Onyx (20 page)

“Lady Lovell
e, you have returned.” Her head guard, Weldon, ran to her side to greet her. “Did you find the book you were searching for?”

“We have it,” Onyx answered for her, taking the travel bags from his horse, holding on
tightly to the contents inside, knowing he now had a bargaining tool to save his mother.

A stable boy ran out
and took their horses for them. Lovelle picked up her skirts and hurried toward the keep. Weldon hurried alongside, and Onyx also followed.

“Forget about the book, where is my mother?”
she asked.

“She is in the solar. I will take you to her, but she has been sleeping a lot lately and not feeling well.” The guard opened the door to the keep and they all entered and
made their way down the corridor to the solar.

“How is me mathair?” asked Onyx
. “Or did ye already take her te the gallows?”

“Nay, we didn’t,” the guard informed him. “The prisoners have been dying off by themselves the past few days so there was no need to kill more.”

Onyx was infuriated by the man’s lack of concern. He felt like strangling him right then and there, but knew how upset that would make Lovelle, so he restrained himself.

“I want te see her,” he said, causing Lovell
e to turn around.

“Onyx, I’ll go with you, but please, can we first see how my mother is faring?”

“Of course, Love.” He knew she needed him now and he couldn’t leave her.

“Love?” said the guard with a chuckle. “Her name is Lovell
e and you would be wise to use her title as she is a lady.”

“Weldon, it’s fine,” Lovell
e told him with her hand on the door handle. “It’s what he calls me, and I don’t mind.”

“It sounds to me as if perhaps this bloody Scot has defiled you.” He pulled his sword from his belt, b
ut she steadied his hand with hers.

“He didn’t defile me, now put away the sword and get back to your post. You will be summoned if I need you.”

Onyx just stared at the guard and he stared back. He was obviously looking for a fight, and Onyx would give it to him if that’s what it took.

“Ye heard the lassie, now go on,” said Onyx, knowing he was out of line, but not caring. Something may have come of it, hadn’t a woman’s voice screaming from within the room called their attention instead.

“It’s mother!” Lovelle threw open the door and rushed inside with Onyx and Weldon following. Onyx spied the woman lying on the bed, her sleeping gown pulled up to expose her legs. And when Onyx saw the red buboes, he knew without a doubt what the woman was screaming about. She had the first stages of the Black Death.

Chapter 14

“Mother.” Lovelle shot forward across the room, horrified to see the red, raised welts on the top of her mother’s legs. She’d seen enough of the plague when she was a child to know what it looked like. And she was not going to accept that she would lose her mother the same way she lost her two brothers thirteen years ago. She was not going to let the plague claim another victim of her family if she could help it.

“Loveday
?” asked her mother, looking up to her with sunken, red and confused eyes. “Is that you?”

“It is me, mother.” She too
k a step towards her, but Onyx grabbed her arm and held her back.

“Love, ye canna go te her. If she has t
he plague ye will get it too.”

“Let go of me,” she said, breaking
out of his grip. “She is my mother and I have to help her.”

Weldon stepped in front of her just then with his sword raised. “The bloody Scot is right, my lady. I can’t let you get near her. You are nobility and I need to protect you as you have already lost your
brothers to the plague and recently lost your husband as well. Now go to your solar and lock yourself inside and I will call for the healer for Lady Erwina.”

“Get out of my way!” She raised a hand to hit him, but Onyx grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

“Listen te him,” he said. “Ye are no’ thinkin’ clearly right now.”

The cat swiped a paw out from under Onyx’s tartan just the
n and stuck its head out to see what was going on.

Her mother looked up and pointed and screamed. Then her eyes opened wide
as if she were possessed. “It is death itself. He’s come to claim me.”

She
wasn’t sure if her mother meant Onyx or the cat, but either way she didn’t like it.

“You brought the plague here with that cat,” said Weldon, “that
’s why Lady Erwina has been affected.”

“That’s nonsense,” said Lovelle. “We just got here and had nothing to do with this.”

“I see the dead all around me,” came her mother’s voice from the bed, and Lovelle turned around to see her mother sitting up and looking around the room. She was flushed from fever and very frightened. “They are in here, all the dead. They are coming for me, I tell you.”

“Mother, stop saying that. There is no one here but us.”

“Lady Erwina, I will call for the healer anon,” said the guard.

“Go, quickly. Save me
,” said her mother, and the guard did as instructed, leaving Lovelle and Onyx standing there.

Once he left the room, Lovell
e took another step forward, but stopped when her mother backed away from her on the bed. The woman’s hand came up and she held it forward like an invisible barrier.

“
Don’t come near me. Leave me alone.”

“But mother . . .”

“Death is staring at me with his devil eyes,” she said, making Lovelle feel uncomfortable.

“Mother, this is Onyx,” she
explained. “He helped me to find the Book of Hours and now I am going to cure you with the charms that are in the book.”

“No charm can ward away the evil that lurks in these chambers
. Do not fool yourself to think it can.”

“But you are a witch. You can do it. There is a charm to ward off the plague in the book, isn’t there, Onyx?”

“There is,” he said, and nodded slowly. “But me lassie do ye really believe it can stop something like this?”

“
Nay, I’m not a witch,” said her mother, shaking her head furiously. “But give me the book. Tell me what it says and I’ll still banish the demon straight back to hell where he came from.”

“What?” asked Lovell
e. “You’re not a witch? Then why did you have those charms put in the book?”

“I did it
to protect you,” she answered. “I even tried a love charm on you and your late husband, Hugh, but it didn’t work.”

