Unending Love (24 page)

Maddoc did break down in a grin, then.  “I am
not so barbaric or so arrogant,” he assured him. Then, he sobered. “But you are
wrong about one thing; I am ready to marry Addie. I would do it today if I
could.”

David’s blue eyes glimmered. “Perhaps not
today,” he said softly. “We must travel home first. But I will send a messenger
on ahead for the Archbishop of Canterbury and tell the man we will have need of
his services tomorrow.  Will that suffice?”

Maddoc suddenly wasn’t so stiff and angry
anymore.  He felt rather warm and excited, enough so that dark thoughts of
Brighton de Royans faded.

“It will,” he said. “Thank you, my lord. I am
deeply appreciative.”

David’s smile faded. “Prove it,” he said. “Make
Adalind happy. That is all I ask, Maddoc. Think of her before you think of yourself
in every situation and you can do no wrong.  That is my advice to you.”

Maddoc smiled. “I will take it to heart.”

“See that you do,” David said, pointing to the
great hall of Shadoxhurst. “Now, go inside and collect the women you will soon
be related to.  You may inform Adalind of what is to take place tomorrow and
let us see if she will stop hugging you long enough for you to mount your horse
and ride home.”

Chuckling, Maddoc made his way inside the keep. 
True to David’s predication, it took some effort for Adalind to stop hugging
him so he could settle her on her palfrey and mount his charger.  Even then,
they rode together the entire way back to Canterbury.

***

“He is waiting for you, Maddoc.”

Astride his big charcoal gray charger as the
gatehouse of Canterbury came into view, Maddoc was puzzled by Gerid’s
softly-uttered statement.  The man had ridden on ahead to begin preparations
for David’s arrival but was now back with the party returning from
Shadoxhurst.  His expression suggested that all was not well in the world of
Canterbury Castle.

“
Who
is waiting?” Maddoc asked.

Gerid eyed David, and Adalind, riding several
feet behind Maddoc as the shades of sunset cast purple shadows across the land. 
The sun was nearly down now and the earth was growing cold.  

“De Royans,” he finally muttered. “The man
evidently showed up a few hours ago and told the soldiers that he would wait
for you.”

Maddoc could feel his anger rise, like a tide,
starting in his toes and working its way up his body.  His brow furrowed.

“Is that so?” he asked, almost casually. “Then I
would not want to disappoint him.  Where is he?”

“In the bailey. In full armor. Maddoc, I do not
think you understand; he is here to fight you.”

Maddoc wasn’t the least bit upset by the news.  He
didn’t even have to ask why; he knew without question.  He was already in full
battle armor, as was usual when he rode escort, so there would be no
preparation involved. He was ready, willing, and able to meet the fight head-on. 
In fact, he was looking forward to it.  It saved him the trouble of having to
hunt the man down.

“What is it?” David asked. He could see Gerid
and Maddoc conferring quietly.  “Gerid, what has happened?”

Gerid was reluctant to tell him.  He started to
open his mouth, looking to Maddoc for guidance on how he should phrase the news
in front of the entire de Lohr family, but Maddoc seemed unconcerned with
tactfully couching the information.  He spoke before Gerid could.

“De Royans is here,” he replied evenly.  “It
seems he has come to challenge me.”

David was livid in an instant but before he
could speak, Adalind cried out. “Nay!” she gasped, horrified. “Maddoc, you
cannot do it!”

Maddoc turned around to look at her, seeing
naked fear on her features.  He smiled. “Not to worry,” he assured her. “I have
beaten him before and I shall do it again.  I am sorry his appearance has upset
our return home, however. I was hoping for a quiet evening before tomorrow’s
ceremony.”

He winked at her as he said it but Adalind was
in no mood for his attempts to soothe her. She was outraged and terrified that
a man she had thought very highly of should do such a dishonorable thing.  In
fact, she was still having difficulty believing it.

When Willow had sobbingly told her of the
conversation between Brighton and David, Adalind had run straight to David, who
had explained the situation in a calmer fashion. In fact, Maddoc had been
present because he, too, had heard Willow’s weeping, so they both heard David’s
version of Brighton’s visit.  

Adalind had been furious and shocked at the news
while Maddoc did more of what Maddoc usually did; a slow burn. He didn’t show
much emotion, mostly because he was internalizing his feelings and plotting
Brighton’s very painful demise. Knowing this, David had sent Adalind to bed but
had refused to let Maddoc out of his sight. Now, Brighton had unexpectedly
shown his face at Canterbury and there was nothing David could do to keep
Maddoc away from the man.  A storm was coming and there was no way to stop it.

Adalind knew it as well.  She knew what Maddoc
was capable of but she also knew the man was not immortal. He could be hurt, or
worse, and that thought terrified her more than any other.  To be so close to
realizing her dream of marrying him was more than she could bear.  She knew she
would shrivel up and die if anything happened to him.  If she could stop the
confrontation, then she would.  It wasn’t the smartest decision, but she had to
try. Digging her heels into her palfrey’s sides, Adalind took off at a gallop
for the gatehouse of Canterbury. 

Startled, Maddoc took off after her but his
horse was built more for strength and stamina than for speed, and the palfrey
out-ran the charger by a wide margin. Once Adalind passed through the
gatehouse, she was on the lookout for Brighton, coming across him in the torch
lit bailey off to the west of the keep.  He was with all of his possessions,
including his big cream-colored charger, and her gaze fell upon him in a corner
of the shadowed yard.  She ran straight at him.

“Brighton!” she screamed at him as she yanked
her horse to a halt.  Then she bailed off the animal, nearly falling when her
skirts got tangled.  “By all that is holy, what gives you the right to come
here and challenge Maddoc? Have you gone mad?”

