Return of the Warrior

by Kinley MacGregor

  Christian shook his head at them before he remounted.

  “Follow me, m’lord,” the boy said as he headed due north toward the castle on the hill.

  Just as Samson had said, there was a massive encampment of multicolored tents between the town and the castle. Lutian gaped at Adara as they saw the large number.

  “How many camp here?” Adara asked Vaden.

  “My Lord Ioan leads one hundred and twenty-six knights, my lady. Then we have some three score archers and servants and squires for them all.”

  Adara was shocked by the size of the army. “And they are all mercenaries?”

  “Aye, my lady.”

  “Ioan never does anything in a small way,” Phantom said from behind her.

  Apparently not. She’d never heard of a single man leading a free company of this size.

  The boy led them to a large red-and-white-striped tent that was in the midst of the others. As they dismounted, Adara noted that Christian was slower to move than he’d been earlier.

  “Are you all right, Christian?” she asked, concerned that he might have hurt himself.

  “Aye.”

  But she didn’t believe it. He moved too carefully and slowly. It was obvious to her that he was in pain.

  Christian handed the boy a handful of coin and thanked him, then led their small group into the tent.

  Inside, the tent was sectioned off by cloth walls. In the main area where they entered, there was a table with four chairs and an arming stand that held the knight’s chain mail, helm, and sword.

  “Ioan?” Christian called.

  No one answered.

  As they turned to leave, they were confronted by what appeared to be a young archer who was surely no older than the boy who had led them here. Several inches shorter than Adara, he was gangly and thin, with raven-black hair and brown eyes that watched them warily.

  He held his bow at the ready with an arrow already nocked. “Who are you and what business have you with Lord Ioan?” he asked in a gruff, low tone.

  “We are old friends,” Christian said calmly.

  Phantom moved toward him.

  The archer turned quickly and let fly the arrow. Phantom caught it midflight, but before he could take another step, the archer swung the bow and caught him upside his head with it.

  Phantom staggered back from the force of the blow.

  The archer struck again and knocked him to the ground.

  Christian moved toward them.

  Before Adara could blink, the archer had another arrow nocked and ready to fly into Christian’s chest.

  “Corryn, cease!” The Welsh-accented voice rang through the room like thunder.

  Adara looked at the entrance to see a tall, well-muscled man there who bore a striking resemblance to the archer. His wavy black hair fell to his shoulders and a full beard covered his cheeks. He looked wild and untamed as he put himself between the archer and Christian.

  “What has gotten into your head, Spider?” he asked the archer in his thick, rolling accent.

  “They came here looking for you,” the archer said brashly, as if the larger man’s anger didn’t concern him at all. He finally unnocked the arrow. “After the message from Stryder saying there were assassins out to kill you, I thought I was protecting you, brawd.”

  The man she assumed must be Ioan made a disgusted noise at him. “God save me from your protection. Did it never occur to you that an assassin wouldn’t bother to come into my tent and announce himself?”

  He said something in a language Adara didn’t understand, but by Corryn’s reaction, it must have been a curse or reprimand of some kind. “Now apologize. You almost took the head off the Abbot, and it’s the Phantom who you’ve knocked to the ground.”

  The archer’s face went pale at that.

  Ioan stepped away from the boy to offer his hand to Phantom, who took it. He helped him back up to his feet. “You’ll have to forgive my brother, Phantom. He’s a damned fool.”

  “Are you the Abbot?” Corryn asked Christian.

  “Aye.”

  The boy’s lips quivered before he threw himself into Christian’s arms. “May the saints guard your blessed soul throughout all eternity!”

  Christian looked awkward as he frowned at Ioan. “Brother?”

  Ioan’s gaze turned dark, dangerous as he pulled Corryn back.

  Still Corryn stared at Christian with hero worship. “Thank you, Abbot, for bringing my brother back to me.”

  “Get out of here, scamp,” Ioan said gruffly, “before I skin you.”

