One Knight's Return, page 26
“But my wife will expect me to return to Annossy, sir.”
“Did you leave the holding secured?”
“Aye, sir. The gates were to be kept closed in my absence.”
“And there is no reason for any to leave Annossy in such weather as there will shortly be.”
“But the brigands...”
“Will undoubtedly also keep to their shelter. Perhaps they will be too foolish to do as much and will drown.” Tulley waved off Quinn’s objections. “Far better for you to earn my favor with the rapid fulfillment of this task.”
“I would not have Melissande concerned.”
“Would you not?” Tulley laughed. “You have a reluctant bride, Quinn, and I see the truth of it well enough. Let her miss you a little.” He leaned closer and winked. “Court the favor of the lord you have just irked instead.”
Quinn noticed that Heloise’s eyes were sparkling and she seemed to be fighting the urge to laugh. He realized that she must have been confronted by Tulley’s firm opinions before. “Of course, my lord,” Quinn said, inclining his head. “What would you have me do?”
“A party arrived last evening. They crossed the Beauvoir Pass and are armed. I would know who they are and why they arrive in Tulley. They take their rest at the inn in the village.” Tulley gave Quinn a look. “At least, I assume they remain there, and possess the wits to keep to shelter when foul weather arrives.”
Quinn thought Tulley could have sent a messenger, but did not say as much. It would be unwise to provoke his overlord before the seal of Sayerne was in his hand. “Aye, my lord.”
“I do not like parties of armed men arriving without announcement,” Tulley complained. “And this is the third party to come through the pass in little more than a week. First, there was your party, then the others who proved to be your comrades.”
Quinn was startled that Tulley knew this.
The older man nodded. “Aye, they were watched as they rode up the valley and when you greeted them upon their return.” He gave Quinn a look.
“They are three of my companion knights, met on crusade. We had parted ways for the journey home and agreed to meet at Sayerne in the spring.”
“And were there more of you?”
“Aye.”
“Then perhaps these men are more of your fellows. One, I understand, is missing an eye.”
“Luc,” Quinn said softly and Tulley eyed him. “I cannot say, my lord, but one of the knights whose arrival I yet anticipate, Luc Douglas, lost an eye in battle.”
“I suspect my instincts are right, then. Go, find their names and their reason for entering my lands, and return for the evening meal to tell me of them.” Tulley rose then and gestured to Heloise to follow him. Quinn also rose and bowed, then retrieved his gloves and cloak. The twins, Thierry and Luc Douglas, had ridden separately from Palestine with Rolfe de Viandin. Quinn hoped this was their party, for he would be glad to see his comrades again.
As he left the stables and stepped onto the road that wound down the hill, passing through the village en route to the gates, he saw that it had started to rain. He looked up at the darkening sky as the onslaught became heavier and smiled.
Even the weather obeyed the command of the Lord de Tulley.
As he walked, he thought of Gaultier and his scheme to wed a rich woman. ’Twas not a bad plan, and he was hardly the first man to pursue it. But Quinn did not like that after Marie’s marriage, Gaultier had come to Annossy. He had lied about Tulley dispatching him, and Quinn took that as a very good assurance that his original guess about the intentions of Annossy’s Captain of the Guard was exactly right.
If naught else, the man had no right to such an exalted position at Annossy, and Quinn would see that remedied immediately upon his return.
Chapter 13
It did indeed prove to be Luc and Thierry Douglas who had taken shelter at Tulley’s inn. Both knights had dark hair and rode chestnut destriers that were also brothers. Quinn had smiled at the sight of Emperor and Dragon in the stables, knowing the truth before he even entered the common room of the inn. Their squires, Baird and Thorne, each standing behind his knight, grinned at the sight of him, and he was certain both boys had grown several inches in height. To Quinn’s surprise, though, Rolfe de Viandin was not with them.
After greetings were exchanged and Quinn had shaken the rain out of his cloak, he joined them at the board. Baird hastened to fetch him a cup of ale.
