Garren didn’t know what to feel. “How is that?”
“He is fighting off the de Rosas and he helped me escape to come and tell you everything. That should be quite enough.”
The last piece of metal that Garren collected was his sword, massive and lethal. He looked at it, thinking that he would soon be raising it for the greatest cause he had ever known. Fergus saw the deadly gleam to his eye as he spoke.
“Not hell nor William Marshal nor the de Rosas will keep me from claiming what is rightfully mine,” he growled. “Fergus, I swear to you, by the time this night is through, I shall have my wife. If I do not, it is because I was killed trying.”
Fergus could see a recklessness about him that was frightening. “You have come too far to die,” he said firmly. “Derica would never recover. She went for weeks thinking you were dead and it nearly destroyed her. For you to die within sight of her would be too much for her to bear. You must think of her, Garren.”
“She is all I think of.”
“Then temper yourself. We need your cold logic, not your fury.”
Garren’s jaw ticked. There was too much happening for him to be rational at the moment. Without another word, he and Fergus went back into the inner courtyard where surprise met them; Offa and Emyl, dressed in their ragged armor and weapons, stood silently in wait. Garren eyed them as he approached.
“Where do you go?” he indicated their dress.
“With you,” Emyl said steadily. “You will need our help.”
They were old knights and due their respect. Garren tried to be careful in his reply.
“Although I am most grateful for your offer, I fear this is a job for me alone. Four of us would be too many and not enough, all at the same time.”
“But there is an army in wait for you, Garren,” Offa said. “You must have aid.”
Garren couldn’t help but think how pathetic they looked, though noble were their intentions. The de Rosa knights would cut them to ribbons.
“Gentle knights, I am riding to reclaim my wife. I must do this alone. Pray that you understand and are not offended.”
Offa shrugged. “We were obligated to offer. We are knights, after all.”
“And your loyalty is appreciated. But for now, I need you here to shore up Cilgarren for a de Rosa attack. If I am successful in retrieving Derica, it is quite possible they will follow us here in their zeal to kill me and take back their daughter.”
It was an honorable duty requested of them, and a necessary one. Emyl was perhaps more disappointed than Offa was; there was a time when he lived for a good fight. But he forced down his disappointment.
“We shall be ready, Garren. Godspeed to you.”
Garren laid a hand on the old man’s shoulder as he walked away, glad they understood, now better able to refocus on what he must do. By the time he reached his charger, he was quivering with the anticipation of seeing Derica again. It seemed like a dream he’d held so closely to his heart that she was nearly nebulous, like a ghost. He could remember the smell of her, the taste of her, but the feel of her soft flesh in his hands was slipping from his memory. It had been too long. The more he struggled to keep the memory, the further it moved away from him. His whole being cried out for her.
It had been less than an hour since Fergus’ arrival at Cilgarren. In the dark of night, Garren and Fergus were back on the road, riding southwest to Pembroke.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Bertram de Rosaunleashed hell.
Keller, a man who was not easily impressed with battle tactics, had to admit he was somewhat respectful of not only Bertram’s cunning, but of his power. The maid that had come with de Rosa’s terms had not exaggerated when she had said the army carried around one thousand fools and men. It had to be at least that, if not more. But Keller was ready for them.
The first phase of the battle had consisted of archers, aimed high at close range so that they sailed up and over the outerwall of Pembroke but had less luck breaching the inner wall because of its distance from the outerwall and the great gatehouse. Because the archers were so close, they were in range of Keller’s Welsh archers, the finest bowmen in the world. After Bertram’s first volley, Keller let loose with his own barrage that effectively sent Bertram’s archers running for cover. But it had been a shrewd move on de Rosa’s part, designed to give Keller an overabundance of confidence and invite the hope that he would follow it up with something foolish.
But Keller held his confidence in check as he watched the de Rosa archers scatter; it was tempting to want to chase them, but he suspected a man as experienced as de Rosa would not have made such a foolish mistake. He had been correct; a few moments later, he was glad that he had restrained himself. Parting the trees as they moved towards Pembroke were two massive siege towers being pulled by teams of oxen. Keller had been momentarily surprised; so had his men up on the wall. All eyes were fixed on the siege towers that were as tall asthe outerwall, lumbering steadily towards them. Once the shock wore off, Keller snorted. Then he applauded.
But his jovial mood was short lived. He knew they were in for a serious siege. He set his archers on the outer wall battlements, taking aim at the oxen pulling the siege towers. Rather than try to kill the beasts, he ordered his men to take out their legs. It was careful hunting and by the time the siege towers came to within several feet of the moat, more than half of the teams on both towers were crippled and the remaining oxen were panicking.
The de Rosa men cut the injured animals loose and took up the pulling themselves, creating gangs of men that began to inch the towers forward again. Keller and his men watched as the giant towers inched closer; he seriously wondered how they were going to bring the siege engines close enough to the castle walls to breach them. The castle was protected on three sides, leaving the fourth side heavily fortified with ditches and the great gatehouse. If Bertram seriously had it in his mind to penetrate Pembroke, then he had his work cut out for him. Keller was very curious how the man was going to accomplish it.
But he wasn’t so fascinated that he wasn’t focused on the castle as a whole. He had a heavy concentration of men on the south side of the castle, but he had the west, north and east sides covered as well. He had been fighting against the wily Welsh too long to be fooled into thinking that a frontal assault was all Bertram would attempt. He kept the entire castle under vigilant watch.
As the siege towers drew closer, Keller had lost his curiosity on Bertram’s tactics. In a sharp command to his Welsh archers, he had them concentrate on taking out the gang of men now pulling the siege towers. Soon enough, Bertram lost many men to the archers. But there were more to take their place. As many as Keller would order taken out, Bertram was there to replace them.
