Shadowmoor (de Lohr Dynasty #6) (31 page)

Daniel’s manner sobered with the subject of Bramley. “I have been thinking on our plans to confront Bramley, also,” he said. “I agree with you – I do not like the silence, either. But we made those plans before Lord Etzel was killed. Now, he is dead and the man who killed him, his own son, admitted that he is allied with Bramley. It is my suspicion that Brynner left here and ran straight to Bramley Castle, where he has been ever since. Of course, I do not know this for certain but it is a logical assumption. My point is that I expected a surge from Bramley the first few days after Etzel was killed but there has been nothing, which leads me to believe he is planning something, mayhap even something very big. I am not entirely sure that riding there with two hundred men and threatening him would scare him off at this point. It might even agitate him.”

Caston pondered Daniel’s point of view. “I understand what you are saying,” he said. “But if Bramley is planning something, shouldn’t you want to know about it?”

Daniel conceded the point. “Indeed I do,” he said. “But rather than take an army with us, mayhap you and I should ride to Bramley Castle and see what we can see. Two carefully concealed knights might be able to see a great deal.”

Caston rather liked that thought. “Agreed,” he said. “But if we see no build-up of an army that suggests a military offensive?”

“Then we will take your two hundred men, ride to Bramley, and tell the man we’ll cut his manhood off if he makes one more aggressive move against Shadowmoor or Liselotte. And that includes emasculating his newest ally and murdering friend, Brynner. In fact, I wonder what his Uncle Henry would think if he knew the man was harboring a murderer?”

Caston chuckled. “Will you tell Henry, then?”

“I think I should.”

Caston was satisfied with those plans. “Excellent,” he said. “Then we ride tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow it is.”

With those plans out of the way, Caston moved on to the next subject. “Now,” he said, “the other item I wished to discuss with you is the coming tournament. Something has occurred to me.”

“You are only now realizing that I will dominate you?”

Caston laughed, without humor. “Nay,” he said, quickly sobering. “It occurred to me that you do not have any equipment for the joust. Were you only planning to do the mass competition?”

Daniel nodded. “I travel most of the time and carrying a joust pole would be cumbersome,” he said. “Therefore, you are correct – I was only planning on competing in the mass competition.”

Caston grinned brightly. “No more, my friend,” he said. “I have all of my brother’s old joust poles. We have twelve of them, in fact, so you are now going to compete in the joust.”

Brighton’s joust poles.
God, the irony of the Caston’s offer was unfathomable. But he forced a smile. “You are very generous,” he said. “But won’t your brother mind?”

Caston shook his head. “He probably has twelve more down at Arundel Castle, where he is most of the time,” he said. “You were told he serves Norfolk, correct?”

“I was.”

“He is stationed at Arundel,” he continued. “My brother is hell on the tournament field. He is extremely aggressive.”

Daniel hadn’t seen Brighton on the tournament field but he’d certainly seen him in a battle situation. He agreed with Caston’s assessment completely. “And you?” he asked. “You two are twins, after all. Are you identical in that aspect as well?”

Caston shrugged. “My father says that even though we look identical, our temperaments are quite different,” he said. “I will admit my brother can be aggressive to the point of obstinate at times. He wants what he wants and will stop at nothing to get it. As children, he always had to best me in everything, to be better than I was all of the time. If I was better at him in something, then he would usually punch me. That is simply his nature. My nature is a bit more calculating and subdued. I can be as aggressive as my brother, of course, but I am more clever about it.”

It was the first time that Caston had really talked about his brother’s personality and, suddenly, a great deal was making sense to Daniel. Even Caston was aware of Brighton’s extremely aggressive nature, something that had eventually cost the man his life. But it didn’t make Daniel feel any better to know any of this. In fact, it only made it worse because he liked Caston a great deal. He wouldn’t have hurt the man for anything.

“Then I will have to be very careful in the coming tournament, especially if we are to joust against one another,” he said. “I do not want that calculating personality turned against me.”

Caston merely shrugged and turned for the hall entry where the smells of food were luring him in. “Afraid?”

