by Fiona Faris
“Is it over out there?” he asked. Osgar shook his head.
“Nay, the judges noticed some foul play between ye two, and they are discussin’ the matter. They saw ye get injured, but ye also didnae hit the opponent with yer lance and so, they cannae tell if ye won although ye did throw him. It might result in them callin’ for a rematch,” Osgar said, his voice worried.
Uielam forced himself to sit up despite Lilia trying to make him lie back and pushing his chest to keep him down. He only grabbed her hand with his good arm and kissed her fingers, pleading without words for her to allow him to sit. Osgar ignored their exchange and waited till Uielam was seated.
“Ye are in nae condition for a rematch, so daenae even consider spoutin’ that nonsense. If it comes to that, we are going to throw the match,” Osgar said.
“Nay, I cannae throw the match,” Uielam said. Osgar smacked his forehead.
“Ye cannae even hold a lance, how dae ye plan on joustin’ with yer lance hand barely held together by the cloth of Lilia’s dress?” Osgar asked.
“Ye can tie the lance to me hand by the cloth of Lilia’s dress,” Uielam retorted. He could not throw the match, not with Lilia watching. He needed to win for Lilia.
Osgar looked at him in frustration. “I just ken that ye will be like this,” he muttered. Uielam only shrugged. It was not an uncommon thing for those with grudges against each other to duel in a death match while jousting, but Uielam did not even know who the other man was, nor why he would want to kill him. Also, it was not a scheduled deathmatch, but a tournament. Death was not explicitly against the rules, but it was not looked upon fairly either.
“Dae ye ken who me opponent was? Why would he want to kill me? He had a blade in his lance, and he was aimin’ for me throat,” Uielam told Osgar. His friend frowned.
“He was a jouster from the palace city. Ye havenae offended anyone in the palace city have ye?” Osgar asked. Uielam had to think about it. He had not offended anyone in the palace city at all. He was always on his best behavior when they visited the King. This included the fact that he kept his womanizing ways in check in the palace city as well.
“Nay, I havenae,” he said. “It is nae me that would be the target anyway, nayone kens that I am here, remember? So perhaps it is the Duffie clan lad who has offended someone.”
Osgar was just beginning to consider this when the tent flap was thrown open, and a soldier entered.
“There is trouble, sir, I couldnae dae as ye asked, the tent of the jouster was in disarray, and he was lyin’ unconscious on the floor. It seems there was another in his place as his spare armor was what was strewn about,” the soldier said to Osgar.
They all balked at this new information. Uielam thought back to how he had felt the armor was too big for his opponent, perhaps it was because that was not his opponent at all.
“Go rally the men, look for the imposter and bring him to me at all costs,” Osgar ordered.
“Where is Flora?” Lilia asked suddenly, and Uielam noted that Flora was indeed missing.
“Daenae worry, she is safe, I sent her to go up and inform faither of what is goin’ on here, just in case this is too much for us to handle on our own,” Osgar said.
Uielam frowned at him. “Ye asked her to dae what?! Why would ye dae that? If yer faither kens, then that means that me faither will ken also,” he complained.
Osgar threw his hands up in frustration. “Well, maybe it is time that yer faither kenned Uielam! What was I supposed to dae?! Ye are injured!” His friend yelled.
Lilia sensing the shift in the air, looked between the two men and excused herself lamely.
“I will… go try to find Flora,” she said weakly before leaving them alone.
“Uielam, is this really worth it? I told ye before, this plan was fun at first, but now things have gotten very serious. It is time we told our parents what is goin’ on. Ye didnae see how much ye were bleedin’. If Lilia were nae here, ye might nae even be awake right now to have considered somethin’ as ridiculous as wantin’ to go out there again to face a man who nearly killed ye in a rematch! I thought that ye had changed, but ye are still so selfish!” His friend yelled.
Uielam loved Osgar, but his pride still stung hearing him judge him like that, and he was unable to stop himself from flaring up in anger as well.
“How dare ye call me selfish?!” He growled. Osgar was not moved in the slightest and continued his rant.
“I say so because ye are Uielam, I put up with it, but I willnae stand by while ye dae somethin’ so stupid for some useless reason! Ye are nae just anybody. Ye are the future of our clan! If ye die, that’s it! That ends everythin’ I ken that ye are selfish, but ye cannae be selfish with yer life!” Osgar thundered.
Uielam frowned at his friend. His mind picked up on the soldier’s earlier words, and he turned to Osgar with accusation in his eyes.
“Osgar… ye will nae just stand by… that soldier said he couldnae dae as ye asked… What did ye ask that soldier to dae Osgar?” he asked.
His friend had the grace to look somewhat sheepish as he answered.
“I told him to ask the jouster to throw the match,” he admitted.
Uielam shut his eyes as anger coursed through him.
