Magnus’s eyes narrowed. “I’m going tae stick my talons in ye, Galan.”
Galan laughed loudly, tossing a gladius to Lor as he came near the man. “You can try,” he said. Then he looked at Bane. “Get over there with your teammate, Defender. You’re not welcome on this side of the arena at the moment.”
Grinning, Bane took his gladius and his wooden shield and headed over to Magnus, who was clearly disturbed by the change in game plan.
“Damnation,” Magnus muttered. “It seems that I willna have the chance tae kick ye in the head again.”
Bane smirked. “Ye never had the chance tae begin with,” he said. “I know yer tricks. And so do Lor and Galan. They’ll be expecting it from ye, but they willna be expecting it from me.”
Magnus looked at him, surprised. “Ye think ye can get that big body of yers up in the air tae take someone’s head off? I would sincerely like tae see that.”
“If ye dunna start acting like ye’re on my side, we are going tae lose this battle.”
Magnus shrugged. “I’m on yer side,” he said. “But ye’d better let me do the kicking. I’ll take Galan. I never did like that Sassenach. Can ye take down Lor?”
“I can try.”
“Ye dunna sound confident.”
“Then ye take Lor and I’ll take Galan.”
Magnus shook his head. “I’ll keep Galan,” he said. “With Lor, it’s a matter of catching the man off guard. They dunna call him the Lion of the Highlands for nothing.”
Bane had heard that nickname for Lor when he’d first come to the Ludus Caledonia last year. It suited the big blond warrior who was quiet and efficient until he had a reason to roar. Then he was unstoppable.
“As I said, I’ll try,” he said after a moment. “If I take him down first, I’ll help ye with Galan.”
Magnus frowned. “What makes ye think I’ll not take that bloody Sassenach down first?”
“Care tae wager?”
“Gladly. Six silver marks.”
“Afraid, are ye?”
Magnus’s eyes opened wide at the challenge. “Ten marks, ye foolish man.”
Bane chuckled. “Ye’re not a very good team player.”
Magnus huffed at him, grabbing his gladius and shield, preparing to take the field. He and Bane were just starting to move forward when Axel and Clegg appeared on the arena floor, followed by some of the other doctores that trained other groups of warriors.
Luther was there, followed by trainers Milo Linton and Wendell Stanhope. Both Milo and Wendell were fixtures at the Ludus Caledonia, training the more advanced warriors. When Bane and Magnus saw the group turning out, they came to a halt.
“This is an event,” Clegg said, grinning at Bane and Magnus, and Lor and Galan. He waved the men closer to him. “I saw this coming about from my viewing box above, and I highly encourage this type of combat, but remember that the men you are training are watching you. If you fail miserably, you will lose their respect. Do you understand that?”
All four men nodded and Clegg continued. “Therefore, no dirty fighting,” he said. “Magnus, I am speaking to you. Once a man has fallen, he is out of the fight. This will go to the last man standing, so make it good and try not to dismember each other. Remember our motto—in men, there is honor. Be honorable. And there is something more to consider.”
As Clegg delved into how this should be a lesson to the other men on technique in battle, Lucia and Isabail were watching from high in the lists. They spent most of their mornings together these days, cleaning, washing, talking, and sewing while Isabail chased around her toddler son, Niko.
Lucia didn’t do much chasing, but she did watch everything Isabail did, for in three months she would have her own son to consider. Rosy and round with pregnancy, she felt marvelous most of the time, and even Bane had a hard time keeping up with her energy. But it was a wonderful time in their lives, and they’d spent the past three months happy and content at the Ludus Caledonia.
It really was like a family, with Lor and Isabail and Niko, and everyone else who had made such an impact on their lives. It was an exceptionally close group. Even now, Lucia and Isabail sat together with Niko between them, watching with interest the happenings in the arena.
“So they’re truly going tae fight one another?” Lucia asked.
Isabail nodded, holding on to Niko as he tried to climb down to the next row of seats. “Aye,” she said. “’Tis good practice for them and their men get to see examples of how tae fight in the arena.”
