“Prepare a mount for de Birmingham as well,” he said. “I suspect he will want to go with us.”
“Aye, my lord.”
“Get about your business.”
The knights quit the tent immediately, leaving Conor standing with Warwick. Exhausted, but determined not to be left behind, he struggled not to look completely spent.
“My lord, if you have no further need of me for the next hour, I should like to rest,” he said.
Warwick shook his head. “Rest while you can,” he said. “It is my intention to leave as soon as de Russe and Wellesbourne have the men prepared.”
Conor nodded. “Very well, my lord,” he said. “Is there a place to lay my head?”
Warwick shook his head. “There was, but I have a guest occupying that space,” he said. Then, he looked at Conor with a strange gleam to his eye. “Do you know anything about St. John receiving a missive from me?”
Conor gave him a half-grin. “I do,” he said. “With the news about Kenton I’d almost forgotten to tell you. I have a missive that St. John himself personally wrote to you in response to the exchange you offered– his sister for Kenton.”
Warwick’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Ah,” he said. “So he did receive it? But he chose to send Kenton to Edward in spite of the fact he knew that I had his sister?”
Conor shrugged. “Apparently he fears Edward more than he fears you,” he said. “Moreover, the missive contains acounterproposal– with Lady Thorne’s blessing, St. John is offering you the return of Babylon in exchange for his sister.”
Warwick was not expecting that counteroffer, struggling not to appear off-guard. “Is that so?” he asked with great interest. “That is surprising considering I threatened to send his sister back to him in pieces if he did not comply with my terms.”
“Are you planning on doing that, my lord?”
Warwick shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “A dead young woman is of no use to anyone. At least, that is what I told her. But I also told her I would marry her off to the highest bidder if her brother refused me. Are you looking for a wife, de Birmingham?”
Conor shook his head vigorously. “Nay, my lord.”
“Are you certain? She is quite pretty.”
Conor moved to shake his head again but the mention of beauty had him naturally intrigued. “Is she?”
“She is,” Warwick said, sensing the man’s curiosity. “She is in the tent right next to me if you care to see her.”
Conor lingered on that suggestion for a moment. “Mayhap I will, my lord,” he said. “But I will determine the price, not you.”
Warwick grinned. “She is worth a great deal.”
“Then am I to understand you will refuse St. John’s offer of Babylon for his sister returned?”
Warwick laughed softly. “I am not entirely certain yet,” he said. “I would like Babylon returned, that is true, but you deserve a reward for risking yourself to deliver the message regarding Kenton. If you do not want the girl then mayhap I will take the castle in exchange for her.”
Conor simply grinned as Warwick moved away to discuss the latest events with his advisors, who had overheard most of the conversation. As Warwick went into conference with the group of rather vocal men, Conor found himself wandering from Warwick’s tent. He didn’t know why he had any interest inseeing St. John’s sister, but for some odd reason, he did. Perhaps because he wanted to see the woman whose life was worth an entire castle. For whatever reason, he was curious. And curiosity drove him to her tent.
Lady Katryne was sitting on the floor of the tent, on a woolen hide perched before a small but red-hot brazier, when a very big knight with red hair stuck his head into the tent. He seemed to be searching for something and when his eyes fell upon her, Katryne felt something like a jolt, as if she’d been slapped. But it wasn’t a fearful sensation. It was, in truth, an exciting one. She’d never known anything like it and when the knight smiled at her, she felt another shock run through her. Most unusual.
Conor, in fact, felt the same sensations when he first beheld the vision of St. John’s beautiful sister. He, too, had never experienced anything like it.
He soon came to think that Warwick might never get Babylon back, after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Five days later
Two miles southwest of Doncaster, Hagg Forest
The moisture hadbeen very heavy in the air overnight, which meant by morning, a thick fog was blanketing the land. Having departed Conisbrough Castle before dawn, Kenton rode in the center of about fifty men, all of them heavily armed, all of them with one focus– Kenton le Bec. This was a transport troop, designed to move an important prisoner, and it was of such importance that St. John had taken command of the troop and was riding point. The man wasn’t going to let anything go wrong, at any time, and was determined to take control of every aspect of the movement.