The Conquest Read online

  "Did not take the child? What do you mean?"

  "I do not know," Rogan said. "The man is always full of words."

  At the very idea that Tearle didn't take Rogan's son Zared's heart leaped, but she made it be still. She had believed in him once, but she was not going to believe in him again. She stood there rigidly, seeing that he was having difficulty in standing, but by some great force of will he was making himself remain upright. He had not looked in her direction since he had left the courtyard.

  "Rogan," Liana said, "I want to hear what the man says."

  "Nay," Rogan said. "I will hear no more of his lies." He turned to his men. "Take him below."

  Zared would not have thought that Tearle had any fight left in him, but he struggled against Rogan's men when they put their hands on him.

  It was at the struggle that Rogan's son let out a cry of protest and ran toward the men. The child, who was afraid of nothing, ran straight into their heavily shod feet.

  Everyone else in the room was so intent on what was happening with the adults that no one but Liana saw the child. She gave a scream of fright, and when she did nearly everyone looked down and saw the boy just as one of Rogan's men's fists came toward the boy's head.

  With his last bit of effort Tearle twisted and used his own body to protect the child from the blow. The fist hit Tearle's side, and everyone in the room heard the crack of Tearle's ribs.

  For a moment all was still, everyone too stunned by what had happened to move. Tearle was on the floor, his body protectively over the child.

  Liana went to her child, but the boy put his arms around Tearle's neck and held on.

  Zared did not seem able to move as she stood to one side and watched. Tearle, with tears of pain in his eyes, rolled to a sitting position and took the child in his arms.

  He looked over the boy's head to Liana, who was standing by, shaking with fear from having come, again, so close to losing her child, for had the man's fist struck the child, it would have no doubt killed him.

  "We have become friends in the last days," Tearle said, his voice strained and shallow.

  Rogan started toward the man and boy, but Liana put her hand out to stop him. "What happened?" she whispered.

  They could all see that it was with utmost difficulty that Tearle spoke, and there was no imagining the pain the sturdy child must be causing him as he moved about on Tearle's lap, but the boy would not leave Tearle even when his mother held out her arms to him.

  "I could not sleep," Tearle said, and they could hardly hear him. "I went below, and…" He took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment against the pain. "The child was there. We… we played with a ball for a while." Tearle took another breath. "I must have fallen asleep. I opened my eyes, and the gate was open, and the child was gone." Tearle winced as the active little boy kicked him in the stomach, but Tearle merely put his hand on the child's foot and gently held it.

  "I went to the gate and saw the boy walking toward the forest." Tearle took a breath. "My brother's men watch this place."

  "We know that," Rogan snapped. "I will not listen to this."

  Liana put herself between her husband and Tearle. She was protective of the child and anyone whom the child befriended. "What did you do?"

  "I saddled my horse and went after the boy," Tearle said, and he looked at the boy fondly, his big hand on the back of the child's head. "My brother's men had taken him, just as I feared."

  The boy sat down in Tearle's lap and began to play with the tattered remnants of his surcoat.

  Tearle looked up at Liana. "I could not kill my brother's men, and I could not risk injury to the boy. I went with them in order to protect the boy."

  "I will listen to no more of these lies. He is a Howard and is as dangerous as a snake," Rogan said.

  Liana turned on her husband. "Do you think your son is so stupid that he does not know an enemy when he sees one? Was the boy so at ease with the other men?"

  "He was frightened of the other men," Severn said. "Remember, Rogan? The boy screamed when one of the men came too near him."

  "I remember nothing," Rogan said, but he didn't move toward Tearle.

  Tearle looked down at the boy in his lap. "My brother's men are barbarians. They would have killed him for the sport of it. I could not allow that." He ran his hand down the boy's leg. "He is a fine lad."

  Zared had not said a word, but it was at that moment that she knew he was telling the truth. He had done just what he said he had done: He had gone after the boy and stayed with him to protect him.

  "He is telling the truth," she whispered to her brother, and she could feel Tearle's eyes on her.

  "A Howard does not know how to tell the truth."

  "He does, and he is," Zared said, her jaw clenched. "He did not take the child." She glared at her brother. "Where did you find my husband?"

  When Rogan did not immediately answer her she knew without a doubt that her husband had been telling the truth, and suddenly she felt lighter than she ever had in her life. "Where was he when you found him?" she practically shouted at her brother.

  "He was returning," Severn said.

  "Returning?" Zared's heart became even lighter. "You mean he was coming back here? He was bringing the child with him and coming back here? I thought you said you killed the other Howard men."

  Rogan had a look on his face that said he was not going to speak, so Zared looked to Severn,

  "They were chasing him," Severn said quietly.

  At that both women erupted, and they attacked the two brothers. "He was running away from his brother's men? You killed the Howard men, and then you beat the man who was saving your son?" This last was from Liana.

  Liana went to her husband and looked up at him. "Is your hatred so strong that it colors your judgment? For weeks I have seen you punish this man, and day after day he has taken your abuse, yet I have seen no evidence that he is the devil that you claim he is." She gestured toward her son. "Look you at them. Your three-year-old son has more sense than you do. He knows a friend when he sees one."

  With that she turned to Tearle and bent to him. "You may be a Howard, but you have proven that you are a friend. Thank you for saving my child." She leaned forward and kissed Tearle's cheek, then took her heavy son from his lap and stood up. "Take our friend and care for him," she said to the men. "He is to be treated with the utmost care that we can offer him."

  Tearle pushed the helping hands away, hands that a moment before had tried to kill him. Slowly, with much pain, he managed to rise without aid. "I will stay here no longer. I will go home."

  Liana looked at him and nodded. She felt very bad for the way she had treated him in the past few weeks, but she understood that he did not want to see any of the Peregrines ever again.

  Zared moved to stand beside her husband and looked at her brother in defiance. "I am going with him."

  Before Rogan could protest Tearle turned to look down at her. "No," he said.

  She looked up at him. "I want to go with you. Wherever you go, I want to go with you."

  His swollen face was cold and hard. "No. I do not want you."

  Cold fear washed over Zared. "But I trust you. I know you did not take the child. I know now that you are not my enemy."

  His face did not soften. "You did not believe in me. I saw the hatred in your eyes. You thought I was guilty, just as your brothers did." He looked away from her as though the matter were settled and looked at Liana. "May I have the return of my horse? I would leave now."

  Liana's eyes widened. "You cannot think to ride a horse. You are injured, and you have no men to go with you to protect you."

  "I would leave this place now," he said, gasping against the effort.

  After that no one stood in his way. No one tried to persuade him to remain in the Peregrine castle. Even Zared stood to one side as he walked out of the room and out of her life. She watched him go, and she wanted to go after him, but her pride wouldn't allow her to go. If he didn't wa