Dragonblade Trilogy - 03 - The Savage Curtain (44 page)

“I think to make you a very
wealthy man.  What does it matter how you acquire it, so long as you do?”

He
was not surprised that de Velt was interested in hearing him out. But the
conversation did not end well; Stephen found himself back in the stocks by
noon.
 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

As Cade and Roman neared the
gatehouse, Lady Joselyn Pembury and a strange man suddenly emerged from the
gates.  Joselyn was on a little gray mare and the Scots was on a big bay
steed.  Roman and Cade fell flat into the knee-high grass to conceal
themselves, watching as the man grabbed hold of the gray mare’s bridle and
began leading it off to the northwest. The boys’ heads came up the further away
the pair drew, watching as they headed off towards a distant bridge that
crossed the River Tweed.   The boys continued to watch until Lady Joselyn and
the strange man faded out of sight.

“She came out,” Cade popped up,
resting on his knees. “Something must be wrong if she came out without Sir
Stephen.”

Roman’s gaze moved between the
direction that Lady Pembury had taken and the castle to his right. “Who was
that man with her?”

Cade shrugged. “I do not know. Do
you suppose he abducted her? Maybe we need to go and save her!”

Roman shook his head. Then he
nodded. In truth, he didn’t know. “She was not screaming so I do not think he
abducted her,” he said, looking up at the castle. “We’ve got to get inside so
we can find Sir Stephen and maybe he’ll know what is happening. Maybe we’ll just
have to get him out by ourselves.”

Cade’s mind was already working
furiously, convinced that, with the departure of Lady Pembury, he and Roman
were Sir Stephen’s only hope. It was puzzling as well as frightening, and his
excitement began to surge.

“I shall think of something,” he
said confidently.

Roman was staring up at the
towering castle walls of Berwick. Suddenly, he didn’t feel so confident. Maybe
they should not have come after all. Their little adventure was turning into
something more significant and he was not sure they were prepared.  But it was
too late to turn back and not look like a coward.

“You’d better,” he grumbled.

It was Cade who finally came up
with the idea of catching fish from the river and taking them to the castle,
pretending they had been ordered to do so.  If anyone asked them who ordered
them to bring the fish, they were to say a big Scots on a bay steed. That part
of it was Roman’s idea. Cade figured that the men in inside the fortress would
not turn down fresh food and would not be suspicious of two small boys.   So
they scooted down to the river amongst the high summer grass, fashioned a spear
out of a branch, and went spear fishing.

The water was freezing as they
waded in, managing to catch eleven fish in a two hour period.   Roman was
better at it than Cade was; he had extraordinary patience for a young boy and
was able to stand for long periods of time so the fish would draw close to
him.   He caught nine out of the eleven, much to Cade’s displeasure.  They were
plump fish and rather large, so the boys gathered them up and ran back towards
the road. With wet breeches and chattering teeth, the made it back to the road
that led directly to the gatehouse.

Because of the battle several
days before, the area surrounding the castle was desolate and pock-marked from
the incendiary devices that Stephen and Kenneth had thrown over the walls. 
There were also several dead bodies thrown into a pile near the wall, awaiting
disposal, but they were creepy and smelly, and it was the boys’ first
experience viewing battle-killed bodies. They remained stoic but Cade didn’t
want to look too closely.  Roman poked them with the fish-spear.

The gates had been burned out
during the battle, leaving only the double portcullis that was lowered.  Guards
milled behind the lowered grate, intimidating the boys, so they lingered back,
just out of view as they studied the gatehouse area.   It took a significant
amount of courage to finally approach the grate.  As they drew close, Cade held
up the fish on the spear.

“Oy!” he yelled.

It took him two more tries before
they were noticed.  Scots in dirty tartans lingered at the closed portcullis,
eyeing the boys as they stood there, cold and wet, with fish in their hands.

“What do ye want, little man?”
one of the guards asked.