Brighton was quite calm. Hours of reflecting on
his decision, waiting, had seen to that. He stepped away from his horse and
possessions, coming into the flickers of torchlight.  He was fully armed, for
battle, a frightening and large knight that was clearly nothing to be trifled
with.  In the shadows of the coming night, his presence was eerie and
unwelcome.  The broadsword in his left hand gleamed wickedly.

“I am sorry, Addie,” he said rather quietly. “I
know this seems strange and sudden, and it more than likely is, but….”

“Why are you here?” she demanded, interrupting
him. “Tell me why you are challenging Maddoc.
Tell me
!”

Brighton sighed as if saddened by the entire
situation and took a step towards her.  When she jumped back to keep distance
between them, he came to a halt.

“Because I must,” he said simply. “I am a better
marriage prospect for you than he is. Perhaps you do not understand that, but
you will in time.”

“There will be no time!” she shrieked. “I want
you to go away from here and never come back, do you hear me?  I do not want
you here and I certainly do not want to marry you.”

By this time, Maddoc was thundering up behind
her.  Brighton kept his focus on the enormous knight as he replied to Adalind.

“You are young,” Brighton said, backing away as
Maddoc dismounted and began to approach. “Moments like this will fade from
memory.  I will do all that I can to ensure that your recollections of me, and
of this moment, are only good ones.  I will ensure you do not regret anything.”

Adalind was frustrated and terrified to tears.
She threw up her hands. “You speak in riddles,” she said.  “Brighton, you will
listen to me – I do not want to marry you. I do not know what ever gave you the
idea that I was interested in you because I am not. I love Maddoc and we are
going to be married tomorrow. Do you hear me?  Tomorrow I become Lady du Bois
and this madness ends.”

Brighton was still looking at Maddoc, who was by
now marching quite purposefully toward him. Brighton began to move out and away
from the wall of the keep, away from things that could allow Maddoc to trap him
against.  He needed room to move if he was to survive and emerge victorious,
because his speed was perhaps the only advantage he had.  Maddoc was big and
powerful, and Brighton knew he could not use strength to overcome him. It would
have to be cunning and speed.  There was no other alternative.

Maddoc began to pick up the pace, charging at de
Royans as he unsheathed his mighty broadsword.  Then he was running at him, weapon
wielded offensively, as Gerid suddenly appeared and pulled Adalind away from
the battle that was sure to come.  She screamed, startled and frightened, as
Maddoc threw all of his weight into the first blow that sent Brighton reeling. 
The man flew back as if he had been hit by a battering ram, skidding onto his
buttocks in the moist earth.  But just as quickly he was on his feet again,
rushing back at Maddoc with his sword leveled.

The epic battle had begun.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man’s days both past and forever:

Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

It was dawn in Kent.  The mist that had formed
in the pre-dawn hours was now hanging like a thick blanket across the land,
shrouding the awakening world in a cold embrace. 

David was standing in the entryway of
Canterbury’s mighty keep.  His face was pinched from the cold as he leaned
against the doorjamb, his eyes riveted to the scene below.  He was wrapped in a
heavy fur cloak, but it gave him little comfort. He had been standing there all
night, watching and waiting.

The sounds of broadsword clashing had gone on
throughout the night and now into the morning.  Maddoc and Brighton had not
eased their battle since the inception.  It had been stronger at times, weaker
at others, but there had been a constant fight since dusk of the previous
evening.   It had been brutal and bloody to watch, but now as the sun rose and
a new day was dawning, it seemed to be gaining steam again.

David had sent the womenfolk inside when the
battle started, including a hysterical Adalind.  She wanted to stay and watch
but David would not permit it.  If Maddoc was to be killed, he didn’t want her
to witness it.  He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to witness it.  Even now, he
could see the combatants over to the curtain wall, moving like the walking dead
with lethargy and strength and, at times, carelessness.   David thought about
calling an end to it but he knew it would do no good; they would simply start
up again, at some point, so it was best to let them fight it out until a victor
emerged.  David seriously wondered who it would be.

Maddoc was showing remarkable stamina in the
course of the battle.  He had never let up, not even when he drove Brighton
close to the curtain wall and, in the course of the fighting, was nicked in the
shoulder by Brighton’s blade when it ricocheted off the wall.  The bouncing
blade had caught Maddoc in the joint where the breastplate met the shoulder
armor, and he had been cut although they did not know how badly.  Blood was
seeping but not pouring.

Brighton had fared slightly worse under Maddoc’s
strength and skill.  Maddoc had made sure to go for his head at all times and,
at some point a few hours in to the battle, managed to strike his helm so hard
that it dented and torqued.  This gave Brighton an inhibited field of vision as
he fought because he could not pause to remove his helm. He had to keep
fighting or be killed.  But his diminished sight allowed Maddoc to cut him in
the leg at one point, a deep gash to the back of his knee that had done some
damage.  Brighton was having trouble walking but he could not stop.  His life
depending on it.

So the morning began to dawn in shades of gray
as David stood and watched the knights slugging it out over by the well.   As
he stood there, exhausted and grim, he felt a soft body beside him and a warm
cup of wine appeared.

“So they are still fighting,” Emilie handed her
husband the mulled wine, which he took gratefully. “Will they ever tire?”

David sipped at the beverage. “Not until one of
them is dead,” he said. “I was standing here thinking that it was not so long
ago that the ap Athoe brothers were battling it out in much the same fashion
and Maddoc thought they were both idiots.  He said they were an embarrassment
to the knighthood and that he took personal offense at their behavior.”

Emilie smiled. “That sounds like something he
would say,” she said softly, her gaze moving off towards the sounds of battle. 
“Now he understands what it is to fight for the woman he loves.”