Two Knights of Indulgence Read Free

carried him out of the room and down
the winding keep stairs, out through the hall, and back outside to the lower
bailey before depositing him on the dusty ground before the large man’s
feet.   Gui was dropped beside him and as he peered around,
he saw Sybille, Felix, and their servant, Magda ,
being held by a man each.
    “So these are the last of de Campion’s whelps?”
    “He claimed to have seven sons and had four with him
in
Paris
, yet
we find four sons here,” came from the man who had held Nicolas.   Nicolas turned to scowl at the bandit and was
shocked to see he was not as old as he’d thought.   He was probably less than Sybille’s eight and
ten, but his strength had opposed his age.
    “What of the daughter?” asked the big man.
    “I do not know.   We did not see any other souls here.”   The younger boy pointed toward Sybille and the others.   “Perhaps we ask them. These little ones will
not help much.”
    The bandit strolled over to Sybille, drawing her free
from the man who held her and lifting her into the air to face him, her feet
dangling in the air.   “Where is the
little wench?”
    “I am a lady, not a wench.”
    The big man chuckled before ripping her helm off,
allowing her golden locks to fall about her face and shoulders.   “The lady thinks herself a boy?”   He looked closely at her as he dropped her to
her feet and caught her face in his grasp.   “You are as fine as your mother.   You will warm my bed well.”
    “I will do no such thing!”
    “Did your parents not send word?   I have won your hand as well as these
lands.   All here is now mine , including you and your brothers.   Be good to me, and perhaps I’ll spare their
lives.”
    “My parents sent no such word.”   Sybille gazed at Nicolas, her eyes widening
before looking back at the bandit.   “And
may I ask whose hand I have supposedly been given to?”
    “The name is Sir Eustache of
Rouen
, at your service.” The man bowed to his
sister and then rose to his full height, head and shoulders above Sybille.   “Your parents were so relieved with the bag
of gold I thrust into their hands, I doubt they stopped counting the pieces
long enough to send you word.”   He thrust
the same vellum at her that he’d shown to Guillaume and Petior before they’d killed them.   She didn’t
reach and grasp it, her eyes looking to him fleetingly.
    “Take it, here’s your proof.”
    Sybille’s fingers shook as she read over the paper,
her eyes growing large.   She looked to
Nicolas and Gui once more
before turning back to the large knight.
    The man walked away and turned his back on Sybille,
looking at Nicolas and Gui .   “How old are the brats?”
    “The—brats—have names.”
    Sir Eustache stomped back to her, anger tightening his
shoulders before he grasped her face once more, pulling her close.   Nicolas held his breath, the action reminding
him of the times his father struck his mother.   Nicolas screwed his eyes tight for a moment, but opened them a short
time later when he heard no resounding slap.   “I have no time for this.   I asked
a question, wench.”
    “Felix here beside me is eight summers.”   Sybille wrinkled her nose like he did when
they had liver for their supper.   “ Gui is seven.   Nicolas is six.”
    “ Ahh ,
perfect.   I will put them to work with my men instead of fostering.   I’ve already paid too much for you and this
land, as is.   Time for
little boys to become men.”
    “Can I have the youngest to foster?” asked the boy
behind Nicolas.
    “You are still but a squire yourself.   What do you know of fostering?”
    “He’s too young to do much yet, and he’ll be
underfoot, a bother to you.   Let him help
me with my work to give him strength and understand what will be expected of
him.   I’ll be responsible for him until
he grows a bit older.”   The squire
glanced at Nicolas, and there was something in his gaze that told Nicolas he
would be kind