Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    North Watch Keep: Tales of Fairhaven, #2
    North Watch Keep: Tales of Fairhaven, #2
    North Watch Keep: Tales of Fairhaven, #2
    Ebook76 pages1 hour

    North Watch Keep: Tales of Fairhaven, #2

    By Eli Winfield

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Can Sir Kelvrin, the King’s Hound of Justice, help Lady Beth take back her family’s home from Lord Geoffry of Gwen Myer?

    North Watch Keep is famous in Fairhaven for its orchards, and the family at North Watch is infamous for its mysterious connection to the fey. When the King does not heard from his cousins in the North for months, he sends the one knight he trusts above others, Sir Kelvrin his Hound of Justice, to find out what is going on at North Watch. Kelvrin poses as a Sword for Hire. He discovers the family has been murdered and the Keep occupied by Lord Geoffry of Gwen Myer, whose men are hunting the villagers for sport. Only emotionally scarred Lady Beth remains of the family, eking out her existence as the village healer. Then Lord Geoffry’s men try to kill Kelvrin when they realize they cannot buy his loyalty away from the King. (Novella)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArbreRoche
    Release dateSep 22, 2015
    ISBN9781516304448
    North Watch Keep: Tales of Fairhaven, #2

    Related to North Watch Keep

    Titles in the series (1)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Historical Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Left To Lose

      Jul 10, 2022

      Around the time she gives up her name, it starts to feel like this entire revolution isn’t worth it anymore. The world is probably lucky that Kelian—she still remembers Kelian, in spite of everything—is there to pick up the pieces, the way he always

      11 min read

    • Article

      Elsi, The Strange Maid

      Aug 29, 2018

      Elsi, The Strange Maid
      17 min read

    • Article

      Pond Water

      Feb 1, 2019

      Pond Water
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Chicken Line

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Chicken Line
      14 min read

    • Article

      A tender THREAD

      Dec 22, 2021

      A tender THREAD
      9 min read

    • Article

      Still In Charge

      Jun 3, 2022

      Still In Charge
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Sands of TREGANLLAW

      May 5, 2022

      England, 1497. Henry VII, the first Tudor king, reigns, having vanquished Richard III, the last monarch of the House of York, at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. A young man calling himself Richard, Duke of York has spent years striving for recogniti

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Only Rule

      Jul 13, 2020

      There is only one rule in polite English society, but it is iron clad. Of course, polite English society is a fiction. For one thing, its members are rarely polite. Politeness is for the middle classes rather than those who live off ancestral acres o

      5 min read

    • Article

      HEALTH & WELL BEING

      Sep 23, 2022

      ‘I’m not really sure why I’m here, lying in a bin-bag on the side of a hill, but I’m strangely glad that I am,” writes Raynor Winn, part of the way through her latest walking odyssey with her husband, Moth. She won’t be the only one glad. With her pr

      2 min read

    • Article

      Bumps In The Night

      Aug 25, 2021

      Bumps In The Night
      4 min read

    • Article

      Read A Sneak Peek of IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES

      Sep 6, 2023

      The murderer arrived by boat. He came gently, with a soft tread and beautifully clean hands. He strode past a group of men and women hauling in a catch of fire-fish, his knife out of sight in his pocket. They glanced round at him, but he only nodded

      4 min read

    • Article

      Happy And Glorious

      Jun 1, 2022

      ICAN’T remember when I last used my 12 Fabergé after-dinner coffee cups. Americans call these little cups ‘demitasse’, which is about as bi-lingual as we get. Mine come in five colours and I treasure them, although I’ve reached the age where my guest

      4 min read

    • Article

      Camilla The Down To Earth Duchess

      Jul 13, 2022

      Camilla The Down To Earth Duchess
      14 min read

    • Article

      Camilla The Down To Earth Duchess

      Jul 13, 2022

      Camilla The Down To Earth Duchess
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Slave Who Braved All For Love

      May 4, 2020

      The Wikipedia entry says it all: ‘Florence Barbara Maria Szász, an orphan who became a slave, explored the Nile and died a lady.’ If Hollywood had been around in the 19th century, her life would have made a blockbuster. Very few people who visited th

      4 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      Apr 5, 2022

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Little Trip

      Aug 2, 2021

      As the first morning light peeked through the gap in the curtains, Alice left her new husband in bed. She wrapped her silk kimono around her; a present from Jeremy, it reminded her yet again just how generous he’d been since their wedding. Even this

      5 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      Feb 17, 2022

      Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series

      2 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      Sep 20, 2022

      As the nation mourns, let us remember an extraordinary woman who was devoted to us all until the very end. She was only a woman. Just like us, she loved, laughed, rowed with and worried about her family. But she was also unique. A woman born to a de

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Foulest One Of All

      Nov 11, 2023

      The legend of the Loathly Lady circulated for centuries in medieval Britain, and its central figure is a woman so ugly she is practically monstrous. One of the best iterations of the tale, which survives in multiple different versions, was written so

