Free The Fallen One by Kathryn Le Veque Page B

quietly as Mathias began to pace. “They
all love you, lad. You were spared because they understood your reasons for
siding with Mortimer. It was not because you wished to see Edward dead. It was
because Mortimer is your uncle by marriage.”
         Mathias’ eyes flashed.
“Wished the king dead or not, siding with Mortimer killed my knighthood. Edward
might as well have put me to the blade. I was dead the day I swore fealty to
Mortimer.”
         “You are too hard on
yourself.”
         Mathias’ jaw ticked
furiously. “Nay, I am not,” he said, leaning on a post near the great and
scarred anvil. “I am not hard on myself at all.   The truth is that I should have been smarter; I should not have let
family ties influence me to side with a man I knew had no right to rule
England. I should have stayed with my king… and now see what my judgment has
cost me.”
         Sebastian picked that
moment to enter the room, his arms full of equipment, but Justus held a hand up
to still him.   Mathias was letting loose
his emotion and Justus didn’t want Sebastian interrupted something that was
long overdue.
         “This too shall pass,”
Justus insisted softly, urgently. “The tides of politics change as frequently
as the seasons. Soon, you shall have your life restored to you. Edward is wise,
lad. You have friends in very high places. The name Mathias de Reyne means
something.   Your castles will be returned
to you, as will your titles and lands. But it will not happen if you defy the
king by bearing arms in a tournament or fleeing to Scotland to fight in their
foolish wars.   You must be patient.”
         “I am patient,” Mathias roared in an
uncharacteristic display of rage. “Da, I have worked my entire life to achieve
greatness few men do.   It was taken away
from me, mayhap justly or mayhap not. In any case, I have been patient for
these long months, watching other knights ride through this dirty little
village and knowing my greatness far exceeded theirs once… God’s Blood, once…
once I was the man all men fear. I want that back.   Now, I see something I want very badly and
all of those things I lost those months ago… I want it back, because I must
have it in order to have her .”
         So it was the girl. Now they had the crux of
Mathias’ change of heart. Justus’ gaze lingered on his eldest a moment before
turning to look at Sebastian.  
    The redheaded knight was still standing in
the doorway, watching his older brother have a moment of weakness. He had heard
most of the conversation.   But, unlike
his father, he was unwilling to talk Mathias out of competing in the
tournament.   He wanted to see his
brother’s greatness restored, too, because if Mathias was great again, then he
and Justus would be as well. Moreover, he wasn’t very good in dealing with
emotion so it was better to move past it quickly.
         “Here,” Sebastian
pushed into the room and laid the equipment out on the hacked-up, sturdy work
table that was nearly in the center of the stall. “This is all of it, Mat.   There is almost a complete set of armor plus
various smaller weapons, tunics, banners, and based on the missive regarding de
Lovern’s father, we could have one of the priests at Lanercost Priory draw up a
bill of Patins. You will need it to enter the tournament.”
         Mathias, finished
feeling sorry for himself for the moment, began rummaging through the armor and
pieces of mail, all of which had been left by the unfortunate de Lovern.   He could feel the familiar excitement filling
his veins with thoughts of competitive combat and the thrill of the joust.   It seemed like forever ago when last he
competed.
         “We will have to pay
the priest well for his cooperation,” Mathias said as he held up the section of
shoulder armor for inspection. “We will also have to create an entire lineage
for Banbury. Da, what do you know of the Earl of Banbury?”