Medieval 01 - Untamed

her health for themselves. And do it soon.”
    Dominic gave his brother a look through narrowed eyes. Simon gave it back with the confidence of a man who knows his opinion is respected even when it isn’t welcome.
    â€œIs Duncan lurking about?” Dominic asked after a moment, wondering if that was what lay behind Simon’s blunt advice.
    â€œSomeone is,” Simon said. “The hounds found deer slain in the far park. Nothing remained but head and heels.”
    â€œPoachers are common enough.”
    â€œRiding war-horses?” Simon asked sardonically. “They also—”
    Dominic held up his hand for silence as Eadith approached with two mugs of ale. When Simon reached for one, she danced back from his hand.
    â€œNay, sir. ’Tis for the lord to drink first,” she said boldly. “He drank little when he had dinner with his wife.”
    Smiling at Dominic, Eadith held a mug out to him.
    â€œThank you,” he said, returning her courtesy despite his dislike of her pale, covetous eyes.
    Dominic drank, grimaced, and finished the mug quickly. Simon drank his own ale with equal dispatch.
    â€œI’ve rarely tasted worse,” Dominic muttered as he handed the mug back to Eadith. “Pah. Gall would taste better.”
    â€œMust have been a sour barrel,” Simon agreed. He spat. “Bitter as a witch’s envy.”
    â€œShall I bring you some fresh?” Eadith asked hurriedly.
    â€œNot for me,” Dominic said.
    Simon shook his head. He, too, had had enough of Blackthorne’s bitter ale.
    Eadith took the mugs and rushed back across the bailey. Other men called to her for drink. They had worked up a heavy thirst fighting while wearing nearly half their own weight in sword and armor.
    â€œThere are signs,” Simon continued as though nothing had interrupted him, “that Duncan and his Reevers are setting up an illegal keep less than a half day from here. Rumor has it they’re building a palisades and bailey.”
    Silently Dominic looked at the clouds flying above the dark stones of the keep.
    â€œDominic?” Simon asked.
    â€œThere is nothing I can do about Duncan until the rest of my knights arrive,” Dominic said bluntly. “I have enough men to hold Blackthorne Keep against attack and not one more. If I let myself be lured from the keep’s safety by a handful of slain deer and rumors of illegal keeps, I’ll lose both the land and my life.”
    Simon wanted to argue, but didn’t. When it came to tactics, he deferred to his brother’s expertise.
    â€œIt is bitter to admit,” Simon said after a moment.
    â€œAye,” Dominic said flatly.
    He started across the bailey.
    â€œWhere are you going?” Simon asked.
    â€œTo my small falcon. She will wash away the bitterness.”
    Â 
    T HE stimulant Meg had given Adela was strong, dangerously so, but there was no other course left. If the babe weren’t born soon, neither mother nor child would survive the coming night.
    â€œI am sorry,” Meg said unhappily. “I must give you nothing for the pain but a simple salve.”
    â€œIt doesn’t—matter,” Adela panted. “Strength—is all—I ask.”
    Between Adela’s ragged breaths and subdued groans, Meg heard the distant sounds of horses galloping and men shouting. Then Adela’s labor abruptly increased in intensity, requiring Meg’s full attention. She knew nothing of what happened around her but the struggles of the exhausted woman to give birth.
    â€œWell done!” Meg said after a time. Excitement made her voice rise. “The babe’s head is out! Just a little more, brave woman. Just a little more effort and then you may rest.”
    The door of the cottage burst open behind Meg and the laboring Adela. Ignoring the strident protests of the midwife, Dominic ducked under the lintel and strode into the cottage with sword drawn. The honed edge of the blade shone malevolently.
    His silver eyes searched the cottage’s single room with the speed and precision of an eagle seeking prey, but it was his ears that found Meg first in the gloomy cottage. The muted chiming of her golden jesses gave her away. She was kneeling at a pallet wearing only an odd shift.
    Fury lanced through Dominic at this proof thatgossip had been correct. Meg had escaped her luxurious captivity in order to lie with Duncan of Maxwell, a man who had neither