With a final wink to Isalyn, Tor opened the door for Isabella and ducked out as she ran in.
And Isabella was none the wiser as to what had just occurred.
Magic.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Did you mean what you said?”
Lying on the uncomfortable mattress in the borrowed chamber, Joah looked at Barbara curiously.
“I do not know,” he said. “What did I say?”
Barbara was upset. Her face was pale and there were tears in her eyes, and she stood over Joah twisting her fingers nervously. A few feet behind her, Lenore watched her sister with concern.
“You said that you could be hired for a… task,” Barbara said.
Joah nodded. “I can, my lady,” he said. “Do you know of someone who needs my skills?”
Barbara nodded shortly. “I do,” she said. “Me.”
Joah’s eyebrows lifted. “You?” he repeated. “What can I possibly do for you, my lady?”
Barbara was trying very hard to control her emotions, but she wasn’t doing a good job. She was so cold most of that time that when she did feel something, it shot out of her like sparks out of a snapping log.
Pop… pop…
“I want you to remove someone from Blackpool.”
Behind her, Lenore gasped, but Joah was fixed on Barbara. “As you wish,” he said steadily. “Who am I removing?”
Barbara’s jaw ticked. “A lady,” she said. “I will pay you well but ask no questions. I want you to take her somewhere and sell her to men who will take her far away. Sailors, mayhap, or a merchant caravan. I do not care who. But I want her taken away so that she will never return.”
Joah could see she meant it and he had a suspicion as to who it was. He couldn’t have planned this better if he had tried and as he lay there, he tried not to look too pleased about it.
Finally… the seeds he had planted were taking root.
“I will need a name of the lady, at least,” he said evenly. “But I will not ask for your reasons, as they are your own. Who am I to remove?”
Barbara took a deep breath, mulling over her answer, before replying. “A woman named Isalyn de Featherstone,” she said. “She must be removed from here, quietly and efficiently. Can you do this?”
“I can.”
“Now?”
Since he really wasn’t sick or injured, he gave up the ruse altogether. He propped himself up on his elbows. “I suppose so,” he said. “Do you have a plan in mind?”
Barbara nodded stiffly. “I will pay you twenty pounds,” she said. “It is almost all of the money I have, but it will be worth it to be rid of her. My sister will take a horse around the inner wall and back to the postern gate. You will be waiting there and I will lure Isalyn to the kitchen yard where you will take her through the postern gates and escape.”
Joah frowned. “Will there not be soldiers about to see this?”
Barbara shook her head. “They mostly congregate near the main gatehouses and most especially at the outer gatehouse,” she said. “They will probably not think much of Lenore going out for a ride around the inner wall and their attention will be on her while you slip out through the postern gates.”
He still looked doubtful. “Gates,” he repeated, emphasizing the plural. “There are two postern gates?”
Barbara nodded. “There are, but they are not heavily guarded,” she said. “They are manned by the servants and the inner gate is usually kept unlocked, but I know where the keys are kept. I can open both gates. The servants will not question me, as I usually oversee the kitchens as part of my duties. They will not think twice about what I am doing.”
It seemed foolproof enough and Joah reluctantly nodded. “Very well,” he said. “How do I get to the gate without being seen?”
“You are very close to the kitchen yard now,” Barbara said. “You can stay to the shadows from the wall and make your way to the gate. It will not be that difficult.”
“As you say,” he said. “But I want my own horse.”
Barbara shook her head. “It will look strange if Lenore takes your horse out for a ride, so she must take another.” She was starting to look desperate. “Please… will you do this?”
Of course he would. This was the best of all worlds for Joah, having fallen right into his lap. He’d primed the women based on the conversations he had overheard from them and now his plan was coming to fruition. He’d take Steffan’s sister far away and then he could probably make more money ransoming her back to de Wolfe. Or, he’d sell her to the highest bidder, as Barbara had suggested.
Either way, his vengeance would prove lucrative.
He would make sure of it.
“I told you that I will,” he said after a moment. “When do you wish for this to take place?”
“Today,” Barbara said. “Now, if you are able. I saw Isalyn come through the gatehouse with Tor and men bearing trunks, so she is here, somewhere. Probably in the chamber downstairs that she shares with Isabella.”
“She will not go with you, Barbara,” Lenore said, her voice trembling. “If you try to lure her away, she will not trust you.”
That was very true and Barbara knew that, but she was desperate. “But someone must lure her to the postern gate,” she said to her sister. “Will you do it? She is not as mistrustful of you.”
Lenore nodded unsteadily. “Aye,” she said. “But what should I say?”
“Tell her that you wish to show her something,” she said, sounding annoyed. “Tell her that you are very sorry for everything we have done and we wish to show her something… nay… give her something. Tell her you wish to give her something and it is in the kitchen yard near the postern gate. If she demands to know what it is, tell her that it is a surprise. Beg her forgiveness if you must, but get her out to that postern gate.”
By the time she was finished, her voice was lifting and she was becoming animated. Lenore nodded, cowering in the face of her sister’s irritation.
“I will,” she said. “Shall I go now?”
