The Robber Knight's Love (The Robber Knight Saga #2)(107)
~~*~~*
“…and so it will end. One way or another,” Reuben finished.
The others stared at him, mesmerized. The Red Robber Knight had not taken long for his explanation. But in the few minutes since he had begun, the entire world had changed. The eyes of his audience were wide—full of insecurity, possibility, and fear.
“That,” Burchard managed in a raspy voice, “is the most idiotic idea I have ever heard of!”
“V-very risky,” Sir Rudolphus agreed.
Linhart simply shook his head.
Sir Waldar simply burped again. The others turned to stare daggers at him. “Oops,” he grumbled. “Sorry.”
“The question is not whether it is a perfect plan.” Reuben’s voice was perfectly calm. “The question is: do we have a better one? We are besieged in this castle and cannot get out. Our tactical and strategical options are limited, our choice of weapons even more so. Either we take this chance that providence had offered to us, or we simply wait. For that is all we can do. Sit. Wait. Weaken. And eventually starve.”
A heavy silence descended over the little group.
“So now we face a choice,” Reuben continued. “Do we sit back and doom ourselves to defeat, or do we do this—do we take up the sword and grind our enemies to dust?”
He nodded at Ayla.
“The decision is yours, Milady.”
Slowly, Ayla let her gaze travel over the assembled men. Burchard—stubborn, loyal, Burchard—the calm and strong Captain Linhart, the red-eared Sir Rudolphus, the enormous bulk of Sir Waldar, and finally, him: Reuben. The man she loved. The man who was asking her to entrust her life to him.
She hesitated one more moment, then nodded. “We'll do it!”
Reuben visibly exhaled. Burchard's mustache visibly bristled. He had to work very hard to not make a disparaging remark.
“But,” Ayla added, meeting Reuben’s eyes, “we can't do it alone, can we?”
The scowl on Reuben's face was answer enough. “No, Milady. Unfortunately, my plan relies on certain…lowlife individuals.”
~~*~~*
Ayla thought that Madalena looked terrified when she was led into the room a second time. Well, she had good reason to be. It was not just Ayla and Reuben in there this time, although his presence alone would be enough to scare anyone out of his or her wits. This time, Sir Reuben, Burchard, Captain Linhart, Sir Rudolphus, and Sir Waldar all surrounded Ayla's high-backed chair, making an impressive official escort.
There was only one conclusion the woman could draw from this, as Ayla well knew. She hated to do this to a loyal vassal who was guilty of nothing but being married to the wrong man, but she had no choice. All their lives now depended on what transpired in the next hour or so.
“Come here, Madalena,” she ordered, working to make her voice calm and imperious. The woman did as asked and knelt at the feet of her mistress, but not without throwing a fearful glance at the five assembled men behind her first.
“Madalena…” Ayla leaned forward and made herself say it. “Madalena, by the laws of God and the Empire, your husband must die. He has committed treason, the most terrible of all the crimes on God's earth, and must pay for it with his life. I have no choice but to put my seal on the order for his execution.”
Those were exactly the words the woman had been fearing. She slumped down on the floor. Clutching at the hem of Ayla's dress, she started sobbing.
“No! Please, Milady, think of our children! What will they do without a father? Please, don’t have him killed! Take me! Take me instead! Please, I beg you, spare my husband!”
Ayla almost gave in, told her that her husband wouldn’t die, in fact, that he couldn't die if they were all to have a chance at survival. But she knew she couldn't do that. Reuben had drilled it into her, over and over, she had to make the woman see the sword hanging over her husband's head. It was no joke, no light matter, the crime of treason. Ever since Judas had sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, Christians throughout the land regarded this as the most serious of crimes, more serious even than murder.
Under normal circumstances, there was no way one could escape the punishment.
Under normal circumstances…
“Please, Milady,” the woman begged again. “Please! Can't you do anything to save his live? Anything?”
“It was your husband,” Reuben said, harshly, “who let the men into the castle who tried to abduct Lady Ayla and nearly slit her throat in the process. Why should she show any mercy for him?”
“I know,” Madalena whimpered. “I know, but…”
“Tell me, woman, did you know of his plot? The truth, now, or things will go very badly for you!”
“No! I knew something was on his mind, but this…! He was so strange lately, absent-minded and cold… I thought he was just worried about how the siege was going, but I never would have thought that…that he…”
Reuben leaned down to her until the growl of his voice was right next to the weeping woman’s ear. “And how is the siege going?”
“W-what?”
“How is the siege going? What do you think?”
Startled, the woman looked up. Her tearful eyes flickered from one stone-faced man to another, finally looking down at the floor again.