CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‡
Capable of Killing
Near Warwick, 40 miles from Tenebris
Travel had been slow with Alary and his men, something Kristoph had been exceedingly grateful for considering the injuries he’d sustained during his capture those weeks ago. His ribs were much better and he was feeling as close to normal as could be expected given the circumstances. He still wasn’t getting enough to eat and with all of the walking he’d been doing, because Alary still wouldn’t allow him to ride a horse, he’d lost a significant amount of weight. His trousers were hanging on him now. His wife wasn’t going to even recognize him.
He’d also grown a fairly bushy beard and his blonde hair, usually cut short, had grown. It was shaggy and dirty, something that bothered him because he was usually well-groomed. But that was of little consequence considering his circumstances, circumstances he soon intended to change.
He was working on a plan.
Alary didn’t know he was feeling as good as he was. He was still walking hunched over, pretending to be in pain, and he had generally been acting ill. There was a reason for this; Alary kept him in irons and he was hoping that, at some point, the irons would be removed and he would be able to escape. He was essentially trying to lull his captors into a false sense of security and, so far, it was working.
He’d been concocting a plan for the last several days. He knew they were far to the north, nearing Alary’s stronghold, and his soldier friend had spoken freely about their path and the towns they’d traveled through, so he had a fairly good idea of where they were and where they were going.
It was also true that he never doubted for a moment that Gaetan and his comrades were somewhere nearby, perhaps not following him on the same path, but Kristoph knew they were planning to rescue him. Even after Alary’s threat, when news had come from Alary’s spies that they were no longer being followed, Kristoph knew that wasn’t true. His longtime friends and brothers would come for him.
He would stake his life on it.
But it was difficult to wait them out, hence the plan he’d been formulating. If he could simply break free of Alary, he could run and hide and the man couldn’t find him. Then he could make his way south, back the way they’d come, and, hopefully, find traces of Gaetan and the men to follow. If they were looking for him, perhaps he could look for them. It wasn’t the best plan, but he simply couldn’t remain Alary’s prisoner any longer. He was afraid that one more day, or even one more hour, might see Alary cut something else off or decide to beat him again. He wasn’t going to stand by while that happened.
He had to make his move.
Tonight, they were on the outskirts of Warwick, a fairly large town that had seen its share of traffic throughout the evening. Once again, Kristoph was in the livery with his guards and the animals, cushioned by surprisingly fresh hay this night as the sounds of the tavern across the yard filled the air. There was laughter and the smell of meat in the air, and he could even hear what he thought was a citole. Someone was playing and singing.
As he lay back and listened to the sounds that were comforting and friendly in nature, and not reminding him of his dire situation, his friendly guard, Mostig, came out of the back of the tavern with a trencher of food in his hands.
Kristoph saw the man enter the livery and he sat up, eagerly awaiting his only meal of the day. Mostig approached him and delivered the food at his feet. There was a hunk of boiled meat on it and a heaping pile of boiled vegetables, and Kristoph began eating like a man who had never seen food in his life. He shoved it in his mouth, devouring it, as Mostig loosened his chains.
“It is crowded in the tavern tonight,” Mostig said. “There is a great Saxon lord inside, traveling with his daughter. Lord Alary has told him of you and he is interested.”
Mouth full, Kristoph looked at Mostig with curiosity. “Interested? What do you mean?”
“In you.”
“Why?”
“For his daughter from what I heard.”
Kristoph stopped chewing, struggling to swallow what was in his mouth. “For his daughter?” he repeated, puzzled. “I do not understand.”
Mostig shrugged. “The homely girl is not married yet.”
“But… I am already married.”
“That will not make the lord happy.”
Kristoph frowned. “You know I am married,” he said. “We have spoken of my wife and daughter frequently. I cannot and will not marry another woman.”
Mostig wasn’t unsympathetic. He and the Norman knight had been together constantly and they’d formed an odd bond of sorts. Mostig even considered them friends, as strange as that seemed. In a sense, he was concerned for his friend’s safety because he knew Alary. He knew what the man was capable of. A worried expression rippled across his face.
“But the lord offered to pay Lord Alary a great deal for you,” he said. “Lord Alary is considering it. Norman, if you marry her, then you will no longer be subject to Lord Alary and his whims. He can no longer cut your finger off or beat you or harm you. If you are sold, then you must go for your own sake. Get out of here while you can.”
Kristoph couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stopped eating completely and fixed Mostig with a serious glare. “I told Alary my family would pay him well for my safe return but he would not take it,” he said, incredulous. “Yet, he will sell me to a Saxon lord as a husband for the man’s daughter?”
