“You knew I would,” he replied with surety and she could not help but smile.
“Aye,” she murmured. “Aye, I feared you would.”
He cast her a triumphant glance. “I love you, Isabella. I could do naught else.”
She gasped in wonder and he grinned at her surprise, then they emerged into the bailey. Isabella could only stare. The air was filled with black smoke and part of the defensive wall was aflame. Burning arrows flew through the air and men screamed as some of them found their mark. Confusion reigned in the bailey but on the high walls, bowsmen fired into the distance with resolve.
“We shall never escape,” she whispered, but Amaury nodded toward a ladder far to the right and pulled her onward.
I love you.
CHAPTER 19
Amaury knew their sole chance of survival was to escape the keep undetected. It might not be that difficult in the midst of such confusion. He immediately noted that the battle was concentrated near the gates and the closed portcullis.
He led Isabella to a ladder, planted against a section of the wall quieter than the rest. She hastened to the summit at his indication and he followed, ducking down as arrows flew over them. He seized a rope on the ramparts and secured it to the wall, then cast it over the side, before turning to Isabella.
“We will never make it through the gates,” he said by way of explanation and she nodded understanding.
Her doubts were evident, though, as evident as the bruises rising on her neck. “I have never done this,” she whispered, peering over the wall with obvious trepidation.
“I will go first so you can fall upon me,” he said and was treated to a quick smile on her part. A nod and he was over the wall, holding his place as he awaited her. He could only hope that the count’s men did not spot him for he made an excellent target.
Isabella followed, her skirts obscuring his view for a moment, then Amaury heard her gasp aloud. A guard had seized herfrom above, his gloved hand firm about her wrist. He opened his mouth to call an alert, but Amaury lunged back to the lip of the wall and punched the man hard in the face. The guard fell backward, releasing his grip, and Amaury pivoted to find that Isabella, she of the keen wit, had already slipped down the rope. He met her at the bottom and seized her hand again, urging her to flee toward the count’s forces.
“Ahead of me,” he ordered, even as a cry was raised from the parapet behind them.
“Kill them!” Edmund shouted, emerging from the hall. “Kill the villains fleeing Marnis!”
Half a dozen bolts struck the ground around them then and Isabella caught her breath in fear. Her limp seemed more pronounced but Amaury would not leave her behind, not now.
“Just run,” Amaury said, catching up to her. He would have snatched her up in his arms to carry her, but in that moment, a bolt struck him in the back of the thigh. He stumbled, and forced himself to stagger forward despite the stabbing pain.
Isabella looked back, her expression turning to horror. Amaury gestured for her to continue, for he feared she would halt. Even now, more bolts rained down around them.
Another caught his shoulder, tearing at his sleeve and grazing the skin, and Amaury fell to the ground. The pain was such that he was not sure he could rise to his feet again, let alone flee to safety. He closed his eyes as he felt Isabella drop to the ground beside him, her hand closing over his own.
“Go,” he commanded her and felt her shake her head.
“I will not,” she said fiercely. “For I love you, sir, and there is no chance I will abandon you now.”
Amaury could not halt his smile. He opened his eyes to see Ténébreux bearing down upon them. The destrier wore his full caparisons and armor, making him a fearsome but welcome sight. The black beast might have breathed fire when his nostrilsflared, and he circled behind Amaury with speed. Several other destriers flanked him, a company of knights defending them from onslaught as they were hauled to safety.
Then one knight lifted his crossbow, moving with such deliberation that Amaury guessed his intent. He rolled over to watch Roland’s bolt sail through the air, its tip flaming golden fire. Edmund stood on the high wall, so incensed that he forgot caution and revealed himself clearly. The bolt was aimed with deadly accuracy and Amaury nodded approval when it sank into Edmund’s chest. That man screamed and fell from the high wall, his garments already aflame. His cry ended abruptly as the fire spread from him to the wooden walls of Marnis. The wood was dry and the flames spread with fearsome speed, the curtain wall turning to a barrier of flame in mere moments.
Amaury closed his eyes as the world dimmed around him. He was aware that the blazing flames began to consume Marnis, and that those within the keep began to abandon it. There were no more bolts fired upon them, though chaos claimed the field.
A familiar knight jumped down and forcibly hauled Amaury to Ténébreux’s saddle. “Like a sack of grain,” Amaury complained and his brother laughed.
“Heavier than any such I have known,” Roland said grimly.
“Even without his hauberk,” Philip said with displeasure. “All the way to Outremer and back with nary an injury, and within a fortnight of arriving home,this.”
Amaury smiled at his squire’s evident disgust and gripped the saddle as well as he could. “Isabella,” he whispered but he already felt her weight behind him. She seized a fistful of his stolen tabard and held it fast, even as Roland lashed him to the horse.
“Fear not. I will hold him,” she said with welcome resolve and Amaury let his eyes close in relief.
It was done. The threat against his lady wife was banished, and Montvieux would rise once again. His father, he knew, would have been proud.
