Beloved Pilgrim (10 page)

Albrecht put his palms down on either side of
his hips. The touch made him realize where he was. He leaped up as
if scalded. He stood a moment and gazed at the bed. He said
something under his breath, sighed and turned back to her. "It
could work. But what about Hans?" he asked again.

"Leave Hans to me."

She stood and went to the massive armoire
that stood against one wall. She pulled the two doors toward her to
reveal her brother's armor. "Do you think it will fit me?"

Albrecht came to her side. He reached to
stroke the front of the breastplate. "You are of a height with him.
The sleeves may be too long. The mail leggings too, and the boots
too big, but we can manage. You won't actually have to fight in it,
after all."

Albrecht joined her by a large chest and
opened the heavy lid. He reached for a tunic that lay carefully
folded on the top of the rest of Elias's clothes. He held it to his
chest for a moment; his eyes closed, and then he held it out to
her. "I can see already this will fit loosely."

As Elisabeth took the tunic as well as a few
other items of clothing and held them up against her, Albrecht
continued to search through the chest. She heard his sharp intake
of breath. "What is it?"

He stood with something tiny in his fingers.
It was a loop of braided dried grass. "I made it for him, years
ago. I thought he must have thrown it away. But here it is." His
eyes swam. He started to put the grass ring on his finger, but the
dry grass tore. A sob erupted from his chest.

She put her hands on his shoulders and drew
him to her. "Shhh, shhh," she comforted. "He is in your heart,
where he will never change, never break, never leave you."

Hans approached her the next morning. "My man
said you sent him for water last night. I will thank you, my lady,
not to compromise my guards in the future."

She leveled a considering look on him.
"Nothing untoward happened, did it?"

He smirked. "It did to him. He's spending the
day locked up for punishment."

"He told you the truth voluntarily, but you
punish him?" she asked incredulously. "You are just teaching your
men to keep their mouths shut."

Hans scowled, but then cast her a speculative
look. He stepped forward, first glancing about for witnesses. "I
can be taught to keep my mouth shut . . . ," he led.

She returned his frank look. "You can, can
you? And how do I know that?"

He sighed and stepped back. "Is my word not
enough for you?" He could not help smiling as she laughed aloud.
"Well, I can't blame you for your skepticism. What you don't know
is that I detest the bastard, my master Reinhardt. He is a nasty
son of a bitch and passes me over time and again for reward, praise
or elevation. What's more . . . " He hesitated. "No, that I won't
tell you."

She looked at him appraising. "You are
sincere, aren't you? Aren't you afraid I will tell him?"

The man shrugged. "I hope you won't. It would
get you nothing but scorn from the bastard. And . . . " He went
near her again. "And I could be a good ally in your household." He
reached to take a lacing at her neckline and twist it around a
finger. "No reason the baron gets to be the only one to have some
pleasure on the side. Once you are with child, what difference will
it make?"

Elisabeth slapped his hand away. "I thought
you did not find me appealing?"

Hans, who was looking at her flat chest,
smiled ruefully. "Tit for tat," he murmured, chuckling over his own
jest. "Let's just say I want to do to him what he did to me."

"A woman?" she asked, suddenly realizing what
he implied.

He stared hard and angry into her face.
"Never you mind."

Elisabeth stood still for a moment, and then
reached to put her hand on his chest. He smiled and put his own
hand over hers, rubbing his thumb along its side caressingly. He
watched her thin lips as they moved. "What if you could get even
and get gold at the same time?" she asked.

Hans lifted an eyebrow, thrusting up his
lower lip as if thinking about her suggestion. "I could have you
and gold?" he said skeptically. "If I had enough gold, I would be
happy to forego you, my lady." He looked into her eyes. "How much
gold?"

She knew she had named a good sum when his
eyes widened and the pupils dilated. "And what am I to do for this
gold? And how do I know it even exists?"

She stepped back away from him. "Let me just
say that if I cannot produce it for you, you need not do
anything."