Lucia leaned back, rubbing her gently swollen belly. “Have ye seen them fight each other before?”
“A few times. They dunna do it too often. I think they’re doing it this time because Magnus challenged Bane.”
Lucia grinned. “Bane loves Magnus, but sometimes he wants tae pluck the Eagle’s feathers. That’s what he’s told me.”
Isabail started to laugh. “Magnus need it,” she said. “He hasna been at the Cal long, but long enough take make himself an important and annoying figure around here. And he knows it.”
Lucia thought back to the days when she first saw the Eagle. “I remember when he first came,” she said. “He’s quite handsome. I know that Lady Currie thought so, but her focus was on Bane. A time I’d rather forget. At least, some aspects of it.”
Isabail glanced at her as she wrestled with her son. “Lor says Lady Currie hasna returned since she purchased Bane last year. Have ye seen her since?”
Lucia shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “But Laird Currie has been here a few times. I’ve seen him, and he and Bane have become close. Bane said that Clegg is glad to see his old friend out and about again.”
“But what happened tae Lady Currie?”
Lucia’s gaze was on her husband in the distance. “Laird Currie sent her back tae her father, or so Bane tells me,” she said. “He said that she was living in a wine barrel, drunk from morning tae night, so Laird Currie sent her back tae her father with only what she came with when she married him. He’s cut her off from his money completely. Bane says her father is a tyrant and has locked her in the vault, but who knows if that is really true. She’s gone and that’s all that matters.”
“I’m sure it’s a relief tae ye.”
“More than ye know, lass.”
Down below, the fight abruptly commenced, cleaving any further conversation. Lor and Galan were caught off guard by a ferocious attack from Bane and Magnus, and Lucia ended up on her feet, cheering loudly for her husband as he went after Lor with a vengeance.
Beside her, Isabail was also on her feet, holding Niko on her hip and explaining to the lad that his father was fighting a terrible man. Lucia heard the comment, laughing softly, but it didn’t dampen her excitement for the fight.
Bane was quite a warrior.
But so were Lor, Galan, and Magnus. Lor regained his equilibrium and countered Bane’s powerful tactics, and the fight continued all over the arena floor. The gladius pounded on the wooden shield, one after the other, the sounds of heavy blows reverberating off the stone lists.
Even the novicius were getting into the mood and they, too, began to cheer their doctores. At one point, however, Magnus got too close to Galan and managed to get his feet up, kicking Galan in the head.
Down he went.
Unfortunately for Magnus, that caused both Lor and Bane to turn on him, and he soon found himself fending off two powerful warriors. Magnus was an excellent fighter, and a professional one, but Bane moved in behind him and Lor attacked from the front, and it was Bane who ended up tripping him.
Magnus went down to the roar of the crowd.
Even Lor cheered, standing over Magnus and telling him just what he thought of his brutal tactics, but it gave Bane the ability to approach Lor from behind because he was distracted with Magnus.
Down Lor went.
With th
ree men down, Bane was the winner. He threw up his arms as he approached the lists, encouraging everyone there to cheer for their champion. He was laughing as he did it, arrogantly soaking up the adoration as his wife screamed and whistled wildly for him. He pointed to her, acknowledging her cheers, as both Lucia and Isabail laughed uproariously about it.
They laughed even harder when Lor and Magnus came up behind him, lifting him into the air and tossing him onto the dirt. By then, it became a dog pile as Clegg and Axel stepped in to stop it before someone was unintentionally injured.
The great fight between the doctores and Magnus had come to a satisfying conclusion.
Galan was helped out of the arena by Luther and Milo, while the novicius came down out of the lists and gathered in a big group. Axel discussed the bout they’d just witnessed and asked the men what they had learned from it.
Lucia and Isabail had come down to the edge of the arena, watching and listening. Lucia couldn’t help but reflect on the times she had sat at the edges of the arena, watching the bouts between half-naked men as Lady Currie drooled. It was something she had hated, and a place she had hated, but now…
Now she loved everything about it.
