The Warrior Maiden Read online

  Finally Wolfgang said, “We cannot let this divide us, especially now. We have to stop Rusdorf before he reaches Duke Konrad.”

  The crowd of soldiers glanced around at each other.

  Wolfgang said, “Someone must get to the castle and warn the duke before Rusdorf can carry out his plan. But if the whole company goes, he and his men will suspect something. We will lose this chance to capture Rusdorf.”

  Mulan said, “Several of the best archers should accompany us and wait on the hill overlooking the gatehouse, in case there’s a struggle and Rusdorf’s small troop of men are nearby.”

  Mulan spoke wisely, like a true leader, but would the men accept her instruction? And she’d said “us,” as though it was a forgone conclusion that she would go to the castle to warn the duke. But he’d have to address that with her later.

  Wolfgang held his breath, waiting. One soldier said, “I’ll go.”

  Wolfgang nodded and motioned to him.

  “I’ll go.” Dieter raised his hand. Several more men volunteered. They still didn’t look glad to be in the presence of a woman soldier, but at least they were willing to put aside their vexation to save the duke.

  While the men went to fetch their bows and arrows, Wolfgang leaned over and spoke softly for Mulan’s ears only. “You cannot go. You are injured. I’ll choose someone else to accompany me.”

  Mulan did not even glance at him but shook her head.

  After he thought of it, could he truly risk leaving her here with only the boy Andrei to protect her?

  As the crowd of soldiers accompanied them out of camp, Wolfgang walked close to her side. “Are you sure you’re able? You won’t faint from blood loss?”

  She frowned. “I am well enough. And who else is known to the duke besides you and me? He trusts us and will listen to us.”

  “I do not like it. I can see by the tension on your face that the pain is worse. Your wound could be turning putrid.”

  Mulan shook her head. “It isn’t. God is with us. Didn’t your priest ever tell you so? Besides, I know God is protecting me for this mission.”

  “How do you know?”

  “There is a prophecy concerning me.”

  “A prophecy?”

  “A friar came to our village. He pointed me out in the crowd. I was about five or six years old. He said I would conquer an oppressor in a foreign land and a nation would call me blessed.”

  Wolfgang stared at her, even as they mounted their horses and began to ride away.

  What manner of woman was this?

  Steffan and the other prisoners hailed their fellow soldiers as they made it to the Teutonic Knights’ camp. When the soldiers saw them, they cheered and commended them.

  “How did you get away?” the captain asked.

  “Steffan,” one of them said. “He escaped first and set the rest of us free.”

  Several men slapped him on the back, but he didn’t have time to revel in their praise. “I need to see Rusdorf. Is he here?”

  “He’s already left for Zachev Castle, but I think you can catch him.”

  Several men accompanied him as they mounted horses and rode in the direction Rusdorf had gone.

  Only a few minutes passed before they overtook the small band of soldiers Rusdorf had brought with him on his mission. The grand master slowed and stopped but did not dismount. “What news have you?”

  Steffan addressed him with respect. “The soldier known as Mikolai of Lithuania is an imposter. He’s a woman, and his—her—fellow soldiers don’t even know.” Except for Wolfgang, but he decided to leave out that detail.

  “What evil sorcery is this?” Rusdorf’s face turned red, then dark. He didn’t speak right away. He was staring at Steffan’s face, but Steffan got the idea that he wasn’t actually seeing him.

  His jaw was as hard as stone, his eyes black. “A woman reaping the glory for defeating the Teutonic Knights?” he rasped. “Witchcraft. Demonic trickery.”

  No one spoke. Several men squirmed in their saddles, probably less awed by the fact that they’d been defeated by a woman than by Rusdorf’s obvious fury.

  “A woman and a heretic.” His face twisted into a sneer. “We shall not rest until she and the rest of these heretics are vanquished. Onward, men.”

  Mulan mounted her horse and urged him into a gallop. Wolfgang was right beside her, staring at her as if she’d just turned purple and green. Strength flowed through her when she was speaking to the men at the camp, but now that it was just the two of them, her arms and legs trembled and her vision was spinning.

