Dark Destroyer

by Kathryn Le Veque

  Rosamond shook her head. “I think not,” she said. “If Kathalin believes we will send her back to St. Milburga’s should she not find any young man appealing, I believe she will behave herself. She will not want to jeopardize her chances of being sent back.”

  Jasper grunted. “You also know that if she believes we will consider sending her back to the priory, then she more than likely will find something wrong with every young man at the celebration, including Alexander.”

  Rosamond nodded her head in agreement. “She believes, for the moment, that she has a say in this matter,” she said. “What she does not know is that she has no say at all. She never did. We shall cement a contract with Alexander de Lohr and have the wedding immediately whilst the guests are already here for her celebration. The party to introduce Kathalin to eligible young men will turn into her wedding feast.”

  Jasper wasn’t feeling quite as anxious as he was when he had first entered his wife’s chamber. Thanks to Rosamund’s cunning plan, he could see an advantageous marriage for his daughter providing Henry de Lohr agreed. He couldn’t imagine why the man wouldn’t but he would make sure to produce his best wine and finest food when the House of de Lohr arrived. He would make sure to do all he could to convince them to marry their son to his stubborn daughter.

  “Agreed,” he said, thinking on things to come when Henry arrived. “I will make the necessary preparations for the Henry and Elreda. I should like for them to stay in the chamber Kathalin is occupying. It is our finest.”

  Rosamund nodded. “It is,” she said. “Kathalin can stay in the chamber on this floor, the smaller one across the landing from me. It is my maid’s room, but I will have my maid sleep in here with me for the time being.”

  Jasper thought on that particular sleeping arrangement because it meant he couldn’t call upon the maid when he was feeling particularly lusty so long as the woman was sleeping in the same chamber as his wife. But no matter; that was secondary to what needed to take place in order to assure that the de Lohrs accepted the marriage proposal on behalf of Alexander.

  Aye, Alexander de Lohr would make a fine son and a fine ally, and Jasper was pleased. More than that, Kathalin would cease to be his problem and become someone else’s. A selfish thought, but Jasper was a selfish man.

  Let someone else deal with her insolence.

  Without another word, he left his wife’s chamber in his pursuit to make arrangements for what was to come. The trap would need to be appropriately laid for Henry and Elreda with the bait being Kathalin when she returned from Shrewsbury. Jasper was quite certain that after Henry and Elreda met his daughter, they would heartily agree to the proposal.

  He was quite certain Alexander would agree to it as well.

  “What do we do?” Tobias Aston asked. “If we do not let him in the gates, he’s simply going to stand there and scream.”

  Stephan knew that. He and Tobias were in the great gatehouse of Hyssington, watching the scene below. Lord Linley was at the gate, drunk, and bellowing for Gates to come out and face him. It was very cold in mid-morning as they watched the man, beating upon the massive iron and oak gates, and it was something of entertainment for the soldiers. Lord Linley was making a spectacle of himself as he bellowed and threatened Gates de Wolfe for bedding his daughter and forcing his daughter to bear “his own spawn”, as Linley put it.

  “Linley is a drunkard and a fool,” Stephan said with distaste. “This is nothing new for him, behaving like this for all to see, but if de Lara sees the man there will be trouble. He already paid Linley’s daughter coinage to keep her mouth shut about de Wolfe’s bastard, but if the father is here now to extract more money, he’ll find himself in the vault – or worse.”

  Tobias watched Linley as the man slipped in the mud below, ending up on his knees in the midst of his ranting. “He is asking for Gates, not de Lara,” he said. “Do you know when Gates is supposed to return from Shrewsbury? He shall be coming right into the middle of this if he returns any time soon.”

  Stephan shook his head. “I do not know when he is due to return,” he said. “Far be it from me to criticize de Wolfe, but he should be more careful when it comes to bedding some lord’s daughters. Linley sees money in all of this because of the wealth and prestige of the de Wolfe family.”

