While Angels Slept by Kathryn Le Veque Read Free Book Online Page B

crew of
soldiers began to run about in a frenzy. The noise distracted her. Cantia
forgot about the dagger and went to the window, watching the returning army
approach from the west. The sight should have brought her joy, but it did not.
The last time the army returned, it was with Brac’s body.
    She went back
and found the dagger.
     
    ***
     
    The contingent
holding the bridge at Dartford had been considerably larger this time around.
Consequently, there were quite a few injured, some of them severely. The battle
had been brutal and close-quartered, hand-to-hand combat that had exhausted
everyone.
    The returning
army made haste to get inside the ward of Rochester so that the gates could be
closed and fortified. A few hundred exhausted men functioning as archers were
sent to the walls. Rochester was under lockdown with the opposing army on the
approach. A battle was in the air, though the men in charge of Rochester’s
defenses were confident in her abilities to hold fast. No one had ever breached
her.
    Myles had
command of the walls, while Simon Horley had charge of the ward and men on the
ground. Charles wandered between the two locales creating more trouble than
helping; the man still wasn’t right in the head and most everyone ignored him.
But the command of Rochester had to be divided because Tevin was else occupied;
Val had been knocked from her charger and had taken a serious blow to the ribs.
 Tevin had carried his sister, literally, the entire way back to Rochester.  He
was, at the moment, only concerned for her and little else.  He had to trust
the defense of the castle to his dependable men.
    The great hall
was quickly transformed into a surgeon’s ward, though they had no surgeon.
Cantia had always performed most of the healing duties with the exception of
when she gave birth to Hunt and Brac had summoned a physic from Canterbury.
Even then, she thought to tell the man how to do his job because healing was a
skill she had worked to acquire. When Tevin burst into the hall supporting an
injured knight, the servants moved into action. It took some coaxing, but they
managed to take the wounded comrade from the viscount and lay him upon the
ground. The next step was to find Lady Penden.
    When the
servants vacated in search of water, medicaments and the lady of the keep,
Tevin was left crouched next to his sister. He tried to remove her mail but
didn’t get very far. He had to lift it over her head but couldn’t manage to do
so without causing her excruciating pain. So he gave up for the moment, waiting
for Lady Penden to appear. Several long minutes passed until his anxiety was at
a splitting level. He could no longer wait. He turned to go and find the lady
himself but ran straight into Hunt.
    The boy had been
standing silently next to him, a wooden cart in one hand and something that
looked like a toy ballista in the other. His blue eyes were wide on the knight
lying on the floor.
    “Ith he hurt?”
he asked.
    Tevin nodded.
“Aye,” he didn’t want to have a conversation with the boy. He wanted action.
“Where is your mother?”
    “In her room,” the
lad replied. “How bad ith he hurt?”
    “Bad enough,”
Tevin snapped before thinking. He saw Hunt’s expression at his tone but he
could not manage to calm himself. “I must go find your mother.”
    “She hath locked
the door,” Hunt said, almost casually. Then his voice picked up. “Do not worry;
we shall give the knight a grand funeral if he dies.”
    More wounded
were being brought in all around them. The more serious were placed near the
hearth, while those who were still conscious were moved to the walls to be out of
the way. Tevin left the boy standing there and made his way to the narrow
stairs that led to the third floor. Just as he mounted the bottom step, a
frail-looking servant came barreling down as if to knock him down. The old
woman’s face was taut.
    “My lord,” she
said. “The lady… she does not answer. Her door is locked and