Shadowmoor (de Lohr Dynasty #6) (10 page)

Perhaps this entire endeavor was ego and nothing more.

But he would have to figure it out later because he had tasks to complete on this day. Just as he entered the stables, he nearly ran headlong into Etzel and Liselotte and Gunnar. Ares was saddled, as were the two other horses in the stable, and it looked to Daniel as if everyone was waiting for him. The horses were ready, and so were Liselotte and Gunnar. They were both heavily wrapped in wool clothing and Liselotte wore an old faded cloak, lined with fox fur, that must have been very beautiful, once. Daniel came to a halt when he saw the crowd and his eyebrows lifted.

“So I am the lazy one today?” he asked. “You are all eager to go to town and I am the one who could not drag my carcass out of bed? I am ashamed.”

Gunnar laughed; even Liselotte and Etzel grinned. “We wanted to be ready to depart when you were, my lord,” Liselotte said. “We have not been waiting long.”

Daniel’s gaze lingered on Liselotte in the early morning light. She was dressed in faded clothing, but on her, they were the garments of a queen. She held herself regally, with pride, and her hair was pulled into a braid that draped elegantly over one shoulder. Truthfully, Daniel could have stared at her all day.

“Forgive me for making you wait at all,” he said, “but I found that I slept so solidly that before I realized it, morning had come.”

“Here!” Gunnar was suddenly in front of him, thrusting something in his face. “To break your fast!”

Daniel had to step back in order to see what Gunnar was so excited to show him. He could see that it was a piece of bread from last night, now hard and crumbly. It was a rather large piece and he hesitated before accepting it.

“This is quite kind of you,” he said, looking at the boy. “Have you broken your fast this morning?”

The enthusiastic smile faded from Gunnar’s face and he suddenly appeared uncertain. “I… I did not,” he said, glancing to his father and sister over his shoulder. “But I am not hungry. This is for you.”

Daniel smiled faintly at the boy, putting his hand on the blond head. “You are more than generous, but I, too, am not hungry,” he said, suspecting that the family had gone without food that morning so they could give it all to their guest. “If you do not eat this, it will go to waste.”

Gunnar was quite uncertain now, lowering the chunk of bread in his hand and looking to his father and sister for guidance. Daniel could see the indecision and he patted the boy on the head before removing his hand and turning to his horse.

“Hurry and eat it, young Gunnar,” he said. “Otherwise, my horse, who is a glutton, will smell it and he will want to eat it. I would rather see you have it than him. Were the horses fed, by the way?”

Etzel nodded. “They were fed dried grasses, my lord,” he said. “I am sorry that I do not have grain to offer your horse. He is a very fine animal.”

Daniel nodded, slapping the beast on his shiny black neck before mounting. “Aye, he is,” he said. “His name is Ares and he is like a brother to me. We have seen much together, he and I. It looks as if he has been brushed.”

Etzel nodded, moving to help Liselotte mount her horse. “He has been,” he said. “My stable master loves horses. He sleeps with them, in fact, so they are never alone. I am sure he took great pleasure in grooming your steed.”

Daniel slipped his boots into the stirrups and gathered his reins. “And I am equally sure that Ares took pleasure in being groomed,” he said. “He loves attention and if he does not get enough of it, he will kick and snort until someone pets him. And if he is not petted the correct way, he will bite. He is very spoiled.”

The horse threw his head as if to agree and Daniel grinned, directing the horse out of the stable yard. Liselotte was on a small mare that had seen better days, an old animal with a sunken back. Etzel picked up Gunnar, with the piece of bread still in his hand, and put him on the animal behind his sister. As Gunnar held fast to his sister’s slender waist, the horse followed Daniel out of the stable yard at a leisurely pace. Etzel followed.

“I have thought much on our conversation last night, my lord,” Etzel said to Daniel, “about heading north to find a messenger, and I do believe the village of Siglesdene would be the best place for you to go. When you leave Shadowmoor, go west to the main road and then north. That road will take you right into Siglesdene.”

Daniel was listening, closing tight his gloves against the cold temperatures. “How far?”

“It will take you about three hours, less if you move swiftly.”

“If Bramley’s men are watching the roads, then I want to move swiftly.”

Etzel understood. “They usually watched Shadowmoor but since they abducted Gunnar, they stopped watching,” he said. He was hesitant to say anything more but knew that he must. “Now that my boy is returned, it is quite possible they will be watching Shadowmoor again, knowing you have brought him home. Be vigilant, my lord – they will want what you have.”

Daniel looked at him. “What is that?”

Etzel glanced at Liselotte. “My daughter,” he replied. “That is all they want.”

Daniel turned to look at the woman, riding silent and lovely atop the old mare. He considered what Etzel said before pulling Ares to a halt. “Then get her off that mare and put her on with me,” he said. “I am sure the mare will run much faster with just Gunnar’s weight on it and Ares is very strong. He can easily carry two people swiftly.”

Etzel was already on the move, shifting the horseback passengers until Liselotte was seated behind Daniel and Gunnar had the old mare all to himself. The young boy was quite thrilled, actually, for now he could pretend to be a knight on his mighty steed, just as Sir Daniel was. Once Liselotte was situated and Daniel could feel her soft hands holding on to his torso for support, he spurred Ares forward again.

“How many men does Bramley usually have out and about,” he asked Etzel as they approached the iron-web main gate. “Do they travel in patrols?”

Etzel nodded to the question. “They travel in patrols of two or three men,” he said. “I have seen as many as four patrols out at one time but as of late, there have been less. However, as I said, that may have changed since Gunnar was returned to us yesterday.”

“You think that Bramley will have his men sitting on Shadowmoor again?”

Etzel nodded. “It is possible.”

