Midnight Warrior (28 page)

“Snow is bad,” Malik agreed obediently. “But I agree with Brynn, we need this wagon.”

Gage cast him an exasperated glance. “Unpack it.”

“I said we take it.” Her jaw set as she turned to face him. “Adwen is much stronger, but she cannot ride long distances yet. She will need to rest in the wagon when she tires.”

“Adwen!”

“The wagon will bear little weight most of the time and be able to travel quickly. Don’t you think it better to have Adwen in the wagon and still be on the move than have to stop and wait for her to rest?”

“She can’t come with us,” Gage said. “She’s just risen from a sickbed.”

“I won’t leave Adwen behind,” Brynn said flatly. “You needn’t worry. I will care for her if she falls ill again.”

“Adwen and the entire world,” Gage muttered.

“Richard hasn’t been captured. He tried to kill her once. He could try again if he finds her helpless and unprotected.”

“I’ll set a guard over her.”

Brynn shook her head.

“Then we’ll take her to a nunnery and have the good sisters look after her.”

“No!” Malik said quickly. “No nunnery.”

Brynn felt a fleeting amusement at the panic in his voice before returning to the serious subject at hand. “Do you think that a holy sanctuary would stop Richard? He would burn it to the ground as he did Redfern.” When Gage’s expression still did not soften, she added, “Or he might take her hostage. He knows I have affection for her. He could use her to make me abandon you and join with him.”

A wry smile broke the sternness of his face. “And I don’t have to ask if you would do it.”

“No, you don’t,” she said brusquely, “Not when you weigh gold against a life. We will take her.”

Gage hesitated and then he nodded curtly. “We’ll take her. But she must keep up.”

“I will help her,” Malik said. “Do not worry, Gage. All will be well.”

“I hope you’re right.” Gage stared inquiringly at Brynn. “Content?”

“Not entirely.” She braced herself. “Alice is coming too.”

“What!”

Brynn said quickly, “I know she is with child, but she is only four months gone and she’s very strong. She told me her mother worked in the fields until the moment of her birth.”

“Then let her mother care for her until the babe is born.”

“Her father will not accept a child of shame into
his house. She has no place to go. I want to take her to Gwynthal.”

“And I suppose they will accept her there?”

She nodded. “They are more just to women than in other places.”

“You said you were only a child of nine when you left there and you were very unhappy in Kythe. How can you be certain your memory isn’t playing you false? That you aren’t remembering Gwynthal as you wish to remember it?”

Her eyes widened with sudden uneasiness. She had never questioned her memories of Gwynthal. Gwynthal had always been home, the perfect place, the haven. She shook her head vehemently. “My mother told me— It could not be—I remember it too clearly. The peace and the silences …” She whirled on her heel. “Why are we wasting time? Let us be on our way. We’re going to take Alice and that’s the end of it.”

She expected him to argue with her. Gage was not one to accept two such defeats tamely.

“Very well,” he said slowly. “Take your Alice.”

She glanced over her shoulder and the uneasiness returned as she saw his expression. Pity?

No, she must have been mistaken, for now his face was as impassive as usual. He turned his horse and started toward the head of the column. “I suppose I should be glad you don’t plan on bringing along all of Redfern.”

“I’m slowing you down,” Adwen said as she settled herself on the pile of blankets in the bed of the wagon. “Forgive me, Brynn, I thought I’d be stronger than this.”

“You can’t expect to be as strong as the rest of us.” Brynn tucked a fur rug around Adwen’s shoulders to close out the chill. It had been growing steadily colder all day and there was a damp bite to the air. She hoped the snow would hold off until they reached shelter.
“And you’re growing stronger every day. When we started out you could ride for only a few hours before you had to lie down. Yesterday you didn’t have to use the wagon until noon and today it’s three hours later. Soon you won’t have to use it at all.”

Adwen made a face. “Lord Gage will be happy when that is true.”

“Why? Has he said anything to you?”

“No, he’s been very tolerant, but I can see he’s impatient with the delay.”

“It’s his nature to be impatient. Ignore him.”

Adwen gazed at her speculatively. “As you are doing?”

“I don’t ignore him.” She avoided Adwen’s eyes as she tucked the blanket over her feet. “I answer when he speaks to me.”