The Ludus Caledonia had become her home.
But the afternoon was beginning to wane, and soon the arena would need to be prepared for the coming fights that evening. When Axel was finished with his teaching moment, Bane and Lor broke up the group of novicius and sent them back to their cottages. When the men dispersed, Bane and Lor headed for their wives.
Niko screamed when he saw his father, running to Lor, who picked him up and tossed him in the air, listening to him shriek in delight. As Lor and Isabail headed off, Bane went to Lucia, hugging her gently and putting his hand on her rounded belly.
“How is Mattox?” he asked.
She laughed softly. “So today it is Mattox?” she said. “Yesterday, it was Alex.”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“Ye’ve changed yer mind a hundred times.”
Bane turned her for the arena exit. “Naming my son is very important,” he insisted. “It must be the right name.”
“Alex was a nice name.”
He shook his head. “Too common,” he said. “He must have something unique and unusual, like my name.”
“Where did ye get yer name, anyway?”
“It was my mother’s family name. In my family, the men are usually named after the mother’s family. My father was named for his mother’s family.”
They began to mount the steps that would take them out of the arena. “My mother’s family name was Hayes,” Lucia said. “I like the name Hayes Morgan.”
Bane cocked his head. “Nice enough,” he said. “I shall consider it.”
“Do I not get a say in this?”
“Ye can name the lasses. I’ll name the lads.”
She twisted her lips unhappily. “Is that so?”
“’Tis.”
She broke into a grin, shaking her head at her stubborn husband as they came to the top of the arena and began heading for their small cottage that was located near Caelian Hill. It was a bigger cottage, with three rooms, and it stood alongside Lor and Isabail’s larger cottage.
With their family growing, Clegg had moved them away from the rank and file of the warrior village, which Bane appreciated. It was one kind gesture in a long line of kind gestures that Clegg had made for them since they had discovered Lucia’s pregnancy. The only caveat Clegg demanded was that he be named the child’s godfather, to which they had readily agreed.
The sun was sinking low in the sky as they neared Caelian Hill, but as they did so, Lucia suddenly came to a halt. When Bane looked at her curiously, she pointed toward Caelian Hill.
Laird Currie’s carriage was parked alongside the curtain wall.
Interested at the appearance of the old lord, they shifted course and headed toward the carriage. The door to the cab suddenly popped open and Laird Currie emerged, moving with more vigor than either Lucia or Bane had ever seen. When Laird Currie saw Bane, he waved a hand at him.
“Bane!”
His voice was surprisingly robust, and Bane left Lucia to jog toward the old man.
“M’laird,” he greeted pleasantly. “’Tis good tae see ye. I dinna know ye were coming tonight.”
Laird Currie took Bane’s hand warmly. Truthfully, the old man looked marvelously well. There was color in his cheeks that hadn’t been there before, and he’d gained weight. He no longer looked like a frail old man, but a healthy specimen for a man his age.
“I know,” Laird Currie said. “’Twas a sudden decision, but I’ve come early because I wanted tae see ye. Clegg said ye’d be coming out of the arena soon, so I waited for ye.”
“Oh?” Bane said. “Why did ye not come tae the arena? Ye would have seen a good fight.”
The old man shook his head. “I dinna come tae see the fights,” he said. “I came tae see ye. I’ve brought ye something.”
Bane looked at him curiously. “What’s that?”
Laird Currie continued to hold Bane’s hand. “First, I must say something,” he said. “I’m glad for the life ye’ve found here for ye and Lucia. Colm would be very happy tae know how well ye’ve taken care of his daughter. Even though ye both ended up at a place like the Ludus Caledonia, I’ve never seen her happier.”
By this time Lucia had walked up, smiling when she heard Laird Currie’s last few words. “Thank ye, m’laird,” she said. “I’ve never been happier.”
“Good,” Laird Currie said. “Now that I’ve got ye both here, I’ll say what I came tae say. Bane, ye’ve asked me about Tynan a few times, and I’ve told ye that the lad was well.”
