CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
‡
Distraction is Deadly
Later that morning
Outside of the village of Rock Cross; Church of St. Peter and St. Paul
“We are on the right path,” Gaetan said as he dismounted his horse, speaking to his knights who were either on the ground resting or standing near the cold clear stream he’d left them by not an hour earlier. “The priest said that we are to continue up this road until we come to a larger road. The path to Tenebris will be to the east along that larger road, about half a mile. We will see the fortress on the rise through the trees.”
It had taken little more than half a day since leaving the Tertium village to come within a few miles of Kidderminster. They knew that Tenebris was nearby but without Ghislaine’s direction, they weren’t sure, exactly, where it was. They needed help. Passing a farmer on their way north, the farmer directed them to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, a relatively new church as far as churches went, but the only one in the area other than a larger church in Kidderminster. Gaetan thanked the farmer, threw him a coin, and then continued on to the church as they’d been directed.
Coming up the road from the south, the block-steeple of the church came into view and Gaetan left his men by a stream in a thicket of trees and proceeded onward to ask the priests if they knew where Tenebris was located. His concern was that the priests might know of, or be loyal to, Alary and he didn’t want word to reach Alary that nine Norman knights had been seeking him.
One knight making an inquiry would seem far less threatening.
Therefore, Gaetan went on alone, forcing himself to keep his mind on his task when all he wanted to do was think of Ghislaine. It was strange how much he missed her, considering he’d only known the woman a matter of weeks. Now, he couldn’t even remember traveling without her. His arms ached to hold her but he comforted himself with the knowledge that the sooner they regain Kristoph, the sooner he would return to Ghislaine.
Under the guise of being an old friend of Alary of Mercia, Gaetan was able to extract a satisfactory answer from the solitary priest at the church and he had now returned to inform his men. Once he finished delivering the news, he brought his horse to the stream to drink, crouching down beside the animal to drink himself while his men began to gather their horses in preparation for departing.
“We shall make it to Tenebris easily before nightfall,” Téo said as he pulled his horse up from greedily eating thick wet grass. “Do you intend we should remain here tonight and set out in the morning?”
Gaetan shook his head. “Nay,” he said, standing up and shaking the water from his hands. “Even with the delays we have suffered, Alary was still traveling far slower than we were. We should be at least two days or more ahead of him, but we cannot be entirely certain. On the chance that he has made better time than we estimated, I will send Wellesbourne and St. Hèver into Kidderminster to watch for his party passing through. If Alary has two hundred men with him, then he will be easily spotted. Meanwhile, de Reyne and de Russe can ride head to scout out Tenebris. We need eyes on the place to see its strength and layout.”
Intelligence gathering was necessary in a situation such as this and everyone agreed, for the most part. “What is the plan of attack?” de Lara wanted to know. “If Alary is carrying two hundred men, we must have something precise planned so that when he comes, we are ready.”
Gaetan pulled his horse out of the stream and moved to mount the saddle. “That is what the rest of us will be doing,” he said. “We will be scouting the road between Kidderminster and Tenebris to determine the best place for an ambush. That is the only way we will be able to take on a greater number.”
“That is assuming Alary has not yet made it to Tenebris,” de Lara said quietly.
That was the key to all of this. If Alary had already made it to his fortress, then they would have to think of something else. There was something ominous in that thought. Gaetan vaulted into the saddle and gathered his reins as his men began to do the same.
“Exactly,” he said. “Let us get along with what must be done.”
With that, they tore out of the thicket and back onto the road again. Beneath clear skies and a rather lovely day, they reached the main road from Kidderminster in under an hour. Suddenly, they were right where they wanted to be, on the very road they had been seeking, and Gaetan found himself looking in the direction of the city even though he couldn’t see it. Still, they were here, ready to intercept Alary’s army, and the moment wasn’t lost on him.
They’d been waiting for it for the better part of several weeks.
Now, Gaetan’s focus was where it should be as thoughts of Ghislaine were tucked away. He was on the eve of a battle and thinking of the woman he adored would only be a distraction, and every knight knew that distraction was deadly. His thoughts shifted to Kristoph and what the man must have suffered these past weeks being the prisoner of a madman.
