With time his reputation amongst the men improved, and now most looked forward to a chance to spar with him. His private sessions with Cyhan grew less frequent, but he filled the extra time by haunting the woodlands around Cameron and Washbrook with Chad Grayson.
Spring eventually returned and as the first green buds began to appear on the trees, Rose called him aside one morning after breakfast.
“Gram, I need to talk to you.”
“Yes, mother?” he said, looking down at her. Rose was tall for a woman, but Gram stood several inches over six feet now.
“You’ll turn seventeen later this year, and though it pains me to say it, I think you should consider going abroad.”
Her words both excited him, and filled him with trepidation. Leaving Cameron would mean leaving his teacher, but that wasn’t what bothered him. Cyhan had already taught him what he could; his development relied on practice and self-discipline now. Deep down, it was his secret hope that Alyssa might return somehow. He was anchored by the fact that subconsciously, he was still waiting for her.
“Why?”
Rose reached up, putting one hand on his cheek before letting it fall to rest on his solid shoulder. He’s so big, she thought, remembering the small boy who had once followed her endlessly. “Sir Harold, in Albamarl, sent a missive to me. He’s looking for a new squire, and Sir Cyhan recommended you to him.”
Gram looked away, feeling uncertain. It was a marvelous opportunity, but still he was reluctant, “I don’t think I’m ready.”
“Ready?” she said incredulously. “You are already the best man on the field here. You have little to gain by staying. If you truly wish to be a knight you must look to your future. Sir Cyhan already has two squires. In the capital you could advance, and there are other matters to think of as well.”
“I’m not interested in matchmaking, Mother,” he told her stubbornly.
Rose Thornbear had learned a hard lesson in pushing her friend to seek a new husband years ago. She wouldn’t repeat it again. “That wasn’t my intention. You need to meet your peers, develop friendships with other young noblemen. Someday my father’s mantle will fall on your shoulders, as well as the title of Thornbear. You must be acquainted with your fellow lords. Friendships are hard to come by in your later years, now is the time to make them.”
Gram pressed his lips together in a firm line, uncertain what to say. He knew she was right, but his feelings dictated a different course of action.
She patted him once more before folding her hands demurely before her. “You don’t need to give me an answer immediately. The Count has been invited to visit King Darogen of Dunbar. He’s asked me to come with him, to offer advice. You can give me your decision when I return.”
He frowned, “How long will you be gone?”
“It would be a journey of many weeks, but Mordecai will take us in that abominable flying contraption of his. We should make Surencia within a day, but we will stop to visit King Nicholas there for a week before proceeding on to Dunbar. That visit will take another week in all likelihood, possibly longer. We may not be back for three to four weeks.”
“Us?”
“The Count, Penelope, myself, and the twins,” she replied.
“What of guards? You cannot go without an escort.”
She smiled, “I’ll be traveling with no less than three wizards. I doubt anything could endanger us, but you are correct, it would be unseemly to go without at least a token guard. Sir Cyhan will also come, along with a detachment of three guardsmen.”
“Can he fit so many in his flying machine?”
“It will be tight, but the inconvenience is far less than spending weeks on horseback.”
Gram nodded, “It sounds as if you have everything planned out.”
“Of course, though I’ll need you to take care of Carissa while I’m away.”
He laughed, “More likely she’ll take care of me.”
***
Gram was in the courtyard three days later. The morning air was chilly, a remembrance of a cold winter. Carissa stood beside him as they said their farewells, watching the adult portion of the Illeniel family, along with their mother and the guards squeeze into the mostly invisible flying machine. Mordecai was the last to board.
“Peter Tucker will be in charge of the day to day affairs while I am gone, and Captain Draper will handle the defense of the castle, but I will feel better knowing you’re here to keep an eye on Conall and Irene.”
Gram gave a modest bow, “I will see that they are safe, milord.”
Mordecai chuckled, “Don’t give me that ‘milord’ crap; you’re practically one of my own children.” He embraced Gram quickly. “Gods, boy! You’ve gotten as big as an ox.”
“It’s the food Cook prepares. It’s a wonder I’m not fat,” joked Gram.
The Count patted his own incipient belly, “If I’m not careful, I will be. Elaine will be checking on things every so often and she’ll be able to contact me if something turns up.”
“Everything will be fine, sir.”
Matthew gestured at him through the transparent wall of the flying machine, patting his own forearm and giving Gram a negative shake of his head. It was a reminder that he shouldn’t try to summon Thorn. Despite the long winter, Matthew was still making improvements. He nodded to let Matt know he understood.
A moment later they rose slowly from the ground and then began to speed away, heading north for the capital of Gododdin.
***
Life was quieter with the Count and the twins gone.
Gram continued his routine with Captain Draper and the men each morning, but he spent his afternoons with Carissa and the two younger Illeniel children, Conall and Irene. He and Carissa stayed at the Illeniel home in the mountains at night, along with Lilly Tucker, who was normally in charge of Irene and Conall. They were old enough now that neither of them needed much looking after but they were too young to leave alone.