Bane’s warm expression vanished. “God,” he hissed. “Dunna tell me that has changed. Nothing has happened tae him, has it?”
Laird Currie quickly shook his head. “Nay, lad, he’s well. But Tynan told me something once, something ye promised him. He said ye’d teach him how tae fight when he got older. Did ye mean it?”
Bane nodded. “Of course I did. With all my heart.”
Laird Currie smiled as he let go of Bane’s hand and turned for his carriage. “I want ye tae teach him, too,” he said. “He’s a smart lad. If he stays at Meadowbank, the best he can hope tae be is my majordomo. Or mayhap he’ll be in charge of the stables. He’s a good lad and he deserves more opportunity than I can give him. Amy has given her permission, so I came tae ask him if ye’ll take him now. He wants tae come with ye, Bane. Will ye take him with ye and give him the opportunities that I canna?”
With that, he opened the door and Tynan spilled out, falling to his knees because he’d been leaning against the door, listening. But the moment he saw Bane, he bolted to his feet and ran at the man, who took him in his arms and held him tightly.
“Bane!” Tynan wept. “Bane, can I stay with ye? Please?”
Bane hugged the lad before gently setting him to his feet. Bane looked him over, seeing that he’d grown taller and fatter since he’d last seen him. But the straw-like hair was still the same; that just made him laugh.
“My, my, lad,” he said, putting his hand on the boy’s head. “Ye’ve grown up behind my back. Look how big ye are.”
Tynan smiled hugely, displaying two front missing teeth. “I serve Laird Currie now,” he said. “Me and my mam. And I play chess!”
“Is that so?” Bane said, stroking his chin as if impressed. “Then ye can teach me.”
“I will if ye teach me tae fight!”
Everything about Tynan was enthusiastic and happy. Bane couldn’t get over how healthy the boy appeared. Like Laird Currie, the boy had blossomed without the weight of an unhappy household hanging over him. That was clear with both of them.
Bane looked at Laird Currie.
“And his mother approves?” he asked. “The l
ad would have tae remain here with me, ye know. He couldna go home frequently tae see her.”
Laird Currie nodded. “But I can bring her here when I come,” he said. “She can visit him then. I have a confession, Bane… Amy and I… Well, she’s the woman I should have married. I dunna know why I never considered her, but I should have. She’s meant the world tae me.”
Bane smiled at Laird Currie admitting his affections for a servant, but the man’s healthy appearance was now coming to make some sense. Finally, he had someone who genuinely cared for him and it showed.
“I hope she’s a good companion tae ye, m’laird,” he said, returning his focus to Tynan. “As for the lad… If it’s agreeable tae my wife, I’m happy tae keep him here and train him.”
Lucia opened her arms to Tynan, who immediately hugged her tightly. “Of course I’m agreeable,” she said. “Tynan and I are old friends. He’s most welcome.”
Bane put his arm around her shoulders as she held Tynan. “Even with our own bairn on the way?”
“Think of what a wonderful older brother Tynan will be tae Mattox.”
“Or Henry.”
“Another change?”
Bane simply laughed, but the situation with Tynan was settled. Laird Currie watched the exchange, knowing he’d made the right decision and happy for it. As Lucia bent over and picked up the boy who was very nearly as tall as she was, Laird Currie reached out to Bane.
“I will admit something to ye,” he said. “I’ve been coming tae the Cal since ye left Meadowbank, hoping ye’d return someday. When ye did, I wanted tae make sure ye were happy and settled before I brought up the subject of Tynan. I know he’s too young tae train now, but a place like this will give him a better life than I can give him. He’ll learn tae fight, and he’ll learn the ways of men. And he’ll learn it all from ye. I canna imagine a better teacher.”
“Nor I,” Lucia said, squeezing Tynan tightly. “Bane has found a new life here, as have I. I thank ye for that, Laird Currie. Without ye…we wouldna know such happiness. We owe ye everything.”
Highland Defender Page 26