“Aye, we know aboot that one,” said Onyx.

“How could you know?” the woman asked, still scooting backwards on the bed. “You must be the witch then, not me.”

“
He’s not a witch, mother, nor is he a demon of any sort. I stole the charm from your personal things.” Lovelle pulled the parchment out of the pouch at her side. “I tried to make it work on Onyx to make him love me.”

She
looked over to him and saw him petting the cat held against his chest. He didn’t say a word.

“Burn it!” said her mother.
“And do it quickly.”

“Burn it
?” she asked. “Why?”

“Because when you try to use spells, bad things happen in return. It always comes with a price. I am being punished now for what I’ve done, and had I known it would bring the Black Death upon me, I never would have paid to have those charms put into the book in the first place.
I am evil. I went against the will of God. And now I’ll die because I was only trying to protect the only child I have left. Burn the book as well. Burn it all. Every last thing. I don’t want anything to do with it ever again, and neither will you.”

“
Nay, I won’t destroy it,” she said, seeing how her mother’s madness was getting worse. “I know the charms can help you.”

“Do it!”

“It’s an expensive, rare book. I can’t do what you ask.”

Her mother collapsed back onto the bed, and started spouting nonsense, making Lovell
e think that her addled mind was taking over again. Then she started laughing hysterically, scaring her. Lovelle reached out and grabbed on to Onyx’s arm, not knowing what to do.

“My lady, the healer is here.”
She turned toward her guard’s voice at the door, and gasped when she saw the healer. He was dressed in a black robe with a hood pulled up, covered from head to foot. He wore a mask over his face that looked like a bird’s face with a long beak, covering his nose, eyes, and mouth.

“And they say
I look like a demon?” mumbled Onyx from beside her.

Her mother saw the man and started screaming out of control.

“Is that mask really necessary?” Lovelle asked.

“It is,” answered the guard. “The healer has filled the beak with
dried posies to ward off any vapors of the plague.”

“That’s right,” came the healer’s voice from under the mask. “And you all need to leave now, as you should not be near a victim of the plague or even be breathing the same air.”

“Let’s go,” said Onyx guiding her to the door. “The healer is here now and there is nothin’ we can do te help.”

“Go to your solar and lock yourself inside until this is all over,” Weldon told her. “I’ll send the servants up with food and drink and will let you know when the plague has passed.”

“But my mother . . .”

She looked back to see the healer in his
outfit, looking like the grim reaper leaning over her mother’s bed. She knew there was nothing the man could do to stop the plague from spreading. And she also knew her mother would be dead in a few days time if she didn’t do something to help her. She wouldn’t burn the book with the charms, nay she would use it instead. And she could only hope to do some good and that she wouldn’t have to pay the price for using magic as her mother had claimed.

Chapter 15

Onyx paced the floor in Lovelle’s solar, anxious to go see Fenella, yet not wanting to leave Lovelle alone because he didn’t trust she wouldn’t try to sneak back and see her mother as soon as he left.

Tawpie lay stretched out by the hearth, and Lovell
e sat on the floor staring into the flames, mindlessly running a hand over the cat’s fur. The room had a large bed in the center and several trunks throughout the room. There were woven wall hangings over the glassless window for added warmth, as well as several tapestries on the walls. An attached wardrobe, or small room used for dressing and to store her clothes was at the opposite side of the room.

“
If you want to go see Fenella, I won’t stop you,” she said. “And I will come with you if you want me to.” Lovelle had changed into dry clothes, and while Onyx had not, his cloak had seemed to collect most the rain, and his tartan wasn’t as wet as he’d thought.

“
Nay. Ye willna be goin’ te the dungeon, as it is no place fer a lady. Now, I dinna want ye te leave this room while I’m gone. Can I trust ye’ll listen te the healer and stay in here and far away from the plague?”

“I’ve already been near the cart of dead bodies and also in my mother’s chamber. If the plague is going to find me, its already too late to hide.”

He knew she was probably right about that, but he still wanted to take precautions.

There was a knock at the door and he opened it to find a servant with a tray of food and also a flagon of wine.

“Have ye heard anythin’ aboot the prisoners in the dungeon?” he asked, taking the things from the boy.

“I’ve heard that it won’t be long before they’re all dead from the plague,” said the boy. “Some of them are infected and the guards say they will just sit there and rot because they won’t do anything to help them.
”

“What the hell?” he asked. “Why not?” Lovell
e looked up at him just then and he realized now exactly how she felt. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to try to do something to save her mother’s life, because now he felt the same way about Fenella. “Thank you,” he told the boy and closed the door.

He brought the food over to Lovell
e and sat on the floor at her side.

“I think I know how ye feel, Love.”

“I don’t know that you do.” She dabbed at her eye, which led him to believe she’d been crying. “I am worried about my son, Charles as well,” she said. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen him and he’s so young. If anything happens to him . . . ”

“Nothin’ is goin’ te happen,” he said.

“How can you say that? Didn’t you see the body of the dead little boy on the gravediggers’ cart? The plague isn’t choosy whom it takes with it. I’m not only afraid of losing my mother, but also my little boy. I’ve already lost my brothers to the plague and I just want this to stop already.”

She’d always been so brave, but this time he saw the tear
s in her eyes she was trying to hold back. He wanted to do something to comfort her – to help her, but he didn’t know what. He wished Aidan or Ian were here right now so he’d have someone to confide in about all this. Or at least Clarista, as she would know what to say to make Lovelle feel better.