CHAPTER 4
Keenan
The sky was still the dark blue of deep night when Keenan strode down the last street to the castle gates. He hesitated before crossing the empty cobblestones. A guard stood on either side of the portcullis, but no one else was out and about. Would they find him suspicious?
One of them was watching him closely. Perhaps he should have waited until later, but he didn’t want Liesl to leave without him.
Keeping his hands away from his sword hilt, Keenan walked slowly toward the gate. One of the guards stayed focused on the street, but the other followed his approach.
“Can I help you?”
Keenan’s hand gripped the hem of his shirt in lieu of his apron. “I’m looking for Miss Liesl from Ralnor. Last I heard, she’s leaving this morning and doesn’t have an escort.” He shrugged. “I decided to offer my services.”
“And you are?” the guard asked. He scanned Keenan like a horse up for sale, taking special note of his pack. “No one told me to expect a visitor for her.”
“No, I didn’t mention it when she and Prince Michael were at my shop.” Keenan winced. “I wanted to help, but I didn’t know yet if I could.”
“Name and occupation?” the guard prompted.
Keenan began to extend a hand but thought better of it. “Keenan. I’m a local weapon-smith.”
“Keenan?” a voice echoed, floating down from above. “I don’t believe it.”
A door banged against the stone wall, and then a figure appeared behind the portcullis. The lamps on either side lit his features.
“Hugh?”
“Will miracles never cease?” Hugh exclaimed cheerfully. “Keenan has escaped the smithy and made it as far as the castle. I’d ask how you slipped your chains, but I know you keep the key.”
The guard glanced back at him. “You know this fellow?”
“He’s my best friend,” Hugh replied. Patting his sword, he added, “The one who made me this.”
Appreciation lit the gate guard’s eyes. “You do fine work.” He shifted his attention back to Hugh. “He wants to accompany Miss Liesl. Do you trust him for that job?”
“Trust Keenan to look out for a lady?” Hugh laughed.
Leaning against the portcullis, he said, “Do you remember the girl who found us on patrol a couple months ago and begged us to help her older sister? The one being threatened by a scorned admirer.” Hugh’s eyes darted to Keenan.
“But when we arrived, the admirer was unconscious, and the older sister credited a passing stranger who refused to stick around?”
The gate guard’s eyebrows drew together as he examined Keenan. “That was you? Why didn’t you stay?”
Keenan opened his mouth, but Hugh winked and said, “Keenan’s a bit guard-shy. It wouldn’t be the first time the guards arrested him for brawling when he was just looking out for someone.”
“Hugh, you make me sound like a delinquent,” Keenan complained. “It was one time.”
“That you were actually arrested.” His friend shook his head. “You’ve come close a lot more.”
The gate guard eyed him thoughtfully. “If that’s your history, I suppose I can let you in. Hugh, will you keep track of him?”
After checking with the housekeeper and learning that Liesl had not yet risen, Hugh took Keenan on a quick tour of the barracks and the training yard.
Then they settled into an easy patrol while they waited for Liesl to send for them.
Or so Hugh claimed would happen once the housekeeper passed along Keenan’s message.
“Wouldn’t you rather sit?” Hugh raised an eyebrow. “You might need to save your strength for walking all day if she accepts your offer.”
“Or I might be sitting on the top of a coach all day,” Keenan argued. He hoped the small moneybag tied to his belt held enough for travel expenses. “She didn’t discuss her plans with me.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. “Do you even know how long you’ll be gone? What about your work at the smithy?”
He grimaced. “My future as a smith was already uncertain, thanks to Geoffrey. As for the time… At worst, I run out of money and find work to trade for meals. I don’t plan to pay for rooms; I’ll sleep in the stable.”
Frowning, Hugh said, “I know I told you the knife incident was the dumbest thing you’ve ever done—”
Keenan groaned.
“—but this might be worse. Could you have planned this out less?”
“I don’t need much,” he argued. “And I’m not diving in unarmed this time. Miss Beatrice gave me an early birthday present.” Twitching his cloak aside, he showed his friend the weapons at his waist.
“Are those some of yours?” Hugh asked in awe. “That’s a gift worthy of a prince!”
“And that’s who bought the last set,” Keenan agreed. Drawing the sword, he held it out for Hugh to examine. “I tried a new method with this one. It makes the sword lighter, but it should have the same strength.”
Stepping back, Hugh gave a few experimental swings. “I’d like to see it in a real fight.”
“It held up to Geoffrey’s assaults,” Keenan replied with a shrug. “And you know that he has more strength than skill.”
