My Valiant Knight (20 page)
“If I eat it all now, what shall I do about tomorrow or the next day?”
“Eat whate’er slop they are serving you,” Colin replied, but he spoke with a slow wariness, tensing against the bars as he watched her.
“There is no slop, Colin,” she said quietly, and watched a hint of color flood his high-boned cheeks. “I am given only water.” She winced a little when he spat out a foul oath and slammed his fist against the bars, apparently oblivious to the pain that had to cause him.
“I begin to understand why it was so easy to get the guards to allow me down here with my meager offerings. Everyone kens that our father has ordered that no one be allowed to see you, and he promised a fierce punishment for anyone disobeying that command. I had expected to have to argue with the guards.”
Ainslee smiled faintly. “I am also surprised the guards would allow it. They show no signs of their sympathies. They sit there and act as if I am but one of the many sad ghosts haunting this place.”
“Father means to kill you—slowly.”
“I ken it.”
“Ye should have said something.”
“I didna really accept that that was his intention until yestereve. I thought I was suffering through an added punishment, but that he would soon send me something. Ye have stopped him from beating me to death, and stopped him from cutting me down with his sword, so now he tries to quietly starve me. After all, who would question it if I died down here? People die in such places all the time. And, although some might frown upon putting one’s own child in the dungeons, ’twill not cause him the troubles that simply murdering me would.”
Colin dragged over the guard’s stool and sat down, his hands clasped so tightly in his lap that they shone white in the flicker of the torches. “Mayhaps I can get the key.”
“Nay.” She rose, walked to the bars, and reached through to clasp his hand. “That wouldna be allowed by the guards, for my escape would cost them their lives. Worse, it could easily cost ye yours. We both ken that there is only one way for me to flee Kengarvey without risk of capture, and, if ye tell me how to go that way, ye will do so at the risk of your own life.”
“So I am to sit here and watch our father starve ye to death?”
“Aye, although I dinna think it will come to that.”
“Nay? He will soon realize that ye are living too long when fed only water every day. I am certain that I shall be the first one he turns to when he suspects that someone has been feeding you, and he will do whate’er he must to see that it stops.”
“Then mayhaps ye should cease to help me.”
“Oh, aye? And lie comfortable in my bed, my belly full, while ye slowly die down here? Do ye think me completely without conscience?”
“I think that mayhaps ye have more than is safe for life inside Kengarvey.” She smiled faintly when he grimaced. “The threat of damnation ye keep hurling at Father will soon cease to intimidate him.”
“Ah, ye guessed my game. Ye always were the most clever one of us.”
“Ye are not without wit.”
“Mayhaps. I ken that I grow verra weary of using it simply to keep people alive. Kengarvey could be nearly as grand as Bellefleur if Father would cease to waste its strength and wealth in battles and warring with all about us.”
“ ’Tis the way life has gone on here for many years. One does what one must to survive.” She met his gaze and tried to be stern, knowing she could be risking her own life if she made him see sense. “Ye must protect yourself. Father forces everyone to that with his furies and cruelties. Ye may not wish to carry my death on your conscience, but neither do I wish to be the cause of yours.”
“I begin to think that there is no answer to this dilemma. If I help you, I do so at risk to myself. If I protect myself and dinna help, then ye slowly die. No one should be given such a choice. Nay, especially by one’s own father.”
“Then we must pray that the king decides he has had a stomach full of our father’s insults, and sends an army here.”
“Oh, aye, and then we both die.”
Ainslee laughed, surprised that she could find any humor in such a desperate situation. “Ye should be trying to cheer me, Colin.”
Colin smiled crookedly. “I canna cheer myself from hour to hour. Ye expect a great deal from a mere mon.” He quickly grew somber again. “I suppose one can only laugh when there is nowhere to turn and little hope. Howbeit, someone coming to end our father’s tyranny doesna seem to me to be a thing to hope for. Whichever one of our enemies is sent, he will be determined to see all of us pay for Duggan MacNairn’s sins and arrogance.”