  God, if You want me to conquer an enemy, strengthen my limbs and send the blood through my veins. How could she bear it if she proved Wolfgang right by fainting when he needed a soldier standing strong beside him.

  Finally they neared the castle and Wolfgang slowed his horse. She followed suit, and they guided them off the road to a small house. Wolfgang spoke to the man who emerged, giving him a coin and promising him food if he watched their horses for a few hours.

  When they were walking on the road to the castle, Wolfgang asked, “How do you know that prophecy wasn’t the crazed ramblings of a friar who had spent too much time alone?”

  Using all her energy not to appear as weak and wounded as she felt, Mulan didn’t have the luxury of getting angry at him. “Several weeks after that, the word of the friar was confirmed by our priest when he left our village to go on a pilgrimage. He called me to him, put his hands on my head, and said, ‘The Spirit of the Living God says this child will be a mighty warrior someday.’ My mother said he probably didn’t mean an actual warrior fighting with physical weapons, but it helped inspire me to learn to use a bow and arrow.”

  They hastened toward the castle gatehouse with no visible weapons on them, though Wolfgang’s sword was hidden under his cloak, and Mulan carried a dagger inside a sheath strapped inside the waistband of her hose.

  While Wolfgang was silent, she tried to think what they would say or do when they reached the castle, but she ended up saying silent prayers to God for help and victory, her thoughts darting from her heartfelt conversation with Wolfgang to the men staring mistrustfully at her.

  Wolfgang’s suntanned face was serious, reminding her of when he had urged her to stay at camp. Was he worried about her? Or simply wishing for a healthier and stronger ally in this dangerous endeavor? He must truly care about her, at least a little. She knew it from the way he’d behaved when his brother shot her. But Wolfgang was the kind of man who would care about any fellow soldier.

  She shoved these thoughts away as they neared the soldiers wearing Duke Konrad’s colors, standing guard at the gatehouse.

  “Halt. No one enters here without special permission from the duke.”

  Wolfgang stepped toward them. “We have information. It means life or death for the duke and everyone in the castle.”

  “You may not enter without permission—”

  “We are Wolfgang and Mikolai. We accompanied Captain Bogdan and attended the feast the duke gave celebrating the victory over the Teutonic Knights a few days ago. Our fellow soldiers should be topping that hill over there any moment now.”

  Mulan and Wolfgang also showed their colors.

  The two guards glanced at each other, then took a few steps back to confer. One of the men motioned them forward with his hand. “Come with me.”

  He made them walk in front of him while he held his sword at the ready and followed closely.

  Mulan said over her shoulder, “Has a man come through the gatehouse in the last few hours with thick black hair and a black moustache and black beard?”

  “No.”

  The man looked nervous, so she decided not to ask him any more questions. But when they entered the front doors of the castle, he called two more guards over.

  “These two say they have vital information for Duke Konrad.”

  One of the guards flashed a broad smile. “Don’t you recognize them? They were the heroes of the fight with the Teuto
nic Knights a few days ago.” He nodded and greeted Wolfgang and Mikolai.

  The guard from the gatehouse turned to Mulan. “There was a man as you described who came through. He was limping and said he needed food and shelter, that the Teutonic Knights had burned his house and killed his wife and child.”

  Wolfgang grasped his sword hilt. “Where is he now?”

  One of the other guards said, “He went into the kitchen to get food.”

  They turned toward the kitchen, but Wolfgang grabbed Mulan’s arm. “Wait.”

  The guard who had recognized them nodded. “You go warn the duke and we’ll look for Rusdorf.”

  Another guard went with Wolfgang and Mulan while the guard from the gatehouse hastened back to his post.

  They trotted down a corridor, then up some spiral steps in the tower, with gray stone on one side and long, narrow windows on the other at regular intervals. Finally they reached the middle floor, turned down another corridor, and halted in front of a door. The guard knocked. There was no sound from inside.

  Wolfgang drew his sword. “Break it down.”

  Wolfgang and the guard counted, “One, two, three,” and slammed their shoulders against the door. The wood around the lock splintered and the door swung open.