Kristoph was strong, he knew, but even the strong had a breaking point. This was the instant where he showed Kristoph just what brotherhood meant – it meant that men were not forgotten and that the bonds of warriors were stronger than the bonds of blood.
This was that moment.
With a lesser traveled road and a heavy forest of trees to their back, the knights looked to the west where Tenebris was located. The landscape was a little hilly, but none of the bigger hills and dales they had seen further south. For the most part, it was flat. Gaetan looked from east to west along the larger road, which was heavily traveled from the ruts in it. There were, however, thick lines of trees on both sides of the road to the east, but those trees dwindled the further west the road went. In fact, he could see the trees tapering off altogether not too far to the west. Beyond was the flat lands of meadows.
“Look to the trees,” he said, pointing off to the east where the trees came right up to the road. “That is where we shall make our stand, right here before the forest thins out too much. If we catch Alary and his army there, they will have nowhere to go.”
Téo, Aramis, and Luc were up alongside him, looking at the landscape. “If Alary is smart, he’ll have two hundred men in close quarters to protect one another while they are traveling,” Luc said. “If that is the case, we use crossbows as the weapon of choice – three of us in the front, three along the flanks, and then three in the rear. We can hold an entire army hostage that way and extract Kristoph.”
Gaetan nodded, looking up to the height of the trees. “That was my thinking exactly.”
He spurred his horse down the road towards the trees they were discussing and his men followed. St. Hèver and de Moray entered the tree line to both the north and south side of the road, inspecting what was back in the forest, as the rest of them came to a halt about midway down a particularly dense line of trees. They were all looking about, inspecting it, noting the visibility from the road among other things. Satisfied, Gaetan was the first one to speak.
“Bartholomew and Kye will head to Kidderminster now,” he said, motioning both men out of the trees and addressing them when they came near. “Remember your instructions; you are to remain out of sight. Do not let Alary or any of his men catch sight of you or we may have serious problems. Once you sight them, come back to us as quickly as you can. We will need time to prepare for their approach.”
Wellesbourne and St. Hèver nodded sharply, goring their steeds forward and tearing off down the road, eastward bound for Kidderminster. As the two of them took off, Gaetan turned to Aramis and Lance.
“You two head out to scout Tenebris,” he said. “Careful you are not sighted. We do not want to alert them to our presence.”
Aramis nodded. “We will be cautious.”
Gaetan watched them go, thundering down the road and disappearing from view when the road curved. Now, it was him, Téo, de Moray, de Winter, and de Lara. Gaetan turned to the remaining knights.
“It will be up to us to determine the best place for an attack,” he said. “Go now and mark your spots. Come to me when you are ready and we shall put this plan into action.”
With confidence, the others began to spread out, searching for the best place from which to launch an ambush. As Gaetan watched them go, his attention inevitably turned to the east. He wished very much that he had his entire army with him, but there was no time to spend on regrets. Nine Norman knights had to fend off two hundred Saxon soldiers and pray the Saxons didn’t kill Kristoph before the knights could rescue him. That was the gist of the situation and everyone knew it. Gaetan wasn’t quite sure what he would do if he saw Kristoph murdered before his eyes, before he was able to get to him.
A praying man, he began to pray very hard that it wouldn’t happen.
Please, God… just give me the chance to get to him. That is all I ask….
Ghislaine only woke up because the dog had left her bed, jostling her when it did so. Then, he scratched at the door, wanting to be let out, so she sat up and tried to collect her wits before staggering over to the door and opening it for the dog to go out and do his doggy business. As she opened the door, however, she saw Jathan sitting against the wall of the cottage, sharpening a small dagger with a stone.
Jathan looked up, surprised, when the door opened and the dog ran past. Ghislaine smiled sleepily at him, yawning.
“Good morn,” she said.
Jathan put the stone and dagger in his lap. “Good morn, my lady,” he said. “Why are you awake?”
