Candace C. Bowen - Knight Series 03

A Knight of Valour

Knight Series - Book 3

Candace C. Bowen

A Knight of Valour

Copyright © 2015 by Candace C. Bowen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

ISBN 13: 978-1514831977

Dedication

For Carl S. Prince

Sometimes in life we are fortunate to be given a

second chance at things that were meant to be in the first place.

I love you.

Acknowledgments

Huge thanks to Lee Diogeneia. Your editing skills and suggestions have made me a better writer. You totally rock, lady.

Thanks to Kent Holloway for keeping me sane throughout the formatting, and publishing process. I would have been lost without your guidance.

I also have to thank my mom and sister-in-law for keeping me on the right track. Your support and encouragement means the world to me.

Heartfelt thanks to the readers who have reached out to me. You make writing worthwhile and it is my greatest hope that you continue to enjoy my stories.

Everything I do, believe in, and strive for can be attributed to my son, Clayton. The world is a better place because you are in it, Pook. Never stop reaching for the stars. I love you.

Cast of Characters

Mylla (Daughter of Sheriff Richard of Rochester)

Talan (Fulke’s Knight)

Albin (Fulke’s Knight)

Bronwyn (Euric’s Wife)

Caine (Mylla’s Brother)

Edmund (Mylla’s Eldest Brother)

Emmaline (Mylla’s Mother)

Euric (Friend of Fulke)

Father Godfrey (Priest)

Frederick (Mylla’s Brother)

Fulke (Baron of Erlegh)

Guy (Fulke’s Knight)

Gervase (Fulke’s Knight)

King Henry I of England

Lecie of Rochester (Albin’s Wife)

Leofrick (Mylla’s Brother)

Osbert (Fulke’s Knight)

Ranulf de Glanville (King Henry’s Chief Itinerant Justice)

Reina (Baroness of Erlegh)

Sheriff Richard (Mylla’s Father)

Stephen of Blois (King Henry’s Nephew)

Warin (Fulke’s Squire and Reina’s Younger Brother)

Candace C. Bowe
n–
Novels

A Knight of Silence – Knight Series Book 1

A Knight of Battle – Knight Series Book 2

A Knight of Valour – Knight Series Book 3

A Knight of Defiance – Coming Soon

Spur of the Moment

Wicked Embers (Sequel to Spur of the Moment)

Jack of Hearts

Voodoo Fire

Order of the Knightshades – The Stygian Stone

ANTHOLOGY CONTRIBUTIONS

Bump Off Your Enemies

The Darwin Murders

Tasteful Murders

COMING SOON

Malevolence (Sequel to Voodoo Fire)

A Knight of Defiance – Knight Series Book 4

Chapter One

Rochester, England

Spring 1127

“I cannot bear to see you weep.”  Raising a fingertip Talan gently smoothed a tear from Mylla’s flushed cheek.

“I shall miss Lecie so very much.” With a last wave, Mylla’s hand slowly dropped to her side. “We have been friends for the whole of our lives.”

“Do not worry so. Albin will take good care of her and the children.”

“He will keep her happy and cherish her as well.” Mylla inhaled a tremulous breath. “I shall forever bless the day Sir Albin entered the family’s inn.”

Watching the cart turn a bend in the road leading from the village, Talan remained silent. Not even the image of the family’s dog trotting happily beside the churning wheels could stir him from his sullen thoughts. His fellow knight, Albin, who swore to never take a wife, had everything Talan had always dreamt of having for himself. A loving wife in Lecie, now pregnant with their first child, and a ready-made family in her three younger orphaned siblings. He even had a loyal dog in Tugger, the family’s large brown mastiff. Talan shook off an unfamiliar twinge of jealously. Albin was more than a fellow knight to him he had become a cherished friend. While their parting had been a somber one due to the difficult situation Talan and Mylla were in, he resolved to be pleased for his fellow knight.     

Clayton, the youngest of Lecie’s siblings and only boy could still be heard laughing once the cart rode out of sight. The family travelled to Castell Maen in Hitchin near Dunstable. Home to their liege lord, Baron Fulke of Erlegh, the land had been at one time inhabitable. King Henry had encouraged settlement of Dunstable by ordering a modest royal residence be built in order to hunt for game in the surrounding forests.

It was a wealthy relation of King Henry who unwisely decided to build the imposing Castell Maen on land adjacent to the king’s royal residence. King Henry believed construction of the immense fortified stone castle to be a personal insult against his reign. Years earlier the earl who commissioned the castle had sided with Henry’s older brother, Robert Curthose, during a fight for the throne after the death of their eldest brother, William Rufus, in a hunting accident. After his victory at the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106, Henry ordered Robert to be imprisoned in Devizes Castle for what remained of his life. In was only recently Henry had his ailing brother moved to Cardiff. The earl who had erred by siding with Robert had quickly made amends to Henry. Swearing fealty to the newly crowned king, he had filled Henry’s war depleted coffers with gold. 

