Bria gaped as Kenric fell back to his bottom with a grunt. Joy exploded through her and she took a step toward her hero, but halted as Kenric shook his head, clearing it, and climbed to his feet. The Midnight Shadow arced his blade at Kenric’s head, but Kenric caught the blow in his open palm. He yanked the wooden sword from the Midnight Shadow’s grip and bashed him in the head with it.
Bria watched in horror as her noble hero fell to his knees before the evil Kenric.
Kenric reached down and ripped the mask from the Midnight Shadow’s face, revealing a face Bria knew very well. She gasped. It was Garret!
Kenric laughed again, and again hit Garret’s head with the wooden sword.
Garret toppled to his side and Bria lurched forward, seizing Kenric’s arm as he raised the weapon to strike another blow. “Stop!” she cried. “Don’t hurt him anymore!”
Kenric snorted and threw the sword down on top of Garret. He turned to Bria.
She took a step back, but Kenric locked his hand around her wrist. “Looks like your rescuer didn’t save you after all.”
“No!” she cried. But before the impulse to free herself overcame her fear, Kenric jerked her forward.
Bria felt herself falling, the thorns growing larger and larger as she plummeted toward the bramble patch. She reached out attempting to brace herself from the fall. She turned her head from the thorns and squeezed her eyes shut. One of her hands landed on a small thorn and she cried out, pulling away from it. Other thorns stabbed at her arms, her legs, her back. The branches caught and snagged her clothing and her hair, pulling and ripping.
Panicked, Bria fought to be free. But the more she struggled, the more entangled her clothes and hair became, the deeper the thorns dug into her. Frightened, hurt, Bria stilled her fight. Her entire body was aflame with pain.
Through tear-filled eyes, she looked up and saw Kenric standing at the edge of the briar patch, staring down at her, laughing and laughing, his mouth big and wide, his thin lips stretched tight. Slowly, he turned away and moved off into the forest, his laughter still echoing in her ears.
Bria lay absolutely still, trying to calm her fear, trying to stop crying. She wanted her father so desperately. She wanted him to be home with her to protect her.
Then her thoughts turned to Garret. Where was he? Was he hurt? She had to get to him, had to reach him. Kenric had hit him hard. “Garret?” she called, but received no reply.
Her tears lessened as she concentrated on her friend, on helping him, on making sure he was all right.
Bria shifted slightly. Her hair pulled tight, caught and entwined in the thorny branches of the bushes. She grabbed the long lock around the top and pulled hard until she was free. The thorns in her arms burned hotly and she found herself crying again.
“Garret!” she called, worried for him. Worried she would never be free. Still she heard no sound from her friend.
Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she fought her way free, pulling and tugging at the nasty claws entangled in her velvet skirt. Tiny rivulets of blood trickled down her right arm.
“Bria?”
Instantly, she froze, looking toward the spot where Garret had fallen.
“Brie? Are you all right?”
She could barely make out his face through the blur of tears filling her eyes. “Oh, Garret!” Bria cried, so relieved she felt herself trembling. “I’m stuck. I can’t get out.”
“I’m coming,” he said. “I’ll help you.”
Bria sobbed in release. Garret was all right! He’d help her get out of this. He’d help her free herself.
As Garret neared, Bria saw blood running from his blond hair, the crimson smear staining the side of his face. “Garret, you’re hurt!”
Garret lifted his hand to his forehead. He brought his fingers away to look at the blood on the tips. Then he shook his head. “It’s nothing.” He grabbed a piece of her skirt and pulled it free of the thorns, then stood beside her and gently grabbed a lock of her hair, working it free of the bush.
As he leaned over her to ease her arm from the biting thorns, Bria noticed his black cape and mask were gone.
“I made a proper mess of things,” he admitted quietly.
Bria looked away from him, tugging and pulling at her other forearm to free the brown velvet fabric of her sleeve from one of the brambles. Together, the children worked in silence until Bria was free of the bramble patch.
“Those thorns really got you.” Garret gently wiped a spot of blood from her elbow. “Are you all right?”