Ghislaine yawned again, looking out over the pond and the canopy above, with streams of light coming through the leaves and reaching to the earth. There were only a few people around the pond now, washing or simply sitting. In all, it was a graceful and serene scene.
“The dog awoke me,” she said. “I feel as if I have been asleep for one hundred years. What day is it?”
Jathan sat forward on his stool, looking over the pond and the trees just as she was. “It is the day after your arrival here in the village,” he said. “You have only been asleep seven or eight hours since last night. I thought you would sleep all day.”
Ghislaine couldn’t stop yawning. “Whatever that old woman gave me for the pain made me sleep.” She touched her right thigh, moving it around a little. “It does not feel nearly as bad as I thought it would. There is pain, but it is not terrible. I suppose it will heal in spite of my repeated attempts to re-injure it.”
She grinned and so did Jathan. “That is good to hear,” he said. “Resting for the past several hours has undoubtedly helped.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Shall I call Lygia and her sisters for you?”
Ghislaine shook her head, smoothing down her hair which, in spite of having slept on it, was still in a relatively neat braid. “I do not believe so,” she said. “I believe I can fend for myself but I would like something to eat. Is it near the nooning meal? Mayhap I shall be in time to join Gaetan and the knights for the meal.”
Jathan’s smile faded. This was the moment he’d been dreading but he didn’t think it would come this soon. He’d expected the lady to sleep much longer so he wasn’t particularly prepared to tell her what he must. Still, she had to know. It wasn’t as if he could keep it from her. Taking a deep breath, he summoned his courage.
“You cannot,” he told her, seeing her turn to him curiously. “Gaetan and his men have gone on to intercept your brother. Gaetan came to tell you himself this morning, very early, but you were sleeping so peacefully that he did not want to wake you. He told me to tell you to remain here and that he would return for you as soon as he can.”
Ghislaine’s eyes widened as the smile vanished from her face. “He is gone?” she repeated. Then, it was as if the news hit her a second time and she suddenly grabbed Jathan’s arm, squeezing it. “He left?”
Jathan knew this would be her reaction but, to be truthful, it frightened him. Gaetan was the only one who could control the woman and, sometimes, even he couldn’t override her powerful sense of independence. He stood up even as she dug her fingers into his arm.
“He will return,” he stressed. “You needn’t worry. They shall find Kristoph and then they shall all return. You will see.”
Ghislaine couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sleepy anymore. She was shocked, appalled, and bordering on panic.
“Nay,” she hissed, shaking her head as she released Jathan. “They cannot go without me. They will not survive!”
She was backing away from him, heading into the tiny cottage. Jathan followed. “Why do you say that?” he asked. “My lady, I have known Gaetan de Wolfe for many years. He is quite capable of surviving a battle, I assure you. He did it for many years before he met you.”
Ghislaine yanked on the little doe-skin slippers that Lygia had given her. “Of course he did,” she snapped. “But he has not survived here, in Mercia.”
Slippers on, she pushed past him and began heading towards the convening house. Jathan scurried after her, doing exactly what he had been dreading – he grabbed her by the arm to physically stop her.
“My lady, wait,” he said. “You cannot go after them. Gaetan gave me a direct command and if you disobey, he will punish us both. You must remain here.”
Ghislaine snatched her arm away from him. “I will not remain here,” she said. “I must go after him.”
“You cannot!”
“I can and you will not stop me.”
Jathan, beside himself, rushed at her from behind when she tried to walk away again and tackled her, grabbing her around the waist and picking her up from the ground. Gaetan had given him permission to tie her to the bed, which was exactly what he intended to do. But Ghislaine had other ideas. The moment he grabbed her, she threw an elbow back and caught him on the side of the head.
Startled from the painful blow, Jathan dropped her, but it was fortunate she didn’t land on her bad leg. She plopped right down onto her left foot and she began to run, as fast as she was able with her stiff and sore thigh. But Jathan, with a bloodied ear, caught up to her again and the fight was on.
