Cast Love Aside (25 page)

“My lord, we are delighted to find you
alive,” Braedon said, “for your sister's sake, as well as your own.
Lilianne has been beside herself with worry and grief.”

“Who is this man?” Gilbert demanded of
Lilianne.

She made the introduction and was relieved to
see how Gilbert's mannerly training compelled him to acknowledge
the knight with civility. She could tell that her brother was
confused and exhausted, most likely from fear and lack of food.
From the looks of him, he hadn’t been sleeping well, either.

When Braedon glanced out the door of Erland's
chamber and then beckoned to her, she caught Gilbert's hand and
pulled him along the gallery and the corridor, into her room.
Magnus and William joined them a moment later. The small chamber
seemed more crowded than ever, but Magnus dominated their little
group.

“What is the problem you mentioned?” Lilianne
asked him, watching as he snatched her saddlebag from the bed and
began hastily stuffing the documents taken from Erland's chamber
into it. “Magnus, speak to me. Tell me what's wrong.”

“According to William, Erland's men-at-arms
have been asking probing questions about our purpose here,” Magnus
said.

“They also want to know where Erland is,”
William added.

“I suggest we leave the manor at once,”
Magnus said. “We have what we came to find, and more,” he added,
looking at Gilbert.

“Captain Piers won't be at the rendezvous
site,” Lilianne objected. “He's on his way to Calais.”

“I know,” Magnus said, sounding as if he was
about to lose his temper. “I believe our best chance lies in
leaving Manoir Sainte Inge before Norbard can reach it. We can hide
in the countryside for a day or two, until it's time to meet
Captain Piers. While we wait I can decode Erland's documents.”

“What we ought to do,” Gilbert broke in, “is
stay here at the manor and defend it.”

“Are you mad?” Braedon asked. “You expect
three men, a woman, and a half-starved boy to fight off several
dozen well-trained men-at-arms, in addition to however many men
Norbard brings with him when he finally arrives? Norbard won't come
alone, you may be certain of that. Use your wits, my lord Gilbert.
You want to leave with your skin whole, so you can return later
with a larger force.”

“I am tired of being advised to leave my
home!” Gilbert exclaimed.

“But leave you will,” Magnus told him
sternly. “I will not allow a child to jeopardize this mission.”

“Then, I will stay behind,” Gilbert said,
crossing his arms over his thin chest and assuming his most
stubborn face.

“You will do as you're told,” Magnus warned.
“You may be lord of this particular manor, but you are still a
child, too young even to be a squire. Lilianne, I hold you
responsible for your brother. See that he stays close to you.”

“I will,” she promised, catching Gilbert by
an arm and holding on tight when he tried to pull away from her.
“Gilbert, behave yourself,” she admonished him. “Are we ready?”
Magnus asked his companions. “We'll head first to the stable for
our horses, then depart out the main entrance as if leaving for a
pleasure ride. We need not explain Gilbert's presence to mere
men-at-arms.” He closed Lilianne's saddlebag over the last of the
documents. William and Braedon were already in the corridor. Magnus
gestured.

“After you, my lady.”

Erland's men stopped them in the hall.

The midday meal was over, but most of the
men-at-arms lingered, taking advantage of the break in whatever
routine duties they bothered to perform while their master was
away.

Apparently, the servants were relaxing, too,
for the tables hadn’t been cleared yet. Leftover food littered the
tabletops, a few upturned wine cups dripped red liquid on the wood,
and scraps and bones lay on the floor around the tables. The usual
pack of half a dozen dogs scavenged through the debris.

Lilianne shook her head in disgust at the
squalor of what had once been a fine room, fit for any noble to
visit. But she didn't have time to think about the degradation of
Manoir Sainte Inge. A man-at-arms whom she recognized as one of
Erland's lieutenants stepped in front of Magnus.

“Having claimed that you were entering the
manor on Count Erland's orders, you may not depart without his
permission,” the man-at-arms said.

“You have no right to stop me from going
anywhere I wish!” Gilbert shouted at him.

“Well, as to that, my young lord,” said the
man-at-arms, “I don't know how you returned to the manor without
any of us noticing, but now that you're here, you will stay until
Erland says you may go.” To reinforce his edict, he placed one hand
on his sword hilt.