“It stings a little, but I’m all right.”
Garret looked at her for a moment, then hung his head, glancing away from her to the ground. “I never should have pretended to be something I’m not.” He kicked at the cape and mask lying in the dirt.
“You were very gallant,” Bria said, touching his shoulder warmly.
“Not gallant enough to protect you,” Garret whispered. “Not as gallant as the Midnight Shadow would have been.”
If it hadn’t been so quiet in the forest, so still, Bria never would have heard his admission. She pretended she hadn’t.
“Where’s Mary?” Bria asked. “Is she hurt?”
“After Kenric pushed her in the mud, we ran away from him. She’s all right. She’s at her house waiting for us. I came back here looking for you.” Again, Garret kicked at the fallen cape. “Little good that did.”
Bria bent down and retrieved his fallen sword, holding it out to him. Garret stared at it for a long moment. Bria pushed it toward him again, an anxious feeling stirring the pit of her stomach. “Here.”
Finally, Garret took it and placed it back in his belt.
She held out her hand to him and he clutched at her fingers. “I think I’d rather just go home now,” Bria said softly.
He nodded, and they returned to Castle Delaney.
Bria never heard Garret speak of the Midnight Shadow again.
Bria squeezed her eyes shut. The shearing noise of her own hair being cut sounded loud in her ears as her grandfather ran the dagger through her long locks. Her shoulders shook with a suppressed sob.
“That’s it, Bria,” Harry told her.
Bria opened her eyes and glanced down at the floor. Her long brown locks lay curled around her bare feet.
Parts of her hair had been so tangled around the brambles, so full of thorns, her grandfather had to cut off her hair. Now her once long locks reached only an inch above her shoulders.
Bria lifted a hand and ran it through her butchered hair. Sobbing quietly, she bent and scooped up the long strands in her trembling hands as if they were a valued treasure. She stared at the knotted mass of hair.
“It was unavoidable,” her grandfather told her quietly, sincerely.
“Will Garret be all right?” Bria asked, wiping her sleeve across her nose.
Harry nodded. “He’ll be fine,” he said. “Just a bump on that hard head of his. You’re sure you just stumbled into that bramble patch? And that Garret fell and hit his head?”
Bria looked away, unable to meet her grandfather’s gaze. She’d argued with Garret to tell the truth so Kenric would get in trouble and be properly punished, but Garret insisted they keep it a secret. “Yes,” she answered.
“Very well.” Harry began to rise from his chair.
“Grandfather?” Bria said.
Harry looked down at her.
“Will you tell me the story of the Midnight Shadow?” she asked softly.
A grin stretched across Harry’s face. “Of course.” He motioned for her to move to the bed. They sat down together upon the soft mattress, and Harry picked Bria up and positioned her on his lap.
Bria settled into her grandfather’s arms, looking down at the mound of brown hair she held in her hands. Someday Kenric would be punished. Someday he’d get what he deserved. Bria hoped she would see it.
Harry began, “He was known far and wide for fighting against tyranny and for upholding fairness. He was called the Mi
dnight Shadow...”
MIDNIGHT SHADOW
CHAPTER ONE
Ten years later
Candles cast wiggling demons onto the stone walls of the dark room. A large bed held a sole occupant in its lonely vastness. The shadows slithered across her pallid cheeks and moved over her neck like serpents looking for a tender spot of flesh upon which to inflict their deadly attack.
Lord Terran Knowles bent over her small hand, pressing his forehead to the slim fingers he held crushed in his. Her once warm skin felt clammy and cold. He didn’t move for a very long time, and it appeared as if both he and the woman were dead.
But Terran wasn’t about to let her die, not when he’d fought so hard to get her, winning her over another suitor. Not when he’d negotiated a dowry so grand it would provide enough funds to pay his knights and secure peace for his people and his castle for years to come. Not when he loved her. No, he couldn’t permit Odella to die.
But how could he stop it?
Why, Odella? he asked silently. She’d been happy here at Castle Knowles -- at least he’d believed her to be -- and they were to be wed in a week. Why would she do this? Why would she poison herself?
