Dark Destroyer Read Online Free PDF Page A

one for socializing, anyway, and other than a glimpse now and again, no one had really ever seen her. She kept well to herself. Jasper de Lara, however, very much enjoyed the company of his men. He was still a handsome man at his advanced age, with graying blond hair and a bushy white and gray beard, now with spots of gravy on it. He was dressed heavily against the cold, in woolen tunics and a fur robe, and he smiled brightly when he saw his knights approach. He waved them forward.
    “Ah!” he called out to them happily. “Come and sit, all of you. I thought you would never arrive! Wine! ”
    He bellowed the last word so loudly that Alexander, the closest to him, turned away and rubbed at his left ear, positive the eardrum was ruptured. Servants were running at the table from all directions, bringing cups and pitchers of the dark red wine that Jasper favored.
    The knights sat around their liege as cups were placed in front of them and quickly filled, splashing red droplets onto the tabletop. Gates was just lifting his cup to his lips when he happened to catch movement next to his right arm. Turning, he found himself looking into familiar, sad, doggy eyes.
    “Good evening to you, Jean,” he said to the massive black dog with a head the size of a cow’s skull. “I trust you have stayed away from the men trying to throw one another into the fire?”
    He drank his wine as Jasper, across the table, laughed. “I named my dog after the French king so that I can order him about and be cruel to him,” he said, affectionately eyeing the mutt that weighed more than most grown women. “But I love Jean more than my own family, unfortunately. He is a loyal and true friend. He seems to have taken a great liking to you, Gates. He has seemed most attentive to you since your return.”
    Gates eyed the dog, who was gazing back at him hopefully – hopeful that Gates would give him a scrap of food. Gates chuckled at the dog. “The dog has good taste,” he said, reaching out to pet the big, black head. “I had a dog once, as a lad. A Wolfhound, of course.”
    He grinned at the play on his surname and the others chuckled. “My mother hates dogs,” Alexander said flatly, already nearly done with his first cup of wine. “We had cats and horses. Lots and lots of cats and horses.”
    Jasper motioned for Alexander’s cup to be refilled immediately. “And your father did not take a stand against your mother?” he asked. “I find that astonishing. No house should be without dogs.”
    Alexander held up his cup for his second helping of wine. “I agree,” he said. “Which is why when I inherit Lioncross Abbey, I will flood it with dogs. There will be herds of them all about the place and if my wife doesn’t like it, then she can go find accommodations elsewhere.”
    Jasper banged on the table. “Here, here,” he declared firmly. “I applaud your attitude. A house without dogs is no house at all.”
    He drank deeply to his own toast as servants brought around the trenchers for the knights. The men dug into their food with gusto; in addition to the boiled mutton, which was heavily seasoned with pepper gravy, there were boiled carrots and a great portion of beans cooked in some kind of sauce. Along with the fresh bread and butter, it made for a fine meal and Gates was well into his food when he noticed a big dog head that was quite interested in his food as well. With a heavy sigh, Gates tore off mutton from the bone and fed it to Jean, one dog-bite for every two or three of his.
    “Alexander, do you intend to leave for Lioncross soon?” Jasper asked as his men devoured their meal. “Your father loaned me about five hundred men last year when I was having some trouble with the Welsh. He also loaned me about fifty archers and some big wagons to carry supplies back and forth between my properties because the Welsh burned the last supply train I sent out. I should probably send the wagons and the men back to him when you