Legendary Warrior (28 page)

Brigid stood and went to her friend’s side, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I understand.”

Reena turned and her tears started once again, but this time they fell for Brigid. “I suffered along with you when John died, but until now . . . until I have loved myself, I never truly understood how deep your pain and suffering was, and I am so terribly sorry for you.”

The two women hugged tightly before parting and wiping their tears away.

“I am lucky to have found love again and with such a kind and caring man. Thomas means the world to me and I love him dearly, but if I had the chance to go back to the day Kilkern attacked John I would have responded differently. I instinctively knew something was amiss and that John should have remained silent. I would have been more brave and stepped forward to silence my husband so that he did not have to lose his life so senselessly.” Brigid paused and fought back her tears.

Reena had to wipe at her own tears.

“I tell you this, Reena, for I understand your plight, and while I love you as a sister and do not wish to see any harm come to you, I would warn you to do whatever is necessary to protect the man you love. Death comes to us all, but unnecessary death, senseless death, is difficult to accept and understand. There was no reason for John to die. He died simply because a powerful and greedy man grew angry. And that man will kill again if he thinks it serves his purpose.

“After John died I blamed myself for not defending him and not dying along with him—”

“Nonsense,” Reena said, fast to correct her friend. “There was nothing you could do, and dying along with John would—”

“Would be a senseless death.” Brigid nodded. “It took me a while to understand that my living gave more meaning to John’s death. Falling in love with Thomas made me realize how important it was to live my life, to love again, to wed and have children. John’s love, my loving John, allowed me to love again. And I finally feel alive once more. But if you asked me if I had the chance to go back and change that fateful day, then I would tell you aye, most loudly. I would defend my husband at all costs.”

Brigid reached out and took hold of Reena’s arm. “So I tell you, Reena, defend the man you love at all costs and let no one stop you.”

Chapter 31

R
eena needed to clear her mind after Brigid left her bedchamber. She needed to think on what to do. What choices did she have in this matter? Was there anything she could do to keep Magnus safe? Or how could she make him see reason and inform her of his plans, at least easing her mind and heart?

He probably felt that if she did know of his plans it would only cause her more worry. If that was so, then his plans were definitely dangerous and perhaps foolhardy. Either way, she wanted to know.

She decided to map in order to clear her mind completely. Her jumbled thoughts did her no good, and until she could settle them and think more rationally, she would get nowhere. So with candles lit across her drawing table and quill in hand, she proceeded to finish the map of the dungeons. There was not much left to complete: she had worked sporadically on it, the map intriguing her, as each time she returned to it her memory would recall another detail for her to add.

She was meticulous in her details and in attempting measurement. She wanted to draw the dimensions of the rooms and his land on a smaller scale yet provide adequate knowledge for him to understand the depth and width—not an easy task, but one she continued to work on.

After an hour she stopped and rubbed the back of her neck, the painful ache she suffered from bending over the table annoying her.

“You should stop and rest more often.”

Reena was not startled by Magnus’s presence. She’d lost all track of time, and she would hear nothing, not even the latch on the door being lifted, when she was deep in her mapping. And she had been expecting him—or at least she had hoped he would come to her.

“I needed to map.”

Magnus had come to realize that Reena’s work actually soothed her and she would often seek it out if feeling troubled or concerned. When he had entered quietly after receiving no response to his knock he had seen that she was concentrating deeply on her work and he had not wanted to disturb her. But as she needed to map to ease her upset, he needed to see her, if it was only to watch her work to ease his own concerns.

“I needed to see you,” he admitted to his own surprise.

Reena walked around the desk toward him, and Magnus met her as she rounded the edge of the bed.

“I do not wish to argue,” he said, his hands remaining at his sides though he ached to hug her tightly and to taste her sweet, warm lips. He would know she wished the same before he kissed or touched her. He wanted no anger between them when they loved, and he wished to love her, he ached to love her.

“Nor I,” she agreed, her hands itching to touch him, taste him and snuggle in his warmth.

“I do not like when we disagree. We often think much alike you and I,” he said, taking a step closer.

“Aye, we do.” She took a step that caused them to almost touch.

“I want to love you, Ree.”

She collapsed in his waiting arms, which he wrapped tightly around her. “And I want to love you, Magnus.”

