Chapter Twelve
Uttoxeter
The morning of leaving Uttoxeter, the weather turned horrible.
A storm blew in from the west, bringing fierce winds and heavy rain that started before dawn. By the time the escort pulled out of Uttoxeter, the elements had turned vicious and the escort was battered by high winds and rain.
The roads, which had been relatively good up until that point, deteriorated quickly.
With the stormy weather, by mid-morning, the road they were traveling on, which would ultimately lead them to Chester, had turned into an uneven series of small chasms and holes, so much so that the carriage was beginning to get stuck regularly.
Twice, the soldiers had to roll it out of a hole, or out of a fissure when the wheels got stuck, but it was only a temporary fix.
The conditions were growing worse.
The provisions wagons were beginning to stick, too, as the road quickly turned into a quagmire of mud and madness.
The column would travel for a mile or so before the wagons would get stuck again, and then it would take them a half-hour to push them out.
Men were weary and soaked, and the day wasn’t even halfway over with.
It only grew worse.
Inside the carriage, Cadelyn and Yerik and the dog were having quite a time of it.
The road was horribly rough and every time it would get stuck, the two of them would go flying to whatever side of the carriage was in distress.
Cadelyn had a nasty bruise on her elbow as a result and Yerik had hurt his wrist trying to stop himself from colliding with the wall of the carriage.
After at least six or seven hours of such horrible conditions, the wagon fell into a rut for the last time and couldn’t be moved.
Twenty soldiers and a team of horses trying to pull it out didn’t work, and when it finally lurched forward, the rear axle broke, ending the life of the carriage at that point.
There was nothing more they could do, at least not in this weather.
Kress, who had been one of the ones trying to shove the wagon out of the hole, was the one who finally opened the rear door.
He found Cadelyn and Yerik sitting down on the cushioned benches, but nearly everything else in the carriage was scattered on the floor, including the dog.
Goliath’s head popped up when he saw Kress and he wandered his way over to the open door, trying to lick Kress’ face as the man propped his helm up on his head, wiping the water from his eyes.
“The carriage is broken,” he told Cadelyn, pushing the dog aside. “I am going to move you to the provisions wagon, which is still operational. Bric and Achilles are rigging up a tarpaulin for you to sit under.”
Cadelyn came to the door, standing next to the dog as she peered outside, seeing the wind and the rain.
“A tarpaulin will not do any good in this weather,” she said. “If I wrap myself in it, that will be better than trying to keep it up under all of this wind.”
Kress nodded reluctantly as he, too, glanced up at the sky. “As much as I hate to agree with you about that, you are probably right,” he said. “But let them rig it up, anyway, and see if it will work. I will cover you with an oilcloth for extra protection, but that is the best we can do right now.”
Yerik walked up beside Cadelyn, also peering out of the doorway to see the nasty weather. “I can ride my palfrey, my lord,” he said to Kress. “You do not have to put me in the wagon.”
Kress eyed the flabby cleric. “We left your palfrey back in Uttoxeter,” he said. “We traded it for two sides of pork. That horse would not have done you any good, anyway. He was too weak. You can ride beside the quartermaster.”
Yerik nodded and grabbed his meager satchel, writing implements included.
Cadelyn was already wearing her cloak against the cool temperatures, but she put the hood over her head in preparation for heading out into the storm.
But just as Kress reached in to take her, Bric came running up behind them.
“The wagon has broken another axle,” he said, sputtering water out of his mouth. “The second wagon is buried up to the top of the wheels in mud and we shall never get it out. Sherry wants to transfer anything of value into the carriage and lock it up for when we can return for it.”
That meant Cadelyn had nowhere to ride except with one of the knights. There was no question in Kress’ mind that it would be with him.
“Very well,” he said. “I will take the lady with me. Someone needs to take the cleric. And tell Sherry to start moving everything into the carriage.”
After that, the group of them worked like a well-oiled operation.
Bric retrieved the tarpaulin they were rigging up and Kress wrapped Cadelyn up in it, carrying her to his horse while Bric took the cleric with him.