Barbara looked at Joah, propped up on his elbows. “Can you do this now?”
Joah sat up completely, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “As soon as you pay me, I can.”
Barbara ran for the door. Her money was in the chamber she shared with Lenore in the keep, one of those massive chambers that was luxurious but too vast to hold a goodly amount of heat in the wintertime. Even so, she and Lenore had shared one since their arrival to Blackpool and it was where they kept all of their precious possessions.
“I will return,” she said as she put her hand on the latch. “Lenore, help him with whatever he needs so that he is well prepared. I will locate Isalyn so that you know where to seek her. We must do this swiftly and silently, before Tor discovers what has happened. And, Sir Joah… you must flee faster than you have ever fled in your life. If Tor catches you, he will kill you.”
Joah didn’t seem too concerned. “I need my possessions,” he said. “I need my sword. Where are they?”
“They were brought here,” Lenore said, pointing quickly to a corner where Joah’s possessions had been dumped when he was brought to the chamber. “Everything is here.”
Joah hadn’t noticed them because he’d been in a supine position, but now his gaze drifted over the pile, visually inspecting it.
“Excellent,” he said, returning his attention to Barbara. “Go and get my money. And do not worry… I will make sure Lady Isalyn does not return. You have my word.”
That was all Barbara wanted to hear and she fled the chamber.
The plans were in motion.
Isalyn kept looking at the ring on her finger, smiling and daydreaming even as Isabella was chatting up a storm about the beautiful dress that Tor had purchased for their wedding. Already, she was pulling out her sewing kit, a grand one that she traveled with, preparing to help Isalyn hem up the bottom and reinforce the stitching on both the shift and the dress. Isalyn didn’t have a sewing kit and, worse, she wa
s forced to admit that she wasn’t a very good seamstress.
But Isabella was an excellent seamstress and she was armed with her trusty needle. She was preparing to go to work when a knock in the door interrupted them. Isabella was closer to the door so she went to open it, revealing a pale-looking Lenore on the other side.
Immediately, there was tension in the air.
Isabella and Isalyn knew that Barbara and Lenore were moving freely at Blackpool and they further knew that the sick traveler the women were tending was in the chamber that Isalyn had escaped from on the first floor, but with the heavy density of the stone walls and the way the stairs were built into the walls themselves, they hadn’t heard any of the comings and goings from upstairs. The chamber shared by Isalyn and Isabella was tucked away from the entry door to the apartment building, so they had been quite happy forgetting about the harpies, as Isalyn called them.
Perhaps viper was a kinder name.
But perhaps not.
“What do you want, Lenore?” Isalyn asked impatiently.
Lenore didn’t try to come into the chamber. She stood in the doorway, her gaze moving from Isalyn to Isabella and back again.
“I… I came to speak to you, my lady,” she said, her voice trembling. “May we speak in private?”
Isalyn shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “If you have something to say, you may say it in front of Isabella. We have no secrets.”
Lenore’s features tightened with uncertainty but realizing she had no choice, she nodded and swallowed hard.
“I wanted to say,” she said, stopped, and then started again. “I wanted to tell you how sorry my sister and I are for what we have done. We have no excuse other than to say… well, I suppose you know that my sister and I are orphans. Our parents died of the same fever many years ago and we came to live with our only sibling, Jane, and her husband. When Jane died, Tor was all we had left. He is all we have. Sometimes, when you try to hold tightly to something, it can make one a little… mad.”
Isalyn was listening with a good deal of doubt, but Lenore seemed sincere enough. She looked at Isabella, who looked back at her with the same doubtful expression.
“There are many people who have lost loved ones and they do not go mad,” Isabella said. “What you did wasn’t just madness, Lenore. It was wickedness.”
Lenore looked at Isabella in distress. “I know,” she said. “We know that now. Bella, you do not know what it was like when we were young. My mother and father did not have any servants to take care of them when they were ill, so it was left to Barbara and me. Can you imagine what it was like to watch your parents die as you tried to help them, not knowing what to do? We were just children. We were alone with dying parents and no way to help them. That did something to us. It made us panic with the thought of losing someone. I think… I think that is why we try to hold on to Tor so tightly, any way we can.”
She sounded quite pathetic and her tale, in truth, was a sad one. Neither Isabella nor Isalyn were immune to it. Being women of feeling and compassion, it was natural that they should feel some pity.
“But you are not losing Tor,” Isalyn said, less hostile than before. “If you would just stop to think that when Tor marries, you would be gaining another family member who wants to love you, then your fears would be for naught. But you treat every woman who wants to get close to Tor like an enemy.”
Lenore’s eyes welled. “That is not true.”
“It is.”
“Mayhap… mayhap they are our enemy,” she sniffled. “Look at what is happening – Tor is marrying you and sending us away because of you.”
“He is sending you away because of the way you are behaving,” Isalyn said sternly. “You have left him no choice and I will not be living my life in fear, wondering what you are going to try to do to me next. Your behavior has dictated his actions.”
Lenore sniffled again, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “I-I know you are right,” she said. “I suppose I have always known. Barbara and I had a long discussion about it and we are both very sorry for what we have done and we would like to make amends to you.”
