“I did it because she wished it,” he admitted. “I did it because I loved her and I did not wish to see her miserable when her husband was wounded in battle. The deception nearly cost me my life.”
Adonis nodded faintly. He glanced at Thomas as the man came upon them, listening to the conversation even as he was straightening out the knot of his horse’s reins.
“I was there that night,” Thomas put in. “Lest you forget, Kevin, I was there. I saw almost everything. Edward captured you and had it not been for my father and your father, you would have been in very serious trouble posing as an enemy Welsh prince, in front of the king no less. My sister should not have asked that of you. What will happen now when you show up in London and the king recognizes you?”
Kevin shrugged. He wasn’t particularly concerned about it. He was more concerned about the fact that Penelope de Wolfe was on his mind now and he didn’t want to be thinking about her the entire ride to London.Damnation!He thought angrily. It had taken him nearly every day of those six long years in the Levant to forget her. Could a brief mention of the woman once he was on English soil undo all that had been done to erase her from his mind once and for all? He wondered.
“It was dark that night,” he finally said. “I had more hair than I do now and was dirty, beaten, and dressed in another man’s armor. I doubt the man will recognize me.”
Thomas grunted in disapproval. “You are taking a terrible chance.”
Kevin looked at him. “I do not have a choice,” he said. “You saw for yourself; the king has summoned me. If I refuse, I will be in greater trouble.”
Thomas knew that but he still didn’t like any of it. Shaking his head, he turned back to his big red steed and slid the bridle over the animal’s big head. Adonis, too, was heading back to his horse even though his thoughts were lingering on the situation.
“Mayhap we should send for your father,” he said. “It is possible we will need the man there when you meet with the king. Uncle Kieran can explain away what happened if, in fact, the king recognizes you.”
Kevin shook his head. “I’ve not needed my father’s help since I was a child,” he said. “I will not call upon him now. If there is any reconciling to be done, I will do it.”
“Aren’t you going to send word to him anyway?” Adonis asked softly. “He will want to hear from you. I am sending word to my father right away, as is Thomas. If our fathers receive word from us and Uncle Kieran does not hear from you, he will worry and you know it.”
Kevin was about to take a hard stance but thought better of it. After a moment, he nodded. “I will send word to him,” he said, his gaze taking on a rather longing expression as his movements slowed. “I’ve not seen my father in six years. The last time I heard of him was three years ago and the missive from my mother said that my father was not in the best of health. I… I am almost afraid to send word to him, afraid of what I will discover.”
Adonis and Thomas were thinking the same thing. “My father’s health is good but he is older than God himself,” Thomassaid. “I last heard from him two years ago. He said that all was well and that he had more grandchildren now.”
Adonis made a face at Thomas as if the man had just said something terrible but Kevin knew what Thomas had meant.
“He meant from Penny,” Kevin said, feeling that old familiar stabbing in his heart again. “As of three years ago, my mother said that she had at least two children. I am sure that she has had more by now.”
They should have been my children,he thought even though he tried not to think those words. They came tumbling down upon him like boulders in an avalanche so he resumed saddling his horse, his movements quicker and more decisive now, as if trying to forget the impact of those thoughts. He was shaking off those boulders, one by one. Even though the events happened those six years ago, he still felt the impact of pain as if it were fresh.
Thomas and Adonis knew that but they kept silent. There wasn’t much point in discussing the very issue that had seen him running off to the Levant. Therefore, they continued to saddle their horses in silence until Thomas pointed out another vessel that had come to lay anchor off the rocky shores. It seemed that the boat was full of women, women that weren’t all that well dressed, and the crewmen brought them ashore in a dilapidated dinghy. Once the women hit the shores, it was a screaming and shouting match with the tariff collectors and the women began to wail because they evidently didn’t have the money to pay the taxes.
By that time, Kevin, Adonis, and Thomas were ready to leave and they did, leading their horses across the rocky ground, passing the howling women and the yelling tariff collectors, and past the general chaos of the beach area. The path went up a small incline to a larger road that led into the small village of Dover.
The massive, ancient castle was on the top of the bluffs to their right, up the white hill where some manner of fortress had been since Roman times. The sea breeze was picking up as they mounted their horses and headed into town, big white gulls following them as they headed into the heart of the berg. It was busy on this day with all of the travelers that had come ashore by boat, with people crowded in the street as they searched for lodgings. Still other people gathered in the church for prayer as vendors hawked unknown meat, burnt, and hot wine across the street. It was quite an active place as Kevin, Adonis, and Thomas made their way through it all.
“I will send word to my father that we have returned,” Thomas said, looking around the bustling town. “Surely I can hire a messenger from among this rabble.”
Kevin grunted. “Hiring a man is not the question,” he said. “The question is if you can hire a reliable one. I am sure there are many men who would take your money and drink it away without taking a step towards the north of England.”
Thomas continued to look at the people of the town as they passed them on their way out of the village. “Did you notice?” he asked. “Everyone has white skin. There are even a few people with red or blond hair. And the hills are green. It is starting to occur to me that we are truly home.”
Kevin looked around. The village was set between a series of hills, with the castle on a massive rise to the east. Everything was quite green, smelling of grass and damp and the salt of the sea. He took a long, deep breath, closing his eyes briefly to digest the smells. It did his hardened heart good.
“Indeed we are,” he said. “I’d forgotten these scents. It smells of home.”
Adonis was looking longingly at a tavern as they passed by. “And I have forgotten the taste of home,” he said. “Could we not stop and remember just a few drops?”
Kevin grinned, glancing over his shoulder at the tavern built of stones and timber. A painted sign nailed to the roofline proclaimed it to be the Gull and Piper, with someone having very badly painted the images of a gull and a piper. “It will take us at least two days to reach London,” he said. “Do you really want to delay?”
Adonis nodded vigorously. “We have spent months traveling from the Levant,” he said. “Let us at least sample a bit of English spirit now that we are on English soil.”
Kevin couldn’t deny him. He, too, was the least bit eager to sample home as well. Without another word, he turned his steed towards the inn. Adonis and Thomas eagerly followed.
The tavern was packed from the top of its slanted roof to the bottom of its uneven dirt floor. As the three knights pushed into the great common room, they could quickly see the amount of people jammed into the place. It smelled strongly of dirty bodies and urine. Kevin, not particularly long on patience and weary from the boat trip, began shoving people aside as he hunted for a table that would suit them. He spied one, over near the hearth, where four men were sitting. He didn’t hesitate. He went straight to the table and grabbed the first man he came to.
“We require your table,” he said, tossing the man aside and reaching for the second one. “Seek your rest elsewhere.”
