Fearsome Brides

by Kathryn Le Veque

  The silver sword.

  Chad had forced himself from those reflections when Daniel had entered the stable, eager for his son to collect the lady and get started on the road to Isenhall. Perrin accompanied his father and when Daniel and Chad left the stable, Perrin was in charge of preparing a suitable mare for the lady.

  As Daniel and Chad had headed across the bailey towards the knight quarters, Daniel had given Chad some last minute instructions.

  “It will take you at least seven days to reach Coventry and Isenhall,” he had said, “six days if you move swiftly. The rains have been heavy to the north, so I have heard, so your travel may not be as quick as we had hoped.”

  Chad understood. “Evesham came between storms, fortunately,” he’d said. “But riding to Coventry and the Marches may be different. The lady and I will do well enough.”

  Daniel’s brother, Stefan, and his cousins had been gathering in the bailey near the knight quarters, waiting to see Chad and the lady off. De Russe and du Bois were not there, instead, they were inside the knight quarters, still providing the lady with protection should Henry’s men decide to make a break for the structure and try to drag the lady away.

  But that was impossible in any case because Henry’s Six were passed out like drunkards all over the small hall. The poppy potion had worked wonders so no one felt a huge sense of urgency, but there was no leisure mood, either. It was time to see the task well on its way.

  As they neared the knight quarter, Daniel broke away from his son and moved swiftly into the structure to ensure that the lady was ready for her trip. Chad watched his father go before coming to a halt beside Chris and Stefan, engaging in small talk while Daniel went to fetch the lady.

  For some odd reason, Chad was coming to feel edgy now and he wasn’t entirely sure why. Henry’s Six would sleep for a day, his mother had said. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe her, for he did, but he knew from experience that even the best laid plans could be thwarted by something unexpected. He glanced at the keep once, twice, as Stefan spoke beside him.

  “Father is going to be truthful with de Serreaux when the man awakens,” he said. “If they want the lady, they’ll have to move on to Coventry, but Father intends to keep Henry’s Six here as long as he can. That should buy you at least a day and a half, if not more.”

  Chad couldn’t explain his sense of uneasiness now. He found that he was quite eager for his father to emerge from the knight quarters with the lady. “Providing the weather and the roads hold,” he said. “I will certainly make every effort to reach Isenhall before the Six catch up with me.”

  “What do you plan to do once you have delivered the lady over to Gallus and his brothers?” Chris wanted to know. He had been standing close enough to hear. “I told Uncle Daniel that we should ride with you to Isenhall but he seems to think you will travel faster with just the two of you. What are you going to do once you reach Isenhall?”

  Chad shrugged. “Make sure the Lords of Thunder are not in need of me, I suppose,” he said. “I would expect they will not require my services so it is my sense that I will be heading for home fairly quickly. When are you and your brothers leaving for Lioncross?”

  Daniel emerged from the knight quarters at that point, shouting out to Perrin, who was just coming around with the lady’s mare. Chris watched his uncle and cousin a moment before returning his focus to Chad.

  “Right after you leave, I am sure,” he said. “I think Uncle Daniel wants us to remain here to see what the Six will do when they are told that you and the lady have left for Isenhall. I do not know if Uncle Daniel is expecting trouble, but we will wait and see.”

  Chad was satisfied with the plan. In fact, he was glad his cousins were remaining to ensure that de Serreaux and his men didn’t turn violent when they were told the lady had slipped through their fingers yet again. When obedient knights were carrying out the orders of the king, there was no telling how they would react, which only increased Chad’s sense of unease. He very much wanted to depart as quickly as possible now. The sooner they were away from Canterbury, the better. Impatient, he struggled not to appear so.

  But his impatience didn’t last long. His mother, his sister, and Alessandria suddenly emerged from the knight quarters with de Russe and du Bois behind them, and Chad felt a sense of relief at the sight of her. That, and a distinct sense of pleasure; she was wearing a traveling outfit of dark green wool, durable and well made, clinging to a figure he didn’t know she had. Though petite, she had a narrow waist and flaring hips, quite alluring and shapely. In fact, he was rather shocked to realize she not only had an exquisite face but a body to match. Through the wet wool and darkness of their travels, he’d never had the chance to notice.