  Mulan followed on the two men’s heels, straining to see around their broad backs as they raced forward.

  A man was holding Duke Konrad around the neck, the duke’s eyes bulging. Mulan pulled out her dagger and leapt toward the man while Wolfgang and the guard were charging him with drawn swords.

  The man—with black hair, mustache, and pointy goatee, just as Andrei had described Rusdorf—released his hold on the duke and hoisted an enormous sword off the wall. He spun around and attacked both Wolfgang and the guard.

  Rusdorf was smaller than Wolfgang or the guard, but he swung the heavy sword and landed the first blow against the guard’s blade, which snapped in two. The top fragment struck the guard in the face, and he fell to the floor.

  Wolfgang engaged Rusdorf, and they were blow for blow, toe-totoe. Mulan had drawn her dagger almost without thinking and now approached Rusdorf from the side. He swung his sword toward her, but she ducked, causing him to miss.

  That bit of distraction enabled Wolfgang to strike Rusdorf hard and compel him back several steps. Wolfgang went on the offensive. The grand master was forced to hold his sword in a defensive posture. His backward steps gave Mulan an idea.

  She slipped past Rusdorf, leapt behind him, and swept her leg hard against his ankles. He fell backward, still holding on to his sword. As he hit the floor, his eyes caught Mulan’s and hatred shone from their dark depths.

  Wolfgang slammed his foot on Rusdorf’s sword, pinning it to the ground.

  The guard, blood running down his cheek, stood and produced some rope. Wolfgang kicked Rusdorf’s sword across the room.

  Mulan helped pin Rusdorf’s hands together. Wolfgang tied his wrists as the Teutonic Knight growled something in German she didn’t understand. She did understand when he said, in Polish, “God shall punish you for this.”

  The guard and Wolfgang were also shouting for more guards. More Teutonic Knights could be hiding inside the castle.

  Mulan rushed to Duke Konrad’s side, as he was slumped on the floor, his head leaning against a chair. He was breathing, his eyes open, and clutching his neck with one hand.

  “Your Grace, are you well? What can I do?”

  “Help me up.” His voice was raspy.

  Mulan pulled him into a sitting position, then the duke waved her off. He used the chair to help him get to his feet.

  “Rusdorf.” Duke Konrad stumbled to where Wolfgang and the guard were tying the grand master’s hands. “Where are the rest of your men? Surely you didn’t come here alone. No doubt you planned to kill me and then send your men a signal to swarm the castle. Where are they?”

  Rusdorf held his head high, his thick black hair wild and curly. With his black mustache and goatee, he looked like the devil himself.

  “God has anointed me to defeat you pagans. The Lord’s will be done.”

  Men poured into the room. Thankfully, they were wearing Duke Konrad’s colors. They grabbed the prisoner and held him before their leader.

  Duke Konrad eyed the man who had nearly strangled him to death. “You have failed, Rusdorf, and now you shall pay with your life. Do you have a last request?”

  Rusdorf’s face was now unreadable, though he still wore his arrogant half smile. As his gaze darted over the faces of the soldiers surrounding him, it seemed to linger on one.

  “My only request is that I know the names of the men who thwarted me.”

  “The names of your conquerors?” Duke Konrad grinned in triumph. “These two brave soldiers, the bravest of my allies, are Wolfgang of Hagenheim—a German like you, but much more noble—and the small but wily Mikolai of Lithuania.”

  Rusdorf’s eyes widened. He focused on Mulan. “You are not the Mikolai of Lithuania I know.”

  “I am Mikolai’s daughter.” She wasn’t sure what made her reveal that she was a woman. She simply didn’t want to tell any more falsehoods, but also, there was a perverse pleasure in letting Rusdorf know he’d been defeated by a woman, one of those “instruments of Satan” he so hated.

  Rusdorf’s face twisted and even seemed to darken. He pursed his lips while the whole room remained still and quiet. All eyes were on her.

  Finally Rusdorf broke the silence. “A woman wearing men’s garments, fighting as a soldier. Has Satan blinded you Polish pagans as he has the Lithuanians? A woman! She should be burned as a heretic for wearing the raiment of a soldier.”