He smiled, "That sounds fair. So what next?"
He reached for her.

She skittered back out of reach. "Just do
nothing. I will let you know what I need. It won't be long."

Hans stared at her, his eyes hard. "This
better not be a trick. I could do you and that little lover of
yours a great deal of harm."

She returned his hard gaze. "It is not a
trick. You will see."

Hans extended a hand as if he was about to
touch her face, but the hand detoured to a thin gold chain around
her neck. He cupped the opal that hung from it. "Care to offer some
surety?"

Her breath stopped. The pendant was a gift
from her father and very precious to her. But it might be the thing
that assured her escape. "Y-yes, take it."

She put up her hands to undo the clasp behind
her neck, but the squire had his hands there first. He let them
linger, close as he was now close enough to her face that he could
see the flutter over the pulse in her throat. He stroked her neck
with his thumbs, and then reached farther to release the necklace.
He held it in the palm of one hand and examined it carefully.

"Nice. Very nice. And there is more, I take
it?" His eager eyes lifted to her face.

"Yes. Even nicer than that bauble."

He settled back with his weight on one foot,
considering her. "And you are willing to give it all up for that
squire?"

Her lack of response satisfied his curiosity,
even if wrongly. "I suppose the Baron must not be right about him.
I am sorry, my lady, but you do look more like a boy than a
girl."

"What do you mean, the Baron is right?" she
demanded.

"That your leman is a sodomite. My master
does not like sodomites. He decided to let the man leave on his
own, but if he finds him here when he returns he plans to throw him
to whichever guards most want to tear him to pieces." Hans's lips
narrowed in a sneer.

"Why would he do that?" Elisabeth realized at
once she should have played stupid, but it was too late now.

"I told you. He doesn't like them. I
personally do not mind. Whatever pleasure a man wants. And a woman
too. Let them. But maybe they get the Baron randy and that upsets
him." Hans shrugged. "How long must I wait for these secretive
plans of yours to come to fruition? Reinhardt won't stay away
forever, you know."

She tried not to let him see her anxiety.
"Soon. A few days. No more."

He grinned. "Good." He clamped his fingers
shut on the treasure in his palm, made a mocking bow and spun on
his heels. She watched him go, praying she had not made a fatal
mistake.

"The Baron plans to kill you if you are still
here when he returns!"

Albrecht's face grew deathly pale. "Did Hans
tell you that?"

She nodded. "We need to get our plans into
action. When is the soonest you can leave?"

"Tonight! I would leave right this minute but
you still want me to get your brother's armor out of the manor,
right? I mean, is that not your desire, my lady?"

Elisabeth looked into his eyes. "Can you do
that tonight? Take it to Magdalena's and let her know what we
plan."

"I will. Do you have something I can bribe
the lookout with? I think I can get past the rest."

"I can give you something," she said. "But
what if you pretend you are loading out your own belongings? If you
did that you could leave in daylight. That would make it look less
suspicious."

Albrecht hesitated. "You may be right, my
lady. I will still need time to pack up Elias's gear."

"Will it all fit in his clothing chest?"

"I think so," he replied, "but what about the
clothes?"

"I will put them on under my gown when I
leave. No one has any reason to go into Elias's chamber. I think we
can get away with it. Just wait until supper when everyone will be
in the hall and the kitchen and you can sneak out by way of the
outside stairway."

They stood and looked at each other
silently.

"So it's really going to happen," Elisabeth
said.

Albrecht took her hands. "And you are certain
about this? It is terribly risky. I have to go, but you do
not."

She squeezed his hands, and then let them go.
"I do not want to leave. I have no idea where I will go. But I
cannot stay here. Not and be Reinhardt. If I stay, I will either go
mad or die, or both."

His eyes were full of sorrow. "I do not want
to leave either. All my memories of Elias are here. But I can't
just wait for whatever brutal death the Baron would improvise for
me. I suppose at this point we are damned if we do and damned if we
don't."

"That is one way of putting it," she said
grimly.