The wagons were stripped of everything of value and everything was loaded up into the carriage, which was then locked up with a big iron lock.
It secured everything until they could return for it.
They removed part of the rigging at the front that the horse teams were lashed to so that someone couldn’t come along, repair the axle, and hitch it up to their own team. It would take some doing.
Once everyone was settled, the party moved out with the big, wet dog in tow, making headway through the storm towards the nearest town.
*
Near Longton
The travel for the day had been limited to about fifteen miles before the escort finally stopped for shelter, and those fifteen miles had been hard-fought.
They had been positively miserable.
Covered in her cloak, and with an oilcloth to keep the rain off, Cadelyn had huddled up against Kress’ back as they rode together in the driving rain, but the winds had whipped around from the east as they headed west, so everything was hitting her from behind.
As it turned out, she became the windbreak for Kress, protecting his back from the elements that were whistling up behind them.
But for Cadelyn, the situation was markedly different.
At first, she’d been tightly wrapped in the oilcloth and it had protected her amply, but the wind was so bad that it kept whipping the ends of it up and, eventually, it became unwrapped and the rain made its way inside.
Her cloak became wet and Bric, riding behind them, came up and tried to help her tuck it back around her.
No sooner did they have it secure than the wind would whip it off again.
Little by little, the wet crept into Cadelyn’s clothing.
At first, it was the bottom of her skirts and her cloak in general, but soon it became her arms, neck, and face because the wind kept unraveling both the cloak and the oilcloth.
She tried to combat it by keeping her face pressed into Kress’ back, but the truth was that it was soaked as well, so by the time mid-afternoon came, Cadelyn was fairly soaked to the skin, including her head because the hood kept blowing off.
Her right ear, which had been taking a good deal of the rain and wind, was beginning to ache horribly and she struggled to keep it covered up as the escort continued towards their destination for the night.
It couldn’t come fast enough.
Miserable and soaked, Cadelyn kept silent because she didn’t want to be any trouble.
For once, she wasn’t going to complain because they were all going through the same thing.
It was finally Susanna who called attention to Cadelyn’s state; she had been riding in front of Kress, along with Achilles, and she had taken a beating with the elements as well.
Susanna was a tough woman and prided herself on being just as strong as a man, but even she had to admit that the storm was getting to her.
She was wet and cold, and when she slowed her horse to see to Cadelyn’s welfare, she was in for a shock at the sight of a soaking woman with blue lips.
That prompted her to shout at Kress over the wail of the storm.
“My lord!” she cried. “The lady is in distress! We must find shelter immediately!”
Kress heard “lady” and “distress” above the howling elements, and saw Susanna pointing to Cadelyn, which immediately had his concern.
He tried to turn around and look at her, but he couldn’t turn enough to see her, so he waved Achilles back, who took one look at Cadelyn and confirmed that she was, indeed, in distress.
The escort began to move faster.
Unfortunately, they were still on the open road, with the town of Longton just a few miles away.
It wasn’t very far, but in this weather and under these conditions, it seemed like an eternity.
Plus, no one wanted to injure the horses treading over a road that was in pieces.
A twisted knee would spell trouble. Up ahead, Kress could see that they were entering a heavily-wooded area, which he hoped would provide some shelter from the driving rain. Even a little at this point would help.
The entire escort was eager to get beneath the trees.
The road, somewhat protected in this section, wasn’t terribly bad.
In fact, there was enough of a cover that men were able to shake themselves out a little bit, wiping the water from their eyes and re-securing cloaks that had been blown around in the wind and rain.
In this moment of moderate peace, Kress reined his horse to a halt and dismounted so he could get a look at Cadelyn.
He didn’t like what he saw.
She was pasty white with chill and her sweet lips were purple because she was so cold. But she smiled wanly at him and he caught a flash of her dimples.
It made him frown.
“Why did you not pound on my back and tell me how poorly protected from the rain you were?” he demanded quietly.
