Gem of Gravane (The Northern Knights) (22 page)

 A smile did come to Aric’s
mouth then with that thought. She had already begun to do so. The
change in her was dramatic with most things thus far. Especially during their
intimate moments. Aric straightened and was headed in her direction just
as he saw her turn back and head toward the manor from the courtyard. His
pursuit of her stopped when the sound of hooves reached his ears. Turning,
he froze and the smile left his face.

Danielle turned at the sound and
stopped in her tracks a few feet from the manor. Two of Aric’s men were
riding hard and fast into the courtyard. They were wearing their armor and
rode without their helms. She did not know that her feet brought her back to
the cart near Edie as the men stopped near her husband in the middle of the
yard.

The hairs on the back of his neck
stood up and Aric felt Balwain at his back. He waited for his two sentries
to dismount. They were dirty with dust of the road and blood covered their
armor.   

After speaking with the men, he
called over the ones he had gathered for the ride to Egway and Gent. 

Danielle watched as that large
group dispersed and Aric motioned for the remainder of the men that were to
remain at Gravane to meet him in the hall.  Something churned in her gut
as a feeling of dread crept up her spine. The two sentries made a wide
berth as they neared the manor and went in a different direction away from
her. But not before she saw the blood that marked  their armor. 

Aric’s iron voice made her jump as
he spoke at her side. “Come, Danielle. You and your maid must return
to the manor, immediately.”

Danielle didn’t find her voice
until they had reached the inside of the manor and stood outside the
hall. She watched the procession of her husband’s men walk into the
hall. 

Looking up at Aric, she finally saw
the look on his face and the fear ballooned in her gut. She asked “What
goes on here?”

His dark visage was like the one
she had seen the day he’d held his sword to Thomas’s throat.

“My men were ambushed on their way
here from Egway by some rebels and they are headed this way.” Aric hated
to lie to her, even if it was a partial lie, but he had to and would tell her
the truth of it later. “Gravane has to be secured and neither you nor any
of the women within are allowed to leave.”

“I do know what needs to be done if
we are attacked, Aric.’

 ‘I am sure you do, Danielle.
but I will not have it. Not now when someone is out to do you harm. I will know
now before I leave, that you are safe and secure within our chamber.”

He was surprised to see that she
did not argue and almost sighed with relief until he felt her tremble against
his hand at her elbow.

“You will be careful, won’t
you?” 

Her worried gaze almost undid him
and Aric pulled her into his arms in a quick and tight embrace before setting
her away from him. The emotion he saw storming in her eyes made his chest
hurt. “I will see you soon, Danielle. Now please, do as I ask and
stay within these walls until I return.” 

She nodded and shocked him when she
leaned up and planted a hard kiss against his mouth, before she turned
away. But not before he saw the sheen of tears fill her eyes.

Danielle stood looking out their
chamber window as Aric and his men prepared to ride out. Her heart beat
wildly in her chest. She had wanted to wait for him down in the courtyard
and see him once again closely, but he had four men outside their chamber door
and she was not allowed to leave. She had wanted to help prepare the manor
for battle, but Aric would have none of it.  She had wanted to argue with
him but did not wish that to be the last of the time they had together if he
did not return. 

Tears slid from her eyes as she
watched him belt out more orders as he stood in front of his men. Dressed
now in hauberk and articulated shoulder plates, his helm at his side on his
hip, with his legs parted in that war stance, he was ready to do battle.
  

If she thought he was large before,
now he truly looked like a giant. His dark cloak crossed at his neck hung
behind his shoulders. Thunder was covered in his plates. Horse and
rider a formidable sight. Balwain’s words earlier came back to
her. She could see now why Aric was feared.  Just looking at him
alone was enough to stop one’s breath and heart for a moment. A moment in which
he could kill. 

Danielle pressed her hand to her
breast, feeling the dread that filled her chest. Her heart
beating roared loudly in her ears. She’d known he’d not told her the
whole truth of it for she’d seen it in his dark eyes. He was holding
something back.  Danielle was coming to know him quite well. 

