The final member of the collection was perhaps the most intimidating and frightening, even more than MacRohan and The Britannia Viper. His name was Gart Forbes, a monster in battle, and a knight who had served the de Lohrs for years before he married the Dowager Baroness of Buckland. Now, he had hisown empire in the wilds of Devon, but he was never far from The Marshal should the man have need of him.
All of these great men, waiting for William Marshal to make an appearance.
Fortunately, the wait wasn’t an excessive one.
The time and day had already been pre-destined, so they knew that they were expected, but William Marshal was late. Then they heard a door slam down on the floor below, something that had heads lifting, senses attuned. There were footfalls on the great stone staircase that led to the solar, and as the footfalls drew closer, the knights grew more focused. There was more than one set of footsteps. More than one man was approaching.
Something was afoot.
The great double doors to the solar burst open.
“Excellent,” William Marshal said, pulling off his cloak. “Is everyone here?”
Christopher stood up from his chair next to the hearth. “Aye,” he said, noting that William was quite rushed. “Everyone is here. How may we be of service?”
William heard him but didn’t acknowledge him, at least not right away. He was clearly preoccupied. He tossed the cloak aside and moved for the table where the wine was kept, pouring himself a measure without even offering any to anyone else, including the man who had entered the chamber behind him and was now quietly closing the doors.
Sir Sean de Lara, bodyguard to King John and a secret agent for William Marshal, was the last man into the chamber.
Enormous and terrifying, the man known throughout royal and military circles as Lord of the Shadows found Christopher in a chamber full of men, his expression suggesting that something quite serious was about to take place. It put Christopher on edge, and also David, who came to stand next to his brother. Betweenthem, they controlled a massive army and huge swathes of England, so anything that had both de Lohr brothers involved had to be big, indeed. They just didn’t know what it was.
Yet.
As the room full of seasoned men waited expectantly, William downed a full cup of wine and poured himself another.
“I sent for all of you weeks ago, so I will not delay my reasons,” he said, smacking his lips as he turned to the room. “I have just come from a meeting with the king. It seems that William, the illustrious King of Scotland, is preparing a large and secretive alliance, so secretive that I have had three agents involved in the quest to get to the bottom of what is happening. It has taken time and money and connections to discover what we need to know, but you should be aware at the outset that this is so serious, Ajax de Velt’s army is marching into Scotland as we speak. I have turned the man loose and he has orders to massacre. Youknowwhat that means.”
One could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed, silence so tense and shocking that it was nearly palpable. Ajax de Velt was legendary in the annals of England’s history, a man who, in his prime, had the most brutal and barbaric mercenary army in the known world. Jax had conquered a portion of the Welsh Marches by not only defeating armies, but putting all living men who had surrendered or had been captured on stakes for all to see.
A forest of macabre bodies, the legends said. Jax took no prisoners– every man, woman, and even child captured alive had not been spared. Jax’s zenith had been five straight years of terror, five straight years of showing no mercy to those he conquered, and all of England, Scotland, and Wales lived in fear of the man.
But that had been thirty years ago. Since then, Jax had been tamed by the love of a good woman and he had become a contentand valuable ally on the Scots borders. Everyone was so scared of the man that all anyone wanted to do was be friendly to him, the king included. No one wanted to stir up the embers of that brutal madman who could kill as easily as breathe.
Therefore, William’s announcement was a startling one.
De Velt had been turned loose.
Again.
Christopher, in fact, was perhaps the most shocked of all. He was a good friend of Jax de Velt’s, kept in fairly regular contact with the man, and this was the first he’d heard about any of this. As he looked at William in astonishment, only one word came to mind.
“Why?”
William fixed on Christopher. Knowing the relationship between him and de Velt, he motioned for the man to sit down. As Christopher did, stiffly, William came to sit across from him as the knights in the chamber began to gather around.
They didn’t want to miss a word of what was about to be said.
“It was not something I did lightly, Chris,” William said, settling back in his chair. “What I am about to tell you– tellallof you– will not be spoken of outside of this chamber. Am I clear?”
Everyone nodded. Of course, given their line of work, no one ever spoke of anything that was discussed with William Marshal, anyway, but the sheer fact that the man had to say that alluded to the seriousness of the situation.
“Then let me start from the beginning,” William said, lowering his voice. “As you know, I have many agents all throughout England and Scotland and Wales. I even have them in France and beyond. My eyes and ears are everywhere, men I pay well for information that keeps England safe from her enemies. Unfortunately, some of our most serious enemies are to the north.”
“The Scots,” David muttered. “That is nothing new.”
William’s eyes narrowed at Christopher’s younger brother. “Nay, it is nothing new,” he said, irritated that he was interrupted. “But what if I told you that our good friend William the Lion is trying to convince the Norse princes of the outer isles to help him gain back Northumbria? Unfortunately, it is true. Jon Harraldsson and his brother, David, are the Earls of Orkney and Shetland. I realize that William has had a tumultuous relationship with them, but my agents tell me that William has promised them lands in Northumbria if they’ll help him regain what he believes belongs to Scotland– and the Northmen. Harraldsson has gone so far as to send word to his Norse brethren in Hordaland and Danmark that they, too, will be provided lands in Northumberland if they help the Scots. I fear a Norse army is about to move into the north and the results could be devastating.”
It was astonishing information. Christopher looked at the man, incredulous. “How long has this been going on?”
