Forbidden Lovers (KLN Medieval Romance Boxed Set Collections)

Prologue

Siege on the Tower of London

They were nearing the Flint Tower.

The breach of the Tower of London had thrown everything into chaos and the agents of William Marshal had followed their liege into the bailey on the hunt for one of their own.

Sean de Lara, who had made all things possible.

It had been Sean’s work for nine long years that had culminated in this moment – the breach of the Tower of London.

But in doing so, word had come back to The Marshal that de Lara’s position had finally been compromised and that his role as a spy had been discovered.

King John was fighting a losing battle against his barons and the Executioner Knights had moved with their armies to shore up the Tower and force the king into compliance.

But first, they had to find de Lara before John’s assassins did.

None of them was more aware of that than Kevin de Lara.

It was his brother they were hunting for on this inky night, when friend and foe was so difficult to see because of the moonless sky.

There were torches all over the grounds of the Tower of London to stave off the darkness, but it was still difficult.

Kevin was in a panic.

He was looking at every face, every figure, in the hunt for his brother.

Around him, his friends and colleagues, were doing the same thing – searching, hunting, for the greatest spy in The Marshal’s stable.

Somewhere in the process, they had lost sight of The Marshal himself, for the man seemed to have disappeared.

“This way!” Bric MacRohan, the big Irish knight who commanded the de Winter armies, was waving his arm. “To the White Tower! The king’s men are coming from the White Tower!”

He was shouting to the group behind him – Kevin as well as fellow elite knights.

And what a group it was – seasoned, powerful, deadly.

Men who had been fighting for more than twenty years in some cases.

A few had even been to The Levant with King Richard and had learned the more deadlier, deceitful art of warfare.

The names hunting for Sean were some of the most feared and respected in England.

Dashiell du Reims, Cullen de Nerra, Maxton of Loxbeare, Kress de Rhydian, Achilles de Dere, and Caius d’Avignon were part of the group.

These were the commanders of The Marshal’s stable of agents, but there were also secondary commanders with them – Morgan de Wolfe, Gareth de Llion, and even Peter de Lohr.

Peter’s father and uncle, Christopher and David de Lohr, had the largest combined army currently in battle. As the Earl of Hereford and Worcester, and the Earl of Canterbury respectively, Christopher and David had led the bulk of the attack that night.

Even now, Christopher was holding the Byward Tower entrance and David and his men were covering the Traitor’s Gate access point.

They were joined by Sir Gart Forbes and his son, Romney de Moyon, Baron Buckland, and a contingent of war-hungry soldiers from Dunster Castle.

In fact, it had been Gart and Romney who had first breached the Traitor’s Gate to gain entrance.

After that, everything had been madness.

There were so many allies, so many men involved, that it was like a gathering of the clans.

Everyone was at the White Tower this night to ensure it fell into the hands of the barons who had been struggling against the injustice of John for the past several years.

This was a hard-fought battle in a hard-fought war that had seen strife and casualties on both sides.

Years of missions, death, and triumph had come down to this moment.

The Marshal’s agents were leading a group of about five hundred men from the de Winter army, their mission to find Sean and to secure the White Tower.

But they weren’t moving with confidence – there was too much uncertainty for them to do that.

They carried heavily smoking torches with them, but there were shadows in every corner, at every turn.

On this moonless night, every movement was dangerous.

Men were dying everywhere.

They were over by the Tower now, that enormous structure of stone and wood, soaring into the night sky.

As they were running towards it, a woman and two men fled past them.

The woman was weeping, in between the men, who were practically dragging her away.

As she was shuffled off into the shadows, Kevin and Bric kept leading their group towards the entry to the Tower, but that came to an abrupt halt when they saw men running out of the darkness towards them.

It took them a moment to realize it was William Marshal and another man dragging a massive body between them.

It was Sean.

Kevin thought he might have let out a gasp of panic.

He couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that he recognized his brother’s limp form, even in the darkness, and he ran towards them.

Reaching out, he grasped for his brother, but he didn’t have a chance to speak before The Marshal was barking commands.

