By the time Meredith, nourished by Joan’s
food and cheered by her concern, joined the group of men by the
firepit, Reynaud and Geoffrey had nearly finished telling their
stories to Guy.
“And so you left Brian there, alone?” Guy’s
handsome face was dark with anger and Meredith now realized, with
pain.
“It was at his order, my lord.” Geoffrey
lifted troubled brown eyes to his master’s. “I did not want to
leave him, nor did Meredith, but we knew our first duty was to
bring Thomas safely home.”
“And the other men who went to Tÿnant with
you and Brian? What of them?”
“When I followed Sir Brian into the cellar,
they had all found weapons and they were fighting Sir Walter’s men,
trying to protect us until we could reach Thomas and the women. I
do not think,” Geoffrey admitted, ‘that any of them will have
survived. The odds against us were too great. Sir Walter has a
large armed force to guard his home.”
“How large? How are they disposed?”
“I took careful note, my lord. Brian said I
should, so that when I returned to Afoncaer I could report to you.
He knew you would want to attack Sir Walter.”
“That I do. Fortunately, my men from
Adderbury arrived here earlier today, so I will have an adequate
force for the venture.”
Meredith thought Guy had not noticed her, but
he had.
“I am sorry for your aunt’s death,” he said.
“Geoffrey has told me how bravely she died. But I am angry with all
of you. I wondered why Brian, who was a warrior and not a talker,
asked to go to Walter to negotiate. Why could you not have told me
what you planned to do?”
“That was on my insistence, my lord,” Reynaud
said, “and it was against Meredith’s wishes. I thought it better
for you not to know. I was afraid you would try to rescue Thomas
yourself and thus put yourself into Walter’s hands. Also, if this
attempt at rescue failed, you could honestly swear you knew nothing
about it, and that honest swearing might save Thomas’s life.”
“You are far too clever for your own or
anyone else’s good, Reynaud,” Guy said, shaking his head. “I know
Walter better than you, and I tell you if the attempt to rescue
Thomas had failed, Walter would have killed him without hesitation
and then attacked Afoncaer with all the men he had available. He
would never have rested until the castle had fallen to him.”
“He may attack you anyway,” Meredith said.
“Sir Walter must be very angry, and not just at losing Thomas. Lady
Isabel helped us.”
“So I have heard.” Guy contemplated
Meredith’s upturned face for a moment before he swung away and got
back to business. “I will not wait for Walter to come to me. We
will ride to Tynant tomorrow and attack him.”
“I will go with you, my lord.” Geoffrey rose
from the bench where he had been sitting. “Brian was my friend,
too. I would help avenge his death.”
“If there is anything I can do, perhaps
parlay with Sir Walter before the fighting begins,” Reynaud
offered, “I, too, would be pleased to ride with you.”
“You have already done more than enough,” Guy
began, frowning at the architect.
“No,” Meredith cried, “I will not have you
blame this honest man whose only concerns were for Thomas’s safety
and your welfare. The first idea for an attempt at rescue was mine,
though I think Branwen, too, had some similar thought, and hers was
the information that made it possible. Reynaud refined our rough
plan so we had a better chance of success, and as for Geoffrey, he
knew nothing of it until Brian wisely confided in him last night.
So if you are to blame or punish anyone, let it be me and not these
men, who have been your honest servants in this, though if you were
to ask me, I would say you should thank all of us for what we have
done.”
She saw laughter and then surprise in Guy’s
face before he controlled himself.
“Is this the quiet, gentle Meredith I thought
I knew? Reward? Aye, I’ll consider it,” he said, with just a hint
of teasing. “But later. I have a lot to do before morning.
Geoffrey, if you want to go with me tomorrow, get some sleep.
Meredith, I expect you to stay with Thomas. Reynaud, come with me
now. I have orders for you and for Captain John, who will be in
command here in my absence.”
They went out into the bailey, Guy leading
the way, Meredith and Reynaud a little behind him.
“It was sweet to me,” Reynaud said softly,
“to hear you defend me as you did, Meredith. I thank you for those
kind words.”
“I only spoke the truth.”