A week after the Count’s departure, Gram sat outside the Illeniel cottage, playing chess with Irene while Carissa watched. It was all his sister could do to restrain herself from helping him. She was a far better player than he was and Irene was methodically destroying his defense.
“Nooo,” moaned his sister slowly as his fingers left the knight. Clearly he had made another mistake, though he couldn’t see it.
Irene smiled and moved her bishop to pin it. She would have him in checkmate in a few more moves. “Muahahaha,” she said, affecting an evil laugh.
“Ahhh,” he said, gradually beginning to realize his mistake.
Irene clapped with joy as she saw understanding on his face. Gracefully admitting defeat, Gram tilted his king and resigned. “You’ll have to play Carissa now. I can’t offer you a good challenge anymore.”
They switched seats, and he watched them play, but his mind was elsewhere, wandering. A cold wind was sneaking down the neck of his doublet, but it was balanced by the warmth of the spring sun. Despite the pleasant weather, he felt uneasy.
“Try not to look so sour about losing,” advised his sister.
“No, it isn’t that,” he replied. “Something feels odd.”
“Perhaps you’re starting to develop your magesight,” suggested Irene.
“Neither of us have a wizard for a parent, Rennie,” reminded Carissa. “There’s little chance of that happening.”
“Oh, yeah,” said the younger girl.
They continued to play but his feeling remained. When they finished he looked at the sun, “It’s almost time to eat. We should go back to the castle.”
The girls nodded and began packing up the board and pieces. They found Lilly and Conall in the house, and the five of them returned to Castle Cameron. As they walked, Gram finally figured out what had been bothering him.
The birdsong disappeared. Their chirping was normally omnipresent during the daylight hours in the mountains. There must have been a predator close by. He resolved to have his bow close at hand the next t
ime they went out.
***
They were in the middle of dinner when the messenger arrived, along with one of the guards that had been stationed at the gatehouse.
“Arundel is under attack!” he shouted as he entered the hall.
The hall exploded with surprised shouting as everyone stood and began talking at once, but Captain Draper quickly quelled the chaos, “Sit down and shut up!”
Peter Tucker and the captain took the messenger aside and spoke briefly, before returning to speak to the gathered people.
“It appears that a small band of raiders has attacked some farms near Arundel, looting and burning,” said Peter, addressing them. “Finish your food quickly. Captain Draper will double the guard tonight, and patrols will be sent out to search and scout. We will make sure that the bandits are not taking refuge in these lands.”
The captain was already striding purposefully from the hall and Peter moved to Gram’s side, “I’d like you to take Irene and Conall back to their home and stay with them.”
“Lilly will be there,” said Gram. “I could do more good in the patrols. I know more woodcraft than most of the men here.”
“Absolutely not,” said the chamberlain. “Until I know the extent of the threat I have to take every precaution, and that means making certain that the Count’s children are safe, not to mention your sister and yourself.”
Gram leaned close, speaking softly, “You know damn well the Count’s home is a hundred miles from here. They will be perfectly safe without me.”
Lilly Tucker already had Irene and Carissa in tow, and Conall followed behind them with a look of disappointment.
Peter looked at him sternly, “I know nothing of the sort, but in any case my instructions are clear.”
Conall came back, “Gram, are you coming with us?” The look on his face made it clear he didn’t relish the thought of being penned up with nothing but girls for company.
Gram looked from him to the chamberlain and back again, “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be there shortly.”
Conall rewarded him with a grateful expression and ran to catch up with the others. Gram pursed his lips and headed for the Thornbear apartments. If he was going to be stuck ‘guarding’ the children, he might as well claim the mail and sword his mother had given him recently. The sword was new, but the chain was an inheritance from his father. Dorian had stopped wearing it after Mordecai had given him enchanted plate, but it was far better than normal mail. It wouldn’t stop a crushing blow but it was enchanted to prevent anything from piercing it.
He walked slowly along the corridor, his mind on dark thoughts.
He was halfway there when he remembered the silence of the birds. Cold fear ran down his spine. What if the raid on Arundel was merely a distraction, to keep our attention elsewhere? It was well timed, with all the older Illeniels being absent. Few enemies could hope to threaten Arundel seriously, not while Walter Prathion and his children lived there.
Gram changed directions and broke into a run. He heard the screaming before he got there.
One of the door guards at the Illeniel’s door was down already, his blood pooling around him. The other was nowhere to be seen. Gram ducked through the outer door and beheld a scene straight from some terrible nightmare.
The second guard was still alive, barely, his body half wedged in the inner door that led to the Illeniel’s secret home. He was clinging to the doorframe with all his strength, trying to prevent the men inside from shutting the door. Once it was closed, no one left inside the castle would be able to reach them. The only ones still at Cameron with the ability to do so were already inside, Lilly Tucker and the two children.
A black clad figure within drew back the door, only to slam it again, crushing the guard’s arm and leg. He started to pull it inward again, preparing to slam it once more when Gram crashed into it, using his body like a battering ram.
The door flew open momentarily and Gram bounced sideways, falling into a coat tree and narrowly avoiding a spear thrust. Five men stood within, one with the spear and the others wielding black wooden truncheons and dark steel daggers. Lilly and the children were nowhere to be seen, but he could hear the sound of screams further within the house.