“Rolfe rode on ahead. He wished to be home before the Yule, though we thought there would be too much snow on the pass,” Thierry said.
“Aye, we recalled your tale of it well enough and were cautious as a result,” Luc said, nudging Quinn.
“I never thought to ask if there had been others of our party when we came through the pass,” Quinn said. “I thought you all behind us.”
“And they are not so welcoming there,” Thierry said with a grimace. “Truly, it is more than the wind that is chilly at Beauvoir.” They laughed together at that as Baird returned with another pitcher of ale and a cup for Quinn. He poured and the comrades saluted each other. It was good cold ale.
“Did you ask about Rolfe?” Quinn asked.
“Aye,” Luc said and exchanged a merry glance with his brother. Quinn could not guess what amused them so. “Though I feared they might recall that beast of his more readily than Rolfe himself.”
“Mephistopheles,” Thierry said with a smile of affection. “What manner of fool would give the largest blackest destrier such a name? It would invite trouble.”
“Though Rolfe has found fortune, not trouble,” Luc observed and his brother nodded agreement.
“Aye?” Quinn asked. “How so?”
“You will never believe it,” Luc said, dropping his voice low in confidence as he leaned over the board. His eye twinkled merrily. “Rolfe was wed at Beauvoir keep.”
“Wed? Rolfe de Viandin? What madness is this?” Quinn demanded with a smile. He could not imagine Rolfe taking a wife at all, and certainly couldn’t think of a reason for the ceremony to occur at that fortress. “He is the one of us who will be last to marry, to be sure!”
Luc wagged a finger at him. “Not so. Rolfe arrived at the pass with a maiden. Evidently, he had rescued her or was escorting her for some reason or another.”
“A maiden?” Quinn asked.
“A maiden,” Luc confirmed.
“She was very pretty, by all accounts,” Thierry whispered and they all chuckled together.
“And Rolfe’s mother was seeking him out, for she knew he returned home,” Luc continued. “His father had been a comrade of Bertrand, Lord of Beauvoir, so she had paused there on her way south to find Rolfe, then was compelled to remain because of the snow. Evidently, she had appealed to Tulley to find Rolfe a bride, for his older brother died last fall.”
“Rolfe inherited Viandin?” Quinn said with surprise.
Thierry nodded. “And was wed at the Yule, at Beauvoir, to the maiden with whom he traveled, at Tulley’s dictate. When there was a thaw in January, he rode on to Viandin with bride and mother.”
“These are fine tidings indeed,” Quinn said and raised his cup to toast Rolfe’s good fortune. They drank to their comrade’s health and Quinn guessed that he was not the sole one to be amazed. “Are you certain it is true?”
“So they say,” Thierry said.
“We thought to see if you had returned to Sayerne or not, then continue to Viandin to confirm the tale for ourselves,” Luc said. “It lies on the path to Paris, does it not?”
Quinn nodded.
“Unless Rolfe comes to Sayerne in May, as we all vowed to do,” Thierry added.
“He might not choose to make the journey if his lady wife is with child,” Quinn said. They agreed on this, then the brothers looked expectantly at Quinn.
“And how did you find Sayerne?” Luc asked.
“In ruin,” Quinn admitted ruefully and they expressed dismay. He held up a hand. “And I, too, am wed at Tulley’s command, by strange coincidence, and am now Lord d’Annossy. It has been but days.”
“Annossy?” the brothers asked in unison.
“A neighboring holding to Sayerne, and one that is in better repair.” Quinn leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Annossy’s borders are under attack from brigands, and the holding administered by a daughter alone. Tulley insisted upon the match and charged me to rout the villains.”
“And a wife in the bargain, never mind one with a prosperous holding. Rolfe is not the sole one of us blessed by Dame Fortune,” Thierry said, toasting Quinn.
“Not necessarily so,” Luc said in a teasing tone. “Is the lady young? Is she a beauty?”
“Aye, she is both. Clever, as well, and well experienced in matters of administration.” Quinn sighed. “I have much to learn from my lady wife.”
