by Alisa Adams
“Of course,” Lawrence said.
“Of course, I would expect nothing less.” War laughed.
War looked over at Lawrence. The man was twisting in his saddle, looking down the line of riders and people behind them just as he had been doing all morning. “Ye are looking for yer wife again? She is riding near my fearless sister and the golden Lady Serena. All is well, my friend.”
Lawrence turned back around in his saddle. “I know. I saw them. Flain and Oger should be escorting them, per my orders. The other women—Mery, Jamys and, Charlotte—are they on palfreys or walking?”
War frowned. “They are on palfreys, I believe. And very much appalled at the armor worn by my sister and your wife and Lady Serena.” He shook his head at the willfulness of his sister.
Sandolf nodded. “And well they should be appalled. Jealous is more apt to describe their expression, however. And may I say that Lady Serena looks spectacular in the gold armor we found?”
War frowned. “Dinnae be turning yer wolf charms on that one, Brother. She is fragile and broken, I fear.”
Sandolf nodded with an interested look at War. “Of course. Lady Cristianna is a beautiful force to be reckoned with in her black armor.”
War let out a single, harsh laugh. “Dinnae think she isnae able to knock ye off yer horse, Wolf. Falcun and I have taught her everything we know. Dinnae forget ye have not been able to beat me at the joust, and I swear she is better than I!”
Sandolf laughed. “Then I shall nae give her a reason tae want tae set her lance at me.”
War’s jaw tightened. “See that ye dinnae.” He looked over at Lawrence, who normally would be involved in such discussions, mostly to tell them both that they were fools in his most severe captain voice. Lawrence, however, was preoccupied with looking back at his wife again.
War frowned. “Law, ye keep looking back for yer wife. I have been pondering this. At first, I thought ye married her to secure the treasure for us. But then ye didnae sink the ship. So I must ask, do ye love the girl or nae? For there will be trouble if her father comes.”
“My emotions must always be under control. As an admiral, I must maintain calm at all times to promote orderliness in my men when trouble inevitably comes. Love? I dinnae know anything of love. Ye know this.”
“For a mon that knows nothing of love, ye seem preoccupied with yer new wife. Seems like ye are besotted tae me,” Sandolf said.
War spoke up, “If ye control yer emotions to maintain yer calm, ye are also controlling the emotion of love, my brother.”
Lawrence gritted his teeth and looked straight ahead, ignoring both of their comments. His fingers clenched tightly on his horse’s reins. “Something has upset her; I dinnae ken what. She has vera tender feelings.”
War grinned slightly. “Perhaps the fact that ye are making her come tae Kinloch Keep? Wasnae she prepared to stay on the beach waiting for her beloved padre tae come rescue her?”
“Dinnae speak like that!” he said harshly. “She was planning on waiting for him and then telling him the gold was all lost at the bottom of the sea. She wanted to protect everyone!”
“Forgive me, Brother. I did not know this.”
Sandolf arched a brow at Lawrence. “She would have taken a great risk trying to make him believe that aboot the gold.”
Law looked at him. “Aye, I believe he would have killed her,” he said gruffly. He sighed as he looked straight ahead as he rode Leonidas. “She has told me that he wasnae a part of her or her mother’s life. She made up a world for herself where her father loved her mother and herself above all else when the opposite was true.”
War looked at him without saying a word. His eyes narrowed as he thought deeply about Darling and her father, the pirate DeLeon.
Sandolf asked him bluntly, “Do ye think he had her mother killed?”
“Why dae ye say that?”
“He had tae many women tae settle on just one. And with a daughter of Darling’s age?” He stroked his mustache within his shining helmet. “’Tis the same age of all the young women he is known to prowl upon,” Sandolf said and shook his head. “Nay, I cannae see that man with a wife and daughter. It doesnae make sense.”
War said, “If Darling’s mother was even half as beautiful as she is, perhaps many years ago the pirate DeLeon did fall in love with her and married her but then was off tae sea all these years?”