“Then there is no longer any need for words,” he said and claimed her mouth with his in a kiss that went on and on and on as their hands frantically tugged and pulled at each other’s garments.

Their mouths only left each other’s long enough to rid themselves of their clothing. Once naked, they fell on the bed together, eager to touch and taste. And touch and taste they did, each one not seeming to get enough of the other.

It continued until Magnus finally slipped over Reena, threading his fingers with hers and drawing her arms up above her head.

“I am going to love you hard and long and until you beg me to stop.”

Her soft laughter drifted up and around him. “You will be the first to surrender.” She ground her hips against his and moaned with the hard feel of him against her.

He nipped at her lips. “We shall see who wins this.”

She laughed and wiggled against him. “There can be no loss in this.”

He nuzzled her neck. “Then on to victory.”

He settled himself inside her and kept his promise, loving her hard and long. In the end she begged, and he surrendered at the exact same moment, their united cries of pleasure filling the room and drifting down around them to wrap them in a gentle glow of contentment.

They snuggled in each other’s arms, neither making mention of their earlier debate, both wanting to linger in the satisfying aftermath of their lovemaking.

“You will map more before the evening meal?”

Her head rested on his shoulder, her hand on his chest and her leg across his leg, and it felt good being there and knowing they loved. “Aye, I wish to finish the dungeon before I eat. It is almost detailed, I have but one cell left and it is done. And you?”

“I have things to discuss with Thomas.”

She instinctively knew what things he would discuss, but she said nothing. He had made a choice and now she would make hers.

They dressed and hugged tightly.

“I love you, Ree, and I always will, no matter what happens.”

She squeezed him to her as best she could. Her strength was meager compared to his, but strength came in different ways. “And I love you and always will, always my heart will belong to you.”

He smiled and kissed her. “Thank you, I needed badly to hear you pledge your heart to me.” He reluctantly stepped away from her, holding her hand until finally he was too far away to keep hold of it. “I look forward to the evening meal together, so go finish your work.”

“I will see you in the great hall later.”

He closed the door on her smile, looking forward to the evening ahead.

Reena returned to the map, working on the last cell in the dungeon. She was adding the two metal rings in the stone wall when she stopped and stared at what she had just drawn.

What were two metal rings doing in the wall, and at such odd angles? She had not given it thought when she had first seen them in the cell, though she had thought it odd that one cell contained two metal rings when the others did not. Of course the rings could have fallen out of the walls in the other cells.

She shook her head, doubting the possibility. The rings were held by metal stakes driven into the stone wall. They were there permanently; therefore, the other cells never contained them.

They also were set at odd angles to chain someone to the wall. She tilted her head to the left, then to the right, then back and forth she went, raising her hands as if grasping the metal rings until . . .

Her eyes widened and she jumped off the chair and ran out of the room.

Neither Magnus nor Thomas was in the great hall. She thought to see if Brigid would join her, then she realized her friend feared the dark too much to investigate the dungeon. She would, however, let Brigid know of her whereabouts so Magnus would not worry if she should be late for supper.

She found Brigid in the cook room, Horace sitting right beside her as she busily stirred a batter in a wooden bowl.

“You what?” Brigid said so loudly that all in the room turned to stare.

Reena kept her voice low. “I am going down to the dungeons to take a look at one of the cells. I think I may have discovered something, and I wish to see if I am right.”

“You are crazy.”

“Nay, I tell you of where I go to be safe and ease Magnus’s concern.”

Brigid put the bowl down on the table, Horace’s eyes following its descent. “Magnus will be angry.”

“It is safe in the keep, what could happen to me?”

“I do not know, but the dungeons do not sound like a place you should go to alone. Why not wait for Magnus to return? He went with Thomas to Daniel the bowman’s cottage. They should return shortly.”

“I do not want to wait, I must see this for myself now, to see if what I believe is true.” Reena headed to the door. “Tell Magnus where I am as soon as he returns.”

“At once I shall tell him, and don’t be surprised if he follows you.”

“That will be good—then I can show him my discovery.” She gave a wave and was off in a hurry.

“I do not like this, Horace,” Brigid said to the dog, whose eyes remained fixed on the bowl. “I do not like it at all.”

Reena grabbed a torch from the metal sconce on the wall before descending the stairs down into the dungeon. Her steps slowed as the damp darkness reached up to grab at her, and she had to drive back her fear to proceed. While the flame of the torch chased away the darkness in front of her, it but circled and crept up to follow behind her.

