“Confirmed what?”
“The man fights like you,” Kieran muttered. “William, I know I told you that Herringthorpe looked like you back at Thropton and we’ve discussed it since, but I have never been more convinced that the man is related to you than I am tonight. It was like watching you in your younger years. His movements, the way he swings a sword… everything.”
William looked at him. “I know,” he said with some resignation. “I saw.”
“You see it, too?”
William shrugged, looking back to the sky. “It’s more a feeling,” he said. “I cannot describe it, but it’s in his facial expression at times. It’s not me he looks like– it’s my father. I swear to you, he looks just like Edward de Wolfe.”
Kieran grunted softly. “It’s not possible that he’s your father’s bastard,” he said. “He died years before Herringthorpe was conceived.”
William shook his head. “I wasn’t suggesting that,” he said. “I am suggesting that it is, indeed,me.”
“You’re convinced?”
“Possibly. Or it could be that we are imagining things that do not exist.”
“True.”
“A mind can play tricks.”
“I would agree in Paris’ case, but not in mine. Or yours.”
A shadow of a grin crossed William’s lips. “Paris will see him when we go to Northwood tomorrow,” he said. “He was the first one who really spoke of it back at Thropton. The trick with Paris is to keep the man’s mouth shut. He will ask Herringthorpe to his face if he is my bastard and this situation must be handled far more delicately. If there evenisa situation. We could all be mad for all we know.”
Kieran thought he heard something in William’s tone and he looked at him, preparing to reply, but he was prevented by Christian’s sudden appearance.
Christian rode a big, gray warhorse that was as fat as a holiday goose. He rode up beside his father and uncle, flipping up his visor as he looked at them.
“May I send a rider ahead and tell Castle Questing to be prepared for the wounded?” he asked. “We’ve got three men with fairly serious injuries and I would like for Aunt Jordan and my mother to be ready for them. We should tell them we have incoming.”
William nodded. “Send a rider,” he said. “Since we are not sure where The Bones went, you will tell Anthony to be on his guard. I do not want them sneaking up on my castle. Where is Talus?”
Christian threw a thumb towards the rear of the column. “Back there,” he said. “He took a serious gash to his left leg. Those bastards tried to cut if off.”
“I know,” William said. “I saw it. He’ll need immediate tending with a wound like that.”
Christian agreed. He spurred his horse forward, finding a young soldier astride a jumpy horse and sent the man charging ahead to Castle Questing. They would soon be seeing it in the distance, its ramparts lit up with torches against the dark night, and there was comfort in knowing they weren’t far out. Once Christian sent the rider ahead, he returned to his father and uncle.
“I think we can pick up the pace a little,” he said to his father. “What say you?”
Kieran agreed. In battle, or on a battle march, as William’s second in command, he made most of the logistical and general decisions for the army. William didn’t bat an eyelash as Kieran began to give commands to pick up the pace. The men began to move faster, including Talus with his gashed leg, and the warhorses broke into a steady trot.
“How long do you intend to keep men in Coldstream, Uncle William?” Christian asked as the horses bounced along.
William’s horse had a smoother trot than most of them, so he was riding easily. “At least for a few days,” he said. “I told Troy to send Herringthorpe and his men back to Castle Questing in the morning. It is not his duty to protect one of our villages. Moreover, he did not come for that. He came to meet my allies.”
“Did you see the man fight?”
“Of course I did.”
“He fights like you, Uncle William.” Christian finally looked over at William and his father. “Papa sent me to find out what I could about him. Did he tell you that?”
William looked at Kieran. “You told Christian about my suspicions?” he asked.
Kieran wouldn’t look at him. “If anyone could find out about Herringthorpe, it is Christian,” he said. “My son has the tongue of a serpent and the mind of a fox. I told you that I would not probe Herringthorpe personally, but I asked Christian to find out what he could. He can do it better than we ever could.”
William wasn’t pleased, but there was a large part of him that was very curious now. He looked at Christian. “Well?” he said. “What did you discover?”
