Chapter 40
“Nella, Sèidrich has re-joined his underground maker.”
Nella heard the words from her knight while she remained concealed in a nook beneath the monk’s night stairs.
She had ducked under when a pair of northern men-at-arms approached on a parallel passage.
Inwardly she gave a sigh from relief Callum was safe; outwardly, she froze when the guard’s steps changed course and came in her direction! Brazen brimstone!
Should she make herself known? It was two men-at-arms with the Northern delegation. No, without Holger present she didn’t know who was a possible friend for Sir James.
Her fingers pressed her heart once again under the cloak as she remained hidden when one of the guards continued speaking in a heavy accent born from the Kingdom of Norway. “Have you seen Sir James?”
“No.”
Was Holger close? She began a heavier chronicle when she slipped out from under the stairs after their shadows cast by torchlight vanished around the corner. Pulling the cloak’s hood back up higher, she ventured the opposite way, headed back for Lady Dagny’s chambers.
Thump. Thump. “Well done, Lord Kolson,” Sir Brayden declared in the far distance. The thump had to be the fallen enemies.
“Well, ’tis all in the timing, Sir Brayden, something your captain would not know about,” Holger boasted before she shook her head.
Appeared all four enemies had been vanquished.
She simply needed to venture with Lady Dagny, Kameron, and the shackled Sir James toward the entrance.
Or perhaps she should fetch Callum and Holger into the abbey for retrieval now the traitorous knight had been captured.
The sooner they completed this task, the hastier she and Callum would take leave for the stables and Sir Sean before he or whomever this shadow lord was could inflict harm…
“Kameron, he has a dagger in his boot!” Lady Dagny’s terrified voice broke her thoughts.
No! Her feet set a brisker pace before a voice summoning behind her caused her to pause. “Lady Dagny, ’tis a rather late hour for you to be about unescorted.”
Fear gripped her throat like the devil’s fingers. A guard must have circled back. In her focus upon Kam and Dagny she’d missed the guard’s steps!
“My lady, why do you not turn about?”
Dagny’s voice cried for Kam’s ears alone, “Kameron, Sir James has cut his bindings!”
To hell with the consequences! Her feet took flight before a voice yelled behind her, “Lady Dagny, halt!” The guard raced after her. Bounding around the corner, ouff, she hit a wall. No, it was the second guard who was standing there. How could she be so careless?
Her hood fell away, and both flaxen-haired giants looked down at her with a mix of curiosity and tension. “Who are you? Why are you wearing Lady Dagny’s cloak?” the guard demanded from behind while he seized her arm.
“You will pay for this, Lady Dagny,” Sir James threatened.
“Please,” Nella cried, looking up at the guard restraining her, “Lady Dagny is in grave danger, Sir James is about to harm her inside her chambers.”
“You will remain here, liar.” The newfound keeper barked the command at her viscously.
Whack! Thump. Someone fell, someone large in girth. Was it Kam or Sir James? The sound signature called to mind a hammer striking something solid. She swallowed hard. Bone. It must have struck bone.
A scream ripped through the passage from Dagny’s chambers – they all heard.
“Lady Dagny?” the guard beside her yelled then glanced at the one who gripped Nella’s arm in a vice. “Hold her here.”
“Lady Dagny,” Kam’s voice huffed from exertion, “he will harm you nae more.”
Nella sagged against the guard. Safe! The wee ones were safe. Her eyes darted at the northern guards surrounding her, well, at least from Sir James. The first guard banged on Dagny’s door.
“Release this door, my lady!”
“Not till my brother is summoned from the forest beyond!” a defiant voice shot back through the sealed entryway.
Nella smiled. Clever lady. The smile vanished when her captor’s grip tightened. “Who are you?” he hissed in her ear.
She raised her chin. “You heard Lady Dagny, not till Lord Holger Kolson has been summoned.”
Ow! A whimper met her lips when he began dragging her down the passageway roughly.
***
“You locked her away!” Nella heard Callum’s voice boom the passageway from where she was trapped in her original chamber.
“Sir Callum,” the guard who had dragged her here stammered over his reply. Huh, he must know Callum perhaps from previous negotiations at court. “The lady did not state her title nor purpose.”
“Release this door at once!” her knight ordered.
Holger’s voice sounded further away but equally as enraged. “Dagny, remove the board and open this door directly. You are unescorted and locked within a chamber with a peasant!”
“And a dead knight!” Dagny roared back for all to hear.
A fumbling by the key in her lock began. “Give me the key,” Callum snarled, and one click, the door popped open.
“Nella?” Her knight’s face, wrought with worry, appeared by torchlight as he rushed to her.
“Well,” she assured, “I am well.”
Her gaze turned toward the guard who had locked her in.
Pensive. The stranger was worried she would state the way he’d dragged her here.
Tensions were high enough and the fierce undercurrent which was running in Callum’s eyes declared one harsh word by her, swords would be drawn.
“This man-at-arms simply detained me till your arrival. Sir Brayden?” The Northern guard’s shoulders lowered while she looked past, not seeing the friend.
“Fetching the chargers from the stables,” Callum answered before he glared at the “man-at-arms” while explaining, “This knight is under King Magnus’s captain. We met once before in Stirling.”
He bowed his head slightly. “Forgive me, my lady, had I known—”
“Dagny.” Holger’s furious bellow tore the hall and their conversation to pieces. “Halt with being coy and release this door!”
“No.”
“Dagny!”
“Brother, you have the same tone as when I stole your favorite bridle for my daily ride and forgot to place it back.”
“This is not a bridle, you insolent little fool!”
Nella took Callum’s offered hand while they stepped out into the passage with the guards trailing by the spectacle unfolding. “Kameron,” Holger growled, “I know you are in there and hear me. You had best release this—”
Holger’s threat paused when Nella released Callum’s palm to set her fingers onto the flared bicep looking ready to punch the door in. “Allow me a try?” she offered before his crimson face nodded.
“Get this door open, Lady Fawnella, or I shall take a fuking axe to it.”
“Kameron?” she hailed the lad – calmly.
“My lady, you are unharmed?”
“Aye, you both as well?”
“Aye,” Kameron replied. The lad’s tone quivered, scared; he was frightened.
The next words illuminated the cause. “My lady, I hit Sir James too hard. I… I slayed him with my hammer. He was threatening Lady Dagny with his dagger.” A tiny catch in breath by Holger from surprise made her turn then narrow her lashes at the lord before she turned back toward the door.
“Kameron?”
“Aye?”
“I heard Sir James threaten her as well, there is nothin’ to fear,” she promised. “You have done what any knight would in your place.”
“No harm shall befall him, Lady Fawnella?” Dagny’s voice, ridden by worry, asked.
She looked at Callum, who nodded assuredly. “None,” she swore, “I vow it. Lady Dagny, I have the captain of King Alexander’s guard here with me, Sir Callum…”
“Kameron cares for him,” Dagny broke in with a sniffle lining her words.
“Aye, the lad is upon Scottish soil. He shall be well; you need not worry. Please, my wee ones, release the door.”
A shuffle by smaller feet sounded before the board was removed. Two sets of wide eyes appeared, Dagny’s sleeve was torn by what appeared like a dagger blade, and Sir James who was missing his jaw in a pool of blood riddled the floorboards. Oh my.
Kameron held his arm protectively about Dagny. Nella was not the only one to notice.
“Remove your hands from my sister,” Holger barked.
Kameron lowered his arm as Nella stepped in and took a hand from each of them into her own as she declared, “You are both safe, ’tis all that matters.” It was.