Daniel grunted unhappily at the man’s assumption. “I will make sure you have a grand funeral once I am finished with you.”

Caston laughed at his arrogance as the men headed into the hall. There were people milling about inside, the same servants that had been around when Etzel had met his death, only now they were not fearful or starving. With Daniel’s appearance, all of Shadowmoor was better fed and happier in general. Therefore, they greeted Daniel and Caston respectfully and one woman was already running for food to put on the table for them. Someone was pouring wine. As the knights sat, the servants were rushing to serve them.

“So,” Daniel said as he sat down to a full cup of warmed, watered wine. “Tell me about these joust poles you intend to loan me. Are they in good condition?”

“Most are.”

“Are some of them rigged so that they will collapse the moment I come into contact with your shield?”

Caston snorted into his wine. “You should not give me such ideas,” he jested. Then, he sobered. “To be serious, I brought the poles with me in the bed of the wagon. As I said, most are in good condition but a few could use some repair. The one thing we will need is fabric for banners; all of the banners have been stripped away. Whose banners do you intend to fly?”

Daniel cocked his head thoughtfully. “De Lohr, of course,” he said. “Unless, to honor your father and his generosity, he would allow me to fly de Royans banners.”

Caston tore apart a hot loaf of bread that was placed in front of him by a hovering servant. “My father would be honored but he thought you might want to fly de Lohr colors,” he said. “Unless you have any banners with you, we will need to make a trip to town to see if we can find fabric of a suitable type and color.”

Daniel tore into his own loaf of bread. “An excellent idea,” he said. “We can go today to Siglesdene and see if the seamstress there has anything I can use. I wager that I could even pay her to sew the banners for me.”

Caston nodded as he delved into his food. Daniel did the same. Their mouths were full when a small body wandered through the open entry and both knights turned to see that Gunnar was making an appearance.

The boy was dressed in the clothes that Daniel had purchased for him, but since they were the only decent set of clothing he had, he had worn them daily since Daniel had purchased them and they were becoming rather dirty and worn. Gunnar spent most of his time in the stable yard with the goats and sheep, especially with his two pet goats, and the little animals had followed him into the hall. When Caston saw it was the youngest l’Audacieux child, he glanced at Daniel.

“Has he shown any signs of livening up since I left?” he asked quietly. “Has he even come inside to sleep?”

Daniel watched the boy as he made his way to the fire pit, goats in tow. “Nay,” he responded softly. “Liselotte makes him go into his own bed nightly, but he gets up after she goes to sleep and goes out to find his goats. She will not let them into the keep and Gunnar seems unwilling to sleep without them.”

Caston took a long drink of warmed wine. “His father’s death has hit him hard.”

Daniel nodded slowly, watching the child as he sat down next to the fire and hugged his goats. “Aye,” he agreed. “He goes out to the area between the stable and the outer wall where generations of l’Audacieux are buried, where we buried Etzel, and sits near his father’s grave for hours. Liselotte says she has even seen him talk to the grave. He is having a very difficult time with his father’s passing.”

Caston went back to his food, feeling some pity for the young boy without a father and a bedridden mother. The man’s death had affected the boy greatly. Only the goats had seemed to bring him out of his sad little world, which is why Daniel and Liselotte tolerated the goats in the hall from time to time. Even now, as Gunnar sat near the fire with his pets, Daniel didn’t scold him for bringing barn animals into the hall. He didn’t have the heart to.

“Gunnar,” Daniel called out to him, friendly. “Will you come and eat with us? And bring your hairy friends.”

Gunnar glanced at Daniel before returning his attention to the goats. “Nay,” he said. “I do not want to eat.”

“Surely your four-legged friends are hungry.”

Gunnar shrugged, scratching the black-and-white goat on the head. “I have named this one Mary,” he said. Then, he pointed to the all-white goat behind him. “That is Joseph. I heard a priest speak of Mary and Joseph, once.”

That was as much as the lad had spoken since his father’s death and Daniel looked at Caston with a mixture of surprise and pleasure. “I see,” he said, wanting to keep the conversation going. “But I believe those goats are both male, Gunnar. I do not know how happy a male goat will be with a woman’s name.”

