Chapter Seventeen
Longton
Two Days Later
“What are you doing down here?”
The question came from Achilles as he found Susanna in the common room of The Crown and Anchor Inn with a steaming bowl of pottage in front of her.
It was late afternoon on their second full day in Longton, a delay caused by two sick women and about twelve injured men from the skirmish three days earlier.
Achilles had just come in from outside, a brisk wind following him in as he quickly shut the door. He spied Susanna sitting next to the hearth, which was blazing at this hour, and he stood next to the table, hands on his hips as he looked at her.
“Well?” he said. “Answer me. What are you doing down here? The last I saw of you, you were sleeping soundly in the bed upstairs.”
Susanna looked at him. She was pale with circles under her eyes. Achilles noted that she didn’t look much better than she had the day he’d discovered she was sick.
“I have been asleep for two days,” she said, her nose stuffy. “I cannot remain in bed any longer. I must get up and move around. I shall never get well if I stay in bed. Where is everyone? The place is deserted.”
Achilles threw a thumb in the general southward direction. “We just brought the Summerlin carriage into town,” he said. “We were able to repair the axle, at least somewhat.”
“That is good. At least Cadie will have something warm to ride in for the rest of the way.”
Achilles snorted. “That is true, but her priest believes that carriage is his private abode. He has been in it ever since we brought it back.”
Susanna smiled weakly. “He has work to do for Cadie,” she said. “It is not something he can do here in the common room of the inn.”
“What is he doing?”
She paused as she thought on an answer, not wanting to tell him the truth. “Personal prayer cards for the lady.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie, but Achilles didn’t question it. He’d seen the priest with his writing implements, so it made sense to him. Removing his gloves, he took a seat across the table from her, putting his gloves on the tabletop. He eyed the steaming bowl.
“What are you eating?” he asked.
She looked at it. “Cabbage pottage.”
“Is it any good?”
“It is very good. What I can taste of it, anyway.”
Achilles looked around and, spying a serving wench, motioned to Susanna’s bowl. As the wench disappeared into the kitchen, he returned his attention to Susanna.
“Well,” he said. “If it is any consolation, half the men are ill also. That storm we traveled through seems to have claimed several victims. How is Lady Cadelyn? Have you looked in on her?”
Susanna spooned the hot pottage into her mouth. “Aye.”
Achilles had expected more of an answer. “And?”
Susanna swallowed the bite in her mouth and put another on her spoon. But she didn’t put it in her mouth just yet. “And she seems better,” she said. “At least, her illness seems better. But I fear she is very unhappy.”
“Why?”
Susanna shrugged, stirring up her pottage as she thought on her answer.
“I believe she has come to realize that her feelings for Sir Kress will never come to completion,” she said.
Then, she cast Achilles a long glance. “The night we arrived, he remained in her room most of the night. You know that, don’t you? ”
Achilles sighed sharply. “It is none of my affair and none of yours.”
“I have known Cadie for several years and I have never seen her like this, ever. I believe she is in love with Kress.”
Achilles shook his head. “You will not say that to anyone, do you hear?” he said. “That is gossip. It can only hurt people.”
Susanna turned back to her pottage. “I have not spoken of it to anyone, nor will I,” she said. “But you… I do not know why I have even said it to you except that I know you are trustworthy. You will not repeat it. But know that this situation concerns me.”
“Why?”
Susanna looked at him, then. “You do not know Cadie,” she said. “She is a brilliant, stubborn woman. If she feels something for Sir Kress, then this marriage will be even more difficult for her than it was before. That worries me. She will make herself miserable.”
Achilles was watching her as she spoke. “You care for her.”
Susanna nodded, spooning more pottage into her mouth. “As annoying and headstrong as she can be, she is a good woman with a good heart. She is my friend.”
Achilles watched her for a moment longer until the serving wench appeared with his pottage, crusty bread, butter, and a cup of hot wine. When she walked away, Achilles spoke quietly.
“If we are being completely honest, then Kress has not been himself either,” he muttered, reaching for a knife and scooping butter onto it. “He has spent all of his time in the livery with Samson.”
“Samson?”
“His horse.”
Susanna nodded as she watched the man slather butter on his bread. “Why do you say he is not himself, though?”
Achilles took a big bite of the bread, chewing a few times before speaking.
“I have known him for twenty years,” he said.
“You must understand the Kress de Rhydian I know… he is a complex man. He is wise and intelligent, and a man of good character. You would never believe that the man could murder in cold blood as I have seen him do in the past and then act as if nothing in the world is wrong. He is as even-tempered as they come, loyal to a fault. If his liege commands it, he will do it, no questions asked. But since we arrived here… his mood is dark and that is not like him.”
