Authors: Kathryn Loch
The vibrant picture exploded to life, full of color and brilliance. Alyna laid
out before him, her body writhing in ecstasy, her beauty sheer perfection. She stole his breath and stripped away his sanity. For one perfect moment he could actually see her.
His voice filled with awe. “You are so beautiful, Alyna,”
Passion fractured
the vision as her convulsing body brought a savage and long fulfillment. He spilled his soul into her, offering up the very essence of himself and was accepted completely as he collapsed into her arms.
His awareness slowly pulled itself together but he di
d not move. Alyna’s fingers traveled through his hair and he enjoyed the simple pleasure of her actions. He wondered how it was possible that he had found a woman who he could love so intensely. If it hadn’t been for her courage, he would be in a hospic
e and she would be bearing another man’s children.
Garin froze. What if he got a child on her now? The fever might have left him incapable of siring a heir. It had stolen so much already it was perfectly able to steal that as well.
But what would happ
en if she did start breeding? What if his bid to be baron failed and their marriage was annulled? She would carry a bastard and no man would want her. Perhaps if she was with child he could plead to the priest. Geoff would allow them to live at Salkeld
.
Garin’s inheritance would go to Juliana and it would gall him to no end to see Peter as lord over his lands. But to stay with Alyna it would be worth it. He would stand any abuse Peter wished to give him as long as he didn’t hurt Alyna.
If Alyna wa
sn’t breeding and he lost his bid, Garin would have no leverage to continue the marriage but would even that sway a priest? Garin didn’t know what to hope for. Should he pray for a child or beg God not to curse her with one?
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, Garin stood in the bailey as three wagon-loads of flour entered the gates.
“
Baron Swein, Sir Salkeld,” the serjant said, jumping down from the first wagon. Garin and Geoff approached as men formed a line into the ke
ep to hand off the bags. “We had four wagons but we lost the last one to mercenaries. They are getting worse, my lords.”
Geoff swore, calling for his horse and armor. “Don’t worry, Swein, I’ll take care of this problem. Permission to take a group of te
n - my own men, sir.”
“
Granted.” He paused and pulled Geoff aside. “Be careful, Geoff, Alyna will never forgive me if anything happened to you.”
Geoff chuckled and clapped his shoulder. “Worry not. I’ll take care of these curs and send the captain’s he
ad back to Naworth.”
“
God speed.” Garin turned to the wagons and took a place in line to unload the flour bags.
****
Two days later, Geoff gritted his teeth as he set his men to making camp for the night. The mercenaries were close, he could feel them
but they would have to wait until the dawn. The sun would soon set and Geoff wanted his men rested. They had found the trail of heavy horses earlier. He judged about twenty. They were
outnumbered
two to one but tomorrow he would take to the high groun
d and pick the battlefield.
As the men pitched their tents, Geoff set up the watch rotation mentally. Two men on guard at all times, and he would take first watch. The party camped off the king’s road where the trees were thick, next to the river.
The
forest around them stirred with life when it suddenly fell silent. Geoff stiffened. He tested the wind like a predator, his eyes narrowing. Geoff growled an oath - the predator had just become the prey.
“
Ambush!” he shouted, hefting his shield and drawi
ng his sword.
Men on horses exploded from the trees. Blast, how could he have let them get so close? Simon was right, he was an old man, one who needed to be put to pasture. A man on a horse charged Geoff, he deflected the mace blow on his shield and cu
t at the horse. The animal screamed and fell.
His men were in chaos.
“
Form a shield wall,” Geoff bellowed over the din. “Spearmen behind, your backs to the river!”
Two horsemen charged him. Geoff sought to spring away but his aging body betrayed him
for the first time in his life. It hesitated only a fraction before responding.
A war hammer descended, bouncing against the side rim of his shield and slamming into his left arm just below his shoulder, shattering bone and destroying the joint.
A ter
rible blackness closed around him, hazed in red. He bellowed in fury, his thoughts turning to Alyna - his precious daughter and to Garin’s plea to keep himself safe.
