Battlesong, page 15
Nay, he had thought he was wedding Nairna, not Laren. Would he still want her children? Her father had not wanted her.
She was a practical person and tried to keep her mind on her duties, on what she had to accomplish today, but thoughts of the child to come filled her with excitement and a bit of dread.
Women did not always live after the birth of a child. She had seen more than one woman fade away. Aye, and she could remember how some of them suffered for days before the child arrived. Her duty to her lord was to bear and deliver his heirs.
As with the last several days, by the time the supper meal was complete, she was exhausted. Against the background of a setting sun with its rays of pink, mauve, and purple sweeping the fall sky, she stumbled up the stairs to her bed. She could only hope he would return on the morrow.
Strange, how she had resented him when he first came back to Rexton but now missed him. Another sigh passed from her as she climbed into her bed. This next day, surely he would return. Then she would again sleep with his arms around her. She sighed. It was such a reassurance. After all, he was her lord, her companion, her love.
She shot upright in her bed. The linen and furs flew from the bed as she jumped to her feet.
My love?
When? When had it happened? How had it happened?
She had fallen in love with Arthur ap Brynn Ffrydd.
No wonder she was concerned about his acceptance of her child. Did he regret his marriage to her instead of Nairna? But she had now passed away, unable to survive after the birth of a child. Nay, he could not resent Laren as his wife instead of her sister.
Still, she had no idea what his thoughts about her might be. He was no longer angry as when he first arrived, nor as dismayed as he had been when the vows were spoken so long ago. And he did seem to enjoy the bed with her. She never asked, but he seemed satisfied with their mating.
She crawled back under the linens and snuggled in the warmth of the furs. Mayhap, with luck, as the next night fell he would be there to hold her close.
The next morning after she broke her fast, she told Edyth to see to supplies, for she needed to visit two of the crofters, one an aged mother who had the care of her daughter’s children and another who sliced his leg with a scythe during harvest.
She stitched his wound and prepared a poultice. Now, she wanted to talk to his wife and assure her their six children would be cared for until he was ready to return to the fields.
With Edyth at Laren’s side, their arms laden with baskets of food and herbs, they started from the keep.
“I’ve a real concern about this,” Edyth said, dragging her feet.
“I told you we have no need of the soldiers.” Laren glared at her maid. They were not going far. What was the woman’s concern?
“I donna care. You should not be out in your condition without a guard. In fact, two would be better.”
“Oh, Edyth,” Laren said and sighed. Edyth wanted, if she had her way, to garb her in some of the wool the shearers gathered. “ʼTis not as if we are going far.”
“We shouldn’t have left the keep.”
“This is ridiculous. We will be back soon.”
“What will your lord say if he arrives while you are tramping through the wood? He would not approve. Donna say he would agree.” Edyth paused, waiting for Laren to stop with her. “Come. Let us return to the keep. We can go another time and with a guard or two.”
“I will go on, without you if I must. I told you these people must be cared for.” She glared at Edyth, then marched ahead.
“Ach, you have your father’s stubbornness. Why won’t you listen?” Edyth grabbed her arm to halt her progress.
“Because I donna want to hear what you say. Now, come, let us move forward. The sooner we reach our destination, the sooner we can return to the keep. Which is what you want, isn’t it?”
They moved ahead, Edyth clucking with each step they took. Laren’s glare seemed not to affect her maid at all. They reached the widow’s cottage first, and she visited with the children for several minutes while Edyth stocked the vacant shelves with the foodstuffs they brought.
“We’ll return in several days. You must take care.” Laren patted the head of the youngest as they made their way to the door.
ʼTwould be soon when she would have a child of her own, Laren thought as she left the cottage and headed toward the home of the injured crofter.
Before they reached their destination, another man ran toward them. “M’lady,” he shouted.
Laren stopped and after a moment of observation, recognized him. He had helped with the shearing and occupied a cottage some distance from the keep. “Aye, John, what say you?”
“Beggin’ your pardon, m’lady. I have a message…” He gave Edyth a wary glance. “For yer ears alone.”
“John, this is my lady’s maid. We have no secrets. Whatever you must say, you can say within her hearing.”
He looked at Edyth again, took a step closer then leaned toward Laren. “Yer messenger, the one who came before, the one from yer land, he says he must talk to you. He stopped in the forest by my cottage.” He paused for breath and looked again at Edyth.
“And—?” Laren prompted.
“He said you would know him. He told you about yer father’s death.”
She nodded. “You say he hides in the wood?”
“Aye, m’lady. He said you would know why.”
“And ʼtis the trees behind your dwelling?” she asked. Edyth stiffened beside her. “Donna say a word,” she whispered and glanced at Edyth, who was now violently shaking her head.
“John, can you show me the way?”
He nodded and started forward.
“Nay, I canna allow this.” Edyth grabbed her arm, and Laren sputtered with anger.
“Edyth.” She jerked her arm from Edyth’s hold. “You forget your place. Now, do you come, or will you remain here?”
“M’lady, you donna know if this is your messenger. What if this is one of Fergus’s men? They were seen hereabouts. I knew we should have stayed at the keep. You canna go with this man. Have the messenger come to the keep, like he has before.”
