The Devastation: Unexpected Circumstances, #7

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Matt Flanery, Patrick Savelli, and the Society for Creative Anachronism for letting Savage Trainer and me hang out and use their armor and expertise to create the cover for the final installment of the Unexpected Circumstances series.  You guys are awesome!

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

BOOK SEVEN: The Devastation

Chapter 1—Barely Manage

Chapter 2—Daringly Battle

Chapter 3—Utterly Destroy

Chapter 4—Blessedly Reunited

Chapter 5—Peacefully Exist

Chapter 6 Epilogue –Lovingly Live

Author’s Notes

More Books by Shay Savage

About the Author

BOOK SEVEN: The Devastation

Although Branford is broken and desperate, he finds himself with no choice: He must declare war against Hadebrand, or Edgar’s evil darkness will envelop the commonwealth. Silverhelm’s army is grossly outnumbered, but Branford underestimates the people’s love for their commoner queen. The people rise up in support of their beloved regent, and Branford sees a glimmer of hope for his wife. He becomes more determined than ever to make up for his previous failures and secure the future of his kingdom.

With their murderous intentions, the treacherous King Edgar and Princess Whitney must pay for what they have done. They must not be allowed to destroy everything the people hold dear.

With but faint hope in his heart, Branford gathers his people and marches toward the castle in Hadebrand, gathering allies along the way.  With the support of other noble families, Branford will have to find the strength to fight for the very survival of his own family and the entire kingdom.

He sees only one path: the annihilation of his enemy.

Chapter 1—Barely Manage

I thought I knew pain.

With my throat full of choking dust, I pushed myself from the ground.  The throbbing in the back of my head overshadowed any clear thought for several minutes while I tried to collect my wits about me.  Every muscle was tensed for the fight, and I was not sure if I was still under attack or not.  I flailed at nonexistent hands surrounding me, shaking my head and taking a step away from the bodies that were far too close for my liking.  They lay all over the ground, and I felt as though they were boxing me in and making it difficult to focus.

My head spun, and I stumbled.  When I reached to the back of my head, I winced, and my fingers became sticky from the blood in my hair as my mind flashed with recent memories.

I had impaled the large man with the dented breastplate, using my sword to strike up underneath his armor, and then I was hit from behind...

I stumbled again as dizziness and nausea swept over me, dropped to my knees, and was sick.  I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, finding blood there to go with the stinging pain in my lips.  Once my stomach had purged itself, I could focus better.  I reached out to get the leverage to rise again, but my fingers hit something on the ground, and I forced myself to look at the face of the body beside me.

Michael.

My page lay on his side with his short sword only a few feet from his stiff, cold hand.  I swallowed past the lump in my throat and used both hands to bring myself back to my knees.  I lifted my head to see the carriage standing horseless in the middle of the road.

In a rush, it all came back to me, and I screamed.

ALEXANDRA!  I jumped to my feet as dizziness tried to overwhelm me again.  It nearly succeeded, but I managed to launch myself toward the carriage door and wrench it aside.

Empty.

ALEXANDRA! I yelled again, jerking my head from side to side as I ran around the carriage completely, calling out her name.  There was no sign of her.  I stood next to the opened carriage door, my hands balled into fists and my panting breaths escaping my mouth.  I forced myself up the step and inside, my eyes burning as I stared at the bench seat.  I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to keep the images from the past out of my current conjecture, but it did not work.

I knew she would never have fit there, and it was ridiculous to look.  Some insane, irrational part of my brain wondered if she could have somehow given birth to our child during the battle and hidden him inside the bench.  I still had to look though I knew it was ridiculous.  The very idea of opening the bench made my stomach lurch and my heart pound in my temples.

I took a short step forward, my ears burning with the silence around me.  I could hear nothing but my own breath and the steps of my booted feet.  With my heart still pounding, I reached over and pushed the seat up quickly, revealing nothing in the storage area except blankets.

Nothing.