“John is coming from the White Tower behind us,” he said. “Bric, move your men over to the entry immediately. Prevent them from following us. They want de Lara and the man has been mortally wounded.”

That was enough for Kevin. He shoved the other man holding up his brother aside, taking the burden himself. He found himself looking into his brother’s half-conscious face as Caius, a man of extreme strength and a close friend of Sean’s, took The Marshal’s place at Sean’s side.

Together, they had more than enough strength to bear Sean’s burden.

“Go,” William hissed as the sounds of sword fighting began to fill the air. “Your fellow Executioner Knights will buy you time to get Sean away, but you must hurry.”

“Go where, my lord?” Kevin asked, his voice full of anguish. “We cannot take him to Farringdon House. It is too far. He needs a physic immediately.”

“I am a physic.” The man whom Kevin had shoved aside spoke irritably. “My cart is this way. We can take him out of this place to somewhere safe so long as we can get through the Byward Tower.”

“Take him to Rossington House,” William said quickly. “It is near Aldgate and it is safe. And de Lohr holds the Byward Tower, so he will let you pass. Move!”

More sounds of heavy sword fighting, the kind of fighting when broadswords of big knights went up against broadswords of big enemies.

It was the king’s men against The Marshal’s men in an all-out battle that had been building up for years.

The torches that the de Winter army had brought were illuminating the scene, and Kevin could see Maxton and Kress and Achilles engaging in a massive battle with some of the king’s guard.

Cullen, an enormous knight with a heavy sword, was in a nasty fight with a particularly large soldier.

Everyone else was fighting for their lives, too, trying to give them time to get Sean away.

Kevin knew they had no time at all to delay. With his brother securely in his grip, he began to move.

“Come on,” he hissed to Caius. “Help me!”

Between Kevin and Caius, they followed the old man to his cart, which was parked in the darkness near one of the massive, barrel-shaped towers that secured the walls of the Tower of London.

The cart was a wooden one, with tall sides and a bed full of straw.

A nervous horse was harnessed to it and as they heaved Sean into the straw, someone came up behind them and grabbed Sean’s legs.

Kevin and Caius looked up to see Morgan de Wolfe, Caius’ second in command.

Between the three of them, they easily situated Sean on the bed of hay.

“What do you wish of me, Cai?” Morgan asked quickly. “Shall I go with you?”

Caius shook his head. “You are needed to fight,” he said. “Make sure the king’s men do not follow us. Where is my squire? Where is William?”

Morgan pointed in the general direction of the Byward Tower. “He is with his father and the de Wolfe army holding the bridge with de Lohr’s men.”

Edward de Wolfe, Earl of Wolverhampton, was tight with Christopher de Lohr and had been for many years.

The de Wolfe army had only arrived within the hour, long enough for Caius to lose sight of his squire when the young man rushed to aid his father.

De Wolfe and de Lohr, holding the Byward and Middle Towers to protect the drawbridge, made for an awesome alliance.

“I shall find him,” Caius said. “Go back with The Marshal and find me at Rossington House when this is over if I do not find you first.”

As Morgan nodded sharply and fled, the old physic jumped into the wagon bed beside Sean.

“Drive us away from here,” he barked at Kevin as he hovered over Sean. “My job is to keep this man alive. Your job is to get us away from this place.”

There was panic in his voice, something that threatened to unravel Kevin’s control. He couldn’t even take the time to look at his brother or talk to him. He was afraid that if he did, he would break down and all would be lost.

Therefore, Kevin forced himself to focus. He did his best thinking when he was in battle mode, pretending he didn’t have a dying brother to get to safety. They needed to leave the Tower.

He had to get them out of there.

“Cai,” he said. “Get into the bed of the wagon and protect Sean with your life. We could not help him earlier, but we can help him now. My brother deserves that much.”

Caius nodded as he leapt into the back. Kevin could tell that Caius, too, was in battle mode.

He was Sean’s very best friend in the world, so he knew that Caius was as shaken as he was.

But they were also professional knights and this was a combat situation.

They had a job to do at the moment and collapsing with grief at Sean’s condition wouldn’t help matters.

There would be time enough for that later.