“Nay, not Gabel.”
“Ye see with the clouded eyes of a lass in love.”
“Mayhaps a wee bit, but I am not completely blind. Gabel doesna wish to wipe Kengarvey from the earth. Aye, he will kill our father now, but the laird of Bellefleur isna a mon who will make every mon, woman, and bairn pay for the wrongs of the laird. I can think of no way to make ye believe me, except to keep saying this. Howbeit, repeating myself doesna make ye heed me, does it?”
“Nay, and I am sorry for that. I should like to believe it, for it would give me hope, but I have learned that hope isna such a good thing at Kengarvey either. ‘Tis too often crushed, and one gets weary of it, thus ceases to hope.” He stood up and briefly clasped her hands through the bars. “I will do what I can to aid you.” He touched a finger to her lips when she started to speak. “Nay, there is no use in warnings and protestations. I do what I must. And I shall pray that ye are right, and that the laird of Bellefleur truly does have mercy in his soul. I will also pray that, when the king sends an army against us, ’tis lead by de Amalville.”
She grimaced as she watched him leave. Gabel had lost his wager that he could make the laird of Kengarvey accept a truce and hold to a vow. That may well have cost him the king’s confidence. As she went back to her bed and lethargically watched her silent guard return, she decided she had best do a little praying as well. She would ask God to give the people of Kengarvey one last chance, and let Gabel lead the army that would soon come clamoring at the walls.
It was the only hope any of them had for survival.
Gabel kissed his aunt and young Elaine farewell, smiling kindly at their commands that he protect himself. They were not good at hiding their fears each time he had to ride off to battle, but they did not beleaguer him with them. This time he knew they had good reason to fear for him. Not only was he riding off to fight an enemy, but the men the king had forced him to accept as allies were little more than enemies themselves. This time he not only rode toward danger, he rode with it.
Mounting his horse, he smiled faintly and patted Malcolm’s strong neck. He had put the animal through many a test to judge his worthiness as a war-horse, and the animal had passed each and every one with admirable skill. Someone had taught the animal well. It did strike him as a little ironic to ride a MacNairn horse to a battle with the people of Kengarvey, but he could not set aside such a battle-worthy animal just because it used to be Ainslee’s mount
As he rode through the gates of Bellefleur, Michael and Justice quickly moving up to flank him, he glanced back at the men crowding behind him, some on horseback, some on foot. The bloodthirsty eagerness of the Frasers and the MacFibhs still chilled him. What troubled him more at the moment, however, was the way the two had joined forces. He knew that he and his men were alone in the fight ahead. Their allies would help in that they would kill the men they had to fight, but he knew that not one of the MacFibhs or the Frasers could be trusted to watch his back or those of his men. A chill went. down his spine when he caught Fraser staring at him. In truth, he began to suspect that he would have to carefully watch his own back against a traitorous attack by his allies.
“I had prayed that the king would have a change of heart and call back these dogs,” murmured Justice.
Gabel smiled faintly as he turned his attention to the road they had to travel. “That would have eased my mind, but I do not believe our king realizes that he might well have put all of us in danger. He wants Duggan MacNairn dead, and he knows that the Frasers and MacFibhs will do it. I fear our king is no longer so certain that I will accomplish the task.”
“He cannot believe that you would betray him with MacNairn,” Michael whispered in shock and outrage.
“Nay, but he no longer wishes to show mercy, and I think he feels I am too endowed with that quality. MacNairn is a traitor, and the penalty a traitor must pay by law is a long and gruesome death. It is intended to make all others obey the king out of a fearful loyalty. I think our king would not be pleased if my sense of mercy forced him to execute MacNairn himself. He wants the man killed in battle.”
“He fears how his other lairds will act if he must brutally kill one of their number, no matter how wrong the man is,” said Justice.