Whatever it was, she knew he
thought he was protecting her and she would not let him know any
different. He needed his wits about him going into battle and she did not
want to add to his burden with the hysterics that she had swallowed when she’d
seen his face. She would pray he returned. He had to. She had to tell
him her little secret.

 She did not know if he could
see her from this distance as her tears shook her, but she raised her hand
nonetheless and waved. 

When he returned her wave, Danielle
gave into her hysterics as she watched him turn and ride away.

****

The small manor was a
disaster.  Aric and Balwain stepped carefully over the carnage of stiff,
lifeless bodies and furniture that lay strewn across the stone floors of
Thomas’s home. Of the few servants that were within, they too lay dead
among the filthy rushes, with throats slit, bellies gutted. As Aric’s men came
back with the counts, his gut churned with sickness over the senseless
butchering. 

One of his soldiers came and waited
his turn to speak. Aric nodded as he stood under the archway leading to
the main dining hall of the manor. 

“Milord, the woman is there behind
yon screen.” The young soldier waved in the direction of the gilded silk
covered screen. 

Balwain and a few men-at-arms
followed behind Aric into the hall. The tall screen stood off to one side,
acting as a partition to Thomas’s private quarters.  Aric walked around to
the other side and came to a halt at the sight before him.

Rose lay naked at the bottom of the
bed, with her maid, Hilda dead beside her on the floor. A 
double-edged dirk protruded from the valley between Rose’s
breasts. Her eyes wide open stared a sightless gaze at the ceiling.

“Think you
he would go as far to murder his own sister?” Balwain asked.

Aric did not think, he
knew. “Aye.  And ‘twas he himself that held the blade, I am sure of
it.”  He couldn’t keep the disgust out of his tone as he stared down
at Rose. Thomas was a man obsessed and crazed over his futile
plight. 

When the garrison he’d sent forth
weeks ago to keep watch over Thomas’s estate from the woods returned with their
report this morn, it was to announce they’d been set upon by Thomas and his
rebels. There had been no other course of action to take except engage in
battle. Yet, Thomas had managed to slip away during the bloody melee. When
they’d reached indoors, the manor had been rank with the deaths by another.
  Aric knew it was done by Thomas’s own hand and whatever fools that
stood loyal beside him.  

“He is a fool to think he can put
the blame at your door.” Balwain made a sound of disgust. 

“A fool indeed. He will be
found easily enough for he is too stupid to go very far from what he has lost,
Balwain.” Aric reached down and pulled one of the coverlets over
Rose’s face and walked away. 

His hard gaze swept the
room. The manor could have been grand had it been run by
another. Thomas’s gluttony and sloth marked every corner. The rancid
stench had been here long before death had come to this place. 

Balwain came to stand near his side
when they stood out in the small courtyard. Aric’s men had gathered there
awaiting further orders.  Only a few of his soldiers had been cut
down.  From the bodies that littered the grounds and the blood soaking
into the earth, many of Thomas’s men had met their end at the hands of Aric’s
men. 

"Harvey was not among the
dead." Balwain remarked.

"Nay, for now he is still no
doubt at Thomas's side until he too is no longer needed."

“Milady?” 

Balwain’s words caused the tick in
Aric’s cheek to jump.  His friend was asking what he already knew and was
thinking. “He is out of his skull and will come for her again. This
time, I
will
kill him.”
Balwain grunted in agreement as they moved toward the troops.

After having scouted the perimeters
of Gravane with his troops, Aric and his men only came across a handful of
lingering rebels in the forest. 

A few had given up their cause in
favor of their lives, but two had not and attacked, their bloodthirsty cries
filling the skies. Aric made short and quick work of the two with a heavy blow
from his long blade across their throats. The rest were now secured below as
prisoners until final judgment.  Night had fallen and there was not much
to do other than return and make sure Danielle and Gravane were secure. A
herald had been sent earlier to Egway and Gent.

