McCloud nodded, but he was staring at his feet. “I will admit that I am not quite over the fact that you executed my son,”he said. “I understand why you did it. I understand you were following the law and that you had every right. But I had hoped for special consideration, I suppose. I had hoped you would protect him.”
Val has a suspicion that McCloud was harboring some resentment towards him but he was unrepentant about it. “Had you come to me in the very beginning, when he’d made his first kill, mayhap I would have,” he said honestly. “But you let it go on to the point where there was nothing I could do once he was caught. Had I not punished him, the entire town would have turned against me and St. Lo’s men more than likely would have, too. I was in no position to show mercy that day. Even if I had been, I would not have. Your son deserved the most serious punishment I could deal out and, for the fact that you were his accomplice, I should have punished you, too. But I did not. Consider that my protection, McCloud. You received my mercy when you should not have.”
McCloud was feeling scolded, ashamed. “Have you never made a mistake, Val?” he asked, growing defensive. “Are you always so perfect? I see now that you are in trouble with Henry so it seems to me that you are not as perfect as you pretend to be. Mayhap you should have more understanding for imperfect men.”
Val shook his head. “I find myself in this position through no real fault of my own,” he said. “But you were clearly at fault. You made the choice, McCloud. No one forced your hand.”
McCloud gathered the reins of his horse. “Then there is nothing more I can say,” he said. “I have asked for your forgiveness. It is your choice whether or not you choose to give it. Meanwhile, you have my blessing to marry my daughter but you already knew that. I pray the marriage is good to you both.”
With that, he began to lead his horse out of the stable and away from Val. Val continued to lean against the wall, watchingthe man depart and knowing very well that their relationship might not ever be repaired. It was a sad thought but one that couldn’t be helped. Too much had happened for them to return to the great friends they once were. As he pushed himself up off the wall, preparing to follow McCloud from the stable, a soldier entered the structure.
“My lord,” he said, addressing Val. “We have sighted an incoming army on the horizon, coming from the west.”
Val’s brow furrowed curiously. “An army?”
The soldier, a young man and rather excitable, nodded. “Aye, my lord,” he said. “At least one hundred men, mayhap more. Sir Kenan told me to tell you.”
“Is Kenan on the night watch?”
“Aye, my lord.”
It sounded like something Val needed to see for himself. As McCloud headed towards the gatehouse to depart south, Val followed the soldier at a jog across the bailey and to the ladder that led up to the wall walk. He mounted the wooden ladder, emerging onto the wall and moving towards the west side just as Kenan appeared out of the early dawn, heading towards him. They came together quickly.
“It is Henry,” Kenan said, his voice low. “It has to be. The contingent is bearing torches and banners.”
Val wasn’t so quick to panic like Kenan was. “Can you make out the colors?”
Kenan shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “It is still too dark but we can see them coming because of the torches. Val, Henry is coming for you… you must run.”
Val grinned; he couldn’t help it. “Are you serious?” he asked in disbelief. “You cry like an old woman, Kenan. Get hold of yourself.”
Still grinning, he pushed past Kenan, who followed. “I am completely serious,” he said, trying to keep his voice down so thesoldiers wouldn’t hear. “It is madness if you remain. If you will not flee, then at least hide. I will tell them that you left and I do not know where you have gone.”
Val kept trying to push him away. “Du Reims is here,” he pointed out. “He has seen me and he knows that I have not fled, as does everyone else at Selborne. Nay, Kenan, I will not flee. If it is Henry, then let him come. I have nothing to fear.”
Kenan wasn’t so sure. After being told yesterday that the warrant they’d based their trip to Canterbury on was a forgery, he was convinced that they were all going to be punished by Henry, but Val didn’t seem to think so. Kenan had spent all yesterday in a rage towards the knights who had brought the missive, so much so that he’d nearly come to blows with Calum over it. It was Calum’s brother, after all, who had brought the suspect missive and who had murdered Canterbury. Now that brother was trying to frame Val for it. It was a volatile situation that had seen the soldiers separating the two knights during the night.
Therefore, Kenan was on edge even as Val brushed him off. He followed Val down the wall walk as Val went to see the incoming army for himself. It was drawing closer to sunrise so the sky was starting to lighten, the clouds above turning shades of lavender and gray. It was easier to see the landscape beyond the wall now, the sloping of the hill leading away from Selborne and the road beyond. This particular road traveled east-west, almost continuously from Selborne to Winchester and beyond.
“Val, please,” Kenan said softly. “They are coming for you. Will you not save your own life?”
Val was watching the pinpricks of light in the distance, light that represented many torches of an army that had moved out in the dark. “I would agree that it is probably Henry,” he said evenly. “There are no other castles in the area that could put so many men on the road at this time of the morning. In fact, theymust have left Winchester in total darkness to arrive at Selborne by dawn.”
He was acting like he didn’t hear Kenan, who stopped trying to talk to the man. He knew there was only one person who might be able to get through to Val so he abruptly left the wall without a word, making his way quickly down the ladder and then heading across the bailey. Val hadn’t paid much attention to him until he happened to casually turn and see that the man was making his way to the keep. That sight spurred him into action.
Realizing that Kenan was more than likely going to tell Margaretha what was happening, Val bolted off the wall, taking the ladder far too quickly in his attempt to catch Kenan before the man made it into the keep. But Kenan was too far ahead of him, rushing into the keep just as du Reims was exiting. Kenan came to a halt when he saw that it was the earl and, in desperation, he spilled his message.
“My lord,” he addressed him, breathlessly. “Henry is approaching with a small army, undoubtedly to arrest Val. I have told Val that he must flee but he does not seem to think he should. Mayhap you can convince him otherwise.”
Tevin, looking a bit sleepy at this early hour, turned to Val in shock as the man came racing up the stairs to the keep. “Is this true?” he asked Val. “Henry is here?”
Val glared at Kenan before answering. “That is the assumption, aye,” he said. “In spite of what this idiot thinks, I am not running to save myself. That would be the cowardly thing to do, an admission of guilt, and I will not do it. I am not guilty and I will prove it.”
Kenan was miserable; Tevin could see that. He could also see that the bailey of Selborne was coming alive as the army approached, with soldiers rushing about and men on the walls yelling at one another. Servants, alerted by the soldiers, hadcome out to see what the fuss was about. Everyone seemed to be concerned that a small army was approaching Selborne.
Everyone except Val, that is.
But Tevin saw the seriousness of it much as Kenan did. He growled unhappily. “Damnation,” he hissed. “D’Vant said he would give me at least a day. It seems that I have not been given even that.”