People began to come out of their cottages to watch the lady fighting off the priest who kept trying to grab her. Ghislaine didn’t want to hurt the man but she was quickly growing irritated with his attempts to restrain her. She lost her patience completely when he accidentally grabbed her braid and pulled her hair, so she kicked him right in the groin with her bad leg. It was the only way she could do it since she couldn’t very well balance on her right leg; therefore, it became her kicking leg. Jathan fell to the ground in anguish when she made contact.
Realizing they were attracting an audience, Ghislaine ran as fast as she could towards the convening hall in the hopes of finding Antillius. She didn’t know where else to look for him. She was nearly to the long stone structure when the door to the convening hall opened and men poured forth, Antillius included. There were men by his side, speaking to him, but they quieted when they saw the lady approach.
“My lady?” Antillius went to her quickly. “What has happened? I have been told by one of my men that your priest attacked you!”
Ghislaine shook her head. “He did not attack me,” she said. “He was attempting to stop me from following Gaetan and his men. My lord, did you know they had left?”
Antillius nodded. “I did, indeed,” he said. “They left a few hours ago. Not long, really. Why? What is the matter?”
Ghislaine was already shaking her head, feeling a tremendous sense of urgency. She didn’t have time to explain her fears but if she didn’t explain them, Antillius might try to keep her here, too, and it was imperative that she follow the Normans. Therefore, she tried to remain calm as she spoke.
“I do not know how much Gaetan told you of him and his men, but they are Norman knights,” she said, breathlessly. “They, and thousands of their countrymen, came to the shores of England a few weeks ago and engaged in a battle with Harold Godwinson, who was my sister’s husband. I speak of him in the past because he was killed by the Normans.”
Antillius and his men were looking at her with increasing shock. “Godwinson is dead?”
“Aye. Gaetan did not tell you?”
“He did not.”
“I am sure he had his reasons, but it is true. Harold is dead.”
Antillius glanced at his nervous men before replying. “Then who rules now?”
Ghislaine could see the shock reflected in their eyes at the news. She felt rather badly for telling them, as if she was essentially calling Gaetan a liar for withholding such vital information, but the reality was that she needed something from them. She was trying to lay a foundation for her argument.
“The Duke of Normandy lays claim to the throne of England now,” she said. “You would have found out sooner or later and I am sure Gaetan did not tell you because he did not want to frighten you. Do not think poorly of him; he is not an unjust man. You must believe that.”
Antillius still had doubt and shock in his expression. “He told us that he had come to England to reclaim a man who had been kidnapped by your brother.”
She nodded. “That is true,” she said. “My brother, Alary, kidnapped Gaetan’s knight after the battle. That is why they are here – to reclaim their man. It is not to take your lands from you or kill your people. Right now, all they want to do is reclaim their knight. I was their guide, directing them through these new lands to help them find their man.”
Antillius’ shock was fading somewhat, although the news still had him shaken. “Did your brother, Edwin, send you with them? He has no love for Alary.”
Ghislaine shook her head. “Edwin has never met Gaetan or his men, nor was he at the battle where Harold lost his life,” she said. “This has nothing to do with Edwin. My lord, I know you consider Edwin an enemy and I am sure that you have difficulty trusting me as well, but I must beg a favor from you.”
“What?”
“You must help me save Gaetan’s life.”
Antillius’ brow furrowed in confusion. “He does not need your help,” he said. “I saw him fight off hordes of the Men of Bones last night. He and his men are the most powerful warriors I have ever seen.”
Ghislaine wasn’t sure how she could explain her fears to him, but she had to try. She truly felt Gaetan’s life depended on it.
“Norman knights are like nothing you have ever seen on the field of battle,” she said. “They are stronger, better equipped, and more skilled than anything on this earth. But that is in open battle; when it comes to the warfare our people conduct – in trees, in hiding, or covertly – Normans are extremely vulnerable. They fight head-on because that is what they know. But our people – your people, my people – do not fight that way. Right now, Gaetan has taken eight men with him and they intend to stop my brother and rescue their man. My lord, Alary has two hundred men with him who fight in this fashion. I am terrified that Gaetan and his men will walk straight into their deaths.”
