Chapter Fifteen
Tiberius was able to remove his sword in time to ward off d’Vant’s blow, but the pure power behind it sent him reeling.
Douglass screamed in fright, throwing herself out of the way as Tallis nearly bowled over Tiberius.
But the de Shera brother was as skilled as he was powerful.
As he stumbled away from Tallis, he brought his sword up from the floor in an upwards sweeping motion, immediately catching d’Vant, who was bearing down on top of him, in the midsection.
Clad in mail with a heavily padded linen tunic beneath, it wasn’t enough to prevent Tiberius’ sword from gashing him quite significantly from the top of his right thigh to the middle of his chest. As quickly as that, the first blood was spilled.
To his credit, Tallis did nothing more but quickly reverse his momentum, preventing Tiberius from cutting him up to the neck.
As it was, his mail coat was damaged and blood was already seeping from the snags in the mail.
It had happened so quickly that it was over and bleeding before he even felt the sting of the wound.
But it didn’t stop him. Tallis put up his sword as Tiberius, much taller than he was, came down on top of him, all sword and elbows and feet.
Tallis found himself kicked in the gut and thrown to the floor.
As Bose, Grayson, Garran, and Davyss watched with horror and great concern, Tiberius went on the offensive.
Tallis was already down, and already bleeding, but Tiberius didn’t hold back.
He kicked the man when he was down, picking up a chair and smashing it on his head as he tried to rise.
Tallis, realizing he was already at a terrible disadvantage, ducked under the feasting table to stop the onslaught.
Tiberius’ feet were there in big, leather boots so he lashed out his sword, catching Tiberius in the shin and cutting through the leather.
Tiberius grunted with pain but the agony fueled him.
He upended the feasting table to get at Tallis.
It was an incredible show of strength as the enormous table rocked onto its side.
Tallis, however, was already at the other end of the table, leaping to his feet.
Tiberius charged after him, his sword glinting wickedly in the weak firelight, and clashing against Tallis’ raised weapon.
Now, the sword fight began in earnest as the two powerful knights went at each other, thrusting and parrying, each trying to outfight the other.
The sounds had awoken the entire manse and even Hugh de Winter, who had been on duty out in the bailey, came rushing in to see what all of the noise was about.
He could only stand in the entryway alongside his father and brother, mouth agape at the fight he was witnessing. It was truly something to behold.
Douglass, on the other end of the room, standing on a heavy table that was meant to hold big sides of beef or a side of pork, shrieked and gasped as Tiberius and Tallis battled to the death.
It was clear that Tiberius was the more skilled of the two but Tallis was not to be discounted in the least. He was clever and, very quickly, learned to use Tiberius’ height against him.
Tiberius had a long arm range but he was rather blind down around his knees, so at one point, Tallis lashed out a big boot and caught Tiberius in the kneecap.
As the big knight went down to one knee, Tallis tried to decapitate him.
But Tiberius was too fast and too skilled for that maneuver.
He ducked low, rolled onto the ground, and came up with a slice that would have cut Tallis in two had the man been any slower at defending himself.
On and on the fight went, over tables, breaking chairs, as Bose tried to get Douglass off the table and over with him.
She refused, going so far as to throw something at her father when he tried to move towards her.
Bose received a small, wooden cup on the forehead for his trouble. He glowered at his daughter.
It wasn’t that Douglass was trying to be difficult.
It was the fact that if her father got a hold of her, she was afraid he would carry her away and she would never see Tiberius again.
She would never see the end of this horrible and bloody fight.
She was terrified that Tiberius was going to be killed but, on the other hand, it was quite a sight to watch the man fight.
He was skilled, powerful, and clever, and it all seemed to look quite effortless to him.
But the fact remained that Tallis was an excellent fighter as well, so the battle going on was truly a nasty one.
It grew worse when Tallis made a thrust at Tiberius and lost his balance.
Tiberius grabbed the man by the throat and, with the hilt of his sword, smashed him across the face.
Blood spurted but Tallis didn’t go down.
He managed to get a knee into Tiberius’ gut.
It turned into a fist fight from that point on even though they were still holding swords.
