Garrett glanced at the chunky woman who now stood before the hearth, giggling loudly at something one of his knights had said, her hand restraining the poor man. He grinned at the disgust on the man’s face. The damned woman made more of a pest of herself with each visit.
“You think of Nedda,” he turned back to Margot. “She is your idea, not mine. Margot, I’ve told her a dozen times that I don’t want her. And I don’t want her here, stirring up my people. How many times do I have to tell this to you?”
“Garrett! You are cruel. Just remember Brother, someday you will need an heir, so you must marry someone.”
Garrett turned away from Margot and was entranced as Rhianna strolled toward the dais, stopping several times to offer a comment to one of his servants. When she reached the center of the room, she executed a perfect courtesy.
“My Lord.” Her husky voice rang through the room. “You should have come and told me guests had arrived.”
Garrett grinned. She was trying to impress Margot that she was a lady born. And she was doing it so well. She was quite accomplished in the art of pretending.
However, she didn’t give him time to respond.
“My Lady,” she addressed Margot. “I welcome you to Knockin. I am Rhianna and I serve your brother.” She raised her head just enough so that Margot got a good look at her face.
Margot gasped.
Garrett sat stunned.
Serve your brother
? She didn’t serve him, at least not yet. Astonished, he stared at her. How could she imply such when she knew there was no truth in her words? He rubbed his hand over his eyes. He didn’t need to look in Margot’s direction to know her feelings.
“Garrett,” Margot whispered. “I cannot tolerate this. I will not sit at your table to sup with your—your whore. And, Nedda will not sit at the table with her either. You get her out of here, Brother. Send her away. Make her leave.”
Garrett bristled. Margot was not mistress here now. She had her own home. He would decide whom he wanted eating at table with him.
He glared at both women then turned to his sister. With his voice as soft as his sister’s, he commented, “You said it, Margot. This is my table and she is here because I want her here. Do not forget your place. You have a husband and your own house. If you want to give orders, then go home tomorrow so you can tell others what to do. And take Nedda with you.”
He turned to Rhianna.
“And, you wench, come,” he shouted in a voice that would have reached into the corners of the great hall. “Sit next to me so we can share a meal. Tell me, have you done anything of value while I was hunting for your food?”
Margot leaned toward him, and placing her hand on his arm, she pleaded, “Oh, nay, Brother, don’t do this. Please, will you not think of me, of my feelings? I cannot eat with her at table. Garrett, what will your men think?”
Rhianna understood Garrett’s anger. She should not have implied she was his leman. At the moment, Margot’s uneasy expression concerned her more. Brother and sister spoke quietly but she knew their words were about her.
She studied the older woman. This half sister of Garrett’s was not pretty. But she was tall and very thin. Rhianna would have called Margot bony if it had not been so uncharitable. She wore her straight dark hair which was laced with gray twisted into a knot and held against her head with a net of fine wool. Her face was pale and long and her gray eyes were wide set with heavy black brows.
Too dark to be natural, Rhianna decided. But what struck her most was the melancholy that radiated from her. Rhianna decided this Margot was a most unhappy woman. And sharing a table with Rhianna made her upset. Nay, more than that. Embarrassed? Aye, that was the right of it. Margot was embarrassed by Garrett’s supposed leman.
Rhianna turned her attention to Garrett. His outstretched hand indicated she was to sit beside him. As she walked behind his chair, he reached out and patted her buttocks.
Rhianna glared at him. She didn’t appreciate his performance, even if it was for his sister’s benefit. After a quelling look, she sat. But, he had asked her a question. Lifting her nose in the air she replied, “My stitches are most worthwhile, my Lord. I’ve finished the mending and have begun making garments for those in need.”
He glared at her before he helped himself to some of the venison the cook had prepared for the meal.
She smiled, trying to appear as pleasant as possible because she wasn’t going to let him bait her into an argument in front of his sister.
The other woman, the one named Nedda, approached.
Now Rhianna had to grin. This was the betrothed?
This Nedda was squat and round. Rhianna could only guess at her weight. She had a pretty face but bright red-gold hair peaked out of her veil. Rhianna was struck by the dull blue eyes that glared at her from across the table.
She’s bored with all of us.
Rhianna smiled.
Nedda glared back at her before she snapped her head in the other direction. Rhianna wanted to laugh out loud. It seemed Nedda understood the situation without a word to her.
Rhianna scooted away from Garrett but he slipped an arm around her waist.
“Woman, are you trying to move to the other end of the hall? Nay, move back here. You belong next to me.”
Heat crept into Rhianna’s face. She could imagine how red her face had gotten. He was trying hard to humiliate her before the others. Of course, she had brought this on herself.
She lowered her head and attempted to ignore everyone at table. Coming into the hall before she had been summoned had been a mistake. After this, she would stay in her assigned chamber no matter who asked her to join them. She tried not to listen but Garrett’s sarcastic tone registered.
“So, Sister, have you and Nedda decided on what you want me to spend my coin this trip?”
He turned to Lydon who stood before the table. “Think you hard on this institution called marriage, my friend. Women! Always separating a man from his funds. Nor are they ever satisfied. Use my sister as your example. She has her own castle, yet she leaves home and hearth to come here to tell me what to do with mine.”
Rhianna ached with embarrassment for Margot. Garrett’s words cut deep, Rhianna could tell. She almost said something, trying to ease Margot’s pain but stopped herself in time. It would not do for a captive to express empathy for the sister. Garrett would surely get the wrong message if she did. Nay, there was one answer and only one. She had to leave the table and it had to be now. Leaving Knockin was not something that could be delayed. She must plan to leave now. Arthur was old enough to fend for himself.
With her decision made, Rhianna pushed away from the table.
