Chapter Twenty-One
Tate de Lara wasn’t simply astonished to see Mathias and Cathlina ride into the outer bailey of Carlisle Castle; he was bloody well shocked.
He had been in the gatehouse, a squat, intimidating red-stoned building, when a solitary rider had been sighted coming in from the northeast. Tate had paid very little attention until he happened to see the rider at close range and realized there were two people astride the charger.
Moreover, he recognized the charger. Mathias and Cathlina were returning.
He had sent a soldier running for St. Héver, who was in the great hall, before making his way to the gatehouse entry about the time Mathias and Cathlina were entering. He moved quickly to the horse, looking up at the exhausted pair with great concern.
“What has happened?” he demanded. “Why are you here?”
Cathlina looked as if she had been weeping and Mathias, drawn and pale, handed her down into Tate’s waiting arms. As Tate gently took Cathlina, Mathias dismounted behind her and handed his charger off to one of the many soldiers crowding around them.
He followed Tate and Cathlina across the expansive bailey towards the enormous keep.
“Mathias, tell me,” Tate asked again, his arm around Cathlina’s shoulders. “What happened? Why have you returned?”
Mathias unlatched his helm and removed it, revealing damp dark hair beneath.
“It is not safe for her in Scotland,” he said simply.
“I found Pembury and we subsequently located de Beaumont, but the wars he is fighting are more than we imagined. He is planning a full-scale invasion and he wants me to help lead it. He has nearly eighty ships prepared to set sail from Yorkshire ports to help him gain the throne for Edward Balliol, who is now in residence with de Beaumont.”
Tate looked at him with surprise. “Balliol is with him? The last I heard, he was in France.”
Mathias sighed wearily. “He is here now,” he said. “He is very confident that he can wrest the throne from the infant David. He thinks the regent, the Earl of Moray, is one to be easily defeated. I am not convinced, however. I think the infant has more support than we realize.”
Tate was seriously listening to him and not paying attention to Cathlina at all. “Why would you say that?”
They were drawing near to the keep now and Mathias could see Toby emerge, shielding her eyes against the morning sun to see who was approaching. As Cathlina scurried forward ahead of the men, Mathias and Tate came to a halt and faced one another.
“Because de Beaumont is convinced that he will have superior numbers to reinforce him from England,” he said quietly.
“The man is experienced and intelligent, but he does not seem to realize that he is in Scotland siding with Scots that are just as passionate about Balliol as Moray is about the infant. Moreover, Moray commands thousands and even now, de Beaumont cannot have more than eight hundred men. I have seen the thin numbers for myself.”
Tate listened to him carefully. When Mathias was finished, he sighed heavily as he pondered the information. “Is this true? I can hardly believe it.”
“It is true.”
Tate simply shook his head in disbelief. “I wonder if King Edward knows this.”
“If he does not, he should,” Mathias said.
“But it will take weeks for the news to reach him. We cannot wait for direction. What is happening in Scotland is happening now, which is why I brought Cathlina home. Although I had hoped to start a new life with her in Scotland, it is too dangerous for my liking. I will have to bring her home and pray her father forgives us for marrying without his blessing.”
Tate tried to sound confident. “He will,” he said.
“The man is not unreasonable, and he will appreciate that you thought of his daughter’s safety by bringing her back to England.
Moreover, if the danger is as bad as you say it is, you would be ineffective because you would be worrying about her constantly. ”
Mathias lifted his eyebrows in an ironic gesture. “Cathlina does not see it that way,” he said. “She thinks that I am abandoning her and that I no longer have use for her now that I am once again a knight.”
Tate was pensive. “Women do not often times see what it is that makes us do what we do,” he said. “It took Toby years to accept that I am a fighting man and that war is in my blood. It does not diminish my love for her.”
“I wish Cathlina saw it that way.”
Tate clapped him on the shoulder and turned him for the keep. “Leave her here with us,” he said. “Toby will explain what it is to be a warrior’s wife. Mayhap she would take it better from another woman.”
Mathias nodded. “I will admit that women are mysterious creatures,” he muttered. “Sometimes it is so simple to speak with her, then other times….”