  But he wasn’t the only one who noticed; his brothers as well as his cousins were riveted to the lady, seeing an enchantress emerge into their midst. The dark auburn hair was braided, draping over one shoulder, and she had a kerchief wrapped around her head, tucked behind her ears and tied at the nape of her neck to keep her hair from blowing about or becoming unruly. Veronica was trying to fix the billowing cloak, a cloak that was streaming behind Alessandria like a banner and allowing every man there a view of that marvelous figure.

  The goddess was revealed.

  “Finally!” Daniel exclaimed softly, holding out a hand to Alessandria as she approached. “Come along, my lady. There is no time to waste. You and my son must be along your way.”

  Alessandria looked at Chad, standing by his horse, and Chad swore he could feel a jolt of warmth from her sea-colored eyes. The sensation startled him and he wasn’t sure if he should smile, or say something, or simply mount his horse and ignore her. He’d never spent a muddled day in his life but, at this moment, her warmth and charm and beauty had him muddled. It truly did. As his father reached out to take the lady’s arm, he seemed to break from his bewilderment.

  “My lady,” he greeted. “I see that my mother and sister have taken great care of you.”

  Alessandria smiled shyly. “They have,” she agreed, looking at Liselotte. “My lady, I must thank you again for your kindness and generosity. I will take very good care of the items that you have loaned me and return them to you.”

  Liselotte reached out to take Alessandria’s hand. “I would be hurt if you returned them,” she said. “They are a gift.”

  Alessandria looked down at the beautiful traveling ensemble she was wearing. “I… I do not know if I will be able to wear this when I return to Newington,” she said. “I do not know if the nuns will allow it.”

  Liselotte glanced up at her husband and son and, seeing their hesitant expressions, understood that the lady might never make it back to Newington, not with Henry after her. But it was clear the young woman didn’t understand that yet. Forcing a smile, Liselotte squeezed Alessandria’s hand.

  “You can keep it until such time as you no longer need it,” she said. “Then, you may send it back to me if you wish.”

  Alessandria smiled at the woman with the slight Germanic accent, a lady who had been kinder to her than any lady she had ever known. In fact, the two hours she had spent with Lady de Lohr and her daughter had been quite eye opening. She never knew women, at least outside of Newington, to be kind and pleasant to speak with. That had been a strange experience but one she quickly grew to like.

  Lady de Lohr and her daughter had been attentive and polite, and they’d worked very hard to scrub her skin of the red dye from the silk garment. Lady de Lohr hadn’t been angry about the ruined silk in the least, which was surprising enough, and went out of her way to clean off the red stains with, of all things, buttermilk and a horsehair brush. However she did it, it worked, leaving Alessandria’s skin a little sensitive but clean and very smooth. In fact, Alessandria was quite sure she’d never been so clean in her entire life.

  And she smelled good, too. After scrubbing the red splotches away, Veronica had rubbed her skin with oil that smelled of roses. It was attention and treatment that Ales
sandria had never experienced and she found that when it was over, she didn’t want to leave. She very much liked to be fussed over and treated as if she were something special, as if she mattered. It was a glimpse of a world she wanted to be part of and in that realization, it was her first awareness that perhaps she didn’t want to join the cloister, after all. She liked the comforts and pleasure of a kind family.

  Of Chad’s family.

  It was the unfortunate part of never being exposed to men for her to be attracted to the first man who had truly been kind to her. Since Chad had left her with his mother and sister, truthfully, all Alessandria had been able to do was think of him. Being around Lady de Lohr, the woman who gave birth to him, only made her think on him more.

