The Lady and the Falconer (33 page)

“Help him,” Solace begged Alexander. Logan’s friend didn’t move.

Logan glanced at her and the giant man punched him in the jaw, sending him back onto his bottom. Logan raised his sword in time to block the next blow. He rolled out of the way as the giant swung again. The giant’s sword lodged in the earth as Logan jumped to his feet to face the man.

Solace scanned the field for a weapon.

With a growl of rage, the giant man ripped his sword from the earth, sending a clump of dirt flying through the air. Logan sidestepped to the right as the giant swung. He deflected the next blow, losing ground to his opponent.

Alexander relaxed his grip and Solace pulled free. She ran to Logan’s horse and flipped the backpack open. She rifled through the leather pouch, searching around a blanket, finally grabbing the large stick Logan had been working on.

As she turned, she saw Logan and the giant man were battling on the top of the rise. A crowd of spectators had gathered around them. Determined to help Logan, Solace slowly climbed the hill, careful to stay out of the giant’s sight.

The giant lurched forward and Logan caught the blow, grabbing the giant’s arm.

Solace approached the giant from behind, the stick raised.

Logan’s eyes locked on the raised log and the giant kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back, just as Solace slammed the wood over the giant’s head with all her might. He toppled forward to his hands and knees.

For a long moment, all was quiet. Solace ran to Logan’s side. “Are you all right?” she asked, helping him to sit up.

A crooked grin curled Logan’s lips as Solace helped him to rise. He gazed into her eyes and ran a gentle finger across her jaw. “You’re getting pretty good at that,” he murmured before turning from her to approach the giant. “You must be slipping,” he told the big man. “This is the first time I’ve beaten you.”

The giant raised his eyes to Logan and Solace saw the trickle of blood from a cut on his head. “Ya didn’t tell me you had an accomplice.”

Logan offered the giant his hand.

“Goliath this is Solace,” Logan introduced. “Goliath is a friend.”

“A friend!” Solace repeated in disbelief.

“I tried to stop you,” Alexander murmured.

“Do you always greet friends like this?” Solace asked with chagrin.

“Goliath and I do. We always have. Ever since we met on the battlefield.”

Goliath staggered and Logan placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

“The little weasel kept ducking me best blows,” Goliath complained, swiping the blood from his head with his sleeve. “If he’da kept still I woulda won.”

Logan chuckled. “We were the last ones standing. We fought until we were too exhausted to finish each other. So, instead, we became friends.”

Solace stared at them in disbelief. “And you greet each other like this all the time?”

“All the time,” Logan said, swiveling his gaze to her, a wry smile on his lips.

Solace looked away from Logan’s stare to Goliath. The trickle of blood dripped down his forehead. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s all right, lass,” Goliath responded.

She felt Logan’s gaze on her, and she looked at him again. His eyes seemed to deepen to a cloudy gray, and her blood began to boil.

Logan stepped up to her. She felt protected by his closeness, his strength. But his gaze wasn’t on her; he was scanning the crowd. “Blade. McColl. John Jones. Doric. Ryder. What are you doing here?”

A light-haired man grasping a hunter’s bow stepped forward, offering Logan his arm. Logan grabbed it fiercely. “Blade,” Logan greeted with a smile. “Good to see you.”

“We came when we heard about Castle Fulton,” Blade said.

“All of you?” Logan gasped in disbelief.

“One by one,” the man named Ryder said. He stroked his long black beard. He turned his beaming gaze onto Solace as Logan stepped away from her to greet more of the men. “Who do we have here?” he asked, taking her hand in his and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “My name is Nolan Ryder.” .

Logan intercepted her hand, sliding it from Ryder’s hold. “This is Solace,” he said. “Solace Farindale.”

“Farindale?” Goliath echoed.

Solace heard the crowd of men grumble as if they were tethered wild beasts sniffing an approaching enemy. Hostility shone in the eyes of some, confusion in those of others. She swallowed down her trepidation. She was here to lead these men, and she couldn’t show fear. She had to be brave. “Yes,” she said, stepping around Logan. She had to look up to meet the shortest man’s gaze, but she did it unflinchingly. “I’m here to lead you against Baron Barclay.”

“Solace...” Logan began.

A couple of men’s brows rose in disbelief. A few others chuckled. And some shifted their gaze in silent query to Logan.

“You?” a man with a dark gruff beard and scraggly hair asked in disbelief.

“Solace, I have to talk to you,” Logan said.

A caw sounded from above him, and Solace craned her neck to see Logan’s black falcon circling above.

“Logan!” The voice boomed over the valley.

Solace followed its source to see an older man strolling toward them over the rise, his look dark and harried. “Logan! You’d better have an answer for all of these... these... men trampling my fields and harassing my people!”

Logan’s falcon alighted on his shoulder, but he barely acknowledged it as he winced at the man’s tirade, raising his eyes to Blade.

Blade shrugged. “I’m not their keeper.”

Logan shook his head and turned to greet the man. “Uncle. This wasn’t my idea. I –”

“They’re your friends, aren’t they?”

“Yes, but I had no idea they would all come here.” Logan splayed his fingers before him in a helpless gesture.

“No idea?” Solace echoed. “You knew they were here. You told me so.”

“He had no idea,” Blade said patiently. “We arrived after he left.”

An ill feeling settled unsteadily in the pit of Solace’s stomach. “After?” she murmured, turning to look at Logan. “He told me he had an army –”

“An army to eat me out of my home! If they stay, we’ll have no winter storage! We’ll starve,” Uncle Hugh ranted, his hands on his hips as he glared at Logan.

“Relax, old man,” a gruff-looking short man said. “We already told ya we don’t need yer food.”

