Dark Irish Knight by Anna Markland

Author:Anna Markland
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medieval
Publisher: Anna Markland
Published: 2013-02-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Gabriel lay by the fire, covered in cloaks taken from his dead soldiers. Sweat poured from his fevered brow. The two soldiers who had suffered only minor wounds watched over him. Three others lay beside Gabriel, one holding a bloodied rag to his face, the second with his arm in a makeshift sling, which she recognised as the bottom of her chemise, the third nursing a bandaged hand. Ronan and Conall had been busy tending these men while she sat submerged in a ditch. They were Ellesmere men, yet he had cared for them.

“Will they live?”

“Aye.”

“Where are the dead?”

He pointed to the edge of the clearing. “Your men are over there. The brigands are in the forest.”

She shuddered. Wolves and other scavengers would make short work of the Saxon bodies.

She walked over to the dead soldiers. Even in the gathering darkness, they were a gory sight. She knew them all. They were honourable young men, most born on Montbryce lands in Normandie, who had guarded her for years. They had died trying to protect her, a girl they probably deemed a frivolous ninny.

Tears welled in her eyes. She resolved to live a better life, to be more considerate of others, to make their sacrifice mean something.

“You must not feel guilty about their deaths.”

She whirled to face Ronan. “I have known these men most of my life. Some of them have wives, children. They died because of me. If I had not insisted on staying in Wales, they would not have been on this road on this terrible day.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and drew her into his arms. “You cannot think that way. Was staying in Wales a bad decision? Are you sorry you did?”

She pressed her face into his chest, inhaling the male smell of him. “Non. It was the right decision. I have seen where I was born, and I am happy to have spent time with Rhodri’s family—”

She hesitated. “—and with you.”

He stroked her hair. “Still a little damp. Come to the fire.”

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