Gram’s mind went blank as he fell, disappearing into the void. Grabbing the coat tree as he fell, he rolled with it, using his momentum to get clear of the spearman. A sharp pain along his ribs told him that he might already be wounded, but he had no time to spare for that.
Lying on the floor was not the ideal position from which to start a fight with five armed opponents.
Trusting his comrades to deal with the intruder, the spearman turned and used his spear to push the wounded guard back through the door before slamming it shut. Meanwhile, two of the men with truncheons moved to dispatch Gram. The remaining two scuttled to the sides, ready to assist if necessary; the entry hall made it difficult for them all to reach him at the same time.
The coat tree caught one of them in the legs, knocking him from his feet, though the second man managed to leap over it. His only weapon tangled up in the first man’s legs, Gram abandoned it and leapt to his feet before the other recovered from his evasive maneuver. One of those that had held back advanced on his rear, swinging his truncheon at Gram’s undefended skull.
With uncanny awareness Gram stepped backward, letting the club swing past in front of his face as he caught the man’s arm in his, twisting and flinging his assailant into the other that was coming at him from the front.
Moving sideways, he narrowly avoided a thrust from the spearman that had been aimed at his kidney. Snatching up a small side table he brought it up just in time to stop a swing from one of the truncheons, bending at the waist simultaneously to avoid the dagger thrust that followed it from a low angle.
Taking the table by two legs he swung sideways, flooring the spearman before he could recover and using the momentum of the strike to bring it back into line for the third enemy’s truncheon swing. It shattered in his hands under the force of the blow, leaving him with two table legs and a bit of loose tabletop dangling from one of them.
Gram smiled fiercely, advancing with the two wooden posts in his hands.
Their faces were hidden by black cloth, but the invader’s eyes widened as he came on, whipping the two table legs about with deadly precision. The spearman never had a chance to rise as one of the heavy pieces of wood connected, making a sickening thud against his skull.
The ensuing battle was short and ugly. Wielding his two makeshift clubs Gram blocked their attacks, moving forward and then to the right to unbalance their defensive position. Before the man on the left could flank him he had brought the one on the right down and he forced the center man to wheel, to keep him in his line of sight.
Feinting, Gram sent one man’s attacks too far to the left, and he rewarded him with a double strike to the arm and ribs before dropping down to avoid the third’s swing at his head. From below he took out that one’s legs, finishing him as he fell.
The last man ran, seeking to escape, or perhaps warn the others. Gram threw one of his wooden legs, and felt a sense of satisfaction when it caught the escaping enemy in the back, throwing him off balance. He launched the second club at the man’s legs, leaping up to follow it.
That one knocked the man down, and before he could rise, Gram was on him. The man had lost his truncheon in the fall, but he still held the dagger and the two of them wrestled for control of it. The ending was a foregone conclusion. He outweighed the assassin by more than fifty pounds, and as the men on the training field knew, Gram’s strength was something to be feared.
Using his weight, Gram slowly forced the knife hand downward, until he felt it reach the man’s chest. A final push and it was in, sliding in with sickening ease. His opponent’s desperate yell for help became a gurgling cough.
Wasting no time, Gram untangled himself and stood, claiming the man’s truncheon for his own. He hefted it carefully before bringing it down brutally,
rendering his enemy unconscious, if not killing him instantly. He strode back down the corridor and made sure the others wouldn’t get back up before he let himself relax.
The immediate danger past, his thoughts returned and he stared at the carnage in the hallway. Blood, brains, and even bits of bone littered the hall and spattered the walls. Five men were dead. Not wounded, dead, he thought. I did that. His mind replayed the scene and he saw himself again, smashing the heads of those who had been rendered helpless.
Gram’s stomach grew tight, and he felt his insides begin to heave. What have I done?
A cry from deeper within the house brought him back to his senses. There was more yet to be done.
Chapter 30
The sound wrenched him back to the present and Gram straightened up. Casting about, he found another of the men’s truncheons and with one in each hand he moved on. With the men at the door dead, there was a chance that the others in the house might not know he was there.
The scream had come from the kitchen, and as he got closer he could hear the sounds of a scuffle within. Not daring to wait he flung the door open and entered.
His eyes found Carissa first; she was standing beside Conall, the two of them backed into a corner by the stove. Four men were in the room, while two more were in the connected dining room, dragging Irene’s lifeless body between them.
One of the four was struggling with Lilly Tucker, blood was running from her scalp, but she showed no sign of surrendering yet. The second stood back, laughing as he enjoyed the spectacle while the other two were slowly approaching the children, being careful not to give them a chance to run past and escape.
“Don’t kill the woman, we can enjoy her on the trip back,” said the one watching.
Another voice yelled from the other room, a woman’s voice, “Leave her, we’re here for the children!”
Carissa’s eyes found Gram’s, and he could see hope blossom in them. Before the intruders realized he was there he had cracked one’s head with a truncheon. The other two turned to face him and the battle grew serious. Lilly began to struggle even harder against the third attacker who was holding her down.