Now, it was turning deeply bloody and brutal as Tiberius and Tallis tried to beat each other into a pulp.
The slugs and kicks grew very heavy. The men shuffled in Douglass’ direction as she saw Tallis land a particularly heavy blow on Tiberius’ jaw.
Tiberius stumbled, brought up an elbow, and planted it in Tallis’ neck.
Tallis fell back, into the table Douglass was standing on, and she shrieked in fright.
But she also saw an opportunity. Hanging on the wall near her right hand was a heavy, iron bar, one used to manipulate large sides of beef.
Collecting the bar, she smashed it over the top of Tallis’ head. The man fell like a stone, unconscious.
Breathing heavily and splattered with blood, Tiberius kicked Tallis before he realized the man was out cold. When d’Vant didn’t fight back or try to rise, Tiberius bent over him, noting that, indeed, the man had been knocked unconscious. Looking rather baffled, he peered up at Douglass.
“You knocked him silly,” he said, pointing. “Why did you do that?”
Douglass still had the iron rod in her hand. Tiberius’ question had her nearly screaming in frustration. “Are you mad?” she bellowed. “I did it to save your life!”
Tiberius grinned at her, his lips swollen and bleeding and an eye already showing signs of a bruise. “Although I thank you for your gallantry, I did not need saving,” he said. “I was preparing to deal the man a death blow.”
Douglass rolled her eyes and climbed off the table but she didn’t drop the iron rod. She held it with both hands as she faced off against her father and Grayson, who were starting to come into the room to see if d’Vant was even still alive. Douglass made sure to stay well away from the men.
“Papa,” she said as Bose bent over d’Vant. “Tiberius must go home to Isenhall and I am going with him. He has already had to fight d’Vant this day but I swear I will fight each and every one of you if I have to. You will not prevent us from leaving. Is that clear?”
Bose straight up and faced his daughter.
He could see how edgy and frightened she was, while Tiberius appeared very calm.
Still, there was a great deal of tension in the air because of Tiberius’ uncertain future within the walls of Wintercroft.
The man still knew something he shouldn’t, something important to Henry’s cause.
The fight with d’Vant didn’t erase that fact.
“I am willing to let Tiberius flee,” Bose said quietly. “I always have been willing. But you are another matter.”
Both Tiberius and Douglass looked at Bose in various stages of shock. “Is this true?” Douglass gasped, eyes wide. Her gaze moved back and forth between Tiberius and Bose. “You… you are willing to release him from his oath to you and let him go home?”
Bose moved away from d’Vant as Grayson and Davyss looked the man over to make sure there was not something more seriously wrong with him. As the de Winter men rolled d’Vant onto his back, Bose focused on his daughter.
“His oath was never really mine,” he said quietly.
“I knew that from the start. He only came with me to be close to you and I knew if I did not permit him to do so, that he would follow me and create more of a problem. It was better to have him with me than to constantly be looking over my shoulder, waiting for him to steal you away.”
Tiberius was no longer grinning. “You have my oath, my lord,” he said seriously. “That has not changed. But I must go and tell my brothers what I know.”
Bose looked at him. “And then what?” he asked.
“Will you return to fight with me against your brothers? I think not. Go home, Tiberius. Go home where you belong. Tell Gallus and Maximus what you have heard this day so that they are prepared for it. Your brother told me about Edward’s turn against his father so this is the least I can do. ”
Douglass would not be left out. “But what about me?” she asked. “Papa, I love him. There, I’ve said it. I love the man and I want to be his wife. I want to go with him to Isenhall. Will you please let me go?”
Bose looked at his daughter, really looked at her. There was a great deal rolling through his mind, not the least of which was the unconscious knight on the floor and the potential marriage he had discussed with the man. But that was all for naught. He knew it. He always had.
“I think I lost you the moment you met Tiberius in Coventry,” he said pensively.
“From that moment on, your focus has been on him. I knew it from the start but I thought it would pass. I thought if you knew all of the terrible things about him that you would push the man aside. But I can see that I was wrong because he is truly not a bad man. Tiberius may have his faults, but we all do. He is a fine, noble knight. I do not suppose I could keep you from him even if I wanted to. See how my attempt to give you a choice of suitors has failed?”