“But nothing else. I’m sure he doesn’t like it. He’s been looking quite fierce of late.”

“I can’t help what he does or does not like.” She could not care if Gage was displeased with her. She had to keep him away, to block out all intimacy, or he would invade every part of her.

“It would do no harm to be kinder to him.” When Brynn looked at her in surprise, she added, “As he was kind to all those poor souls at Redfern. It’s not many men who would take the trouble to rebuild what he had not destroyed. It was an act of mercy.”

“I assure you he has little mercy.”

Adwen frowned, troubled. “I think you’re unfair to him.”

“And I think you should save your strength and not worry about Lord Gage.” She patted Adwen’s hand and started backing out of the wagon bed. “Keep covered, there’s no sun at all in these dense woods. It should be dark soon and we’ll be able to stop for the day.”

Malik was standing by Brynn’s horse a short distance
away and lifted her to the saddle. “How is she?” he asked in a low voice.

“Just tired. She’s standing the trip much better than I thought she would.”

“She has a great spirit.” His lips tightened. “Or it would have been broken many years ago.” He mounted his own horse but did not nudge him forward. “She grieves, you know.”

“Over Lord Richard? You’re wrong, she wouldn’t—”

“Not for that villain. She grieves for the babes she lost.”

Brynn frowned. “She doesn’t talk about them. They died before she came to term. She never saw them, Malik.”

“She still grieves. I think it is because she was never given a chance to grieve when they were taken from her. She tries not to think about them, but I think they are always with her. I wish I could give her ease.” Then he smiled with an effort. “But she does not trust me. Can you imagine a woman with so little judgment, she cannot see what a noble man I am?”

“No, I can’t imagine,” Brynn said gently.

“Brynn!” Gage called from the head of the column.

“He wishes to start,” Malik said. “You go on ahead. I will stay here and ride beside the wagon and talk to Adwen. Sometimes I can make her smile.”

He made them all smile. This journey would have seemed much longer if it hadn’t been for Malik’s droll remarks. But Gage was not smiling at the moment, she noticed. He had turned his horse and was riding back toward her. She kicked her horse into a trot, which quickly brought her alongside him. “She’s settled. We can move now.”

“Thank you,” he said caustically. “But from now on I’ll decide when we stop.”

Brynn immediately bristled. “Adwen’s been very good. She needed this rest.”

“We could have waited until we were through these woods and in the open.”

“Why would that have—” Then she understood. She glanced apprehensively at the thick shrubbery and overhanging trees bordering the trail. “Lord Richard? Has he been seen?”

“No, but a moving target is much less easy to attack.”

“A man alone?”

“We don’t know he’s alone. He may have gathered followers from the countryside eager to attack the enemy when we’re weakest.”

“You’ve reason to be displeased with me,” she said haltingly. “I thought only of Adwen’s well-being. From now on I’ll ask your opinion before I order the wagon driver to stop.”

“What astonishing kindness,” Gage said. “And if you don’t agree with my opinion?”

“Then I’ll do as I think best.” She suddenly flared, “And you don’t have to be unkind. Adwen is doing the best she can. We’re making quite good time. We should be in Kythe by next week and reach the coast a day later.”

“Did she say I was unkind?”

“No, but she realizes you’re impatient with her.”

“I’m not impatient with her. I think she’s been very brave. I’ve seen her reeling in the saddle before she would give in and let you call a halt.” He met her gaze. “It’s you I’m impatient with.”

She should have ridden away and not engaged in conflict with him. It had brought about the result she most wanted to avoid. She moistened her lips. “I’ve given no cause for impatience.”

“The devil you haven’t. I’m weary of you avoiding
me and answering me curtly. It’s time it came to an end.”

She stiffened. “In what manner?”

“Why, in the most pleasant manner for both of us.” His smile was tiger-bright. “Tonight you will come to me and share my blankets as you did at Hastings.”

“I will not.”

“Would you rather I forced you? I will, you know. Think how that would distress Adwen.”

“You wouldn’t force me.”

“I’ll do anything it takes to break down this wall you’ve built around yourself,” he said softly, his ice-blue eyes clear and without mercy. “Hardraada taught me to be very skilled at breaking down walls and destroying citadels, Brynn. You don’t want me to demonstrate how skillful.”