  In spite of the fact that he had brutally wrested her from Newington, she had come to believe that he had only been trying to help her. Henry’s men in the keep proved that. He’d been truthful about her situation all along. There were wards at Newington that whispered of courtly love, a concept that had intrigued Alessandria, and now she believed she was seeing an example of true chivalry in Chad de Lohr. The man was preparing to risk his life to take her to safety… how could she not be attracted to him?

  With all of these thoughts on her mind, Alessandria’s attention turned to Chad, still standing next to his big white horse, and she couldn’t help but smile at him. He was looking at her rather strangely, a sort of wide-eyed expression, but she didn’t have a chance to consider the fact he hadn’t returned her smile because Chris and Arthur, who had been standing several feet away, suddenly let out a shout. Startled, Chad and the rest of the family looked over to see de Serreaux and d’Vant rushing from the keep, weapons drawn.

  After that, chaos reigned.

  The de Lohr men were, if nothing else, bred for battle. The sight of flashing swords only seemed to feed that innate sense in them of what needed to be done in order to survive. Already, Chad and Daniel began to move – Daniel to his wife and daughter and Chad to Alessandria. De Russe and du Bois, who were, in fact, the only men armed out of the group, unsheathed their broadswords and charged at de Serreaux and d’Vant as the men rushed the group. As the four of them immediately engaged in a nasty sword fight, Daniel motioned to Stefan and Perrin.

  “Get your mother and sister back inside the knight quarters!” he snapped. With his younger sons on the move, he turned to his eldest. “Get the lady on her horse and get out of here. We’ll hold the Six as long as we can!”

  Chad already had hold of Alessandria, practically throwing the woman onto the leggy mare. He was cool but swift in his actions and he leapt onto his steed, gathering the reins, as de Poyer and de Leybourne came staggering out of the keep, weapons drawn. The Six were outnumbered but they were seasoned knights, and very skilled, so this was a deadly fight from the onset.

  Chad knew that very well; he’d seen what these men were capable of upon the fields of Evesham. Now, his sense of urgency was starting to make some sense. There was something in him that told him he’d needed to leave, immediately, so perhaps he had a sixth sense when it came to danger in this instance. Whatever little voice had told him to leave had been right.

  But he didn’t have a chance to leave. As he was grabbing at the reins of the leggy mare to encourage the horse to move, St. John and de Garr came pouring from the keep and a dagger suddenly sailed past his head, straight past the lady and nicking her on the arm. Alessandria screamed in fright and pain, so startled that she lost her balance and fell backwards off the horse.

  Chad flew off of his steed and was at her side in a minute, picking her up and rushing towards the knight quarters. Putting her on her feet, he saw that the wound to her arm was not life threatening so he shoved her inside, where his mother and sister would tend her, and slammed the door.

  “Bolt this!” he shouted. “Do you hear me? Bolt it!”

  He heard the bolt thrown on the other side and that was all he needed to shift into full battle mode. Knowing the women were safe, that Alessandria was safe, allowed him to think the way he was born to think. Rushing back to his horse that was trained for battle, he unsheathed his sword, the silver sword, and plunged into the fray.

  He knew that de Garr was the one who threw the dagger, mostly because that was what the man was known for. Some men used crossbows but de Garr used daggers. He was an intellect of a man that Chad genuinely liked but, at this moment, he felt nothing but hatred for him. He knew that if de Garr had meant to kill, he would have, so the dagger had only been a warning. But it was a warning that had targeted the lady and Chad would not tolerate that. The man had injured Alessandria and everything protective that Chad had ever held inside of him suddenly came out, all of it seeking revenge against de Garr.

  He would beat the man within an inch of his life.

  So he shoved through the ruckus that was going on, not paying attention to the de Lohr soldiers who were rushing from the troop house and the wall to break up the fight. He could hear his father shouting and the clash of swords upon swords as his brothers and cousins went head-to-head with the Six, but still, all he cared about was finding de Garr.

  He didn’t have far to look. Britt de Garr was engaged in a sword battle with William de Lohr, both men grunting and shoving and swinging the swords when the situation permitted. Chad could see the back of de Garr’s red head as he approached from behind, not at all concerned that he would be attacking the man from the rear, considered bad form in a sword fight among honorable knights. One always faced the enemy.