“How could ye dae that Osgar?! The whole point of this plan was to prove that I can joust without any help from me connections. To prove that I wasnae being allowed to win. Ye just asked that soldier to dae that without thinkin’ that if he told anyone, it would only reinforce the rumors that I did all of this just to quell! Are ye so underhanded that ye would dae such a thing even behind me own back?!” He accused. At his last words, Osgar turned enraged eyes to him.
“Aye! Aye, I am! I am that underhanded, and I will continue to be that underhanded if it means that I will save yer life ye bloody arse! Ye continue to prove again and again that ye daenae ken what is best for ye and I am sorry if it offends ye or ruins somethin’ as stupid and useless as yer ‘joustin’ reputation’ but for me yer bloody life comes first. Nae even ye and yer misplaced priorities will stop me from protectin’ it!” Osgar yelled, truly angry now.
Uielam was taken aback and stunned into silence. He blinked quietly and looked away in shame; he’d gone too far by calling Osgar underhand. He knew that everything Osgar did was for his own good. Osgar was right as well, he was short-sighted and stupid putting the competition first. It was petty, after all. What did he need the adoration of the crowds for when he already had people who cared about him like his father, Lilia, Osgar, and Flora. Why did he need the respect of other jousters so badly, he was The Younger, and they had to respect him anyway.
“I am goin’ to join the soldiers to find the one who attacked ye,” Osgar said quietly, obviously still stung, and walked out of the tent, leaving Uielam alone.
Chapter Twenty
Shug stood in his hiding place in the shadows between his mark’s tent and the tent of another jouster. He could hear the heated discussion going on inside between The Younger and his right hand. He almost laughed several times. It seemed that they were both horrible men. The Abernathy boy was underhanded, but at least he seemed to be more matured than the spoiled and childish Younger who wanted to win a joustin’ match at the expense of his own life.
The more that he heard about his mark, the more he despised him. He truly deserved to die. It had been a pain getting into the giant’s armor, and as such, he wanted to make it worth it with a quick and sure kill. He had been aiming for the space between his chest piece and his helmet, going straight to slice his neck, but the boy was quicker than he had expected. He remembered how shocked he was when in that split second, he had raised his arm to receive the blade instead, still finding the time to counter and push him off the horse.
Shug had been shocked and grudgingly admitted that the brat knew what he was doing when it came to jousting. He had hurt him badly; however, it was true that he managed to avoid getting his neck slashed, but his wrist did not escape the blade, howev
er. Shug knew that he had cut him in a way that the blood loss just might kill him if he was untreated. So he did not try to attack him again, it was a public space, and that was a dangerous move he would only have used if he did not harm him at all.
He was already a wanted man, so he considered running, but he needed to make sure that his mark died. He never left a mark alive. It was his pride that had made him slink into his hiding place to listen and make sure The Younger died. He had never expected that the maid called Lilia would have some healing experience. It seemed she was his lover, after all. They were planning to be married. Even if just as revenge to the whorish maid, Shug knew he could not let Uielam live.
The Abernathy boy had left now, his mark was all alone. However, he was out in the open, and a single alarm raised would have him unable to escape. He slid out of his hiding place and into the tent.
Uielam raised his head at his entrance, and his eyes widened. Shug wanted nothing more than to rush forward and slice his neck, but Uielam was too close to the front of the tent, and it was not going to be that easy.
“Ye bastard…” Uielam said, recognizing him. “Ye are the bastard who attacked Lilia!”
Shug rolled his eyes at the chagrin in his voice.
“Aye, I am,” he said. Uielam struggled to his feet with his one good hand.
“What are ye doin’ here? Are ye the one that attacked me too? Ye have naywhere to run, there are soldiers everywhere,” he said.
“Aye, I am the one that attacked ye. I am the Black Night, and I have yer women,” Shug said, provoking him. Uielam’s face paled, and Shug knew that he had gotten his attention.
“What?” Uielam asked. Shug laughed.
“I have been sent here to take yer life ye see, but ye were so hard to find. Ye have caused me and me companions so much trouble.” He was lying, but he needed a few lies to make Uielam do as he wanted. If he could make Uielam believe that he was not working alone and that he’d taken the two women Uielam seemed to care about, then he might be able to lure him into a trap.
“I have taken yer Lilia and the other noblewoman she was with.”
Uielam looked furious. “What have ye done with Lilia and Flora?!” He demanded, although he did not step any closer to him. It seemed the boy was smarter than he looked and could tell that his closeness to the front of the tent was the only thing keeping him alive.
“We will give ye back yer women if ye surrender yerself to us peacefully. Otherwise, they will die in yer place. Follow me into the woods now, and daenae think of doin’ anythin’ funny. If we stay here too long me companions might get a bit too excited left alone,” he threatened.
Uielam balked at that, and Shug turned and left the tent, hurrying towards the woods before anyone saw him and hoping that his plan had worked. He had just stepped into the cover of the bushes when he glanced back and found that Uielam had donned his cloak and was indeed following him. A satisfied smirk came over his features, and he continued deeper into the forest, leaving Uielam to follow.
