Lords of Darkness and Shadow Read Online Free Page B

a water trough, looking at her hands.
    Brandt’s movements slowed as he gazed at her lowered head. Oddly, he was coming to feel some remorse.  She wanted her men back, so he had obeyed her wishes, only he had done it in a fairly vindictive fashion.  He knew very well that she wasn’t equipped to handle all of them this night, but he had brought them to her anyway. That had been his spiteful-self talking and he could indeed be spiteful when the mood struck him. Maybe he had been too harsh about it. 
    He didn’t like feelings of remorse. He wasn’t a remorseful man by nature. His confusion trickled into brusque movements, which his charger sensed. The animal was feisty and exhausted, dancing nervously as they headed back the way they had come.  Brandt tried not to look at the lady as he rode past her, but a creeping sense of guilt was eating at him.
    More than that, he suspected his actions would meet with de Nerra’s ears and the man would become incensed at him.  He didn’t need that kind of an enemy.  Perhaps he should try to ease the situation before the daughter’s version of the story roused all of Erith against him.
    With a heavy sigh, he pulled his charger to a halt and turned back in the lady’s direction, but his horse wasn’t cooperating.  The beast fought him and kicked up great clods of mud that flew right at Ellowyn, hitting her squarely in the chest and neck. She was so startled by the flying mud that she lost her balance and toppled back into the trough.
    Brandt was off his mount, rushing to pull her from the water.  She was sputtering by the time he reached her, grasping her by both arms and pulling her effortlessly from the cold, dirty water.
    “I am sorry, my lady,” he said. He meant it. “I fear my horse is to blame for your misery.”
    Ellowyn was cold, upset, and pushed beyond her endurance. She opened her mouth to yell at him but the words wouldn’t come forth. The fight had gone out of her.  Instead, she burst into tears.
    “Just... go away,” she sobbed softly, picking at the sopping garment. “Go away and leave me alone.”
    “But....”
    “I asked you to leave me,” she snapped, sounding more like her aggressive self.  She struggled to gather up her very wet, and very heavy, skirt. “I do not require your assistance. You have done your duty by delivering my father’s men and I would be grateful if you would simply go away and forget we ever met, for certainly, I will try and do the same.”
    Brandt watched with regret as she gingerly picked her way back across the muddy, rutted road and back towards the inn. She was absolutely soaked and trying to avoid dragging her dripping surcoat through the dirt.  As he stood there and debated what to do, the door to the inn flew open and the knight that Ellowyn had stabbed in the hand came barreling through. 
    The man was all fire and curses, shoving men out of the way that didn’t move fast enough. The bloodied hand flailed through the air like a monument to his injury, held high for all to see. But the moment he spied Ellowyn in the middle of the street, his manner changed. He went from simple rage to a deadly malevolence all in a split second. He may have even growled. Ellowyn had her head down and didn’t see the man as he headed right for her.
    “You are brave when your husband is about,” he snarled. “Does your bravery hold true when you are alone, you little bitch?”
    Ellowyn’s head snapped up at the sound of the voice, her eyes widening with fright when she saw who had uttered it.  Her escort picked that moment to round the corner of the inn, having no idea of the danger she was in. They were only focused on her and not the angry knight advancing on her.  Ellowyn tried to back away from the knight but was hindered by her very heavy and very wet skirt.  She ended up stepping on the hem and falling to her backside as the knight closed in on her. 
    She might have uttered a cry because her escort was suddenly