The Crusader ("The Crusader" Prequel to "Kingdom Come") (13 page)

"He'll
be a lot happier resting in a marble crypt than a glass case," David said
softly.

Rory
nodded, her eyes riveted to the corpse. "So will I."

Standing
behind her, Bud sighed faintly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes,"
she whispered. "Tell Becker that Sir Kieran goes home to his family."

Bud
passed a long glance at David, his comrade's face unusually impassive. "If
you say so," he said, moving beside the casket. "Would it matter if I
told you I think you're making the right decision?"

Rory
smiled weakly. "It would matter," she murmured, her expression
suddenly taking on a dreamy countenance as if she was a million miles away. Bud
noticed the change in features, wondering if she was going to start crying
again and wishing he could say something to ease her ache. But the tears didn't
come.

"In
his journal, Sir Kieran spoke about a number of incidents he had been involved
in without a hint of arrogance," she said, distracting herself from her
turmoil by reliving the tales from the journal. "I mean, this guy was so
humble it was unbelievable. Once, fifteen of his fellow knights had been
captured by a Muslim general named Al-eb-Alil. This general buried the English
knights in the sand up to their necks and threatened to decapitate them if the
Christian armies' most powerful warrior didn't meet him in a personal battle.
Sir Kieran rode to the task while the Christian commanders were still debating
the crisis and killed the general himself."

Bud
glanced to the casket, his admiration for the knight somehow easing his
jealousy. "And he saved the knights?"

Rory
nodded faintly, her gaze riveted to the pallid face. "All of them. Instead
of bragging over his victory, though, he finished the story with these final
words; 'Without danger there is no glory, and without glory there is no point
in being a knight.'"

Bud
watched her as she spoke, coming to realize why Rory was so infatuated with the
man. She was acquainted with the stories in his journal, knowing him as Bud did
not. Maybe if he read the stories, he would become infatuated too. Clearly,
there was more to the corpse than a warrior believed to have once been in
possession of the crown of thorns.

"What
else did he do?" he asked softly. David settled in on the other side of Rory,
waiting for another tale of honor and glory like an eager child.

Rory
smiled, the horrors of the British aide forgotten for the moment. "Well...,"
she looked thoughtful, glancing to the corpse seriously. "Please jump in
if I fail to tell this correctly, my lord. I'm sure I can't do it justice like
you can."

Bud and
David grinned, Peck going so far as to elbow her in the ribs to force her to
proceed. Rory rubbed her side, pinching David's arm in retaliation.

"Quit
annoying me or I won't continue," she told him sternly, then returned to a
thoughtful expression. "As I was saying, Sir Kieran mentioned an adventure
about a tavern in Joppa where several Frankish knights insulted King Richard.
Well, it was just Sir Kieran and two other buddies against eight Frankish
warriors and...."

"Dr.
Bud!" Came a shout from the camp below. "Dr. Bud, come quick!"

The
archaeologists looked to the source of the cry with concern, noting the Syrian
foreman approaching. The black-haired man waved urgently when he saw their
attention.

"Dr.
Bud!" he called again. "An email from America! Dr. Becker has sent
you a message!"

Bud
looked to Rory. Rory looked to Bud. David looked to both of them. The somber
reality they had been so successful in forgetting for a few brief moments had
suddenly returned with a vengeance. Finally, Bud waved his acknowledgement to
the foreman.

"I'll
be right there!"

No one
had to guess what the message contained.

***

Bud
wasn't surprised to find Rory seated beside the cedar-lined casket at dawn the
next morning. Already, she had removed the lid, exposing Sir Kieran to the
brilliance of a new Turkish day. Meandering up to the knight and his most
fervent admirer, Bud shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and smiled
weakly when Rory glanced up from the journal.

"Hi."

"Hi,"
she answered. "I was just doing a little more studying. I won't have this
in my possession much longer and...."

Bud held
up his hand, a silencing gesture. "You still don't have to do this, Rory.
I haven't replied to Becker's message from last night and there's still time to
change your mind."

"I
thought you said I was making the right decision?"

"I
believe you are. But I also don't want you thinking that I forced you into
making this choice."

She
sighed, drawing deep the early morning air. "I don't think that. But
you're making it harder on me by acting as if I haven't yet made a decision. I
thought I made it last night, Bud, quite clearly."

His gaze
lingered on her a moment, his face lined with fatigue from a sleepless night.
"You did," he said quietly. "But I also knew you probably spent
most of the night thinking about your choice and I didn't want you to wake up
this morning resenting me."

She
smiled weakly, shaking her head. "Resent you for what? For thinking of Sir
Kieran's best interests when I could only think with my emotions? You were
right from the very beginning, before we even knew about his descendents or the
political pressure involved. You knew exactly what was going to happen and you
tried to prepare me."

He
smiled wryly, kicking at the dirt. "I tried. I don't know what good it did
in the long run, but I tried."

"You
did a good job. Had you not forewarned me, I might be in even worse emotional
shape than I am now. Even if I act otherwise, I know deep down that Sir Kieran
deserves to go home."

Bud
looked up from the hole he was digging with his heel. "We'll go visit him
in England, I promise."

Rory's
smile faded. "I want more than that. I want to go to whatever service his
family has for him. Will you see what you can do?"

"Sure,"
he said. "Becker can arrange it. After all, it's the least he can do,
considering we're making his job a whole lot easier by contributing to cordial
international relations."

Rory
nodded in agreement. "Considering what his email said, I guess he's had a
pretty rough time of it. Who would have thought that Sir Kieran's family would
have hired a lawyer to enact legal action if Sir Kieran wasn't returned? No
wonder Becker didn't notify us immediately that the knight's family had been
located; he's been dealing with more important issues, like preventing a nasty
lawsuit."

