Kingdom Come (29 page)

Rory’s head was lowered, her eyes closed. She began to sing facing her feet, the lyrics soft and sweet. Drawing on her experience in her high school chamber singers, she had a lovely Alto voice, which grew increasingly louder as the lyrics progressed. She had the entire tavern enthralled, including her husband, as she sang a song that Freddie Mercury would make it famous in the far distant future.

“I've paid my dues - time after time – I've done my sentence - but committed no crime -
And bad mistakes - I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through,

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world –

I've taken my bows - And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it - I thank you all -  But it's been no bed of roses - no pleasure cruise -
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race - and I ain't gonna lose,
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world!”

When the song was finished, no one dared move. The entire place was as still as stone.  Rory stood on the table top, gazing over the room with increasing embarrassment, thinking that they hated her song. But when the crowd realized the song was over, they burst out in such loud applause that Rory had to cover her ears. The entire room was quaking with shouts and applause.

Rory jumped off the table and raced over to where Kieran was still standing, still in the company of the Somerset knights. As the crowd roared their approval and began to bang their cups, knives and plates against the table for an encore, Rory grabbed Kieran by the arm.

“Come on,” she hissed, breathless. “Let’s get up to our room and bolt the door before they realize we’re gone.”

Kieran was looking at her with a good deal of amazement from what he had just witnessed. But he was confused by her request.

“What…?” his brow furrowed. “What do you…?”

“Please!” she whispered urgently, her hazel eyes suddenly verging on tears. “Let’s get everyone up to their rooms and bolt the doors before those knights come to their senses.”

Suddenly, he could see what she was doing. Honestly, when he first heard the clapping, he thought she had lost her mind. But he quickly realized she had done it to distract the building hostilities.  He felt like an idiot for nothing having understood that before.  But watching her perform, he saw a side of her that he had never seen before, something that was both shocking and deeply attractive.  He knew she was talented but he had no idea just how talented. The woman had dimensions he couldn’t even fathom.

“As you say, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Take the boys and go upstairs. I will be up shortly.”

But she didn’t let go. “No, Kieran,” she said insistently. “Come with me now. Please.”

He patted her hand reassuringly, looking to Yusef, a few feet away. “Go with Yusef,” he tried to pass her off to the Saracen. “Take Kaleef and the boys and go upstairs.”

“But, Kieran…!”

“Please. Do not argue with me.”

“I’m not leaving you!”

His jaw ticked, not a good sign. “Do it now or you will not like my reaction.”

She opened her mouth to reply when a fist suddenly came flying at Kieran’s face, sending him reeling. Rory shrieked; running on instinct, she grabbed the nearest thing on the table, which happened to be a big wooden pitcher. She swung it with all her might at the Somerset knight and hit him in the side of the head.  He teetered back as Kieran righted himself and charged forward, throwing a massive fist and shattering the man’s nose.  Blood spurted and the knight went down.

Yusef was moving into action as the room suddenly erupted with screams and people scrambling.   He pulled Rory back, away from the flying fists, and tackled the nearest Somerset knight as Kieran went after another one.  Kaleef and the young boys were backed into a corner as the room deteriorated into massive brawl, and Rory stumbled over to them.

“We need to get clear of here,” she said to them, taking little David by the hand and gesturing to Bud to take charge of Kaleef. “Follow me.”

The four of them moved for the stairs, trying to stay clear of flying tables and chairs. It was like an Old West bar brawl only worse; these people were biting and gouging eyes along with throwing punches. By the time Rory and her little group reached the stairs, she noticed that several men in the room had jumped in to the fight.  Only one Somerset knight was left standing, and that man was having the stuffing beat out of him by Kieran.  Not strangely, the men who had jumped into the brawl were also fighting each other. Punches and stools were being thrown like crazy.  The room was being destroyed as Rory pulled David, Bud and Kaleef up the stairs.

Rory paused about half way up the staircase, urging the others to head to the top. She had to watch Kieran, to make sure no one was taking out a sword to stab him in the back. Not that she could do much from her perch on the stairs so she began to move back down the steps, inching towards the fight that had now broken through the front window. 

Kieran finished off the Somerset knight by picking the man up and tossing him across the room.   He barely had time to recover when two men nearby charged him; one caught him in the shoulder and the other man caught him in the abdomen. Annoyed, he grabbed the pair by their hair and smacked their heads together, sending them crashing to the floor.  He spied Rory on the stairs and he began to charge towards her.

“Go,” he boomed. “Up the stairs.”

The sheer volume of his voice startled her. He sounded furious and she had no idea why.

“You don’t have to yell!” she hollered back.

He opened his mouth but got hit from behind, almost sending him to his knees. A group of men were fighting behind him and someone got shoved into him, clipping him behind the knees.  Kieran turned to the group, clobbering two of the men and sending the others scattering when they saw how furious he was. Kieran’s anger was unleashed and he was obliterating anyone, or anything, that got in his way.  Then he swung to his wife, his face taut with rage.  Rory saw the expression and she knew, for her sake, that she had better do as he told her. She bolted up the stairs, taking the boys and Kaleef with her into the nearest open room when she reached the top.  She slammed the door behind her and bolted it.

