Kingdom Come (41 page)

“Who told you this?”

Simon faltered; he’d not thought this far ahead in the conversation and mentally scrambled to attain a believable reply. “I…I heard some of the Saracens speaking, men who had presented the gift to Kieran. They told him it was a relic of Jesus Christ.”

Jeffrey pondered that a moment, sitting forward on the table and folding his big hands.  It was clear he was deliberating all of the information presented. Sean stood silently next to his father, his powerful gaze never leaving Simon. But Sean remained as quiet as the grave; he would let his usually hot-headed but extremely wily father handle the situation. All Sean wanted to do was throttle the man.

“So you have come to tell me that my son is a traitor to Richard’s cause,” he said.

“To all of England, my lord,” Simon insisted. “The sands of The Levant have done something to his mind. He is not the same man you knew.”

Jeffrey grunted. “So you fear he is returning home to wreak havoc?”

“Aye, my lord.”

“What kind of havoc?”

Simon blinked as if startled by the question. “I would not know, my lord,” he replied. “But the man is unstable. There is no telling what he will say or do.”

Out of the darkness, a figure moved, so swiftly that no one saw the movement until it was too late.  Kieran descended out of the shadows and landed a crushing blow against Simon’s jaw, so hard that as Simon sailed over the table, three teeth landed on the wood. Kieran vaulted over the table and went after him, sending John and his retainers scrambling for cover. Finally, it was the confrontation that Kieran had been waiting for.  Punishment was at hand.

“Unstable, am I?” Kieran grabbed Simon and punched him in the face so hard that the facial bones shattered. “A traitor, am I? Considering one of your men confessed your lies and treachery to Richard, I would say that you are the only traitor in this room. Richard put a price on your head so you fled home to spread lies about me.”

Simon was bordering on unconsciousness as Kieran pulled him up from the floor and drove another fist into the side of his head.  That blow knocked Simon out completely and he was a rag doll in Kieran’s hands.  Kieran tossed the man across the room, like a dead body, and the room suddenly became alive with swords being drawn.  As the prince’s men and Southwell troops engaged, John was screaming in the middle of it, demanding he not be harmed.  He screamed at some of his men to save Simon and several of them rushed Kieran, who was unarmed.  

Sean intercepted three of the prince’s guard, joined by Andrew.  Yusef, who had been in the shadows with Keiran listening to the lies, ran at Kieran as the room deteriorated into chaos.

“We are unarmed, my friend,” he said, watching the fighting. “Perhaps we should acquire weapons.”

Kieran was as furious as he had ever been in his life. Listening to Simon’s lies first-hand had put him over the edge.  A few of the prince’s men were down on the floor, gravely injured, and he went to collect weapons they no longer needed. With a broadsword in hand, he was extremely formidable. But he didn’t particularly want to fight. He wanted everyone in that room to understand that he was not the traitor Simon had painted him out to be. More than anything, he wanted to be vindicated. He leapt onto the feasting table with Yusef behind him, bellowing for calm.

“Cease!” he roared, holding up his enormous hands. “Southwell troops, you will cease!”

At the booming command of Kieran Hage, the room ground to an unsteady halt.  Men were lying on the floor groaning and the prince, with several of his advisors, was huddled in a far corner.   Kieran’s gaze fell on the prince as the man cowered in the shadows and he leapt off the table with Yusef in tow.  As he approached, the prince held out his hands.

“You cannot harm me, Hage,” he practically screamed. “I am the king’s brother. You cannot harm me!”

Kieran stopped several feet away, his features taut and his chest tight with anger. “I have no intention of harming you,” he said. “But I want you, and every man in this room, to hear the truth of what transpired so that you will understand I am not a traitor. Simon’s poisonous lies will no longer be tolerated.”

John didn’t lower his hands but his fearful gaze moved between Kieran and the dark-skinned savage at his side. “What… what truth?”

Kieran looked at Yusef, who stepped forward and bowed traditionally to the prince. “Sharif,” he gave the traditional Muslim greeting. “I am Yusef Ibn Ahmed Ibn ad-Din, a general to the great El Hajidd, advisor and chief general to the great Sala’ a-din.  Many knights have fought for the Christian kings but there was one man, Sir Kieran Hage, who distinguished himself from the rest. Even our Muslim commanders knew of Sir Kieran’s reputation for justice and honesty. It was for that reason that my commander called a secret meeting with Sir Kieran Hage to offer a truce to the Christian armies. As a show of good faith, he extended the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ as a peace offering.”

John was still cowering in the corner but the naked fear had somewhat left him. “That… that is an amazing tale,” he said, although he’d already heard all of it. He presumed his best defense at the moment was to plead ignorance to whatever he could get away with. “Sir Kieran was most honored by the Muslim armies, then.”

Yuself nodded, looking over his shoulder at Simon, on the other side of the room and still unconscious, before turning back to the prince. “Sir Simon was part of that delegation as well,” he told the prince. “I saw him myself, for I was a member of the Muslim delegation. Simon was present when the terms for the treaty were relayed to Sir Kieran. What Sir Kieran did not know was that jealousy and treachery burned in Simon’s heart, and Simon made many attempts to murder Sir Kieran.  When his attempts failed, he told King Richard that Kieran had betrayed the Christian Armies by secretly meeting with the enemy.”

John pushed himself out of the corner, moving oddly sideways towards the entry to the hall. He was trying to leave and not being entirely unobvious about it.