“Nevertheless…”
“Reynaud, are you coming?” Guy spoke
impatiently, and Reynaud hurried to him, not looking back.
Meredith went to sit with Thomas. Guy came to
his room several hours later to check personally on the boy’s
condition.
“He hasn’t stirred,” Meredith reported,
rising from the chair by the fireplace to stand beside him and look
down at Thomas. “Sleep is what he needs.”
“What you need, too, by the look of you. I’ll
have Joan send a serving woman to watch him so you can rest.” Guy
put an arm across her shoulders. “You were very brave, my sweet and
very foolish, to do what you did.”
“I wish Brian and Branwen -” She could not go
on. She put her head on his shoulder and wept with grief and
weariness, and this time, his earlier anger spent in preparations
for action, he held her and let her cry until she was done.
“And now you will go into danger,” she said
at last, wiping her eyes. “What will happen to Thomas, to all of us
here, if Walter defeats you?”
“He cannot defeat me. He is in the wrong,”
Guy said. When she looked up at him sharply, he smiled. “That is
what Thomas, our true and gentle knight-to-be, would tell us.”
He let her go then. He went to the door and
opened it, glancing back at her.
“We will win against Walter,” he said, “for
Brian and Branwen, and most of all for Thomas. I promise you that.
I will return, and when I do…” He went out, leaving the sentence
unfinished.
When morning came Thomas’s condition was
worse. His breathing was shallow and harsh. Meredith could tell
before she touched him that he had a fever. He drifted in and out
of consciousness, occasionally muttering disconnected words or
half-sentences, all having to do with his imprisonment and the
deaths of Brian and Branwen. He did not seem to hear her words of
comfort.
After watching over him for a while, Meredith
decided what she must do. She gave the serving woman instructions
to sponge Thomas with cool water and not to leave him, and then she
went to find Guy. She knew he had spent most of the night in
preparation for the attack on Tynant. He and his men would leave as
soon as it was light enough for them to see their way. She found
him in the great hall.
He’d had only the briefest of naps, and his
face was lined with weariness and strain, but Meredith, watching
while Geoffrey armed him, knew that whatever the cost to himself,
Guy would not rest until Walter fitz Alan was his prisoner or dead
in battle. She waited, controlling the urgency she felt, until Guy
had finished with Geoffrey.
He came to her at last, striding across the
great hall in his knee-length hauberk of chain mail, his mail hood
raised and fastened, his iron bascinet held in one gloved hand. He
would not don this heavy, uncomfortable second helmet until the
last moment before the battle was to begin, but he must be
otherwise prepared to fight at any instant in case Walter should
make a surprise attack while Guy and his men were riding to Tynant.
His personal blazon, the diagonal row of three gold diamonds,
gleamed across the chest of his wine red surcoat.
Meredith looked at him and saw the glittering
knight to whom she had given her heart two and a half years before.
How much more she felt for him now than the paltry emotions that
had fluttered in her breast on that day. Now she knew him, his
fairness and justice, his occasional anger, his patience toward
others, and most of all, his fierce passion and his capacity for
tenderness. She loved him with her whole heart and soul, with all
of the woman’s passion he had kindled in her, and she would love
him until she died.
“I leave you in Captain John’s good care,”
Guy said. “He will guard Afoncaer, with Reynaud to assist and
advise him about the defenses, until I return. Remain here at the
castle until then.”
“My lord, about Thomas.” She stopped, seeing
concern flare in his eyes.
“You said last night he needed only sleep.
I’ve not looked in on him today, not wanting to disturb his rest.
What’s wrong?”
“He is feverish; he’s very ill. I am afraid
for him.” She put out one hand, searching for the warmth of his.
She found only cold chain mail as his gloved fingers closed over
hers.
“He will live.” It was a statement, not a
question. “You will not let him die, Meredith. Walter has much to
pay for, and by God, if Thomas has not recovered by the time I
return, I will kill Walter myself and in the slowest, most painful
way I can devise.” The grim set of his square jaw told her he did
not lie.
“That is why I wanted to speak to you before
you left Afoncaer. I do not wish to disobey you, but I must leave
the castle.”
