The Barbarian Read online

  “Why not take her yourself and we will stay.”

  “No. These are my men and I will lead them.”

  “Not if you’re dead you won’t. Then what do I do with your…. child?”

  “I have no heirs Makas save my men. Marry her, take my castle for your own, fuck her well and think of me.”

  Makas shocked, made a disgusted face at him making him laugh.

  Makas married. Never….

  Eldron chuckled. They both knew Makas had his own lands if he wanted to claim them. They gave him a very good income and was managed well and fairly. He usually checked it covertly twice a year, talking to the people and then the guardian to ensure it remained that way.

  “You will make a fine husband!” Eldron told him and roared with laughter.

  Once they both stopped laughing, Makas turned serious. “Do you intend to wed the girl?”

  Eldron shook his head and snarled. “You know we came out of curiosity. This Lord had made a point of rejecting any alliances before now. So he needs us more than I need a wife and I seek a wife as much as you do and by all accounts, she is not looking for a husband. She likes to read. Do things. If it’s possible, she will be my Ward. This suits us both.”

  Makas raised his eyebrows at the comment. He didn’t believe him. Eldron couldn’t blame him, his actions were strange towards her. He was not himself.

  “If marriage is what her father wants and in the contract, her family will think you dishonour her,” Makas told him quietly.

  Eldron tried to dismiss it. He wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. Whichever way you looked at it, he had put himself in a shit position and had no one to blame but himself.

  Why had he offered to save the child then take her?....

  “I will explain to the sisters. I have no intention of harming her. This way, her father and I get what we want, and no harm done.”

  Makas chuckled. “We both know the father will be badgered by the mother on how dishonoured the family are by you not wedding her. They will think you are fucking her anyway, making her your whore and this could get serious quickly.”

  “Mayhap.” He told him grudgingly.

  “And if she dies?”

  “We keep the alliance, and you can take a wife. Both sisters are marriage worthy as well.”

  Makas laughed once more. “You have become insane; you know my tastes are not those of a docile female. I await you getting better.” He became serious leaning in towards him. “I know what I see and so do your men. The female has captured you Eldron. Make no mistake.”

  He rode back to the front of the column to his elite imparting some if not all of their conversation. Laughter followed. Eldron smiled. That was good. He didn’t worry about Makas words of concern. If the child died, they could still use the alliance.

  If she did not, he would still use her.

  He’d not failed to notice more than a bit of interest from Galron and Brute in the sisters. They came back and forth to the wagon on one pretext or another. He welcomed it. If the child survived, he was sure she would like her sisters near and if not, another child to their Keep would be handy.

  Although surprising that one of his strongest would be interested in the smaller of the sisters. Scarred Brute. The youngest of his elite and not yet twenty six summers. A strange pair they would make. And silent Galron, the assassin who didn’t fear a thing but hesitated around the elder sister.

  Two of his finest men. Both with money and lands like all his elite. They could be their own masters if they so wished.

  After so many years of battles and wars, were their minds turning to other things?....

  They’d had as many women as they wanted over the years, shared many too.

  There were plenty of women who enjoyed the taking of several men to bed at once. He’d enjoyed their favours himself along with his elite and if not with all, then Makas and he would often share a warm female body. Few had come between them. Rarely did they keep one to themselves.

  But the thought of another touching Eleanor made his blood boil. Brothers or not. They could not have her. His mind turned to her scent and her full lush body. His own responding as it always did for a taste of female flesh.

  Were they now seeking things they’d never dreamt possible in those early days of survival?..

  Each man of his elite had turned from their family or been thrown out. Patris and Ranulf were equally fine warriors with lands and titles of their own too but they remained with him as Makas, Brute, Galron did.

  Eldron appreciated honour, not birth right. Every man could earn his own place regardless of their birth. His other men being equally of worth. Standing together for years, covering each other’s backs, standing shoulder to shoulder strong against the odds. Almost all, there for him not the bounty but they had got rich.

  Did they challenge the fates and what they had in store for them?....

  He did not know but things were changing. He could feel it. He believed they made their own destiny. That belief had kept him alive when a lesser man would have failed and given up. He had been pushed beyond his endurance time and time again to better a foe or situation and had lived to enjoy the glory and spoils of war.

  This, would be no different.

  Two.

  The crash of something falling, or thrown roused him.

  Could a man not sleep in his own bed!....

  Awake in moments he realised it was from the room next door and sighed.

  Two days of peace over. Eleanor….

  Her body had held its temperature the night after their arrival at the Keep for the first time, keeping the connecting door open he’d not been woken by her crying out and a check on her temperature had told him she was not losing heat. Relieved the fever was broken at last and she was peacefully asleep, he’d retreated to his bed.

  He was badly in need of sleep to rebuild his reserves, but years of training were hard to ignore. Grabbing his sword, he moved slower than he’d like. Tiredness pulling on him. He walked through the connecting door to his personal chamber into what was now the child’s, Eleanor’s room.

