Beyond The Stone

Chapter 9

"It certainly is, your grace. If many more young men go missing, enlistments in that county will very nearly cease altogether," Rowan agreed.

"Surely Lord Cuthbert has men who can deal with the matter?" the duke replied.

"Those that were bold enough have joined those that are missing, I fear," Rowan answered.

"Bold enough? Surely all my armed men are bold enough to face such a task," Duke Kensington mused with mild annoyance.

"Forgive me, your grace, I thought that Lord Cuthbert had disclosed the location of the vexation in his note. The matter is connected to Hamley Forest."

A hush sang out through the crowd. Kensington's face fell into a furrow of perplexity and thought.

"I... I should like to go," Tristan volunteered softly as he guessed vaguely at what was going on.

'Go where? What's going on?' Ava asked.

'Hush, woman, and let me attempt to make good on the predicament that thee hath carved,' he growled.

"I volunteer for the task," he announced a little more boldly as he stood erect.

His leg chose that moment to remind him that it was still injured, and Tristin gritted his teeth and tried not to let the pain show.

"You would volunteer when you do not know what the task is?" Duke Kensington asked studiously.

"It be evident that thy be in want of a skilled fighter who is not a-feared of Hamley Forest, thy grace. These things I am. I offer my services to thee."

Remembering Brantly's earlier words, he kneeled before the duke and place a hand over his chest in pledge. The duke leaned forward on his chair curiously.

"And who might you be, exactly?" he asked.

"Sir Tristan of Dunbar, thy grace," He announced with a surprisingly gracious bow.

'Didn't you just lie?' Ava asked.

'Nay. Lords have lands. I clearly have none in this place, but I would keep mine station and I am, as I have said, a knight,' Tristan argued back.

"I had no notion of your owning a title," Duke Kensington noted with dismay.

"I am a skilled fighter, thy grace. Lord Brantly can attest to that. Why, just this morning I fought an ogre with little more than a dagger and a sword, and here I stand before thee now to tell of it."

'Though if we're honest, we probably would be a mushy pancake instead if Brantly hadn't stepped in,' Ava chirped.

"Brantly?" the duke asked for confirmation.

"He speaks sooth, tour grace," Brantly confessed.

'He won't lie to this man. He might be a duplicitous snake, but there is something here,' Tristan surmised.

"And yet here you stand before me now an accused criminal," the duke mused.

"A simple misunderstanding, your grace," Ava answered.

'I told yea to stay silent!' Tristan hissed anxiously.

"So you were not pleasuring yourself in public?" he asked curiously.

He seemed to be enjoying the burst of life that had been brought into his chamber in the form of this outspoken young man.

"I..."

Ava could sense that Tristan would not let her lie. She thought fast.

"I was not aware that I was in public, my lord," she replied.