“Get down from there. I will put you in front of me for the rest of the way. I did not want to put you in front of me before because I thought I would create a big barrier between you and the driving rain, but I can see that I was mistaken.”
Cadelyn sighed heavily. Her ear hurt and her throat was beginning to hurt, too. “There was nothing you could do,” she said. “We are hurrying to make the next town and I know you are going as fast as you dare, given the weather. The sooner we continue, the sooner we shall reach shelter.”
She was gesturing to him to mount his horse and he eyed her for a moment. “Very well,” he said. “Then you shall sit in front of me, so move forward. I will get on behind you.”
Cadelyn nodded, grunting as she scooted up and over the back of his saddle as Susanna, Achilles, Bric, and even the dog stood around, watching and waiting.
The rest of the escort had moved forward with Alexander, who had slowed it somewhat to wait for the knights and the ladies, so Cadelyn moved as quickly as she could.
She was anxious to get to shelter but, truth be told, in spite of the terrible weather, she had very much enjoyed sitting behind Kress, pressed up against his big body and feeling every move he made.
It had been a rather thrilling experience in spite of everything.
She didn’t want it to end.
As she settled herself forward, the dog suddenly began to growl. Curious, she looked at the animal, as he began to pace around, pacing between Bric and Kress, growling as if he was nervous.
“What is the matter with him?” she wondered aloud.
Bric and Achilles were already moving for their horses, but Susanna was still on the ground, making sure Cadelyn was settled. “He’s probably irritated because he’s cold and wet,” Achilles said. “If I could growl like a dog, I would, too.”
“Who says you cannot, you cur?” Susanna muttered, shaking off the oilcloth that had been around Cadelyn.
“What did you say?”
Susanna looked up at Achilles, innocent. “I said you cannot, sir,” she said. “Nor can I. It is just something dogs do.”
Achilles’ eyes narrowed at her. He didn’t believe her for a moment, but he hadn’t heard enough of her words to confidently accuse her of insulting him.
But he knew she had, nonetheless. He was seriously thinking of insulting her in return because he didn’t want her to have the upper hand on him when the dog suddenly barked, loudly, and Cadelyn was hit by something that sent her flying off the horse.
In an instant, they were under attack.
Men were rushing from the trees and the one who had hit Cadelyn when he swung from the branches of the canopy had landed on top of her.
The dog rushed the man before he could get his hands on Cadelyn, however, going right for the man’s face and clamping his teeth onto the flesh. The man screamed as the dog bit him.
The attack of the dog prevented the man from further harming Cadelyn, and it was enough of a delay for Kress to unsheathe his broadsword and run the man through.
But that was the least of his worries. There were men all around, yelling and swinging clubs, and the escort, which had been up the road, came charging back as Kress picked Cadelyn’s limp form out of the mud and made a dash for his horse.
“Bric!” he bellowed. “Cover me!”
The big Irish knight was in the heat of battle, cutting down the outlaws that seemed to be everywhere.
They were rushing in from both sides of the road, and Bric got in behind Kress, covering his back, as Kress mounted his excited horse with Cadelyn in his arms. It was no easy feat, and he ended up having to throw her over the saddle on her belly as he climbed into the saddle behind her.
She was out cold as a result of being knocked off the horse, and he was desperate to remove her from the fighting.
As he spurred his steed forward, the sounds of battle were all around them as the Castle Rising escort came to the rescue.
Cadelyn was limp and he tried to keep hold of her as his horse bolted through the mass of fighting men.
He ended up putting his leg over her neck to protect her head, so anything around them would hit his leg before it hit her skull, as his horse took off down the road and left the battle behind.
But even then, he didn’t stop.
He had to get Cadelyn to safety.
As they thundered down the road and she began to stir, he pulled her up as much as he could so she wasn’t hanging upside down.
However, mud from the road kicked up by his horse’s hooves was all over her face and hair.
He lifted her up, cradling her against his chest as they emerged from the canopy of trees and into the storm again.
But at that point, the storm truly seemed like the least of his worries.
The last few miles into the small town of Longton were the longest miles of his life.