Regardless, the insult of constructing Castell Maen would end up being the earl’s last transgression against the king. Upon completion of the castle, Henry arrived with a large retinue under the guise of inspecting the vast property. It was then that a trusted member of the king’s private counsel happened to uncover evidence that the earl had been plotting with other peers of the realm who had fallen out of favor with Henry. Accused of plotting to free Robert in order for him to reassert his claim to the throne, the nobles were all declared traitors and promptly executed. Before the bodies of the men could be shriven by cathedral priests, King Henry had outright gifted the castle and surrounding land to his favored baron, Fulke of Erlegh.   

Albin had left the running of The Wounded Stag Tavern and Inn in the capable hands of William the tapster. Clayton who inherited the property by right of primogeniture would return to manage the holding when he came of age. In the meantime, Albin planned to reside at Castell Maen with his expanding family until a modest manor house could be built on the parcel of land gifted to him by Fulke. 

Taking in Mylla’s loveliness, Talan exhaled softly. With tears glistening in her cornflower blue eyes, her heart-shaped face appeared all the more innocent. Her pouty pink lips trembled slightly as she struggled to contain her tears. She wore her flowing flaxen tresses gathered in a cream colored snood. Matching the hair covering, her cream tiretaine kirtle was offset by the long-sleeved white linen chemise she wore beneath it.

Mylla’s hands nervously gathered the folds of her skirts the moment she became aware of Talan’s intense regard.     

“I think it best I escort you home, lest one of your brothers set out in search of us.” Talan extended his arm to her with a gentle smile. Being the only daughter of the Sheriff of Rochester, Mylla’s four older brothers guarded her virtue well.

“They will not come looking for us on this day.” Mylla smiled shyly up at him. “Knowing where my heart lays, my brothers have agreed to allow me to spend a little more time with you in the coming days.”

“I can see Leofrick championing our cause yet find it hard to believe Edmund would agree to such a thing,” Talan said. “He is loath to leave you unchaperoned in my presence for even a moment.”

“Should he question my absence, Caine and Frederick will convince Edmund that there is no harm in my being with you in public.”

“I affirm they will fail.” Talan remained unconvinced. “Your eldest brother does not approve of me.”

“Please do not be so hard on Edmund.” Mylla lowered her eyes. “Since he is the eldest, he is to inherit my father’s position one day. He likely finds the prospect of so much responsibility overwhelming.”

“I assure you were our places exchanged, I would act no different where you are concerned.” A shadow crossed Talan’s soulful features. “When did your brothers happen to agree upon our spending time together?”

“This very morn while we were breaking our fast together.” Mylla slightly lifted her skirts to walk, exposing the soft leather slippers she wore. “The subject of our attachment was broached shortly after a messenger sent by Justice de Glanville departed.”

Talan failed to conceal his rising temper at the situation they found themselves in. “Why did you not tell me sooner a missive had arrived from the vile man?”

“Lecie and Albin starting a new life together is joyful news,” Mylla said softly. “I did not wish to ruin their parting with such unpleasant talk.” 

“You are of course right.” Talan willed himself to relax so as not to upset her further. “What news did the justice’s messenger impart?”

Second only to King Henry in power, Lord Justice Ranulf de Glanville’s corrupting influence choked the realm. Having failed in his attempt to have Lecie executed to avenge the honor of Baron Reynold, a personal acquaintance of his, he began to exercise his judicial power in Rochester and beyond with zeal. Villagers throughout the realm paid the high price of his wrath in the ensuing months. Torture and maimings were ordered for the slightest of transgressions. The justice was a cold, dishonest, and unforgiving man. He had also set his sights on claiming Mylla for his fourth wife.

“Will you walk a ways with me beside the river?” Changing the subject, Mylla placed her right hand on Talan’s tensed forearm.

“I gave you my vow that man would not have your hand in matrimony.” Talan passed behind a horsedrawn cart laden with shorn sheep fleeces to lead Mylla across the hard-packed dirt of the main village road. “I would rather forfeit—”

“Do not voice that which is in your mind,” Mylla interrupted him. In a rare display of temper, she stopped walking with a frown marring her delicate features. “I implore you not to say such a thing, let alone believe your death would make my lot easier. My knowing you are alive and happy is what will give me the courage to face what is to come.”

“I may live once you are lost to me, yet I shall never find happiness in this life.”

Reaching the sloping river bank through a thick stand of towering yew trees, they stood lost to their own troubled thoughts. Barges laden with early fruit, grain, and livestock heading to and from the local village market dotted the churning water while men in smaller boats cast nets for carp, perch, tench, and pike in the shallows.

