The Falls of Erith (40 page)

She
gazed back at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “If you feel it is the
right thing to do, then I trust you,” she whispered. “When must you leave?”

“Before
dawn.”

“Then
we still have tonight.”

He
nodded faintly, thinking ahead to the emotions, joy and sorrow, that the night
would bring. “We do indeed.”

She
leaned forward, kissing him tenderly, gently suckling on his lower lip before releasing
it. “Then perhaps tonight you will give me your son,” she breathed. “A child
worthy to bear your name.”

Braxton
closed his eyes as she suckled his lower lip again, feeling his chest tighten
with the thought of a future he might not see.  He remembered looking in Gray’s
eyes once and seeing a daughter with her beautiful features and a son with his
strength.  He wanted with all of his heart to live a long life by her side,
raising their children, watching his family grow. He’d never wished such a thing
until this very moment.  Without another word, he took her upstairs to their
chamber.

Back
in the great hall, Dallas had hold of Brooke as she clung fiercely to him.
Oddly, she wasn’t crying any longer; she simply wrapped her arms around Dallas’
waist with her head against his chest, eyes tightly closed.  He held her close,
trying not to jab her with his armor. His mouth and nose were pressed into the
top of her head.

“I
must make preparations to depart,” he said softly.  “I will not see you until
late tonight, if at all.”

She
craned her neck back, looking up at him. “I do not want you to go,” she
breathed. “They will cut you up like they did those other men and send you back
to me in pieces.”

The
corners of his mouth twitched with a smile. “Not if I cut them into pieces
first.”

Her
brows drew together and her lips molded into a pout. “You jest with me and I am
serious.”

He
kissed her forehead. “I am serious as well,” he said. “You worry overly, wife.
I will return to you whole.”

“Can
you swear this to me?”

“I 
can.”

Some
of the tension seemed to drain from her expression and Dallas took her hand,
leading her over to the dining table.  He sat down and pulled her onto his lap,
all the while thinking of what more he was going to say to her. He’d never
faced a situation like this before, leaving someone behind that he deeply cared
for. He didn’t want her to worry and he very much wanted to return to her
safely.  He wasn’t sure how he could explain everything to her so that she
would not panic when he left.   When he finally looked up at her, he could see
that she was studying him intently.

“Why
do you stare at me so?” he asked, smiling faintly.

Brooke
cocked her head, a gesture she seemed to do quite often. A finger came up,
delicately tracing the shape of his eyebrow, his nose, as her expression
remained thoughtful. “Because you are not the husband I imagined I would have,”
she said softly.

He
lifted an eyebrow. “Nor are you the wife I would have imagined to have.”

She
stopped tracing the shape of his nose. “What do you mean?”

He
could see she was verging on insult and his smile broadened. “I simply meant
that I never imagined I would marry such a lovely woman,” he replied. “And the
first time I saw you those weeks ago, I certainly never imagined that I would
marry you.”

She
lowered her hand from his face, smiling because he was. “Do you remember the
first time you saw me?”

He
nodded firmly. “Absolutely,” he replied. “You were hanging over a cliff,
screaming.”

She
puckered her lips, disappointed. “Is that all you remember?”

He
shrugged. “I remember that I saved you from certain death.”

She
slapped him playfully on the shoulder and he laughed low in his throat before
growing serious. “To be perfectly honest, my first clear recollection of you
was the first night we dined at Erith when you entered the great hall in your
grandmother’s company,” he said, gazing into her blue eyes. “I remember
thinking how lovely you were. And how young.”

His
attempts not to insult her weren’t working. “I am
not
too young,” she
insisted. “I am fifteen years old. I am a woman.”

He
lifted an eyebrow, his gaze moving down her delicious torso. “Aye, you are
that,” he confirmed in a rumbling tone. “You are very much a woman.”

She
heard the sexual undertones and blushed furiously; she still wasn’t used to the
games played by men and women.  Dallas saw her discomfort and laughed softly,
cupping her face and kissing her hot cheek as she averted her gaze.

“You
are sweet,” he murmured.  “And you are distracting me from my duties.”

She
looked at him.  “Can you not stay with me a few more minutes?”

His
smile faded. “The longer I stay with you now, the less chance there is of
finishing my duties in a timely manner and returning to you tonight.”

She
jumped off his lap and yanked on his arm, pulling him to his feet. “Hurry up,
then,” she began to drag him towards the door. “I will see you this eve.”

Dallas
let her pull him towards the entry. “I will do my very best,” he told her, then
grew serious as they neared the door. He finally came to a halt and took hold
of her arm, facing her as they stood in the entryway. His expression grew
serious.

“Brooke,
I know you are fearful with what we may be facing,” he said quietly. “But I
want to reassure you that I will do everything in my power to keep you, and
Erith, safe. It is our castle now, the place where we will raise our family and
live out our years together. For that reason alone, I will defend it to the
last stone. But for you, I will defend you to the death.  That is why we must
strike against Gloucester; he threatens you personally and this I will not
tolerate. Do you understand?”

She
nodded solemnly. “Aye,” she said softly. “I… I think that I shall thank you. 
My mother and Braxton said that you were a good man but I did not understand
what they meant until now.”

He
smiled faintly, reaching out to touch her cheek. “Good can mean many things,”
he replied. “To me, it means a sense of responsibility and honor, and
protecting and caring for those close to me.”

She
cocked her head again; he loved the gesture. She looked so sweet and innocent.
“Am I close to you?”

His
smiled widened. “You are the closest. You are my wife.”

She
smiled faintly. “You told me something once, the day we were married,” she
said. “You told me that you had not yet given your heart to anyone and that you
had saved it for your wife.”

He
nodded, eyes twinkling. “I recall.”

She
began to look uncomfortable in the slightest. “Am I on my way to earning it? I
am trying, you know.”

