Jarrod wheeled his horse and the entire contingent cantered toward the gate.
Kai, Sebastian, and I stood in the courtyard until they were out of sight.
“What shall we do with our day?” Sebastian asked. “How about a game of cards?”
I smiled. “You two play. I was lax yesterday, and I need to make sure Betty and Matilda have seen to cleaning the guest rooms.”
Not long past dusk, I met Sebastian and Kai in the great hall.
“Your father said we should go ahead and eat if they hadn’t returned yet, so I’ve ordered dinner be brought in.”
Sebastian smiled. “Dinner without Father and Rolf? What a treat.”
The three of us sat down at the table. Betty carried a tray with baked trout and greens.
“Is there bread?” Kai asked.
“Yes, my lord. I’ll fetch you some.”
She had just turned away when a loud crashing sounded from somewhere at the front of the keep. It sounded as if the front doors had been opened hard and fast enough to slam against the walls.
“Sebastian!”
I knew the voice. It was Daveed. He was nearly screaming.
Kai bolted first, with Sebastian running after. I ran after them, down the passage for the front doors. We reached the open doors to find Daveed on his knees panting for breath. His head was bleeding from a wound, but he saw us coming.
“Kai . . .” he choked out. “Your father . . . get your father.”
Kai ran past him as Sebastian skidded to a stop and dropped to his knees. “Daveed.”
I hurried after Kai, thinking to find the contingent in the courtyard and learn what had happened. Only one lathered horse stood waiting, with Jarrod draped over its back. Other guards from the barracks were running out by now.
Kai got to Jarrod first. “Father!”
Reaching up, he struggled to lift Jarrod’s prone form off the horse. Once he’d done this, he dropped down while holding his father in his arms. Jarrod was unconscious, his skin was nearly white, and there was an ugly slash across his stomach.
As the other guards reached us, several knelt to see if they could help Kai with Jarrod.
Captain Marcel swung his head left and right. “Where’s Lord Rolf? Where are the rest of our men?”
“Get Lord Jarrod inside and into a bed,” I said.
Kai’s face had turned nearly as white as his father’s. “Captain, take him. Do as your lady says and get him inside.” He jumped up and ran back to the open doorway. “Daveed, where’s Rolf?”
“I’m so sorry,” Daveed said in open anguish. “He’s gone. We were ambushed.”
“Gone?” Sebastian repeated.
Several men came up behind us carrying Jarrod. I went with them to the tower and then up to Jarrod’s room.
“Lay him on the bed,” I said.
Jarrod’s wound was still bleeding. Had it penetrated his stomach though, he’d already be dead.
“Send for water,” I ordered Captain Marcel.
Kai, Sebastian, and Daveed entered the room.
“Sebastian, help me with this armor,” I asked.
As he moved to assist me, Kai looked down at us.
“Daveed,” he said. “What did you mean about Rolf? Where is he?”
Daveed wouldn’t look at anyone, and he began speaking quietly. “Dead, back where he fell. Right as we rode up to the lodge to meet Lord Allemond, men came out of the trees . . . maybe thirty of them. We were outnumbered. They struck Rolf down first.”
He went on to say that Jarrod had been injured, but not fallen off his horse. Daveed had jumped onto the horse and ridden fast before he could be stopped.
“I left everyone else behind,” he said, his voice edged with pain and self-recrimination.
The room fell silent again, but now Kai was shaking.
“You did the right thing,” I said to Daveed. “What else could you do? Had you not tried to save Lord Jarrod, you’d both be dead.”
Daveed raised his eyes to me, but I’d only spoken the truth.
“It was Allemond?” Kai demanded. “He planned this?”
Daveed nodded. “Yes, he must have.”
“Then he’s dead! Captain, prepare the men! All of them. We’ll attack tonight and burn Monvílle Hall to the ground.”
“No,” Sebastian broke in. “Captain, stand down. We can’t attack the Monvílle estate. That place is a fortress, and with a wall high enough for archers.”
“We can’t sit here and do nothing!” Kai shouted. “They killed Rolf!”
Sebastian grabbed his shoulders. “I didn’t say we’d do nothing.”
Kai jerked away, lost in grief, but I suspected Sebastian was right. An open attack would only further injure the Volodanes.
Standing, I hurried to Kai. “I’ll write to my father and tell him everything. When the council learns of this, Allemond will be punished.”
Sebastian joined us. “Good. Kai, listen to her. She’s right, and I won’t allow any of our men to be killed in a futile attempt.”
As he said this, I realized that with Rolf gone and Jarrod incapacitated, Sebastian was in charge of the keep.
I turned back toward Jarrod, whose eyes were still closed. “Everything else can wait. Is there a physician within riding distance?”
“Not that I know of,” Sebastian answered.
“There’s Abigail,” Kai said, his voice still shaking. “I can ride and get her.”
“No,” Sebastian said flatly. “He wouldn’t want that.”
“Who’s Abigail?” I asked.
“A wise woman from the village just beyond our own,” Kai answered. “She’s a skilled healer.”
“She’s a witch,” Sebastian said, “and Father wouldn’t want her touching him.”
His words surprised me. At this point, we had to try anything.
“I’m going to see what’s taking so long with the water,” I said. “We need to clean the wound. Kai, would you come with me?”
He looked so defeated that for a moment, I wasn’t sure he’d heard me. Then he followed me out into the passage. Once we were alone, I gripped his shirtsleeve.
“Is this Abigail a true healer?” I asked.
“Yes, I’ve seen her at work.”
“How far away is she?”
His eyes settled on my face, and I had his full attention. “Two villages to the east, but the distance isn’t far.”
“Then ride and get her. Bring her here.”
“Sebastian said no.”
“He’s wrong. If we don’t do something, try something, your father will die.”
As the youngest member of the Volodanes, perhaps Kai had lived so long under the shadow of doing as he was ordered that it had never occurred to him to disobey an order from his father or one of his brothers.
But now, as my words sank in, he nodded. “I’ll hurry.”
Then he was running down the passage for the stairs. Betty bustled past him, carrying a basin of warm water. She and I entered the room, and I set about cleaning Jarrod’s wound.
Sebastian stood behind me, watching for a while, and then he looked around. “Where’s Kai?”
“I sent him after Abigail.”
“What?”
His tone held an edge of threat I’d never heard, but then again, I’d never crossed him before.
“We must try something. Kai cannot lose his brother and his father in the same night, and I know you don’t want your father to die.”
A flicker passed across his eyes, and I shivered. Did he wish for his father’s death?