmen spoke of this area-the looming c.u.mbrian Mountains, the wild strips of beach along the coast-as barren, frightful, forbidding. While it could be harsh, given to sudden fogs and ocean storms, it also gave great gifts to those who dared to challenge it. Lofty moors fed herds of sheep, the forest provided game and fuel, and the sea gave up its bounty on a regular basis. Until the drought, David had been adding comforts to his tiny castle, bringing new breeding stock in for his peasants. Now his crops were withered, his stock and his peasants dead or dying, his daughter...he couldn't think of his daughter and her pinched cheeks.
”Why didn't you hire someone else when your men disappeared?” he demanded.
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