  Duke Konrad stared at Mulan, his mouth open, but he shut it at Rusdorf’s outraged tone.

  “We are no pagans, Rusdorf.” Duke Konrad was amazingly calm as he addressed his enemy. “True Christians respect women and hold them in high esteem. Jesus took care of His mother and treated even the lowliest women, such as the Samaritan woman at the well, with kindness. It is too bad the Teutonic Knights’ minds have been warped so that they call good evil and evil good.”

  Mulan’s heart expanded at the duke’s words.

  “Take him to the dungeon.” Duke Konrad motioned to his guards. “I shall decide what to do with him.”

  The guards pulled and shoved him from the room.

  It was only then that Mulan realized they were standing in the castle’s chapel. A beautiful chancel graced one end of the room, along with an enormous crucifix. The floor was an intricate design in black-and-white tile, and there was a colorful stained glass window at the other end. The duke must have been praying when Rusdorf found him and tried to strangle him.

  The duke turned to Wolfgang and Mulan, and they bowed as a knight might bow before his liege lord. When Mulan looked up, Duke Konrad’s expression relaxed.

  “My noble rescuers.” He stared enigmatically at Mulan. “A woman soldier. My wife will be pleased. But how did you come to the knowledge that Rusdorf was here?”

  Wolfgang began the explanation, telling what they’d overheard from their vantage point in the tree.

  “We were in hope that we weren’t too late,” Mulan added.

  Her thoughts were spinning as her mind absorbed that she had been accepted, as a woman, soldier, and rescuer, by this duke.

  “Indeed, you were just in time. You two are my guardian angels, preventing evil from befalling me. I am most grateful and must think of some way to reward you.”

  “What will you do with Rusdorf?” Wolfgang asked.

  “He is the grand master of the Teutonic Knights. I don’t want to be excommunicated for killing one of the pope’s favorite people. I suppose I’ll have to send him to the king . . . or make his death look as if it happened in the midst of battle.”

  The duke smiled and then laughed, a big, booming sound. “How enraged Rusdorf must be at having been thwarted by a woman—and the daughter of Mikolai, the man he hated and accused of pagan magic!” He laughed again. “My dear,
you must tell me your name, for I know it cannot be Mikolai.”

  “My name is Mulan.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Once again Wolfgang was enjoying the hospitality of Duke Konrad. It was evening, and he and Mulan were given places of honor at his table in the Great Hall.

  Why was it so hard to look Mulan in the eye, now that everyone knew she was a woman? He had known before, and though the knowledge had made him want to protect her, he’d still felt comfortable with her. She’d become a friend and frequent companion. He even told her his greatest secret. Now . . . she was more than a fellow soldier. With the pretense gone, it made it somehow more real.

  And the way she was dressed tonight . . .

  The duchess had presented her with her choice of clothing, and now Mulan sat across from him wearing a bright-blue silk cotehardie with a colorfully embroidered neckline and sleeves. Her hair, a shiny curtain of black, fell down to her shoulders. After their rest—the duke had given them beds to rest in before the evening meal—her cheeks were now full of color, her lips red. Had her lips been that red before? Her long lashes were sooty and made her eyes look bigger in the dimly lit hall. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  But something was nagging at him, like a dream he couldn’t quite remember. And then it hit him.

  He had bathed in front of her.

  His heart collided with his throat as he strained to remember it. She’d behaved strangely, or so he’d thought at the time. She’d been so nervous and seemed eager for him to leave, hiding behind the tapestry screen. Then when he was taking his bath . . . he demanded she bring him some cheese. She stared at the floor. Little wonder.

  Their eyes met across the table. Could she read his mind and see him turning red? He was behaving like a girl child. But she couldn’t know what he was thinking. He forced himself to study her face.

  She was not the fierce, courageous, reckless-with-her-life warrior he had come to know but instead looked shy and unsure. She glanced away.

  How would the other soldiers treat her when they returned to camp? At least they had not tried to forcibly expel her earlier. He’d thought he might have to fight to protect her. If he had, the other Hagenheim knights and guards would have fought along with him. But they had only seemed a bit sullen.