She drew the little eating dagger from her belt, turned, and held it out as though she meant to thrust it into him. "If you ever touch me again, I will kill you," she said.
He, the hideous, odious man, smiled at her.
Zared lunged at him, but he easily caught her wrist and pulled her into his arms again.
"I have a half-healed knife cut and a bruised side because of you. I do not want more wounds."
"I will cause you a great deal more pain if you force yourself on me again."
"Force?" he said, still smiling, then he bent his head as though he meant to kiss her again.
Zared turned her head away. "No," she whispered.
He released his hold on her, and when Zared ran from him she could hear him laughing behind her.
Chapter Eight
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She ran all the way back to the tent, and when she arrived she was shaking. Severn was lounging on his cot eating an apple, and he turned to look at her when she entered.
"Someone chasing you?" he asked. "Colbrand's squire after you again? I do believe the boy senses your sex. He seems to have the brains his master lacks."
"Haven't you something to do?" she snapped. "No swords to sharpen? No women to court?"
"I have won all the women," he said smugly.
"Except the Lady Anne."
He finished his apple and swung his feet to the floor. "Where is Smith? Did you see him with another woman—has that put you in an ill temper? Beware, little sister, that you do not play too hard to get."
"You know nothing!" she yelled at him. "Nothing!"
He chuckled at her as he left the tent.
Zared sat down on her cot, her body stiff with anger. She was angry at her brother for being able to see nothing, at the Howard man for coming into her life, and at herself for the way she had acted.
"It would have happened had any man kissed me," she whispered aloud. "Had Colbrand touched me…" She trailed off, remembering the way it had felt to be touched by the Howard man. By any man, she corrected herself. It would have felt wonderful to have been held and kissed by any man at all.
"Yes," she said, standing. She was a Peregrine, and as her brothers liked lots of women, she, no doubt, liked many men. It was a shame, perhaps, that her family's sworn enemy could make her react, but that was the way of the world.
She just had to keep her wits about her and not allow the man to make her lose sight of what was really important, she decided. He was a Howard, and he had put himself in the Peregrine camp for a reason. Since Zared was the only one who knew who he was, did he mean to seduce her so that she would begin to believe him?
She didn't yet know what he hoped to gain from his disguise, but it was her duty to protect her family.
"And that does not mean succumbing to his kisses," she told herself. It won't happen again, she thought. She wouldn't allow him to touch her, and if he did happen to touch her, she was not going to fall against him like some peasant girl. "I'll take my knife to him before I allow him to touch me again," she said, chin in the air.
Hours later she was in bed, her eyes tightly closed as her brother and her enemy came to the tent. From the way they laughed and staggered she thought they must have shared about half a hogshead of beer.
"Sssh," Severn said loudly. "Can't wake my little sister."
"I'll take her back to bed," Tearle said even louder, and both men dissolved in laughter.
Zared slammed her fist into her pillow and turned onto her side. Her anger and indignation kept her from sleeping—and if anger hadn't kept her from sleeping, the drunken snores of her brother and that man would have.
She was just about to go to sleep when she heard the Howard man rise very quietly from his cot and leave the tent. She looked at Severn and saw he was still sleeping, so Zared got out of bed, slipped her tunic on over her head, and followed the man.
Severn was awake the moment Tearle put his foot to the floor, and he lay there watching as the man took his sword and left the tent. For all that Severn liked the man, he was always cautious, and Zared's continued animosity made him less trustful of Smith than he might normally have been.
He and Smith had gotten drunk together—or at least Severn had pretended to get drunk. He hoped to pry some secrets out of Smith, to find out how he knew of weapons yet didn't fight, and where Liana had found him. But Severn had discovered nothing about the man. He was very good at not answering questions and at revealing nothing about himself.
When Severn saw his little sister slip out after the man he relaxed. He was glad Smith liked Zared, and Severn knew he could trust Smith to protect Zared, just as he had when the horse had nearly trampled her. He lay back on the cot and went to sleep.
Zared followed Tearle as he made his way through the people who were still awake. She watched as he slipped in and out of shadows; it was easy to see that he did not want to be seen. Twice Zared had to slip into darkness to keep him from seeing her.
After many twists and turns he slipped through a door in the stone wall that surrounded the Marshall castle. Zared could not follow him without being seen, and it took her a while to find a tree that she could climb to see over the wall. She had to climb slowly to keep from being heard, and when at last she was high enough to see she gaped in openmouthed astonishment.
The Howard man hugged Lady Anne, then he whirled her about, her pretty skirt belling out around her. He set her down and soundly kissed both her cheeks.
Zared wanted to see no more. She climbed down from the tree.
For a while, as she walked back to the tent, she couldn't think clearly. She had discovered the reason for the Howard man's interference in the Peregrines' lives. He wanted to prevent the Peregrines from marrying into the wealth of the Marshall family. He wanted to make sure the Peregrines were never wealthy enough to conquer the Howard stronghold.
She went back to bed, but she did not sleep. When the Howard man at last returned to the tent her body grew rigid, and she lay there awake all night, not sleeping until nearly dawn.
