Chapter Eighteen
Bertram de Rosa unleashed hell.
Keller, a man who was not easily impressed with battle tactics, had to admit he was somewhat respectful of not only Bertram’s cunning, but of his power.
The maid that had come with de Rosa’s terms had not exaggerated when she had said the army carried around one thousand fools and men.
It had to be at least that, if not more. But Keller was ready for them.
The first phase of the battle had consisted of archers, aimed high at close range so that they sailed up and over the outerwall of Pembroke but had less luck breaching the inner wall because of its distance from the outerwall and the great gatehouse.
Because the archers were so close, they were in range of Keller’s Welsh archers, the finest bowmen in the world.
After Bertram’s first volley, Keller let loose with his own barrage that effectively sent Bertram’s archers running for cover.
But it had been a shrewd move on de Rosa’s part, designed to give Keller an overabundance of confidence and invite the hope that he would follow it up with something foolish.
But Keller held his confidence in check as he watched the de Rosa archers scatter; it was tempting to want to chase them, but he suspected a man as experienced as de Rosa would not have made such a foolish mistake.
He had been correct; a few moments later, he was glad that he had restrained himself.
Parting the trees as they moved towards Pembroke were two massive siege towers being pulled by teams of oxen.
Keller had been momentarily surprised; so had his men up on the wall.
All eyes were fixed on the siege towers that were as tall as the outerwall, lumbering steadily towards them.
Once the shock wore off, Keller snorted. Then he applauded.
But his jovial mood was short lived. He knew they were in for a serious siege.
He set his archers on the outer wall battlements, taking aim at the oxen pulling the siege towers.
Rather than try to kill the beasts, he ordered his men to take out their legs.
It was careful hunting and by the time the siege towers came to within several feet of the moat, more than half of the teams on both towers were crippled and the remaining oxen were panicking.
The de Rosa men cut the injured animals loose and took up the pulling themselves, creating gangs of men that began to inch the towers forward again.
Keller and his men watched as the giant towers inched closer; he seriously wondered how they were going to bring the siege engines close enough to the castle walls to breach them.
The castle was protected on three sides, leaving the fourth side heavily fortified with ditches and the great gatehouse.
If Bertram seriously had it in his mind to penetrate Pembroke, then he had his work cut out for him.
Keller was very curious how the man was going to accomplish it.
But he wasn’t so fascinated that he wasn’t focused on the castle as a whole.
He had a heavy concentration of men on the south side of the castle, but he had the west, north and east sides covered as well.
He had been fighting against the wily Welsh too long to be fooled into thinking that a frontal assault was all Bertram would attempt.
He kept the entire castle under vigilant watch.
As the siege towers drew closer, Keller had lost his curiosity on Bertram’s tactics.
In a sharp command to his Welsh archers, he had them concentrate on taking out the gang of men now pulling the siege towers.
Soon enough, Bertram lost many men to the archers.
But there were more to take their place.
As many as Keller would order taken out, Bertram was there to replace them.
And so the deadly dance continued.
*
Hold up in her luxurious bower, Derica could hear the shouts and screams from the battle.
The noise and stench seemed to waft upon the wind in deadly breezes, filling all of Pembroke with tension and fear.
The children played on the floor near the hearth, not entirely oblivious to what was going on but not particularly understanding it, either.
Derica was thankful they were too young and too na?ve to understand the severity of the situation.
Sian seemed to be fascinated with the knights on the walls but Derica kept urging him away from the window and back to his toys.
He wanted to know why he could not go outside and fight with Sir Keller, something that was rather tricky to explain without insulting his fighting abilities.
Derica assured Sian that Sir Keller was quite capable of defending the castle without him and she further explained that Sir Keller had left him with the women to protect them should the castle be breached.
That seemed to pacify the little boy, who went back to his cart and horse, wondering aloud if he was going to get to use his sword today.
As the hours dragged on and the day turned into night, Derica became increasingly uneasy.