He could think of no answer. Nothing! She’d always seemed so cheerful, with a soft shy smile. God knew he’d do anything to make her better, give her anything she desired.
A knock sounded at the door. Terran didn’t respond. He wanted to be left alone with Odella. The door opened behind him.
“Terran?” a voice called, hesitantly.
Kenric.
His cousin moved closer. “I’ve brought a physician.”
Terran’s jaw clenched; his hands tightened to fists. “A physician will do her no good,” Terran growled. “She poisoned herself. I want someone who knows about poisons.”
“I can’t find the herbalist,” Kenric said. “And a physician –”
Terran whirled, his movements as lithe as a panther. He was off his knees in an instant, grabbing his cousin by the tunic and slamming him back against the wall. “Get me the herbalist,” he snarled.
Kenric’s black eyes were wide as he stared at his cousin for a long moment before nodding his head. “As you wish, m’lord,” he whispered.
Terran released him, and Kenric walked swiftly from the room.
It took a long moment for Terran’s anger to subside. Physician. What good is a physician? I need someone who can help Odella. Someone who can cure her of the poison.
Odella was like a glorious angel laid out in his bed, her hands folded on her stomach, her slender face somber and pale, her eyes closed. Her beautiful honeyed hair was tucked beneath her head.
She was a ghostly reminder of what she’d once been.
He remembered the first day he’d laid eyes on her, more than a year ago. He’d been riding into McColl Village to attend a tournament, arriving just as the merriment began. Odella had been dancing around a maypole with some of her ladies. He remembered her bright blond hair all but glowing in the sunshine, her laughter like music to his ears. He’d immediately fallen in love with her.
He won the tournament in her honor, defeating all who stood against him. After that, through months of negotiation, Terran convinced her father to betroth her to him.
In granting Terran Odella’s hand in marriage, her father had given him the woman his heart desired and a bountiful dowry that would save his castle.
Now she lay dying in his bed. As he looked at her, lifeless and ashen, he wanted to cling to the memories until she regained her radiance. But somehow the images wavered and dissolved before his mind’s eye into a mocking replica of what she used to be.
He rubbed his hands over his eyes, trying to wipe away the truth they presented to him, desperate to hold fast to the memories.
I have to remain calm. She’ll be as good as new soon. It won’t be long before she’s smiling again. It won’t be long before I hear her laughter.
“Odella,” he whispered. “Why?” He bent again at her side, gently taking her hand in his. “Why?”
Odella’s head shifted slightly and Terran raised his eyes to her face.
In the flickering light of the candle, he could have sworn her lips moved. He stared at her for a moment, holding his breath, waiting for them to move again. It must have been his wishful imagination. Now they were still. Terran wiped his weary eyes, trying to clear them. But when he opened his eyes to look at her again, her lips were indeed moving.
He quickly boosted himself up on the bed. Her breath was so shallow he could barely hear her. He lowered his ear closer to her lips.
“Garret,” she whispered.
Terran sat bolt upright, his jaw hard as granite. He must have misheard her. But there was no mishearing her next cry.
Her lips moved again, her face contorting with pain. “Garret,” she managed to gasp.
Dysen! Terran reared back. He knew only one Garret. Garret Dysen. This cannot be. Why does she call for another man?
Then a thought struck him so hard he almost reeled. Could she love Dysen? Could she have killed herself because she couldn’t be with Dysen?
Anguish and disbelief tore through Terran. He stood and stepped away from the bed. How could this be?
He whirled away from her, clenching his fists. God’s blood! Have I been so blind?
Agony tore through him. It cannot be, he told himself. But deep in his heart, he knew he finally had his answer. Odella had poisoned herself to escape marriage to him.
MIDNIGHT SHADOW
CHAPTER TWO
The midday sunlight washed down upon the tilting field. A dozen knights were busy practicing their skills in the arena set up in a field on the western side of Castle Delaney. Some of the men were on foot, clanging swords in mock battles. Others rode their muscular warhorses, practicing battle maneuvers. Several men worked diligently on their jousting skills.