I dropped back to the dirt road and gazed over the broken bodies around me.  There were thirteen of my men, including the carriage driver, and an additional twenty-three bodies in unfamiliar garb and unmarked armor.  Not a single one lived, but the loss of their lives barely registered in my head.  There were so many, the bodies resembled the morning after a large battle.  The only thing missing was the serfs going through the men’s pockets, looking for anything they could sell.

Where is she?

For a long moment, my mind simply shut down, and I felt only confusion.  I took a few steps up the road to where the delicate gold crown lay in the dirt and bent to pick it up.  I turned it over and over again in my hands as I tried to understand.  It was supposed to be on Alexandra’s head.  She only took it off to sleep, of course, but otherwise she always, always wore her crown.  Why would it be here in the road?

Why?

Why?

Why?

My hands froze, and the circlet tumbled again to the ground.  I could feel my mouth drop open, but I could not make a sound or draw air into my body.

They took her.

Oh God, they took her.

I felt the sides of the old carriage bench close tightly against my shoulders as the lights in my head disappeared, and I was transported back to my childhood with the sound of my father’s name being screamed over and over again in my head.

Only this time, the voice was different.

It was not my mother screaming for my father but Alexandra’s voice as she cried out my name repeatedly.  As the sound echoed in my head, it became more and more distant.  A blunt sound escaped my throat, but I could not draw enough breath to scream again.  Had they hurt her?  Had they...had they...?

I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth.  If anyone touched her, he would die.  His families and friends and acquaintances would all die.  In fact, there would be nothing left of the entire realm if she was violated in such a way.  I could not even bring myself to think such a thing.  If what had happened to my mother happened to Alexandra...

And for the tiniest, briefest moment, I did not care.

I just wanted her here—with me—no matter what had happened.  I wanted her in my arms where I knew she was safe, and no one could touch her.  I wanted to run my hands through her hair and inhale her scent and tell her I was here, holding her and protecting her, but I could not.

She was gone.

My wife.

My life.

My child.

I screamed again, tearing the carriage door from its hinges and throwing it across the road.  It fell into the body of one of the guards—one of the men that failed to protect us.  With a sudden, terrified thought, I searched the bodies in the road for any sign of a woman, but there was none.  I cursed and kicked at the body closest to me—a man whose face I barely recognized.  He was just one of the dozen who was supposed to protect her.

No...I was supposed to do that.

Alexandra! I cried out, my voice now hoarse from shouting.  I spun around to look across the fields and toward the horizon in all directions, but there was nothing to be seen.  Instinctively, I looked to the ground and saw the tracks of many horses and at least one cart.  The tracks lead to the south, toward Wynton, Sterling, and...

Hadebrand.

She must have been taken there.

For a moment, I could breathe again—for if she had been taken, she was alive.

I blinked a few times, my thoughts turning inward as I realized that I knew she was alive.  If she were not, I would feel it in the very core of my being.  At the moment, it felt as though my insides were literally torn to shreds, but I could function.  I could think.  If she were gone, I would not be able to do anything.  The earth would simply cease to exist if she were no longer in it.

But why would she be taken?  As a bargaining tool?  As if I would give in to the demands of anyone who threatened my wife.

Oh, but you have...

Not the same, I whispered to myself, knowing the words that fell from my bleeding lips were lies.  I had given in to such demands again and again, and I felt my stomach roll in protest of the things I had done for the sake of Silverhelm and Alexandra’s protection.

It had all failed.

Everything I had done to try to guarantee the safety of my wife and my people had been nothing but a dismal, painful failure.  I had not only been unsuccessful but had also brought Alexandra more pain with my own, ignorant behavior than even my enemy had.  As if it were not bad enough what I did in order to create an heir, I had made her believe I did not care.

I knew now that it was exactly what Edgar had hoped to achieve.  Divide us from within.  Make us doubt our own loyalties.  And conquer without bloodshed.  I had simply walked right into his trap, and he had played me like a fool for his own, twisted amusement.

And she had forgiven me.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I could hear the sound of hoofbeats in the distance, toward the north.  I did not bother looking in that direction, for I