“I’d fight you and you would not—” She broke off as she realized arguing with him would do no good. This was the warrior she had first come to know at Hastings; ruthless, relentless, storm-driven. Words would not bend him to her will. Dear God, what would influence him?

“Nothing,” he said as if reading her mind. “You’d be wise not to battle me in this, Brynn.” He nudged his horse ahead of her and his words floated back to her as he regained the head of the column. “If you feel the need to prove your strength, find a conflict you can win.”

They stopped at twilight at the edge of the wood and set up camp, close enough to the trees for shelter but with a clear view of the terrain on the other three sides. Though the clouds remained heavy and dark on the horizon, the snow failed to materialize. However, the moist chill made the campfires blessedly welcome. Gage ignored Brynn as he supervised the building of these fires, saw to his horse, and sent out soldiers to form a protective ring around the camp. Then he settled in
front of the largest fire with Malik, speaking in a low voice and apparently oblivious of everyone but his friend.

But he was not oblivious, Brynn thought, seated across from him. He was not looking at her, but she sensed he knew every move she made. Perhaps it was her imagination, she told herself. Perhaps he had changed his mind and—

“You’re very quiet, Brynn.” Adwen delicately licked her fingers as she finished eating her second piece of roasted rabbit. “And you ate little. Are you tired?”

“No.”

“I am.” Adwen smiled. “But I cannot get enough to eat, so it must be a good tired. I remember I had no appetite at all when I was ill before.”

Brynn glanced at Adwen’s rosy cheeks and bright eyes and felt a deep surge of gratitude. This was the way Adwen should look, the way Brynn had feared she would never look. “Yes, it’s a good tired. You’re sleeping well?”

“Like the dead.” Adwen covered a yawn. “I can hardly wait to finish eating before going to my blankets.” She stared dreamily into the fire. “Journeys are strange, aren’t they, Brynn.”

“Strange?”

“Don’t you feel it? It’s like that wonderful time between sleeping and waking. Almost like a dream. We need not make plans or face consequences that have plagued us in the past. We have only to drift from one place to the other.”

“I don’t consider the pace Gage has set ‘drifting,’ ” Brynn said dryly. Then she smiled. “But I’m glad you feel it is so. You’ve been anchored in heavy water too long.”

“So have you.” Adwen drew up her legs and laid her chin on her knees. “But you don’t allow yourself to drift, Brynn. Even on this journey you hurry around,
tending to my needs, making sure Alice is well. I saw you bandaging LeFont’s hand yesterday.”

“He cut it on a branch. Cuts should be attended to at once or they become a danger.”

“And no one else could do it?”

“Why should they? I’m the healer.”

Adwen laughed and shook her head. “Someday you will be crushed to the ground with all the burdens you take upon yourself.”

Brynn felt a flicker of surprise at the statement, which was so similar to the ones Gage had made. She smiled. “Nonsense. I have strong shoulders.”

“And we all lean on them.” Adwen mused, “I wonder what you would do if we didn’t have to do that any longer. Would you take wing and fly away like a butterfly?”

Brynn snorted derisively. “Do I look like a butterfly?”

Adwen shook her head. “You’re more like a lovely falcon, all gold and russet, with strong wings to shelter and soar.”

Brynn felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. “You must be more weary than I thought. Your judgment is definitely clouded. You’d best go to your pallet.”

Adwen yawned again. “I won’t argue.” She rose to her feet and started toward the wagon under which three pallets had been placed for Brynn, Adwen, and Alice to protect them from the elements. “But you might stop all that sheltering for a while and soar a little. Are you coming?”

“No, she’s not,” Gage said quietly from across the fire.

Adwen stopped in surprise.

Brynn inhaled sharply.

Gage stood up and moved to his own pallet a little distance from the fire. He lay down and then lifted the blanket as if in invitation. “Brynn.”

She tensed and sat still, looking at him. She could feel Malik’s watchful, and Adwen’s bewildered, stares fixed upon her.

She could refuse him. He might not force the issue.

She was fooling herself. Of course he would force it. Gage always did what he said he would do.

I will fight all your dragons, Brynn of Falkhaar
.

Why had those words suddenly come flying back to her? He was fighting her, not her enemies.