Chapter Sixteen #3
Tay could see the change in Athdara, too.
The beaten, weary, scrappy woman he’d first met had become focused, determined, and strong.
Her self-confidence was something to behold.
She no longer looked as if she was being hunted, but that had taken some time.
The fact that they’d killed a bounty hunter two days into her training had damaged her psyche somewhat, but she’d recovered.
Even though the second bounty hunter escaped, she’d become confident in the fact that he wasn’t a threat.
As long as she was surrounded by Tay and his friends, no one could harm her, and she understood that.
As Tay had seen from the beginning, the woman was a survivor.
She was kind, gentle, and sweet, but she was also stubborn, indomitable, and clever.
And he was absolutely in love with her.
“Did you hear me, Tay?” Kristian said, breaking into his thoughts.
Tay stirred, trying to remember the last words spoken. “What about?” he said. “Why she didn’t simply hire a mercenary army?”
Kristian nodded. “Among other things,” he said. “What if her father’s allies decide to take Breda for themselves?”
Tay shrugged, his gaze on the runners in the distance now that the sun was almost down and the torches were beginning to come out.
“Hopefully, whoever agrees to help her will be a man of honor,” he said.
“Lord Exmoor has made it clear that we cannot interfere, so there is only so much we can control. She is strong and she is capable, Kris. You do not know her like I do.”
That was an understatement. Kristian and Fox exchanged glances at the comment.
All of the trainers knew that Tay was in love with the woman, even though he’d never said a word about it.
He’d never even hinted at affection toward her.
But there was something in his tone when he spoke of her and something adoring in the way he looked at her that revealed everything in his heart.
Therefore, he didn’t have to say a word. They knew.
And they were worried. The last time a woman wounded Tay’s heart, he’d been a bear to live with, and the relationship with the merchant’s daughter hadn’t even been that serious.
But with Athdara, they were concerned with what could happen to Tay should the duke’s daughter somehow hurt him.
Crush him, even. Fox had once told Tay that he believed his pride had been damaged by the merchant’s daughter more than his heart.
But with Athdara, his heart was the most vulnerable thing about him.
They could all see it.
“Mayhap I do not know her like you do,” Kristian said after a moment. “I’ve not had the honor to train her yet, but I will tell you this—she is the finest example of a shield maiden I have ever seen.”
Tay looked at him. “A shield maiden?” he repeated. Then he shook his head. “Nay, lad. She’s more than a shield maiden. Those are mortal women, mortal warriors. Athdara… She is a Valkyrie.”
Kristian grinned. “Aye,” he said. “I suppose so. There is something otherworldly about her, though I doubt she would bring mead to the fallen warriors in Valhalla. She would drink alongside them. She would have earned her place at the table with them.”
Tay nodded. “I’ve often wondered whose heaven really exists,” he said. “Is it my God’s? Is my heaven a place with golden palaces? Or is it a giant hall like Valhalla, where the dead live forever and women bring them drink and food?”
Kristian laughed softly. “Someday, we shall find out,” he said. “I hope we end up in the same place.”
“So do I.”
Since the sun was going down, Fox’s men had brought out some torches so they could collect the weapons he’d been using with Athdara. The time was coming for them to retire for the evening, and, realizing that, Kristian picked up a small dagger near his foot and handed it over to Fox.
“I came for a reason,” he said. “Tomorrow, I will have two boats alongside one another. Usually, Triton’s Hellions pay me a visit to help with this portion of the training, but Lord Exmoor tells me they are off in Ireland somewhere.
Therefore, I would like you to be there to help me demonstrate boarding an enemy vessel. ”
Fox nodded. “When?”
“In the morning.”
“I will come.”
“Good,” Kristian said. Reaching out, he slapped Tay on the shoulder as he turned back the way he’d come. “Are you sure you will not help, Tay?”
“Get out of here before I tie you to a rock and sink you like one of your ships.”
Kristian started laughing. “Good eve to you both, then.”
They waved him off as he headed into the dusk. At that point, Fox’s men had collected all of his weapons, and he began loosening his gloves.
“The day is finished, my friend,” he said. “Will you join us for the evening meal?”
Tay nodded. “Indeed,” he said. “I will see you later.”
They separated.
As Fox headed toward Eastmoor, Tay headed down to the lake, where his men were bringing the runners in.
It would soon grow too dark to see, so the laps had ended for the night, and that included Athdara.
She was just coming down the long stretch next to the eastern side of the lake, her long legs churning, when Tay regrouped with his men.
In addition to Bowen, there were five other men who helped corral and train the recruits.
Those men were out along the portion of the lake where Athdara was running, yelling at the men to hurry and finish.
Athdara finally slowed down, coming to a halt as Tay crooked a finger at her and motioned her over. Breathing heavily from her sprint around the lake, she came to stand next to him as the rest of the recruits stumbled in. With the remaining few finally finishing, Tay turned to her.
“Go back to the cottage,” he said quietly. “I will only be a few moments, and then I will meet you there. Where is Marina?”
“I do not know,” Athdara said breathlessly. “She is training with the Swordsman these days. I assume they have finished also.”
Tay looked around. “Probably,” he said. “Though Sin may have them over on the dirt practice field.”
“Where they have dozens of torches to light up the night?”