Antillius was listening carefully. “Surely they are not that foolish,” he said. “Men like that do not live as long as they have by being foolish. I think you underestimate him.”
Ghislaine tried not to appear too contrite. “I do not mean to underestimate him,” she said, “and as long as I was accompanying them, I knew I could advise them on the way our people fight. This wound in my leg? I received it when we were passing through the shadowlands, south of Worcester. Knowing what I know of the people in that area, I was able to draw them out and avert an ambush. Now… now I must avert another terrible clash, or at least try. But I have no horse and no weapons. I am asking if you will provide me with these things so I can at least help them. Please, my lord, I beseech you.”
Antillius was over his shock of the situation for the most part. Now, he was pensive as he pondered her words. “If I let you go, I cannot imagine that de Wolfe would be too pleased with me,” he said. “He told your priest to keep you here. Lygia told me so. Now you are asking me to let you follow him?”
Ghislaine nodded. “I will do it with or without your help, but with your help, it would be much easier.”
Antillius believed her implicitly; she seemed like a rather stubborn female. He certainly didn’t want to lock her up like a prisoner but he wasn’t sure how else to keep her here if she wanted to follow Gaetan. He’d also heard from Lygia that Gaetan and the lady were betrothed, so he knew her request wasn’t purely from concern.
It was from devotion.
Antillius had seen the way Gaetan had looked at the lady and he knew a man in love when he saw one. He could only imagine the lady felt the same thing for him, else she wouldn’t be willing to risk her life so. But men in love were fickle things because he’d seen it enough to know and men like Gaetan de Wolfe couldn’t truly fall in love; war was their lover, their mistress, and their life. Women like Ghislaine, while beautiful, were only an infatuation to these war creatures.
They were another conquest.
Moreover, the survival of Ghislaine’s family didn’t depend upon her marrying Gaetan. But the survival of Antillius’ people very much depended on new blood and, with that thought, he began to formulate a plan of his own.
“Even if you go, if they are truly under attack, you cannot help them by yourself,” he finally said. “You would become a casualty, too. What you need is more men.”
Ghislaine nodded, trying not to look too scared or miserable in that knowledge. “I know,” she said. “Gaetan has two thousand men but Alary knew we were following him and he threatened to kill his captive if Gaetan did not stop following, so Gaetan left his army at Westerham. We cannot summon them in time.”
“You have not asked me if I will help.”
“But I have. I asked you for a weapon and….”
He cut her off. “You did not ask me if my men would help.”
Ghislaine looked at him as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her. There was astonishment and hope in her eyes. “Would you?” she gasped. “If you and your men would go to help him, surely he could win. Surely he could regain his man. My lord, if the Tertium were to go to battle as Gaetan’s army, then victory is assured.”
Antillius nodded. “Mayhap,” he said. “At least, Gaetan and his men would have a fighting chance against Alary and his hundreds. But even as I suggest this course of action, you must know that there is a reason behind it. I have explained such things to Gaetan but I am sure he has not spoken of it to you. You see, my lady, my people are dying out. I fear that my daughters’ generation will be one of the very last unless we are able to bring new blood, new life, into our tribe. I have nearly three hundred men in the village now but in the days of my father and his father, there were thousands. If I take those three hundred men into battle against your brother, I will lose some. There is no doubt that some will die. And that is an extremely expensive price to pay. As it is now, I can never replace those men.”
Ghislaine wasn’t quite following his line of thought. “I am very sorry to know that, my lord,” she said. “But I assure you, if you and your men go into battle for Gaetan, he will reward you greatly. Mayhap that reward will help save your people somehow.”
“That is what I am hoping. But I will name my price.”
“Of course, my lord. Anything you wish.”
“I understand that you and Gaetan are to be married.”
Ghislaine nodded, but it was with some embarrassment. She hadn’t known Gaetan had told him that. “Aye,” she said hesitantly. “I have agreed to be his wife.”
Antillius put his hands on her shoulders in a fatherly gesture. His expression, when he looked at her, was quite serious.