“Step aside,” Lilianne ordered, trying not to
show how frightened she was. She could not allow herself to be
intimidated by a mere man-art-arms. Whatever happened and despite
what Gilbert imagined he wanted, she was not going leave her
brother behind. She refused to be separated from him again. When
she glanced at Magnus and his friends, she saw in all of them the
same determination to be gone from the manor that she felt.

Still, when the man-at-arms drew his sword
and the other men in the hall began to pay attention to the
altercation, Lilianne knew a moment of fear. With one hand on his
own sword hilt, Magnus stepped in front of her, while Braedon and
William took up protective positions on either side of Lilianne and
her brother.

“You are not Count Erland's men after all,”
the lieutenant of the men-at-arms declared.

“You cannot know whose men we are,” Magnus
responded with cool contempt. “Get out of the way of the lord of
Sainte Inge.”

“That weakling boy is not my liege lord and
never will be,” declared the lieutenant. “Count Erland is our sworn
leader.” With that, he raised his sword and dealt Magnus a mighty
blow.

Swifter than the eye could follow, Magnus
drew his sword and parried the deadly stroke. As if a signal had
been given, a battle erupted in the hall. Keeping Lilianne and
Gilbert in the center of their little group, Braedon and William
joined Magnus in the fray. Each of them fended off attacks from
several men-at-arms at once.

“I should have a blade of my own!” Gilbert
wailed. “This is my battle to fight!”

“Stay with your sister,” Magnus ordered,
speaking over his shoulder without removing his gaze from his
opponents.

Skilled with weapons though Magnus and his
companions were, Lilianne quickly realized they hadn't a chance of
winning the fight against so many men-at-arms. As fast as Magnus
cut one man down, another took his place. The same was true of
Braedon and William. Soon they would begin to tire. Already they
were being forced backward. Lilianne looked around, desperately
seeking something to use for a weapon. Meanwhile, Gilbert grabbed a
sword from a fallen man-at-arms. Brandishing the blade, he stepped
to Magnus's side.

“No!” Lilianne screamed as a man-at-arms
swiped at Gilbert, disarming him before he could get in a single
stroke. The man-at-arms laughed as if Gilbert was of no importance
and turned away to engage Magnus, who had seen what Gilbert was
trying to do and moved to protect the boy.

“Don't do that again!” Lilianne yelled at
Gilbert. “You could be killed.”

“I'm going to be killed, anyway,” Gilbert
responded. “We all are. Unless – Lilianne, the dogs! Make them
fight! Use the meat!”

“What?” She gaped at him, not understanding
at first, until she saw what he meant. The dogs were excited by the
fighting and were running about the hall, barking furiously and
generally getting underfoot. The noise they made almost drowned out
the racket of clashing swords and shouting men.

Lilianne noticed one dog, older and larger
than the rest that she recognized as the leader of the pack. He
stood at the edge of the conflict with hackles raised and teeth
bared, ready to leap into the fray at any moment. All the dog
needed was the excuse she was about to provide.

She veered away from the protection offered
by Magnus's solid back. Dodging among the men-at-arms, ducking
under flailing arms and swinging sword blades, risking serious
injury or possible death, she reached the tables and the remnants
of the midday meal. She grabbed a leg of mutton and held it out to
the lead dog, teasing him with it. She knew he smelled the roasted
meat, for she could see the saliva dripping from his mouth. A sound
between a whine and a bark issued from the cur’s throat. He looked
from the meat to the battle, and back to the prize in Lilianne’s
hand.

She tossed the meat toward the dog, aiming it
over his head and into the midst of the fighting men. It struck one
man before it landed on the floor. The dog dashed between the legs
of the combatants to capture the meat and drag it away. A
man-at-arms slipped on the greasy spot where the mutton had landed
and fell to his knees. Another man tripped over the fleeing dog and
landed on his back.