Don’t be too hard on him, Alyna. It wasn’t his fault.
****
Alyna decided to take a bl
essed break from the keep and watch her husband with the other knights tilt the quintain. Garin finished his pass and pulled his horse to a halt beside her. He jumped down and gave the animal a firm pat.
“
Well done,” Alyna said.
“
Thank you.” He gave her
a lopsided grin. “Even now I find the urge to show off for my lady.”
She laughed softly. “Ah, the garish boy I was betrothed to still exists.”
“
Painfully, lady.” He reached for her hand and pulled her closer, ducking his head to kiss her.
“
Baron!” A v
oice boomed across the bailey, freezing them. “’Tis Salkeld’s men!”
“
Take my horse,” he said to his squire. Garin grabbed Alyna’s hand and they hurried to the gates.
Alyna’s heart throbbed painfully in her chest. She noted the hail had not been Sir Salk
eld and his men. She almost ground to a halt when she saw the wagon, flanked by four of her father’s men, with his horse tied to the back.
“
Oh God, no....” She was suddenly sprinting, terrified of what she would find but too agonized not to look.
She sli
d to a halt. Her father lay in the back of the wagon covered in a blanket soaked with blood.
“
He lives,” the serjant said, bounding down. “But just barely.”
“
What happened?” Alyna choked.
“
The bastards took us by surprise three evensong ago.”
Garin’s ha
nd tightened painfully on hers.
“
A war hammer nearly destroyed his arm. I thought we’d never get the bleeding stopped. But he got up and kept fighting. They nearly slaughtered us, Baron, but Sir Salkeld pulled us out of it and kept his word. The captai
n’s head is on its way to Naworth.”
“
Glory,” Garin whispered. “Simon, to me.”
“
I’m here, Baron.”
“
Get him upstairs and for God’s sake don’t jostle him.”
“
Aye, sir.”
Alyna stared in horror. Her father’s face was as white as death. Simon and his men gentl
y removed him from the wagon. Alyna buried her face against Garin’s chest, unable to watch any longer.
“’
Twill be all right,” he said, holding her tightly.
Alyna’s resolve crumbled into a storm of tears. That had been the exact thing her father said the
day she learned Garin was blind.
****
Alyna sat vigil over her father as he battled fever and delirium. He had lost a tremendous amount of blood. His upper arm had been destroyed. She had reset and splinted the shattered bone as best she could but it
was doubtful he would ever have use of his left arm again...if he survived.
“
Catherine,” Geoff muttered, calling for his dead wife. “Catherine, I beg you. Don’t leave me, please. I cannot raise a babe without you.”
Alyna flinched, his raving cutting h
er to the quick. She always knew her father loved her mother but now it became painfully real what agony Alyna’s birth had caused. He spoke of his baby girl in bitter tones. One moment swearing his love for her, the last tie to his beautiful wife, and t
he next cursing the birth that had ripped the life out of his lover.
Just when Alyna thought she would fly apart in agony, Garin put his arms around her and pulled her from the room, ordering Cecily to keep watch.
“
I can’t leave him,” she wailed.
“
You must
rest, Alyna. It would destroy your father if he knew you heard his fevered ravings.”
“
It doesn’t hurt so much.”
“
You never lie, Alyna, so don’t start now. I can feel it in you as plain as if my own soul bore the lash. Cecily will care for him.”
“
But I
want to be with him when...if....”
“
Cecily will send someone for you if that should happen, which it won’t.” Abruptly he scooped her into his arms.
“
Cecily,” Alyna said. “Don’t let the monk bleed him. He’s lost too much already.”
“
I won’t, Alyna, you ha
ve my word.”
Garin carried her back to their room.
****
Alyna managed to sleep the rest of the night only because of exhaustion. A hard pounding on the door startled her awake when dawn was only a weak, gray glow.
Garin jumped, his arms tightening arou
nd her. “What is it?” he bellowed.
“
Garin,” Simon said through the door. “Naworth and Vaux are taking the field, I have ordered the gates closed and the portcullis lowered. The siege begins.”
