If Not For The Knight, Debbie Boek [electronic reader TXT] 📗

“Yes, Milord,” Kenny replied, as he peered out the opening to make sure the way was clear before helping Regan through.

Calder rushed out the front, his broadsword swinging with reckless abandon, his rage overpowering any concern for his own safety as he struck down Roderick's men one after the other.

Soon the ground was littered with bodies. Most were Roderick's men but, unfortunately, a few villagers had fallen as well. Calder left his knights to take care of the bodies as he helped Regan into the wagon and began their trip back to the castle.

Her contractions started before they were even halfway home and Calder began to sweat profusely in fear and concern. Regan lay in the back, her screams making the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he urged the horses on to greater speeds.

“Milord,” Bernia said softly, rousing him from where his head lay on the table. The birds were chirping and life seemed to go on as always, but Bernia gave no indication as to how Regan or the babe fared when she asked him to come with her to the bedchamber.

Anxiety threatened to overwhelm him as he rushed up the stairs. It left him only when he opened the door to find Regan sitting up in bed, smiling tiredly as she rocked a tiny bundle in her arms.

Calder hurried to her side and kissed her forehead, then exhaled deeply, not even been aware that he had been holding his breath.

She turned the bundle around so that he could see the tiny, red, wrinkled face. “Your daughter, Milord.”

With an overwhelming sense of delight, Calder ran his finger along the tiny cheek, smiling as the baby tried to suckle it. His smile faltered slightly as he thought of the battles still to come. Although defending King and country was a noble endeavor, the stakes now would be much higher; for he would allow no one, Norman or Saxon, to threaten his family's happiness or security. These were battles that he could not lose.

And with that resolve in his head, he gently lifted his baby and held her close to his heart.

      THE END

            THANK YOU

I hope you enjoyed If Not For The Knight. It was the first book that I ever had published and I am very proud of it. I received several requests to do a sequel and I have finally accomplished that.

The second book in the series, When The Knight Falls, is also available. I’ve included the first section of that novel so you can get a taste of what it’s about.

These two books are more of a saga than a series, a continuation of the achievements and events in the lives of one family over two generations. I believe there is at least one more story left to be told about the Wyndyms and I hope you’ll join me for that one, as well.

Thank you for accompanying me on this adventure. Please be sure to check out my website so you can get all of the most current information on my books that have been, or will soon be, published.

If you enjoyed the book, I would be very grateful if you would post a review. It can be as brief as you’d like, reviews aren’t just beneficial for the author, they also help others find good books to read. So, please let the world know about whatever books you are reading, not just this one, by writing a brief review.

Thanks again and keep on reading!

Debbie Boek

debbieboek.com

debbieboek.blog

WHEN THE KNIGHT FALLS

Knights are Forever series Book #2

            CHAPTER 1

Wyndymshire, England 1089

Calder woke in a cold sweat, his muscles tensed for battle. Glancing swiftly around the bedchamber, he could detect no danger in the soft shadows thrown by the fading light of the fire.

Regan was murmuring in her sleep, her hand resting lightly on his leg. He brushed a curl from her face, the reflection from the embers making her red hair glow like it was afire. Assured that she remained sleeping peacefully, he slid from under the furs that kept them warm these cool spring nights and donned an undertunic to cover his nakedness.

Calder’s heart continued to pound erratically in his chest and he was unable to understand why. He knew that it was not a bad dream that had awoken him, it was something much more than that.

He considered grabbing a candle to help him find his way, but felt more comfortable wandering in the darkness, guided only by the pale moonlight entering through the intermittent window openings.

This was his Keep, the living quarters and stronghold of his castle. Calder knew every inch of it and worried more about a flame giving warning to an intruder than of stumbling through the rooms. He slipped his sword from its nearby scabbard and made his way into the hall.

He paused for a moment but heard nothing untoward, so he continued to his youngest daughter, Lora’s, room. Calder walked through the arched doorway and could see that she was sleeping peacefully in her bed. He stood over her for a moment, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest, letting it soothe him a bit before continuing on.

Stepping quietly back into the hallway he made his way to his oldest daughter’s room. Pushing the door open, Calder ignored the small creaking noise it made and sighed in relief when he saw Synne’s sleeping form snuggled under the furs. For some unknown reason, his fear seemed to center on her and abated somewhat upon finding her safe in her bed.

Synne’s dog slept at the foot of the bed, not by any means a guard dog, the greyhound did, at least, raise its head to be sure no warning bark was in order. Recognizing Calder, it laid its tiny head back down and curled up deeper into the furs.

There was a kak-kak-kak from the falcon over in the corner of the room and Calder was assured that he could at least count on the raptor to signal a warning, should any danger encroach upon his daughter.

Ava, her lady’s maid, was asleep on a comfortable pallet in the corner of the room. All was well, so he headed back in the direction that he had come from, continued past his own room and entered the bedchamber belonging to the two younger boys, Beorn and Gwyn.

Beorn’s bed was empty, as it had been for the last several years while he trained to become a knight in London. Calder gently pulled the fur up over his youngest, Gwyn, who gave a sleepy moan, turned over and fell back into a deep sleep.

Calder began to question whether or not the alarm he felt upon awakening may have been his imagination, after all. Until he checked the last occupied bedchamber on the floor and found that his oldest son, Radolf, was nowhere to be found.

His feelings of worriment suddenly escalated and he moved faster through the corridors. Poking his sword into the shadowed niches, he swept through the remainder of that floor of the Keep and headed for the stairwell.

Any knight that was not on guard duty would be sleeping off their ale over in the barracks. Calder hesitated and considered having one of the guards call the knights to arms, but he wasn’t ready to cause such an undue panic just yet.

Gliding silently down the stairs and into the Great Hall, Calder spied the silhouette of a man against the open window.

“Father, is that you?” Radolf asked, the strong, broad figure of his sire unmistakable, even in the murky darkness.

“It is,” Calder replied, some of the tension draining from his body, but his feeling of unease still would not leave him completely. “What are you doing down here in the dark?”

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Radolf said, shrugging his shoulders. “Why are you awake?”

“Same reason,” Calder replied, rubbing his brow. “Something woke me, but I could find naught amiss.”

“Nor could I,” the young man responded. “Mayhap, it is trouble still to come?”

Calder peered through the shadows, unable to see Radolf’s face clearly with the moonlight streaming in behind him. “What do you mean?”

“I do not know,” Radolf replied, turning to stare out the open window again. “Mayhap, it is just my imagination playing tricks on me, but I feel something bad is coming our way, and that it will be here soon.”

Calder felt a trickle of fear run down his spine, remembering the same feeling that had overwhelmed him years before, and had been true enough that he almost lost his wife and unborn daughter.

Swallowing those unwelcome memories, Calder clasped his son on the shoulder and began to walk with him back to the stairway.

“Should trouble come to us, we will be ready, son. There is no need for you to worry anymore about it this night.”