The brothers studied him, perhaps hearing more than he confessed.
Quinn forced a smile. “Perhaps that is Tulley’s scheme, for I am not to be granted Sayerne’s seal for a year, and only then if we conceive a son.” He thought of Melissande’s concerns for her own future and wondered yet again how he could reassure her of his intentions.
Not by delaying his return on this day, that was for certain. He frowned, disliking that Tulley again dictated his fate.
“Have you heard tell of the others?” Thierry asked after a moment of silence.
“Aye! Bayard is at Annossy, of course, and Amaury ensures the gates are defended in my absence. Lothair and Niall arrived with Amaury just after me, and they guard the mill, which has been attacked twice.”
“Brigands! What manner of coward attacks those who are not trained in the arts of war? I wager you have need of more men you can trust,” Thierry said, a predictable gleam in his eyes. He never had any sympathy for those who preyed upon the weak.
“I do and I welcome you both, but this night, I am summoned to the board of the Lord de Tulley.”
“Invite us,” Thierry said with a grin, then nudged his brother. “He might grant one of us a bride, as that seems to be his habit.”
“He has a niece close by his side, and I should not be fool enough to smile at her,” Quinn advised and they laughed together. “I will ask him, to be sure,” he vowed and they drank together to the success of that scheme.
’Twas strange to be without Lord Quinn at Annossy. Berthe felt his absence keenly, though she had met him only a few days before. There was a reassuring effect of his presence that Berthe noticed in his absence. She knew her reaction was naught compared to that of her lady. Though Lady Melissande strove to remain occupied and acted as if she scarce noticed her husband’s absence, Berthe thought her lady too watchful. She jumped if any soul entered the hall and glanced frequently toward the gates. Berthe could fairly see her listening for the sound of a destrier’s hoof beats.
But there was no such sound. The day dragged long, the shadows lengthened in the hall and finally the lanterns were lit. Still, Lord Quinn did not return. The rain drummed in the bailey and on the roof of the keep. The dampness of spring filled the air along with the smell of the thaw. There were already a few trickles of water on the floor of the great hall and the moat was filled high. The guard changed on the curtain wall and in the bailey, and Gaultier came into the hall, his expression sour with disapproval.
Lady Melissande scarcely looked up. She was working upon the accounts for Annossy, having told Louis that very morning that she must ensure they were complete to date before surrendering them to her lord husband. She had labored upon them all the day long, seated by the fire in the great hall.
Berthe shivered, knowing she would find it hard to stay warm on this night, and hoped she could find a second straw pallet to put beneath her own. The very stone emanated a dampness in the spring that she felt more keenly than winter’s chill. She wore a cloak, even though she was in the hall, and went to the kitchen to get a cup of mulled cider for her lady.
She was heating the cider over the fire when the door to the gardens was opened. Bayard entered the kitchen, shaking rain out of his cloak and hood. His eyes glinted when his gaze danced over her, but he did not speak to her.
Berthe straightened and turned her back upon Sir Rogue.
“Is it always so foul here?” he asked the cook.
“Only in the spring,” George said. “You will see. It will rain and rain, until you think we have need of an ark. The snow will melt and the river will over-run its banks. The mud will be plentiful and deep, and just when you think you cannot bear to see another drop of rain, the sun will appear.” He snapped his fingers.
“The air will turn warm, immediately,” Louis confirmed. “The birds will sing and the valley will turn lush and green.” He shook his head. “It seems to change in the blink of an eye, and then there is labor to be done in truth.”
“So either there is rain or work,” Bayard said. “I see little merry in that combination.”
“But then the growing begins,” the cook said with enthusiasm. “I will be very happy to have the first wild leeks of the season, perhaps for the sauce of a venison stew.”
“We are all well and done with potage vegetables by the spring,” Louis agreed.
“Is there any food sweeter than the first berry?” George demanded and soon everyone in the kitchen was talking of summer’s bounty.
Berthe smiled as she listened, and swirled the cider.