“Then only you can tell him to pay my price.”
“I do not understand.”
Antillius eyed her a moment before continuing. “I wish for a grandson or two from a magnificent warrior like de Wolfe,” he said. “I will ride into battle for you and I will help Gaetan, but I want something in return. I want you to give Gaetan permission; nay, I wish for you to command him to marry Lygia and give her many sons. If you truly love him, then no price will be too high to save his life. If you would like for me to help you save him, then this is my price.”
That wasn’t what Ghislaine had been expected. She felt as if she’d been hit in the gut, unable to breathe, unable to think. But his words settled deep and she yanked herself from his grip, hardly believing what she was hearing. It was the most horrific proposal she had ever heard in her life.
“You… you want Gaetan to…?” She couldn’t even finish.
Antillius could see her revulsion, her horror, and it infuriated him. “Do you think this is a simple thing for me to ask?” he said. “That I am willing to prostitute my own daughters must speak to you of my desperation that my people should continue. Even now, old men die and new men are not born. It is rare that male children, or any children, are born these days. As a reward to Gaetan and his men for defending us against the Homines Ossium last night, I offered them all three of my daughters in marriage. Before you judge me, understand how difficult that was for me to do. But a desperate man will do desperate things.”
Ghislaine stood there, looking at him with her eyes swimming in tears. Antillius had ceased to become their benevolent host and had now become something vile and wicked. She couldn’t understand a man who would propose such a terrible bargain, something so dastardly and ignoble.
“How can you ask me to do that?” she hissed.
“If you love him, you will do what is necessary to save him. Do you wish for a dead betrothed or a living man though he may be married to someone else?”
“But what you are asking is pure madness! Are you truly so cruel?”
“You asked me to name my price, my lady. It is your choice whether or not to pay it.”
“I will not!”
“Then de Wolfe will die.”
She blinked, tears running down her face, but inside she was filled with rage. He was asking her to make a decision that would change the course of her life. Her jaw began to tick, so enraged that she was grinding her teeth.
“He saved you from those horrible raiders last night,” she said tightly. “You owe him a debt!”
“And I saved you from bleeding to death. What he did last night was to repay that debt and now we are even. If you want something from me, Ghislaine of Mercia, then I want something from you. Look at you; you are injured and weak. Even if you rode to aid him, alone, you would be of little use with that bad leg. But I can offer you as many men as Alary carries to support Gaetan. He will have a far better chance of survival.”
Ghislaine was struggling not to break down because she was coming to realize that she may not have a choice in all of this. If she wanted help for Gaetan, then she would have to sacrifice him in order to save him.
Oh, God, is it true? Must I do this?
“But why Gaetan?” she asked, her lower lip trembling. “Why not one of the other men?”
“Because you do not hold sway over the other men. If you ask Gaetan to marry Lygia, then he will.”
“But it is not fair. What you ask is not fair.”
“Time is passing, my lady. The more we discuss this, the closer Gaetan and his men come to death.”
He was right. God help her, he was right. It was the first time in her life that Ghislaine had ever had to make such a choice. She had to think about Gaetan and not herself. She wanted him to survive and, in that want, she was willing to do anything. Even sacrifice her future happiness. No thoughts of her future love or future children. There would be none now. Gaetan would be married to Lygia and give her his sons. Yet, Ghislaine would remain empty. Hollow.
But Gaetan would be alive.
The decision was made.
“If that is your price, then I have little choice but to agree,” she said, hating herself even as she said it. “But know that I hate you with every bone in my body for demanding such a thing. You are a wicked, wicked man.”
Antillius felt as if he’d just won some great victory but in that victory was great sadness. Contrary to what the lady said, he wasn’t wicked by nature, but he was determined to save his people any way he could. Perhaps in time, the lady would understand that. Perhaps not. In any case, he knew he’d made another enemy of the great Saxon family but there was nothing he could do about it. He had what he wanted.
And so did she.
“Come with me and we shall find you a suitable horse.”
Ghislaine went with him, wiping tears all the way.