  Corryn curled his lip at Ioan. “I spoke too soon, Abbott. Curses to you, that you brought his surly hide home. Methinks you should have left him there to rot.” He turned to Phantom. “My apologies to you, sir. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

  Phantom shook the boy’s arm. “I admire anyone who can get the better of me. It doesn’t happen often.”

  “Corryn!”

  “I’m leaving,” he snapped. “To the devil with your hoary hide.”

  Scowling, Christian watched the boy leave.

  As soon as they were alone, Ioan’s face softened. “To what do I owe this pleasure, Christian?”

  “We are in need of an army.”

  “Done,” Ioan said without hesitation. “My men are yours.”

  “We’ll have to go back through the Holy Land,” Phantom said.

  “That bothers me not.”

  It was Adara’s turn to frown at the man’s blasé acceptance of their mission. “Don’t you want to know why we need your army?”

  Ioan shrugged. “I assume it is to fight.”

  “Aye,” she said slowly, “but don’t you want to know why you’re fighting?”

  “I am fighting because Brother Christian needs me.”

  Lutian scratched his cheek. “Methinks our new ally is even more simple than I am, my queen.”

  “Queen?” Ioan asked with a frown as he looked at her with new interest.

  “Aye,” Christian said. “I have sworn to return her to her throne.”

  Ioan nodded. “Consider it done. I’ll need a day to ready my men, then we can march to wherever it is that you need us.”

  “How much will your army cost me?” Adara asked.

  Ioan appeared highly offended by her question. “I would not be here today if not for Christian, my lady. This army would not exist. A man needs no coin to help out his brother.” He headed for the entrance. “Tobias!”

  A few seconds later, a young man entered the tent. “My lord?”

  “Have four tents set up for my friends for the night.”

  “Aye, my lord.” The young man dashed out to do his bidding.

  Adara waited for Christian to correct Ioan on the number of tents they would need, since as his wife she assumed they would share a tent.

  When he didn’t she felt a small pain in her chest. Especially as she realized that he had yet to tell the Welshman that they were married.

  So be it. If he didn’t want her, she would start her search for a new king here. After all, she was in a camp surrounded by strong men who would most likely jump at the chance to marry a queen and share a throne.

  “You are a good man, Ioan,” she said to him. “By all appearances, a fine and capable leader as well. A queen could do well with a man such as you by her side.”

  Christian’s ears perked up at her words. Even though his body was throbbing from pain, he didn’t miss the look of heat that came into Ioan’s eyes, or the speculative gleam in Adara’s.

  It made his vision dim.

  Ioan gave her a hot, seductive smile. “I appreciate your compliment, Majesty. While we await your quarters being prepared, would you like to have something to eat?”

  His wife all but preened under the Welshman’s look. “Aye, my lord. We are truly famished and your kindness would be most appreciated.”

  Christian’s sight dimmed even more as he watched her coy smile. She even batted her eyelashes.

  This was mor
e than he could stand.

  “Abbot?” Phantom asked. “Are you all right?”

  “I am fine,” he said from between clenched teeth.

  Phantom scoffed. “Whatever you say.”

  “He looks ill to me,” Lutian said. “Rather green and red. Can’t tell if he’s angry or vomitous.”

  Christian slanted a look at the fool that had him retreating.

  Adara felt a modicum of satisfaction at her husband’s ill humor until she saw the reddish stain that was barely discernible through the black cloth of his robe.

  “You’re bleeding,” she said sternly, moving to stand beside him.

  Christian tried to brush her off, but she would have none of it.

  Her anger flared. “Cease with your stubbornness, Christian. Your wounds need to be tended.”

  He glared at her.

  She glared back.

  Ioan whistled low. “Phantom, who is the queen, that Christian would tolerate her thusly?”

  Phantom folded his arms over his chest as he watched them. “His wife.”

  “Only until our marriage is annulled,” Christian snapped.

  Adara put her hands on her hips as she continued to glower at him. “Well, if you stand there until you bleed to death, we won’t need an annulment, now, will we?”

