“Nay,” he said, looking away and struggling with the alien emotions that were running unbridled through his veins. “He isan older knight, and I told you to forget about your lover. He no longer exists.”
Emllyn lowered her gaze, thinking on all of her brother’s knights, or at least the ones she knew of. She’d never been around them much but she did know a few. They were a strong and loyal group.
“Do you know his name?” she asked. “I may be able to tell you how high he was in the chain of command.”
It was a suggestion he hadn’t thought of and he was embarrassed by it. What was this wild sense of possessiveness towards her that seemed to get stronger with every pull? Was it truly jealousy? He tried not to sound too interested or grateful in his reply.
“St. John,” he said, eyeing her as casually as he could manage. “Do you know him?”
Emllyn immediately nodded. “His daughter is my friend,” she said, looking at him with that beseeching expression he seemed unable to resist. “He served my grandfather, too. Is he well? Oh, please do not hurt him. He is a good man. His wife is very kind and they have five daughters. As I said, his oldest daughter is my best friend in the entire world and her father… well, he means a great deal to her. I will gladly take whatever punishment you intend for him.”
His expression was serious as he gazed down upon her. “Don’t you think you have taken enough punishment on behalf of Kildare?” he asked softly.
Emllyn looked as if she had been struck. The comment was blunt but the tone nearly regretful. It made her feel sickened. She had no response for him as the great keep of Black Castle swallowed them up into its cool, dark innards.
Escorting her in silence to the chamber at the top of the keep, he left her there alone while he went about his business.
He had a knight to interrogate.
*
“’Tis as wefeared,” Shain told Devlin in a low voice. “De Cleveley and his allies are planning something big.”
Devlin, Shain, Frederick, and Iver were huddled in the guard room of Black Castle’s big gatehouse. It was a very cramped room with a small hearth that gave off as much smoke as it did heat. Even now, the air was filled with a thin blue fog of smoke. The guards had taken Sir Victor back to the vault, leaving the knights in private conference. Three hours of interrogation had given them some answers but not all. There was still much more they should know.
“Aye,” Devlin agreed, running a hand through his short red hair. “He has told us that the missives between Kildare and de Cleveley had to do with quelling the rebellion and regaining Black Castle for the English, but no more than that. We still do not know how or when.”
“You should have let me have a go at him,” Frederick grumbled. The man was standing in the shadows, his big arms folded across his chest. “Mayhap he knows more than what he was willing to tell.”
Devlin glanced over his shoulder at him. “Do not let your desire to damage more English flesh be your excuse to interrogate the man for additional information,” he said. “St. John is a seasoned knight and, like the rest of us, no amount of interrogation in the world is going to loosen his tongue if he does not wish to speak. We had a civil conversation and I am convinced he told us what he knew. Beating the man into giving us false information simply to be done with the pain does not help is in any manner.”
Frederick wasn’t convinced but he didn’t argue. “So what do we do?” he asked.
Devlin cast a long glance at Shain before continuing. “It is my intention to use our lady captive to our advantage,” he said. “As I told you, the lady was following a lover who was part of the invasion force. She knows that we have several prisoners and she wishes to see if her lover is among them. I have told her that she may see the prisoners if she completes a task for me, and that is to go south to de Cleveley’s settlement and tell them that she has escaped from me. She will then make her way into their confidence to see if she can find out when, and how, they plan to attack us. When she completes her task to my satisfaction, I will let her see the prisoners so she may discover if her lover is among them. For that reason alone, the prisoners must be kept alive until she returns.”
He was looking at Frederick as he spoke the last sentence. Frederick was looking rather serious about it, as was Iver. “You intend to send her in to the English settlement?” Frederick said, rather surprised. “Once she’s in their bosom, she’ll surely remain. They will not let her leave!”
Devlin held up a quelling hand. “They will indeed,” he insisted, “because I intend to go with her. I would not send her in there alone. I will pose as a fellow prisoner who escaped Black Sword’s dungeons along with the lady. I will pretend to be mute so that nothing about my speech will give me away. Shain has expressed concern that I will be recognized but to that I say this: I have fought de Cleveley many times but I have usually worn a helm. But to alleviate the possibility of recognizing this shock of red hair, I will shave my head. I will pose as a beaten and tortured companion to the lady, a protector of sorts, and surely draw their sympathy. But make no mistake; I will be there to protect the lady and when our task is through, I will find a way to flee the settlement and return here.”
Shain had already heard all of this so he wasn’t overly emotional about it, but Frederick and Iver had differentreactions; Iver appeared uneasy but Frederick was positively livid. His dark eyebrows shot up as the scheme settled into his psyche.
“Are youmad?” he demanded. “Going into de Cleveley’s settlement is… is suicide! They will kill you!”
Devlin shook his head calmly. “Not if they do not know who I am. The lady will verify that I am a prisoner, too.”
That didn’t ease Frederick at all; he threw up his hands. “And what if she betrays you?” he wanted to know. “She could easily turn you over to them.”
“Then she will never know if her lover is among our captives,” Devlin said coolly. “I suppose it will come down to who, and what, is more important to her– her lover, or turning me over to the English.”
Frederick didn’t know what else to say; he was flabbergasted. True, it seemed like a sound plan but it was still extremely risky. He looked at Iver, hoping the man would support his outrage.
“Have you nothing to say about this?” he asked him. “Tell him how foolish it is!”
Iver was characteristically calm. He glanced at Frederick although his focus was mostly on Devlin. He didn’t seem to be particular adverse to the scheme but he wasn’t obviously open to it, either.
“And the lady is agreeable to all of this?” he asked.
Devlin nodded. “She is.”
