Chapter Two
The Crusader
I stand alone
Feeling your sting down inside me
I'm not dying for it
I stand alone
Everything that I believe is fading
I stand alone, inside
I stand alone
"I Stand Alone"
written by Sully Erna
Performed by Godsmack
Richard Castle had needed to get leave from his duties with the circle before he could leave the city.
That had been accomplished easily enough: Grand Magi Regina Cowell, his superior in the circle and ex-wife, had been eager to be rid of him for the two fortnights he had asked for. Since the dissolution of their marriage they had always seemed to get on each others' nerves. She likely relished the idea of some quiet.
Knight-Captain Montgomery, however had not been so easily shaken off by his stated desire to drown his sorrows, which he was certain Gina assumed included a romp through the seedier dockside establishments with their bawdy tavern girls who were more than eager to be seen in his company, or spend time in his bedchamber, or have him in theirs. The rumors of such exploits were the stuff of legends at court, though none spoke of them openly in front of Lord Weldon.
"Lord Castle," Montgomery stated sternly, "Guard-Lieutenant Beckett informed us about your reaction to the the bodies the other day. Did you recognize one of them?"
Castle knew he could have glamered both of them easily enough. Made them both think they had never seen him, but it was a line he was not yet ready to cross.
"Yes," Castle admitted after a pause, "the one covered in rose petals. She's the bodyguard I'd hired to protect my daughter."
"Alexis is mixed up in this?" Montgomery hissed with a whispered curse. He had watched the slender redhead grow up, she was always a delight to see at court. Smart, sassy and quick to put unruly blowhards in their place, she was also graceful, thoughtful and kind. Everyone loved her and any two of his knights would gladly walk barefoot through fire and over broken glass just to have her favor them with her smile.
"She wasn't among the dead," Castle choked out, "I checked, someone's taken her and left Allison in a way that only I would recognize. It was a message left for me, a clue to where to go that only I would know to follow."
"I see," his chief lieutenant, Victoria Gates stated darkly, "and how long were you planning to keep this information to yourself, Lord Castle?"
"My daughter is out there, right now," Castle hissed, straightening up dangerously to his full height, power rippling at his command, "I will do whatever it takes to get her back, and may the gods protect anyone who gets in my way."
"Lord Castle," Montgomery began, stepping between the two, hoping to keep things low key, "I know I can't stop you, but I can't let you do this alone either. At least let me make a few discreet inquiries to put together a proper party to help you. This time tomorrow I will have some names for you to check out."
"Okay, Roy," Castle replied, "I'll give you until this time tomorrow."
"If I were you, I would start with Lieutenant Beckett," Montgomery added, "she's the best tracker I have, the best I ever trained. Once she gets her teeth into a chase, she never lets go. I'll make arrangements to have her placed at your disposal, you will more than likely find her in the training yard at this hour."
Richard Castle watched as Kate Beckett shadow-sparred with the wooden training sword before attacking the training stand with it. Kate was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her body moved with a dancer's grace he had rarely seen. It was clear from her slender build and whip-chord strength - though she was rather tall and lacked the pointed ears - that she had Elven blood in her veins. The signs practically sang out to those who knew - or bothered - to read them like he did.
Her prowess with a blade was unmistakable, though it was clear from her minor lapses in technique that she was angry and distracted, which he was certain was his doing. He'd made Montgomery promise to tell her nothing other than to place her at his disposal this afternoon.
Kate Beckett was fuming. When she'd been given the order from Knight Captain Montgomery to place herself at Richard Castle's disposal this afternoon, she'd asked to speak to Montgomery in private, which he'd refused. She had duties to perform, murderers to track down and victims to avenge, she didn't have time to ride herd on a skirt-chasing mage – who would likely try to get into her pants - on a pub crawling adventure.
She would have had to speak to him about his reaction to the bodies she'd found the other day, but she'd wanted him to be at her disposal, not the other way around. She'd heard the rumors circling about him and had no desire to be another notch on his considerable bedpost, in spite of the fact that she secretly admired him.
He'd risen from nothing, the bastard son of a court bard, to one of the most prestigious postings in the shire. Third Under-mage of the circle of Magi and Court Sorcerer of Sir Robert Weldon, Lord of New Amsterdam. A considerable feat indeed for one of his humble beginnings. If only he wasn't such an arrogant, egotistical jackass, whose only redeeming quality at first glance seemed to have been that he had managed to raise a rather well-adjusted daughter.
"Those training stands can be shifty bastards," came Lord Castle's voice behind her, making her jump.
And there's the egotistical jackass, himself, Kate thought, before turning to glare at him.
"Do you mind? I'm trying to concentrate," she shot back, not even bothering to mask her anger and frustration nor sparing a look in his direction to glare at him.
"Look, I get it, all right?" Castle replied with more grace than Kate would have expected. "It's your responsibility to get answers. To find out who killed those people."
"As much as I appreciate your understanding," Kate replied, even though she didn't appreciate his presence at all, nor her direct orders to endure it, "I just want to..."
Her words trailed off as she went back to hammering at the practice stand.
"Wouldn't it be more of a challenge if they weren't standing still?"Castle, shouted above the noise of her wooden sword pounding on the stand's rope covered surface.