Garin swore colorfully and hauled himself out of bed. “Methi
nks Naworth did not like Geoff’s gift to him.”
“
Aye,” Simon replied.
“
I will be down in a moment, gather the knights in the hall. I want to meet with them before we take the battlements.”
“
Aye, Baron.”
Alyna’s stomach twisted painfully. First her father
and now this.
“
Alyna, are you all right?”
“
Yes,” she said but her body shook like a leaf battered in a storm.
Garin hesitated, returning to the bed. He reached for her and she took his hand. “Do you need to rest some more?”
“
Nay, if we are to make this k
eep a fighting bastion, then I need to work.”
“
Aye, my love, don’t worry, everything will be fine.” He kissed her softly then returned to getting dressed.
****
Garin descended the stairs wearing his finest mail. A hauberk, leggings, and coif. Gold spu
rs graced his feet. Around his chest, just under his arms and descending to the top of his hips, wrapped a heavy leather
cuirie
with metal plates riveted onto it. Solid metal covered his knees, the mail links of his long hauberk slapping against them as
he walked. A golden cornet of his baronet adorned his brow over the mail. On his shoulders, he wore square, hard leather epaulets with his heraldic device.
The red rampant lion also adorned his fine white linen surcoat which Garin wore over his mail. Ar
ound his waist wrapped a large belt from which hung his large sword, delicately engraved with gold on the pommel. On the right of the belt was a heavy thrusting dagger. In his left hand he carried his triangular shield, also painted with his device.
A sq
uire flanked him on his right, bearing Garin’s lance with his
banneret
, and a second squire on his left carried his large great helm. But this was simply a formality. In a siege, unless they could escape through the sally port, no one would charge aboard
horse with couched lance, and certainly not Garin.
Beside him walked Alyna, her arm entwined with his right. She wore her finest blue brocade dress, her coronet, and the sapphire necklace he had given her. Garin had every intention of appearing in full
regalia as the true baron and baroness of East of Eden.
Simon joined him on the stairs. “The knights have gathered. Naworth, his son, and Vaux approach the gates under a parlay banner. Their men have taken position but have not attacked.”
Garin nodded c
urtly and Alyna discreetly guided him to stand before his knights. “My lords, Naworth approaches to deliver terms. Before I address him, I would hear any grievance or concern.”
No one spoke.
“
Very well, I wish my knights to appear with me on the top wall
of the barbican. Squires shall bear arms, lances, and banners. I do not expect bloodshed but all archers will take their positions, crossbows at the ready. Understood?”
“
Aye, Baron,” voices said.
Garin, his arm still entangled with Alyna’s, walked into
the bailey, his knights falling in formation behind him. Horns blared, announcing his presence.
“
The men are clearly demonstrating their respect by bowing or dropping to one knee as we pass,” Alyna whispered.
Garin nodded again. He followed every de
tail of protocol, knowing it was vital he present a strong and powerful image. He ascended the stairs to the barbican and stood in the forefront at the top of the wall. Simon stood at his left.
“
They have only one trebuchet set in the field,” Simon said.
“Their count of knights is five to our ten. Serjants and mounted men at arms number approximately twenty, and there are about forty infantry. They have also split their force to blockade our sally port.”
“
Expected,” Garin replied. “Do you see ladders
and other scaling tools, perhaps a siege tower?”
“
I see few ladders and no siege tower. If they intend build one, then they have far to travel to gain wood from our forests.”
“
Aye. Archers or crossbow men?”
“
I see a company of ten crossbows.”
Garin scowl
ed. “This is not much of a fighting force, Kirkoswald can easily withstand them.”
“
Aye. I think you are right that they do not plan bloodshed. Baron Naworth steps forward under parlay.”
“
Why have you brought this force against me, Naworth?” Garin barked
.
“
Your insistence to pursue this foolish bid to be baron concerns us, Swein,” Naworth replied. “We cannot have one of our neighboring castles weakened by the leadership of a blind man. Step down as baron and we will quit the field.”