Lawrence glanced at him. “Or he simply captured her and got her with child.”
“And then forgot aboot her?” Sandolf added quietly.
“Here comes Falcun,” War said as he looked ahead of them.
Falcon came riding up to them and turned his horse around to walk beside them.
“They are here, Captain,” Falcon said to Lawrence. He was breathing heavily.
“How far ahead?”
“Over that next ridge, there is a thick wood on the east side of the valley. They hide amongst the trees. I counted forty men, and Laird MacKenzie is with them,” Falcon reported. “Archers and mounted men. And a schiltron group is just at the bottom of the hill, Captain. Waiting for us tae come riding over the top of the hill. We wouldnae see them until it is tae late. Their pikes are unusually sharp.”
“Shield wall in the schiltron?”
“Nay, Captain,” Falcun replied.
“Guid work, Falcun.” He scowled and looked behind him to his men. “Schiltron,” he said curtly in warning to them. “Tell the archers tae prepare tae take forward position, halt at the top of the hill. Aim doon intae the center of the schiltron. Mounted archers whose horses are in full barding split off on either side of our archers and come at the schiltron from the sides and from behind.”
Lawrence looked ahead, remembering the lay of the land around Kinloch when he had found Tommy. “The MacKenzies have put themselves in a narrow valley leading up to Kinloch Keep. Guid. We shall have the advantage. They think that narrow hill is the only way doon intae the valley. They are wrong.”
Lawrence looked back at his men again. He let out a low whistle, directing his men to split into several groups.
That left the women. He rode Leonidas back towards them. Flain and Oger were close to them and well armed. His eyes found and stayed on Darling.
He pulled off his helmet as he gazed at his wife. “The MacKenzies are ahead of us,” he explained as the men split off all around them. “Stay to the rear. Before ye reach the top of that hill, split off tae the west.” He pointed to where there was a small group of trees. “Ye can see Kinloch once ye get through that small wood. From there ’tis open ground. Make all haste and ride straight tae the keep. There is a back entrance on the plateau. Dinnae slow doon! Do ye ken?”
Darling nodded solemnly, but Lawrence thought he saw her eyes flash briefly at him. Was that anger he saw? Or something else? He had no time to dwell on it, however.
He looked at Cristianna and Serena, who also nodded. Lawrence had to look back at Cristianna; however, she looked far too excited for his comfort. His eyes went past them to Jamys, Charlotte Lynn, and Mery. They were staring wide-eyed at him, but they also nodded their heads.
Lawrence looked back at Cristianna and his wife. “Dinnae do anything foolish.” With that, he narrowed his eyes at them as the wind picked up, and large, fat droplets of rain started falling. The sky overhead suddenly became darker. The smell of rain in the air was strong. He looked up at the sky again. “A storm is coming!” he yelled. “Use it tae yer advantage!”
He urged Leonidas closer to his wife as his stallion bumped up against her mare. His calf touched his wife’s as their greaves made the sound of steel on steel. “Lion,” he said in a gruff voice, “I will see ye at the keep.” He swallowed tightly as he looked into her eyes.
Darling said nothing, only stared at him.
He put his helmet in his lap, then reached forward and curled his gauntleted hand around the base of her neck. With his other hand, he pulled off her helmet and leaned down to capture her lips with his own. He kissed
her thoroughly. The kiss was deep, hot, hungry, almost desperate. He dragged his mouth away from hers and looked into her eyes. “Get tae the keep, mo chridhe.” He put her helmet carefully and gently back onto her head.
With one last lingering look at his wife, Lawrence spun Leonidas away. Urging the big stallion into a canter, he rode to the head of the column of his men.
His last thought before the charge was that his wife had not kissed him back.
13
Darling spun Tommy towards the trees to the west of the hill, galloping after Flain and Oger on their ponies. The other women followed her. She could hear the thunder overhead. It was an eerie, odd, discordant, and unnatural noise. They stopped as they entered into the small wooded area as the other women caught up on their light horses.
