Treasure So Rare (Women of Strength Time Travel Trilogy) by Grace Brannigan Read Free Book Online Page A

sparse, and the ones that
did grow were short and twisted.
    He stared ahead at the keep, marveling at the workmanship in
the structure and the ledge it had been erected upon. An enormous water-filled
moat surrounded the keep, overrun with green growth along its surface. The wide
and sturdy drawbridge had been pulled up against the castle's stone walls. Not
a very encouraging welcome for the husband-to-be, he thought grimly. From his
viewpoint, it appeared there was no other way inside. He could not blame her
ladyship for the lack of welcome, knowing the little he knew of Camdork.
    The lady had good reason to deny this group of renegades
entry to her keep, but Erik had to wonder if her denying entry to Camdork would
create a hardship for not only herself, but all of her people. He couldn't
imagine a queen would take lightly to an official order being challenged.
    His horse shifted beneath him. Erik was in no hurry to storm
a medieval castle, which did not even seem possible since there was no feasible
point of forced entry. Standing beside the water he looked down into its murky
depths as best he could. The moat itself looked to have some kind of metal
apparatus beneath the water's surface.
    They sat waiting for a matter of fifteen minutes or more,
before the wooden drawbridge was slowly lowered and settled heavily against an
upraised earth platform with a dull thump. As they began to cross the
drawbridge, the horses' hooves echoed loudly on the wooden planks. The inside
gate opened and with a growl Ulrich impatiently motioned them inside the walls.
Erik looked about him as they passed through the stone walls into the inner
courtyard. The stone walls were themselves some three feet thick.
    People stood alongside as they entered the cobbled
courtyard. A farrier stood with a smoking iron tool in his hand, a woman held a
wooden paddle before her, and children peeked from behind the adults. One young
woman wielded a straw broom on the end of a long wooden handle. One by one,
women washing clothes in wooden tubs paused to watch them ride by and pulled
wooden paddles from the wash water. It appeared most of the adult population
was ready for a fight and were arming themselves with whatever they had at
hand. Having seen the weapons Camdork's small army possessed, he didn't hold
out much hope for anyone armed with a wooden washing paddle or farrier iron.
    ¤¤
    Erik felt this entire world was becoming more and more of a
mystery. He and his men had been landed in this foreign place, in a time he did
not recognize, among people who viewed dragons in the sky as commonplace. Erik
could see further proof of the distrust and hostility on every person's face as
they watched him, masquerading as Camdork, and the men-at-arms, according to
what he'd overheard, were all paid mercenaries.
    And what of the Lady Iliana, he wondered? She would think he
was Camdork, a man who by his own account had molested her sister, the lady Graziela.
Erik groaned. Therein lay just cause to hate him.
    Upon gaining entry, they now entered the huge bailey
cautiously, expecting a rain of arrows or other projectiles. Her ladyship's men
stood shoulder to shoulder along the wall walk surrounding the entire bailey.
They stood stiffly at attention, apparently unarmed, not a blade, arrow or
sword to be seen among them, and for that he was grateful, because he and every
other man on horseback were vulnerable targets.
    ¤¤
    There was only one who challenged Camdork's men and their
right to be there. The lad moved lithely along the wall walk, a dark hood upon
his head as he brandished a sword with a strange appearance. So strange, in fact,
Erik wanted a closer look. No doubt thinking it was a jest, several of the men
at arms climbed the stairs to the wall walk, taking up the challenge from the
lad one by one, and one by one, they were left teetering on the stone ledge
before falling into the bailey below.
    Dressed simply in brown baggy trousers and a stained fawn
colored