“That one,” Tay said. He gave her a rather lascivious look before continuing. “He will work them into the night if enough torches are lit. Hopefully she is not finished yet. In any case, go back to the cottage and I shall see you there shortly.”
He winked at her, thinking no one could see him, and she fought off a grin. It was a game they played, and they played it quite often. Tay thought he was being clever when the truth was that those with sharp eyes would catch him winking at her now and again.
Dutifully, Athdara headed off toward Eastmoor, and it was a struggle for Tay not to watch her go. He very much wanted to. He loved to watch her graceful moves, the curve of her body. But he turned his attention to the recruits now gathered in front of him.
This was a smaller recruit class than they usually had because the dregs, as of late, simply hadn’t been very good.
They ran dreg classes monthly, but sometimes the recruit groups would be two or three months’ worth of dregs because of the lack of quality.
They only had four good recruits out of the most recent dregs group—two brothers who had been formally trained at Okehampton Castle and who were fully fledged knights seeking to advance their prospects as Blackchurch-trained men, one farmer’s son who was enormous and strong and had great endurance but no real skill set, and one older man who had been surprisingly adept at any of the exercises given.
He was from Flanders but was quiet and unassuming.
Tay made a point of coming to know the characteristics of every recruit group he trained.
Coming to know the men, he was better able to inform the subsequent trainer, which was usually Sinclair, about their strengths or weaknesses.
The two brother knights didn’t seem to have any real weaknesses other than they were very competitive with everyone around them, and the farm boy simply needed to learn.
The older recruit from Flanders had some skills with his hands and was quick on his feet.
Those four added to the small group Tay found himself facing as Athdara disappeared into the deepening dusk.
“You have all put in a week of hard work,” Tay said loudly.
“Think not that it shall become any easier from this point forward. It is my job to condition you for what is to come, so this will be a class where we will test your physical stamina and strength. Any man who cannot walk away from any exercise he is given will be eliminated. This rule holds true for every class you will endure at Blackchurch. There are no second chances. Listen to your trainers and do what you are told, and you shall succeed. Lose focus and you shall fail.”
With that, he turned to Bowen and nodded briefly, and Bowen dismissed the group.
Slowly, they moved, but Tay wasn’t paying attention.
He was already heading back to Eastmoor and to Athdara, who would hopefully be alone when he reached the cottage.
Although he appreciated having Marina around—and, truthfully, he’d come to like the woman who had lived in a world of men all of her life and in some ways was more of a man than some males he knew—he appreciated it more when she wasn’t around and he and Athdara could find a few moments alone together.
Those moments were coming to consume him.
As Tay nearly ran back to Eastmoor and Bowen and Tay’s other men herded the recruits back in the direction of the cloister, no one seemed to notice how one of the newest recruits was carefully watching Tay.
Like a hawk, he was watching him. The new recruit from Flanders seemed to show a particular interest in everything Tay was doing.
That sharp notice began the moment he saw a tall, elegant woman talking to Tay.
The very woman he’d been seeking.
Darwish had worked hard to get into the new recruit class.
It had taken him two weeks to figure out how to get into Blackchurch, and, on a whim, he committed to dreg training because it seemed to be the only way he could enter Blackchurch.
They didn’t need any more soldiers, as he’d found out, and those who traveled in and out were thoroughly checked.
He’d found that out, too, when he tried to enter a couple of days after Kane’s death without any real reason to be in Blackchurch other than he wanted to go in.
The soldiers at the south gate had nearly run him through.
But he’d regrouped.
He’d figured out a way.
Now, he was in training to become a Blackchurch warrior, and on his second day as a recruit, after the rigorous four weeks of dreg training, he caught sight of the very woman he’d been hoping to find.
He knew Athdara de Ghent on sight because he’d seen her once, up close, when he and Kane ambushed her in Amesbury.
He wasn’t sure if she could recognize him, but he didn’t think so.
She’d been clever enough to get away then, but she wouldn’t escape this time.
Darwish had already decided that he was simply going to kill her and take her head back to Atilla for the reward money.
Trying to abduct her and carry her back was impractical because she would fight him all the way.
Moreover, she seemed to have some connection with Blackchurch, and Darwish didn’t want those trainers to come down on him like they had on Kane.
Aye, he recognized several Blackchurch trainers as the knights who had murdered Kane. He wanted to avoid them at all costs.
One thing he’d wrestled with as of late was the second de Ghent sibling—the younger brother—but he’d not seen or heard of the boy in quite some time.
Chances were that the child was already dead, so he convinced himself that he couldn’t worry about the boy.
But Athdara… She was all that stood between him and the riches Kane had wanted so desperately.
Now, they were going to be Darwish’s.
Though she was at Blackchurch, he honestly wasn’t sure why.
She had been talking to the trainer known as the Leviathan, so it was possible she served him.
It was equally possible she was his whore.
Or it was possible that she had another function at Blackchurch and had found employment here.
Whatever it was, he was going to find out what her function was, how much freedom she had, and then he was going to select the right moment to corner her.
He’d come to the end of a very long journey, and he was a man with nothing to lose. And everything to gain.
From this point on, Athdara de Ghent was, once again, the hunted.
Unlike Kane, Darwish wouldn’t fail.