Rise of the Defender (90 page)

     Dustin shook her head. “That was all
before… before...,” she trailed off, unable to voice such horror. Her gaze
moved to Christopher’s face, seeing that he seemed inordinately calm. “What are
you going to do? Are you going, too?”

     He stroked the top of her blond head. “I do
not know, sweet. I am only concerned with you right now.”

     “And Deborah,” she insisted. “She cannot
run as fast as I can and….”

     He glanced down at her lowered head and saw
she was trying hard to fight off the tears. God help the earl if his sister had
come to any harm; as it was now, he was going to kill the man mercifully if the
worst had happened to Deborah, then Christopher would make sure the earl's
death was a slow, painful one.

     David jogged up, his eyes riveted to
Dustin. “Are you all right, Dustin? Did they hurt you?”

     She sniffled, wiping quickly at her eyes.
“Nay, David, I am unharmed.”

     He looked her over, her disheveled surcoat
and bleeding hands and shook his head. Then he looked to his brother. “Edward
is rallying Nicholas de Burg, Sean de Lara and Guy de le Rosa to reinforce our
ranks. With Marcus and Dud missing, we could use the strength.” He felt the
familiar taste of a fight in the air and was tense with anticipation, knowing
not who they would be fighting to avenge the attack on Dustin, yet knowing soon
they would be facing a battle.

     Christopher nodded curtly, obviously
preoccupied as his wife clung to his waist. “I have been working with them
since I have arrived here and I feel they have proved themselves worthy of my
inner circle. Edward and I talked on this subject yesterday,” he said, then his
gaze fell on his brother. “David, go with Dustin and help her pack.”

     “Pack?” Both Dustin and David repeated
loudly.

     David eyed his brother with displeasure,
knowing that Christopher planned to get to the bottom of who had attacked his
wife and furthermore wanting to accompany him. He didn't like his brother
fighting without him. “Send a company of men with her to help her pack. My
place is with you.”

     “You heard me,” Christopher said in a low
voice. “She returns to Lioncross today. Deborah, too, and I want you with them
while I tend the earl. Send word ahead to Max and Anthony that they are coming;
I want them to meet my wife and sister on the road.”

     David shook his head. “My place is with
you,” he repeated steadily, advancing on his brother. “You have got an entire
squadron of men assigned to your wife. They will protect her while we take care
of whoever has attacked your wife.”

     Christopher raised an eyebrow at his
shorter, younger brother. “Do not argue with me, David.”

     “I am not,” David replied evenly, clenching
his fists. “But I am going with you.”

     Dustin watched the two of them, not at all
happy with their body language for they looked as if to brawl any moment. It
was a terrible cap to a terrible morning and she began to cry.

     “Stop fighting,” she sobbed.

     They both looked at her and were instantly
remorseful. “We are not fighting,” Christopher said, pulling her close. “We
never fight. We disagree, but we never fight. David?”

     David made a wry face at his brother.
“Never.”

     Christopher ignored the implication and
kissed Dustin on the top of the head. “I need to talk to David alone a moment.”

     He let her go, concerned when she wobbled,
but she waved him off. He pulled David aside.

     “John is preparing to launch a strike
against Tickhill Castle before the end of the week,” he told him quietly. “The
Earl of Fenwark's sister informed Dustin of his plans and asked her to tell me,
having overheard her brother speak of them. I want Dustin out of Windsor and
back to Lioncross immediately; you saw what nearly happened to her. She is
being pulled deeper and deeper into something that does not concern her.”

     David was confused. “Is that what this is
all about? Jesus, why should the earl's sister tell Dustin of his plans?”

     “Because Dustin befriended Lady Gabrielle,
the earl's wife,” Christopher had no time to explain all of this. “The earl
killed his own sister because she relayed the information to my wife, for
Christ's sake. Had he been successful in his attack on Dustin, we would most
likely be picking up pieces of her, and God only knows what's become of
Deborah. I want both of them away from this place.”

     David looked as if he had completely
forgotten about his sister. “Jesus. Where is Deborah?”

     “I sent Sean de Lara and a company of men
out to find her. She and Dustin were together at the beginning of the chase but
split up, so I hold hope that our sister has found safety,” Christopher
replied. “But I want you to find out what has become of Deborah when you have
settled my wife. And keep Sean with you; I am demanding his loyalty to me, as
well.”

     “I thought you wanted me to help Dustin
pack?” David pointed out.

     Christopher gave him an intolerable look.
“I changed my mind. My wife has an entire company of soldiers assigned to her,
no one will get past them.”

     David nodded without the grin he was
feeling. “Then we leave tonight?”

     Christopher glanced at Dustin, longing
already filling his heart. “Aye,” he replied. “After I take care of the earl,
we leave.”

     David's adrenalin flowed quicker and harder
than just about anyone. He could feel his energy surge, eager to get a lick at
the earl for what he had done to the ladies, and eager more to be on the
battlefield once again. The man was a born warrior.

     As requested, Christopher's knights were
soon congregated around him. Edward, Leeton, and David were joined by three new
faces. Dustin had seen the men before, serving her husband, but he had not
allowed them around her. She knew from Marcus that Christopher was extremely
selective about the knights who personally served him and assumed that these
men must have met her husband's standards.

     Sir Nicholas de Burg was a nice looking man
in his mid-twenties, his dark hair longer than the others. Sir Sean de Lara was
a very young, very handsome knight with a massively muscular build, and Sir Guy
de le Rosa spoke with a heavy Spanish accent and had a broad smile that showed
every tooth in his head. Dustin watched her husband explain the situation to
the men and saw their pleased faces when Christopher asked for their pledge to
him. Actually, he demanded their pledge, but the men were more than willing to
give. These men were knights, independent of a liege other than Richard, and
were pleased to be committing service to the Lion's Claw. Satisfied that his
knight ranks was growing stronger by the day, Christopher gave each man
individual orders and dismissed them.

