Medieval Monday with Ruth A. Casie

After taking a break for the late summer days, Medieval Monday is back. Our theme this month is travel and I have the perfect excerpt for you from my new story, THE MAXWELL GHOST featured in the novella anthology, Once Upon a Haunted Castle. Traitors, deception, murders and ghosts run rampant at The Maxwell’s Caerlaverock Castle. Jamie Maxwell Collins, a man of reality not magic, serves Lord Herbert in exchange for his own farm.  Laura Reynolds, Lord Herbert's distant cousin comes to the castle to solve the murders and put the ghost to rest. The two, long-time friends find their destinies intertwined with hidden passions, but all is in jeopardy when Laura becomes the murderer’s next target. Jamie will find he needs some ghostly assistance to save Laura and declare his love.

Here, Jamie is bringing Laura to Caerlaverock Castle. On their journey they are attacked by reivers. I hope you enjoy this excerpt.

Excerpt from The Maxwell Ghost:

He and Laura were targets in the swift moving water. He needed to get farther downstream, away from the marshland. He cursed himself for worrying about her propriety rather than her safety.

The sound of splashing from up river grew closer.

“Wrap your arms around my waist and try not to lose your seat.”

They reached the far bank and raced along the river, the raiders not far behind.

“You need to let me down,” she yelled at him in the wind. “You can go faster without me.”

“Keep down,” he said between clenched teeth and pulled his sword. They raced on, the land a blur as they flew by.

The spray of water from his horse’s pounding hooves turned into small clouds of dust as they came out of the marshland into the meadow. His horse couldn’t maintain this speed much longer. They reached the area where the river dog-legged to the right. A dense fog hung low in the forest. Jamie let loose his battle cry then veered into the woods.

They raced on. Out of the mist his men charged and dashed past them set to do battle with the reivers close behind them.

Jamie and Laura raced on. Laura glanced over his shoulder.

“Rider behind us.” Jamie urged his horse on faster. If they didn’t stop soon, the poor animal would collapse.

Another glance. The man was gaining ground. Think, she told herself. Sunlight bounced off Jamie’s sword. Could it work? It had to.

“Put your sword on your left shoulder then make a quick half-turn to your left and face the rider. Don’t stop, charge,” Laura said as she lay as close to his horse as possible to give Jamie more room to maneuver.

“Don’t look. It’s not going to be a pretty sight.”

She closed her eyes tight.

Jamie followed her instructions. The sound of the horse’s hooves echoed in her head as he completed the maneuver and his horse sprang forward. With the full weight of the charging horse behind his sword, he hit the raider in the chest. The man fell to the ground. His disembodied head rolled somewhere in the mist.

Jamie turned his horse again and continued into the woods. Laura sat up. The trees sped by. She began to panic at the tall hedge row that loomed in front of them.

Their direction didn’t waver. Rather than slow down, the animal gathered speed. Jamie crushed her in front of him and held her head against his chest.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. Hold me.”

The sensation of flying through the air frightened and exhilarated her at the same time. For a moment, her heart stopped. How they landed without the horse falling or them being thrown was beyond her, but they did.

The horse slowed to a halt, lathered and blowing hard. His men were soon with them.

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