He had not spoken of it, for she seemed to have no recollection—so far removed from it that she had inquired after the small cut on his jaw. Rather than reveal her ring had put it there, he had shrugged off her question. By early afternoon, they reached the castle of Lord Langdon’s vassal, Sir Hamil Forster. It was a formidable structure, constructed of stone and rising against a backdrop of craggy, barren slopes. Though Ranulf wanted nothing better than to return to his own lands, he was obliged to finish the king’s business and, thus, determined to swiftly conclude the negotiations between the two parties. Recently, Sir Hamil had taken it upon himself to claim this, Lord Langdon’s property, as his own. If not for the vassal’s close familial ties with King Henry, Langdon could have resolved the dispute simply enough with a show of force, likely resulting in Sir Hamil’s capture and possibly his death. But Langdon had wisely appealed to the king to assist him in removing the errant knight from his lands.