“Aye. He is surrounded by a troublesome lot and, although none act as brazenly as MacNairn, the king must tread warily, carefully weighing every action and word. This is not an easy kingdom to rule.”
“Well, we cannot smooth the way for him except in this small corner.”
“And that we will do on the morrow.”
“You do not think we will reach Kengarvey today?”
“Nay. If we march too swiftly, we will tire the men who are afoot, and they will not be able to fight their best. We would also arrive near nightfall or even in the dark, and I do not wish to camp within sight of the MacNairns. Nay, we will camp at least an hour’s ride from Kengarvey, and finish the journey on the morrow.”
When the sun began to set and Gabel ordered a halt, he was met with an immediate argument from Fraser and MacFibh. Nearly an hour was lost as the pair bellowed their disapproval, and threatened to continue on without him. The fact that they knew that would sit ill with the king was the only thing that stopped them from splitting the army, riding straight for Kengarvey, and putting every plan in jeopardy. When Gabel was finally able to sit with his cousins and eat, he was so furious that he barely tasted the food his page served him.
“Arrogant bastards,” muttered Justice as he watched the Frasers and the MacFibhs, who had camped at a small distance from the men of Bellefleur.
“They have scented my weakness,” murmured Gabel as he tossed aside his empty plate and took a long drink of wine.
“What do you mean—your weakness? I see none.”
“Look more closely, cousin. The king’s disapproval may be small, but I am still marked by it. That ’tis only slight is all that keeps that rabble from rushing off, from completely ignoring any command I may utter. Howbeit, Fraser and MacFibh see a chance to pull me down lower in the king’s esteem and, if they can find a way to do it, they will act upon it without compunction.”
“So, you believe it may not only be the MacNairns we must watch, that we may have to protect ourselves—and especially you—from the conspiracies of Fraser and his new lacky MacFibh.”
“I am certain of it. Each time I look toward Fraser, I find the man glaring at me. He is my enemy as much as MacNairn is. Aye, I must watch the man closely, or he may well try to use the battle to be rid of me.”
“You mean you think he may try to murder you?”
“ ’Tis what the man does to those he feels are in his way or have done him some wrong. He has gone without punishment for so long because he plays his deadly games with a subtlety MacNairn lacks, and because, as of yet, he has not killed anyone the king holds in high esteem. There is something that troubles me far more than Fraser’s possible plots to kill me or dishonor me.”
Justice shook his head. “What could trouble you more than that?”
“Fraser knows that Ainslee was my lover. I suspect he also knows that she is the one I was thinking of when I asked to be allowed to show some mercy to any of the MacNairns, save Duggan, who request it. What I fear is that he will seek to reach Ainslee first and kill her, if only to strike at me.”
“I begin to dread this battle more and more,” muttered Michael. “ ’Tis not a comfort to know that we ride to fight one enemy whilst surrounded by others. In battle you want men who will watch your back. Now you tell me we shall have to watch our own against our
allies
, as well as against the MacNairns.”
allies
, as well as against the MacNairns.”
Gabel smiled crookedly and shrugged, detesting the situation, but knowing it could not be changed. “Then we shall fight alone. It should not be difficult, as the armies are already separated. Thus they shall remain. It will ne’er come to an open battle between us, so keeping our distance from our untrustworthy companions ought to serve well enough.”
“You expect a great deal from all of us,” said Justice.
“Ah, but ’tis naught which you cannot do with ease, such is your wit and skill.”
Justice snorted with amused disgust over Gabel’s effusive flattery. “When you try to use sweet words and guile to soothe our fears, I know we are in for trouble.”
Gabel laughed with his cousins, but his good humor was fleeting. He wanted the battle over. He wanted the Frasers and the MacFibhs to slither back from whence they came. Most of all, he wanted Ainslee back in his bed, safe and unharmed. It was a lot to hope for, and all he could do was pray that God felt kindly enough to grant his wishes.
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