 Aric waved a hand to his
squire to leave him and the young fellow did with his lord’s body armor
clutched in his arms. Aric had decided to remove his blood spattered armor in a
room off the knight’s quarters for he was still not ready to face Danielle.
Telling her of Rose’s demise would still bother her, despite the feelings of
angst between them. Danielle had come a long way, but she still possessed a
gentle and too forgiving soul. 

After all Thomas had done to her,
she’d still wanted his life spared. , Aric grunted at the memory. He wished now
that he’d done more than beat that peacock within an inch of his life that day
he had dared raise a hand to her. Then all this could have been avoided.

Now, Thomas could not be found.
 But he was not going to tell her that for he knew Danielle would blame
herself for some of it.

He would simply increase the guard
as he had already ordered around her, even though she did not like it. He
smiled at that. She had been brave this morn, but her eyes and trembling had
told him different. He was finding that he was starting to take pleasure in the
feelings she stirred in him. 

He stood, naked and stretched as
the last of the servants brought in the buckets of water to fill the tub for
his quick bath before he went and greeted her.

She lay on her side with a hand
curled under her chin. Aric stood naked next to the bed. He was glad that she
slept. Glad for the reprieve of not having to tell her the news this night. Pulling
back the covers, he climbed in the bed beside her. Immediately she turned and
snuggled against his chest. 

He slid an arm down her back over
the thin shift and pulled her tighter against him. She smelled good and he felt
a stirring in his loins, but the weariness in him caused him to close his eyes.

“You are well, Aric?”

His eyes shot open in
surprise. 

She did not sleep.  

He groaned and she raised her
head.  Aric could see her eyes shining down at him with the dim light
still in the room. The candle he had not blown out next to the bed glowed on
her face and he caught his breath. Her eyes were swollen. 

He lifted a hand to caress her
cheek.  “Why do you not sleep, Danielle?” 

“I could not until I knew you had
returned.” Danielle did not care that the words fell from her mouth. She had
been so afraid. 

Aric heard the catch in her voice
and wishing to ease her fears he teased. “Did you not think that I would? So
little faith in me, eh?”  He regretted it when she stiffened against him.

“I knew you would return, Aric. Do
not jest so.” 

The wetness in her eyes pained him
and he slid his thumb across her bottom lip with a heavy sigh. “Aye, you are
right. This no jesting matter. I do have some news to share.” He cleared his
throat and taking one of the hands she had splayed on his chest in his own, he
held it tight. “’Twas a bit of trouble near your cousin’s home. A few rebels
were caught and Danielle…” there was no easy way to tell her, so he hurried to
finish, “we were too late to do anything for Rose.”

Her gasp came out in a whoosh as
she tried to sit up and pull her hand back. Aric held her fast

Nay.” Her cry of disbelief filled
their chamber.

“Aye. I am sorry, Danielle.” He
rose up and pulled her with him, still holding her hand in his.  He watched
the play of emotions flit across her face as her words came whisper soft.

“I admit I hated her more times
than not. She was oft times as cruel as Thomas, but I did not wish her dead.
How?”

Aric squeezed her hand. She had a
heart of gold for had it been any other her cousins would have been dead a long
time ago. She asked him for the details and he was reluctant to tell her. But
when he saw the determination in her eyes, he gave in and told her what had
happened. 

 The silence stretched between
them as she digested the news.

After a moment she raised her
sorrow filled gaze to his. He was angry at the sight and that she shed tears
for her tormentors. They did not deserve her sympathy. But Aric kept his
thoughts to himself. 

Danielle said, “I shall say a
prayer for her. Mayhap her spirit will find the rest that she could not when
she was alive. And Thomas?”

“He lives.”

Danielle gave him an odd look. He
was holding something back. But, nay, if he had told her about Rose, she knew
he’d not hesitate to tell her about Thomas too. 

“Come.” He moved to pull her back
down next to him. But Danielle resisted. He frowned at her.  She needed to
know what he was not telling her. “Is that all, Aric?”