Bud
pursed his lips impatiently. "There's nothing that hot-shot lawyer could
have done. Even with British Government applying political pressure in support,
he wouldn't have had a true claim. There's nothing he would have been able to
do to dispute the law of international salvage and domain. Like the saying
goes; finder's keepers."

"Maybe
so. But in this case, the finder isn't keeping."

Rory's
smile faded completely as she looked once again to the volume in her lap. Bud
continued to watch her, noting that her gorgeous hair was pulled away from her
face, soft waves falling down her back. He was beginning to think that she was
going to be all right with this when suddenly he saw a tear fall to her hand.
Another quickly followed. Disheartened, he knelt swiftly beside her chair.

"Oh,
Christ," he murmured, clasping her fingers with one hand and wiping at her
tears with the other. "Please don't cry, honey. I told you, you don't have
to turn him over. If you want him to return to the university, then he's as
good as there. I swear it."

She
shook her head. "No, Bud, I've made my decision. Besides, there isn't any
other choice."

"Yes,
there is. If you don't want to send him home, then we won't. End of
discussion."

She
snorted softly. "It's not like I've found a stray dog. Sir Kieran isn't a
possession; he's a man, just like Darlow said. What right do I have to lay
claim to him over his family? Even though my mind wants to put him on display
in the university's museum to announce to the world that I didn't fail at my
Nahariya dig, my heart knows that he should go home. And the truth hurts."

Bud
squeezed her hands sympathetically. "Honey, don't let Darlow influence you
with his guilt-trip and diplomatic bull. And as for failing at Nahariya, I
don't ever think I've seen a more successful venture. The university will be
talking about this for years to come and I'd wager to say that you'll have
carte blanche with any future dig you want to pursue."

She
looked at him, a weak smile on her lips. "What if I want to continue
looking for my crown?"

He met
her smile. "They'll let you. Becker may grumble about it, but they'll let
you."

She
laughed softly, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes. "I don't know
what I would do without you, Bud. You'll always be my greatest supporter."

His
smile faded, a fire suddenly igniting in the ice-blue eyes. "More than you
know, Rory. I'll always be there for you."

She
caught sight of the flame, his expression tender and passionate at the same
time. Sensing that somehow the focus between them had changed dramatically, Rory
struggled to acclimate herself to the shift of mood when his lips were suddenly
on her, warm and insistent and gentle. Momentarily stunned, she was compelled
to react when he let go of her fingers long enough to tenderly cup her face.

Jolted
with surprise, she pulled away sharply and stumbled from her chair. Bud was
still on his knees, his ice-blue orbs filled with the pain of a love
unreturned.

"I...
I'm sorry, Rory," he whispered. "I shouldn't have, but... Christ, I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you."

She took
a deep breath, struggling to make sense of the event. Not strangely, she wasn't
the least bit repulsed nor had she been frightened. Bud was a warm, wonderful
man and she liked him a great deal. And over the past three days, they had
become extremely close. Still, she wasn't ready for his amorous attentions.  Something
was holding her back.

"It's
ok, really," she said, trying not to appear unnerved. "I... I suppose
I should cover Sir Kieran back up and return to camp. There's a lot to do
before...."

"Rory,"
Bud rose to his feet, his expression beseeching. "Please don't run off.
Like I said, I didn't mean to frighten you, but I couldn't help myself. I've
wanted to do that since the day we met."

She was
having difficulty looking him in the eye. She'd never looked at Bud as a love
interest, but the past few days had seen an odd change in opinion. It wasn't as
if she was ready to jump into bed with him; still, she couldn't outright shun
him. Maybe he was exactly what she needed only she had been too distracted or
blind to notice. Truthfully, she simply didn't know

"I...,"
she emitted a blustery sigh, forcing herself to meet Bud's gaze. He looked so
uncertain that she found herself wanting to put him at ease. "Wow, Bud. I
just don't know what to say."

He
seemed to relax a little, letting out a weak chuckle. "Don't say anything.
I should have never... it wasn't like I planned it. It just happened."

She
nodded. "I realize that. We're both kind of caught up in this and I've
been pretty emotional lately. Maybe you thought kissing me would shut me
up."

He shook
his head, his hands finding their way back into his pockets. "Not at all.
I just don't like seeing you unhappy. Maybe I hoped I could give you a little
comfort." He took a deep breath, looking uncomfortable and determined all
at the same time.  "Look, I know this isn't the time for this, but I've
already made an ass out of myself and I might as well go all the way. You see,
Dr. Osgrove, I'm in love with you. The past fourteen months has been the
greatest year of my life and even if we walk off this dig tomorrow and never
see each other again, I'll still remember it with the fondest of memories
because it will always remind me of you." He took another deep breath and
shrugged faintly, like the weight of the world had finally been lifted from his
shoulders. "There. Now I've said it."

He
turned and walked away, leaving Rory speechless. She watched him disappear into
the camp, her stunned gaze staring at the canvas tents as if she could hardly
believe what she had heard. True, she had always known his feelings, but for Bud
to admit them was something she thought she would never hear. The sad part was,
she couldn't reciprocate his sentiment. Although she wouldn't have hurt him for
the world, at the moment, she simply couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear.

Hand to
her mouth in a dazed gesture, Rory found herself turning aimlessly for the
knight's casket. The rising sun was bathing the corpse in a soft golden light,
giving the cold skin color as if attempting to convince the world of his life.
Thoughts lingering on Bud, Rory suddenly realized she was still clutching the
journal. Throughout the exchange, she'd never put it down.