“I think Master Hugh took it away with him,”
Warrick said. “Do you have more of it in your workroom? Or can you
make another batch quickly? If there is anything I might do to help
you, I will gladly do it, for Robin’s sake.”
“The best thing you can do is stay with
Robin. Let no one but me or your father enter this room. I will
find Hugh and ask him to make a preparation suitable for
Robin.”
Mirielle’s search took her first to the
crypt, where she hoped Hugh would still be. Donada’s bier had been
placed near Baron Udo’s tomb. One of the crypt candelabra was set
at her head and the other at her feet. The soft candlelight shone
across the linen sheet that covered the dead woman to her chin. The
same gentle glow lit Donada’s wax-like, still features. Mirielle
bowed her head, but only for a moment. Finding Hugh and doing what
they could to save Robin was vitally important. Prayers for the
dead would have to wait. Mirielle knew Donada would understand, for
her son had been the dearest thing on earth to her.
As Mirielle moved toward the steps, she met
Brice coming into the crypt. Tears streamed down his face. He
stifled a sob and bent to kiss Donada’s cheek, which was only a
little more pale than Brice’s own. He straightened slowly, as if
all of his joints ached.
“I blame myself,” Brice said. “Gavin tells me
that he suspects Alda is responsible for this death. If that is
true, it may well have happened because Alda learned how deeply I
cared for Donada.”
“Brice, if you are truly sorry,” Mirielle
said, “then keep away from Alda. Your liaison with her cannot
continue.”
“I try to stay away, but she prevents
me.”
“She cannot prevent you if you are
determined. Be a man, Brice! Do what you know is right.” Mirielle
trembled between tears and anger. “For more than a year now, you
and Alda have been doing something very wrong. Whether you will
acknowledge it or not, the evil generated by your actions has
harmed everyone in this castle. Now, you must end the affair, if
Alda will not.”
“She says I give her strength and power.”
Brice ran a hand through his dark hair. His ashen cheeks were still
damp from the tears he had shed and he had a haggard look, with
purple shadows under his eyes. “In truth, I can believe Alda’s
claim, for when I leave her I feel drained, as if the heart has
gone out of me along with my seed. Over and over again I promise
myself I will not return to her, but when she summons me, I am
compelled to obey. Once, when I did exert all my will and kept
myself from her, she appeared in my bedchamber late at night and
she humiliated me in a way that no man would be likely to forgive.
That night, she was so voracious that I feared she would kill
me.
“Forgive me, Mirielle,” he said more calmly.
“I should not speak this way to a maiden.”
“Are you claming that Alda has cast a spell
over you that makes you unable to break free of her?” Mirielle
asked.
“If I were to say so, it would be her denial
against my word, and she could easily claim her beauty was the
cause of my desire. What man, looking at Alda, would be surprised
to know I cannot stop wanting her? But I am no longer blinded by
lust, not after today’s tragedy.” Brice made as if to touch
Donada’s still form, then withdrew his hand.
“I have no right to lay a single finger of
mine upon her,” he said on a sigh. “My presence here mocks her
goodness. I will leave.” He paused with one hand at his head as if
he were trying to gather his strength for the ascent to the upper
level of the keep.
“Brice, are you ill?”
“Merely weary and overcome with sorrow for
Donada’s sake.”
“I came to the crypt looking for Hugh,”
Mirielle said as they went up the steps together. “Have you seen
him?”
“No.” Brice responded absently. He appeared
to be thinking of something other than Mirielle’s question.
“If you should come upon him, will you ask
him to join me in my workroom? Robin is sick and needs more
medicine.”
“Robin? He’s a good lad, Mirielle. Take care
of him. I know you will.” They had reached the top of the stairs.
Leaving Mirielle’s side Brice went to the door of the chapel. “This
is the only place where I will find help. I will say a prayer for
Robin. And for Donada’s sweet soul.” He went into the chapel,
leaving Mirielle to continue by herself up the next flight of the
spiral stairs.
Upon reaching the top of the steps, which
ended in the entry hall, Mirielle discovered Hugh there with Gavin.
Emma was with them and she was gazing up at Gavin in open
adoration. As soon as Mirielle explained why she was searching for
him, Hugh produced the missing stoppered jar from the scrip at his
belt.
