“I do not see her,” he said. “Where could she have gone?”
Bretton couldn’t turn his head because Jax had him by the hair. “She was standing with me,” he said. “She must still be there. She must….”
A distant scream filled the air, echoing against the castle walls. It was a woman’s scream. There was no doubt about it. Another one came right after it, hysterical and piercing. Rod looked at Bretton, his eyes wide with shock, only to see Bretton as he struggled to get away from Jax.
“Allaston,” Bretton breathed, throwing up an arm and catching Jax in the face. As de Velt fell back, struck in the nose, Bretton took off at a dead run towards the castle. “Allaston!” he yelled.
Christopher grabbed Jax and shoved him toward his charger. “Mount up!” he bellowed. “Follow him!”
Christopher vaulted onto his horse, taking off after Bretton, passing Rod as the man took off running, too. Jax, nursing a bleeding nose, leapt onto his horse, followed by Berwyn and John Morgan, all three of them thundering towards the castle and the source of the screams, but Jax held off Berwyn as the man raced beside him.
“Return to the army!” he yelled. “Send de Poyer and a contingent of infantry immediately. Then have Wellesbourne and de Wolfe bring up the rest of the troops and position them at the gatehouse. We may need them!”
Berwyn obediently broke off from the men racing for the gatehouse, heading back to the army camped about a half-mile away. Jax, however, continued on, passing Rod and Bretton, on foot, and making it to the gatehouse just behind Christopher.
As the big knights dismounted their chargers, someone inside the gatehouse began to lower the portcullis. Christopher rolled under it, followed by Jax, before Bretton or anyone else could get beneath it. Suddenly, it was just Christopher and Jax against several hundred mercenary troops. Christopher quickly realized they were in a very bad position and he unsheathed his broadsword, as did Jax. Eyes on the mercenaries who were staring them down, he spoke to de Velt.
“Go find your daughter,” he told Jax. “I’ll try to lift the portcullis.”
Jax was deeply torn. “You cannot do it alone,” he said. “You will need my help.”
As they stood there, backs against the portcullis, Bretton reached through and grabbed Jax. “I have two armed commanders,” he said, breathless and wild with worry. “It is possible… oh, God, anything is possible. But if you come across them, do not underestimate them.”
Jax nodded as Bretton turned to the others. “There is a postern gate,” he said. “It is possible we can breach it. We must try.”
As Jax and Christopher faced off against the mercenary army, trapped like dogs by the lowered portcullis, Bretton, Rod, and John Morgan made haste for the postern gate near the kitchens. As Rod ran to collect his charger, still grazing by the side of the road, Bretton began to run but a hand in his face prevented his forward momentum. Startled, he looked up to see John Morgan extending a hand to him.
“Ride with me,” John Morgan said. “We will move faster.”
Bretton looked at the hand in his face.His father’s hand. He had visions of being a young boy again as his father offered him a helping hand. The emotions were swirling again, now joined by emotions of fear for Allaston’s safety. As he heard another scream from inside the castle, he grabbed John Morgan’s handand vaulted onto the back of the horse. Holding onto his father, touched deeply by the feel of his father’s big, warm body for the first time in twenty-five years, he gripped him tightly as the man spurred his big Belgian charger along the massive curtain wall of Cloryn Castle in search of the postern gate.
In search of Allaston.
*
Teague had draggedAllaston away from the gatehouse and across the bailey. He had her around the waist, hauled up against his body, as she struggled and fought. He was very strong, however, and managed to carry her up into the keep even as she tried to kick his knees out. It was a vicious battle.
Once inside the keep, Allaston managed to make contact with his tender inner thigh and he faltered, tripped, and ended up dropping her to the ground. Allaston hit heavily on her right hip but she scrambled up and away from the warrior before he could grab her again. She ran into the open room with the table where she and Bretton had made love, rushing to the other side of the table, as far away as she could get from Teague de Lara. He was a big, frightening man and she was understandably terrified.
Teague stumbled into the room behind her, seeing that she now had a big, heavy table between them. His handsome face was dark with anger.
“You thought you could make a difference,” he said, breathing heavily from their struggles. “You thought you could stop that which was already in motion. You cannot stop us, do you hear?”
Allaston, panicked, shook her head at him. “I do not know what you are talking about,” she said. “Why did you grab me like that?”
Teague began to move around the table, noting that with every step he took she took another step away from him. “Grayton was right,” he said. “You are a danger. You have bewitched Bretton. He owes us a measure of glory and I will not let you stop it.”
Allaston was edgy and frightened. Teague was trying to get close to her again and she would not permit it. “I have no idea what you could possibly mean,” she said. “I have not bewitched Bretton.”
Teague came to a halt, wondering how he could get across the table and grab her again. “Aye, you have,” he said, “whether or not you realize it. He is obsessed with you and that means his focus on our campaign, our plans to confiscate your father’s Welsh holdings, is in jeopardy.”
Allaston noted he had stopped attempting to pursue her but she didn’t trust him. She knew he was going to come at her again and was trying to anticipate his next move.
“I want to go home,” she said, her lower lip trembling. “I want to leave Cloryn and never look back. My father is here. Let me go to him.”
Teague studied her. “Bretton is with your father now,” he said. “What do you think they are discussing? If I hold you, I can control them both. They will have to do what I say. You are my path to riches, lady, and I will use you to my advantage.”
His declaration made her blood run cold. “What do you intend to do?”