Darling looked up to the sky and then through the trees to the top of the hill where she could see Lawrence, Sandolf, and War on their horses. The men stared out over the valley below. They were silent as they held their horses in front of the line of men mounted behind them. As Darling watched closely, she realized that the horses were moving. It was as if they were trotting in place, there at the top of the hill. She looked at Lawrence’s muscular legs. He was moving his heels almost imperceptibly against Leonidas’s side while holding the reins firmly. Darling saw that Sandolf and War were doing the same thing. Their heels asked the horse to trot while their hands held the reins firmly, keeping the horse in place. Darling’s eyes widened as the thunder intensified. She watched as more of the men joined in, holding their horses while asking them to trot on the spot. Each of the horses was chomping eagerly on the bit.
The archers were on either side of Lawrence, staying clear of the excited horses.
“The thunder—” Darling started to say more, but Cristianna nodded at her.
“Nay, ’tis the horses, not thunder ye are hearing,” she explained. She pointed to all the horses.
Darling looked back at the horses lined up behind her husband and flanking the archers. Every single rider had his horse trotting in place, just like Lawrence and War and Sandolf. Darling looked back at Cristianna with a question in her eyes.
“’Tis how they prepare the horses for the charge!” Cristianna told her in a loud voice so as to be heard over all the noise. “They must be ready to push off into a fast and intimidating gallop!” She smiled wickedly. “The sound of all those hooves stomping the ground is ominous, isnae it?”
The thunder became even more deafening as the men behind Lawrence began banging their swords against their shields or even the armor itself.
“I thought it was thunder!” Darling looked back at her husband. “Do they not want to surprise the MacKenzies?” she yelled as the rain started to come down in grey, pelting sheets of water.
Cristianna shrugged. “The MacKenzies knew we were coming!”
Darling straightened her shoulders. She understood what Lawrence meant now. “A show of force!” she yelled as she tried to shield her face from the rain driving into her helmet.
Flain looked back at the women. He shouted to them in his high voice. “When they charge, we charge!” he yelled urgently. “We must make it across the slope, up to the top of the escarpment!” he directed, pointing up towards the keep.
Darling glanced back at her husband just in time to see him bring Leonidas back onto his haunches as the powerful stallion gathered himself, ready to spring into a gallop headlong down the hill.
Her heart raced as Lawrence let out a booming, thunderous roar over the sound of the driving rain as he commanded his men to follow him. He sent Leonidas over the edge of the hill with the archers on their smaller horses tightly flanking him.
She held her breath as her heart pounded in her chest while she watched him hurtle down the hill at the very front of all the men. War and Sandolf quickly joined him.
Darling held back a gasp as she watched them through the dark curtain of rain. She held her fist to her lips as she kept her eyes on Lawrence. She heard him let out another booming command and watched as the archers let fly volley after volley of arrows, straight into the schiltron just below them.
Darling’s stomach tightened as she saw the men holding the pikes aimed at the charging horses begin to drop as the arrows hit them like solid, sharp, piercing, and very deadly rain. Those that did not fall under the barrage of arrows dropped their pikes and scattered as the huge horses charged straight at them. They ran for their lives as the giant horses came hurtling down on them, knocking them to the ground, trampling them, or sending them flying in the air to land with a crack of bones on the muddy ground.
Darling watched as one man was pierced by the spikes on Sandolf’s horse’s chest armor as the muscular white stallion ran full speed at him, piercing him and carrying the impaled man without ever slowing down. Sandolf quickly used his foot to kick the man free of his horse without ever stopping his downhill hurtling charge.
Darling’s head whipped back and forth in the melee, looking for her husband through the driving pelting rain.
“Darling!” cried out Cristianna in a frightened voice. “Come!” she waved frantically to Darling to follow Flain and Oger, who had leaped into a gallop through the trees and out across the open grassy slope.
Darling spun Tommy in their direction and kicked the mare into a gallop, easily catching up and overtaking Cristianna as the horses ran through the woods.