     David came to Dustin, taking her shaking
arm. “Time to pack, Lady de Lohr.”

     Christopher broke away from his private
conference with Edward to see his wife and brother off. “I shall meet up with
you later,” he told his brother, then affectionately stroked his wife's cheek.
“Are you going to have enough trunks? God only knows how much we have acquired
since we have come to London.”

     “I shall manage,” she replied wearily,
exhausted to the bone and still frightened for Deborah. Yet her husband,
remarkably, had remained fairly calm throughout the entire occurrence and she
wondered about it. “Are you going to help Deborah now?”

     Christopher wasn't looking at her as he put
his gauntlet back on again. “I have men going to Deborah's rescue, Dustin. She
will be amply protected. You will make sure she packs her things, as well. And
try to limit the baggage to four trunks for each of you, if you please.”

     He was talking casually, yet there was no
mistaking his tense manner. Dustin eyed him warily. “Where are you going?” she
asked.

     He put his helmet back on, adjusting his
mail hood beneath it. “To pay a call on the earl.”

     Dustin's eyes widened. She wanted to
protest, to beg that he simply go with her and that they leave this place, but
she could not and she wouldn't. Christopher was a soldier, the best in the
realm, and fighting was his vocation. She hated the thought of him fighting for
any reason, wishing he were a simple scholar so she wouldn't have to worry
about him so, but in faith, she loved his strength and his power. He was the
Defender, and she loved him more than life. As afraid as she was for him, she would
never ask him to be less than he was.

     “Are you going to kill him?” she asked,
already knowing the answer.

     He didn't answer her, instead bringing her
hand to his lips and kissing it sweetly. “I shall see you later.”

     He turned abruptly and she cried after him,
rushing to him when he paused. Tired and scratched and damp, she put her arms
around his neck and kissed him through his helmet.

     “I love you, husband. Be safe,” she
whispered.

     He stroked her cheek with a mailed hand and
was gone.

     David took her arm gently. “How are we
going to pack George?” he wondered aloud as he led her away.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

     Windsor was in an uproar. Between Deborah's
screams for help and Christopher's men tearing up the place trying to find the
Earl of Fenwark and his men, the entire castle was running for cover.

     Sir Sean de Lara found Deborah quite safe
but thoroughly shaken in a small room, well protected by several crown
soldiers. He returned her to Dustin's apartments, whereupon he and David took a
group of about thirty men-at-arms and went to meet up with Christopher, leaving
the other thirty men guarding the women. Alone and terrified, Dustin and
Deborah busied themselves with packing.

     Christopher was bent on hell. He had forced
himself to be calm in the presence of his wife, but in faith, he was beyond
fury. It mattered not to him that the earl was loyal to John and preparing to
join him in the north; what mattered to him was that the earl had tried to kill
his wife. He was terribly angry for Deborah's sake, too, but the outrage he
felt on Dustin's behalf was consuming. The man dared harm his wife and he would
pay for the action with his life.

     He had seen the Lady Isobelle's mutilated
body and had been sickened by the fact that the same bastards had been chasing
his wife. He and three companies of troops, all of them his personal men that
he had brought from Lioncross, went through Windsor like a violent storm in
search of the earl. Servants and residents alike scattered out of his way,
terrified that the Lion's Claw was obviously bent on blood and wondering who
the unlucky man was. Inevitably, it began to spread that he was looking for the
Earl of Fenwark to kill him.

     The earl knew Christopher was coming and
was ready for him. By the time Christopher and his men reached the wing where
the earl was housed, there were at least a hundred of the earl's troops waiting
and the clash that ensued could be heard all over the castle.

***

     Back in Christopher’s apartments, Dustin
and Deborah were busy packing away the last of Dustin's things when Dustin's
two maids came scurrying in, then faces lit with apprehension.

     “The baron has taken on the earl.” the
fatter of the two managed to gasp. “The battle threatens to destroy the entire
north wing.”

     Cold fear clutched at Dustin, but she
faltered only a split second before continuing her packing. “Then we must hurry
and finish, for when the fight is over, we will be returning to Lioncross. Help
Lady Deborah with the linens.”

     In a nervous huff, the maids did as they
were told.

     Dustin eyed the ladies in her bedchamber,
watching them as they quickly packed and cleaned, feeling their anxiety. She
was trying hard to remain cool, but with the knowledge that her husband was
engaged in a massive fight shook her to the core. She knew it was coming,
mayhap wondering if it had already occurred when the women had come barging in
with the information that set her mind to swirling again.

     She didn't care about revenge, or of the
bloody honor Christopher spoke of when discussing Richard. True, he was
fighting on her behalf now, but somehow Richard was ultimately responsible for
everything that happened to she and her husband and she hated the man for it.
Everything except ordering Christopher to marry Arthur Barringdon's daughter.

     Dustin was thinking crazy, irrational
thoughts in her attempt to remain calm, but she could slowly feel her composure
slipping.

***

     In the heat of battle, Christopher's
composure wasn't damaged in the least. He was at home in a battle, more
comfortable than most men were in their favorite chair. Reinforcements had
arrived to bolster his number and he found himself in a full-blown war. With as
many men as there were crowding the broad corridor, each fighting the other in
such close quarters that men of the same army were cutting each other down,
Christopher had yet to see the earl and suspected, correctly, that the man was
behind barred doors.