Taking a deep steadying breath, she tried to calm herself, only to yelp when a voice said, "Elena!" She was certain that she had been caught but quickly realized that it was Gareth who called her. She moved in a rush to the door of his cell but he stopped her. "The keys, Elena! The keys are on his belt!"
Elena leaned over the unconscious guard and groped for his keys. Her fingers finally felt the cold metal of a skeleton key and she pulled it free. There were three keys tied with a grimy strip of leather. The first key fit the lock in Gareth's cell door but refused to budge. The second opened the rusty bolt with a protesting screech. As soon as the lock clicked back, Gareth swung the door open and Elena ran into his arms. Their lips quickly met in a kiss filled with relief and passion.
Elena tore herself from their embrace to snatch up the grey woolen cloak. "Here. You must wear this so that we can get you out of the castle grounds."
Gareth needed no further prodding to hurry and he swung the cape around his shoulders as he followed Elena up the narrow stairs. When they reached the top, Elena gestured for him to wait while she peeked into the hallway to make sure no one was about. She heard men's voices and she quickly ducked back into the darkness, willing her heart not to pound so loudly. They were guardsmen! There was no doubt about it! She heard them complaining about their vigorous training schedule and, as their voices drew nearer, speculating if they would see any profit from the war with Henry Tudor. Elena turned to Gareth with questioning eyes. What would they do if they were caught here? Surely both their lives would be quickly forfeit.
The men passed by the dark staircase where she and Gareth were hiding and continued on down the hall, their voices growing fainter as they turned a corner. Hot relief flooded Elena's limbs. She felt Gareth push her forward and she quickly moved out into the empty passage. From the corner of her eye she saw him pull the hood up over his head as she led him through the maze of deserted halls until they reached the least used entrance to the main keep.
Once outside in the late afternoon sun, Gareth took the lead, pulling Elena after him as they darted to the stables. They paused behind the large stone and wood building.
"Gareth, what are you doing? You must get out of the castle grounds!"
"Not without Isrid. He's my only chance to reach Wales and Eyri Keep."
"No! You mustn't go there! That's the first place Richard will send men once he realizes you've escaped. This is what you must do." Elena quickly outlined her plan for him to meet up with her once she was outside Nottingham and escape to France. When she was done, she glanced around to make sure they had not been spotted. Turning back to Gareth, she was surprised and suddenly shy at the look on his face. "What?" she asked.
"Why do you want to go with me to France?"
Elena fidgeted. She was exceedingly uncomfortable with saying how she truly felt. Let her convince a man with flirting and coyness that she loved him--not like this, when she felt as if she were laying bare her very soul. Glancing around again only delayed the inevitable. She turned back to Gareth and forced herself to say it. "Because...because." She swallowed. "I love you," she blurted out.
Gareth's answer was to pull her as tightly to him as he could and crush her lips with a kiss that bespoke passion, acceptance, and longing. When the kiss finally ended, Elena was embarrassed and found herself unable to look Gareth squarely in the eye. Even when he tipped her chin up and softly called her name, she kept her eyes downcast. Only when he repeated the words he had first said two days ago did she look at him.
"I love you, Elena, and I would take you to the farthest ends of the known world if circumstances were different. But..." His voice was rough with emotion.
"But what?" Elena demanded. She was still a little unsettled at having spoken her true feelings.
"But I must return to Wales--"
"Why? That course is one of certain death!" she interrupted.
"No. I don't think Richard will waste the men it would take to follow me and I must reach Wales soon."
"Fine, then we will meet up and go together."
Gareth shook his head and traced the line of her cheek with a rough finger. "I can't take you, my love."
"Why not?" Elena demanded. This man made no sense at all. They finally declare their love for one another, she offers to give up a life of comfort and ease for him and he tells her no?
"I go to Wales to join Henry Tudor's troops as they gather."
Elena rolled her eyes and sighed. "Gareth! Not a fortnight ago you decided that the man had no claim to stand on and you wanted us to return to Richard immediately. Now you've changed your mind again?"
Gareth bowed his head and said contritely, "I must apologize to you, Elena."
"Why?" The day's events, combined with Gareth’s quixotic responses, were making her feel as if she were losing her mind.
"I never intended to fight with Richard. I only returned to learn what I could about his troop strength and his plans. I lied to you because I was afraid that you would betray our cause if you knew the truth."
Elena stared at him, her brow furrowing as what he said sank in. "In other words, you didn't trust me!"
"It wasn't a matter of trust--I just," Gareth pushed his hair out of his eyes and sighed. "You had no reason to care for Henry Tudor and I felt you would be safer if you simply didn't know what was going on, for there is every chance we will be defeated. I had to protect you and that was the only way I knew how."
"But if Richmond is victorious, I will be just another lady-in-waiting cast aside or if lucky, married off to appease some lord! Did that thought never cross your mind?" Elena's voice betrayed her rising hysteria and Gareth put his hands on her shoulders to calm her. Elena pushed his arms away and demanded a response.
"I did think of that possibility and I was hopeful that if I petitioned Henry, he would grant me your hand. For I do love you, Elena. I think I even loved you back when I hated you."
