Marek (The Knights of Stonebridge Book 1) (9 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kitty did not leave the solar for the rest of the afternoon. She and Bria spent the time in her chamber. Bria showed her how to play
Nine Men’s Morris
, and they whiled away the hours until supper.

There had been no sign of Marek.

When Bria’s little tummy grumbled, Kitty decided it was time to go down for supper. Marek would surely be dining with the rest of the keep. Considering their size, she doubted any of the men of his household missed a meal.

She would have to face him sometime.

Holding hands, she and Bria descended the stairs and entered the hall. The room was indeed crowded. Tables had been set out in rows for the keep’s inhabitants. The lord’s family would be expected to sit together on the dais at the far end of the room.

As she wandered over to take her place, Kitty smoothed the front of her kirtle, a simple garment of black linen trimmed in red, and ignored the people gaping at her from the long tables. She searched the faces of those already seated on the raised platform. Thane, Remi and Bryn took up one end of the single table, but Marek was not among them. Where was he? Kitty’s swallowed her disappointment and allowed Bria to lead her up the steps.

The men greeted her as she sank into the chair next to Thane. Bria bestowed a tiny peck on the cheeks of Thane and Remi before climbing into her Uncle Bryn’s lap. The two of them began a muted conversation. As they whispered to each other, Bryn occasionally slipped a glance at Kitty. Were they talking about her?

Conversation continued around her. She had a sudden longing to be included, but except for a few stolen glances, everyone ignored her. Sarah appeared and set a trencher of food on the table before Remi, Bryn and Bria, and another apparently meant for Thane to share with her. The aroma of beef swimming around in thick gravy did not entice her.

She kept remembering the look on Marek’s face when he stormed from the shed that afternoon. At the time, Kitty thought it best to just let it go. Better to let him go on thinking she was the adulterous wife he believed her to be.

But guilt gnawed at her. It saddened her that he would think she was unfaithful. How could any woman be unfaithful to that man? What had that boy offered Katherine Stone that her husband could not provide?

Kitty was dragged from her musings as Bryn nearly fell off the dais in his attempt to grab Sarah’s behind as she passed. Bria squealed and giggled with delight. With a grin, he dragged his sleeve across his mouth and stood up, plopping Bria down in his vacated seat. He leaned across the table, ignoring the glares from Thane and Remi, and spoke to Kitty in a quiet voice.

“My brother is lost in ‘is cups at the tavern. ‘Twill be more than one wench willing to warm his bed tonight. No need for
you
to wait up.” He slapped a scowling Remi on the back and jumped off the dais to follow his prey.

Jaw clenched, Kitty glanced around to find Thane watching her. He said nothing about Bryn’s spiteful tone. She looked away quickly, not wanting him to know how the boy’s words stung her.

Bria still sat on Bryn’s chair, eating from his trencher, her more reliable uncles close at hand. Lonely in a great hall full of people, Kitty decided her presence was neither desired nor expected. She had no appetite anyway. Without a word to anyone, she rose with as much dignity as she could rally and stepped down off the dais. No one spoke to her as she left the hall.

Having spent the entire afternoon locked in the solar, she had no desire to return. Instead she descended the circular stairs and stepped out into the cool night air. The sky was full dark now, but the waxing moon allowed her to see well enough.

She stood on the steps overlooking the bailey. Destruction of the old keep had been completed now and despite darkness, several men continued to haul away the debris, stacking the leftover wood against the new stone wall. A huge shed had been erected alongside the stack of wood. For a brief moment, Kitty wondered about her safety among these men who worked for Marek. She decided if she was ever to put her self-defense classes to the test, this was the time. Besides, as far as these men knew, she was the lord’s wife. Surely they would not allow any harm to come to her, much less cause harm themselves.

Taking a deep breath, she walked down the steps and crossed to the new shed. She stood outside the doorway, peering into the pitch blackness. She recognized the scent of horses. Kitty had never ridden until the fateful day of her arrival in Stonebridge, but Vanesa had taken lessons for a time. She had certainly been around horses enough to recognize the distinct smell of a stable.

Kitty turned and looked at the gate at the opposite end of the bailey, the same one through which she’d entered, the same one that opened onto the road leading down to the village. Could she find her way there in the dark?

Squinting into the shadows, Kitty saw that the gate was patrolled by two guards standing just inside. Her gaze traveled up the wall. Two more guards paced back and forth across the top of it. She watched them disappear then reappear behind first one then another of the crenellations. There was no way she would be able to slip past them. Would they let her pass?

Glancing around, she searched for another, perhaps secret, exit. Seeing neither gates nor guards, she assumed that one gate was the only way in or out. She watched the guards for a few more moments, hoping they would open the massive doors to welcome their liege home. But all remained quiet. Dare she try to venture to the village to find him? She needed the security he offered, regardless how resentful he seemed. Who else could she trust?

Kitty bit down the suspicion that he was responsible for Katherine’s death. It continued to nag her like a fly buzzing around her head, but she forced it away, made the decision to go find him. The only thing left to determine was a means of transport.

She stepped into the stable. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark. What she wouldn’t give for a light switch. When she could see well enough, she wandered further inside. Occasionally she glanced over her shoulder at the entrance. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She told herself there was nothing to be afraid of, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

She found a rack of what appeared to be saddles, but they were not like any saddles she was familiar with, neither western nor English. What kind would these people have used, anyway? The part that laid over the horse’s back seemed straight forward enough. But there seemed to be a high board in front of and behind where the rider would sit. Even if she could determine which horse was of a temperament for her to brave climbing onto, she’d never be able to get a saddle on it.

