Read Heartsong for Free Online Page A

the daughter she would never bear herself. She had given her half sister all the love she would have given her own child. At five, Lily was a delight and Rhianna had to return to the keep, if it still stood, for no one would care for the child as she did.
    She buried her painful thoughts and forced herself to look at the countryside. Where was Oswestry? Startled, she glanced around. She’d paid the rising sun no heed this morn and now it was high in the sky. In what direction had they traveled and how could she and Arthur escape if they didn’t know in which direction to travel?
    She had to remedy this immediately.
    “Sir,” she turned in the saddle, “I do not know your name, and I would know if we travel north or south?”
    “I’m called Sir Lydon Tomlaine, and we go north.”
    “Sir Tomlaine, do we go north from Wales?” Rhianna asked.
    “Aye,” Lydon chuckled, “and east and once, a bit west. But, I think you want to know the direction we take so you will know how to plan your escape.” His voice grew harsh. “But, know this! My Lord deShay has given you into my care and while you are with me you will not succeed.”
    Dejection tugged at her. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth knowing not what cruel situation they would find when they reached Knockin. She shuddered, remembering her brothers and how they had laughed about men and how they used women. More dread raced through her. Garrett deShay could be no different. What would she do if he tried to bed her?
    Unable to answer her own question, she blanked those thoughts from her mind and gave herself over to surveying the changing countryside, softer perhaps than Brynn Ffrydd, not as rugged, but beautiful in its own right. Rolling hills stretched out before her. The dull tans and drab yellows of drying grass gave way to the darker green of forest foliage.
    Behind her trailed the bright colors of deShay’s army. Ahead of her rode the knights, the warm August sun glinting from their armor and shields. A few feet in front of Lydon and her, Arthur sat his nag and clung to the mane of the beast as he struggled to stay on the horse’s bare back. The knight at his side held the reins.
    She looked for deShay and thought to find him in the parade before her. But the Baron of Knockin was not there. Had Garrett deShay left his men?
    Still, they traveled on. The sun was still high above when Lydon stopped his destrier and dismounted. Without a word, he hauled her from the saddle.
    “What do you do?” she asked, suddenly filled with apprehension. Surely this man would not claim her.
    Lydon stared at the ground and suggested, “I thought you might need a bit more privacy than the men.”
    Rhianna blushed at his suggestion and wondered if she should apologize for her thoughts. Nay, he was the enemy. She would say nothing.
    Without another word, he led her forward and when the trees hid them from the rest of the army, he stomped off toward a distance boulder. He glanced in her direction once, then turned his back shouting, “If you try to escape me, we will not stop again.”
    She cringed as he took his leave. For an instant she considered trying to run, then shook her head. Nay, not yet. She and Arthur must go together. Leaving without Arthur would never do, for if deShay were to discover he held the youngest son of a Prince of Wales, Arthur’s life would surely be forfeit. Besides, without a horse and a weapon, neither she nor Arthur would have a chance at success. Shrugging her stiff shoulder, she stumbled toward the trees for the privacy Lydon had provided.
    When she’d seen to her needs, she started back toward the knight, knowing she would have to bide her time.
    A deep rose and soft purple laced the sky above the trees to the west when Lydon stopped again. “Look yonder, over those trees. Tis Knockin.”
    Rhianna gazed past his pointed finger. She saw first another hill, then atop that hill she glimpsed what could be a town, with gray stone walls