“Talan,” Mylla said after some time, “I release you from your vow. Whilst I would never hold you to such a thing, I believe saying it is the only way I can ease your troubled thoughts.”

In response, Talan unclasped his black woolen cloak to spread it on the patch of grass at their feet. Drawing Mylla down to sit beside him, he focused on the dense forest across the water. “What news did the messenger impart?”

Mylla studied his profile with a sinking heart. “Justice de Glanville has informed my father that he is purging a village of its wicces to the north of here. Once his duty there is concluded, he will arrive in Rochester to claim me.”

“How long did he say his duty would take him?”

“Barring any unforeseeable delays, he will arrive in a matter of days.”

“So soon,” Talan said softly. “Is that the word he used, claim?”

“Aye, it is.” Unable to bear the sadness in his eyes, Mylla averted her gaze. “Leofrick took issue with the term as well.”

“And well he should have. You are not an object to be claimed.” Clenching his fists, Talan studied her profile. “What else did the messenger have to impart?”

“He said the justice sent his apologies for the required haste of our betrothal. Urgent business with the king has him returning to London anon.” Mylla brushed at the tears slipping from her eyes. “He also made it clear that the justice is going out of his way to come to Rochester to make me his wife instead of summoning me to his side. I believe it was meant to be a gesture of kindness on his part so that my family may attend the ceremony.”

“How unlike him to be so considerate,” Talan said sarcastically. “He must feel a need to keep your father and brothers in his good graces.”

“Father Bartholomeo is to perform the ceremony,” Mylla went on as if she had not heard him. “I am to depart immediately thereafter for London.”

“I see.” Talan’s hand absently fell to the hilt of his sword. Realizing what he had done, his jaw tensed in anger. Never before had he felt so helpless.

“Talan.” Mylla shifted toward him with imploring eyes. “Surely you must see there is no other way. Justice de Glanville can take my father’s livelihood away from him, even our home. My father’s father was sheriff afore him, and he is to pass the livelihood onto Edmund. It is the only way of life my family has ever known.”

“I gave you my word,” Talan said. 

“I shall always love you,” Mylla’s voice broke. Reaching out, she cupped his face. “Yet I have already released you from your vow. Surely you can see that you have as much to lose as I?”

“How will I live knowing you belong to such a man? That it is he who has the right to your touch, and not me?”

“My heart will never belong to him, Talan, never. And every time I am forced to bear his touch, I shall be thinking of you.”

“We could flee together.” Talan reached up to hold her hands in place. “Somewhere they would never find us.”

“It is your heart speaking, and not your head. I have never known a more honorable man than you. It is one of the many reasons why I love you so much.”

“How can you love a man who broke a solemn vow to you?”

“You swore an oath to Baron Erlegh long afore you ever met me,” Mylla said. “Your duty is to him first. Should you cast your honor aside to keep your vow to me, you shall bring ruin upon yourself and dishonor to him. Knowing you did such a thing for me is not something I could live with, any more than you would be able to live with yourself for doing it.”

Talan pulled away to stand with his back to her. Walking a few yards off, he tilted his head toward the cloud-laden sky.

Mylla stood to slip her arms around his lean waist from behind. Laying her cheek against the soft wool of his black embroidered bliaud, she closed her eyes. “Please, Talan. You must realize there is no other way.”

Turning in her arms, Talan gently unpinned the snood from her hair. Freeing the silken blonde mass, he ran his calloused fingers through it. His eyes darkening with desire, he tilted her face up. “Tell me that you do not share the pain I feel, and I shall remain silent from this moment forward.”

“My heart shall wither the moment you are lost to me.”

“Then how can I let you go?”

“Talan—”

He cut her words short by seizing her lips in an unyielding kiss. Straining against one another, each sought to possess the other in the little time they had left. Eventually they broke apart, breathless and hesitant to break eye contact for fear the spell of the moment would be lost.

The tolling of the church bells announcing terce broke the enchanted hold that bound them.

“I shall escort you as far as the church. Beyond that, I cannot bear the pitying looks directed at me from three of your brothers.” His tense expression melting, he reached for her hand. “Forgive me, Mylla. I think only of myself when it is you who must bear the worst for us both.”

“You are the most caring man I have ever met.” Holding his calloused sword hand, tears glistened in Mylla’s eyes. “It is I who am selfish for asking you to attend with me. I would spend every last moment I could with you.”

“Then I shall gladly escort you to mass.”

Lightly clasping Mylla’s arm, Talan guided her back through the woods. Checking to see that the road was clear of prying eyes, they fell in behind a peasant family strolling toward the village square.

Approaching the rough stone rectangular church that dominated the center of the village, Mylla spotted her family greeting parishioners outside the nave. One of the sheriff’s many responsibilities was to set a pious example for the people he governed.