Isalyn wasn’t so sure she wanted any part of this but, on the other hand, she didn’t want to be cruel. It was possible that Lenore meant what she said, that the threat of being sent away had scared them into good behavior.
Still, she was understandably doubtful.
“I am not sure that is possible or even advisable,” she said. “But for the sake of argument, what amends do you mean?”
Lenore pointed towards the inner bailey. “Would you come with me?” she said. “I have something to show you.”
“What is it?”
“Please, my lady. It is a surprise. It is our gift to you, but I could not bring it inside.”
“Where is your sister?”
“She is holding the gift.”
A warning bell went off in Isalyn’s mind. She looked at Isabella, who was equally unsure, but being women of kindness, and forgiveness, that propensity weighed heavily on their decision. They would be hard women, indeed, not to allow a chance for forgiveness. It was against her better judgment, but Isalyn could feel herself relenting.
“Where is she?” she asked.
Lenore started to move away, towards the apartment door that led out into the inner bailey. “I will show you,” she said. “Please? Will you come with me?”
“Where is your sister?”
“Outside of the postern gate,” Lenore said. “What we have for you was really too big to be brought inside. I promise I will not touch you or lay hands upon you in any way if that is what you are concerned with. We simply want to give you something as a token of our sincerity. Will you not come?”
Isalyn and Isabella looked at each other before Isalyn finally shrugged. “Very well,” she said reluctantly. “But Isabella is coming, too.”
Lenore nodded her head. “Please,” she said. “She is welcome to see it, too. Truly, my lady, we are very sorry. We hope to prove it to you.”
She was rushing out into the inner bailey with Isalyn and Isabella reluctantly following. The dark clouds from the north were starting to move southward, so another storm was on its way. But for the most part, it was still a sunny day. Lenore was up ahead, leading the way, as Isalyn and Isabella walked arm in arm.
“What do you think she has for me?” Isalyn whispered.
Isabella shook her head. “I do not know,” she said honestly. “It could be a hive full of bees.”
“Or rabid dog.”
“A gang of angry Scotsmen?”
“A pack of hungry wolves?”
They started laughing, though the subject was quite serious. They were both wary and trying to pretend that they weren’t. Isalyn finally sobered.
“This probably is not the smartest thing we could be doing,” she said. “But I suppose everyone deserves another chance. Although this goes against my better judgment, I would not be happy with myself if I simply denied them and turned away. Already, I feel like the wicked new wife, sending the younger sisters of the first wife away even though I know they brought it upon themselves. What do you think about their need for forgiveness?”
Isabella sighed heavily. “I think they are capable of anything,” she said. “Whatever happens, I would advise not going outside of the gate until we know just what this ‘gift’ is.”
Isalyn looked up to the wall walk of Blackpool. The inner wall was slightly taller than the outer wall and it had a walk that went all the way around, including the kitchen yards and the postern gate. In fact, she could see Christian on the wall over near the great hall and she pointed.
“Look,” she said. “There is Christian. We are being watched, so I feel a little better.”
Isabella could see Christian, too. He was armed with a crossbow, as most of the sentries were on the wall walk to be able to act on an attack at a moment’s notice. That was the usual weapon from the walls.
“I suppose,” she said. “But let us
get this over with and return to your dress.”
The women were in the kitchen yard by this time. Over to their left was the infamous pigsty that butted up against the apartment block. The last time Isalyn was here, she had been covered with mud and rushing to find Barbara and Lenore, so she hadn’t really given the kitchen yard much of an inspection.
It was a very large yard, one that covered about one third of the entire inner bailey. Off to the right was the actual kitchen, a large outbuilding that had kilns built into the walls and a massive fire pit several feet away from it. Even as Isalyn and Isabella walked through the yard on Lenore’s tail, they could see that there was a butchered hog on a spit, roasting over an open flame in preparation for the evening feast that was still several hours away.
All of the servants seemed to be collected over on that side of the yard, working for the coming meal, and the section that Isalyn and Isabella were passing through was vacant. There were a few small outbuildings, the buttery and another shed, and once they neared the postern gate, the view to the kitchens was blocked.
The postern gate was ahead. It was a heavy iron door, incredibly dense and reinforced because at the rear of the fortress was where the outer wall and the inner wall were the closest proximity. The outer wall was mostly the ancient wall built by the Romans more than a century ago and, in this section, it followed the natural slope of the landscape so that it was much lower than the inner wall. There was a moat between the inner and outer wall here, with a path and a small bridge that led to a second postern gate, built into a small gatehouse that was heavily reinforced.
Because the land beyond was a marsh mostly, and the tree line was about a half-mile away, anyone crossing it would be a sitting duck for the crossbows on the wall, so this area wasn’t considered much of a threat and was therefore not heavily watched. Lenore was far enough ahead that she reached the gate built into the tall inner wall first, shoving it open, and Isalyn and Isabella slowed their pace as they neared the open gate.
WolfeStrike (de Wolfe Pack Generations Book 2) Page 28
