Medieval 01 - Untamed

and Simon exploded at once.
    â€œYou can’t do that,” Simon continued harshly. “Your size alone would give you away!”
    â€œNot to mention that great shining piece of silver you wear on your cloak,” Duncan muttered.
    He eyed the wolf’s head warily, as though expecting its silent snarl to be transformed into a living wolf at any moment.
    â€œLord,” Sven said quietly. “I will go. ’Tis my favorite kind of work.”
    â€œBy now they will have missed you,” Dominic said, his voice impatient. “What will you say when they ask where you’ve been?”
    â€œI’ll tell them I was worried about my flocks.”
    Dominic grunted. “It wouldn’t convince me.”
    â€œRufus isn’t you.”
    An explosive curse was Dominic’s only answer.
    â€œYour lady is chained to a tree,” Sven said. “There will be no chance for her to seek cover when you attack. Someone must be there to protect her.”
    â€œI can’t ask you to do anything that dangerous.”
    Sven’s smile was both savage and amused. “Ah, lord, do you know me so little? Danger is my wife, my mistress, and my child. That’s why I like being your knight so well.”
    A searing oath, a hissing sigh, and Dominic gave in.
    â€œSee the priest before you go,” Dominic ordered Sven. “This time you may find more danger than even you can survive.”
    â€œThere are many worse ways to die than defending my liege’s lady.”
    â€œAye,” cut in Simon firmly. “Let me go with Sven. I can—”
    â€œNay,” Sven objected instantly. “You’re as big as Dominic or Duncan. The Reevers would spot you in the blink of an eye. If they didn’t, Eadith would.”
    â€œYou’re hardly tiny yourself,” Simon retorted.
    â€œThey are used to me,” Sven said, turning away. “When will you attack?”
    â€œAt dusk,” Dominic said. “Will that give you enough time?”
    Sven glanced at the angle of the sun. “Barely. Send men on foot to attack from the rear. With a bit of luck, the sally port in the palisade will be open.”
    Before anyone could respond, Sven trotted into the forest and vanished.
    â€œWhere did you find that one?” Duncan asked Dominic.
    â€œIn a Saracen hell.”
    â€œCan he open the sally port?”
    â€œIf any man can manage it, Sven can. It won’t be the first gate he has opened for me from inside.”
    â€œThat I believe,” Duncan muttered. “He is like a cat in his stealth.”
    Behind Dominic a horse snorted and stirred restlessly. The other knights and their squires had dismounted while their lord and the two knights argued over who would take the most dangerous position during the attack. Duncan’s men were much like Dominic’s: hard, competent, and well blooded in previous battles.
    Most of the knights had taken off their heavy hauberks and were checking their weaponry. Crossbow and bolts, pike and staff, mace and sword and battle-ax lay in deadly array. The knights talked as they worked over their equipment, laying bets as to which man would be first through the palisades, which would be first to kill, even which would be first to draw blood or have it drawn from his own flesh.
    Dominic heard the jests and conversations as though at a great distance. He was focused on one thing and one thing alone: Meg. He would have traded Heaven and taken on Hell single-handed if it would have guaranteed that his small falcon survived moonrise.
    â€œDo you have any instructions for the knights?” Simon asked Dominic when all was ready.
    â€œNo quarter. No prisoners.”
    Â 
    I GNORING the Reever guards who called back and forth from their perches on the palisades, Meg tugged surreptitiously on the heavy chain that went from her wrist manacles around the trunk of a young oak. Though rusty, the chain was still strong.
    She glanced at the sun. It was no longer visible over the raw wood palisade that surrounded the rough bailey. Soon dusk would pool in the shadows and hollows until darkness brimmed over, filling the land. Shortly afterward, the moon would rise in silver glory.
    And then the Reevers would come for her.
    Eadith paced near the bonfire where the remains of a venison roast congealed on a spit. Impatiently she looked from the fire to the guard who had the best view of the cart road to Carlysle Manor.
    â€œDo