“I brought the medicine away with me,” Hugh
said. “There were serving women in and out of Donada’s room,
preparing her for burial, and I thought it best to keep this safe
from any tampering.”
“Hugh, will you come with me now and
administer it to Robin? I fear greatly for him, and so does
Warrick, who is sitting with Robin in my absence.”
“I will go, too,” Emma said. She put her hand
in Mirielle’s. “Robin is my friend. I want to be with him.”
“Before you go, Mirielle, I would speak with
you in private.” Gavin’s hand on Emma’s back moved her gently away
from Mirielle and toward Hugh. “Mirielle and I will join you
shortly in Donada’s room.”
“Don’t be long,” Emma begged. “I am sure
Robin will be cheered by your presence, Father.”
“Come to my workroom,” Mirielle said to
Gavin. “We can be private there.”
Upon entering the workroom Gavin went at once
to the furnace. Though the fire was banked, there was still
residual heat radiating from it, and Minn lay sleeping in her usual
corner next to it. Gavin held his hands over the furnace.
“I am cold,” he said. “Perhaps it is because
I have just been to see Alda. Her lack of compassion for Donada’s
illness and death would chill any man who has a heart.”
“You do not look well. Gavin, you are much
too pale. I have never seen your hands shake before.”
“With anger and not weakness, I assure you.”
Gavin clasped his hands behind his back where Mirielle could not
see them. “Perhaps I have caught a chill. My throat and eyes are
burning and my stomach is unsettled. Next my nose will begin to
run,” he ended on a laugh that Mirielle was certain was intended to
make her smile in response.
She did not smile. She thought of Donada’s
symptoms, and of Robin’s. She recalled Brice’s pale face and the
way he had moved in the crypt, as if he were a very old man.
“You are sick, too,” she said. “So is Brice,
I think. This is how Donada began.”
“If that is so,” Gavin replied, “then Robin
and Brice and I ought to be well soon. I have ordered Alda confined
to her chamber, so she can do no more harm.”
“I am not sure physical confinement will stop
her from causing trouble.”
“Hugh suggested the same thing. Thus, I have
made a decision about you and the children. I want too talk to you
about it before I tell them. What is this?” Gavin broke off what he
was saying when his eyes lighted upon an oblong wooden box that sat
on one of the shelves. “This was not here yesterday. I looked
around the room, and particularly at those empty shelves. I
remember thinking how much still needs to be replaced since your
herbs and your equipment were ruined by Alda’s command.”
“I have never seen that box before,” Mirielle
said.
“No?” Gavin took the wooden object from the
shelf and placed it on the table. “Will you open it, or shall
I?”
Mirielle hesitated. She was filled with an
unreasoning fear but she made herself reach out and remove the lid.
The box contained a single, small, gray rock with streaks of yellow
and red in it.
Mirielle dropped the lid on the table and
stepped away. Gavin caught her in his arms.
“Tell me what this is,” he ordered, holding
her close as if to protect her from danger.
“If you place that piece of ore over a very
hot flame until it is sublimated,” she said, her voice just above a
whisper, “the vapor thus produced will solidify into crystals as it
cools. Gavin, it is the poison Hugh described to us.”
Gavin’s arms tightened around her. His lips
brushed her forehead as if to comfort her. Mirielle pulled away
from him so she could look directly into his eyes.
“This is not my ore,” she said. “Since the
time when you and Hugh and I were here yesterday, someone has come
into this room and left the box where you found it. How it was
done, I do not know, because I always make certain to leave the
door securely latched. Only Hugh has ever been able to enter here
when that latch was set.”
“The box may have been placed on that shelf
to make you and Hugh suspect each other, or to make Hugh and me
suspect you,” Gavin said.
“You may be right.” Mirielle’s heart
lightened at his next words.
“I do not believe either of you has any evil
intent.”
“Thank you.” But a new fear assaulted
Mirielle. “If someone could enter here despite my best efforts,
that same person might leave the door open upon leaving. Most of
the castle folk are afraid to come into this room, but not so the
children. Emma and Warrick come here freely each evening for their
lessons, and sometimes Robin comes, too. Emma and Warrick in
particular are extremely curious about the work I do and either of
them might innocently take up and handle this dangerous
substance.”
