Lion's Bride - Iris Johansen [51]
He scowled. “I hate for you to be interrupted. You’ve just got started.”
“My lord, perhaps…” Abdul stopped and then said, “I think the Lady Thea should not see this. It may upset her.”
“What is it?” Thea asked, alarmed. “What’s happened?”
“If you didn’t want her to go, you shouldn’t have told her she should stay,” Ware muttered as he strode from the chamber.
Thea quickly followed them, almost running to match their stride as they crossed the courtyard. “What’s happened, Abdul?”
“A short time ago we saw a knight approaching the castle. He stopped just outside range of our arrows.”
Ware stopped in midstride. “Did his mantle bear the sign of the cross?”
Abdul shook his head. “He bore no mark of identification, but he rode a great white horse.”
“Christ.” Ware started toward the gates at a run. “Is he still there?”
“No, but he left something. I sent Hassan and Iman out to drag it into the courtyard.”
“And be trapped?”
“We made sure he was out of view. And, after all, he’s only one man, my lord.”
“I’ve seen that man kill eight seasoned soldiers in the space of the time it takes to lower a drawbridge.”
The drawbridge was lowering now, and Ware waited as Hassan and Iman crossed the moat. His muscles were braced, as they had been yesterday at the grove, Thea noticed. For the same cause?
“Vaden?” she asked.
He nodded curtly, his gaze on the approaching horsemen. They were dragging something behind them. A body?
She stepped forward as they reached the courtyard.
It was not a body; it was a tree. A young mulberry tree of about seven feet in length.
At least she thought it was a mulberry tree. Every limb had been hacked from its trunk, the roots cruelly severed. It was an act of cold, deliberate destruction.
She shivered as she moved to stand beside Ware. “He killed it,” she whispered. “Why would he do that? And why would he bring it here?”
Ware motioned to Abdul. “Get rid of it. I don’t want to see it again.” He turned and strode back toward the castle.
Thea took one last glance at the butchered tree before running to catch up with him. She suddenly realized Ware’s face was pale, his expression grimmer than she had ever seen it. “Why would he do that? It makes no sense.”
“You don’t venture through those gates,” he said harshly. “I don’t even want you on the battlements until after dark.”
“How could I leave the castle? You permit no one to leave without your consent.”
“How do I know what you’ll do? You might decide to go after more of your cursed mulberry leaves.”
“I told you I had a sufficient—” She stopped as she made the connection. “You believe the tree is a warning.”
“I know it’s a warning.”
She was trying to work it out. “But not against you.”
“Vaden has no doubt that I know he’s going to kill me.”
Not try to kill him, but going to kill him. He spoke as if his death by Vaden’s hand were inevitable. “Then why—” Her eyes widened in shock. “Me?”
“He saw you stop Abdul and the others from hacking off the branches. He knew I’d know what he meant.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “He wants to kill me?”
“He doesn’t want to do it, he feels he must. Vaden is no butcher of innocents.”
She could believe that the man who had coldly, methodically dismembered that tree was capable of anything. “You’re defending him.”
“I’m not defending him; I’m explaining. Vaden is a fair man. He could have killed you yesterday, but he wanted to give warning of his intention.”
“But why? I’ve done nothing to harm him.”
“No, you’ve done nothing. I’m at fault. I was stupid and allowed myself—Christ, you’d think I’d learn. Does the whole world have to die before I—” He turned and moved toward the stable. “Go inside and stay there. I’m going to ride out and see if I can find him.”
Fear sliced through her. He had already told Abdul how formidable Vaden was. “You’re going alone?”
He nodded grimly. “I won’t have my men pay for my stupidity. I doubt if he’ll let me find him. He flits around these mountains like a phantom.”
“He was on the third mountain….”
“Do you think me a fool?