  Tobias continued to watch the drunkard below, considering the implications of the situation. He was very young, only twenty years and two, and somewhat of a prig when it came to women. He seemed a bit intimidated by them, as the older knights had seen, so this situation was somewhat serious for him. He leaned against the stone parapet as he watched the action below.

  “He did not chase women whilst we were in France,” he said. “I saw him with a few women, but he did not seem to have much time to carouse about.”

  Stephan snorted. “You are speaking of Gates de Wolfe,” he said. “The great and mighty Dark Destroyer. Trust me when I tell you the man had plenty of time to seek out female companionship in France because that is what he does. We should all be so lucky to have the intelligence, the comely looks, and the wealth of Gates. No woman can resist him.”

  Tobias smiled faintly. “’Tis odd,” he said. “I have seen him in battle. There is no one I would trust my life to more. At Poitiers, he was without fear. Men looked to him for courage. But when he is off the battlefield… that part of his life does not impress me so much. It is as if he has no self-control.”

  Stephan crossed his big arms, looking at Tobias. “I have known Gates for many years,” he said. “It is not that the man has no self-control, for he has a great deal of it. To me, it has always seemed as if there was desperation to his actions when it comes to life outside of the battlefield.”

  Tobias looked at him curiously. “What desperation?”

  Stephan shrugged, trying to put his thoughts into words. “He lives as if every day is his last,” he said. “I have never seen him idle; if he is not fighting, he is bedding a woman, or laughing with the men, or celebrating in one way or another. Most of us have the ability to stop and rest at times, but I have never seen Gates do that. He lives as if he is going to die tomorrow.”

  Tobias considered that seriously. “So he beds women to stave off that fear?” he said. “Surely there are other things he can do in order to feel vital and alive.”

  “Like what?” Stephan shrugged. “Roll bones? Play games? Nay, lad, Gates is a de Wolfe, and that is a big name to live up to. He lives like he fights; with all of the passion in the world, which in his case means women. They make him feel alive.”

  It was an interesting take on Gates de Wolfe, one of the greatest knights that young Tobias had ever seen. He liked Gates, too, a great deal. All of the men did. And if it made Gates feel more alive to chase women, so be it. Therefore, to see Linley rolling around in the mud below was an unhappy observance because it was a direct insult to Gates. At least, that’s how Tobias looked at it. As he pondered the enigma that was Gates de Wolfe, some of the soldiers up in the gatehouse decided to use the murder holes as a latrine again and aimed right for Lord Linley. The man was the recipient of a shower of urine as he stomped around in the mud below.

  The entire gatehouse erupted in laughter as Linley roared with disgust, now covered in piss. Stephan, shaking his head at the antics of his men, made sure to bellow at them to scold them for what they had done, but he was unfortunately grinning when he did it so his reprimand was not taken too seriously. After that, no one took Linley seriously, either.

  As the soldiers of Hyssington went about their duties, Linley spent the rest of the morning bemoaning his daughter’s situation and demanding to see Gates. During the spring, summer, and fall months, Hyssington’s gates were open to those wishing to do business within her walls – smithies, hunters who had leather hides to sell, farmers with their produce, and even men who would sell peat for fires and dried grasses for the livestock. But in the winter, the gates remained closed for safety reasons, mostly because starving Welsh might take advantage of i
t. Therefore, Lord Linley was kept outside the gates, left to his drunken temper tantrums, as those inside the walls ignored him.

  That included Stephan and Tobias, who went about their duties once they were certain Linley wasn’t going to cause trouble or do anything more foolish than he was already doing, like trying to climb the walls. They went about securing posts, dealing with problems among the men, repairing weaponry that needed refurbishment, and other duties that had been assigned to them. Stephan was in the armory, in fact, inspecting some of the weaponry they’d brought back with them from France when he heard a commotion around him. Since the armory was in the gatehouse, all he had to do was stick his head out of the door to see what was the fuss was about.

  He saw it soon enough. At mid-afternoon during this sunny day amongst melting snow, Gates and Alexander were returning from Shrewsbury with Lady Kathalin and twenty men riding escort. And Lord Linley, who was closer to the incoming party than the sentries were, was running out to greet them.