He
laughed softly and pulled her into his arms, rocking her sweetly. “That you
are, sweetheart,” he kissed the top of her head. “That you are.”

She
squeezed him tightly, loving the feel of his embrace.  Until she had met
Dallas, she’d never knew a man’s embrace and was coming to understand what she
had been missing.  It was all she could have imagined it would be.

“Good,”
she whispered. “Because you already have mine.”

Dallas’
smile faded and he pulled back to look at her. He studied her features a moment
before replying. “I thank you for that, Lady Aston,” he murmured. “It fortifies
me more than you know.”

Brooke
didn’t know what else to say; she simply gazed up at him with a timid smile on
her face, full of all of the hopes and dreams that a young wife possesses.  She
was navigating her way through unfamiliar territory and loving every minute of
it. Dallas, of course, made things as smooth as they could possibly be.  She
was truly coming to appreciate him.

“Go
now,” she urged. “I will see you later this eve. Shall I send sup out to you?”

He
was about to reply when shouting from the inner bailey caught his attention. 
He bolted out on to the stair landing just outside the entry, bellowing to the
men on the walls.  Startled, Brooke instinctively followed him out onto the
steps, watching as men began racing in from the outer bailey. 

There
was a huge amount of commotion as men began scrambling for their weapons.  The
portcullises were beginning to grind. Whatever was happening, they were
struggling to prepare.  Brooke stood next to Dallas, her mouth open with
surprise and some fear, when he abruptly turned to her and shoved her back
inside.

“Get
inside and bolt this door,” he commanded. “Do not open it for anyone other than
Braxton , me or the other knights. Is that clear?”

She
almost stumbled as he thrust her back into the keep.  She opened her mouth to
reply but was interrupted when Braxton suddenly bolted past her from the upper
floors. He didn’t say a word; he took the stairs down to the bailey far too
quickly and began issuing commands in a hurry. Brooke’s measure of surprise was
replaced in whole by fear.

“What
is happening?” she begged. “Tell me what is wrong.”

Dallas
didn’t have time to explain; he grabbed her face between his big hands and
kissed her firmly.  “Go inside,” he jabbed a finger at her as he began to
rapidly descend the stairs. “Bolt the door and stay there.”

Brooke
watched him go with tears filling her eyes but she did as she was told. She
slammed the door and threw the big iron bolt, turning just in time to see her
mother descending the stairs from the upper floor.  The two women stared at
each other, wide-eyed, as the sounds of commotion in the bailey filtered in
through the slit windows.

“What
is wrong?” Brooke went to her mother. “Did Braxton tell you?”

Gray
was a little dazed; she and Braxton had been in the midst of passionate
lovemaking when he had heard the shouts from the walls.   He had bolted from
their bed quickly, telling her to stay to the keep.  Gray dressed quickly,
peering from her window only to see a measure of the road beyond Erith. Upon it,
she clearly saw soldiers that did not belong to Braxton and her heart surged
into her throat.   Whatever was occurring she knew, instinctively, that it was
not good.

Therefore,
it was difficult to answer her daughter.  She could read the panic in Brooke’s
face and did not want to frighten her further. But a volley of arrows over the
walls came crashing into the keep, two of the arrows finding their way inside
the small lancet window just to the right of the entry door.  Brooke screamed
and threw her arms around her mother as Gray pulled her daughter away from the
open window.   They began smelling smoke, having no idea at the time that
Graehm was at the base of the stairs leading into the keep, burning them. 
Braxton had ordered all access to the keep cut off; no matter who was attacking
Erith, they would not get the women under any circumstances.

Erith,
the recently rebuilt fortress, was under siege.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Brooke
remembered the days of quiet at Erith, days that brought with them the
uncertainty of where their next meal was coming from. She clearly remembered
weeks upon weeks, especially in the winter months, when they had gone without
meat. Life at Erith had been difficult, quiet, forgotten by the world.  She had
not been content in the least.  With the introduction of a new husband over the
past few weeks, Brooke was coming to see what treasures and wonders life truly
held for her. She hadn’t wanted to marry Dallas but now she couldn’t remember
when the man had not been with her.  And she didn’t know what she was going to
do without him.

The
sounds of battle had been going on for three days. Heavy smoke filled the air
as the sounds of screaming and fighting filled the ambient air like a surreal
backdrop.  Brooke and Gray stayed to the hall, comforting the few servants that
had managed to be inside the keep and trying not to starve to death in the
process.  The kitchen stores were on the ground floor below them but the only
way to get to them was outside.  By the end of the second day, they had been
out of wood for the hearth.  Now, they were nearly out of what food they had
managed to scrounge.

Gray
was going without food again simply so the others would have something to eat. 
She hadn’t eaten in almost two days and was looking pale and very weak.  Brooke
tried to coerce her into eating some stale bread crust, but Gray simply smiled
and insisted that her child eat instead.  The three servants sat huddled in the
corner with the whining dogs, whispering among themselves about the virtues of
dog meat. As night fell on the third day and a dog in the hall suddenly yelped
and went silent, Brooke stood near the lancet window in the entry and cried. 
She knew the servants were eating the dog and soon her mother would insist she
partake.  She didn’t want to do it. She wanted to see Dallas and she wanted to
get out of the keep.

She
couldn’t even see the bailey beyond very well; Gray wouldn’t let her get too
close to the window so the best she could do was stand there and listen to the
chaos below.  So she stood there, pale and drawn from weeping and hunger,
wrapped in one of her lovely new cloaks and praying for any sign from her
husband.   It seemed to her that the fighting had shifted for it didn’t seem as
loud as it once was; perhaps the armies were taking a rest from their marathon
battle and perhaps that meant Dallas would soon appear with food and wood for
the hearth.