  These rooms had once been his fathers and his mistress’s. Not that Eldron had placed her there for that reason. It was the only set up that allowed for him to still be with her and for her reputation to remain a semblance of purity. On his father’s death, the rooms had been stripped and cleared. His mistress sent packing with enough wealth to buy whatever she wanted and after gutting the place, fresh wash had been applied, the place aired, and he had made it his own.

  No one had used his room but him. Certainly no woman. Until now. Now it was her room and he was relegated to what had once been the mistress’s. What was turned into storage on her leaving and unused, had once again been converted to a bedroom. The connecting door had been installed as a novelty, to save his father’s reputation having no concern on how his actions affected his mothers.

  Now, it allowed Eldron to help Eleanor without calling attention to it.

  She had survived the journey and he’d had her placed in his rooms. They were the best. A maid had constantly kept the fire burning, the room hot. He’d been so tired on arrival that he’d given instruction and retired to let someone else take over. The rest of his wing he’d given over to her sisters and maids. Only he, remained nearby. His elite on guard.

  Coming to a halt as he entered the room, he found it looked empty. No intruder waiting to attack. The lack of light from outside told him it was still hours before dawn. They’d arrived after midnight two nights ago and he was still bone weary. Putting his sword down he walked slowly to the four-poster bed, finding the child huddled at the top, her eyes wide open in fright.

  A bad dream or the unknown surroundings?....

  He didn’t know which but walked to the slowly fire and poured more of the tea the Friar had given him before leaving and walked back to the bed. One look at her and he didn’t think she was truly awake. But he soothed her all the same.

 
; “You are safe here Eleanor. You are not alone.”

  Her eyes flicked to his in fright as she pulled back away from him. Eldron tried not to frighten her, or take offence, reducing his size as much as possible he knelt holding out the tea for her to smell. She seemed to recognise it and reached out to grab the cup taking several deep pulls. He touched her forehead and she didn’t shy away, it was neither clammy, cold or too hot. Satisfied he removed his hand. She seemed to calm once more passing back the cup and laying down.

  “Sleep now,” he told her. She did.

  ***

  She’d been having the strangest dreams. Her eyes felt tight and grainy, a little sore even. For a moment she wondered if she’d partaken of her fathers’ wine and then dismissed it. She did not like it much. Her limbs felt heavy, but she was warm and comfortable. Too comfortable. The room too hot. Throwing back the covers she slowly sat up.

  Dear God, everything hurt…. Had she been in an accident?....

  Eyeing the mead by her bed she shakily poured some and drank it down feeling instantly much better and refilled her goblet. Her stomach rumbled.

  She was starving!.....

  She wiped the sleep from her eyes and took in the room surrounding her. This wasn’t her room. Not her bed. She’d never seen those bed curtains, or the tapestries, the fireplace was grand. Far grander than hers.

  What was wrong with her room? Why wasn’t she in it?....

  Fear and confusion swam around her. Had she seen this room before? She couldn’t remember seeing it.

  Her door opened and a maid she did not know, came in and stoked the fire. She knew all the staff at the castle. Had they hired more staff? She couldn’t remember doing that either. Rising shakily not wishing to address the woman abed, she stood holding on to the bedstead.

  “Who… are you?” She hadn’t meant for her voice to came out harsh and dry.

  The female jumped, turned and screamed on hearing her, dropping the logs she was about to put on the fire. Only moments later a large male came charging into the room from an adjoining door she’d not seen, crashing it against the stone wall carrying a sword half dressed. Eleanor would have laughed at his condition had it not been so perplexing and concerning. She didn’t know him either. Her fear ratcheted higher.

  Who was he and what was he doing here? And in a state of undress!.....

  Eleanor narrowed her eyes at him. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn’t place it. He looked at the maid and checked about her for an enemy that wasn’t there. Eleanor nearly giggled at his half-dressed state and dominant stance but stopped herself taking in the sight of him. He was in earnest and not one of her father’s warriors. She knew them all.

  Eyes wide, she couldn’t miss that he was a spectacular male. Even in just his under garments. No tunic at all. Long dark hair hung down a broad chest that carried a number of scars that reflected in the light. He was packed with muscle on top of muscle. His arms thick from years of wielding a sword. This was more than a Knight.

  “Ailwin,” he growled quietly. “Can you not make so much bloody noise. Can a man not rest in his own house!” He hissed.

  Eleanor’s eyes widened. She wasn’t in her own house?.....

  The maid bobbed and looked over to the bed warily. “She is awake sir.”

  Eleanor watched him turn his head like a whip towards her, taking in that she was standing and assessing her. She did not flinch under his gaze.

  Who was this Knight afore her half-dressed?....

  Her confusion warred with her knowledge. He was huge, his gaze intense and penetrating. A sense of foreboding hit her. Her legs gave out and she slumped back on the mattress. The sword forgotten; he was there instantly. The wariness gone, he helped her return to bed, saying soothing words of comfort. To her embarrassment her stomach rumbled.