Elena refused to be appeased and was still furious for having been left out of Gareth's plans. "And what now? I am to travel this very night to my parent's manor, banished from Richard's court because I refused to marry Brackley."
Gareth stared at her, "Why did you do that?"
Elena stamped her foot and glared angrily at the sky. When she lowered her head to look at him, a tear spilled down her cheek, tracing a wet path. "I've already said it. Because of you! Because I love you!"
"Ah, sweet." Gareth quickly pressed his warm lips to her. "It is best you return to your parent's home. You will be safest there, I think."
"And what of you? You ride not to safety, but perhaps to your death? And all while I sit in the country and twiddle my thumbs! This is not the first time I've saved your life, Gareth ap Morgan. The least you owe me is the chance to remain with you, perhaps help you again."
"There is nothing I would like better, my love, but I must ride treacherous terrain for I dare not get within a league of any traveled road. Though you have become an excellent horsewoman, I fear you will slow me too much in which case we might both lose our lives."
Elena stamped her foot again. How could she love such a man? Surely her reason had long since left her!
"If I live through this, I promise to come for you, Elena. I promise."
Still angry, she refused to answer him or meet his eyes. She heard him sigh and felt his hands on her upper arms. "Goodbye my love." He kissed her softly and waited for her to say something. When she remained stonily silent, he turned to go.
In an instant, he had disappeared within the hazy darkness of the stables. Suddenly drained, Elena collapsed against the rough wooden wall. She allowed her mind to go pleasantly blank until she realized that it would be very close to the time Richard had ordered her departure. If she were not calmly gathered and ready to go when her escort came for her, it would look suspicious indeed. Oh curse Gareth! she thought. He would put her in just such a predicament.
Pushing herself away from the stable, she rushed back to the main keep and hurried u
p the back staircase to her room. To her great relief the room was empty and she quickly smoothed her hair and washed her face. She had only just closed the lid on her trunk when a loud pounding on the door startled her. Taking a deep breath and willing herself to remain calm, she crossed the room and slowly opened the door. "Yes?" she said to the three men standing in the hallway.
The one closest her spoke up. "We have come to escort you to your father's home on order from His Majesty, King Richard."
"Of course, " she said pleasantly and stepped back to allow the men room to enter. "That is my trunk there. Let my gather my cloak and I shall be ready."
"The King did not say we were to take your trunk, lady."
Elena laughed, hoping the men did not detect the nervous hysteria in the sound. "Don't be silly. Of course I shall take my trunk. It contains all my clothes--you wouldn't want me to go without my clothes now would you?"
The men looked at each other awkwardly and then two of them moved to retrieve the leather case. The third seemed to be suppressing a grin, but Elena paid him no notice as she quickly gathered her blue cloak and a cloth pouch in which she carried her small personal things. Without another glance back, she preceded the guards out of the room and down the main stairway. The few people she passed in the main hall fell silent and watched her as she made her way towards the huge door. Elena willed her warm cheeks to cool. She would not give these gossipmongers the satisfaction of seeing her depart in disgrace. She would make it appear as if she were all to happy to be leaving Richard's court, which in fact, she was. Smiling and nodding at the gawkers, she walked slowly and gracefully outside where the huge, mangy horse she had ridden from Wales awaited her. The guards carrying her trunk loaded it onto the packhorse and then climbed on their own mounts, paying no heed to Elena who was waiting for assistance. The third guard--the one who had seemed to find the way she had handled the other two men upstairs amusing--hastened to help her onto the sturdy beast. He was tall and lanky and his brown hair, though short, was also lanky. A thin mustache and beard covered his face but did not disguise his friendly smile. His shoulders were narrow and looked bony even through his rough tunic but he swung her up onto her horse with little effort. Though he looked nothing like Gareth, something about the man reminded her of him. When she was settled, she smiled prettily at him and then gathered the reins. The helpful guard quickly mounted his horse and led the way towards the main castle gates. They rode through the opening in the thick stone walls and Elena breathed a sigh of relief. She had not had to see Richard, Brackley, or even Catherine. Within two days, she would be home. Though she had not thought of her parents much in the last few months, she now looked forward to seeing them and spending time in the peaceful quiet of her father's substantial library or the neatly tended gardens where flowers, fruits, and vegetables grew in neat, even rows and beds. Yes, in two days she would be home and she could only be happier were Gareth with her. No, not Gareth. He was an evil cad who constantly toyed with her emotions and reason! Elena pursed her lips and refused to think of him further. He absolutely did not deserve the ache of worry lodged beneath her breastbone.
Chapter 29
Gareth looked over his shoulder, fully expecting to see a contingent of armed men hot on his heels. He was pleasantly surprised to see nothing but hazy fields of wheat and flax dotted with an occasional serf or farmer finishing his tasks. The sun was just touching the horizon and when Gareth turned back to his course, its golden beams warmed his face and filled his eyes with their radiance. For all that it was a beautiful sight, he wished he were traveling any direction but west. The light in his eyes made it difficult for him to guide Isrid around obstacles. Shifting in the saddle, trying unsuccessfully to escape the blinding sunset, he trusted in his horse's ability to pick a safe path as they traveled through fields and forest. Luckily the sun would dip beneath the edge of the earth in just a few minutes. Then he would make quicker time until darkness forced caution on him again.
