approve?"
"Because he used magic against me."
"Once," Galen told Alayna, "and perhaps."
"It is a place to start," Mordred said with yet another aloof smile. "Rather than this, we would do better to discuss our approach to Castle Burrstone."
Before Alayna could complain that she had thought he knew how to get there, Galen sighed. Loudly. "Stealth," he said as though it were an old argument, "is for thieves, and foxes in the chicken coop. Not for the righteous."
"Someone who steals a child
is
a thief," Mordred countered. "Does one meet a thief's stealth with chivalry?"
"We don't know for a certainty that Halbert is the culprit."
Mordred gave a grin that had nothing of aloofness in it. "Nor will we," he said, "if we approach openly, declare and challenge. That will give him more than enough time to hide away anything he does not want us to see."
At least, Alayna thought, watching her brother settle in to convince Mordred of something Mordred was all too obviously set against being convinced of, it would take their minds off her, and the question of whether she should be there.
At worst, it freed her mind once more to agonize about Kiera.
They reached Castle Burrstone two days later. Sand-colored walls were reflected in the clear water of the wide moat, and bright banners snapped in the breeze. It was...
prettier
was the best word Alayna could come up with ... it was prettier than she had anticipated. Was this the home of someone who stole away children? Yet she was relieved, tooâin case it
was
the home of someone who stole away children.
Galen must have seen the surprise on her face. Grinning, he asked, "Did you expect swamps and dragons?"
Without raising his voice, without sounding alarmed, Mordred said, "Archer in the north bartizan."
Crossbow,
Alayna noted. Her father would have disapproved, saying that Christian men should fight each other as Christian men were meant to: face-to-face, relying on their God-given strength and skill. Bows were for hunters, and the newer crossbows were to be used on boar, deer, and heathen Saracens.
Two knights dressed in full field armor stepped out onto the lowered drawbridge just before them. They stood with feet apart and both hands on the hilts of their sheathed swords, which were pointedâat least for the momentâdownward.
"Declare and challenge," Mordred muttered, having been in the end worn down by Galen's scruples, and obviously wanting to remind themâshould they get killedâwho was at fault for it.
"Straightforward is the best," Galen assured them both. But she noticed that he quietly placed himself between her and the archers.
She had wavered last night, knowing that Mordred's way was safer, Galen's more decent, but they hadn't sought her opinion, and she had been glad to let them work it out, being reluctant to commit herself to either. But in the face of those guards, Mordred's arguments gained, too late, considerably more strength.
The three of them passed between the two guards, whose eyes remained perfectly forward.
In the courtyard another knight stood waiting, dressed in a simple hauberk instead of cap-a-pie armor, and his attitude was less openly aggressive.
"More archers," Alayna muttered, catching a movement at one of the archer loops above. There was no way to tell if the others heard, but they no doubt expected it in any case.
But the knight certainly didn't look as though he meant to intimidate them, and as they pulled up he even smiled at them, still mounted, in greeting. "Welcome, my Lady," he said smoothly, as if he often greeted ladies in leather jerkins and hose. "My Lords. I am Sir Denis, seneschal at Castle Burrstone. May I be of assistance to you?"
"Our business is with the wizard," Mordred said brusquely.
But Sir Denis refused to take offense. "And may I have your names to tell Sir Halbert?"
"Mordred of Orkney," Mordred said. "Sir Galen and his sister Lady Alayna De La Croix."
Denis bowed and motioned for a boy to
"Because he used magic against me."
"Once," Galen told Alayna, "and perhaps."
"It is a place to start," Mordred said with yet another aloof smile. "Rather than this, we would do better to discuss our approach to Castle Burrstone."
Before Alayna could complain that she had thought he knew how to get there, Galen sighed. Loudly. "Stealth," he said as though it were an old argument, "is for thieves, and foxes in the chicken coop. Not for the righteous."
"Someone who steals a child
is
a thief," Mordred countered. "Does one meet a thief's stealth with chivalry?"
"We don't know for a certainty that Halbert is the culprit."
Mordred gave a grin that had nothing of aloofness in it. "Nor will we," he said, "if we approach openly, declare and challenge. That will give him more than enough time to hide away anything he does not want us to see."
At least, Alayna thought, watching her brother settle in to convince Mordred of something Mordred was all too obviously set against being convinced of, it would take their minds off her, and the question of whether she should be there.
At worst, it freed her mind once more to agonize about Kiera.
They reached Castle Burrstone two days later. Sand-colored walls were reflected in the clear water of the wide moat, and bright banners snapped in the breeze. It was...
prettier
was the best word Alayna could come up with ... it was prettier than she had anticipated. Was this the home of someone who stole away children? Yet she was relieved, tooâin case it
was
the home of someone who stole away children.
Galen must have seen the surprise on her face. Grinning, he asked, "Did you expect swamps and dragons?"
Without raising his voice, without sounding alarmed, Mordred said, "Archer in the north bartizan."
Crossbow,
Alayna noted. Her father would have disapproved, saying that Christian men should fight each other as Christian men were meant to: face-to-face, relying on their God-given strength and skill. Bows were for hunters, and the newer crossbows were to be used on boar, deer, and heathen Saracens.
Two knights dressed in full field armor stepped out onto the lowered drawbridge just before them. They stood with feet apart and both hands on the hilts of their sheathed swords, which were pointedâat least for the momentâdownward.
"Declare and challenge," Mordred muttered, having been in the end worn down by Galen's scruples, and obviously wanting to remind themâshould they get killedâwho was at fault for it.
"Straightforward is the best," Galen assured them both. But she noticed that he quietly placed himself between her and the archers.
She had wavered last night, knowing that Mordred's way was safer, Galen's more decent, but they hadn't sought her opinion, and she had been glad to let them work it out, being reluctant to commit herself to either. But in the face of those guards, Mordred's arguments gained, too late, considerably more strength.
The three of them passed between the two guards, whose eyes remained perfectly forward.
In the courtyard another knight stood waiting, dressed in a simple hauberk instead of cap-a-pie armor, and his attitude was less openly aggressive.
"More archers," Alayna muttered, catching a movement at one of the archer loops above. There was no way to tell if the others heard, but they no doubt expected it in any case.
But the knight certainly didn't look as though he meant to intimidate them, and as they pulled up he even smiled at them, still mounted, in greeting. "Welcome, my Lady," he said smoothly, as if he often greeted ladies in leather jerkins and hose. "My Lords. I am Sir Denis, seneschal at Castle Burrstone. May I be of assistance to you?"
"Our business is with the wizard," Mordred said brusquely.
But Sir Denis refused to take offense. "And may I have your names to tell Sir Halbert?"
"Mordred of Orkney," Mordred said. "Sir Galen and his sister Lady Alayna De La Croix."
Denis bowed and motioned for a boy to
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