“Edyth, you heard John. He cannot, and you know why. What if one of Fergus’s men is following him or waiting for him outside the keep. We must go and see what message he brings me. Now, come. John is hurrying away.”
Edyth grumbled beside her as they followed their guide toward a cluster of trees.
“Once we hear his message, we will return to the keep. Will that make you happy?”
“Nay,” Edyth mumbled. “We shouldna be going after this man. We donna know if the message is from yer messenger. Oh, I have a bad feeling about this. Come, let us return to the keep and await the messenger there. He will come, he always has before.”
Laren ignored her and continued after the crofter, knowing Edyth would follow, complaining as they went. They reached the edge of the trees, and Laren caught a glance of the colors the messenger wore wrapped around his tall frame.
“I see the man.” She dismissed the crofter. “You have no need to travel further. And I thank you for bringing me word. Come, Edyth. Let us see what he has to tell me.”
She wound her way toward the area where she had sighted the cloak. She was well into the wood when she heard a thud.
Edyth screamed. Laren twisted around.
Men! Scottish warriors dropped from trees. Stepped around trees. Seemed to appear from beneath the ground. They were surrounded.
One had Edyth’s arm and twisted it behind her back. She caught a glimpse of John on the ground. But only a glimpse. Another man grabbed her.
She twisted. She used her elbows. She fought as Edyth screamed.
The guttural shout of one of the men silenced her in midst of a scream. The brute had hurt her maid. She glanced at the pair. Edyth lay limp in his arms. Laren shouted.
Another man’s voice roared over her vocal protests. “Donna damage her! Fergus wants her whole.”
“Fergus?” Laren shrieked. “He killed my father. And my lord will kill him!”
One of the two men pinning Laren between them raised his fist.
Again, the man yelled. “Na! Do not!”
She sagged. “What have you done to my maid?”
“She can no yell like that. She would bring someone to check.”
“You have hurt her,” she shouted.
“An’ you must close yer mouth,” he hollered in her face as he approached.
Unable to break their hold, she still yanked against the men pinning her between them. What else could she do? Letting herself go limp, she broke the other’s hold. All she gained was a step.
“I’ll kill the other woman,” the leader shouted.
Laren froze. “Then you will have to kill me as well.”
The man’s mouth opened. He closed it as quickly.
Aye, she could threaten them a bit. “Release me,” she demanded.
“Nay. You go with us. Fergus wants you. You are to be his next bride.”
“Fergus canna have me. I am wed to another.”
Several of the men chuckled. “Yer mon is dead, lady.”
“Arthur is—?”
“Aye. Another party overtook them. They dinna survive.”
“Nay,” Laren screamed. It could not be so. She would not believe it so. Arthur could not have perished. “You lie,” she whispered, venom in her voice.
“He is gone. Now, let us be away from here.” He signaled someone in the trees and more men came forward leading horses.
The man holding Edyth dumped her on one of the ponies and climbed behind her.
The Scot who appeared to be the leader drew her away from the man still hanging on to her arm. He dragged her to another horse.
“Mount,” he said, his voice a bit more restrained. Once she gained her seat, he took her hands and bound them in front of her.
“My lord is not dead,” she said, more calmly than she felt. “He will kill you when he finds you. You will all die.” She glared at the men assembled by the extra horses.
“Say no more, or I will be forced to bind yer mouth.”
“You will not, for I will tell of all that you did and it will go hard for you, very hard.”
He laughed.
With her heart in her throat, Laren gazed at the limp body of Edyth slung over the horse. A stream of blood poured from a cut on her head. “Donna touch her again, or you, too, will suffer a like fate.”
“We leave here now,” the leader said. They moved further into the trees, away from Rexton, away from her home, away from her man.
“He cannot be dead, he cannot,” she muttered as the horses picked their way over downed branches and dead leaves.
~ * ~
“What do you mean, she isn’t here?” Garrett deShay roared.
Ward, his expression grim, read the suspicion in the Baron’s eyes. “She and her maid left this morn. They went to care for some of her people. It is her way.” He tried to ignore the frantic state of the courtyard as the servants welcomed Garrett’s soldiers to Rexton. “Nay, something has happened to her. She would never leave Rexton willingly. This is her home.”
“Her husband needs her. There was a problem. We must bring her back.”
Ward tensed. “A problem?”
“There was a scrimmage on the way to Knockin. Some brigands, the survivors claim, were Scots who waylaid Arthur’s men. There were deaths, and Arthur was knocked senseless. He needs Laren.”
Ward nodded. “Aye, I understand your doubt now, but Laren would never have planned such a thing. They must have been after Darach.”
“ʼTwas this the Scot Arthur’s men say they were bringing to Knockin, to me?” Garrett followed Ward toward the door of the keep.
“I know not all the facts, but ʼtis a strange situation,” Ward said and stepped aside as Garrett entered the great hall. “All I know is this—Darach fathered the child who killed our lady’s sister, Nairna, who was wife to Darach’s brother. This Darach feared for his life.”
“And so he should,” Garrett mumbled.