His voice was growing loud and Mostig hastened to quiet him. “Do not speak so loudly or Lord Alary will hear,” he hissed. “If you are sold, it will be the best thing for you. Do you understand? They will more than likely not keep you in irons. You will be… free.”
It was a hint to escape, as clear as the subject had ever been spoken of between them, and Kristoph backed off a little, studying the man and considering his words. Certainly, a husband would not be kept in chains. Kristoph pondered the idea a moment before speaking.
“Mostig, I have not said this to you before, but I will now,” he said. “You are a man without a family… help me escape and I shall see that you are amply rewarded. You could command a fine bride with the money I would reward you with. Does this not appeal to you?”
Mostig’s eyes widened. “I could not do it! Lord Alary would kill me if he discovered what I had done!”
Kristoph could see the fear in the man’s eyes. “You will come with me,” he assured him. “Alary would never see you again. You do not have to worry about such things. The money I could give you would keep you comfortable for the rest of your life, I assure you. Mostig, please – will you not help me?”
Mostig was staring at him with big eyes, perhaps seriously considering the offer. He was torn between his fear of Alary and the lure of a great reward. He scratched his head after a moment, watching Kristopher as the man resumed his meal.
“I… I do not know,” he finally said. “It would be a terrible risk. Lord Alary has allies everywhere in the north. We would have to flee to the south.”
Kristoph finished the last of the meat, chewing loudly. “And we could do that,” he said, trying to sound confident because he was attempting to convince the man to betray his liege. “Once I reach my Norman brethren, you would have nothing to fear. Mayhap, you could even serve me. I have hundreds of men but you would have a place of honor among them.”
Mostig liked that thought a great deal. With Alary, he had no place of honor. He was a soldier, just like all the rest. But what this Norman was promising him was appealing. He was a weak man, in truth, and simply wanted to find someplace where he belonged. Ever since he’d lost his family, that was his only desire. Now, the Norman was offering him such a thing. It was difficult to resist.
“Would… would I live in Normandy?” he asked timidly. “I have never been there, you know.”
Kristoph began to feel some hope. Was it possible he could sway his guard to help him? “You could live wherever you wanted to,” he said. “I intend to have lands here in England, so if you wanted to live here, you could. Or, you could go to my properties in Normandy. It would be your choice.”
Mostig liked what he was hearing and he was quite seriously considering everything he’d been told. Still, he was fearful, mostly of Alary. He’d seen what the man was capable of with traitors and he was genuinely concerned that his attempt to help a prisoner might be discovered. That fear kept him from accepting Kristoph’s offer.
“If I help you, I cannot do it now,” he hissed, hoping the walls around them didn’t have ears. “Lord Alary is discussing you with the Saxon lord right now and if we flee, they would soon catch up to us. We would not have much time to get away.”
Kristoph didn’t agree. “If you do not help me now, there may not be another opportunity,” he said, trying not to sound too forceful because he felt that he was losing the man’s interest in his offer. “If Alary sells me to the Saxon, I will be gone. How are you to help me then?”
He had a point, one that seemed to convince Mostig that the time to act was now. He was quite torn, however, with apprehension in both his expression and movement.
“If I help you, where will we go this night?” he asked. “It is very dark and there is nowhere we can run.”
Kristoph sensed that the man was finally coming around to his way of thinking. Mostig seemed to be good of heart, but he was weak of will. Kristoph sat back against the straw again, thanking God for his friend Mostig. In his plans to escape, he never thought he’d have an accomplice.
“You know this area,” he said. “Are there any towns nearby?”
Mostig nodded. “A few,” he said. “Smaller villages.”
“Then we will avoid them. When we leave, the first places Alary will search are the nearby villages. But I will tell you something; a secret.”
“What?”
“I do not believe my Norman brethren have stopped following us. They would not let me go so easily. I believe they are around, somewhere. All we need to do is find them.”
Mostig’s eyes widened. “Are you certain?”
Kristoph shrugged. “I know them. They would not give up.”
“That is an interesting bit of news.”
It wasn’t Mostig who replied. It was Alary, entering the livery with a pair of his henchmen with him, men who were always at his side to do is bidding. They were also the men who had beaten Kristoph in the first few days of his captivity and the men, he suspected, who held him down when Alary cut off his finger. They were mindless, brutal dogs.
Kristoph’s blood ran cold when he saw them enter the livery. He heard us! He thought in a panic. But how much did he hear? Kristoph would have to be extremely careful with this situation if he wanted to survive it. All of the hope he’d been feeling drained out of him like liquid through a sieve. Now, he felt empty.
Empty and apprehensive.
As Kristoph tried to gauge just how bad his punishment was going to be, Alary looked at Mostig.
“Excellent work,” he said to the man. “You have done well this night.”