As Keenan began to sheathe his sword, a movement just outside the circle of the nearest lamp caught his eye. He glanced back, then hastily raised his sword, spinning to meet the blade flashing toward him.
A dull clang rang across the courtyard as the two swords collided. Hugh gave a sharp yelp, but he didn’t step up to help. Keenan deflected the blow, then drew his dagger to defend his left side. His attacker struck again, testing for weak points.
“The decreased weight gives you more speed, but it robs the power of your strikes,” a calm voice said patiently. Keenan startled; was it the man swinging at him? “Have you been trained in the use of that dagger, or is it only a shield?”
Skipping backward, Keenan brought both weapons up in a stance Hugh had shown him once. “I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Then show me.”
The man lunged forward again, feinting left and then attacking from the right. Keenan clumsily blocked with the dagger, then brought his sword around to thrust his opponent’s blade away.
Instead of striking again, the other man drew back, letting the tip of his sword swing toward the cobblestones under their feet.
Keenan maintained his defensive stance, watching warily as he willed his heart to slow.
Since his friend hadn’t intervened, he assumed he shouldn’t go on the offensive in the courtyard of Hartford Castle.
Especially since he had no idea what was going on.
“You have good instincts. You’ll do.” The man lifted his sword again, making Keenan tense, but he only untied something on the back of the blade. After removing it, he sheathed his sword and stepped sideways so he was no longer backlit by the lamp.
Keenan’s eyes widened. “Is it customary for the crown prince’s guard to attack guests in the castle? What if I hadn’t learned a bit of swordplay from Hugh?”
The guard who had accompanied Prince Michael to the smithy held up the item that had been on his blade. “Hardened leather. It lessens the chance of injury when training with real blades.”
“And if I had landed a hit on you?”
One side of the guard’s mouth twitched. “You couldn’t.”
“Good morning, sir.” Hugh finally reappeared with a sharp salute. “Do you need anything from me?”
The guard shook his head. “Merely testing Miss Liesl’s new guardian.” Extending his hand, he said, “Oliver. You may accompany us at the crown’s expense.”
“Us?” Keenan echoed, his eyebrows pulling together. “I thought Prince Michael said she was traveling alone.”
“She was. I decided to join her.” Oliver gestured to the weapons in Keenan’s hands. “Those are good quality. Your work?”
Keenan nodded. “Yes. My latest.”
The older guard dipped his head in acknowledgment, then spun on his heel and gestured for Keenan to follow. He complied, Hugh trailing behind.
The eastern sky was red by now, the sun only a few minutes away from peeking over the horizon. Oliver led him around the castle to the carriage house, where a curly-haired silhouette awaited them.
“I trust that meeting here means you won’t try to talk me out of leaving again,” a cheerful voice greeted them. “Because it’s no use. I can be just as stubborn as Katy when I want to be.”
“I have no doubt,” Oliver replied dryly. “I found a coachman who took a man of Lord Tobias’s description toward Ryuni. Prince Michael’s carriage will carry us to the border.”
Liesl’s lips pushed out in thought as she stroked her cat. “Do we know if Tobias made it that far?”
“We can ask along the way.”
As a groom led out a matched pair of horses hitched to a carriage, Oliver completed the introductions. Liesl was surprised but pleased that Keenan was joining them.
“When I still lived at home, I spent most of my days alone with the sheep. But that’s not really alone, you know? Besides, I’ve been at the castle in Himmelsburg with Katy and Axel for over a year now. Traveling by myself would have been lonesome. I have Puss, but she’s not a herd of sheep.”
“Isn’t Oliver coming?” Keenan asked, confused.
She giggled. “Yes, despite Michael’s protests, but he’s not much for conversation. Rather like Axel’s guard in that respect.”
After bidding Hugh farewell, Keenan climbed onto the box at the back of the carriage. Oliver opted to ride and had offered Keenan a horse as well, but he’d rarely been around the animals, let alone learned to ride one.
Liesl, unwilling to be abandoned to the inside of the vehicle, set her cat on the bench and hopped up beside him. She kept up a steady stream of conversation, chattering happily about anything and everything as the carriage passed through Hartford and then into the countryside beyond.
Having never been out of the city, Keenan peered about in interest. He knew the region in the northern and western parts of Daraigh were heavily wooded, but they were traveling through open plains now.
The occasional cottage broke up the fields, some fallow, some covered in six-inch grass that Liesl informed him was winter wheat.
He’d never seen so much open ground before.