“Oh, Brice.” Tears trickled down Mirielle’s
cheeks. “I prayed you would find peace. I see that you have. I know
you are an honest knight and always will be.” She gazed until the
scene in the globe faded and the crystal was clear again.
“Now,” Mirielle whispered, “just once more
before I meet Gavin at the chapel door. Let me see if what I have
come to believe in these last few days is true for, if it is, it
will be the very best wedding gift I can give to my husband.”
Again the crystal brightened and when the new
scene formed it was a familiar one. Mirielle saw herself standing
in the lord’s chamber. In her arms a swaddled bundle lay and, at
her side, Gavin gazed with an expression of wonder at the child she
held. Gavin’s arm was around her waist and their heads were close
together.
Mirielle could not see the child’s face
distinctly, nor could she tell whether it was a son or a daughter.
That did not matter. Gavin would love their child for the same
reason she did—because it had been made from their love for each
other.
The crystal cleared. With a soft smile on her
lips, Mirielle watched the luminous object in her palm for a while
longer.
“I will ask no more for this day,” she said
at last, “though I have a feeling I will use you often in the years
to come.”
A moment later Mirielle opened her chamber
door to Warrick’s firm knock. With him were Robin and Donada, both
restored to glowing health, and Emma, who could barely contain her
excitement. Also at the door was Captain Oliver, who was to act in
Brice’s place as Mirielle’s guardian and was to hand her into
Gavin’s keeping.
“I am ready,” Mirielle told them.
“First, we have to move the chest.” Warrick
and Robin, one at each end, picked up the wooden chest that held
all of Mirielle’s worldly goods. Mirielle knew she would soon have
many more belongings—new gowns and jewels awaited her in the lord’s
chamber—but the dearest treasures of her life were even now
crowding into her room to escort her to her wedding, or were
awaiting her below at the chapel door.
“I promise, we will not begin without you,”
Mirielle said to her son-to-be. Then, with Emma and Donada leading
the way and Captain Oliver’s firm hand at her elbow, Mirielle
started down the stairs to meet her love. And a small grey cat
emerged from beneath the bed to scamper after her.
Two years later.
“Now, don’t cry, Mother. You promised you
wouldn’t,” Robin said. “I will return some day and until then you
will have the new baby to worry about.”
“I will love the new baby, but you are my
first child.” A tearful Donada embraced her son.
“Take care of her, sir.” Robin put out his
hand to the man who kept an arm around his mother’s shoulders.
“I will protect her with my very life.” Sir
Oliver, promoted from captain of the guard to seneschal of Wroxley,
shook hands with the lad who had been his stepson for six
months.
A short distance away, also in the outer
bailey between the stables and the blacksmith’s workshop, Mirielle,
Gavin, and Emma were saying their farewells to Warrick.
“I do understand how important leaving is to
you, Warrick, and I am glad you and Robin will travel eastward with
Hugh,” Gavin said. “All the same, Wroxley will be empty without
you.”
“And without Robin,” murmured Emma.
“You and Mirielle now have another son to
raise,” Warrick reminded his father. “My lord, if King Henry
agrees, as I am sure he will since you are among his most loyal
barons, let my infant brother, Giles, inherit Wroxley when the time
comes. For myself, I will earn my lands and title after I have
learned to master this power inside me.”
“Warrick, I will hold for you the land your
mother brought to me as her dowry,” Gavin promised. “She never
lived there, so the place has no taint of evil magic to it. When
you return, it will be yours.”
“Oh, Warrick!” Emma threw herself into her
brother’s arms. “How I wish I could go with you. What shall I do
without you and Robin?”
“We will all meet again, Emma.” Robin joined
them, having finished his farewells to his mother and stepfather. I
do promise you, the three of us will be together once more before
you know it.
“My dear lady.” Robin made an admirably
executed bow to Mirielle. “I do not know how to thank you for all
your kindnesses to me and to my mother.”
“Come now, Robin, there is no need for such
formality among old friends. I have much to thank you for, too. I
will miss you almost as much as Emma will.” She did not have to
bend over to kiss his cheek. Robin had grown in the last two years.
But his awe of her had not changed. He blushed bright red, and
blushed again when Emma timidly rose on tiptoe to kiss his other
cheek.
After Warrick and Robin had mounted their
horses there was a brief period of silence in the outer bailey
while they all waited for Hugh, who was in the blacksmith’s shop
saying goodbye to Ewain. Hugh emerged from the shop to shake hands
one last time with Gavin.
Mirielle would not be satisfied with a
handclasp. She put her arms around Hugh’s neck and kissed him.
“Ah, now,” said Gavin with a choked laugh,
“perhaps it’s a good thing you are leaving, old friend. I might
grow jealous of my wife’s affection for you.”
“No need for that. Mirielle’s heart belongs
to you and no one else,” Hugh said. “Don’t weep, Mirielle. Haven’t
I taught you that life follows a strange and wonderful plan? Who
knows when we will meet again? Now, as for you, Emma, stop those
tears.”
From the folds of his robe Hugh pulled a
packet of cord-tied silk and put it into the hands of the sobbing
girl.
“Don’t open it until I’m gone,” he said.
“Study hard, Emma. Learn all you can from Mirielle, for she knows
as much as I could teach her.”
Mounting his horse, Hugh followed his young
companions toward the castle gate. As Warrick and Robin each gave a
last wave to their families and rode across the drawbridge, Hugh
turned in his saddle to look upon the group assembled in the outer
bailey. Ewain stood to one side, wearing his leather apron, his
face ruddy from the heat of his forge. On the other side, Sir
Oliver kept a supportive arm around Donada’s waist. In the middle
stood Gavin, with Mirielle’s head on his shoulder and Emma leaning
back against him while he held the girl close. In one hand Emma
clutched the packet Hugh had given her and with the other hand she
waved to him. Mirielle lifted her head to smile at her teacher and
friend.
“Yes,” Hugh said to himself. “A job well
done. Now, there is only one task remaining.”
With his left hand he made a sign, conjuring
happiness and long life for all of them. Seeing it, Mirielle
retuned the gesture.
Then Hugh made another magical sign and he
and the two boys with him disappeared from sight.
* * *