Chapter Ten #4
It was a simple command but one the de Lara men followed. They simply lowered their weapons and walked away from the de Shera men, who were quite confused by the abrupt cessation of hostilities. Maximus called out to his men.
“Gather at the gates!” he bellowed. “We leave!”
Weapons lowered or sheathed, the de Shera men did as they were told by their commander.
They began picking their wounded up from the ground, carrying men back to their horses.
The de Shera knights, including Gallus, had heard the command and they began to emerge from the kitchen gate and out into the bailey.
Gallus, without a scratch on him, headed for Maximus.
“What happened?” he asked his brother as he drew near. “How did you convince them to stop?”
Maximus pointed to St. Héver, who was over near the entrance to the great hall. “See that knight?” he said. “That is Kirk St. Héver, de Lara’s knight. I sought him out and told him what happened. He is the one who gave the cease command to de Lara’s men.”
Gallus sighed heavily, wiping some sweat off his brow as he sheathed his broadsword. He looked over the bailey, seeing that there were several wounded and perhaps just as many dead. It was quite a bit of carnage for so short a fight.
“We had better leave immediately,” he said. “We must return for Lady Courtly and….”
“Nay,” Maximus cut him off, looking at him. “I am not returning her to Kennington, Gal. I am marrying her first thing in the morning.”
Gallus closed his eyes softly, briefly, in a gesture of great regret. “I knew it would be too much to ask you to wait,” he muttered. “If you marry the woman without her father’s consent, this could get ugly. Surely you know that.”
“I know that.”
Gallus eyed his brother in the dim light of the bailey. “You know that I would never deny you your heart’s desire, Max, but are you sure about this?” he asked sincerely. “Do you truly want to travel this path or can you wait until the lady’s father has calmed sufficiently and seek his permission?”
Maximus was serious. “You heard what the aunt said,” he replied, lowering his voice so the de Shera men gathering around them wouldn’t hear. “Kellen will never give his permission. This is a chance I must take, Gal. I am as sure about this as I have ever been, about anything, in my life.”
Gallus wouldn’t argue with him but it was clear that he was disappointed.
He was disappointed that de Lara was so resistant, disappointed that Maximus was so determined.
It would make the entire situation quite edgy for years to come, and they would forever be at odds with Viscount Trelystan when the man should be their ally.
Nay, it wasn’t a good situation at all. But he knew if he denied Maximus that his brother would do it, anyway.
He might even do as he had threatened and flee the country.
If that happened, Gallus would be devastated.
“Very well, then,” Gallus said, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder and turning him for the horses gathered near the gate.
“Then let us return to the inn and retrieve the women. We must find another place to stay this night, as de Lara knows what inn we are housed in. He could very well regroup his men and come after us.”
Maximus nodded, relieved his brother was not going to fight with him on the matter of Courtly. Gallus may not have agreed with his decision but at least he wasn’t going to argue with him. He would support him, no matter what.
“I will send Stefan out to find us new accommodations,” he replied. “Let us leave this place now before something else happens.”
Gallus didn’t have to be told twice. He and Maximus and their men mounted their horses and fled into the night, leaving Ellice watching from the corner of the kitchen yard.
God’s Bones, how she wished that the man she had loved those years ago had been determined to have her as much as Maximus was determined to have Courtly. She was happy for her niece, at least as much as she could be, but she was also jealous. Jealous that her time for such things had come and gone.
As the de Shera men headed north towards Oxford, Ellice didn’t even bother to go and check on her brother.
She was more concerned with Isadora, as the young girl was now quite alone with her sister being taken in marriage.
Ellice had never felt very maternal towards her nieces but she found that she rather felt that way now towards Isadora.
The child would miss her sister greatly.
Ellice, for the first time in her life, would attempt to give the girl comfort but, more than that, she intended to give her brother counsel.
It was time for him to stop feeding on old fears because it was clear that his burden was beginning to affect them all; first Ellice, now Courtly, and soon Isadora.
The man had to be made to understand that what happened to his wife had been an isolated incident.
The women in the family had to be allowed to have lives and loves of their own.
If they didn’t, they would grow to be just as bitter as Ellice was, and Kellen had to be convinced of that fact.
Beating some sense into her brother’s head would be the most difficult task of all.