Free Promised to the Crusader by Anne Herries

have let you sacrifice yourselves for me.’
    ‘Bertrand would die for you, as should I, lady.’
    ‘How many men?’ Zander barked suddenly. ‘Is the earl there himself? How many men does he have here?’
    ‘How can Marion know these things?’
    ‘I have not wasted my time, sir,’ Marion told him proudly. ‘The opinion of those who go in and out regularly with provisions is that there is no more than twenty men-at-arms at the most.’
    ‘Thank you, lady.’ Zander nodded to her. He looked thoughtfully at one of his men. ‘Sir Robert. Will you ride ahead with the King’s Marshal’s flag, please? Demand the surrender of the manor in the king’s name. If they throw down their weapons and surrender, we shall follow with the women.’
    ‘Yes, my lord. You will wait here with the others?’
    Zander shook his head. He looked at a man driving a cart loaded with fruit and vegetables. ‘Have the driver come here to me. He looks much my size. I shall buy his cloak, hood and boots. It will be as well to have someone on the inside in case they try some kind of treachery.’
    ‘What if they refuse and bring down the gate?’
    ‘Exactly.’ Zander smiled. ‘It is for that reason that we need someone on the inside.’
    ‘Let me go in your place, lord,’ Janvier said. ‘You are not strong enough to fight your way out.’
    Zander hesitated, then, ‘You may come with me, hidden in the cart.’
    ‘I pray you, do not leave me,’ Elaine cried. ‘If you were caught or killed…’
    ‘Then my men will escort you to Stornway.’ The flicker of a smile was on his lips. ‘I am not that easy to kill, Elaine. Wait here if you care for me. I should be more at risk if the earl took you.’
    ‘We’ll go into the village and hide,’ Elaine said. ‘Even if Newark’s men are in the house, my people will not betray me.’
    ‘Go with her and guard her well,’ Zander instructed his men.
    The driver of the cart had proved only too willing to exchange his clothes for the lord’s gold, but when he saw Elaine he would have given them for nothing.
    ‘Let me come with you for my lady’s sake,’ he cried. ‘Alone we could do nothing for the earl came under guise of friendship and tricked us into thinking our lady was his wife.’
    ‘At Howarth, he also played a trick to take the castle,’ Marion said. ‘He is an evil coward.’
    ‘Yes, come with us,’ Zander said to the villager, ‘but your money will be paid—to your family if need be.’
    The man nodded, remounting his cart andtelling Janvier to hide beneath the sacks of food, which were piled high. Zander rode beside him in borrowed clothes, a villager’s hood over his head.
    ‘Come to the village, my lady,’ a woman urged. ‘Come quickly and we shall hide you should the earl’s men come looking. We have a place to hide food that Prince John’s taxmen would otherwise take from us. Always, they take everything we have, though they are entitled to no more than three-tenths.’
    ‘Such iniquitous taxes shall cease when I am your lady here,’ Elaine promised. She gave her precious palfrey to one of the soldiers, choosing to walk with Marion and the others into the village. ‘Wait here for your lord—but go to him if he needs you. I shall be safe enough in the village.’
    Zander’s second-in-command looked at her uneasily. ‘My lord bid us guard you, lady.’
    ‘I am with my people now,’ Elaine said. ‘My lord may need your services and I shall be safe in the village.’
    ‘None shall find her until her lord comes,’ the woman said, clutching Elaine’s arm. ‘Come now before the earl returns. He took a hunting party out early this morning and has not yet returned, but may do so at any time.’
    Elaine hurried away with the woman. Zander’s men looked uneasily at each other, knowing that he would be displeased if his orders were disobeyed, but even as they debated whether to go after her they heard shouts from the manor and the sound of steel against