“The children.” As he listened to her,
Gavin’s face went even whiter than it had been. “This incident only
confirms me in the decision I have made. Mirielle, I am going to
lay a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. At this moment, you
and Hugh and my own squires are the only people I can trust. Will
you promise to do what I ask of you?”
“Of course, I promise.” She put out her hands
to him. At once he caught her back into his arms. Then his mouth
was on hers in a greedy, devouring kiss that Mirielle eagerly
returned. In the days just past she had longed for all the caresses
and for the tender intimacy they were forced to deny themselves.
Certain as they now were of a growing danger, she did not think it
was wrong for them to offer this much sustenance to each other.
With lips and tongues and encircling arms they spoke of a tender
emotion that threatened to overcome the limits they had placed upon
it for honor’s sake. Wanting each other, still they observed those
limits.
As if he had received what he needed from
her, Gavin softened the kiss from hungry passion to deep tenderness
and then, finally, to the softest of caresses upon her lips. With a
soft sigh, Mirielle’s tucked her head into his shoulder. Gavin
rested his cheek against her hair. They stood for a time with their
arms still around each other, but not so tightly nor so desperately
as before, and Mirielle was content to have their embrace end that
way
“My dear heart,” Gavin whispered, “above all
else, I want you and the children to be safe. I know Hugh is right
when he says the dark power in this place is steadily gaining
strength. Donada’s death proves the truth of that contention. I am
not ashamed to tell you that Robin’s illness frightens me. Only the
darkest, most decadent evil would stoop low enough to attack an
innocent child.
“Therefore, I have extracted your promise to
obey me.” Gavin shifted his hold on her so he could see Mirielle’s
face as he told her what he was going to require of her. “You are
to tell no one of this plan. Tomorrow at first light, you and Hugh
are to take those three children out of Wroxley. I will send my
squire, Bevis, with you to help with the horses. I depend upon you
and Hugh to use your powers to protect the children until you reach
Bardney Abbey. There, in that holy place, all of you should be safe
until I have vanquished the danger here at Wroxley.”
“You cannot fight a dark mage by yourself,”
Mirielle cried. “Let me stay.”
“I cannot do what I must if I am paralyzed by
fear for you and the children,” he retorted. “Do not quarrel with
me over this, Mirielle. My mind is made up and I will not change
it. And remember, you have promised to do as I ask.”
“Then let Hugh stay with you. He will
probably be of more help than I could be to you,” she admitted.
“I will have Captain Oliver, my second
squire, Hidern, and my own men-at-arms to back me.” Gavin would not
be swayed from his plan, not even when Mirielle pointed out how
useless men-at-arms would be against magic.
“Hugh and I are in agreement on this,” Gavin
said when she once more insisted that he could not face the unknown
evil without powerful assistance. “He understands what we have come
to Wroxley to accomplish. Hugh is going with you because he and I
are agreed that Warrick must be kept safe. My son must survive what
is to come, for he is the next heir. Nor can I abandon Robin and
Emma to an evil they are too young to withstand.”
“You are right, my lord. Send Mirielle and
the children away.” So intent had Mirielle and Gavin been on their
talk that they had not heard Brice come through the unlatched door
and into the workroom. Mirielle’s guardian said nothing about
discovering his ward in the arms of a married man. Brice’s face was
ashen and his movements were stiff and slow.
“Brice, I can see that you are as sick as
Robin is,” Mirielle cried. “You should leave Wroxley with us.
Gavin, bid him join Hugh and me.”
“My liege lord.” Brushing aside Mirielle’s
concern, Brice addressed Gavin in a surprisingly forceful voice,
considering his appearance. “Since Donada’s death I have begun to
realize that I have been ensnared by a power I do not
understand—though, if the truth be told, I made little effort to
resist what was happening. My worldly ambition led me to betray you
in the most intimate and personal of ways. I believe I may be in
part responsible for the harm that has been done to Donada and her
son. Perhaps the illness that has come upon me today is my
punishment for that betrayal. My lord, I ask only that you will
allow me to fight by your side in the coming battle. You will find
me as loyal now as I was false before.” With a rough movement that
looked to Mirielle as if it sorely jarred Brice’s knees and back,
he knelt before Gavin.