Kristoph looked at Mostig, unsure what Alary meant as Mostig stumbled to his feet, looking at Alary in terror.
“I did not do anything, my lord,” he cried. “The Norman spoke of escape but I did not do anything!”
Alary looked very pleased. “I knew you were developing a friendship with him,” he said. “I have seen it from the start. Now you have tricked him into confessing that his Norman friends have not given up the chase, after all. I knew they had not but I also knew our captive would not tell me. You have done that for me, Mostig. Well done.”
Mostig was overwrought with terror. He looked at Kristoph with such horror upon him that it was palpable. “I did not…,” he breathed. Then, he looked to Alary again. “I would not betray you, my lord. Forgive me!”
Alary shook his head. “There is nothing to forgive,” he said. “You have shown me your true loyalties. Tell me you did this for me and I shall believe you.”
Mostig was trembling as he nodded his head. “I have done this for you, my lord, I swear it.”
Alary approached him, casually, putting out a hand to rest on the man’s slumped shoulder. “Tell me that you love me.”
“I do, my lord, most earnestly!”
Swiftly, Alary unsheathed a dagger that was at his side, a bejeweled weapon that was quite magnificent. He’d stolen it off of a dead Saxon lord a few years back and now it was at his side every moment. It was the dagger he’d used to cut off part of Kristoph’s finger. Before Mostig even realized what had happened, Alary slipped the blade between his ribs and straight into his heart. Mostig was dead before he hit the ground.
With the man in a heap, Alary stood over him.
“I lied,” he said, kicking the corpse. “I do not believe you!”
Kristoph had to admit that he was quickly reaching a greatly apprehensive state. He couldn’t even think of Mostig’s death. Now, he had to think about himself. He was still chained and, in a fight, he wouldn’t be very effective, but he knew they were rapidly approaching that state and he intended to fight for all he was worth. He wasn’t going to let Alary slip a blade between his ribs as easily as he’d done to Mostig. As Alary turned to him, he braced himself.
The moment of life or death, for him, was coming.
“So your Norman brethren are nearby, are they?” he asked, wiping the bloodied blade off on his trousers. “Where are they?”
Kristoph’s gaze never left Alary’s face. “I would not know,” he said. “And what I told Mostig was a guess. I have not seen any of them, if that is your meaning. For if I saw them, so would you and I would not be here right now. What I expressed was a feeling and nothing more.”
Alary was closing in with his two henchmen by his side, all of them looking at Kristoph with the expressions of hunters who had just sighted their prey.
“You seemed rather certain,” Alary said.
Kristoph simply shook his head, trying not to appear any too leery of what was coming. “What happened to the Saxon lord Mostig spoke of?” he asked, trying to change the subject. “I thought you were going to sell me to the man for his daughter.”
Alary shrugged. “His daughter was so ugly that even I could not resign you to such a life,” he said. “Moreover, the man did not want to pay my price.”
“I told you that my family would pay any price you asked for my release.”
Alary came to a halt and his henchmen along with him. “I wonder if your Norman brethren would pay to keep you alive.”
Kristoph was coming to desperately wish that he was unchained because he very much wanted to strike the first of many blows he knew were coming. He knew he was in for another beating, perhaps the worst one yet.
“Mayhap,” he said casually. “But know this; if you kill me, they will hunt you down. You will never be safe. I have told you this before, Alary. It is in your best interest to keep me alive and well so that my comrades will not punish you by stripping your skin from your body while you are alive. They will make sure you suffer a more painful death than I could ever suffer, so remember that before thinking to kill me.”
It was a threat, a line drawn between them that Kristoph was instructing the man not to cross. But Alary wasn’t smart enough to realize it. He saw it as a threat to his safety and nothing more than that. He didn’t realize that Kristoph was trying to save his life.
In fury, he struck out.
The first blow missed Kristoph because he ducked, but after that, the fight was on as Alary’s two men jumped on Kristoph and began beating on a man who was severely restricted by his chains. But Kristoph was strong, much stronger than Alary had realized. In the end, he’d strangled one of the men with his chains and kicked the other one unconscious, all the while as Alary stood back and watched.
This time, Alary didn’t step in to disable Kristoph. The man had taken a beating but it was clear he was ready for anything that came at him. He was strong, bound or not, and Alary backed off. He had a stronger sense of survival than most. Therefore, he left Kristoph alone that night, leaving the dead bodies of two of his men while the third, once he regained consciousness, limped from the livery and disappeared.
As for Alary, he spent the night in the tavern where it was warm and dry, pondering his next move with the Norman knight who was not so injured as he had wanted everyone to believe.
That night, the Norman knight showed his worth, and Alary realized he had a prisoner who was very capable of killing.
He would have to kill his prisoner before he was the man’s next victim.