Susanna pondered that. “I know of the Executioner Knights,” she said. “I heard what you did a few years ago at St. Blitha Abbey in London. I heard that you killed the corrupt Mother Abbess before she could kill King John.”
“Who told you that?”
“You forget that I have connections to William Marshal and those in his inner circle. I know of the Unholy Trinity.”
Achilles’ gaze lingered on her a moment before returning to his food. “You have only heard the name,” he said. “You do not know what we did to earn that title.”
“I will know if you tell me.”
He grinned. “It would give you nightmares.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “I trained at Blackchurch,” she said. “I was there for three years. There is not much you can say to me that will give me nightmares.”
He took another bite of his bread. “Forgive me,” he said. “I keep forgetting this delicate flower in front of me has trained with some of the most brutal trainers England has to offer.”
“Did you see this delicate flower fight off the outlaws in the ambush three days ago?”
“I saw her spear a man and disarm another in a highly impressive move. But I am still not convinced.”
Susanna fought off a grin, knowing he was trying to insult her but not trying nearly as hard as he had been in the past. “Then shall we have another go-around like we did the first night of our journey?” she asked.
“You sported a beautiful bruised eye that is only now starting to look normal again. Let me try for the other eye.”
He started to laugh. “Nay, Sparks, I have no desire to roll around on the floor with you again,” he said. “But I will admit that you were stronger than I had suspected.”
“Thank you.”
“And I am sorry I called you an Amazon. That was unkind.”
She looked at him, surprised he had apologized for that, and tried very hard not to smile at him. “If you start being nice to me, I will not know what to do,” she said. “I may have to punch you in the arm every time I see you.”
“That would be lovemaking, coming from you.”
Susanna did laugh, then. She was coming to feel warmth and comradery with Achilles, something she’d not expected. Truth be told, he was rather handsome with his high cheekbones and green eyes. She delved back into her food, but she kept looking at him.
“May I ask you a question?”
“I do not know. Ask me and I shall tell you.”
“Do you shave your head or do you simply not have any hair?”
He was well into his pottage at that point.
“I have hair, and a good deal of it,” he said.
“When I was in The Levant, I got into the habit of shaving my scalp because of the vermin there. They easily infested in a man’s hair and on his body if he was not careful.
So, it was simply easier to shave it off. It is a habit that has never left me.”
“What color is your hair?”
He looked at her, rather saucily. “It is the same color all over my body,” he said. “Certain areas are quite hairy. I can show you if you’d like.”
Her eyes widened at the vulgar suggestion. “I would not like,” she said. “And just when we were coming to be pleasant with each other.”
“Did I offend you?”
She turned her nose up at him and went back to her food. Achilles laughed low in his throat. “Very well,” he said reluctantly. “I apologize, Sparks. I will not say something so rude again.”
Her cheeks were pink, a bit of a flush that he thought was rather pretty. But he didn’t say so for fear he’d offend her again, so he turned back at his food. Just as he took another bite, the door to the street opened and Bric and Alexander entered. They headed straight for Achilles.
“Where is Kress?” Alexander demanded.
Achilles sensed immediately that something was wrong. “Out in the livery,” he said. “Why? What has happened?”
Alexander sent Bric off for Kress before answering. “I am not sure,” he said. “I have men at the northern end of town, simply watching for anything we should be aware of, and they have just returned to say that a small army is heading our way.”
Achilles was on his feet, as was Susanna. “We need to clear out the common room,” he said. “I will move the wounded upstairs.”
Alexander nodded quickly. “Go,” he said, watching Achilles turn for the men who were in a group over near the hearth.
When Susanna moved to help him, he grabbed her by the arm.
“You go upstairs to Lady Cadelyn. Bolt the door and do not come out unless one of the knights releases you. Is that clear?”
Susanna nodded swiftly, leaving her half-eaten meal on the table and rushing up the stairs for Cadelyn’s chamber.
Achilles was already moving the wounded and Alexander went to help him, moving them upstairs to a larger chamber that Alexander and Bric had shared the night before.
It overlooked the street and had a birds-eye view of everything.
Truth be told, Alexander had no idea who was coming but he didn’t want any trouble.
He’d been across the road at another livery, a barn where most of the escort had spent the past two nights.
It was warm and dry and roomy, and Alexander had paid the man who owned the barn handsomely for the use of it.
But those men had been ordered to stay out of sight and now it was just a matter of securing everyone else.
It was entirely possible that the approaching army could pass through town and nothing more. It was equally possible that they had something else on their minds. Until he knew, it was better to play it safe.
With two more days until they reached The Paladin, Alexander was too close to their objective to take any chances.
Soon enough, they would know.