Kate stopped short, whirled around and thrust the practice sword into his hands, her utter frustration with the man on full display.
"Okay, Castle, show me how it's done," Kate stepped back and indicated her practice stand with an exaggerated bow. "All yours, milord."
Castle hefted the weapon, swinging the sword clumsily, and Beckett moved behind him, falling into the training routine she has used more than once with a novice guardsman.
"Square off to your opponent and relax your stance. Feet shoulder-width apart. Okay?"
Castle swung too hard, from a step mere inches too far away and shouldered into the the stand, causing Kate to chuckle as she helped him up.
"Yeah, well. You know, we could always just cuddle, Lord Castle," Kate snarked wickedly, her smile bordering on genuine amusement for the first time since he'd arrived.
"Oh, very funny, milady," Castle replied with a smug grin of his own, " and a smile. Good."
This time Castle's wooden sword managed to find the practice stand... the point skittered across the ropes wound around it, in what would have been an ineffective scrape across a man's chest armor, leaving Castle open to a disabling blow across the back of his neck, everything Kate would have expected from a novice with a sword as she rolled her eyes at him.
If he's trying to impress me, she thought to herself, he isn't doing a very good job of it.
"That's... better, Milord," she said out loud, with just the amount of contempt she would have with a novice on the training floor.
"I, uh, know that the Knight Captain placed you at my disposal today," Castle stammered, trying not to anger her further, "but I...uhh...came here to ask you if I could, uh, I was hoping you would be willing to accompany me...and release the Elven thief your man Esposito arrested this morning into my custody."
"Go with you? And release a fugitive from justice we'd been chasing on a royal warrant for over a month?" Kate asked testily, finally realizing for the first time, that there was more going on than the whims of a rogue mage contemplating going on a bender. "To go where? Why?"
"I know what you must think of my reputation at court, Lady Beckett," Castle replied, the lightness of his tone belying the seriousness of his request. "But there is more going on than you know. Believe it or not, we could both get what we want out of this partnership if you were to keep an open mind."
His next halfhearted swing of the wooden sword struck low on the rope wound tightly around the training stand. His concentration centered on swaying Beckett to his cause, not his swordplay.
"Ooh. That's gotta hurt," he muttered on a curse.
Beckett smiled wickedly at him as she withdrew a second wooden training sword from the rack nearby.
"Tell you what, Lord Castle," she offered teasingly, feeling keenly that she had the upper hand for the first time since the other day. "You turn aside any of my next three attacks, and not only will I join you on this...quest...of yours, I will personally petition the court for Kevin Ryan's release into your custody."
"I have your word?" Castle asked, "on your honor as a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard Constabulary?"
"Yes, Lord Castle," she said wholeheartedly, raising her right hand, "on my honor, I swear."
Kate did not notice the sudden, radical shift in Castle's demeanor, nor the change in his stance as she swung into what she thought was a very clever opening strike, which he shifted aside with his own wooden blade with ridiculous ease. Her second batted aside just as smoothly, with a cat-like grace she had not expected from him.
Her third attack sent the blunted point of her wooden sword boring straight at his chest, to which she knew he had few options, either dive away, parry, or the one more aggressive option she would never have expected him to take. His own blade cleanly intersected hers, then twisted and spun upward practically ripping the sword from her grip sending it skyward blade first, then back down into Castle's extended had as if beckoned to it.
Kate stood there staring at him as he turned toward her and with a nearly regal flourish, presented her wooden sword back to her pommel first, the bade resting crossed over his arm.
"How did you...?" Kate stuttered as she took the wooden blade proffered to her.
"You're a very good teacher," Castle stated with a wink and a genuine smile - not the smarmy one he favored the ladies with at court - before turning away.
Kate couldn't believe how easily he'd disarmed her. He was no novice with a sword, that much was obvious, a talent not often within a mage's skill-set. He wasn't just good, though he had enough control to convincingly pretend to be awful.
She couldn't even really be angry at him for the subterfuge, she'd made her mind up about him from the start based solely on his reputation at court, underestimated him and fallen for the ruse hook, line and sinker. Something her mentor, and training officer Sergeant Royce had beaten into her brain never to do. He'd left her with enough bruises on the training floor to be sure it would set in. Never to simply accept what was shown to her on the surface. Something she would never do with Richard Castle ever again.
Kate had barely replaced the practice blade back to the rack when he said, still with his back turned,
"I'll be holding you to that oath, Lady Beckett. We depart for Hollander's woods in three days."
She hadn't noticed his face fall after he turned away, the mask of joviality practically melt away, to be replaced by determination to rescue his little girl, along with sharp pangs of regret for having manipulated Kate into giving her most solemn oath, without yet knowing what she was signing up for.
Though the reason why he was keeping his cards close to his vest would have been clear to anyone who knew the inner workings of his mind, which few really did, even those who claimed to know him best.
To save Alexis, he would do anything, no matter the cost.
**Author's Note** If anyone thinks they find these scenes familiar, you're absolutely correct. I should have Ch 3 up as soon as it comes back from my beta. The next couple chapters will revolve around putting the rest of the party together, then it's off to Hollander's Woods.