Kieran mounted the stairs two at a time, storming up the steps until he reached the top.  Lashing out a massive boot, he kicked the door in, shattering the wood.  Splinters rained down as Rory and the boys cowered in a corner. Old Kaleef sat calmly on the bed, watching the events fold out before him.  He was the only one in the room not wrought with terror.

“She is with child, my lord,” Kaleef reminded him steadily. “If you beat her, you risk the child.”

Kieran acted as if he had not heard him. He charged into the room, grabbed Rory by the arm, and pulled her back out into the hall.  She stumbled behind him as he towed her down the short, uneven corridor and into a room at the far end.   The door shut with a bang, the sounds of a bolt being thrown echoing in the sudden stillness of the corridor.

Once inside the chamber, Rory yanked herself free of Kieran’s grasp and ran to the other side of the room. Truth be told, she was terrified. But she was also furious in her own right.  As he swung to face her, jaw ticking, she jabbed a finger at him.

“Don’t start with me,” she took the offensive. “I made an ass out of myself trying to distract those Somerset knights so that they wouldn’t kill you, but you still wouldn’t leave. You just stood there in all your manly glory because to turn away from a fight is considered cowardly. Well, I don’t consider it cowardly; I consider it smart.  I’m not going to let you yell at me when all I was trying to do was save your life.”

Kieran stood by the door, grinding his teeth as he listened to her speech.  After a moment, he began to rip his gloves off, tossing them angrily onto the bed.

“I can save my own life,” he growled. “I do not need or want your protection. You do not seem to realize that every time you disobey me, every time you put yourself someplace where you should not be, you divide my attention and make it possible for someone to catch me off guard.  As I was standing there arguing with you, Somerset’s man was able to throw a fist into my jaw. It could have just as easily been a knife to my chest.  And it would have been your fault.”

Her face turned red and she was gearing up for a serious retort. But as Kieran watched, her face crumpled and she turned away from him in hysterical tears.  Kieran’s fury drained out of him in an instant; grunting with remorse, he sighed and made his way towards her.

“Do not weep,” he muttered regretfully. “I did not mean it.”

“Yes, you did,” she wept. “You were trying to hurt me and you did.”

He sighed again, with great guilt. “I was not attempting to hurt you,” he said hoarsely. “But I am angry. I am angry because your stubbornness could have gotten us both killed. Sweetheart, I do not give you direction simply to hear myself talk; I do it because it is important. You must understand that.”

“And you must understand that I’m not some weakling Medieval woman who can’t think for herself,” she fired back. “I don’t need you to boss me around like I’m mindless chattel.  Is it so hard for you to treat me like a partner and not a possession?”

“This has nothing to do with that. You are not a warrior and you must trust that I know more than you do with regards to personal safety.”

“I know enough that I was trying to distract those knights so you could get away. And you just stood there!”

He could see that this wasn’t a battle he was going to easily win; she simply didn’t understand that she needed to listen to him for her own health and safety.  She was very much the modern woman who took care of herself and tried to help others.  Her assimilation into Medieval society wasn’t going as smoothly as they would have hoped and he couldn’t figure out if it was because he was resisting her or if she was resisting him.

“I do not know what to say except I am sorry your feelings are hurt,” he murmured. “I love you, Lib. Never doubt for a moment that you are the most important thing in the world to me.  I understand you were attempting to assist me downstairs but you must understand that I do not need assistance, mostly because if you are involved, I spend my time worrying about you.  Divided attention, in my profession, can be deadly.”

She wasn’t going to let him off so easily. When he tried to gently take her in his arms, she yanked away and stumbled over to a small table and chair against the wall. Sitting heavily in the chair, she wept hot tears into the wall.

“Go away,” she sobbed. “Go downstairs and get yourself killed. I don’t care anymore. You’re hateful, Kieran, just hateful.”

Kieran stood there, watching her weep, feeling like an ogre.  She was sobbing heavily, so hard that she ended up vomiting up all of the wonderful orange segments all over the floor.  He didn’t care if she didn’t want him to touch her; when she started heaving, he went to her, pulling her hair out of the way and holding her steady as she lurched.  She tried to smack him, to push him away, but she couldn’t do that and vomit at the same time.   When she was finished expelling everything in her stomach, she began to weep louder.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped miserably. “I’ve made such a mess. I can’t… can’t….”

Kieran had had enough; he picked her up and carried her to the bed, laying her down and throwing himself down beside her. His arms went around her tightly, enveloping her against his massive body.  Rory struggled for a few seconds before succumbing to the inevitable. He was alive and warm against her, and she now wept for an entirely new reason. She was just glad he was alive.