Bria pulled her knees up to her chest, staring down at the men in the field. She sat beneath a large tree, watching her grandfather give orders to one of the younger men as he handed him a jousting pole. Her grandfather indicated the quintain in the center of the field with a wave of his hand. The man nodded and spurred his horse forward, riding toward the far side of the field.
Someone plopped down on the grass beside Bria. She swiveled her head to see Mary adjusting her patched skirt around her legs. Her friend shoved a strand of unruly dark brown hair behind her ear and attempted to pat the rest of the flyaway strands flat. Her brown eyes twinkled with glee. “Has anyone arrived yet?” Mary asked breathlessly. She liked this suitor business much more than Bria did.
Bria returned her dismayed gaze to the field. The young knight with the jousting pole had reached the far side of the field and was turning his steed to face the quintain. “Two. No one interesting, though.”
Mary chuckled. “I think if the Midnight Shadow himself walked through your door, you’d call him ‘not interesting’ to avoid marriage.”
“If the Midnight Shadow walked through my door, I’d jump at the opportunity to marry him!” Bria exclaimed. “But he isn’t going to walk into Castle Delaney.”
The young knight in the jousting field spurred his horse and it charged forward, kicking up small puffs of dirt in his wake. The knight leaned forward in the saddle, leveling his pole at the quintain.
“That’s your problem, Bria,” Mary explained, watching him. “No flesh-and-blood man will ever be as attractive as the imaginary one you’ve created in your head.”
The young knight hit the quintain, which spun rapidly. The soft bag hit him in his shoulder with enough force to throw him from his steed. He tumbled over the side of the animal, landing in a pool of dust.
Mary put her hands over her eyes and groaned.
Bria grimaced and murmured, “Well, we know he’s not the Midnight Shadow.”
Mary burst into laughter.
“Can you still meet me tonight?” Bria asked, elbowing her friend.
“Of course,” Mary replied.
&nb
sp; Suddenly, the distant sound of trumpets filled the air.
Mary’s eyes widened and she strained to see toward Castle Delaney, where the sound was coming from.
Bria rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, sitting back against the tree. “Another suitor,” she said with disdain.
Mary giggled and grabbed Bria’s arm, trying to pull her to her feet. “Let’s go see.”
“Why?” Bria demanded, refusing to be lifted.
“With all that fanfare, he might be handsome!”
Bria huffed disinterest. Mary yanked her to her feet and pulled her down the slight rise toward the road leading from the village to Castle Delaney.
Before them, Castle Delaney rose mightily skyward, its rounded towers standing as sentinels at each corner of the grand structure, connected by massive walls that protected the inner wards of the castle. The drawbridge was lowered, the portcullis raised to welcome the guests marching across the bridge.
Bria looked closely at the arriving guests, trying to discern their heraldry. The red flag one of the riders held fluttered in a gentle breeze, giving a teasing glimpse of the crest of a lion.
Bria’s heart leaped slightly. She knew the crest. It was Lord Dysen and Garret!
Mary shook Bria’s arm in excitement as she, too, recognized the heraldry.
Garret! She hadn’t seen him in five years! Bria took a step forward, scanning the throngs. Dancing women waved translucent scarves as they moved to a minstrel’s flute; men on stilts called out to the castle guards; a caged bear growled as a guard stuck the tip of his sword into its cage.
Bria scowled. Why had Garret brought such a show with him? He usually just arrived with his father. These performers must have cost enough to feed a village for a winter. Oh no, she thought. Not Garret, too! She groaned slightly and rolled her eyes skyward. Please Lord, tell me Garret hasn‘t come for my hand in marriage! But as she returned her gaze to the jugglers and minstrels disappearing into the castle beneath the gatehouse, she knew Garret had.
Mary grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the castle. Bria had been away at her aunt’s castle the last time Garret and his father had visited two years ago, but Mary said he’d grown into a very handsome man. It was quite obvious Mary had been smitten by him, and still was. Her friend giggled whenever they spoke of him, and dramatically placed her hands over her heart whenever his name was mentioned.
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