“I pray you hold me excused. There is much I must do.”
In her chamber, she sat before the empty hearth, her mind busy planning what she had to have to survive when she left Knockin. She would need a supply of food, and of course, the most obvious and mayhap the most difficult object to obtain would be a weapon.
She grinned thinking about the number of times her brothers had chased her from the training fields. No wonder, for ofttimes, she excelled in the use of their weapons. She had not the brute strength for physical combat, but she was good, nay, better than good with a weapon she could handle. She was excellent with a bow and arrow and although swordplay was difficult, it was only because her brothers’ swords were too heavy for her. However, she could throw a knife straight and much truer than any one of them.
Somehow, she had to find a knife or a bow and a quiver of arrows. When she found them, where could she store them? Mildred came often to the room, straightening anything out of place. She could hide nothing in this room. Garrett kept both trunks locked so those would never do. Behind the trunks? Nay, if she could find a bow, one end or another would protrude. Even a knife would be difficult to hide from Mildred’s probing fingers.
As she considered the problem she decided she had to stash anything she collected in an area below stairs. But how? She could not be seen carting something from this chamber without raising an alarm.
Mildred interrupted her train of thought.
“My Lord said to tell you that he wants your company below. He intends to go for a ride and he wants you at his side.”
Rhianna opened her mouth to argue then thought better. Nay, this might indeed be the way of it. If she could collect what she needed she could store it somewhere between the castle and the stable. Going for a ride would give her a chance to survey the courtyard for a hiding place.
She nodded and trotted behind Mildred.
“So wench,” Garrett announced as she stepped into the hall. “For once you do not argue.”
“Nay. A ride sounds most pleasant.”
She followed him out of the hall, aware of the hostile glare of Margot and her friend. For a moment she wondered why they were not included in Garrett’s invitation. His next comment to Margot enlightened her.
“Too bad you and Nedda are in need of rest, Margot. Otherwise, you could ride with us.”
Margot strode toward him. “You know Nedda doesn’t like to ride.”
“I know,” he responded with a grin.
Rhianna bit her lip to keep from laughing herself.
Over the next three days Rhianna rode each afternoon with Garrett. She found a perfect place to store her growing collection of food and clothing. A large clump of weeds near the stable entrance hid a hole in the ground. Some small animal had prepared a shelter there for the winter, but had abandoned it. It mattered not, for Rhianna wrapped her small bundle in dark cloth from her sewing, concealing it under her gown until they reached the stable. She found an excuse to slip a small cloth packet in her hiding place on each trip.
The only item missing from her collection was a knife. She gave up trying to find a bow and quiver early on. No soldier worth his salt would part with such a necessary weapon. But a knife was essential. She could not leave Knockin without something to use for hunting and her protection. A knife could easily be hidden. She had to find a knife.
It proved much easier than she thought possible. They had just completed the evening meal when Joseph raced into the hall.
“My Lord,” he shouted at Garrett.
“What has you so upset, my friend?”
Rhianna slid away from Garrett. Joseph was as distraught as she had ever seen him. And he was the calmest of all of Garrett’s knights.
“It’s your half brother and Sir Moirant. Word just arrived; they are back at Moirant’s abode.”
Rhianna opened her mouth to ask how Garrett’s people could know when he addressed her answering her unasked question.
“I posted a guard on the edge of his property. I wanted to know when he returned to his estate.”
Rhianna could only nod, for real fear had closed her throat. Would Sir Moirant come for her again? And, this time, bring Garrett’s half brother?
She rose from the table. “I want to retire.”
Margot asked, “What is going on here?”
“I’ll explain. But, meanwhile, here.” He pressed a dagger into Rhianna’s hand. “Protection. Use it if there is a need.”
She sighed hoping her relief would be misunderstood, then nodded her thanks and strode toward the stairs. Margot’s voice rang through the room. “I want to know what is going on now. And, why did you give your leman a dagger? Why, she could kill us all in our sleep. Everyone knows...”
Her voice faded from Rhianna’s hearing as she ran up the steps. She had her weapon. Food and clothing were hidden by the stable. She would wait no longer. Tonight she would leave Knockin. Especially since those despised English lords had returned to the region.
Thank the heavens they lived to the east. Rhianna would travel west. And, it had to be tonight. Arthur would understand when he heard about Colvin and Moirant.
For hours she paced her chamber. She would leave long after night fell, a couple of hours before dawn heralded a new day. Her travel in the dark over familiar ground made sense to her. With the new day, she would be covering strange ground, but with light she could see and avoid people or occupied land.
Satisfied that all was in readiness, she sat in one of the chairs before the hearth and waited.
As darkness deepened, the activity in the castle slowed and then ceased all together. She sat tense, waiting for the proper time.
Judging that dawn was still more than three hours away, Rhianna slipped from her chamber, dagger at her side. Two days before, she had confiscated a dark cloak from the hall below stairs. Wrapped in the covering she glided down the steps, through the rear entrance and out of the building.
Keeping to the shadows, she made her way to the stable. There seemed to be no activity at all except an occasional glance from a sentry walking along the wall walk.
She gathered her hidden supplies, snuck into the stable and entered the stall of the closest horse. When she realized the horse was one of Garrett’s favorite mares, the one she had ridden in the days past, a smiled creased her face.
Quiet whispers and a slice of apple had the horse eating from her hand. Rhianna wrapped the bindings she brought over the palfrey’s hooves. She hoped the wraps would muffle any sound of their leaving.
The next part of her plan held the greatest risk. She had to walk the horse around the courtyard, staying in the shadows. If the slightest sound reached the sentry...
She had to gain the postern gate. That became her litany as she crept toward her goal, her hand on the muzzle of the palfrey. At last, her target was in view. She inched her way forward.