  But in this case, Chad was so angry, and so bent on avenging what de Garr did to Alessandria, that he came up behind de Garr and used the hilt of his sword to smack him on the head, hard enough to send de Garr to the ground in a daze. Then, he pounced.

  Being dazed as he was, de Garr was barely able to defend himself as Chad pummeled him. He went for the head, beating de Garr so badly with his big fists that in little time, the man was unconscious and bleeding. In fact, Chad was so unrestrained in his beating that his cousin, William, whom de Garr had been fighting, went to fetch Daniel. When Daniel, who had been supervising his soldiers as they restrained de Poyer, came around and saw the beating his son was dealing de Garr, he immediately reached down to pull his son off of the downed knight.

  “Chad,” he grunted, trying to pull him away. “Enough, lad. You are going to kill him.”

  Chad resisted his father. “The son of a whore deserves it,” he snarled. “For that dagger he threw at Alessandria, he is going to pay.”

  Daniel hadn’t seen the dagger. Concerned, he looked around to see if there was an injured lady on the ground but seeing nothing, he continued to try and pull Chad away from de Garr. But his son wouldn’t move and Daniel turned to William, standing behind him.

  “Help me,” he commanded.

  William jumped in and between the two of them, they managed to pull Chad away from de Garr, who was a bloodied mess on the ground. They dragged Chad several feet away, turning him around so he no longer had visual contact with his victim.

  “Where is the lady, Chad?” Daniel demanded. “What happened to her?”

  Chad, his face splattered with de Garr’s blood, bobbed his head in the direction of the knight quarters. “I put her inside with Mother and Ronnie,” he said. “That bastard threw a dagger that clipped her in the arm.”

  Daniel understood a great deal now. He let go of his son but his focus was on William, a young and strong man. “Do not let him go,” he instructed firmly. “Go and see to the lady. If she is well enough to travel, send them both on their way.”

  William nodded, pulling Chad over to the entry to the knight quarters as Daniel went to see about de Garr. William rapped on the door, loudly, and called to Liselotte. Chad, still in his cousin’s grip, was struggling to push aside his rage. He still wanted to go back and bash de Garr’s brains in, but the moment the door opened and he could look inside the common room of the knight quarters and see his mother tending Alessandria’s arm, the rage faded aw
ay. He became more concerned with the lady’s wound.

  “Mother?” he asked, stepping inside. “How is she?”

  Liselotte was tying a bandage around the arm, bandages torn from a coverlet on one of the beds. “It is not bad,” she said. “It is not too deep, not deep enough to stitch it. She will be fine.”

  Chad watched his mother as she tied off the bandage before looking at Alessandria. She was gazing back at him, pale and frightened, but the moment their eyes met, she smiled. It was a timid smile, but a smile nonetheless. Chad took a deep breath, shaking off his rage.

  “I am so sorry,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Ever since I took you from Newington, it has been one tribulation after another. I have not done a very good job of protecting you, which has been my mission all along. I have allowed harm to befall you twice and for that, I must beg your forgiveness.”

  The tone of his voice caused Liselotte to look at her son. She’d never heard that level of emotion in his voice and she was surprised by it. Nay; pleased by it. Then she looked at Alessandria, who seemed to be gazing at her son in a most besotted way.

  Besotted!

  “You have done all you could to protect me, Sir Chad,” Alessandria said quietly. “You have been chivalrous and brave, and I am grateful that you would risk yourself so for someone you do not even know.”

  Chad smiled weakly, looking at Alessandria as if she were the only one in the room. He didn’t even notice his mother or sister any longer. “It is a pleasure, my lady, I assure you,” he said with soft sincerity. “Are you well enough to travel, then?”

  Alessandria nodded, looking at the bandage wrapped around her upper arm. “I am,” she said, looking to Liselotte gratefully. “Your mother says it is merely a scratch.”