“I order you to remain here.” The harsh voice
of command softened suddenly. “Meredith, I am depending upon you.
Please stay with Thomas.”
“It’s for Thomas’s sake I must go. I need
your permission, for I know Captain John will never let me pass the
gates without it. Guy, stored in the cave are medicines that could
help Thomas. Give me leave to go and get them.”
“Not alone. Walter may have sent his men into
the forest around Afoncaer to try to discover what my plans are. If
you must go, it will be only with armed guards.”
She tried to joke, hoping to smooth away his
concern over Thomas and herself with a laugh, for he ought not to
have to think of anything just now but the expedition against
Walter.
“Will your guards,” she asked, “be willing to
carry baskets of herbs and medicines back to the castle?” She saw
the smile she had hoped for rising at the picture she had conjured
up of men-at-arms tramping through the forest burdened with her
supplies.
“They will if Captain John or I order them,”
he said.
“Then I will be glad of their aid,” Meredith
told him. “And also if they will help me seal up the cave entrance.
I do not want to return there to live, Guy, not with Rhys and
Branwen both gone. I will take away whatever we can carry, and then
I will remain here at Afoncaer until Thomas is well and this
contest with Walter is finished. After that, I will decide what to
do, but I will not live in that cave again.”
“I am glad to hear it. We will talk more of
this later.” A man in boiled leather armor stepped through the door
to the bailey and called to Guy. “I must leave now. I will tell
Captain John to provide an escort for you to the cave.”
Quickly, before he could turn from her, she
raised one hand and touched his face, tracing the strong line of
cheek and jaw, until her fingers reached the cold chain mail of his
hood.
“Come back safely,” she whispered.
“How could I not, when you are here waiting
for me?” He grinned, that bright, heart-stopping flash of white
teeth and sparkling blue eyes, and then he was gone. She scarcely
heard Geoffrey speak his hasty farewell to her before he followed
his master out of the hall, carrying Guy’s shield.
She had no idea how long she stood in the
same spot, looking at the door through which Guy had left, as
though looking and wishing could bring him back. She gradually
became aware of a black-robed presence at her left elbow.
“God is with him,” Reynaud said. “I am
certain of that.”
“So am I. Reynaud, have you been to see
Thomas this morning?”
“I have, and I do not like the look of him.
Before he left, Sir Guy told Captain John to have four men ready to
accompany you to get your medicines. I think the sooner you go, the
sooner Thomas will begin to mend.”
“Do you have so much faith in me?” she said,
surprised.
“I have faith in God and in the tools He uses
to carry out His plans for us. You were His instrument when you
brought Thomas safely out of Tÿnant.”
“I had earthly help in that,” Meredith said.
Then, because she had learned to respect and even to like this
strange, quiet man with the intricate mind, she asked, “would you
like to come with me to the cave, Reynaud?”
“I admit to a good deal of curiosity about
that place,” he replied, “but I think I may better serve Sir Guy,
and Thomas, by remaining here. Almost all the building on the inner
castle has stopped so the workmen could be used to strengthen the
last of the outer defenses in case Walter attacks.”
“I know that. It’s why I thought you would be
free to go with me.”
“You may remember my plans for the new keep
included a stillroom. As you know, the keep is nearly completed.
The stillroom needs only two or three men, closely supervised, to
finish it quickly. I am certain Captain John will spare me those
men for just one day. The room should be ready for your use by the
time you return.”
She could have hugged him. She did not, but
her shining eyes and her smile clearly conveyed her pleasure.
“Reynaud, you are without a doubt the best
planner I have ever known. If, when your workmen are finished, you
could ask Joan to send a woman to sweep out the stillroom?”
“I’ll see that it’s done.”
The cave was cold and empty, the heart gone
out of it, now that Rhys and Branwen were dead. Meredith did not
bother to light a fire in the ash-filled pit. She wanted only to be
gone from that place and never return. The men-at-arms had brought
torches, and these lit the inner chamber as Meredith worked
rapidly, placing vials and jars into the baskets she and Branwen
had formerly used to gather herbs.