“Arthur thought to bring him to Knockin where you could offer more protection.”
“Who suggested that outrageous plan?”
Ward shrugged.
“I thought so,” Garrett said.
Ward directed the visitor to the dais and shouted for ale. Before the two men settled at the table, a soldier burst into the room.
“We have news,” he shouted. “We found a crofter, John, at…the-the edge of the…wood behind his-his house. His head bashed in, but he yet lives.” The man stopped to catch his breath.
“Continue,” Garrett said.
The man held up his hand, took a deep breath. “There was a struggle…many horses, and this.” He held a piece of cloth high above his head. “There is blood on it.”
Ward gasped.
“You know it?” Garrett asked.
“Aye, ʼtis the maid, Edyth’s, head covering. Edyth would never leave our lady. Someone had to take them—by force.”
“Then, they must be found. When did they leave the keep?”
“ʼTwas early this morn. Our lady likes to see about her tasks at sunrise.” Ward bit his lip at the disgust on Garrett’s face.
“Aye, she is as bad as Rhianna, then. But now, we need to make plans.” Garrett turned away and started issuing orders to one of his own soldiers.
~ * ~
After several hours of riding, Laren sagged in the saddle of her mount. At least, the leader of the band stopped twice for her convenience. She glanced at the rider to her rear. He had Edyth held up against him, and she gave every indication she was alert enough to know she was a captive. Dry blood spotted her face and her veil was missing, but she appeared, at least to Laren, to have recovered from the blow she received.
Now all Laren had to worry about was escaping these men. She was fairly certain by this time Ward would have realized something had happened and sent out a search party. If by chance they found John and the poor man was still alive, Arthur’s men would have determined someone took her and Edyth.
Laren prayed Arthur was on the way back to Rexton. Aye, and surely, he would understand she would never leave of her own accord. If he returned. The leader said another group of Scots had ambushed Arthur’s men and killed them all.
She could not believe that. Arthur was much too skilled in battle to let a small band of Scots outwit him. He could not be dead. She would not, could not, believe that.
Shortly after they were taken, she wondered if the messenger and Darach planned the kidnapping, but she dismissed the idea, remembering how sincere her sister’s lover seemed. Mayhap, this was all part of their plan to make them believe Darach had been Nairna’s lover, father of the child for whom she had given her life.
Laren shuddered. Nay, she could not let herself think this way. Arthur was alive, Darach had been Nairna’s lover, and this was a wild plan of a mad man, a man who wanted her to wife.
Laren wasn’t going to allow that to happen. When she was under the hand of her father, beatings had been commonplace for her. She could withstand more beatings. But could her babe?
She would make certain there were no beatings. In her father’s household, she had learned to hold her own, and she would do so now. Arthur would come for her. She had to believe that.
Unless she and Edyth could escape. She had to turn her mind to a plan. Somehow, she had to find a way to get them both away from these men. Rexton needed her, and she needed Arthur.
For the first time in years, a pain of sharp sadness, a cutting sensation, like the very heart of her was being rent in two, pierced her. Nay, she could not allow herself to slip into such a state. She had to concentrate on how they would flee from these Scots.
~ * ~
Garrett took control of Arthur’s men. “Your baron received an injury bringing the man, Darach, to Knockin. Tell me, who among you knew this man?”
Two of the soldiers stepped forward. “I know a little of him. We shared the same space at table. He was assigned to my care.”
“What know you of him?”
“He seemed real. The story he told made much sense to those of us who knew of it. He loved his brother’s wife, got her with child and took her from the brother, for the husband was beating her to death.”
“The man carried a lot of guilt,” the other soldier said. “I saw this man Darach wipe tears from his eyes on more than one occasion. I only did because our lord commanded we watch him with much care.”
“So, you both feel certain he could have had no part in this plan? For if he did, he paid for it with his life,” Garrett said.
“He’s dead?” the first soldier asked.
“Aye.”
“Then I would say what he told us was worthy of belief. He was most afraid his brother would seek him out and cut out his heart.”
Several of the assembled men nodded.
“I’ve one more question for you. Any among you believe your lady had a part in this?”
If the situation hadn’t been as grave, Garrett would have smiled at the reaction of the men. It was as if he had accused them of contriving to aid the Scots. “Then she has been taken from this place. It is your duty to find her.”
As a call to arms, none could have been better. Several of the soldiers fell to their knees as they declared their willingness to die for their lady. It told Garrett all he needed to know. Laren Brynn Ffyrdd had gained the devotion and respect of all at Rexton.
Good! It was time to put his plan into motion. He would have to send word to Rhianna. Aye, that would be the worst of this. This wife of his, with the blood of Wales running through her veins, might even blame him for allowing such a thing to happen to her new sister.
Chapter Fourteen
Garrett sighed with disgust. These men were smarter than he thought they were. With captives, they should have left tracks across a good part of northern England. Instead, whenever they had the opportunity to travel in a stream, they did so, making trailing their horses more difficult. Where rocks were available, all the horses used the rocks. They also traveled in the wrong direction, obviously with the intent of making any kind of pursuit impossible.
