A Dishonorable Knight - By Morrison, Michelle Page 0,45
the horse, "dare I risk the time it would take to saddle you?" One look at Breila's back which came to Elena's nose and she knew she must have a saddle. Looking around the stall, she saw her saddle hanging on the wall. Cursing each clink and rattle of the trappings, Elena wrestled the saddle to Breila's broad back. She cinched the straps as tightly as she could and prayed she would not fall off when they reached a gallop. "If only there were another entrance to this barn," she muttered as she led Breila toward the open door.
As she was about to pass the sleeping stable hand, he snorted abruptly and sat up. When he saw Elena, he slurred, "Her grace said I wasn't to let you go anywhere."
Elena set her face into its most imperious expression and looked down her nose at the man who was trying to stand. Mustering her Welsh vocabulary, she said, "I am going for a ride. I suggest you keep your mouth shut lest I be tempted to tell the abbess what sort of drunken lout is maintaining her stables. I'm sure she would not be at all pleased with such conduct."
The man's eyes grew wide with fright and as he ducked his head he asked sheepishly, "Is there anything I can do for you while you're out riding, my lady?"
"Yes. You can try to sleep off your intoxication so you may be sober when I return." The servant obediently lay down and Elena marched resolutely to the great barn doors. Peering outside, she waited several minutes until the one nun in sight finished weeding a vegetable patch and went into one of the smaller buildings surrounding the main abbey. Pulling Breila behind her, Elena ran for the cover of the nearby forest. Once inside the protective darkness of the trees, she struggled into the saddle and turned her mount west in the direction Gareth and his friends had taken. Keeping to the shelter of the forest, she followed the direction of the road until the encroaching darkness prevented her from seeing where she was going in the thick woods. Rather than stopping, she cautiously made her way to the road, which was faintly illumined by a sliver of the new moon.
As Breila plodded confidently on, Elena finally reflected on the consequences of her rash actions. By riding to warn Gareth that Richard's men were on his trail, she was, in effect, aligning herself with Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. But did she support the Welshman's claim to the throne? Never before had Elena been posed with such a question. As a woman she simply had to accept the mandates of those in power. Never before had she been given the opportunity to affect the outcome of a political gambit. It was at once a frightening and heady feeling.
Suddenly a bird screeched overhead, startling Elena and sending all thoughts of kings and causes from her mind. What had possessed her to venture unescorted into the depths of Wales? She would no doubt end up dead and deservedly so for acting so stupidly. If wild animals did not eat her, she had no doubt highway men would strike her down. Roads in England, let alone Wales, were no place for unescorted women. Oh if only Gareth were here, he'd--Elena stopped in mid-thought. She didn't need Gareth. Any man would do, she merely needed an escort to discourage any predators, be they man or beast, from attacking her. And yet, a small voice inside her said, she had never felt as secure and protected as she had the night she and Gareth stumbled upon the group of mercenaries. Gareth had told her to escape, giving no thought to his own safety. Elena doubted any men of her acquaintance in Richard's court would ever be so selfless. Certainly not the foppish Edgeford. He more likely to call for his guards and then run for safety. As for her fianc茅, although she scarcely knew him, she would not be surprised if Brackley offered to share her with the ruffians.
The later it grew and the colder Elena became, the more she wished she were nestled against Gareth's warm chest, as she had been that night in the cave. She did not feel well, not at all. What in the world was she doing out here?
Elena awoke with a start as Breila stumbled over a rock. How long had she been asleep? She looked up at the sky. The