In the morning two things happened: one, the practical jokes started, and two, the Howard man disappeared.
Severn overslept, and when he awoke to find Zared still asleep and the other cot empty he was annoyed with Zared, saying she had done something to anger Smith. Severn said he needed Smith to give him advice on the day's fighting, and he was sure Zared had done something to make Smith leave.
Zared had no way to defend herself. She had kept too many secrets for too long to begin to reveal them. Her only consolation was imagining telling Severn the truth when they were once again at home. She hoped her brother would have the courtesy to apologize to her for his accusations.
But for the time being all she could do was clench her fists at her sides and repeat that she had no idea where "Smith" was.
It was once they were on the tournament field that the "jokes" began. Severn put on his helmet and found that the inside of it had been coated with mud. At his first charge his lance broke away in his hand before he ever reached his opponent. Someone released bees from a hive, and while the bystanders swatted at them they came to land on Severn because parts of his armor had been coated with honey. When the Peregrine banner had been unfurled, instead of a white falcon on a red ground the banner had been replaced with cloth that was painted with a picture of a satyr chasing a nubile young girl—and the satyr looked remarkably like Severn.
With each of these harmless but mean little jokes the crowd laughed, and their laughter increased until at midday the mere sight of a Peregrine caused gales of laughter.
Zared looked into the stands and saw Lady Anne and her father laughing and pointing. Zared was glad the king had left the day before, but she had no doubt he would hear of how the Peregrine knight had been made to look the fool.
Severn instructed one of his men to stay with his armor at all times to see that nothing more was done to it. Zared had to ask other knights for lances, for all of Severn's had been sawed nearly
through during the night. Colbrand sent his smirking squire over with an armful of new lances, and Zared forced herself to say thank you to the boy.
Severn took it all quietly, never saying a word as Zared washed mud off his face and out of his helmet. But the fact that he would not bend down to her, so that she had to climb on a short barrel to reach him, showed how enraged he was. He said nothing while she scrubbed honey off his armor. He did not comment while she frantically rerolled the banner that should have been the proud Peregrine falcon.
With each new thing that made the crowd laugh Zared was more and more sure that the Howard man was behind the jests. It would suit him, she thought. He seemed to like to spend most of his time laughing at her, and he was making everyone laugh at her brother as well.
And this laughter, she thought with anger, would assure that Lady Anne would not marry a Peregrine. She doubted if an old war-horse like Hugh Marshall would allow his daughter to marry a man who was the butt of such jokes.
"He has what he wants," she whispered to herself, watching as Severn knocked another man from his horse. It looked as though the Howard man would be able to keep the Peregrines from using the Marshall wealth to regain their lands.
Would he marry the lovely Lady Anne himself? she wondered. Again she remembered seeing him kiss her. What would he have done if Zared had accepted his marriage proposal? Added something else to his list of what there was to laugh at the Peregrines about? Would he sit with his fat older brother and laugh that the youngest Peregrine had agreed to marry him?
"That is one pleasure I will deny him," Zared said under her breath.
When the games were halted for dinner Severn did not go to the castle to eat, and he would not allow Zared to go either. Not that she wanted to, for she could not bear to hear more laughter. Severn sent one of his men to fetch food, and Severn and Zared sat alone on stools outside the tent and ate without speaking.
At one point Zared asked her brother who he thought was playing the tricks.
"I will kill whoever it is," Severn said softly, and he continued eating.
Zared knew he meant just that. Were she to tell him she was sure that the man he seemed to think so highly of, Smith, was actually a Howard, and that he was making the Peregrines look like fools, she knew that Severn would kill the man. And then what? Would Severn be executed? Would Oliver Howard retaliate by laying siege to Rogan and Liana and their child?
Zared just kept eating and said nothing.
After dinner Severn did not return to the lists. He was not due to fight again until late in the day, and he did not care to see the men he had beaten earlier. He went into the tent and stayed there.
Zared decided to go to see the other jousters. As she neared the lists she straightened her back, preparing herself to be the object of ridicule.
As she drew closer to the lists she realized that something new had taken the crowd's attention, for no one even glanced her way. All eyes were on the jousting field. She could see the people in the stands, saw the way their eyes were wide, their bodies leaning forward.
She moved through the crowd of spectators and found herself near Jamie. He barely glanced at her and showed no sign of even remembering the Peregrine humiliation of the morning.
"What is it?" she asked. The crowd was quiet, as though waiting for something.
"There," Jamie said, pointing to the far end of the field.
At the end of the field was a man on a black horse draped in black silk, wearing black-painted armor, his face covered, a black plume on top of his helmet. It was not at all rare to see black armor, and she could find nothing unusual about the man.
"That is what you gape at?" she asked.
Jamie gave her a look of contempt, as though she were too stupid to comprehend even the smallest thing.
"He is the Black Knight. No one knows who he is, and he has come to challenge all. So far he has knocked every man from his horse."
"So has my brother," Zared snapped.
