A Dishonorable Knight - By Morrison, Michelle Page 0,166

quickly climbed atop their horses and headed down the single narrow road of the town.

***

Though it had been nearly two years since she had last traveled the road from Swansonbury to her father's large wooden manor, there was not much chance or their becoming lost. The road forked about two miles south of the village: the eastern fork leading back to Nottingham and the western fork leading directly to her home. They were also graced with a full moon, which rose early to spill its cool, crisp light and allowed them to proceed at a rapid pace down the pocked road.

Though she had long scoffed at superstitions of any type, Elena could not quell the nagging worry that something was wrong. She jumped when an owl hooted to her right, and turned quickly, half-expecting to see Richard's men bearing down upon them. After several minutes, Dafydd seemed to pick up on her skittishness for he asked her quietly, "Lady Elena, is something amiss?"

She studied his face in the pale light. She felt foolish, all right, but the Welsh were a superstitious lot, weren't they? After all, Gareth had told her of his premonitions. Perhaps Dafydd would understand. "I…I don't know. I just have this very odd feeling that something is amiss. I'm sure I'm just being silly, but..." she trailed off and shrugged her shoulders, trying to make it appear as if she weren't really worried.

In response, Dafydd scrutinized their surroundings and nudged his mount closer to hers. "Silly feelings have saved my life more than once."

They continued down the road in silence and Elena was relieved to see the fork in the road up ahead. When Dafydd looked to her for direction, she gestured with her chin to the western road. Elena decided that her "feeling" had indeed been a simple case of overwrought nerves. And yet…she sniffed the air. Something didn’t smell like home…

"There is a hill in front of us so we won't be able to see the house until we crest it," she explained. Dafydd nodded in response and they urged their horses to a faster pace. The short climb up the hill, which normally seemed to pass in a few seconds, seemed interminably long tonight and Elena attributed it to her exhaustion and earlier worries.

When they finally did reach the top of the shallow hill, she smiled and prepared to sigh in relief. There just ahead was the manor--or what should have been the manor. Instead lay a pile of rubble, smoke still pouring from recently burnt beams, scorched timbers cracking as they continued to tumble to the ground. The breath she had taken to sigh was caught in her throat and her eyes widened until they ached. "Father!" she screamed, except it came out as a cracked whisper. She kicked her sturdy horse as hard as she could and set off down the hill.

"Lady Elena!" Dafydd called out after her. "No!" He quickly caught up with her and grabbed the reins from his hands. "This was no doubt the work of Richard's men and they may still be about." He glanced quickly around and then urged his mount into the small orchard just off the road, dragging the reins to Elena's horse behind him. He quickly leapt off his horse and reached up to drag Elena down. She fell off her horse and into his arms.

"Father, my parents...I have to find them," she said.

"We will," Dafydd assured her. "But first we must make sure that Richard's men are not still here awaiting your return."

Elena nodded and tried to gain hold of her panic. Dafydd wrapped both sets of reins around a tree branch and said, "Wait here. I will go see if anyone is about."

"No!"

"What?"

"I will go with you."

"But--"

"Dafydd, if Sir Gareth were here right now, he would recognize my tone of voice as one which means I will not be refused." Just mentioning Gareth made Elena feel better and she stared at Dafydd meaningfully.

"Very well, Lady. I imagine Gareth could tell me quite a bit about knowing you."

Under normal circumstances, she would have been mightily offended at his meaning, but now she simply said, "Aye, and I only hope we all live that he may know me further."

Dafydd offered her his hand and she took it as he led the way through the trees. Even in the midst of the orchard, the acrid smell of smoke overpowered the sweetness of the apples that covered each tree in abundance. Elena choked down the bile