Running her hand along the wall, she worked her way back to the doorway. She yelped when she came into contact with a man standing there.

“Would you like me to ready your horse, mum?”

Kitty took deep breaths to still her quaking heart. She had no desire to be caught in the pitch darkness with a man she couldn’t even see. She stepped around him into the open air, refreshing after the stifling closeness of the stable.

Finally, she found her voice. “No, thank you. It is such a nice night, I think I’ll walk.” Now that she could see the man, he didn’t seem nearly so frightening. Probably in his late to early fifties, he had a kind smile that revealed several missing teeth. She smiled at him as she turned away, nearly missing the look of astonishment on his face.

As if she did it every day, Kitty walked straight across the bailey to the gate. The guards ceased their pacing. Without a word, one of them opened a side door enough for her to slip through. When he closed it behind her, Kitty had never felt so alone in her life.

***

She felt like Dorothy standing at the starting point of the yellow-brick road. How she wished a nice witch would float in to give her slippers that would take her home.

If only it were that easy.

Well, she wasn’t about to ask to be let back in. With tentative steps, Kitty started walking toward the village.

At least the moon was out. She never realized how much light the moon reflected. Had it been full, she imagined it would almost seem like daytime. Still, a flashlight would relieve some of the trepidation she felt. The sensation of being watched continued to plague her.

Few trees stood along the roadway. Kitty saw this as a good thing, nowhere for bandits to hide. She feared the unknown more than anything else. Another person, or even an animal for that matter, springing out at her from some hiding place would likely give her a heart attack. But if she knew an assailant was upon her, she could react, test some of that training she’d practiced so many times with her sparring instructor. She felt sure she could deliver an effective snap-kick that would lay a man out long enough for her to run for help.

Kitty looked back over her shoulder. She could still see the two guards atop the wall. She had walked far enough from the gate that she did not hear it open, but she saw it. A rider raced towards her. Her heartbeat matched the rumbling of the earth beneath her feet. She had no choice, nowhere to run or hide, but to wait for him to catch up to her.

As the man drew near, Kitty was relieved to see that it was Thane. She relaxed as he slowed his horse to a walk, then finally came to a stop next to her. He made no move to get down off his horse. Nor did he speak. He just sat up there glaring down at her.

Kitty marveled that all these brothers were so gorgeous – and big. She’d not seen a barbell since her arrival, but each of them rivaled any bodybuilder she’d ever seen in size and pure muscle. Even Bryn, a teenager, was bigger than most men Kitty had ever met. And just as good-looking as his brothers. What had happened to the gene pool by the twentieth century that such men were so scarce? It must be all the extra stuff they had to carry around, swords, armor, mail. Indeed, who needed barbells?

“I would be completely at my leisure to do as I wish to you. Out here, after dark, so far from the keep, you are without recourse.”

Not sure I’d argue with you if you tried
, Kitty thought. “Not completely,” she said instead. “Come down off that horse, and I’ll show you some of the resources I have at my disposal.”

Thane cocked his head to one side. “You speak monstrously strange of late.”

“I can’t talk to you all the way up there. Gives me a crick in my neck.” Kitty turned away and continued her trek towards the village. She heard Thane jump to the ground.

Within a few strides, he walked beside her, his horse trailing behind. “It gives you a what?”

“Never mind.” She looked over at him, assessing him from head to toe and back again. “Headed to town to get
lost in your cups
?” Kitty let sarcasm drip from her voice. She hadn’t forgotten how uncomfortable they’d all made her feel at supper.

“The last time I drank so much, I vowed never to do such a thing again. I snared the attention of the most beautiful wench in the village and failed to perform for her. Failed – better I say I performed for hours only serving both of us to become more and more frustrated. ‘Twas worse than trying to make a whore come.”

He glanced at her for a reaction. Kitty gave him none, so he continued.

“The following day I performed my other duties even more miserably. Craved death the entire day. Nay, I shall not drink again – for a fortnight at least.”

Kitty had to smile. How many people drank too much, declared the next day never to drink again, then tied one on at the very next party they went to? She had been to college. She was no stranger to drinking too much.

“I surmise thou art going to the village. At this late hour? Art thou meeting someone?”

Kitty sensed the restraint in his voice. “My husband. Bryn said he’s at the tavern.”

“You cannot go into the tavern. ‘Tis no place for a lady.”

“From what I hear, no one believes me to be a
lady
.”

“’Tis true your actions speak otherwise, but you are the lady of this keep, and as such must show your husband his due respect as lord and master here. Mayhap you have never been one to stand on discretion. But I insist you give up this folly and return to the keep with me.”

“If he is sitting in there drinking himself sick, probably with some
wench
wallowing all over him, is he showing
me
respect?”

Thane gaped at her. “’Tis not the same.”

“Oh, aye. It is.”
Aye?
She shook her head. “Besides, if Marek
is
in there, I won’t be alone.”

“Very well.” Thane sighed. “But I will accompany you.”

Kitty was surprised Thane gave up the dispute so readily but didn’t argue about it. In truth, she felt relieved to have his company, both for the journey and for the anxiety she knew she would feel at entering a medieval tavern alone in the dark of night.

Thane vaulted back onto his horse and pulled Kitty up to sit behind him. She resisted the urge to wrap her arms around his waist, instead grabbed and held onto the high back of the saddle.