She glanced to her side, for she could not stop watching for her husband. She could hear his booming voice, however, and watched as more of his men came charging into the narrow valley. Some went down the hill; others split off to either side, flanking and surprising the MacKenzies.
She heard the screams as the archers hit their targets. She kept glancing down into the valley as she galloped on, trusting her horse. She heard the clash of steel and the shouting of men and the screams of the horses as they ran headlong into the chaos. She could hear her own harsh breath echoing within the steel confines of the helmet she wore.
She flew past Cristianna, who was riding beside Serena. Cristianna was holding one of Serena’s reins as she pulled Serena’s horse along beside her own. Serena was pale and her eyes wide with fright as she held tightly to the Clydesdale’s mane while Cristianna guided both of the big Clydesdales.
“Faster, Cristianna. We must ride faster!” Darling shouted to her.
“Aye!” Cristianna yelled back to her through the spitting rain and the gusts of winds that pushed at them. She looked over at Serena. “Hold on! We are going tae cross open ground once we are out of these trees! We will be risking the MacKenzies spotting us.”
Darling looked back at the three others on the smaller horses. The horses were lighter and should be faster, but the girls were not experienced horsewomen.
“Can ye ride faster?” Darling shouted to them over the sounds of the battle.
Jamys put her heels in her small horse's sides, and the little gelding spurted forward, leaping into a gallop. The other horses followed.
“Stay to our left!” Darling shouted. “We will shield you with our larger horses! We have to get across the open slope. We must catch up to Mr. Flain and Mr.Oger!”
The women burst out of the woods as the rain hit them full force. They galloped at a terrifying speed along the craigy, grassy, wet slope. They could see the keep up ahead of them. To their right, just below them, was the open valley. Darling glanced down into the valley again as her body flowed along with her horse’s gigantic gallop. Darling looked back at Cristianna and Serena. “Hurry!” she screamed. “Hurry!”
She glanced ahead. The ponies indeed were very fast and surefooted on the craigy slope. Then she glanced down to her right again as Tommy continued racing up and along the slope.
It was a chaos of men and horses in grey and black steel armor fighting in the colorless rain as they clashed violently with the MacKenzie clan. The noise was deafening and unnatural in the narrow valley as steel struck steel. The dark curtains of rain and the ominous clouds overhead t
ook all color away and made it appear even more sinister and deadly.
Darling’s eyes followed the line of the slope as it made its way up through several small, flatter ridges that led up through an escarpment. The ponies were rapidly covering the ground with ease, far ahead of her. Tommy was breathing heavily, however. Darling could clearly see where the steep slope came out onto a final, huge, grassy plateau that stretched out over the land. She could see the walls of the keep where it stood looking out over the narrow valley.
She raced up to the first of the ridges where she quickly brought Tommy to a halt, spinning the mare about as she looked behind her for the other women, waiting for them to catch up and giving Tommy a chance to slow her breathing. Her own breath echoed inside her helmet as she breathed heavily. It felt like even her heartbeat was echoing within the steel confines of the helmet on her head.
Once again, she could not help but glance down as she frantically searched out the figure of her husband below her. She watched breathlessly, her breasts rising and falling rapidly within her chest armor as she watched the men below in absolute fear. The rain was pouring down as the men fought in the mud; it covered their legs and armor and made it harder to find Lawrence.
At a shout from Flain, Darling glanced ahead of her just as the other girls caught up to her, coming to a halt as they gathered around her. Flain waved an arm down to them from where he had halted near the keep. He was motioning wildly for her and the other women to keep moving.
Jamys, Mery, and Charlotte Lynn galloped off, but Darling stayed where she was, spinning Tommy this way and that, so she could find and keep her eyes on Lawrence. She spotted him with War and Sandolf. They stood in a large circle with their backs to one another swinging their swords with blinding speed as warrior after warrior charged at them. Darling heard Cristianna gasp by her side. She glanced at her and followed where she was staring, wide-eyed.
