The Fallen One by Kathryn Le Veque Read Free Book Online Page A

father’s name?”
    “Sir Saer de Lara. Have you ever heard of
him?”
    “I am sorry, I have not. I am sure he was a
great knight.”
    “They used to call him The Axe.   Father did not fight with a sword; he liked
his axe much better.”
    The
Axe.   Now, Mathias had heard that name.   De Lara’s Axe had been a feared fighter,
indeed.   More and more, Mathias was sure
he would never divulge his past to Cathlina.   Or at least, never divulge it to her father.   He was coming to wonder if his attraction to
her would lead him down paths he was trying very hard to avoid.   If their attraction grew and he eventually
pledged for her, somehow, someway, he would have to be truthful.   To lie about who, and what, he was then have
the truth come from someone else’s lips to Cathlina’s ears would have
devastating consequences.   Truth be told,
lying was not in his blood. Truth and honor meant everything to him.
    “I could make him an excellent axe,” he
teased softly, watching her giggle. She had the most beautiful smile. “Mayhap
you will want to give your father a gift someday and employ me to make it.”
    She laughed softly. “I am sure you would do
a very good job.”
    He grinned, swept up in her charm, when a
pair of knights entered the stall.   They
didn’t see Cathlina, sitting against the wall, as they sauntered into the shop,
knocking over a hammer and hardly caring. They were young, arrogant, and full
of entitlement.   The taller of the pair,
a young knight with bristly red hair, approached Mathias.
    “Have you finished with my horse yet?” he
demanded.
    Mathias picked up an enormous steel file
and bent over, pulling a hoof between his legs. “Almost,” he said.   “A moment longer.”
    “A moment longer?” the knight repeated,
incredulous and outraged. “He has been here all morning.”
    Mathias was filing the front left hoof. “He
has been here not yet two hours,” he said steadily. “These shoes were specially
prepared, as you requested. That takes time.   I am almost finished.”
    The young knight pursed his lips angrily,
eyeing the big smithy. “You are incompetent,” he announced. “This job should
have been completed an hour ago.”
    “I will be finished in a moment.”
    “I will not pay you, then. You did not
finish on time.”
    Surprisingly, Mathias kept his
composure.    “I told you when you brought
him in that he would be finished by early afternoon,” he said. “I have finished
him sooner than I estimated and you will indeed pay me the full price or I will
pull every one of these shoes off of him and you can find someone else to shoe
this bad-tempered beast.   Do I make
myself clear?”
    The young knight was looking for a
confrontation.   He was too arrogant to
back down from what he considered a challenge. “You will do no such thing,” he
said. “I will not let you. I will take my horse now and I will not pay you for
being lazy and slow.”
    Mathias kept filing. “You will pay me or
the horse stays here and I will sell him to the highest bidder to recoup my
losses.”
    The young knight was outraged. “He is my
horse and I am taking him.”
    “Not until you pay me what you owe me.”
    The young knight marched over to Mathias
and lifted a hand to strike him, but Mathias grabbed the knight’s wrist before
he could follow through with the action.   The knight yelped as Mathias shoved him away and tumbled over a bucket
near the anvil.
    This brought the knight’s companion
charging forward, unsheathing his sword. Mathias dropped the charger’s hoof,
preparing to defend himself against the armed knight, when a stool suddenly
sailed into the knight’s feet and the man went down.   With both knights on the ground, Mathias was
rather dumbfounded when Cathlina rushed up and kicked the armed knight in the
shoulder.   It was a hard enough kick that
the man’s entire body rattled.
    “Shame on you!” she scolded angrily. “You foolish
whelps! By what right do you