A man’s hand appeared in the periphery of her vision and she jumped, colliding with Bayard who stood directly behind her and spilling a measure of cider. “You startled me, Sir Rogue,” she chided, keenly aware of his proximity. “Though I anticipate that was your scheme.”
She halfway expected him to wrap his other arm around her waist or bend down to whisper in her ear—indeed, she hoped for as much, but he stepped back and disappointment made her irritable. Was she not sufficiently desirable for this knight even to flirt with her?
“I wished to ask you something of Annossy,” he said and she glanced his way. “My lord Quinn would know every way in and out of both keep and solar. Do you know of any that are secret?”
Berthe looked down at the cider. “Have you asked my lady?”
“Should I?”
“I doubt she would tell you,” she said, turning to meet his steady gaze. “If indeed she knew of one.”
Bayard eyed her for a long moment, then nodded. “I wanted also to ask you what you thought of this.” He spoke quietly, as if for her ears alone, and she found his expression unexpectedly serious. In his hand, he held a small dark bottle that looked to have some liquid within it.
“What is that?”
“A token of the East,” he said. “It was given to me as a gift.”
“By a lady?” Berthe could not keep suspicion from her tone.
Bayard shook his head. “Nay, a keeper whose tavern we favored. We were eight and when we said we rode for home, I think he knew he would miss our custom. He gave each of us a gift.” He held up the bottle so that it caught the light. It was not black glass, as Berthe had originally thought, but glass of a very deep blue. “This was mine.” His gaze met hers and his eyes seemed even darker than she knew them to be.
“What was it like?” she asked on impulse. “In Palestine?”
Bayard exhaled. “I do not think you truly want to know.”
“Aye, I do. The priest talks of it as if it is a paradise...”
“It is no paradise, to my thinking.” His voice was grim.
“Then tell me.”
“It is different from all I knew before,” Bayard admitted, his gaze fixed on the glass bottle. He turned it in his hand, apparently fascinated by the way it caught the light. Berthe guessed that he was sorting his memories and choosing which to share with her. She wondered how many horrors he had witnessed. “Because it is hot and dusty, and I was thirsty all the time I was there. We fought nigh all the time we were there, unless we were idle and waiting for the call to battle. Either I was fighting for my life and that of my comrades or we played endless games of draughts.” He lifted his gaze to hers again. “Men died on all sides, yet I have never felt that any endeavor was so futile.”
“But you must have won battles and regained territory.”
“Aye, and like as not, lost them again afterward. It is, in its way, another endless game of draughts, save that men die when they lose.” Bayard frowned and took a deep breath. “And yet it is familiar, because there are people tilling the fields and harvesting crops, cooking and praying, and living.”
“Then you did not like it at all.”
“I liked that I met my comrades, like Quinn,” he said. “I saw places that I had only heard the priests talk about, places I had never been certain were real. I tasted foods that were unknown to me, and I was glad of all that.” He smiled at the little bottle and her heart twisted at the sight.
God in heaven, but he was an alluring man. If he spoke to her thus all the time, she would lose her heart in moments.
It had to be a ploy to get beneath her skirts, and Berthe tried to remember that.
“But what is best of all is the gift that my comrade Quinn gives to me,” he said solemnly. “For it is both unexpected and my heart’s desire.”
“What is that?”
“He asks me to remain here with him, at Annossy or Sayerne, to serve him.”
“How is that a gift?” Berthe asked, confused. “You served together, but now you will pledge fealty to your friend?”
“And willingly, for Quinn grants to me a home.” His eyes shone then and Berthe’s heart skipped. “I have been without a home for many years, and indeed, that is why I went on crusade. I hoped to find some measure of fortune, but I found better. I came to this place and have been offered a home and a position—and better yet, I met the most intriguing maiden.”
“Here comes the tale!” Berthe scoffed but Bayard shook his head.
“There is no tale.” He offered her the bottle. “And as a token of my intentions, I give this bottle to you.”
Berthe frowned in confusion.