Jamie snorted. "Your brother is likely to smear them in honey and the bees knock a man from his horse."
Zared put her hand up to smack the boy, but Colbrand stepped between them and smiled down at her. Zared's anger melted away as she looked up at him.
"The man is a mystery," Colbrand said.
"Who is?" Zared asked, smiling up at him. His golden hair waved back divinely from his temples and his eyes were very blue.
"The Black Knight," Jamie snapped. "Is all your family stupid as well as foolish?" he hissed across Colbrand so only Zared could hear him.
"I will make you eat those words," she said, and she started for him, but the shout of the crowd got her attention. The Black Knight was about to ride against his opponent.
His heavy horse thundered down the field, and the man kept his body tilted forward, his lance held low. When he hit the armored man on the other side of the low fence the blow was so hard that the man fairly lifted out of his saddle and hit the ground, landing with a crash of armor.
"He is good," Zared said under her breath.
"Better than anyone except Colbrand," Jamie said, but there was doubt in his voice.
"Who is he? Where does he come from? What does he want?" she asked.
"He was announced as the Marshall challenger, to fight all comers, and his identity is to be kept a secret."
"People have reasons for keeping secrets," Zared said with some bitterness. "What does he want?"
"To win the emerald," Colbrand said above their heads. "What else could he want?"
"All that the Lady Anne possesses," she snapped. "Power. The notice of the king."
Colbrand looked down at her with vacant blue eyes that had no understanding in them, and suddenly she didn't think they were such handsome eyes.
She shrugged and turned away. She had more to think about than whether or not Colbrand was handsome, for there was something wrong. Why had the man waited until the second day to enter the games? Why keep his identity a secret?
She moved away from Colbrand and Jamie and made her way to the Black Knight's end of the field. There were half a dozen boys crowding around the knight, handing him new lances, wetting his horse's nose, and in general worshiping the mysterious man who was such a good fighter.
Zared watched the man through two more runs before she realized there was something familiar about him. At first she thought he might be her oldest brother. He was the same size as Rogan, but he did not move as Rogan did. Nor was he one of her father's illegitimate sons, for she knew them well.
She stepped closer to watch the man, and when she did so he turned his head toward her. She could see none of his face through the grid of his face mask, but the way he moved his head, even when it was encased in steel, made her draw in her breath.
Howard, she thought, and she knew without a doubt who was inside the armor.
She turned away before he could see the expression on her face. She walked back to stand by Colbrand and watch the man joust, but she looked with new eyes.
There was the man who had nearly died when her knife had grazed his ribs. Had nearly died? Or had just pretended to? He had lain there on the grass and told her he was afraid to be alone, and she, fool, had believed him. She had left him, yet she had returned because she feared he was dying.
Lies, she thought. The man was composed of lies. He pretended to be a weakling; he pretended to be who he was not; he pretended to want to marry a Peregrine; he pretended to be a friend.
"Do you think your brother can take him?"
It took her a moment to realize that Colbrand was speaking to her. And it was another moment before she realized that her body did not vibrate at being so near the beautiful man. Beautiful, yes, but so were the gloves Tearle had bought her, and Colbrand's eyes looked as though they held as much intelligence as the gloves. She would have very much liked to talk to someone about the mysterious knight, but as she looked up at Colbrand's handsome face she knew he would not be the one. She sensed that he would not be a
ble to understand the finer points of a conversation that involved logic and deduction.
"My brother will kill him," Zared said softly.
"With mud or honey?" Jamie said, smirking.
She did not react to his words at all but turned a blazing face to the boy. "Go and fetch my brother."
Jamie didn't hesitate, for he knew a command when he heard it. He turned and started running.
Zared stood beside the field and watched as the Black Knight downed one man after another. Her ears rang with everything she'd said to the Howard man, how she'd taunted him about being soft, about knowing of women's clothes yet not knowing of men's weapons.
How he must have laughed at her, she thought. How he must have chuckled over her every word. Did he laugh at Zared while Lady Anne was in his arms? He had admitted that he knew her in France, so perhaps they had planned their marriage while there. What had happened? Did Lady Anne's father dislike the notion of having a Howard son-in-law—and had he forced his daughter to choose another man? Had Hugh Marshall chosen Severn?
But the Howard man had eliminated Severn from competing for Lady Anne's hand. The crowd laughed whenever they saw a Peregrine, laughed even at the Peregrine banner. So now the Howard man caught the crowd's fancy by dressing as a mysterious knight. He fought no better than Severn had, but in the end, when he revealed himself, he would not be a man the crowd had laughed at. With the glory of the Black Knight strong Hugh Marshall would no doubt listen to a Howard petition of marriage.
Zared watched the man who called himself the Black Knight with increasing concentration. Severn must beat him, she thought.
It was a while before she realized Severn was standing behind her.
"What do you think?" he asked softly.
"You can take him," she said. "He has intimidation on his side. Half these men expect to be knocked down by him. He scares them. He has weight and strength on his side, but he is no larger or stronger than you."
The Conquest Page 12
