The Whispering Night (41 page)

But Keller held his
confidence in check as he watched the de Rosa archers scatter; it was tempting
to want to chase them, but he suspected a man as experienced as de Rosa would
not have made such a foolish mistake. He had been correct; a few moments later,
he was glad that he had restrained himself.  Parting the trees as they moved
towards Pembroke were two massive siege towers being pulled by teams of oxen. 
Keller had been momentarily surprised; so had his men up on the wall.  All eyes
were fixed on the siege towers that were as tall as the outerwall, lumbering
steadily towards them.  Once the shock wore off, Keller snorted.  Then he
applauded.

But his jovial mood was
short lived. He knew they were in for a serious siege.   He set his archers on
the outer wall battlements, taking aim at the oxen pulling the siege towers. 
Rather than try to kill the beasts, he ordered his men to take out their legs. 
It was careful hunting and by the time the siege towers came to within several
feet of the moat, more than half of the teams on both towers were crippled and
the remaining oxen were panicking. 

The de Rosa men cut the
injured animals loose and took up the pulling themselves, creating gangs of men
that began to inch the towers forward again.  Keller and his men watched as the
giant towers inched closer; he seriously wondered how they were going to bring
the siege engines close enough to the castle walls to breach them.  The castle
was protected on three sides, leaving the fourth side heavily fortified with
ditches and the great gatehouse.   If Bertram seriously had it in his mind to
penetrate Pembroke, then he had his work cut out for him.  Keller was very
curious how the man was going to accomplish it.

But he wasn’t so
fascinated that he wasn’t focused on the castle as a whole. He had a heavy
concentration of men on the south side of the castle, but he had the west, north
and east sides covered as well.  He had been fighting against the wily Welsh
too long to be fooled into thinking that a frontal assault was all Bertram
would attempt. He kept the entire castle under vigilant watch.

As the siege towers drew
closer, Keller had lost his curiosity on Bertram’s tactics.  In a sharp command
to his Welsh archers, he had them concentrate on taking out the gang of men now
pulling the siege towers.   Soon enough, Bertram lost many men to the archers. 
But there were more to take their place.  As many as Keller would order taken
out, Bertram was there to replace them.

And so the deadly dance
continued.

***

Hold up in her luxurious
bower, Derica could hear the shouts and screams from the battle.  The noise and
stench seemed to waft upon the wind in deadly breezes, filling all of Pembroke
with tension and fear.   The children played on the floor near the hearth, not
entirely oblivious to what was going on but not particularly understanding it,
either.  Derica was thankful they were too young and too naïve to understand
the severity of the situation.

Sian seemed to be
fascinated with the knights on the walls but Derica kept urging him away from
the window and back to his toys.  He wanted to know why he could not go outside
and fight with Sir Keller, something that was rather tricky to explain without
insulting his fighting abilities.  Derica assured Sian that Sir Keller was
quite capable of defending the castle without him and she further explained
that Sir Keller had left him with the women to protect them should the castle
be breached. That seemed to pacify the little boy, who went back to his cart
and horse, wondering aloud if he was going to get to use his sword today.

As the hours dragged on
and the day turned into night, Derica became increasingly uneasy.  Changing out
of the fine surcoat she had worn to greet her father, she put on a simple
surcoat with a deep neckline, the color of violets.  Pulling her hair into a
single braid, she wound it up at the nape of her neck to keep it out of her
way, emphasizing her lovely neck and shoulders. 

But she wasn’t thinking
on how lovely she looked as she moved to the lancet window that overlooked the outer
bailey; she was thinking of her father and brothers fighting to gain her, and
of Keller fighting to protect her. There was increasing guilt over the man who
would never receive her love or affection yet was more than willing to
sacrifice himself. But she was mostly thinking of Garren.  She wondered if
Fergus had reached him yet.

The night wore on and so
did the battle.  Derica had given up trying to sleep as she sat vigilant watch
over the slumbering children. The severe women had taken up station in a small
servants’ alcove that adjoined Derica’s chamber, sitting in a frightened
huddle, not moving from the stone bench built into the wall.  As the battle
dragged on and dawn began to approach, Derica found an excuse to leave the
children in their care as she left the chamber, taking the stairs quickly to
the main level of the keep.

Fortunately, the wooden
stairs leading into the keep had not been retracted or burned to prevent the
enemy from storming the keep.  Gathering her skirts, Derica rushed outside,
ignoring the soldiers calling to her.   In her deep violet surcoat, her skin
was pale and porcelain in the early morning hours as the sun and fog began to
blend.  

Breath coming in great
puffs in the cold dawn, she made her way to the inner gatehouse but the
soldiers on the battlements refused to open it for her.  They had the inner
ward bottled up tightly.  Frustrated, she went to mount the stairs to the wall
and ran straight into Keller.

He looked weary and
stubbled, his dark eyes intense upon her.  He grasped her by the elbow.

“What are you doing out
here?” he asked.  “Is there trouble in the keep?”

Derica shook her head.
“Nay,” she replied. “Everyone is sleeping. I came to see if my husband has
arrived yet.”

Keller’s gaze moved over
her, the way she had her hair pinned back and the gentle slope of her neck and
shoulders.  She looked exquisite, more exquisite than he had ever seen her. 
Her words, although reasonable, cut at him; the more time he spent with her,
the easier it was to pretend that they would be together when all of this was
over.  He knew that was not the case but, for the sake of his morale, he did
not want to think on it.  Her words had rudely reminded him.

“He has not,” he
replied, trying not to sound bitter. “Return to the keep and rest. I will let
you know when Garren arrives.”

He was trying to gently
push her back towards the keep but she resisted, finally breaking his hold on
her elbow.