Gunnar lifted his skinny shoulders. He didn’t have anything to say to that. Daniel didn’t want the conversation to die so he kept talking.

“Sir Caston and I are going into town, Gunnar,” Daniel said. “We will be passing by the same livery where we purchased your goats. Would you like to come with us? I seem to recall that there was a new litter of puppies at the livery. Mayhap the livery owner will let you have one.”

Gunnar shot to his feet. “A dog?” he said excitedly. “I would like to have a dog!”

Daniel smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm. “Then we shall see if we can get you one,” he said. “But before we go, you must do something for me.”

Gunnar nodded eagerly. “I will!”

“You do not even know what it is yet.”

Gunnar ran at him, the goats trotting after him. “I will do it!”

He was close enough that Daniel could put a hand on his soft, blond head. “Eat some food now to break your fast,” he said. “Then, you will go and put your little pets into the stable yard and make sure they are tended before you go and wash your face and hands. You are covered with dirt. I would have a clean young lad go with me into town. Agreed?”

Gunnar nodded happily. The lure of having a dog was too great for him to do anything else but comply. As he plopped down next to Daniel and accepted part of the man’s bread loaf, Liselotte entered from the kitchen yard door.

It had been a busy morning for her. In her arms, she carried a basket that contained bowls of very fresh, soft white cheese that the cook had made from cow’s milk. It was quite delicious and when Liselotte saw Daniel, she headed straight for him, thrilled to give him some cheese from the cow he had purchased. Of course, it was only right that he should have the first of the cheese that had been made about a week ago and left to harden in the coolness of the vault below the keep, the very same room where Brynner used to sleep.

But they didn’t speak of Brynner any longer at Shadowmoor, as if the man had never existed, and the filthy bed he had used in the vault had been burned the day after he had fled the fortress. It had been on Liselotte’s order. She wanted nothing that reminded her, or anyone else, of Brynner and his terrible deed. If she could have erased him from the earth, she would have gladly done so. But it was enough that Daniel was here, helping Shadowmoor heal in a way she had never imagined possible. He seemed to make them all forget about Brynner and his horrors. Daniel, unlike Brynner, gave them all hope.

He had given them all life again.

Liselotte’s heart fluttered wildly at the sight of Daniel as he sat at the feasting table with Caston and Gunnar. His short blond hair was mussed, his face stubbled as he and Caston laughed about something. It seemed the two of them were always laughing, as if sharing a secret, and Liselotte was glad. She liked Caston, for he was polite and intelligent, and she was glad that Daniel seemed to have found a friend in the man. She hadn’t been entirely sure that would ever happen because on the night they’d been invited to sup at Netherghyll, Daniel had seemed a bit standoffish when it came to Caston. It was as if he had been unsure of the man in general, but that quirk seemed to have faded. Now, they were great friends.

Liselotte found herself wishing that her father had lived long enough to see how Netherghyll had become such a good ally. She knew her father would have been deeply touched, and perhaps even a bit embarrassed, by Easton de Royans’ generosity. But it would have warmed his heart and given him faith that there was some good in the world, just as Daniel had given them all faith that life was, indeed, worth living.

She sincerely wished her father had lived to see it all.

But she had more selfish reasons for her wish. She also wished her father had lived long enough to again offer her hand in marriage to Daniel. He had become such a permanent figure at Shadowmoor, as if he had been living here all along, and the only thing that could possibly make his presence any better would be if he had a reason to stay here – a wife, perchance – and Liselotte found herself more hopeful than ever in spite of what he had said, about the fact that he was a wanderer who would never take a wife.

Surely things had changed over the past two weeks. Surely he would consider marrying her and remaining by her side. He had become a part of them, so quickly, that she doubted they could survive his departure. Liselotte had long since given up trying to emotionally protect herself against him. She found herself looking forward to every single moment that she would be by his side.

A sense of self-preservation, for her, had been thrown to the wind. And she didn’t care in the least.

“Greetings, gentle lords,” she said as she came upon the table. “See what I have for you today – the very first of the cheese.”