  Ordering the gates opened, Stephan ran after him but he wasn’t fast enough. He could hear Linley swearing at Gates already.

  “You… you bedswerver!” Linley was screaming. “You devious bastard! You are the father of Helene’s child! It is you!”

  After a very quiet ride from Shrewsbury, Gates hadn’t expected a confrontation at the gates of Hyssington. He had seen Linley running at him from a distance and, to be truthful, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have suspicions about the man’s intentions. In fact, he was quite certain what the man’s intentions were but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

  Gates would have bet money that Helene had finally confessed to Linley who the father of her son was, perhaps in another attempt to coerce Gates into marriage. Whatever the case, Gates knew why the man was here, knowing that his indiscretions were about to be shouted for all to hear. For Kathalin to hear. He had warned her of moments to come like this, and here one was, unexpectedly, right on his doorstep.

  He braced himself.

  “Greetings, Lord Linley,” he said evenly. “What brings you to Hyssington?”

  Linley had come to halt, as had the escort, but Linley had eyes only for Gates. “What do you have to say for yourself?” he demanded. “What do you have to say before I cut your belly open and laugh at your misery?”

  Gates just looked at the man. He wasn’t about to admit to anything, or play any manner of game with Linley. He could be verbally brutal when he wanted to be, as Helene had discovered when she tried to force him into marriage. Now, Helene’s drunkard father was embarrassing him and that didn’t sit well. But before he verbally speared the man, he thought to give him the chance to quietly make his point. As he opened his mouth, Stephan suddenly came shooting through the gates, racing towards him.

  “I am sorry, Gates,” Stephan said as he came up to them, putting himself between Gates and Linley. “He has been here all morning. I had hoped he would go away before you returned from Shrewsbury.”

  Gates simply nodded. “It is no matter, Bear,” he said steadily, focusing on Linley. “The man obviously has something to say to me. Did you wish to speak with me about something, Lord Linley?”

  Linley was trying to move away from Stephan so he could have a clear line of sight to Gates, but Stephan kept moving, kept putting himself in between them. Gates finally called him off and Linley shook a fist at Gates.

  “You are the father of Helene’s son,” he said angrily. “She told me so!”

  Gates remained quite calm. “My lord, I have no idea what your daughter told you,” he said. “I have been in France for nearly a year and a half, so clearly I have been out of the country for a very long time. That would make it rather impossible to do what your daughter has accused me of doing.”

  “It happened before you left!”

  Gates merely shrugged. “If that is what you believe, I would be more than happy to escort you into Hyssington where I may hear your grievance in private.”

  Linley stomped his boot, which was foot covering in the purely academic sense of the word. It was really the remains of a shoe that had been wrapped, and rewrapped, over his foot. When he stomped it in the mud, half of the shoe started to come apart.

  “You will hear them now, de Wolfe,” he said. “Just as everyone else will. They will know what kind of a man you really are!”

  So much for remaining cool. “Oh?” he said, preparing his verbal attack. “And how would you know what kind of man I am? I see that no tankard of cheap ale has escaped you this day. I can smell you from here. Moreover, if you wish to speak on your daughter, then I am sure there are ten or twelve men here who would know more about her than I would. Are you sure this is something you wish to discuss for all to hear?”

  The verbal arrows hit their mark and Linley’s anger took a dousing. He appeared astonished that Gates would say such a thing and his mouth, that great gaping thing that smelled of rot and ale, popped open.

  “You slander her?” he hissed, incredulous.

  Gates turned around, waving Alexander and Kathalin and the escort through. He even motioned to Stephan to leave them. Whatever was to be said was between him and Linley, and he was already greatly perturbed that the man was shouting accusations for all to hear. When Stephan, Alexander, and the soldiers began to move, Gates returned his focus to Linley.

