Free Tender is the Knight by Kathryn Le Veque Page B

Dennis rose to his feet, glaring at the door as if prepared to take down every man on the other side.
    “All they want is blood,” he said softly. “If you can play the part, I shall do my best to convince them.”
    She looked up at him, confused. “What would you have me do, my lord?”
    His eyes on her were soft. “You will call me Dennis in private.”
    Her stomach was getting that strange queasy feeling again she was coming to associate with him. “Very well, Dennis.”
    He could see the uncertainty in her eyes and grinned. “Excellent. Now, can you give a good, long scream?”
    She shrugged. “I… I think so. But why?”
    “Trust me. Do you?”
    She had no reason not to. In truth, her life was in his hands. “Aye.”
    “Good,” he fumbled at his waist, looking for something in the darkness. “Go ahead. Give a good nasty howl as if I am killing you.”
    Still confused though bound to give an acceptable performance of the task asked of her, she emitted a loud shriek that ended with some sort of melodramatic gurgling. Dennis laughed softly at her; by the time she was done, Ryan, too, was grinning.
    “How was that?” she asked.
    “Perfect.”
    In the darkness, she saw a silver flash and she realized that he had been hunting for his dagger. Before she could say a word, he raked the sharp edge across the inside of his left forearm and immediately, blood spilled forth. Pulling off the linen that was on the dirty bed, he made sure there was a very large, very red stain. 
    Taking the sheet to the door, he opened the panel and threw the linen to the crowd beyond. It was like throwing food to a cluster of hungry vultures; a great cry went up as the populace of St. Austell viewed what they considered the ultimate sign of victory. Dennis d’ Vant had made good on his promise, and they danced down the corridor and into the hall with the bloodied sheet held high like a banner. It was a great night in the annals of St. Austell history and they posted the sheet on the wall in a place of honor, in remembrance of their triumph.
    Back inside the chamber, Ryan rose from the floor and went to Dennis as he tried to wrap a torn piece of linen around his oozing cut. Silently, she pushed his hands away and expertly secured the bandage. He stared at her, seeing her beautiful features in the dimness of the room and wondering what in the hell he had really gotten himself into.
    He could not even begin to guess.

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    “Dennis, we have a problem.”
    Against the backdrop of the early morning sky over St. Austell harbor, Dennis heard the fateful wo rds from Riston. He had been standing there, pondering his thoughts, thinking of the previous night and of the confessions he had made to his wife. He wondered if he had done the right thing. He’d hardly slept for concern over it. But Riston’s softly uttered statement jolted him from his reflections. From his position overseeing the rebuild of the collapsed wall, he turned hesitantly in the knight’s direction.
    “What is the problem?” he asked.
    Riston appeared genuinely distressed. “Last eve, I tended Lady d’ Vant’s pet as you asked,” he said apprehensively. “The animal would not stop attacking me….”
    “ You did not hurt it, did you?” Dennis cut him off, eyes narrowed.
    “Nay , I did not hurt it.”
    “ What do you mean by that?”
    Riston winced. “I was unsure what to do with the creature , kicking me as it was, so I tied it up in the kitchen yard until I could figure it out.”
    “And?”
“And it attacked the cook.”
    Dennis peered more closely at him, perhaps catching his sense of concern now. “What did he do?”
    Riston grunted and hung his head. “ He did not know the goat was a pet,” he muttered. “All he knew was that he had a wild goat restrained in the kitchen yard along with the other livestock and fowl that we eat, and....”
    Dennis blanched. “God, no,” he hissed. “Did he…?”
    Riston nodded; he wouldn’t let