“Don’t call me an ‘old man,’ you worthless codger!”

Solace pulled at Logan’s arm, confusion knitting her brows. “Logan, you said you had an army.”

Logan suddenly yanked his arm free of her hold. “There is no army!” he hollered, standing amidst the group of men. “I lied to you to get you to Cavindale. To make you stop that stupid plan of yours!”

Solace pulled back as if he had slapped her. She had known he was lying, but to hear it from his lips wounded her as no dagger ever could.

The falcon nipped hard at Logan’s shoulder, drawing blood through his tunic. He shrugged his shoulder so hard the bird took flight.

Alexander chuckled. “It looks like your feathered friend doesn’t like your attitude.”

Logan whirled on his uncle, his face a mask of anger. “They’ll restock your stores! They’ll replow the fields! They’ll stop harassing your people!” His fists were clenched tightly, his jaw taut with fury.

Everything stopped, everything froze. Logan’s friends stared at him in shock; Uncle Hugh’s mouth hung open. Logan stood under the gazes of all for a moment before whirling and heading down the hill.

The falcon flew to a nearby tree and perched on a branch, watching Logan storm off with impassive eyes.

Chapter Thirty-One

T
here was only one thing that calmed Logan when he was angry.

“You ready?” Alexander wondered.

Logan stared at the blade in his hand. He had dragged Alexander into the field near Cavindale’s northern border, desperate to vent his raging anxiety. He twisted the sword slightly, watching the sunlight reflect off the polished blade. He thought about --

-- striking. He swung the weapon at Alexander, aiming for his head. Alexander easily blocked the blow with his own blade. “Why so angry, Grey?” Alexander taunted, sidestepping another swing. “Because Hugh is so furious with you?”

Logan grunted. “Hardly,” he snapped, arcing his weapon toward Alexander’s blabbering mouth.

Alexander caught the blow and deflected it. “Because you made an ass of yourself?”

Logan thrust toward Alexander’s stomach, only to have his sword swiped aside. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“What then?” Alexander wondered.

“Are you going to talk or fight?” Logan demanded.

Alexander cocked his head slightly. “The girl?” he wondered. He thrust at Logan. “You can’t tell me you actually care for the daughter of your enemy?”

Logan just barely parried the blow. “She hates me for lying to her,” Logan said in a rush.

“What do you care what she thinks?” A swing.

“She should have known better!” A block.

“So what?”

Logan raised his blade and then drove the sword deep into the earth. “Why does she keep trusting me?”

Alexander set a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Because she loves you.”

Logan shrugged Alexander’s hand from his shoulder. “You’re wrong. How could she love me? I let Barclay into her home.”

Alexander chuckled. “Love is blind, dear fellow. Or she’d certainly see that ugly scar on your cheek and seek a more dashing companion... like Blade.”

Every muscle in Logan’s body stiffened. Blade. God’s blood! Blade! They had competed for many women in the days they had worked together. Blade found it amusing, and Logan had played along good-naturedly, not really caring one way or another. But now, for some reason, his insides twisted with fear and dread. “Oh, Lord!” he half cried, half groaned. He pulled the sword from the ground and headed toward Cavindale Manor, hoping he wasn’t too late.

With each step, visions danced mockingly in his head. Solace sobbing by the hearth, all his friends gathered around to offer their sympathies. Solace crying on Blade’s shoulder. Blade’s hands caressing her back, moving upward to caress her breast.

Logan broke into a run.

He swung the door to the Great Hall open, expecting anything. But he wasn’t prepared for the vision that greeted him.

When the door to the Great Hall slammed opened, all eyes turned to pin Logan where he stood. Solace stood in the middle of a group of his friends, Blade at one side, Goliath at the other. They were bent over one of the tables, quietly discussing something. Logan’s gaze locked on Solace. She raised that defiant little chin, her deep green eyes flashing with challenge.

Logan approached the group with large strides. His friends parted for him like a curtain until he stood beside Solace, glaring at her. What was she planning? A secret rendezvous with all of his friends? He glanced down at the table.

There was a sketch of the borders to Castle Fulton drawn on the parchment. Solace was planning an attack, with his own friends, against Barclay. They were planning to retake his castle without him! He dropped his head, and the laughter churned in his throat. The little vixen had not seduced his friends into her bed, but into her allegiance.

“Go ahead and laugh,” she challenged.

His eyes rose like the moon to gleam at her. There was accusation and rebellion in her large eyes. Logan realized, perhaps for the first time, that this was not the same woman he had met at Fulton. She had changed, grown into a woman capable of many things. A woman capable of taking back her home. He could not laugh at her. He could only admire her.

Finally, he stepped away and turned his back on them, moving silently to the hearth. She had gotten her army, it appeared. And he had handed it to her. What a fool I’ve been! he thought. A small army has been within my reach for years, and I haven’t even seen it.

Solace’s gaze returned to the paper laid out before them, and slowly, each of his friends turned with her. Damnation! With friends like that who needed Barclay? Logan thought.

Logan’s eyes narrowed as he saw Blade ease a hand to her lower back. Logan grumbled and called for an ale. Ryder leaned closer to the paper, brushing her arm. Logan’s look darkened as Alexander moved over to the group. He listened for a moment, and then a smile lit his usually pensive face. To Logan they looked like a group of moon-eyed admirers.

Logan clenched his teeth so hard it hurt. Well, he wasn’t going to be one of them, he vowed. He had other more important things to do. He threw back a drink of the ale a somber servant had just delivered. But he could not tear his eyes from the sight of Solace surrounded by his own friends. Traitors, he thought. Every one of them. Sniffing about her skirts like rutting bulls. That’s fine. Let them entertain her, he thought darkly. It’ll give me time to plot my own revenge.