      5 min read

    • Article

      ‘DIANA Was A Force To Be Reckoned With’

      Aug 4, 2022

      We sat in her plush drawing room at Kensington Palace, surrounded by framed photos of ‘her boys’, William and Harry, and dissected the collapse of her marriage to their father, Charles. Diana was in a chatty mood. It was June 1995: five months befor

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Literary Zoo

      Dec 9, 2021

      A Literary Zoo
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Fool Who Fished for a King

      Jul 1, 2020

      The Fool Who Fished for a King
      9 min read

    • Article

      Reading Room

      Feb 26, 2020

      Almost everything about famous Irish actress Katherine O’Dell was fake. She wasn’t Irish, her name wasn’t O’Dell, her titian hair wasn’t red, but she did love her only child, Norah, who in turn adored her mum. That reciprocal love, though, is far fro

      3 min read

    • Article

      TALL, WIDE, and Piercing Eyes

      Mar 1, 2019

      TALL, WIDE, and Piercing Eyes
      7 min read

    • Article

      The ROYAL INSIDER

      Sep 20, 2022

      The ROYAL INSIDER
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for North Watch Keep

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      North Watch Keep - Eli Winfield

      1

      North Watch Keep

      2

      NORTH WATCH KEEP

      Copyright © 2015 Eli Winfield

      All rights reserved.

      Published by ArbreRoche Publishing 2015

      Guelph, Ontario, Canada

      No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

      This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.

      This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.

      For my husband Lloyd,

      Who has listened to me tell stories for years

      And still smiles.

      3

      Also by Eli Winfield:

      Son of a King: A story of Fairhaven

      The Dragon’s Court: A story of Fairhaven

      Life and Other Strangers, An anthology

      4

      PART ONE

      NORTH WATCH

      5

      CHAPTER ONE

      North Watch

      1 | North Watch Keep

      Sir Kelvrin, the King’s Hound of Justice, paused at the outer edge of the village of North Watch. His dark hair, dark beard, and cloak let him stand without notice in the shadows. An observer would see his horse, a great beast standing 17 hands high at the shoulders, and the long sword that hung at his side and think he was a soldier for hire. Many that had come to the village since the family that lived in the keep had been ‘murdered by bandits’ before Twelve Night. But a little longer observation and the watcher would wonder. There was something about how he stood and watched, his face carefully neutral, his back straight and stance wide that made one question the facade.

      He held the reins of his horse firmly as he stood watching the early risers of the village. At first glance, the village of North Watch looked like every other village he’d seen on his miserable northward journey. A few thatched houses, a few goats, the square in the center of the village with a well that drew women in the morning, fetching water. He wasn’t sure what small detail had caught his attention in the fitful morning light. The three girls paused, buckets and harnesses on their shoulders, their hair bound back, their chatter barely piercing the dawning dew. A fourth waited, silent and unmoving with a single bucket at her feet, ignored by the others.

      6

      Months ago, the King had woken the morning after a hard snow fall and called Kelvrin to his chambers before the rest of the court had even risen. Something is wrong at North Watch, he had stated, seated beside the fire in his fur and flocked wool. Kelvrin had frowned only briefly at his King and then turned to stare out the window at the steadily falling snow. I want you to go to North Watch, and find out what is happening. You need to go alone. He stared out the window. A party of even three would be remarked on, and .. We need information.

      Sir Kelvrin had only nodded. His King was known for his fancies and his uncanny ability to know what was happening in his kingdom. North Watch Keep kept the court supplied with stone fruits, apples and cider of the best kind. Kelvrin had eaten their apples and plums at court. Not to mention the rumors, whispered tales that the family of North Watch was somehow blessed by the fey of the forest. He discounted the rumors as silly tales for the foolish. But Kelvrin was loyal to the King he served. It was mad folly to travel in the middle of winter to the Keep at the Northern Edge of the kingdom even for Kelvrin, an experienced Knight, and the King’s champion. But if the king wanted him to take a foolish and long journey in the dead of the winter snows to prove that the family in the north was fine, he would take the long journey, no matter his personal opinions about the matter.

      7

      With his back against the stone wall of the nearest house, he stared at the alabaster face of the fourth girl. She waited for her turn at the well after the three chattering magpies, unmoving, nearly statue like. She was not more than sixteen, he thought. Her hair lay in two long braids to her waist. The style was not unusual, except her braids were tied by knotted embroidered silks, and he was nearly certain that ties that held her faded burgundy tunic of linen closed were also rich purple silk cords. While the others chattered like magpies in the morning’s first gaze, she remained silent, stony, a pool of pain he could feel in the midst of the others.

      No one spoke to her. If any laughter had ever bubbled through the cracks in her soul, he thought, it had long since fled to some other, greener, fresher face. But she was striking in her beauty. He realized then what had caught his attention: the silent girl had an uncanny resemblance to the King’s youngest sister.

      8

      Lady Beth of North Watch keep did not allow a single turn of expression to betray her terror. She knew she had the rapt attention of the soldier who

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1