  “Listen to me and listen well,” his said, his tone no longer friendly. “Whatever your daughter has told you cannot be proven. She has already come to Hyssington, twice, to demanded money and I will tell you what I told her – I can produce a dozen men from this fortress that will gladly swear that they have had their way with your daughter and they will do it before the priest, so unless you want your daughter to be dragged down into the depths of rubbish that you are attempting to drag me into, I would suggest you look elsewhere for a husband for your daughter and for money to pay for your drunken habit. You are the sad remnants of a once-great house so if anyone is to be embarrassed by all of this, it should be you. Your need for drink above all else has driven your daughter to do some very desperate things for money.”

  Linley was shocked to the bone, devastated and infuriated by Gates’ accusations. Not that some of them weren’t the truth, but no one around him had ever had the courage to say it to his face. With a roar of pure rage, he rushed Gates, who was still astride his big war horse. It was a very easy thing for Gates to lash out a booted foot and kick Linley squarely in the head with it. The man fell like a stone.

  As Linley toppled over, Gates heard a gasp behind him. He turned, swiftly, to see Kathalin dismounting her palfrey and rushing to Linley’s side. Gates was off his horse in an instant, pulling her away.

  “Nay,” he told her, his voice low and severe. “Leave him be. I told you to go into the castle with the others.”

  Kathalin was looking at the man who was now sitting up, rubbing his forehead. “You did not tell me anything,” she said. “It was your men you ordered about. Who is this man, Gates? Is it true what he said about his daughter and you?”

  Gates faltered. He didn’t want to lie to her, considering he had warned her of this exact situation, but he wasn’t about to admit fault in front of Linley. Taking her by the arm, he turned her towards the gatehouse. Stephan happened to turn around before entering the gates and Gates caught his attention, waving him back over to escort Kathalin.

  “Go inside with Stephan,” he told her quietly. “I will not discuss this with you at this moment.”

  Linley, still rubbing his head, looked up and saw Kathalin. He pointed at her. “You dare to bring another woman into Hyssington, de Wolfe?” he demanded. “My daughter is the only woman you should be thinking of!”

  Gates was trying to push Kathalin in Stephan’s direction but she wouldn’t move. She was looking at Linley.

  The truth was that Kathalin was genuinely curious about the situation. She had heard the man accuse Gates of fathering a child with his daughter; it had been difficult not to hear it. But as she listened, so
mething occurred to her; this was the exact situation Gates had warned her about, the fears of his past humiliating her. But she didn’t feel humiliation in the least – in fact, she felt a good deal of protectiveness over Gates. Perhaps this was a chance for her to prove him wrong and to show him that his past, in all of its ignoble glory, truly didn’t matter to her.

  The ride that morning from Shrewsbury had been filled with a terrible, tense silence between them. She had fallen asleep last night holding his hand and had awoken the same way, but very little had been spoken between them. It seemed as if there was nothing left to say, as if everything they could have said to each other had already been spoken. What was left was a heartbreaking and terrible stalemate. But now… a drunken man accusing Gates of fathering a child… perhaps she could, indeed, show Gates that his fears were unfounded.

  Perhaps this was the opportunity she had hoped for.

  She wanted to take it.

  “Your daughter has a child, my lord?” she asked. “Am I to understand you believe it to be de Wolfe’s?”

  Linley frowned, waving her off. “Speak not to me, harlot!”

  Kathalin’s eyebrows lifted. “Harlot?” she repeated, but offended and amused by his accusation. “You have the gall to call me a harlot when it is your daughter who bore a child out of wedlock? I should say you have misdirected that accusation.”

  Linley’s features tightened angrily. “Be gone!” he bellowed. “I will not speak to such vermin!”

  Kathalin could hardly believe the nerve of the man. “I am Lord de Lara’s daughter,” she said frankly. “You are not only a drunken fool but you are an ignorant one as well. At least my father raised me properly and respectably, for it is not I who bore a child out of wedlock but your own daughter. Instead of blaming Gates, you should be blaming yourself. You were the one who raised a woman too willing to warm a man’s bed. It is your fault alone.”

  Linley was looking at her with much the same rage and offense that he used when looking upon Gates. He struggled to get to his feet but with his drunken state and the blow to his head, his balance seemed to be elusive.