“I do not want to return
to the keep,” she said staunchly, cutting him off when he attempted to insist.
“Keller, if you were in my position and waiting for the arrival of someone you
were told was dead, someone you loved very much, would you be able to remain
calm? I cannot rest and I cannot remain calm. I want to be on the walls and
wait for Garren.”

Keller’s sense of hurt
was increasing. “You cannot wait upon the walls,” he said flatly. “Your father
is shooting arrows over the walls and I do not want to take the chance that you
will be hit.  Go back inside.”

He seemed gruff; Derica
couldn’t really blame him but she didn’t want to return to the keep.  She
reached out and grabbed his hand as he tried to shove her back.

“Please,” she begged
softly. “Please let me stay out here. Just for a short while. I promise that I
will not be any trouble.”

His expression grew
frustrated.  Just as he opened his mouth, a shout came from the western wall.
Derica wasn’t sure what had been said but Keller suddenly bolted. 

Derica ran after him and
followed him up the narrow tower stairs, taking two at a time, before emerging
onto the narrow wall walk.  There were dozens of soldiers and two additional
knights, armed to the teeth, all peering down into the river below.

It took several moments
before two heads could be made out, swimming the cold river in the early dawn
hours towards the castle.  Keller hadn’t realized that Derica was next to him,
heart in her throat as she strained to identify the swimmers. But it didn’t
take a genius to deduce who would be making their way across the swift, silty
river towards the castle; it was the same path Fergus had taken when he had
left. It would only make sense that he was retracing his steps. 

Before Keller could
clearly identify the shapes in the muddy river, he began waving a big gloved
hand towards the great gatehouse on the south side of the castle.

“Ready the archers,” he
boomed. “Start launching everything we have at them. Keep their attention away
from this wall.”

The two knights and
about a dozen soldiers ran to do his bidding as the orders were shouted down
the line and across the castle.  In short time, the archers were launching
great flaming long arrows over the walls and into Bertram’s front lines. The
two siege engines that had been threatening for most of the night remained on
station about thirty feet from the walls because none of Bertram’s men were
brave enough to attempt moving them towards the walls again; all who had tried
had been cut down or otherwise injured by de Poyer’s defense.  Now, no one
attempted to go near them as they all dove for cover.

With the main gatehouse
alive with a renewed offense, Keller snapped orders to the men remaining around
him.

“Lower a rope,” his
voice was quick and controlled. “Get ready to pull them up.”

Derica was still
hovering over the side of the wall, watching as a figure she recognized emerged
from the river.  She would have known that tall, powerful form anywhere. Joy at
the confirmation surged and forgetting herself, she suddenly waved her arms and
screamed.

“Garren!” she cried.

Startled, Keller ran at
her and threw her in a bear hug, pulling her away from the wall.  Derica
struggled violently against him.

“Are you mad?” he
hissed. “Do you want to attract your father’s attention?”

Her initial fury at
being grabbed morphed into terror. She immediately stopped struggling.

“My God,” she breathed.
“I… I am so sorry. I did not think.”

Keller gazed into her
beautiful eyes, his thoughts moving to those not of battle. He was suddenly
thinking of the woman in his arms, her soft lips, and the marriage that would
not take place.  It would be so easy to allow le Mon to fall from the rope or
succumb to de Rosa’s attack.  But he simply couldn’t do it. As quickly as he
grabbed her, he released her and returned to the wall where his men were
lowering a fat, scratchy rope. 

Derica hovered back out
of the way, watching the men work the rope and praying she hadn’t, in her zeal,
attracted unwanted attention. It had been stupid in hindsight; she knew that.
But she was so thrilled to see her husband that her excitement had gotten the
better of her.

Quietly, she wandered to
the edge of the wall walk again, peering over the side and seeing Garren and
Fergus at much closer range. They were both sopping, scrambling up the
embankment that led to the tower.  Thrilled, Derica clapped a hand over her
mouth so she wouldn’t make any noise.   She began jumping up and down, hand
over her mouth, as far below, Garren reached for the rope.  He was so close she
could almost taste him and her desperation to touch him, feel him, was
palpable.

But horror struck as a
high-pitched wail suddenly filled the early morning air.  Derica saw Garren
duck, realizing that someone had launched an arrow at him.  Everyone on the
wall walk shifted their focus to the south side to see that several dozen de
Rosa men were scaling the slopes of the western wall, making their way from the
south side of the castle, and they were heading straight for Garren and Fergus.

Keller was suddenly next
to Derica, his dark eyes riveted to the incoming men. 

“Damn,” he hissed,
turning to the men on the wall who held the rope. “Get le Mon up here. He will
not survive long down there.  Move!”

“My God,” Derica was
watching her father’s men approach, the tears in her eyes now spilling over. “I
did not mean to alert them.  I did not mean to do it!”

Keller heard her.  He
grabbed the tail end of the rope, anchoring it with his big body. “You did
not,” he replied calmly. “The arrow assault over the southern wall drove them
men to seek shelter. I would surmise they scattered to the west side to hide,
saw what we were doing, and decided to investigate.   I… I should have
considered that possibility. It is my fault.”

Derica’s hand was at her
mouth in fear as her gaze lingered on Keller a moment before returning her
focus to the incoming de Rosa men.  Then she looked to Garren, who had by this
time grabbed the rope.  She could see that he was waving at Fergus to join him,
but Fergus refused.   Garren then held out the rope to Fergus, indicating for
the man to go first.  Derica could see what was happening and her terror
mounted.  The de Rosa men were coming closer and more arrows were flying. 

Before Keller could stop
her, Derica screamed again at the top of her lungs. She just couldn’t stand
there any longer and watch the indecision that had her own life hanging in the
balance.  He had to hurry.

“Garren! Take the rope!”