  “Food and more of that tea the Friar gave us, quickly now,” he called out.

  Once back in the warmth of the blankets and furs he propped her head and shoulders up and threw another fur around them. She looked up at him in concern. This was no way for a Knight to behave. Going back to the fire he built it up once more with the logs the maid had dropped.

  She realised that she didn’t feel frightened by him. He was a stranger in her bed chamber, but she didn’t fear him. It was clear he was Lord here. Had she gone visiting? Been lost on a ride? She was sure she didn’t know him and yet, she did.

  What had happened to her?....

  She reached for the mead once more her limbs suddenly feeling heavy and there he was, passing her the goblet. She drank and looked at her …. Saviour?... and indicated the chair by the bed. He took it.

  “What…. happened?” she asked closing her eyes and leaning back.

  She listened saying nothing while he relayed her story as to how she was abed.

  She flinched on hearing how stupid she’d seen. She knew the dangers of the cold.

  Her eyes too heavy to remain open she spoke honestly with this stranger.

  “I remember….. Sightings, the herald, possible invaders coming our way. Being further East father had hoped they wouldn’t come so far. He was wrong. Scouts told him otherwise. He wanted alliances to protect the land and people and sent word to several Lords of what he knew.” She sighed.

  “We’d not expected to see anyone so soon. The herald arrived with news of a Lord coming from the West. We only knew of one and it was worrisome. His reputation as a warrior was well known. He didn’t care much for alliances so his early arrival…. could have meant war and we were unprepared for such at attack.

  “Father still hadn’t returned from visiting the other nobles he knew in the East and South. We were unsure of why the Lord came so early and feared the worst but would still welcome him as my father wanted. With only half our troops we needed to be sure. I could hold a siege if needed until fathers return.”

  “Why were you on the tower?” he asked gently.

  Eleanor smiled cautiously; her eyes still not open. “The Lord of the West has a reputation. One that is difficult to ignore. He is strong to be sure, but he is also ruthless and dangerous. They are called The Barbarians for a reason. I wanted to see what we were facing. It was stupid and I should have left when I became cold.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “No. I wanted……. I’m not sure what I wanted.” She opened her eyes as the tea came in and she swapped it for the mead. Too much mead would not help her when her brain was so unclear.

  They sat in silence while she sipped the tea, then a bowl of something delicious came into the room on a tray and was handed to the male next to her.

  “You need to eat. Chicken stew can you manage it?” Eleanor nodded, he placed it before her carefully. Putting her tea down, she picked up the spoon and started to eat.

  He watched her clear the bowl and dip the bread in the gravy. Tired and full, she wiped her delicate mouth and sat back, taking her tea with her.

  “I thank thee, I feel better for eating.”

  She closed her eyes once more and felt herself drift. Before she knew it, the tea was being lifted from her hands and her pillows lowered.

  “Why do I not know you?…..” she whispered tiredly rolling over into the warmth once more.

  “Sleep.”

  ***

  When she woke this time, the owner of the voice she now knew so well was giving out orders. It appeared her bedroom had become his office. He sat at a desk in the corner of the room. She didn’t move and listened while officers quietly sort his instructions. As the last person left her stomach rumbled giving her away. She tried to sit up and found his helping hand already there, adjusting her pillows and realised her concerns from before were right. This wasn’t her room. It was far too grand.

  “I thank thee. Do I have any maids I might use?” suddenly feeling the need to toilette, wash and clean up.

  “You do, would you like me to call them?”

  “Yes.” Warmth flared in her face at what she needed to do. “I’
d like to ….”

  He held up his hand and moved towards the door. “I understand. I will go in search of more food and let your sisters know you are awake.”

  “They are here?”

  “Indeed, given the choice they came with you.”

  Eleanor frowned and looked up at him. “Came with me?”

  She took in the room once more, looking more deliberately around. There was nothing familiar. The rock walls were a different stone and well made. The windows too. There was nothing familiar to the castle. She started to hyperventilate. This wasn’t a case of just not her room or a different house.

  “I’m not at home.” She whispered.

  He stopped. Realising she didn’t know of his bargain with her father. This was the first time she’d really been coherent, and he wondered if this was the best time to tell her. The surprise or shock could set her back. He contemplated for a moment. Then took several steps back towards the end of the bed.

  “My Lady, forgive me.” He bowed then straightened. “My name is Lord Eldron.” He noted her eyes took on a shocked look. She knew the name.

  “I’m afraid you were so badly ill, there was a chance that you wouldn’t survive. As I explained on your rising yesterday, on finding you near death I had to take unusual steps to ensure you didn’t die. It was a long and arduous time, keeping you for falling back into a cold coma from which it was likely you would not wake.” Her shocked face paled.

  “We have experience of this. It is a serious matter. Life threatening. Those steps gave you a chance to survive. On your parents return, your father and mother were unhappy with them. There was an argument. Things were said. They felt I’d been… too familiar in saving you.”