The Knight and the Dove Read Online Free Page A

her mount. Megan kept her face impassive, not wishing to give her mother the satisfaction of knowing how fearful she was of going away to a strange man’s castle. She thought of trying to reason with Annora once more, but just a glance allowed her to see the hatred in her eyes, and Megan knew she would be wasting her time.
    Megan glanced at the men assigned to accompany her. She did not recognize any of them, but they caused her no fear. Her father would kill them if she came to harm in their hands. Megan thought how sad it was that they had more of a care for her than her mother did. Once on horseback, Megan spoke to her mother.
    “Please tell Father that I said goodbye and that I look forward to seeing him when he visits.”
    Megan gained a small measure of satisfaction in seeing the flicker of uncertainty in her mother’s look but it didn’t last. The older woman’s chin came up before she bade her daughter goodbye in a cold tone.
    Megan, whose throat was suddenly very tight, said nothing. She turned her mount and heeled her forward, tears clogging her throat as she rode.

     
    The sun was dropping low in the sky when one of the men said they would make camp soon. Megan questioned how far they had to go and was told they would arrive at Hawkings Crest before noon the following day.
    They came into a copse of trees that would be their shelter for the night. As glad as Megan was to stop, she ached all over as she forced her body to slide from the horse’s back.
    Not for the first time, Megan was impressed with her escort. There had been little conversation as they traveled, but their care of her could not be criticized. Now they made camp with amazing ease. Just an hour later, Megan was sitting comfortably on a log, eating rabbit that had been cooked over a spit. Within minutes she was feeling greatly refreshed, but when the man in charge, Hubert by name, recommended sleep, Megan was more than happy to comply.
    Megan found herself near the fire, the men nearby to protect her, but as she lay down she wondered what her father would say of her situation. She knew that he had planned to leave Stone Lake early in the day with a full band of men and provisions, and have her to Hawkings Crest before nightfall. Megan also realized he would be furious if he could see her now. She debated the wisdom of giving him too many details. Praying that she wouldn’t walk in her sleep this night, she drifted off, her blanket literally covering her from head to foot.

     
    The attack on their camp came sometime after midnight. One second Megan was sleeping in her blanket, the next she was beingrolled under some nearby bushes where she sat up and looked out in horror at the unfolding scene.
    Men, seemingly dozens of them, were in vicious attack against her guard. Megan kept her hand pressed tightly to her mouth to keep from crying out as she watched one, then two, and finally all three of her guards fall dead to the ground. Some of the attackers were dead as well, but at least six men were still standing.
    Megan continued to watch as one of them broke open her small trunk and howled in frustration. She watched her belongings fly everywhere.
    “Clothing! I thought they had gold.”
    “Let me see,” said another.
    “Fool!” raged yet a third, obviously in charge. “We lost men tonight over a trunk full of homespun rags.”
    Megan watched the first man lift the trunk and throw it toward her. She closed her eyes in anticipation of the blow, but the trunk landed beyond the bush.
    “What now?” one asked.
    “We move on,” the third man said. “There’s nothing here but some good horseflesh. Let’s ride.”
    There was a flurry of movement as the men departed, taking all four of her father’s horses with them.
    When the battle had commenced, Megan thought it was going to last forever. Now that it was over, she wondered if only seconds had passed. She was trembling from head to foot, but the night was long spent before she could bring