Authors: Amy Mullen
She slowed her pace
,
but she did not stop entirely. Her father
'
s seneschal, Oliver, stepped in front of her before she could go out through the gate.
"
Please go find your sister and keep her within the walls with you. We do not yet know what is happening
,
and you must remain safe.
"
"
Isabel is having lessons with Father Darius,
"
Gemma said with an uncertain stutter. Her mind dredged up all types of horrors, though there was rarely a moment when she truly
knew
fear inside her home. It had always been relatively peaceful at Blackstone, even when the rest of England
had been a mess under Stephen.
It would take a great army to breach the stout, protective stone walls of Blackstone.
The de Vere
'
s always felt safe because i
t was nearly impossible to get close along the outer curtain walls near the rivers
,
a
nd her father
'
s men were
trained to defend their home.
"
Do as your father asks,
"
Oliver said.
He
moved
his tall, lean frame from her and walked smartly to the gatehouse to join her father outside the walls. She remained, but that did not stop her from looking for clues. A few more men ran through the bailey to assist her father. Gemma decided there was nothing more she could learn in that moment
,
so she
went
back
for the forgotten water bucket.
More men came rushing through the gate before she could retrieve her bucket. Panic flared on their weary faces. She kept her green eyes focused on the gatehouse as man after ma
n disappeared behind the wall. A
s
s
he knelt
, she
felt around near her feet for the dropped bucket.
Finding it with her fingertips, she
picked it up, and then dropped it again as her father
'
s men started to file back into the bailey. Four of them came through the gate more slowly than the others, with a linen sheet stretched out between them. Something or someone was upon the blanket. The men struggled to carry it through the inner bailey past the well where she stood. Without think
ing, she ran
toward
the sheet.
"
Stop!
"
her father shouted. She skidded to a halt near the blanket as the men moved
toward
the stables and the outer bailey. A body with long, black hair twisted around the face and shoulders lay still. The skin was blue
,
the body was abnormally large and distorted
, and the
eyes stared at nothing. It was a vision straight out of a terrible nightmare.
"'
Tis Minna!
"
she cried as she fell back from the bloated body upon the sheet. She recognized the ale-master
'
s wife but could scarcely believe what she was seeing.
"
I told you to stop,
"
her father snapped.
"
Go see to your sister
,
and we will speak more on this later.
"
Stunned, Gemma did as he asked without argument or hesitation. She spun and ran
toward
the chapel in the inner bailey. Tears dropped from her eyes for the second time that day. The water bucket was forgotten.
****
Gemma joined her father at the dais for the last meal of the day. The sun set, splashing vivid reds and purples across the western sky. This time was most pleasant for both sisters, as they always had their father to themselves. The hall was never as full as it was for the noontime meal
,
and they rarely had company. Father Darius often sat at the dais with the family for dinner, but he fasted through supper. King Henry and his court came to stay when Gemma was younger, but she remembered little of it. The evening meals during his visit had been long, loud, and overwhelming. She preferred the quiet meals when
she had her father to herself.
Isabel slid breathlessly into her seat next to her older sister. Her green eyes resembled those of both her mother and Gemma, but were rounder and larger. Tonight, they sparkled as
if they were keeping a secret.
"
Have you washed?
"
Gemma said, her tone light. Her nine
-
year
-
old sister consistently came to supper straight from catching insects and tadpoles down near
the stock pond and the gardens.
"
Oh of course, you silly,
"
Isabel said with a giggle,
"
I always wash, right Papa?
"
Blaise de Vere shot his youngest a tight smile and
re
turned his attention to the trencher placed before him. He remained silent.
Gemma forgot her table manners and picked at a hunk of cheese as she pondered what could have happened to Minna. The terror of seeing the grotesque form of her friend cost Gemma both her appetite and her peace of mind. She itched to ask her father for details but she knew such talk would upset Isabel.
Her head snapped up as her father finally spoke.
"
Eat up, children. Let us try to think of good things, like your brother arriving home soon to wed Helena. We shall have a great celebration and shake off the sadness from the year prior.
"
"
Aye,
"
she said. She watched her sister shove a piece of fruit into her mouth and squirm in her seat.
"
Eat up. Hesse is watching to see if you are finished.
I think s
he probably knows from the stink you are in need of a good soaking.
"
Isabel wrinkled her nose at her sister and chose one last bite of bread to pop into her mouth. Hesse, the nursemaid
who had
once cared for Gemma, now watched from a trestle table to their left. Getting Isabel settle
d
for the night was a challenge. The little imp was more like a boy than a girl. She spent her free time exploring and had the muddy hands and clothing to prove it
, often collecting
things like bugs, rocks, sticks, and leaves
she left lying everywhere. F
requently
, she
presented Hesse
with the
worms and bugs she had dug up in the garden. Hesse, of course, always instructed her to release the poor creatures at once.
