Shadowmoor (de Lohr Dynasty #6)
Read Shadowmoor (de Lohr Dynasty #6) Online
Authors: Kathryn Le Veque
Tags: #Romance, #Medieval, #Fiction
A Medieval Romance
Book Six of the de Lohr Dynasty Series
By Kathryn Le Veque
Copyright © 2016 by Kathryn Le Veque
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Printed by Dragonblade Publishing in the United States of America
Text copyright 2016 by Kathryn Le Veque
Cover copyright 2016 by Kathryn Le Veque
Medieval Romance:
The de Russe Legacy:
The White Lord of Wellesbourne
The de Lohr Dynasty:
While Angels Slept
(Lords of East Anglia)
Great Lords of le Bec:
To the Lady Born
(House of de Royans)
Lords of Eire:
The Darkland
(Master Knights of Connaught)
Echoes of Ancient Dreams
(time travel)
De Wolfe Pack Series:
Scorpion
(Saxon Lords of Hage – Also related to The Questing)
Ancient Kings of Anglecynn:
Battle Lords of de Velt:
Reign of the House of de Winter:
Swords and Shields
(also related to The Questing, While Angels Slept)
De Reyne Domination:
The Fallen One
(part of Dragonblade Series)
Unrelated characters or family groups:
The Gorgon
(Also related to Lords of Thunder)
The Warrior Poet
(St. John and de Gare)
Tender is the Knight
(House of d’Vant)
The Questing
(related to The Dark Lord, Scorpion)
The Legend
(House of Summerlin)
The Dragonblade Series: (Great Marcher Lords of de Lara)
Island of Glass
(House of St. Hever)
The Savage Curtain
(Lords of Pembury)
The Fallen One
(De Reyne Domination)
Fragments of Grace
(House of St. Hever)
Queen of Lost Stars
(House of St. Hever)
Lords of Thunder: The de Shera Brotherhood Trilogy
Time Travel Romance:
(Saxon Lords of Hage)
Contemporary Romance:
Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Series:
The American Heroes Series:
Other Contemporary Romance:
Multi-author Collections/Anthologies:
With Dreams Only of You
(USA Today bestseller)
Sirens of the Northern Seas
(Viking romance)
Ever My Love
(sequel to With Dreams Only Of You) July 2016
Note:
All Kathryn’s novels are designed to be read as stand-alones, although many have cross-over characters or cross-over family groups. Novels that are grouped together have related characters or family groups.
Series are clearly marked. All series contain the same characters or family groups except the American Heroes Series, which is an anthology with unrelated characters.
There is NO particular chronological order for any of the novels because they can all be read as stand-alones, even the series.
For more information, find it in
A Reader’s Guide to the Medieval World of Le Veque
.
CHAPTER ONEMarch 1236 A.D.
West Yorkshire, England
T
he clouds are
rolling in….
Gazing up at a sky the very same color of his eyes, a knight dressed in expensive protection and riding a sleek black Frisian inspected the swollen dark clouds that were rolling in from the west. The wind was blowing, wet and damp, and he could smell rain upon it. Birds scattered overhead, sensing a change in the weather.
A storm was brewing.
The knight’s blond hair was blown about in the breeze as he looked at his surroundings, trying to determine the best route to stay ahead of the rain. He was surrounded by moors and hills in the stark green and brown colors that were so vibrant it was as if the hand of God had slashed the shades across the landscape in the undiluted brilliance of a heavenly touch. The sun was near mid-point in the sky, creating grand illumination for the vivid imagery but that would soon be muted when the clouds began to gather.
The town of Bradford was about an hour behind the knight, to the south, and to the north he really couldn’t recall any major town that might provide him with shelter to weather the storm. An inn, a stable, or even a castle or manor house would do at this point. He didn’t want to be caught out in a Yorkshire gale because it would likely blow him right over. Therefore, he decided to turn around and head back to Bradford where there was a particular inn with a particular wench he had spent the previous night with. He wasn’t completely opposed to returning.
So he reined his big horse around and headed back in the direction he had come. The road was rocky, uneven, and well-traveled as the only road from Bradford and Leeds to the northwest of England and into Scotland. His horse kept kicking up rocks as it trotted along, that jaunty trot that was so indigenous to the Frisian breed, and the knight knew it was because the horse knew he would be returning to the stable he had been housed in the night before where the stable boy had fed him grains and honey out of a bucket. The horse had quite a memory and the knight slapped the big black neck affectionately.
“More gluttony, my fine friend?” he asked the animal. He laughed softly when the horse tossed his head as if to agree with the question and he patted the big neck again. “You and I are much the same, Ares. I am rather looking forward to gluttony as well. With some debauchery thrown in. We shall make a time of it, my fine lad.”
The horse snorted. Grinning at his horse with the big appetite, the knight’s mind wandered back to the inn he had stayed at in Bradford, The Cow and Calf, and he rather found himself looking forward to a good bed and warm fire. So many of his nights were spent sleeping beneath the stars as he traveled that a bed was always welcome. Such comforts were few and far between.
He was a wanderer, this knight. He had never been able to settle down in one spot, much to his father’s disappointment. He loved his father very much and hated to disappoint the man, but it simply wasn’t in his nature to settle down. He much preferred the life of a wanderer, the Prodigal Son as it were, always traveling, sometimes being paid to fight for lords who needed his highly-trained services or sometimes entering tournaments for the money the purse could provide.
Money had never been an issue with Sir Daniel de Lohr, the only son of the Earl of Canterbury and a very important member of the House of de Lohr, inarguably one of the greatest houses in England. His uncle, Christopher, had been King Richard’s champion many years ago and the man was now the Earl of Hereford and Worcester, the biggest landholder on the southern Marches.
Daniel had, therefore, fostered at the finest homes and he’d been trained by the finest men. He knew that, some day, he would be forced to settle down in Canterbury and assume the title Earl of Canterbury upon the passing of his father, which was something he didn’t like to think about. In spite of his wandering ways, he was a very sensitive and emotional man, and he loved his family a great deal. He missed them. But that wandering spirit in his soul kept him traveling and seeking new adventure. Perhaps it always would.
But that was his life right now. He had freedom and no commitment, and that was exactly what he wanted. Life was good now and he loved his ability to go where he wanted to, when he wanted to, without anything holding him back. Even now, he had been on his way north to visit a friend’s Northwood Castle. William de Wolfe, the great Wolf of the Border, was one of Daniel’s dear friends, as were most of the de Wolfe pack knights – Paris de Norville, Kieran Hage, and Michael de Bocage. The de Lohrs and de Wolfes were intertwined, their fathers having been great friends and allies, so Daniel and William and the other knights had served together, several times, in situations where strength in numbers and knights was needed.