Just the way he’d wanted.
“Breach!”
*
“Scots are inthe compound!” a panicked soldier shouted into the hall. “To battle stations!”
The knights on the dais heard the cry and suddenly, everyone was on the move. They had been sitting around, enjoying a fine meal of pork and beans and good conversation, when the alarm came. Gar bolted to his feet, pulling Mattie with him, and the men with wives at the table immediately began escorting the women to the stairwells that led to the upper floors. Jordan took charge of Mattie because Gar had to go, and together, the women raced up the stairwell to the master’s chamber while Rhoswyn, Caria, and Avrielle went up a separate staircase.
The great hall cleared in seconds.
Unfortunately, the fight was right at their door. The Scots had indeed breached the compound and were trying to get into the hall, into the castle itself. Yet again, they were trying to take the fight straight into the hall. With the entry door open because people were going in and out, they managed to make it inside, but there was a massive fight at the door. Unfortunately, the knights weren’t armed. No one had come to the hall with weapons simply because no one had expected they would be needed. The castle was well manned, and Gar’s men were vigilant, so there was no reason to come to the hall armed for war.
Now, they were wishing they had.
The younger knights were at the forefront of the battle at the keep entry. Andreas, Tor, and Atreus managed to hold back a tide of Scots as the older knights behind them—William, Troy, Scott, and Blayth—caught anyone who slipped past their net. Gar had managed to make it outside, racing to the smallarmory where he and Mattie had made love, and grabbed what weapons he could. Racing back to the entry, he speared two Scots immediately, clearing the way for him to provide swords to Andreas and Tor. As those two began cutting through Scots, he was able to get weapons to the rest of them, which left him without a weapon.
But that didn’t matter.
Gar was fighting with fists and feet at that point.
Suddenly, a wave of armed soldiers descended on the keep entry because that seemed to be where the majority of the Scots were concentrated. There were dozens of them. They were wet and smelly and it occurred to Gar that, somehow, they had crossed that horrific moat and made it in. If they hadn’t come through the gatehouse, then they’d either gone over the wall or come through the postern gate because those were the only ways they could have entered. Gar cursed himself for being caught off guard, but he couldn’t dwell on it. He had to stem it. However the Scots had managed to do it, the breach was probably still open.
It was imperative that they close it.
“Atreus!” Gar boomed. “Find the breach!”
Atreus was a madman with a sword. He sliced through men, kicking and stabbing and punching, and finally made it outside. As Atreus took off, taking soldiers with him, Gar retreated to the armory and collected a big broadsword. Returning to the entry, he could see that the fight had spread out more now. There was fighting both inside and outside the keep and that included William doing battle with a particularly large Scot just outside the keep door.
Gar wasn’t going to tolerate that.
He knew his grandfather would be furious with him for interfering, but watching his elderly grandfather fighting for his life wasn’t something Gar could ignore. No one was wearingmail or protection, him included, so they were all particularly vulnerable. That was what concerned him the most.
He didn’t want to see an old knight get carved up.
Gar had his focus on William as he approached the keep entry. He was several feet away, preparing to swing wide and come around, approaching his grandfather’s opponent from behind, when the big Scotsman suddenly thrust a fist right into William’s throat. He was a tall man, with a long reach, and with fighting in such close quarters, it wasn’t surprising that he was able to get close enough to William to strike him. But that move had Gar rushing the man as William staggered back and stumbled to one knee. Gar was so focused on bringing his broadsword to bear on the Scotsman’s neck, which he did ably, that he failed to see a second Scotsman coming up behind him.
But he certainly felt it when a big, dirty blade plowed into the right side of his torso.
Instinct had him whirling around, using his own blade to slice his attacker at the throat. As his enemy fell away, nearly decapitated, Gar put his hand to the gash in his side and came away with an extreme amount of blood. He turned, trying to get a look at it, and all he could see was his patchwork breeches covered in it, all down the right side.
It was a bad wound.
But he wasn’t going to stop. His castle had been violated and he was going to fight until he could fight no more. He was just about to go after another Scotsman when he felt hands on his arm, stopping him from proceeding.
“You’re wounded, lad,” William said calmly. “Come back inside. Let me take you to your grandmother.”
Gar refused. “I cannot,” he said. “I must defend my castle.”
He tried to pull away but William held him fast. “Lad, you must come with me,” he said. “You are bleeding heavily. Let your grandmother tend your wound.”
Gar looked at him, his face already pale as the blood loss was starting to weigh on him. “I am wounded because you are out here doing something you should not be doing,” he said angrily. “No one wants you fighting any longer, Poppy, but still, you insist. That means we must all watch you in battle to ensure you are not killed. The great William de Wolfe must be protected at all costs, soyougo inside. Go inside where it is safe and let the younger men do the fighting.”
He tried to pull away again, but William wouldn’t budge. He wasn’t going to let Gar’s furious words hurt him, true though they might be.
“Come along,” he said, moving toward the door and trying to drag Gar with him. When William saw Scott nearby, he shouted to him. “Scott! To me!”
That was a cry that was never disobeyed, not by any knight or member of the de Wolfe family. When William gave an order, men obeyed. Therefore, the command had Scott immediately rushing to his father, seeing the horror of a very bloody and pale Gar.