…
Lilia had walked out of the tent because she could see that Uielam and Osgar needed some space. She had sensed the change in the dynamic of their conversation and did not want to intrude. She’d already sat in with Osgar before and remembered that he’d not been very comfortable with her being there. Osgar liked her well enough, but she was still a stranger to him, and he clearly did not like to open up in front of strangers.
The excuse that she was going to find Flora had been a shallowly considered lie. There was no way that she would go to meet Flora considering she was probably in conference with her father and the Laird. She knew that Osgar and Uielam were probably going to argue, and it was not like they would pay attention to her at that moment anyway.
“I am in love with ye…”
His words came back to her, and she grabbed her cheeks as they warmed immediately. She shook her head, aware that her face was probably the color of beetroot. She stepped out of the way of the stableboys, blushing beneath their inquisitive gazes. She hadn’t even allowed herself to hope that he would love her.
It had been a dream that was too painful for her to consider becoming a reality. She had pushed the thought of the possibility out of her mind so many times that she had not been able to believe it when he said it. Her hands still shook. It had been a miracle that she was able to finish tying up his wound. Her hands had been shaking so badly, and her heart pounding so loudly in her ears, it made her lightheaded.
She had been scared to process his words since she was worried for his life. He had been wounded such that if she had done anything wrong, he would have died. She had simply done what she had watched being done on the English woman’s husband when he had been injured during a hunt. It had been so long, and her memories were somewhat hazy, but she had wanted to know how to heal wounds, so she had thought it over and over again until it became something she knew.
She had reacted before she had the time to think, ordering soldiers as though she were noble. With Osgar and Flora by her side, the soldiers had taken her orders, although they had exchanged confused glances. At that moment, all she had been thinking of was saving Uielam. She had entirely forgotten that she was a maid.
Watching him get injured had been the most terrifying thing she had ever experienced. She was well aware that it was not uncommon for such injuries to occur during a jousting match, but no one had ever attacked Uielam like that before. Her instincts had taken over immediately, and all she could hear in her mind was ‘save him!’.
When he had confessed his feelings, she had not been able to think and respond the way that she actually wished to since she was tending to his injury. Leaving the tent, she was alone and coming to the full realization of both his and her words.
“I am in love with ye.”
“Uielam now is nae the time to discuss such things. I love ye too, and that is why ye must nae distract me lest I fail to save ye.”
“It is exactly in case of if ye fail to save me that I want to tell ye everythin’ Ye changed me life. Ye made me confront the parts of meself that needed to be fixed and the parts of meself that I shied away from, preferring to pretend that they were nae there. Ye have shown me how much of a better man I can be, and I want to be that man for ye. I want ye to be me wife.”
He had told her he loved her and that he wanted to marry her and she had confessed to him as well that she was in love with him. Her head felt as though it might explode. Uielam said that he wanted to marry her! She felt dizzy and as though she might throw up from nervousness. If she married Uielam, it would make her a Lady. She had been planning to stop being a maid and have a respectable name in the clan, but never had she dreamt that she would go from being a maid to a Lady.
She had not considered it before because she had never even dreamt that it would be possible to marry Uielam. She was ecstatic at Uielam’s confession, she loved him and was glad to find out that he felt the same, but it hit her that his proposal meant that she would need to become the Lady of the clan. What would his father think?
She was still agonizing over these thoughts when she noticed an unfamiliar figure leaving the tent where Uielam was. She cocked her head to the side in confusion, becoming even more confused when she saw Uielam leave the tent as well. He was injured, he had no business leaving the tent. She worried her lip, becoming concerned. Who was the stranger? And why did he leave without trying to let any of them know?
There is somethin’ amiss here…
She ducked into the tent in front of her, choosing to listen to her gut. She grabbed the first weapon that she saw, a sword. It was heavier than she had expected swords to be, but she could still carry it. If Uielam was in danger, she would use it if necessary.
She glanced around for anyone who she could ask for assistance, but there was no one nearby, and Uielam was in the forest already. She worried that if she did not hurry after them, she wouldn’t catch up. She was just about to take off after them when a voice called out
to her.
“Lilia? Is that ye?” the timid voice came. She turned around to find Miller standing shyly nearby. She lit up at the sight of him, and Miller being ever so shy, visibly panicked as she ran towards him.
“Miller! Tis so good to see ye!” She exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. He stiffened at her enthusiastic response, but then his eyes caught sight of the sword she was holding.
“Lilia…why are ye with a sword?” he asked. She shook her head and waved her hands, letting his shoulders go.
“That is nae important right now, ye need to find Mister Osgar Abernathy and tell him to gather the soldiers because Uielam Younger is in trouble. He is in the woods, and I am going after him right now,” she said, pointing in the direction she saw them go.
Miller looked like he was too overwhelmed by the information and blinked at her in confusion as she pushed him to go.
