But on they came, the both of them, her darling brothers, dressed for war, advancing steadily across the floor of the inn, their swords drawn. Jacob, she recognized instantly, his curly, messy hair sogging down over his brow, but she did not identify the armored man as Matthew until he spoke.
“You would do well to unhand our sister,” he called through his steel visor.
“What do we have here?” Lord Hamilton’s voice boomed out from the balcony, and all heads swiveled to see him perched there like a bird of prey, his hands planted out on the railing, his guardsmen beside him. “A rescue?”
“Lord Hamilton!” Jacob called up to him. “We will be taking our sister home now!”
“Oh, come now, boys.” Lord Hamilton cackled. “I thought you both smarter than that.” He snapped his fingers, and two of his guardsmen raised loaded crossbows while the man on the ground took a sudden a firm grip of Laila’s hair and hauled her to her feet, causing her to cry out. He then pulled his wicked dagger from his belt and held it to her throat. Laila felt fear envelope her as the sharp point touched her skin, and she looked at her brothers with terrible concern.
“That is most unwise, My Lord,” Matthew said in a mocking tone, taking another step forward.
“You Willbys,” Lord Hamilton scoffed. “You continue to amaze me. I thought your father was a fool when he took out the loans he did, but now I see your whole family is full of hotheaded, ambitious dreamers. You all think you can do things you cannot. Ha! I cannot hold it against you. I admire ambition; indeed I do, but when one’s ambition opposes mine, I must crush them, as I will crush you.”
“You will not kill her,” Matthew said, taking yet another step toward the soldier. Laila felt his hot breath on her neck as he held his ground. “Then what will you have come so far for?”
“Won’t I?” Lord Hamilton growled. “Perhaps all of this was worth it just to remind the world that I shall not be crossed. We will raze Willby castle to the ground when we are done here, and all will remember that I am the law! Your family’s destruction will serve as a warning to my next bride.”
“I doubt that,” Jacob said, stepping up alongside his brother. “I think instead, all will hear of your downfall, and the church will preach it a lesson of gluttony and greed.”
“The church!” Lord Hamilton cackled loudly. “I own the bishop of Winchester.”
“But you do not own me!” Laila called out, her throat reverberating against the knife point, causing a thin line of blood to leak down onto her collarbone.
“So, it would seem,” Lord Hamilton said, a grave seriousness to his voice. A look flashed over his eyes as if he had finally reached a decision. “Kill them all.”
“No!” Walter cried.
Everything happened in a few blinks of the eye.
Laila felt the blade at her throat loosen, and the soldier’s head slumped down onto her shoulder as Walter pulled his knife from the back of the man’s neck. Matthew lunged forward as the crossbow bolts flew, and both of them smashed against his plate armor, sending a horrid clang of a sound out through the hall as the wooden shafts broke on the metal, denting the plate in a bit, and Matthew buckled under the blunt force.
Jacob rushed forward and grabbed hold of Laila’s arm. She twisted around to see Walter standing there, a bloody blade in his hand, a look of bewilderment and adrenaline upon his face, and she reached out for his hand.
“Walter, you wretch!” Lord Hamilton screamed, and the men began reloading while the other two began running for the stairs, their swords coming fast from their sheaths. “You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
“Let’s go!” Jacob screamed, and the four of them began hurrying for the exit. Matthew formed up behind them, trying to shield Laila as much as possible with his armored torso.
“Give me that!” Lord Hamilton snarled, grabbing up one of the crossbows from the man beside him. He took aim and fired. The bolt took Walter in the top of his left shoulder, and the small man cried out in alarm as the force of the shot sent him straight to the ground.
“Walter!” Laila cried as his hand fell away from hers.
“Leave him!” Jacob said.
“No!” Laila insisted, pulling them to a halt.
“Bloody hell,” Jacob muttered through gritted teeth, and he turned about as another crossbow bolt aimed for him shattered against Matthew’s metal encasement. “Come on, man,” Jacob said with a grunt and hauled Walter up onto his shoulders. Walter screamed in pain as he jostled about on Jacob’s shoulders, and the group made for the chimney door.
The two other knights bore down the stairs, hurrying to stop their advance, but the group was already almost to the door, and once again, the men up top began reloading. “Stop them!” Lord Hamilton seethed. “Stop them, I say!”
“Go on, get the horses!” Matthew shouted from behind his visor as they shoved the door open further.
“What about you?” Jacob grunted out, swinging Walter around to fit through the aperture.
“I’ll be right behind you!” Matthew answered, and he turned to block the doorway to the advancing knights as two more crossbow bolts flew. One planted itself firmly in the wood of the door frame, and the other glanced sparingly off Matthew’s shoulder pauldron. “Urgh,” he grunted from the impact. His metal armor was fast becoming battered and dented, and his body beneath it rippled with the blunt force impact of the shots, but his skin was unbroken, and he stood to face the two knights.
“Scum!” one of them shouted, advancing on him with his blade held above his head. Matthew parried, stepping to one side, and thrust one edge of his sword into the back of the man’s unarmored head.
“No!” Lord Hamilton screamed from above, stomping his one good foot. “Kill him!”
