Fire Song (Medieval Song 2)

Kassia flushed a rosy pink. She saw that he would continue to tease her, and decided it was her turn. “You know, my lord, I must admit that suffering your great body is a mighty chore.”

He was not to be drawn. “And a nightly one, Kassia. I also have wondered how your skinny little parts accommodate me so nicely. I think you forget my mighty size once you are mewling with pleasure.”

She reached out and struck his shoulder, laughing as she did so.

Rolfe nodded, a wide, amazed smile parting his lips as he watched his master and mistress. Never had he believed Lord Graelam could be so much at his ease with a woman. Life was much improved, he thought, aye, much improved indeed. In the next moment, all thoughts of improved life fled his mind, at the sound of one of the men screaming in pain.

“Brigands!” Rolfe shouted at the top of his lungs, twisting around in his saddle, his hand already upon his sword hilt. “An ambush!” He looked wildly about at the narrow passage, at the boulders rising high into the air, surrounding them.

Long years of training kept panic at bay. Graelam coolly analyzed their situation, a fraction of a second passing before he shouted orders.

“All of you, dismount and press under the overhangs in the cliffs! The whoresons will have to come in to get at us!”

Graelam grabbed Kassia off Bluebell’s back, protecting her with his body. An arrow tore through the chain mail at his side, but did him no harm. He pulled her to an indentation between two mighty boulders and shoved her inside. “Crouch down and cover yourself with your cloak!”

Kassia obeyed him, her mind whirling with sudden fear. Brigands! She winced at the scream of a horse. Graelam moved swiftly away from her, his back pressed against the stones, until he was crouched next to Rolfe and three of his men.

“We must discover the leader,” he said tersely. “James there is a small cleavage between those boulders yon. Think you that you can ease through it? See the number of men who are there?”

“Aye, my lord,” James said, fear and excitement flowing through him. He was fairly new to Lord Graelam’s service, and now he would prove himself. He inched away, licking his tongue over his suddenly dry lips, and squeezed his slender body upward through the narrow passage.

Kassia felt a frisson of terror at the sudden utter silence. The horses had calmed, for there were no more arrows raining down. She began to pray, calling upon every litany she had learned since childhood.

The wait seemed an eternity. Graelam held himself perfectly still, listening to any sound that would give him information. He heard a slithering noise and twisted about to see James slip down beside him.

“ ’Tis some sort of lord,” James said. “I saw him seated on his destrier, dressed in gleaming armor, a man beside him holding his standard. An eagle, my lord, its beak blood-red.”

Graelam frowned. Something Kassia had said many months ago stirred in his memory. “Do not move, any of you.”

He moved like a stalking panther, slipping in and out of the protective crevices until he reached Kassia.

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nbsp; “It is all right, love,” he quickly assured her, seeing her utterly white face. “A standard, Kassia, one with an eagle on it.”

“Geoffrey,” she whispered, scarcely believing her own words. “I do not understand, Graelam. ’Tis madness.”

“I know,” he said quietly. “Stay here, Kassia. All will be well, I promise you.” He kissed her swiftly, and was gone.

He moved in the shadow of the boulders until he was nearly at the end of the narrow passage. He shouted out, “Geoffrey! Geoffrey de Lacy! Show yourself, you scum coward!”

Geoffrey jumped at the sound of his name on his enemy’s lips. One of his men had suggested he not fly his standard, even that he not garb himself in armor. He had scoffed, and done as he pleased. Now he was frowning. If he did nothing, and waited, perhaps Graelam and his men could slip out under cover of darkness. He bit his lower lip. Damn the overhanging cliffs and the protection they provided from his men’s arrows! Why had not one of his damned men told him they offered enough protection from arrows?

“Your father whelped a voiceless coward as well!” Graelam shouted. “Fight me, you mewling whoreson! Do you have guts only to clear the food in your belly?”

Geoffrey gave a roar of fury. “You come to me, Englishman! I will show you how a true warrior fights!”

Graelam gave a derisive laugh. “What, coward? And have your men cut me down? Your treachery is widely known, spineless cur.”

“Damn you, pig of an Englishman! You shall not keep what is mine!”

Graelam was silent a moment. The man evidently did not know of Maurice’s marriage, that it was no longer just he who stood between Geoffrey and Belleterre.

“You bray like an ass, Geoffrey! Go home to your own keep, for it is all you will ever own. Maurice has remarried and has blessed himself with two healthy stepsons!”

“A likely tale!” Geoffrey shouted. “I heard nothing of such a marriage! You are a coward and a liar, Englishman!”

Kassia could keep quiet no longer. “It is true, Geoffrey. I swear it to you. Leave us go in peace!”