Medieval Master Swordsmen(471)

As night fell on another brutal and bloody day, the de Rosa army camped at a safe distance around the walls of Pembroke with the exception of the area of the swampy marsh that surrounded the water gate on the northeast side of the castle. There was no way to cover that area without getting too close to the castle and too close to the archer’s range. Bertram saw no reason to cover the old, mossy iron grate that sat half-buried in the water, instead choosing to focus his attention on the south and west sides. The decision would cost him.

By the cover of darkness as the sliver moon barely illuminated the velvet expanse of sky, Garren, Derica, Aneirin and Sian escaped in the chest-deep water that filled the swamp. Garren carried both children in his arms and his wife was tethered to him with a rope that Keller had tied about the two of them. Fortunately, Aneirin and Sian were good swimmers and when Garren told them to hold their breath, they did. Into the river they went, through the dark and murky water to safety on the other side.

Keller watched the four heads cross the ghostly gray river in the dead of night, more sorrow in his heart than he could comprehend. But seeing the joy in Derica’s face, and seeing the love in Garren’s, told him that he was doing the right thing. Heartbreaking or not, it was the correct thing to do.

Bertram de Rosa laid siege to Pembroke for four more days before finally giving up and going home.

He knew he would never see his daughter again.





CHAPTER NINETEEN



Beaucaire Castle

Languedoc, Southern France

1220 A.D.



The day was bright, warm and beautiful. Just a few miles from the Mediterranean Sea, Beaucaire was normally bright, warm and beautiful, something that Derica loved about her adopted home. Norfolk had been such a cold, wet place that the balmy warmth of the Languegoc region of France was something she had taken to immediately. She adored the climate.

Gazing up into the blue, blue sky, she was startled when two out of her four sons came barreling out of the stable yard astride new Belgian chargers that their father had recently purchased for them. Derica moved out of the way as her eldest son, Weston, came too close to her, wrestling with a big blond beast that was unwilling to be tamed. When the horse began to buck, she leapt up onto the flight of stone steps that led into Beaucaire’s resident hall.

“West,” she scolded. “If that horse throws you, I’ll not lift a finger to help. Do you hear me? Break your neck and I’ll not weep for you, not one tear.”

Weston le Mon smiled at his mother; an extremely handsome man with his father’s good looks and his mother’s bright green eyes, he continued to happily wrestle with the animal.

“Not to worry, sweetheart,” he told his mother. “I will not keep this animal, although I would dearly like to. I plan to give him to Rose’s betrothed as a wedding gift.”

“Ha!”

The shout came from the gaping entry into the gray-stoned resident hall of Beaucaire. Stunningly beautiful at seventeen years of age and awaiting the arrival of her betrothed, Roselyn le Mon scowled menacingly at her brother.

“You will do no such thing, Weston le Mon,” she gathered her skirts and took the stairs angrily. “I’ll not be made a widow before I even become a bride.”

As Weston laughed softly at his sister, his younger brother by fourteen months came up beside him on an equally fired-up war horse. Davin le Mon, the only sibling with dark hair in a family of light-haired people, grinned at his sister.

“You worry overly, love,” he told her. “Your new husband will be thrilled with this gift. ‘Tis exactly what a new bridegroom wants – a wild horse to tame.”

The brothers laughed lewdly but Roselyn was on to their game. “He shall be thrilled until the beast bucks him off and kills him,” she shook a finger at the brothers. “No tricks, you two; do you hear me? No chasing this one off. I think I should like to marry him.”

The brothers passed wry expressions at each other, preparing to respond until they were distracted by a yell from the stable yards. Their youngest brother suddenly came shooting out of the yard astride a massive white horse, struggling to control the beast. As the family watched with a mixture of horror and bemusement, Austin le Mon let the horse take him on a couple of wild circles around the bailey of Beaucaire until finally managing to pull the horse to a halt.

The biggest of the four le Mon brothers, Austin was the mirror image of their father in his youth. He finally brought the horse to a stop, wiping his brow to the laughter of his brothers.

“I thought I was a dead man,” he breathed, slapping the big white neck affectionately. “He shall make a wonderful wedding gift for Roselyn’s beau, don’t you think?”