Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant #1)(75)

Rufus studied her. “I see you are well matched.”

“We are.”

“What happens when he takes his army and marches out to conquer?”

Elara almost laughed. If he’d only seen Hugh’s troops a month ago, when they had gotten their first helping of fresh bread in weeks. The Iron Dogs had been strays for too long. They knew where their food came from. They were in no hurry to leave and neither was their Preceptor.

“This castle is my home, Commander. I’m not going anywhere. I can’t leave my people and Hugh won’t leave me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Elara motioned to him. “Come.”

Rufus walked over to where she stood at the window. She pointed to the empty moat far below, past the curtain wall. “You see that man testing the concrete pad over there? That’s him.”

“How can you tell from this distance?”

“I know him. I know the way he holds himself. The engineer came and got him at dawn.” Rook had dutifully reported it to her. “They finally got their Roman concrete to set. Does this look to you like a man set on conquering or does it look like a man obsessed with fortifying the castle for his people?”

Rufus didn’t answer. Below Hugh straightened and spoke to his engineer. Next to him a much smaller figure crawled onto the concrete, straightened, and hopped up and down. Cedric jumped next to her and flopped on his side.

“Who is that?” Rufus asked.

“Deidre. He rescued her, and now she follows him.” She’d run to find him the first chance she got.

Hugh picked Deidre up, carried her to the wall of the moat, and lifted her above his head. A woman in the Iron Dog uniform leaned in from above, grabbed the little girl’s hands, and pulled her up out of the moat. Hugh followed. He headed to the castle gates, and Deidre followed, Cedric trailing them.

“You’re right,” Elara said, “he is up to his neck in death. He’s had all the conquering a man could want and then some. All he wants now is to stay here, live in peace, and wash some of that blood off.”

“I hope you’re right. For all of our sakes.”

“I do too,” she told him and meant it. “So, will you place any orders, Commander?”

He spread his arms and the ‘oh shucks good old boy’ was back. “You’ve convinced me. Let’s haggle?”

Elara glanced one last time at Hugh, as a woman who loved him would, and turned to the table. “I do so love haggling.”





Getting the Red Guards out of the castle proved to be a longer affair than Hugh hoped. At first light, he’d sent Stoyan out with thirty Red Guards to Redhill. They’d made the three-hour round trip and come back. The report was short. Same as the palisade in the woods, except this time seventy people were taken. He’d called to the sheriff’s office himself. Will Armstrong didn’t sound thrilled. A palisade with a few families was one thing. A small settlement like Redhill was a different thing entirely.

They’d spent the rest of the phone call dancing around the fact that Armstrong didn’t have the manpower to handle this and they both knew it. He promised to send a man down to investigate and interview Alex Tong. Hugh thanked him. They made some polite noises and hung up. They were on their own.

They needed to get the moat done. Hugh was chomping at the bit to get back down there, but he had to have lunch and exchange pleasantries. It was almost noon, and still the Red Guards dragged their feet. Finally, Rufus climbed onto his eighteen-hand Belgian draft and prepared to take off.

“It was lovely meeting you folks.” Rufus favored them with a huge grin.

“The pleasure is all ours, Commander,” Elara told him and smiled as if Rufus and she were bosom buddies.

Hugh briefly considered pulling Rufus off his horse and dumping him on the ground on his ass. It was an odd urge. He pondered where it came from.

“Visit any time,” he said and held his hand out.

Rufus gripped it. “We came for the beer, stayed for the company. Love to do it again.”

They shook.

“You two make a lovely couple,” Rufus told them. “Have fun without me, newlyweds!”

“Oh, we will,” Hugh promised him.

“Well, we’re off.” Rufus swung his horse toward the gates. The Red Guards rode out. Hugh caught Elara’s arm and strolled with her to the gates.

The Red Guardsmen rode down the path. The female Guard glanced back at them over her shoulder.

Elara smiled and waved. Hugh slid his arm around her and squeezed her to him. Her smile sharpened.

The moment the woman turned back, Elara tried to stomp on his foot. He was ready, and she missed. Her sandal hit the stone, but she was out of his hands.

“If you’re going to do that, love, you should wear heels.”

She shot him a look of pure venom. “Eat dirt and die.”

Oh good. He leaned closer to her and murmured, “Careful. Your new best friend isn’t quite out of earshot yet.”

“He won’t hear.” She gave him the stink eye, then her eyes brightened. “I rather like him. He came to me very concerned this morning.”

“Why?” More importantly, why didn’t anyone tell him about that?

“He wanted to warn me that you were a butcher.”