“Then Simon lied to me as well,” he announced. “Had I known that, I would have never come here. I would have ignored him.”

Kieran knew that John was just trying to cover himself.  He tossed aside the broadsword in his hand, feeling rather drained and empty after his rage.  The entire situation was more or less coming to an unexpected head and he found himself emotionally exhausted. But Yusef took the opportunity to speak to all concerned.

“Sir Kieran is a noble man who has been set upon by wolves,” he said strongly, making sure everyone heard him. “Sir Simon spreads lies of betrayal where none exist. You must know of Sir Kieran’s innocence in all things.”

John was practically at the door. “I believe you,” he said. “But what of the relic? What happened to it?”

Kieran was still standing over by the corner where the prince had been cowering. “I have it,” he replied, somewhat wearily. “It is in my safekeeping.”

John stopped creeping for the door. “What do you plan to do with it?”

Jeffrey, still at the table in spite of all of the fighting that had gone on around him, stood up. “The Hages will gift it to the Church,” he said firmly, moving towards the prince. “It will be our gift to England.  My son has saved this holy relic from the savages and it is our duty to present it to the Church where it belongs.”

John looked rather stricken. “But…,” he stammered. “But this gift was meant for Richard. If Richard is not here to accept it, then as his brother, it is only right that I should accept it in his stead.”

The mood of the room suddenly changed; it was odd and strained, confused even.  Kieran, seeing that the quest for the relic could go in an entirely different direction, opened his mouth to refute the prince. But Yusef was first to reply.

“The relic was meant for all Christiandom,” he said. “It is not meant for any one man.”

John’s brow furrowed; that dark, greasy mono-brow lowered angrily. “But you said yourself that your general meant it for Richard,” he said. “What do you expect Richard to do with it? He would have returned it home to England where it belongs.”

“It goes to the Church,” Jeffrey put in before anyone else could answer. “I will take it to the Archbishop of Canterbury myself. But until then, it is in safekeeping and warrants no further argument.”

John was clearly unhappy.  “It should be in the charge of the royal family.”

“Yet it is not,” Jeffrey gave the man a powerful scowl. “If you have nothing more to say, then I would ask you to leave Southwell and return to wherever it is you came from.”

They were extremely bold words to the prince; as Kieran watched his father’s body language and listened to his speech, he wasn’t even sure if he would have spoken so brashly to a royal.  But Kieran knew that his father saw Henry in John, the friend he once had, the manipulator he had grown to hate.  Jeffrey was used to speaking his mind with the royals. 

But John’s mouth flew open, aghast. “Are you ordering me out of Southwell?”

Jeffrey moved towards him. “Get out of here before I take you over my knee. It should have been done years ago.”

John’s outrage knew no bounds. He began to yelp and snort, cuffing one of the advisors standing close to him when he realized the man was attempting to usher him out of the hall.   He struggled against his men.

“This is not finished!” he screamed. “This is not finished at all!”

Southwell men, including Andrew and Christian, escorted the prince and his entourage back to their horses.  Kieran, Sean, Yusef and Jeffrey stood and watched from the doorway as John threw himself down on the dirt of the bailey and pitched one of his legendary fits. 

They were so involved in watching the prince twist and foam that no one noticed Simon rising from the floor on the other side of the room.  He was smashed and disoriented, but not completely senseless.   He staggered to his feet and shuffled over to one of the king’s guards, lying dead on the floor.  Yanking the man’s broadsword out of his dead-stiff hand, he headed for the Hages.

Jeffrey suddenly grunted.  Startled by the sound, Kieran, Sean and Yusef turned to see Simon with his hand on the hilt of a sword that had been driven in to Jeffrey’s back.  Horrified, Kieran reached out and grabbed Simon around the neck, snapping it before the man could draw another breath.   As Simon fell dead to the floor, never to rise or spread lies again, Kieran was grabbing his father, holding the man close as Sean pulled free the sword. 

Kieran had never known such anguish. As his father bled bright red blood onto the dirt floor of the great hall, it suddenly reminded Kieran of a time long ago when he, too, had bled bright red blood onto a cold dirt floor.  He could only think of one thing as he looked up into Yusef’s shocked face.

“Get Kaleef,” he breathed.

***

From her vantage point, Rory had a perfect view of the gatehouse of Southwell and the road leading to it.  The road wound its way from the plains beyond, through the town, and up to the enormous two-towered gatehouse.  After Kieran left, she pulled up a stool and sat, watching the scene unfold below.

The prince arrived with a cluster of men on horseback.  She couldn’t see well enough in the darkness to make out what the soldiers and knights were wearing as far as tunics or banners, but it was really something to see.  The men on horses were dressed in heavy armor and the dogs on the parapets were barking furiously at the intruders. The gatehouse, lit up by dozens of enormous torches, closed its fanged portcullis slowly behind the incoming party; Rory could hear the ropes and chains creaking as the wheels were turned.  She watched, fascinated, as an entire Medieval world came to life in before her eyes. 

Shortly after Kieran left, Bud and David appeared in her room, escorted by the long-haired old man that had originally greeted them when they had first entered the keep.  She hugged David happily and even Bud seemed glad to see her.  From what the old servant told her, the boys had been in the knight’s quarters and Sir Kieran had ordered them brought to his chamber. Rory was thrilled and thanked the servant, who left them alone and shut the door.   As the boys sat down and cleaned up the rest of the food, Rory continued to watch the activity below.