Chapter Eleven #5
William, however, did not seem the least bit mollified by the explanation. If anything, his face mottled a deeper shade of red. Spittle formed on his lips. As the men in the room watched, the Earl of Berkshire transformed from an intelligent, rational man into a being of unrestrained madness.
“Owen…. Owen came for Arissa and killed my son,” he muttered, nearly tripping over his chair as he moved away from the table.
“And Ovid…. this is all her fault, Richmond. All of Tad’s actions were a direct result of his attraction for her and now my son is killed while trying to protect her from Henry’s enemies.
” He raked his fingers through his thinning hair, his eyes wild as if everything suddenly became clear.
“Everything that has happened this day has been her fault!”
Richmond faced him, his usually expressionless features gaining a degree of hostility. “That is simply untrue. Listen to yourself, William; your grief is speaking.”
“Nay!” William boomed, smashing his empty wine flask to splinters. “’Tis not madness in the least. Henry’s bastard has taken my son from me, as she’s very nearly destroyed my keep as well! This is all her doing!”
Richmond’s body was tense; Gavan rose from his chair, eyeing his liege warily.
He’d never seen Richmond react in such a hostile fashion; the man had been issued endless challenges, verbal insults and the like, and had never once showed an outward reaction.
To see his body coiled like a spring in the face of the earl’s ravings was disturbing to say the least.
“She had nothing to do with any of it,” Richmond’s calm voice did not betray his tight manner. “I forbid you to blame this catastrophe on her.”
“You forbid me?”
William was rapidly spinning out of control, his fatigue and grief decaying his sanity.
He kicked at an unfortunate chair that happened to be in his path, reaching down to pick up the broken pieces and smashing them into kindling.
Daniel was on his feet, flanking Richmond with an astonished expression as William descended into the darkened realm of madness.
Even though the earl had never been particularly adept at controlling his emotions, he had never raged out of control as he was doing now. And all of it aimed at Arissa.
Richmond well knew that the earl’s rantings were that of a man gone temporarily insane, but he was nonetheless apprehensive of his attitude.
William was using Arissa as a convenient excuse for his life suddenly gone wrong, the cause of his pain and sorrow because he had no one else to blame.
His insanity was irrational and confusing.
But it did not excuse the insults dealt. As the candles burned slowly and the log fire crackled, the strain in the room grew to snapping proportions.
“William, calm yourself before you hurt someone,” Richmond said as steadily as he could manage. “You are not thinking clearly.”
William was in the process of snapping a piece of wood, grunting and huffing as he twisted and pulled. When the wood snapped sharply, he tossed it to the floor and stomped on it like a spoiled child.
“I always knew what could happen should Henry’s enemies discover her whereabouts,” he rasped, spreading his hands in a display of disbelief, imploring those present for answers to his agony.
“Ovid supported Richard, for God sake. Do not you see? He’s siding with the Welsh rebellion.
But you knew this else you would not have attacked Tad! ”
Richmond’s jaw ticked. “I did not ambush Tad.”
“You did!” he accused. “Henry ordered you to disable his unfaithful, and you started with the de Rydal heir in hopes of wiping out the entire barony. With Tad gone, the legacy dies. All of this talk about defending Arissa’s honor was a ploy, a ploy invented by you to convince me that Tad de Rydal was a dishonorable man,” he suddenly stopped in the midst of his ravings and jabbed a thick finger at Richmond.
“You wanted me to throw Tad from Lambourn so that you could do away with him and make it look as an ambush. You are to blame for this, Richmond. You have brought Henry’s war down upon us. ”
Richmond sighed, passing a long glance at Gavan. The situation was moving from bad to worse, the rantings of a man far gone with grief clouding the issues. The further he spouted, the more apprehensive Richmond became.
“You are mad, William. I shall not listen to this nonsense any longer.”
William, his teeth clenched tightly, threw himself in Richmond’s path as the knight attempted to quit the solar. His chest was heaving with emotion and pure dementia, his foul breath cloaking the air.
“You and that bitch are to blame for my son’s death,” he rasped. “I shall gladly allow the Welsh bastards to have her so long as they leave us in peace.”
A massive hand shot out, grasping William around the throat. Gavan and Daniel leapt on Richmond as he shoved William back, back into the wall in a crash of armor and flesh. Pathetic grunts and the sounds of a struggle filled the small solar to the rafters, threatening to rupture the very walls.
Ignoring Gavan’s pleas for calm, Richmond focused on William.
“You will listen to me and listen well,” he hissed.
“I have been Arissa’s guardian for eighteen years and I will not hesitate to kill you if your threat is sincere.
However, considering your grief, I will spare you for the moment,” even as Gavan and Daniel struggled to prevent him from strangling William, his grip tightened.
“But hear me; I had nothing to do with Tad’s ambush, and Arissa had nothing to do with the attack upon Lambourn.
She’s a victim in all of this, just as you and I are, and I shall not listen to your slander.
Your son is dying because he showed an ounce of courage to defend a fragile, weak woman, and for no other reason than that.
I will not allow you to cast the blame where it does not belong. ”
In Richmond’s mighty grip, William labored to breath. Although somewhat subdued, his insanity was not diminished. If anything, it was growing.
“I…. I am an earl,” he rasped. “You will remove your hands under penalty of death!”
Richmond’s grip tightened slightly, his nostrils twitching with menacing flare. “And I am the guardian of royal blood. I will do what is necessary to protect her.”
With that, he released the heavy man. William collapsed forward onto his knees, gasping with every breath. Richmond turned away, moving for the door with Gavan on his heels. Only Daniel and Mossy remained, staring at William as if he were a creature from the unknown.
Daniel felt the sticky terror and it frightened him; swallowing hard, he glanced from William to Mossy and back again.
He had no idea what to think, for the words he had heard coming forth between the earl and Richmond were staggering.
A fairly simple man with simple thoughts, he could barely comprehend what he had heard.
As Richmond hit the threshold of the room, William coughed violently and cried out to him. “You will leave Lambourn and you will take her with you. If I see her again, I shall kill her!”
Richmond paused, his expression one of utter enmity. Gavan, directly behind him, put his hands against his friend to prevent him from killing the man. The mood filling the air was chaotic, completely erratic.
“No, Richmond,” Gavan commanded softly. “Let’s go. We shall leave this minute.”
As Gavan forcefully shoved Richmond from the solar and into the foyer, William began to pound his hands against the floor. His mad ravings turned to hysterical tears and he collapsed in a heap, clawing at the stone in his throes of grief.
“My son, my son,” he sobbed, spittle running from his mouth and onto the stone. “My legacy. All is lost without you.”
Over in the corner, Mossy drank the last of his wine. Not bothering to refill the chalice, he drained the entire flask.