Daniel thought very seriously about that. It wouldn’t do any good for him to purchase supplies in town and hire a wagon to bring them back to Shadowmoor only to have to fight off Bramley’s men, who could quite possibly be lying in wait for them. Nay, he didn’t like those odds at all. He had to have men to protect the supplies as well as the l’Audacieux offspring.
Liselotte
. God’s Bones, he would feel horrible if his lack of foresight caused her to fall into Bramley’s hands. And with that, he began to cook up a plan.

It was necessary.

“When we leave, you will lock these gates and remain inside, no matter what,” Daniel told Etzel. “I will return as soon as I can, but you will lock up Shadowmoor and stay here until I return. Is that clear?”

Etzel nodded. “That is a normal way of life for us, my lord. You need not stress the obvious.”

Daniel nodded, satisfied. “Good,” he said, watching as the big iron gates began to slowly crank open. “If we do not return tonight, do not be afraid. I am not sure how long it is going to take us to conduct business so do not be concerned if we do not return right away. I have missives to send and other business to conduct. It will take time.”

Etzel nodded, wondering if he was doing the right thing by allowing two of his children to leave with a man he’d only met the day before. Was he being foolish? Was it possible that Bramley had even hired this man who called himself de Lohr, a man who had pushed his way into Shadowmoor and demanded the trust of the occupants? Etzel’s determination that Daniel should be the answer to prayer began to waver a bit, but he fought it. He was fairly certain that Bramley hadn’t sent him, especially based on what Gunnar had told him. Still, it was difficult for him to watch his children go with a man he’d only just met, one who promised to help him. What was it he had said to his daughter the previous night?

We have no alternative but to go on faith.

That was a true statement. Still, it was very hard to watch his children ride out with the knight. Even after the gates closed behind them, Etzel climbed to the battlements and watched the big black horse and the little brown mare travel down through the green and brown moors until they were out of sight.

Then, the real worrying began.

CHAPTER FOUR

T
he town.

Liselotte wasn’t used to seeing so many people. So many well-fed, busy people. It was something of a shock as they entered the outskirts of Siglesdene a little over three hours after leaving Shadowmoor. The sun was up and, on this day in mid-March, it seemed as if every farmer in a twenty-mile radius had turned up with produce and animals to sell. Liselotte had never seen so much merchandise – from cabbage to fruit to bees – and she was shocked.

Shocked… and disheartened.

Was it true that life went on like this, lively and busy and full, while she and her family were trapped in their bastion on the hill by a greedy lord? Was it really true that life went on around them and people were actually happy? She couldn’t honestly remember the last time she had ventured into a town because Bramley had kept her so bottled in. It was safer not to try. But riding with Daniel on his fat black horse, she felt safe as she had never felt safe in her life. It was difficult to describe but she knew that she liked it. She was both thrilled and relieved and, truth be told, rather giddy about it. But it didn’t take her long to realize that the true source of her giddiness wasn’t just the town.

It was the knight.

He was a very big man with big arms and hands, and she rather liked riding behind him, politely holding on to him so she wouldn’t fall off with the horse’s bouncy, prancing gait, but it was a fact that she had never been this close to a man who wasn’t a relative. Even before the event of Bramley, Etzel had kept her fairly sequestered from men, so this situation was quite new to her. The fact that she was here bespoke of Etzel’s utter trust in Daniel de Lohr, as if the man’s rescue of Gunnar gave Etzel complete faith to trust him, alone, with his precious daughter. Etzel had spent four years protecting her from Lord Bramley but de Lohr had managed to dissolve that inherent protectiveness, from father to daughter, in one heroic move.

And Liselotte wasn’t the least bit upset about it.

Truthfully, she was glad her father had permitted her to go to town with Sir Daniel, even if he
had
allowed Gunnar to come along as a kind of juvenile chaperone. Surely Daniel wouldn’t do anything unseemly with a child about. But the mere fact that Gunnar was along so soon after returning home after his abduction told Liselotte that Etzel was truly insane with trust over Daniel. There was no other explanation.

We have no alternative but to go on faith.

That was what her father had told her the previous night and it was clear he had meant what he’d said. So Liselotte held tight to Daniel as they entered the outskirts of the town, bustling with activity. Peasants were moving stock in and out of the town and there were innumerable vegetable carts. Children ran about with dogs chasing after them, barking, and as the three of them pushed towards the heart of the town, they entered the merchant’s part of the village. Near the center of town, and the well that provided water for a goodly portion of the village, the merchants of Siglesdene were deep in the heat of their business for the day.

Liselotte looked at all of the bustle around her, of the amounts of food, and she felt rather sick. It was so very clear that life outside of Shadowmoor was prosperous. She was sick on behalf of her family, who had to scrape by on wild grains and the occasional animal that was caught and killed, while others in Yorkshire didn’t seem to have that same level of hardship. Of course, it was March, and the produce wasn’t as fresh or plentiful as it would become in the summer months, but the vegetables and other foodstuffs she was seeing were those that had been stored away. Farmers still had to make their living and people still had to eat, even when crops weren’t abundantly producing. As she looked on, Daniel startled her from her thoughts.

“May I make a suggestion, my lady, on where to start?” he asked. “If I may be so bold, it seems to me that we should find the grain merchant first and purchase what we can from him. Grain is the most precious of commodities in this season. We should get it before others do.”

Liselotte could only see his profile as he turned his head to talk to her. It was such a handsome profile and she almost lost sight of his initial question as she studied it.

“Aye,” she said quickly, trying not to sound as if she were daydreaming about the man’s comely looks. “Grains will be a popular purchase. Uh… Sir Daniel?”

His head was still turned, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “My lady, I would be honored if you would simply call me Daniel,” he said. “No one calls me ‘Sir’.”