Affairs Of A Knight

How To Chase A Ghost -17

Even a hare will bite when it is cornered.

       —Chinese Proverb

The only one who can swallow an insult is a man.

         —Chinese Proverb

Affairs of A Knight- 17.

How To Chase A Ghost.

•

"I hear you are to match to Newcastle, to meet the Duke?" Alwyn asked, "While I am holding the fort?"

"Hm" she nodded as she swallowed another spoonful of boiled potatoes.

The Knight banged his spoon on the table and groaned, startling Theodora and Frances who sat at the table beside them.

"Why do I have to be stuck here while you ride off on exciting missions? I could use a manhunt" he groaned.

"Don't be whiny." She snapped, "There is nothing about chasing a prince who refuses to be caught. We might as well be chasing a ghost."

"Some ghost he is," Alywn remarked. "Some bloody ghost that fills our armoury."

She did not reply to that. "When do you ride?"

She raised her brows. Such information was not traded. A slip could set the prince off or worse, assemble an ambush.

Well, if there was a prince.

Alwyn groaned again. "I know, I know, but why do I have to be stuck here?"

She took another mouthful.

¶∆

He did not expect to be chosen after their little...splat. Also, he had learned not to expect anything when it came to Sir Louis; her mind worked like a mechanism from hell.

She had conceivably chosen him to torture him, the very Prince they were searching for resided in their ranks.

She wanted him to hunt himself. How ironic.

Sir Louis didn't have the kindest sense of humour.

Worse, this visit made him uneasy. During the days he was hiding from the sword of Cromwell, he had visited Northumberland. He didn't know if he could be recognised, but he had come to see if he could find the Percys, the line succession to the Duchy of Newcastle. He had been unsuccessful, he had learned that Cromwell had torn them down as fast as he did his father.

Moreover, that was one of the very few places he had visited while his father was still in power. They had been close to the Percys and often took lessons together, sometimes at the Castle but most of the time, his father wanted him out of the hazards of the court; he was sent here to study with the son of the Duke of Northumberland, Jonathan Percy.

It was a pity to see Jon die.

Northumberland held too many memories,  the past was tied too closely to the soil of Newcastle and he suddenly wished he had not been chosen for this mission.

Too many ghosts haunted the plain lands of the North.

¶∆

She had instructed the men—through Ian—to gather at the armoury once the final bell went off. She was pleased to see them waiting, most of them shifting with nerves —not from marching into something that could end up being their deaths, but from being under her command.

The Black Knight; she was called, one that murdered without mercy. A woman without a soul. She liked that, fear kept men in check.

"We are riding to Northumberland, to the seat at Newcastle under the King's command. I am your commander and Sir Ian shall serve as an extension of my rule. We are scouring for the last Prince from the fallen house however, we have been offered shelter at the home of the Duke of Northumberland—"