Cade pointed in no particular
direction. “A man told us to bring these to the castle,” he said. “He was a big
man on a bay horse. He said he wanted them for his supper.”

The guards looked at the boys,
each other, and the direction in which the boy was pointing. “Who was the man?”
the same guard asked.

Cade shook his head. “I do not
know,” he replied, sensing that this was not going to be an easy sell. “He… he
told us to catch these fish and bring them to the castle for his sup. He said
he would be back and would be very angry if the fish were not here.”        

The guards truly had no idea who
they were talking about.  They muttered among themselves, not particularly
concerned, until one of them reached his hand through the bars.

“Give ‘em tae me,” he said. “I
shall make sure they get eaten.”

Cade stepped back, away from the
hand. “He said that he wanted these fish and he would kill anyone who tried to
eat them,” he insisted. “I have to bring them in and take them to the kitchens
myself.”

“Otherwise, he might kill our
families,” Roman put in for good measure.

Cade nodded sincerely to confirm
Roman’s lie. “Aye, he said that,” he claimed. “Please, sir; won’t you let us
in? I do not want this man to kill my mother and father.”

The guards chuckled, finally shrugged
at each other, and yelled for the portcullis to be lifted.  When it was about
two feet off the ground, Cade and Roman slipped in and made a mad dash for the
bailey beyond.  

Having no idea where they were
going, however, proved to be a problem, because they ran so fast and so blindly
that they ended up over by the keep.  Only Cade had been inside of Berwick but
he truly didn’t remember that much about it.  He vaguely recognized the keep as
he and Roman ran around to the southeast side, hiding in the shadows until they
could figure out where the kitchens were.  Berwick, surprisingly, seemed
deserted and eerie.  Most of the men seemed to be upon the battlements and
there was a great deal of noise coming from the great hall.  Their eyes moved
over the interior of the castle, studying, trying to figure out their next
move. And that’s when they saw Stephen.

He was chained up to the stocks,
his big body beaten and worn. Cade’s eyes widened and he poked at Roman,
pointing towards the area between the great hall and the kitchens. The section
was nearly out of view from the main part of the bailey and easy to overlook.
Roman spied Stephen, chained like a beast, and his hazel eyes bulged.

“Look!” he hissed. “There is
Stephen! They are torturing him!”

Cade nodded emphatically,
sickened at the sight.  He was afraid the Scots would do the same thing to him
if they caught him. “He looks hurt,” he muttered apprehensively.

Roman nodded, studying the man at
a distance. He had known Stephen since birth and viewed him as an uncle; it
made his little heart very angry to see what the Scots had done to a man he
loved.  He was so young and naïve, and it hadn’t really occurred to him that
Stephen would have truly been abused. Although his father was a warlord, it was
not something that he had been seriously exposed to during his young life and
the sight was something of a shock.  He felt very scared but fought it. He
pulled on Cade’s arm.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go see
him.”

Cade readily agreed.  Still
clutching their fish, they looked around to make sure there was not anyone in
close proximity before bolting from the shadows, racing across the dusty bailey
to where Stephen was chained in partial sun.

Stephen’s eyes were closed, his
head down, and the boys looked panicked as they visually inspected the heavy
chains that secured the man to the wooden stocks. Stephen was sweaty, dirty,
bloodied and bruised, and Roman finally reached out and touched the man’s
nearly-black hair timidly.  When Stephen didn’t move, Roman tried again. He
gently shook Stephen’s head.

“Stephen?” Roman whispered. “Can
you hear me? Are you alive?”

The boys jumped when Stephen
suddenly shifted, lifting his head and groggily blinking his eyes.  As the
great head came up, the cornflower blue eyes struggled to focus.  Stephen
beheld Roman for a few seconds before his expression changed dramatically.

“Roman?” he rasped, noticing
there was another body next to him and recognizing the face. “Cade? What in the
… is it truly you?”

Roman nodded emphatically. “It is,”
he told him. “We’ve come to save you!”