The nursemaid tugged and pulled at her skirt and wrung her hands as she waited for Isabel to finish. Hesse had been in the service of the de Vere
'
s since the birth of Gavin, the eldest son. A rather plain looking woman, she only spoke when she felt the need to say something of importance, and though one might look at her tall, slightly hunched frame, graying hair, and severe nose and think her a shrew, she had a heart of gold. Gemma lost her mother, but she still had Hesse, even if most of the nursemaid
'
s attention was now spent keeping Isabel focused on her studies and out of trouble.
The youngest de Vere regarded her nursemaid as her father waved his hand, indicating she could be excused. She ran from the dais and pulled Hesse up the steps
toward
the solar. Gemma felt safe enough to talk to her father after Isabel departed. He remained quiet throughout the meal.
What was he hiding from her?
"
Father,
"
she said lightly, almost as if asking a question.
After a long moment
, he
raised his gray eyes to meet hers. She studied him in the limited light cast from the dancing flames in the fireplace built into the
stone
wall beside them. He appeared alarmed and hesitated before he spoke.
"
I mean it
,
Gemma. We are to look forward to your brother
'
s return to bring some happiness back to our home.
"
"
But Father,
"
she leaned
toward
him and whispered so only he could hear her,
"
what of Minna? What happened to her? Did she fall? How long was she outside the walls? Was she in the water long?
"
Her father sighed.
"
She drown
ed
, but
'
twas not like Minna to be near the rivers. Her husband has said she was scared of the water and could not swim. I fear I do not know if her death was accidental or not, but it does not appear to be so. She had marks upon her neck, as if she were choked.
"
Blaise paused. Horror and sadness spread across Gemma
'
s delicate features, distorting her beauty.
"
The ale-master has pleaded innocence. Some always believe the spouse is to blame
,
but I hesitate to believe it was he. I feel he is innocent, but because of the marks upon her neck, I can only assume she was killed. Mayhap she was thrown into the river to cover it up. Had her kirtle not twisted about a dead tree near the edge of the river, she
might
have floated down the Thames
,
and we would simply have thought her missing or run away.
"
Blaise
put his head
down as he finished and said no more.
Gemma sat silently, staring at the back of her hand. Minna died for some unknown reason. Her father did not think it was an accident. Someone harbored a hardened and blackened heart. Did Minna
'
s husband have such a hidden heart, one
that
w
ould cause him to end her life?
The sounds of pounding feet and shouting permeated the quiet hall.
"
Blaise, come quickly!
"
It was Oliver. His voice echoed off of the walls
,
and everyone stopped mid-motion. An eerie calm settled but only momentarily.
Fear took root in Gemma
'
s brain and shot through to her fingertips. Her body went rigid
,
and she felt momentarily frozen in place, sitting at the dais with most of her meal still in front of her, uneaten and forgotten.
She tried to stand
,
but she could not balance.
Falling
backward
, she
struggled to right herself before she hit the unforgiving, stone floor. The alarm and urgency in the seneschal
'
s voice flooded her mind with worry. Unable to face another calamity that day, she steadied herself and did something out of character. Instead of following her father, she strode quickly to the steps to join her sister in the solar. For the first time in her nineteen years, she did not wish to know.
The next day arrived quietly. A shadow of uncertainty clouded the early morning hours as those dwelling within the walls of Blackstone carried on their daily rituals. After breaking her fast, a forlorn Gemma solemnly followed her father to the chapel where Minna
'
s body w
as laid out waiting for burial.
One by one
,
those
who
served and lived in Blackstone Castle filed into the chapel to say a prayer for her soul. Father Darius conducted mass
,
and the body was taken to the small cemetery near the family plot where Gemma
'
s mother was put into the ground a year before. The air was stiff with sadness over the loss of Minna but also over the uncertainty of how or why she had died.
Gemma watched her father purposely move away and
toward
the stables as soon as the burial was over. She was desperate to ask him what had happened outside the night before
,
but his departure was swift.
She must wait until his return.
Left alone, she
searched
for something to do. She meandered aimlessly past the gardens where the roses were beginning to bud. Her mother had doted on the roses
,
but they failed to thrive. Hesse came along and taught Andrie to cut them down in the fall. They flourished each year after.
M
any a lazy afternoon
was
spent tending to
her roses. Those same roses seemed a bit sadder and a bit less vibrant a year after her death. It was as if they missed her too.
Her mother had put a lot of time into the gardens. This was her creation
,
and it grew bigger each year. Now and again Hesse could be found there, teaching Isabel about the flowers, herbs, and vegetables, but it was nev
er the same without her mother.