Free The Crusader ("The Crusader" Prequel to "Kingdom Come") by Kathryn Le Veque

want anyone near him until I get back."
    David
nodded, still studying the helm. "You got it."
    Dr. Peck
ended up guarding Sir Kieran himself. If anyone wanted to disturb what Rory had
worked so long and hard for, then they were going to have to go through him
first.
     
     
    CHAPTER
FIVE
     
    It was
well after sunset. The knight's possessions had been safely tucked away for the
night in David's tent and Bud would not have been surprised if the man had
stayed up all night admiring the treasure. The only artifact Peck didn't have
was the journal, and that piece of property was currently in Rory's company.
    Even
now, as Bud made his way to her tent, he knew exactly what she had been doing
for the past several hours; pouring over the ancient pages with a zealous
fervor. And he could hardly blame her.
    He was
pleased to see he knew Rory as well as he thought he did. Ringing the little
set of brass chimes outside her door, the first thing he came into contact with
was her smiling, bespectacled face.
    "Hi,"
she said jovially, pulling him into the tent. "Do have a reply from
Becker?"
    He
nodded. "A few minutes ago. Fastest reply I've ever received from him,
considering I only sent word of the find three hours ago. Seems the old man is
absolutely thrilled with the discovery and we have his permission to do
whatever necessary to bring our crusader home."
    Rory
cocked an eyebrow. "Home where? You realize that when the British get wind
of our find, they're probably going to demand that he be returned to
England."
    Bud
shrugged, lowering himself into a rickety chair. "They have no legal
grounds to do it, of course. We found the body and by the laws of international
salvage and domain he belongs to us. But I did give Becker the knight's name.
He's going to contact the British Consul personally to inform them as a
courtesy."
    Rory's
smile faded. Moving to the small table covered with disjointed notes, she sat
heavily and removed her reading glasses. Bud watched her closely.
    "Hey,"
he said softly. "Don't worry about it. Unless they're willing to start
another revolution, they can't take him away from us."
    She
nodded vaguely, staring at her hands, the floor. "I know. But you know the
British; if this guy has any living descendents, they're going to act as if
we've stolen a close relative. Whether the knight died five years ago or five
hundred years ago, you know how the English are about their relatives and
bloodlines. Possessive as hell. They might turn this into an international
incident if we refuse to turn over one of their own."
    Bud
pondered her words, being very careful with his reply. "And you don't
think it would be acceptable if Sir Kieran was returned to Britain, to be
displayed in the homeland he died for?"
    Rory
looked up from the floor, defiance written all over her face. "Good Lord,
Bud, he isn't even out of the ground yet. Why do we even have to discuss this?
He's our find and we're going to keep him!"
    He
maintained his calm tone. "I realize he's our find, but the idea of
returning him to England will undoubtedly come up at some point. I have a
feeling you're already pretty attached to the guy and it might be better if we
talk about this now, while you're still rational, and not wait until I have to
separate the two of you with a crowbar."
    She
pursed her lips wryly. "You may never get the chance. I may just run off
with him and live happily ever after, far away from his selfish
countrymen." She scratched her arm in a fidgety gesture, digging her heels
into the dirt floor. "It's just that he's our find, Bud. Sir Kieran
belongs to the university and not to a stuffy British museum."
    "He'll
be among his peers."
    "They
have enough knights. He'd get lost in the masses."
    "He's
part of the masses, Rory. He and twenty thousand other crusaders who came to
the Holy Land to fight for the righteousness of Christianity. If it were up to
me, I'd return him to the country he was born in. The one he loved enough to
risk his life