When he awoke a few hours later, the horse was still eating and he had to grin at the beast. The horse would eat until it exploded so he got up, brushed down his horse, put the saddle back on, and was along his way.
He calculated that he would arrive in Bellham around noon and he was precise in his estimate. It was just the nooning hour as he trekked down the shady, tree-lined road that led to the great gates of Bellham, the sounds of birds and the soft clip-clop of his horse the only sounds in his ears. Then he noticed a group of men leaving Bellham, soldiers, with one man leading the pack. The man was bellowing unintelligible words.
Gart couldn’t tell what was happening until he was nearly upon the group and then, with a jolt of shock, he recognized Julian. It was Julian who had been doing the screaming and Gart didn’t have to guess why. He also didn’t have to guess at the man’s presence at Bellham. Frankly, he was a little shocked to cross paths with the man but the truth was that, at some point, he had expected it. He had planned for it. Just not so soon.
Gart’s helm was on but his visor was up. It was too late to slam it down because Julian, unfortunately, had already noticed him. He was screaming something about making de Lohr pay and hurling curses. Gart reined his charger as far to the right as he could, trying to stay out of Julian’s way because the man was all over the road. His poor horse was frothy and excited. But Julian fixed Gart in the eye and the man’s jaw dropped. Thedisbelief in his expression was evident, a stroke of luck in the most unexpected of places. He began hollering at the top of his lungs, pointing in Gart’s direction.
“It is him!” he screamed, his voice cracking. “Forbes is here! He is here!”
Gart quickly assessed the escort with Julian. There were at least ten men, perhaps more. They were all scrambling and it was difficult to gauge an exact count. Gart didn’t stop to try and talk with Julian because he knew it would do no good. There was nothing to do but face the man head on. Unsheathing his broadsword, he was focused on the two men rushing him on horseback when something hit him from his blind side. Knocked squarely in the head, he lost his balance and toppled onto the ground.
Bordering on unconsciousness, Gart could hear weapons being drawn around him. He could hear men snapping, shouting, and somewhere in the middle of it was Julian’s shrill voice. He realized he still had his broadsword in his hand and he brought it up, slashing at men near him. He struggled to get to his knees, shaking off the buzzing in his head as he labored to defend himself.
Men were kicking him and pummeling him. His slashing broadsword made contact with someone because he felt the strike followed by a scream. He tried to get to his knees but there were too many around him, overwhelming him.
Since he was covered in armor, the blows weren’t doing any real damage but the initial strike to the head still had him reeling. He was starting to feel some rage at having been attacked, building as he realized it was him against a dozen armed men, and thesach, the madman, began to make an appearance. The rage began to grow, rising up through his legs to his chest until it reached his head. It was insanity unleashed.
He grabbed the leg nearest his head and he twisted the man’s leg brutally, flipping him onto the dirt. As the soldier screamed in pain, Gart dropped his broadsword to the ground and rolled to his knees. Massive fists began striking men in the vulnerable pelvic area and he sent at least two men down with blows to the groin. Staggering to his feet, he took out another two soldiers with savage blows to the face.
The heat of fury was rolling through him. His face was red and sweaty. One soldier ran at him and he grabbed the man around the neck with one hand, using his other to twist his head so hard that his neck snapped. Bones crumbled in Gart’s iron grip and he dropped the dead soldier, moving in for another.
Buckland’s men began to see that Gart was bent on murder and they withdrew every weapon in their arsenal, daggers and broadswords, moving towards Gart with the intention of killing him. It was no longer a case of simply beating the man senseless. Gart saw the weapons and knew the battle was about to get even more lethal. He spied his broadsword on the ground several feet away and made haste in its direction.
Before he could retrieve his weapon, Kevin was suddenly in his midst, intercepting Buckland’s soldiers. Several de Lohr soldiers also appeared and soon there was a vicious brawl going on. Gart watched David jump feet-first into the fracas, broadsword swinging. David wasn’t the biggest man in a fight, or even the strongest, but he was definitely the fastest. His speed was truly something to behold. As Buckland’s soldiers found themselves swarmed with de Lohr men, Gart searched for Julian.
He saw him on the edge of the fight, screaming at his men. His words weren’t even intelligible. They were simply screams and shrieks. Gart gazed at the man, envisioning the brutal bastard who had beat Emberley senseless, and it was all he could think of. The rage he felt only increased and murder filled hisheart. With his massive broadsword in his hand, he began to make his way towards Julian.
Gart wanted to snap Julian’s neck. He really did. But as he approached the man, he remembered Emberley’s words–please do not kill Julian unless it is in self-defense.This was a situation that warranted it. Julian had attacked him, after all. He was simply defending himself.
But as he approached Julian, another thought occurred to him. He wasn’t sure how he could explain to Romney, Orin and Brendt that he had killed their father. He began to wonder if that kind of cloud hanging over his head would somehow scar his relationship with the children, boys he had come to love as his own. Perhaps not now, while they were young, but as the boys grew into men, he wondered how they would view the man who had killed their father, even under the pretense of self-defense. He didn’t think he could take it if they grew up to mistrust or even hate him.
Not that they had any love for their father, but still, the death of Julian at Gart’s hands would speak volumes of what Gart was capable of. He was a knight, sworn to chivalry and a moral code. Killing the husband of his lover, no matter how vile the man was, would tarnish that reputation. It would be viewed as dishonorable.
So he forced himself to take a deep breath and rethink his plans, trying to remove the emotion and passion from his view of the situation. He approached Julian, lowering his broadsword. Julian spied him on the approach, however, and backed off, holding his sword defensively as Gart closed in. There was great fear in his expression.
Gart’s eyes were intense as he focused in on Julian, yet he made no provocative action against the man. The terror in the air was palpable.
“Gart!” David saw what was happening and he made haste out of the mêlée, heading for Gart. “Stop! Go no further!”
Gart held up a hand to his liege, a calming gesture. “I am not going to kill him,” he said. “I am going to ask him a question.”
David reached Gart by this time, putting himself between Julian and Gart. David put a hand on Gart’s chest to prevent him from advancing.
“Go inside,” he jerked his head in the direction of the manse. “Get your horse and go inside. I will take care of Buckland.”
Gart was quite a bit larger than his liege, towering over David as the man tried to stop Gart’s onslaught. But in truth there was no onslaught. Gart was oddly calm for a man facing his lover’s vile husband– still, David didn’t trust him. He knew only too well what the man was capable of.
“I simply want to ask Buckland a question,” Gart said calmly.
David shoved him back by the chest. “You are not going to ask him anything,” he told him. “Get out of here. That is not a request.”
“You– Forbes!” Julian came alive, feeling safe now that David was between him and Gart. “What have you done with my wife? Where is she?”
David interrupted. “Do not say a word,” he told Gart. “If you value your life, you will keep your mouth shut.”
“Let him speak,” Julian was feeling braver. “I asked him a question and I expect an answer.”
David opened his mouth but Gart spoke first. “Clearly, I do not have her,” he said. “I am quite alone.”