Changing out of the fine surcoat she had worn to greet her father, she put on a simple surcoat with a deep neckline, the color of violets.
Pulling her hair into a single braid, she wound it up at the nape of her neck to keep it out of her way, emphasizing her lovely neck and shoulders.
But she wasn’t thinking on how lovely she looked as she moved to the lancet window that overlooked the outer bailey; she was thinking of her father and brothers fighting to gain her, and of Keller fighting to protect her.
There was increasing guilt over the man who would never receive her love or affection yet was more than willing to sacrifice himself.
But she was mostly thinking of Garren. She wondered if Fergus had reached him yet.
The night wore on and so did the battle.
Derica had given up trying to sleep as she sat vigilant watch over the slumbering children.
The severe women had taken up station in a small servants’ alcove that adjoined Derica’s chamber, sitting in a frightened huddle, not moving from the stone bench built into the wall.
As the battle dragged on and dawn began to approach, Derica found an excuse to leave the children in their care as she left the chamber, taking the stairs quickly to the main level of the keep.
Fortunately, the wooden stairs leading into the keep had not been retracted or burned to prevent the enemy from storming the keep.
Gathering her skirts, Derica rushed outside, ignoring the soldiers calling to her.
In her deep violet surcoat, her skin was pale and porcelain in the early morning hours as the sun and fog began to blend.
Breath coming in great puffs in the cold dawn, she made her way to the inner gatehouse but the soldiers on the battlements refused to open it for her. They had the inner ward bottled up tightly. Frustrated, she went to mount the stairs to the wall and ran straight into Keller.
He looked weary and stubbled, his dark eyes intense upon her. He grasped her by the elbow.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked. “Is there trouble in the keep?”
Derica shook her head. “Nay,” she replied. “Everyone is sleeping. I came to see if my husband has arrived yet.”
Keller’s gaze moved over her, the way she had her hair pinned back and the gentle slope of her neck and shoulders.
She looked exquisite, more exquisite than he had ever seen her.
Her words, although reasonable, cut at him; the more time he spent with her, the easier it was to pretend that they would be together when all of this was over.
He knew that was not the case but, for the sake of his morale, he did not want to think on it. Her words had rudely reminded him.
“He has not,” he replied, trying not to sound bitter. “Return to the keep and rest. I will let you know when Garren arrives.”
He was trying to gently push her back towards the keep but she resisted, finally breaking his hold on her elbow.
“I do not want to return to the keep,” she said staunchly, cutting him off when he attempted to insist. “Keller, if you were in my position and waiting for the arrival of someone you were told was dead, someone you loved very much, would you be able to remain calm? I cannot rest and I cannot remain calm. I want to be on the walls and wait for Garren.”
Keller’s sense of hurt was increasing. “You cannot wait upon the walls,” he said flatly. “Your father is shooting arrows over the walls and I do not want to take the chance that you will be hit. Go back inside.”
He seemed gruff; Derica couldn’t really blame him but she didn’t want to return to the keep. She reached out and grabbed his hand as he tried to shove her back.
“Please,” she begged softly. “Please let me stay out here. Just for a short while. I promise that I will not be any trouble.”
His expression grew frustrated. Just as he opened his mouth, a shout came from the western wall. Derica wasn’t sure what had been said but Keller suddenly bolted.
Derica ran after him and followed him up the narrow tower stairs, taking two at a time, before emerging onto the narrow wall walk. There were dozens of soldiers and two additional knights, armed to the teeth, all peering down into the river below.
It took several moments before two heads could be made out, swimming the cold river in the early dawn hours towards the castle.
Keller hadn’t realized that Derica was next to him, heart in her throat as she strained to identify the swimmers.
But it didn’t take a genius to deduce who would be making their way across the swift, silty river towards the castle; it was the same path Fergus had taken when he had left.
It would only make sense that he was retracing his steps.