  Phantom sucked his breath between his teeth. “The queen has gotten a bit snippy, eh?”

  Christian looked to Ioan. “Have you a healer in your company?”

  Ioan snorted at that as he looked back and forth from Christian to Adara. “Heed my words well, Abbot, no man who possesses his full sense will ever come between a woman and her husband.”

  He pulled back a corner of the fabric that formed one wall, revealing the sleeping area of the tent, where a large, ornately carved bed was placed. “You may tend him here, my lady. I shall have fresh linens and herbs brought for you.”

  Adara was relieved that at least one of the men was cooperative. “Thank you, Ioan.”

  War was clearly etched on her husband’s handsome face. But then, it also raged in her own heart. If he wanted a battle, she was more than ready to give him one.

  “Pull off your armor, Christian, or else.”

  “Or else what?”

  “I’ll pull it off for you,” Ioan said for her.

  Christian stiffened. “You wouldn’t…then again, you would.”

  “Aye, and you’d best be remembering that.” In spite of his dire tone, Ioan winked at him.

  Christian was ready to beat them all, but knew better than to try and take on Adara, Phantom, and Ioan at once. His fury snapping, he stalked toward the bed and removed his monk’s robe.

  The next thing he knew, Adara was there, unlacing his mail hauberk while the others dispersed from the tent and left them alone.

  “You know, Christian,” she said after she was assured the others couldn’t hear her, “I don’t understand you. You don’t want me and yet you get angry anytime another man looks at me.”

  He could feel the muscle working in his jaw as she loosened his armor, then helped him pull it up over his head. For once he welcomed the absence of its weight. In truth, it had chafed his injuries all day.

  The armor slinked to the ground.

  Still, his wife gave him no reprieve. “I think you need to decide what it is you want of me, my lord. If you do not want me, then you need to come to terms with that and stop glowering at me whenever I speak to other men about being king in your stead.”

  He whipped at the laces of his quilted aketon. “Is that really what you want, Adara? A cold marriage that serves no purpose other than to provide you with a strong sword to protect your people and to give you a child for your crown? Do you not crave someone who cares for more than your money and titles?”

  She was aghast. “Is this argument not backwards? Is the woman not supposed to be the one who decries the loss of love? I am a queen, Christian. My first marriage is to my people and they are my priority.”

  “Marriage? It sounds more to me as if you’re willing to whore yourself for them.”

  She hissed at him. “Caution, Christian. I am a woman of infinite patience, but you are sorely testing the limits of infinity.”

  He was being unreasonable, he knew it. He just didn’t understand why.

  And then it dawned on him. His anger at her wasn’t for the fact that she wanted another man. It was that she wanted any man, and not him alone. He was nothing more to her than any other.

  “That is all I am to you, isn’t it? I could be any man and you would tend my wounds and strip your clothes off for me. I am a duty to you. A burden you have to tolerate.”

  “Nay, I—”

  “Don’t deny it,” he snarled. “You already told me it was so. When I asked you if I chose a man to be king whom you would revile, you told me you wouldn’t. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter to you what a man is or what he looks like. So long as he does his duty, you will do yours.”

  “What is so wrong with doing your duty?”

  Everything, when it involved intimacies. He had no use for a bride who wanted nothing more than a warm body in her bed and on her throne. He wasn’t a dog to be ordered about or a fool to do her bidding, or anyone else’s.

  “Leave me,” he snarled.

  Adara tried to understand his anger, but for her life she couldn’t. “You need someone to tend—”

  “Then send me a leech. ’Tis his duty to tend me.”

  “Fine,” she snapped at him, losing her own patience. She turned and left, then drew up short as soon as she saw Ioan, Phantom, and Lutian on the other side of the fabric wall. They must have returned.

  Lifting her chin high, she refused to show them her dismay. “Christian wishes a physician.”

  “So we heard,” Ioan said.

  She felt the heat creep over her face.