Supper that day was nerve-wracking for
Elisabeth. She sat on the dais trying not to keep looking toward
the exits from the hall. She jumped at every dropped platter. It
was a relief when at last she could lay down her eating knife, wipe
her mouth on a cloth, and go up to her room claiming to need a nap.
In her chamber she carefully looked out the window. The guards at
the door were in the act of shutting the gates. She cupped a palm
to her ear hoping she could catch the sound of hoof beats or talk.
She could tell the guards were talking, laughing, but could not
make out their words. Sighing, she turned from the window.

"I do not blame the little bugger. If I was
one of those, I'd get the hell out before the old bastard gets
back!" one of the guards, walking across the courtyard, had called
back to the other.

That man, still near the gates, called back,
"Well tell the squire he took all his gear and then some. Or don't
bother with that last. Let the poor bugger get off with whatever
he's stolen. What do we care?"

Elisabeth slumped back against her chamber
wall and sighed with relief. Just days now and she would go for her
"retreat" with the reclusive woman. Would Albrecht be there? Would
he have the armor? Or would he leave her and get away? After all,
she had offered him the armor so he could make his way in the
world. All she could do was pray and wait.

"When do I get the rest of it?" Hans demanded
as Elisabeth slung her drawstring bag with the barest of her needs
over her shoulder in the courtyard.

"Come with me a bit. I have the rest hidden
nearby." She was more concerned with getting on her way than with
any chance Hans might change his mind about helping her. His greed
would take care of that.

Hesitantly, he replied, "Well, all right. I
didn't know I was going to have to work for this."

Her sideways glance told her he meant what he
said, that he was not jesting. "It is not far. Just out of sight of
the manor."

Even with the unpleasant Hans beside her
Elisabeth felt more like dancing than walking as she sloughed off a
life that had become too great a burden and too spare of rewards to
continue. In her sack she had little. Albrecht would have already
delivered Elias's armor, weapons and clothing to the holy woman's
cottage. Soon Elisabeth would no longer exist, at least until she
figured out what she was going to do. She found herself wishing
Albrecht and she were truly lovers. At least then she could turn
the uncertainty of their fates over to him. That was the
compensation for being a woman, not having to make choices. It was
compensation too burdensome for Elisabeth.

"What are you going to do? Where are you
going?" Hans spoke into her thoughts, as if responding to them.

She shook her head. "If I even knew, I
wouldn't tell you. If Reinhardt thinks to search for me, I want him
to have to search near and far. So don't bother to ask."

He shrugged disinterestedly. "Whatever," he
said. "Is the reward far? You aren't bringing me out here to an
ambush, are you?" He stopped in his tracks, the thought just now
occurring to him. He eyed the brush around them and started to pull
forth his sword.

Elisabeth looked at him, surprised. "You
don't trust me," she remarked.

He glared at her. "Look, you are running away
from your husband and bribing me to defy him, my master, to help
you. You are bribing me with what belongs to him by rights." He
cocked his head, his smile sardonic. "Does that sound like a
trustworthy person to you?"

"Oh," she said in a small voice. "You are
right, of course."

Hans shook his head. "As innocent as that and
you think you are going to make your way in the big wicked world, I
suppose?"

His face revealed only scorn. "Stay here,"
she inserted. "I will go get the casket." Without waiting for his
assent, she glanced about for landmarks, and then headed straight
into a clump of trees.

Stretching his neck to keep his eye on her,
Hans watched. He was just about to follow, thinking she had given
him the slip, when she reappeared. She was carrying a wooden casket
just large enough that she could not see over it and had to take
her steps carefully.

"Here," she said perfunctorily.

He reached to take the casket from her arms.
He looked about for a place to set the thing down so he could look
inside. Finding nowhere he knelt and set the casket on the ground
before him. "It's locked," he snapped as he tried to pull the lid
up.

Without a word, she bent and reached to the
side of the casket. Slipping her finger along the side, she pushed
in at a spot near the rear of the box. The action released a catch
and the casket opened.