CHAPTER FIVE
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War Dog
“Where is your little protector?” Alary asked in Kristoph’s language. “She has been so determined to shield you from the rest of us that surely she would not leave your side. Where has she gone, Norman?”
It was daybreak on the day after the battle to end all battles and Kristoph wasn’t in the mood for this line of questioning. On top of the initial injuries he’d had from being knocked off his horse, now he had the pleasure of damaged organs from the kicking he’d taken, a swollen face, probably a broken nose, and loose teeth. There was coagulated blood all in his mouth and down his throat, making swallowing difficult. His head was killing him and he couldn’t see out of one eye because the swelling was so bad. Therefore, the questions being posted to him were not welcome.
“I would not know,” he said through his swollen lips. “I have not exactly been alert as of late.”
Alary was crouched beside the fallen knight. He could see how badly the man was injured but he had no sympathy. He grunted.
“None of my men have seen her, either,” he said. “What did she say to you when she left you? My men said she whispered something to you before she disappeared.”
Kristoph lay there with his eyes closed for a moment before, slowly, opening his eyes as Alary’s question registered. “The last I spoke with her was last night sometime,” he said. “At least, that is the last I recall.”
Alary didn’t doubt the man. The knight had been beaten into unconsciousness last evening and was only now, at daybreak, becoming lucid again. Still, he was hoping to find a clue as to his sister’s whereabouts.
“No one can find her,” he said. “But knowing my sister, she is probably lingering around the edges of the Norman encampment, picking off Normans with her bow. She is quite good with it.”
Kristoph’s eyes remained open for a moment longer before closing; it was too exhausting to keep them open. “It seems to me that she is a seasoned fighter.”
Alary thought on his strong-willed obnoxious youngest sister. “She does as she wishes and no one has stopped her,” he said frankly. “I have two sisters, one of whom is the widow of Harold. Did you know that? The king you killed was my sister’s husband.”
Kristoph didn’t know that and he surely didn’t care. “Many husbands are killed in battle,” he muttered. “It is the way of things.”
Alary’s eyes narrowed. “It is the way of Norman conquest,” he said. “These are not your lands. You should not have come here.”
“Your sister said much the same thing.”
“For once, she was correct.”
“Much as you have followed your king, I too was simply following orders.”
Alary snorted. “I follow no orders.”
“Then why are you here?”
Alary cocked his head. “An excellent question. I suppose the answer is because I deserved something from all of this. Edwin, my brother, is not here, nor is Morcar, my other brother. They did not come south with Harold, but I did. I wanted something for that loyalty.”
“Like what?”
“The Earldom of Wessex, mayhap. I would even take Sussex.”
“But you were not given anything for your show of loyalty?”
Alary sighed heavily, shaking his head. “You and your Normans killed Harold before that could come about.”
“Were it in my power, I would give you what you wanted. I can give you lands in Brittany if you release me. I will give them to you without hesitation.”
Alary looked at him. “Rich lands?”
“Very.”
“Are you titled, then?”
“My father is,” Kristoph said, hearing a sprout of interest in Alary’s voice. “He is the Count of Rennes. He would give you much for my return.”
Alary considered that, but only for a moment. “I do not wish to live in France,” he said. “I was born in England. This is where I will stay.”
Kristoph’s heart sunk. “Then what do you want to release me?”
Alary leaned over him, getting a good look at that swollen face. “You do not seem to understand that I do not want anything at the moment. I am far more interested in your value to me as a Norman.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that through you, I shall know what the Duke of Normandy has planned and I shall use that to my advantage. Where Harold could not defeat your army, mayhap I shall.”
Kristoph was feeling sick, disillusioned. He was also quite hungry and thirsty. “If you give me something to drink, I shall tell you what I know, but I warn you that it will not be very much. I am not privy to Normandy’s plans.”
Something in Alary’s expression suggested he didn’t believe the man one bit. “I would suggest you reconsider that statement,” he said. Then, he glanced up at the sky, which was beginning to lighten as the sun began to rise. “A new day is upon us, kriegshund. It is time to return to my home in the north. We shall become good friends, you and I. And you will tell me all you know.”
Kristoph didn’t say anything more after that. He could hear Alary moving around, calling out to his men and telling them to gather their possessions and horses in preparation for returning home. It was exactly what Kristoph didn’t want to hear. He knew the Normans were only a few miles to the west and if Alary took him away, then the gap would grow and no one would ever find him. They would have no idea where he had gone.
As he lay there listening to the Saxon soldiers gather, visions of his wife filled his head as Gaetan told her that she had become a widow. He thought of his daughter, who would be without a father. There was nothing more he wanted out of life than to return home to his wife and child. Panic set in. He couldn’t leave; he wouldn’t leave. He had to get back to Gaetan.
He wanted to go home.
As wounded as he was, he still managed to roll onto his belly and push himself up onto his hands and knees. Then he tried to stand, but his body was so battered that it made it very difficult. But he ignored the pain, the swimming head; all he could think of was running all the way back to the Norman encampment. He simply had to get there. But just as he lurched to his feet, someone hit him across the back of the head again and he went down like a stone.
Before he blacked out completely, he thought he saw Alary standing over him, laughing.
He was in the grip of the Devil.
Merciful darkness enveloped him.