Unable to see exactly where he was going and therefore unable to concentrate on his path, Gareth's mind crept back to the image of Elena's face as she admitted her love. When she uttered those words, he could have cheerfully faced the executioner's blade, content that he had won what no man ever had. He lost all awareness of the hardness of the saddle, the discomfort of the sun in his eyes, even the worry that Richard's men where after him, prepared to present his head to their king as proof of Gareth's punishment. All those thoughts were lost as his lips tingled with remembrance of Elena's last kiss. She had offered to escape to France with him, leaving the comforts and wealth she had lived her whole life with. She had offered to travel with him, perhaps to certain death, across the country as he ran for Wales. Surely she had not made those assertions lightly. It had taken every once of strength he possessed not to agree to her mad plan. Even now his heart ached with regret that he had not done so.
Gareth pulled his mind from the recent past and looked to the distant future when the inevitable battle between Henry and Richard was over. If Henry won, Gareth meant to wed Elena. Since she had been dismissed from Richard's court and sent home, she would not be around when Henry took possession of all of Richard's castles, and Henry would not have the opportunity to bestow her upon one of his more powerful supporters as a reward, or marry her off to one of his adversaries in hopes of gaining an ally. Gareth was uncertain of what his position would be in Henry's new government, but if he was not granted means which would provide for Elena and himself, he would return to Wales where he could at least offer her the comforts of Eyri Keep which would one day be his. Elena seemed to have grown fond of the rambling manor and he would do everything in his power to make it profitable.
As the sun slid halfway behind the horizon, Gareth's fond daydreams were interrupted by two unsavory thoughts: the first was the memory of Elena's fury when he had told her he had lied to her about his plans in Richard's court. Suppose she talked herself out of love while he was gone? He wished he could have had more time to explain, to diffuse her anger, but he had to make good the escape she had granted him. He only prayed he would be granted the chance to see her again, to right the wrongs that had plagued them since their first meeting.
Of course, came his second concern, should Henry Tudor and his followers fail…Richard's superior troops, and if nothing else, Gareth had discovered that Richard had upwards of 10,000 troops he could rely upon, could easily make short work of Henry’s army. In their most hopeful estimates, Henry’s supporters had only come up with 7,000 troops. There was certainly a very good chance that they would not only be defeated, but decimated to the last man, in which he prayed that Elena' father would find her a husband worthy of her, one who would not try to curb her strong spirit.
Before Elena had uttered her love for him, Gareth had resigned himself to watching her wed another man. He figured that she had only viewed their affair as a tryst to be forgotten once she married a man of rank. Now that he had her love, however, he could not bear the thought of another man with her.
The last rays of the sun finally sank beneath the horizon and Gareth found himself able to see where he was going. He spurred Isrid to a faster pace, grateful to have something to think of now besides losing Elena.
Chapter 30
Elena had spoken not a word to her escorts and she had no intention of doing so until they reached her father's manor. Though she strove to deny it to herself, her silence was not a result of the men being beneath her. She was too preoccupied with cursing Gareth and wondering just what she was going to say to her parents when she returned home.
The latter was easy enough. She could simply tell them that she had grown weary of court life. That was true enough. She could even go so far as to say she had lost favor with the king by refusing to marry an old codger of Richard's choosing. That was very nearly the complete truth. Either way, she was confident her parents would not question her return. In fact, she suspected her father would actually be relieved that she was no longer a lady-in
-waiting. He had been hesitant when her cousin Sarah had offered to help her gain the court position. He had, in fact, tried to bribe her with several new gowns and a new palfrey if she would but stay at home to "keep him company in his old age." At the time, of course, she had longed to escape the gentle pace of manor living and the marriage hopes of a neighboring swain. Now she would revel in the peace of not having to constantly worry that she had been slighted for this favor or that, that her newest gown would be out of fashion before her allowance arrived, and any number of trivial subjects that had occupied her mind for the past two years.
That problem solved, the remaining hours on horseback were devoted to cursing the day she laid eyes on Gareth. Anger, she had discovered, was far preferable to the nagging fear of knowing he rode toward danger, the ache in turning to look at his handsome face, his crooked grin and seeing only three blank-faced men-at-arms. Of all the gall! she thought. She saved his life not once, but twice and still he did not trust her. He abandoned her to what fate may await her. Not only did he abandon her, he scorned her love! Her newly developed sense of fairness started to protest that he did not scorn her love, but she refused to have any of it. She offered to leave all luxury and perhaps live her life in danger and poverty (which, in Elena's mind hazily constituted no servants and only a few new gowns a year). What did he say in return? "I'm off to join the Tudor army. I lied to you about my original intentions and now that you've freed me, I'm going to leave you to Richard's men and run off to play hero."
A Dishonorable Knight Page 36