  “Archer!” Ioan bellowed out the entrance of the tent.

  Almost instantly, Corryn appeared. “What?” he snapped angrily.

  “Fetch a leech for the Abbot and take the queen and her man to your tent to wait for food to be brought to them.”

  His brother bristled under his stern command. “I am not your servant, nor am I a child to be ordered about.”

  “Go.”

  Corryn made a face at him. With a look of resignation, he turned toward Adara. “Come, Majesty.”

  Her pride bruised, Adara gratefully left the tent, with Lutian following closely behind her.

  Christian gingerly pulled his aketon over his head as his body protested the movement. He sensed someone behind him. Turning, he saw Phantom and Ioan watching him.

  Ioan looked disgusted. “Tell me, Phantom, what kind of man turns aside a bride like that one?”

  “A raging imbecile, surely.”

  Christian dropped the aketon to the floor. “Be warned, I’m in no mood at present to deal with either one of you.”

  Still, Ioan gave him no reprieve. “So your bride wishes nothing more than your arm and your prick, Abbot. Most men I know would be throwing themselves down for such a blessing.”

  “Yourself included, no doubt.”

  “No doubt. A throne and a beauty in your bed. Are you completely mad, to turn that aside?”

  Christian clenched his teeth at Ioan’s condescending tone. “I’ve had beauty in my bed before, as have you. And like me, you have coin and land aplenty to provide for said beauty. Why, then, have you never married, Ioan?”

  Ioan shrugged. “Women need a home to live in to feel safe. A traveling band of soldiers is no place for one.”

  Phantom frowned. “Then why do you travel with your sister?”

  “What say you?” Ioan asked in sudden anger.

  Phantom indicated the entrance of the tent with his thumb. “Corryn. ’Tis obvious she is no man or boy as you claim.”

  Christian concurred. “I noticed the same myself.”

  Ioan’s gaze turned deadly. “You tell anyone that she is a woman and I shall kill you both, Brotherhood o
r not.”

  “Why are you passing her off as a man?” Christian asked.

  Deep sadness darkened his eyes. It was obviously a sore subject for him. “I wasn’t here when our father died. We were still captives then. Corryn was cast out and forced to find her own way. She disguised herself as a boy so that she could find legitimate work and live until I came home.”

  “And after?” Christian asked.

  “As I said, a woman has no place in this life I have chosen. I tried to leave her behind in Wales with servants and coin, but she refused. She donned her boy’s garb and followed me. I am all she has in this world and I will kill any man who touches her.”

  Phantom frowned. “So your men know she’s a woman?”

  “Nay. I won’t chance that temptation. I travel with a rough troop of men.”

  “Then they must be blind as well as stupid,” Phantom said with a laugh. “No boy has hips shaped as hers. Nor a mouth so tempting.”

  Ioan turned on him with a growl.

  Phantom smirked at him. “Calm yourself, Lladdwr, I would never trespass on your family.”

  “You’d best not.”

  “Excuse me, I need a few moments alone with Christian.” They looked up to find Lutian back in the tent.

  “Now,” the fool said in a forceful voice that surprised Christian. He hadn’t heard the fool be forceful before.

  To his further shock, Phantom pulled Ioan away and left the tent.

  Lutian waited until they were alone before he turned on him with his full anger. “You should be glad I’m not a warrior.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if I were, I would kill you.”

  Christian rubbed his aching head. He was in no mood for the man right now. “I’ve no time for this, fool. I hurt and—”

  “You hurt?” he asked in disbelief. “Good. It pleases me no end to know that. I just wish you hurt more.”

  Christian scowled at him. “What has gotten into you?”

  He curled his lip at Christian as he clenched and unclenched his fists. “You bastard. I wish I could give you the beating you deserve.”

  Christian was baffled by the change in the normally good-natured man. “Have you gone mad?”

  Lutian moved to stand before him. He had to tilt his head up so that he could meet his gaze. Even so, the fool didn’t back down or relent.