It seemed that there had been more light when Magnus had brought her here, but he was much taller than she, and he had carried the torch high, casting more light around them. She remembered several torches being lit along the wall where the cells were located, but none were lit now. Then she recalled how Magnus had told her that he had had them lighted for their visit to the dungeon so that she would have sufficient light for her work.

She had not taken the thick darkness into consideration when she had begun her decent down into the dungeon, but she was here now and would not turn back. Besides, she was much too excited to abandon her investigation.

She made her way along the familiar path, having trailed it many times in her mind while mapping it. She stopped suddenly, thinking she heard a noise, and she shivered at the thought that rats could be her only companions in this dismal, dark place.

The thought set her into action, moving more hastily to the cell in question so that she could ascertain whether her idea held any merit or she was crazy, as Brigid had suggested. Either way, she would have her answer.

She entered the cell and held the torch high, the light chasing the darkness to impatiently hover in wait in the corners. She spotted the metal rings and hurried over to the wall. With no place to put the torch inside the cell, Reena had to hold on to it, making her examination of the rings more difficult. She needed two hands.

She tugged at the one ring but nothing happened; she knew it would take two hands to accomplish anything. The lack of mortar around the stones led her to believe she was correct in her thought about the rings, but she needed to prove it to herself.

Another noise had her turning her head, but all she saw was darkness, and she wished Magnus were here with her, not only to help but also to comfort. She felt safe with him near, but then she was in his keep and safe from harm, so there was nothing to fear.

She returned her attention to the metal rings in order to determine her best course of action. She realized she would get nowhere on her own: she needed Magnus’s help, she needed his strength. It was best she return to the hall and wait for him.

That was when she heard footsteps and sighed with relief—Magnus was here and would help her.

“Look what I have found,” she said, her smile wide as she turned, holding the torch high. Her smile vanished in an instant when her eyes set upon Peter Kilkern.

“You are intelligent for a woman.”

She ignored his insult and focused on her situation. Kilkern had her trapped; there was no chance of escape. He blocked the entrance to the cell, and he most certainly had not come here alone. Her heart began to beat faster, and she forced her fear to remain hidden. She would not let Kilkern think her frightened. Her only chance was to survive until Magnus arrived to rescue her. He would rescue her, she had no doubt.

“Your father built the escape route from this cell, did he not?”

Kilkern was a fair-sized man and impeccable in his dress, but now he stood before her dirt-smeared and disheveled from crawling through the secret escape passage in order to enter the keep.

“How did you learn of it?” Kilkern asked, sounding impressed. “No one but my father or I knew of its existence. He had it built in case he required a hasty escape or if he should ever have found himself imprisoned in his own cell. He never thought that one day it would be used to gain entrance to the keep.”

She shrugged as if it had taken nothing on her part to discover the secret passageway. She attempted to hold her tongue and not remind him that his father had met his end in the torture chamber only a few feet away from the passage he had built to help him escape.

“The metal rings are fashioned in a way to grasp hold and pull, opening the escape route, and I would imagine your father had metal rings placed on the opposite side to help in replacing the outside wall so no one would be the wiser.”

Kilkern clapped his dirty hands slowly. “I applaud your brilliance. I would never have thought that a woman could have the depth of intelligence that you do.”

She wanted to keep him talking; she needed time, time for Magnus to rescue her.

“How often have you been in the keep without anyone’s knowledge?”

“I saw no reason to come here until I was ready, and besides, Magnus’s men keep watchful eyes on the land. If it were not for the trench, purposely overgrown with shrub, my father had built to aid his escape, I would never have been able to gain entrance here without notice. I spent the winter months making plans and, more importantly, gaining the king’s support. Now when Magnus cannot produce the map of Dunhurnal land and I can, the matter will be completely and permanently resolved. Then I shall enjoy myself with that beautiful peasant woman until I tire of her and—” His eyes narrowed and his expression turned to one of complete rage. “I shall make every tenant pay dearly for having deserted my land. That is, of course, after I kill Magnus and you?” He placed a finger to his cheek as if in thought. “After you create a map designating my land as encompassing Dunhurnal land, I shall torture you for a while, then dispose of you. Your punishment for seeking the Legend’s help.”