Chapter 89: Simply A Messenger
Slade sat atop his horse as he waited. He had been outside the castle gates for quite a while now. The guards in front of the gates wouldn’t let him approach. He couldn’t even get to the drawbridge, and they clearly had no intention of lowering it.
A few guards had approached him and asked that he hand them the message, but Slade had refused. According to Lady Delphine, someone in the castle wanted Rose out of it, and the letter couldn’t fall into the wrong hands. Rose mentioned she could trust Henry, and Lady Delphine felt the same way, so the steward was the only one he could give the message to.
Slade was irritated—he didn’t have to wait out here. The time Lady Delphine came to the castle, he accompanied her, so he wasn’t exactly a stranger here. Yet they were treating him like some criminal. Any time he ventured closer, they would thrust their swords at him.
He wasn’t known for his patience, but Slade could exercise some. Besides, the thought of going to tell Lady Delphine he had failed in the task she entrusted him with was more embarrassing than standing out here with swords pointed at him.
Suddenly, he heard a loud sound, and the drawbridge was slowly lowered. It made an even louder noise when it connected. Slade glanced at the guards as one of them yelled at him, "Go on then!"
Slade paid no mind and just watched for a bit before he urged the horse to move. He crossed the drawbridge and came to the main gates. He had to pause as the portcullis was slowly pulled up and the main gates were opened.
The horse had taken only a few steps into the gates when guards surrounded it. The horse was immediately spooked and raised its front hooves, but Slade managed to calm it down and got off the horse.
"Who are you?" he heard a voice say.
It wasn’t any of the guards who spoke—it was a middle-aged man of somewhat average height. His hair was thinning and white. He had facial hair, but it was too long to be called stubble and too short to be called a beard. He was dressed in official clothes and had an air of command around him. Slade knew immediately that he was Henry—Lady Delphine had given a decent description of the older man.
"The name is Slade," he said as he tried to take a step forward but was immediately intercepted by the guards.