Stephen’s
mouth popped open in shock, then shut in outrage. “What in the hell are you
doing here?” he hissed. “Roman, where is your father? Did he send you?”

Roman
received the impression that Stephen was not too thrilled to see him. “Nay,” he
shook his head, confused that Stephen was not more grateful. “He does not know
we have come. We came to help Lady Pembury rescue you, but we saw her leave a
little while ago. Where did she go? Why did she leave?”

Stephen gazed back at the two
young, handsome faces, feeling more sickened than he thought possible.  “You
came to help Joselyn?” he repeated, stunned.

Roman and Cade nodded eagerly.
“She is just a lady, after all,” Cade finally found his tongue. “We came to
help her because the Scots would not suspect us.”

“Aye,” Roman nodded firmly.

“We’re just boys. Nobody pays any
attention to us.”

“Aye!”

“So we are going to save you!”

Stephen looked between the two of
him, his mouth hanging open again. He could hardly believe what he was
hearing.  “What?” he looked at them as if they were mad. “Roman, what about
your mother? Does she know you are here?”

Roman was defiant. “Nay,” he told
him. “I didn’t tell her. She would not have let me come.”

“So you traveled all the way from
Forestburn by yourselves?”

“It was not so difficult, except
we had to steal bread this morning.”

“We were hungry,” Cade explained
helpfully.

“Aye,” Roman looked at his
companion for moral support. “Do you think we should get money and go back and
pay the man once we have rescued you?”

Stephen was dumbfounded.  After a
moment, he closed his eyes against the vision of Roman and Cade traveling alone
on unsafe roads, stealing bread to eat.  It was too much for him to take at the
moment. “God have mercy,” he muttered. “Thieves.”

“We are not thieves,” Roman said
adamantly. “We were hungry.  We will pay the man when we get money, I swear
it.”

Stephen couldn’t help it; he
snorted. The whole thing was so ridiculous. On one hand, he was so deeply
touched that he could not put it into words. That these two young men should
risk themselves for him was beyond comprehension. Yet he was so furious with
them that he thought, perhaps, fury alone would see him break from the chains
just so he could get his hands on them. He was torn, tormented and injured, a
volatile combination.

“Boys,” he said hoarsely,
struggling to stay calm. “While I appreciate your bravery, you should consider
yourselves lucky that I am tied up.  If I was not, you would suffer the beating
of your young lives for this stupidity.  You will leave immediately and go find
Tate; I am told he is near the Whiteadder Bridge.  Get out of here while there
is still time.”

Roman looked flattered,
frightened and indignant at the same time. “But… we cannot leave you,” he insisted.
“We can find a way to release you!”

Stephen tried to shake his head,
restricted by the chains. “Roman de Lara, if you do not leave here immediately,
I will break these chains that bind me and beat you within an inch of your
life.  And when your father finds out what you have done, he will do the same.

Roman was taken aback by the
attitude.  He looked at Cade, who gazed back at him with equal shock.   He
looked back at Stephen, baffled, before determination overtook him and he shook
his head firmly.

“Nay,” he said. “I am not
leaving. Cade and I are going to help you.”

Stephen began to work himself up
into a righteous rage. “So help me,” he muttered, “if you do not leave
immediately, I will thrash you so soundly that you will not be able to sit,
ride or otherwise use your buttocks for an entire month. You will not disobey
me.”

Roman was intimidated, that was
clear. But he was also resolute. “Nay!” he stomped his foot. “I am not leaving.
Come on, Cade!”

He grabbed Cade and they dashed
off, out of Stephen’s line of sight.  He could hear their footfalls fading
away, panic such as he had never known filling him.  He almost shouted at them
but didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention, so he kept his mouth shut. 
Exhausted, dehydrated and injured, he could only stand in the stocks and fume,
wondering what those two brave, foolish boys were going to do.  Tate or no
Tate, he was going to blister Roman’s backside if he got out of this situation
alive. And Cade… it was not such a glorious beginning for him and his new son.
But he greatly admired the lad’s courage.