Encouraged by the confusion produced by her
efforts, Lilianne picked up a bowl of leftover vegetable stew, then
paused to decide how she could use it to cause the most damage.
Directly in front of her a pair of men were battling Braedon.
Lilianne ventured a few steps from the table to empty the contents
of the bowl onto the feet of Braedon's opponents. Almost
immediately both men went sprawling onto the floor. Braedon shouted
his thanks. Lilianne turned back to the table without lingering to
see what he did to the men.

Meanwhile, Magnus was hacking away at his own
set of opponents, cutting a wide swathe through Erland’s
men-at-arms. He seemed unaware that Lilianne had left his close
protection.

Since Lilianne was no longer holding onto
Gilbert, he was free to join the fight on his own terms and he
followed his sister to the table. Seizing a platter that was piled
high with gnawed poultry bones and assorted other leftovers and
drippings, he let it fly in the general direction of the battle,
laughing merrily as his makeshift weapon splattered over the floor.
Almost immediately three men-at-arms trod on the scattered bones
and went skidding across the room to smash into the wall. A fourth
man slipped on the platter and fell.

Gilbert let out a whoop of triumph and began
grabbing whatever slippery food he could find to throw under the
feet of the men-at-arms. The dogs, thoroughly excited by the sudden
abundance of food on the floor, continued to race about the hall,
adding to the general confusion.

Slowly, the momentum of the battle changed.
Magnus was still laying about him with his huge broadsword, leaving
bloody destruction in his wake, but now he was heading for the door
and the courtyard. Having used the last of the food from the tables
as her own weaponry, Lilianne caught Gilbert's hand and followed
Magnus. Braedon backed his way out of the hall, protecting Lilianne
and Gilbert in their escape.

William was the final member of their party
through the outer door and he slammed it shut as he went, jamming a
discarded sword into the latch to secure the door against
pursuit.

Outside, the impending storm had broken,
drenching the gravel surface of the bailey. With most of the
men-at-arms still occupied in the hall there was no one to oppose
their rush toward the stable and their horses. They had almost
reached the stable when shouts erupted from the main gate as a band
of horsemen rode into the bailey.

“That's Norbard!” Lilianne cried, recognizing
the leader of the horsemen.

“Damnation!” Magnus exclaimed. “How did he
get here so fast?”

“Obviously,” said Braedon, “Norbard did not
sail all the way to Calais. As we suspected he might do, he made
Captain Piers put him ashore somewhere along the coast soon after
we landed. Perhaps Erland keeps horses available at various
locations for the use of his spies, just as Royce does, and keeps
fighting men conveniently at hand, too.”

“That's all very interesting,” William
snapped, “but how do we get through the gate?”

“We don't,” Magnus told him. “Norbard knows
Lilianne has come home. He will certainly order the gate closed
until he can learn from her where Erland is, and why she has
returned without him. Our best chance of getting out of the manor
is by using the secret tunnel again.”

“We'll have to go back through the hall,”
Gilbert pointed out, “past a lot of very angry men-at-arms.”

“If you know a better exit, tell me now,”
Magnus said.

“There isn't any,” Gilbert said, adding, “I
find it humiliating to have to creep about my own manor, hiding
from villains who have no right to be here.”

“Lilianne and I will lead the way,” Magnus
said, choosing to ignore Gilbert's complaints. “Gilbert, you will
stay close to William.”

Allowing no one time to object to his orders,
Magnus seized Lilianne's elbow and started back to the house. They
lost a few precious moments while he wrenched the sword out of the
door frame so they could get inside.

In the hall wounded men lay on the floor,
while others who were nursing sprains and bruises from falls on the
greasy food sat on benches or leaned against the wall. The dogs
ranged freely, chewing on bones or snapping and snarling at each
other over the remaining scraps of meat. In a quiet corner, the
lead dog gnawed on the mutton leg while keeping one eye cocked to
watch his fellows.

“Keep moving toward the kitchen,” Magnus told
Lilianne. “Don't stop until you are inside the tunnel.”

They raced across the hall, skirting grease
spots, quarreling dogs, and groggy men-at-arms who seemed unwilling
to pick up their swords and begin fighting again. Just as Lilianne
reached the entrance to the kitchen she heard Norbard's shout of
anger and surprise.

“He'll need a few minutes to learn what has
happened,” Magnus said into her ear. “We have enough time to open
the tunnel door.”