Tate grinned as they prepared to mount the steps to the massive keep. Toby and Cathlina stood at the top of the steps, Cathlina in Toby’s embrace. Tate and Mathias gazed up at the pair with expressions of fear, awe, and respect.
“I understand you completely,” Tate murmured. “They are indeed mysterious creatures. Come into the keep and let us discuss this over a pitcher of ale.”
Mathias balked. “I cannot,” he said. “I must return to Scotland immediately. I have only come to deliver my wife for safekeeping.”
“And so you have,” Tate replied. A flash of armor caught his attention and he turned to see St. Héver heading in their direction from the stable block. He gestured at Kenneth. “It sounds as if you could use reinforcements. Mayhap I should send Ken with you.”
“I would take him gladly.”
Kenneth jogged up to them, his concerned attention on Mathias. “What are you doing here?” he asked the same question Tate had. “What has happened?”
“Rumblings in Scotland,” Tate answered for him. “Mat has brought his wife back here for safekeeping, but it sounds as if the entire country is about to tear itself apart.”
Kenneth wasn’t surprised. “De Beaumont is a skilled military man and a deft politician,” he said. “He is also a troublemaker. What seems to be the issue?”
“Eighty-eight ships preparing to sail from ports in Yorkshire to deliver English support for Edward Balliol, who has arrived from France and is now prepared to assume his role as king with de Beaumont’s support,” Mathias said. “The situation is more critical than we suspected.”
“Did you find Pembury?”
“I did. He is in the middle of it with me, as de Beaumont has asked me to aid him in leading the charge.”
Kenneth’s gaze lingered on Mathias for a moment before turning to Tate.
“I am bored to tears here in your happy little earldom,” he said.
“Short of going out and stirring up trouble just so I will have something to do, I would ask permission to return to Scotland with Mat and aid him in doing battle with the Scots.”
Tate looked at the two of them, seasoned knights he had fought with innumerable times and, in Mathias’ case, fought against him in heartbreaking moments.
It had been a very long time since he had swung a sword with Mathias flanking him.
Moreover, if what Mathias said was true and a massive battle for the Scots throne was imminent, then perhaps it would be prudent if he was a part of it, too.
Edward Balliol on the throne would be allied with young King Edward and Tate, as always, fought for young Edward’s interest. Aye, perhaps it was time he be a part of it.
“I am bored as well,” he said after the moment. “But as you have asked permission from me, I must ask permission from my wife. Let me think about how to accomplish that without sending my wife through the ceiling in a fit of rage.”
Mathias gave him an expression that suggested fear and hope. “May I attend you and study your technique? It would seem I am in need of a lesson on how to handle a wife.”
Kenneth caught on to the intimation. “Are you saying that you cannot handle that tiny woman you married? Mat, I am shocked.”
“Don’t be. I am willing to admit I am a novice where marriage is concerned.”
“Let me guess. She does not want you to go to war and leave her here.”
“How did you know?”
“Because I have seen it too many times. You are not alone, my friend.”
Tate began to head towards the keep. “Come along,” he said to the two of them. “Come and witness my superiority when handling my wife.”
“I would wager on Toby’s superiority first,” Kenneth said.
As Tate and Kenneth chuckled, Mathias grinned unhappily.
He felt no humor. All he could feel was the abject sorrow with the situation between him and Cathlina, terrified that he would leave to return to Scotland and things would never be the same between them.
He had been questioning his decision to return for a few days now because so many things she said to him made sense. But there were things that didn’t.
In any case, he had to leave before the day was out and he fully intended to hash things out with her before he left.
There were things he had to say to her that she needed to hear, and he could only pray they would make a difference.
He didn’t want to see such a beautiful relationship wrecked because of bad decisions or misunderstandings.
Once he left for Scotland, he could only hope that he had a marriage to return to.
*
Although it was reluctantly, Toby indeed gave permission for her husband to take one thousand men into Scotland to aid Henry de Beaumont and Edward Balliol’s cause.
Because Tate was so close to the Scots border, he usually kept around two thousand men at any given time at Carlisle Castle, and another thousand at Harbottle Castle, another outpost about a day’s ride to the east. Saer de Lara had eight hundred men at Kirklinton, men sworn to Carlisle, but Tate refrained from calling upon them.
He didn’t want to spread his resources too thin.