A Knight To Remember

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

I loathed riding in carriages so riding in a wagon was something beyond that.  It was humiliating and made my blood boil.  So I was pregnant.  So we had been travelling for three days.  I still would have preferred to be on a horse. 

The wagon wrenched to one side as one wheel sunk into a pothole.  I gripped the bench but still slid into the man sitting next to me.  That was not helpful.  I didn’t want to be that close to him. 

I glared at my driver.  He was the one who insisted that I ride this contraption.  He was the one who had become all protective of me and my unborn child. Actually they both had become old women, fussing over me at every opportunity, much to the amusement of Douglas and the chagrin of me.  It made little difference that I knew him to be right about the horse, this remained a mortifying experience. 

He turned and smiled at my look of indignation.  That was enough to break my mood.  I felt my lips curl into a smile and my chest vibrate as the laughter escaped.  Now it was his turn to scowl.  It had been three days and still I could not look upon him with a straight face. 

The twelve rode behind us and although I knew they shared my humour they were more discrete about expressing it.  They knew him well and the relationship was one of respect so their humour at the situation was accepted.  However Thomas’ smug taunts were less jovial and resulted in terse replies and my sly smiles and gentle mocking quips were usually greeted with pained expressions.  But that did not stop us.  This humbling experience was beneficial for him.

He flicked the reins and the wagon lurched forward again wiping the smile from my face. 

I looked away and into the distance. Today we would be arriving at Lord Percival’s halls.  This visit must go well.  Lord Percival held the answers to many questions and he was the most likely to be sympathetic to Torc, or I should say, to Jonathan and Thomas.

 Jonathan wished to be referred to by his birth name now.  He told me that Lord Torc is dead and Jonathan was a new man.  I closed my eyes as I remembered how Jonathan had softly touched my face as he had told me that the love Torc knew lived on but the life he lead was built on lies.  It was time for him live his own life, to be himself not the character he created.  I could see the vulnerability in his eyes and I knew the source of his fear fore I was once in love Torc not with Jonathan. 

 Yet his life as Jonathan was not beginning how he expected it to be.  Jonathan believed that we would ride proudly on this quest, for the want of a better word, and all who saw us would know our purpose.  This could not happen.  I immediately saw that as folly.  Word would get to the King and he would act immediately.  No we needed to approach this subversively.  Gain support without attracting attention.  So by the time the King realised what we were up to we would be in a position of strength. 

There was of course the spy that was yet to be uncovered.  However I did have my suspicions as to that person’s identity and with luck that would work in our favour.  Thus only Douglas, Thomas, Jonathan and I knew our true purpose. 

The final deception was in our appearances.  The King was unaware that Torc had returned.  He met the men as they rode out to find me and from that point on they had searched for me.  Both he and Douglas were confident that there had been no opportunity to communicate Torc’s reappearance back.  For the same reason I too needed to remain lost.  To maintain this illusion we took on disguises. 

The twelve were sworn to secrecy.  We made it clear that if word did get back we would know there was a traitor in the Twelve.  We had no choice but to take this risk.  However we were confident that if the spy was one of the twelve then, although the fact that Torc and I were alive and together would concern him, the King would still be confused as to our purpose.  I believed that he would watch and wait, at least until the child was born. It would complicate our task but would not be our downfall.