by Eliza Knight
“Lose. How? His love? His life?” She gasped while she tried to control the panic that grew within her.
“Don’t move.” She held her arms out and brought the activity to a halt. “I must find the six beads.”
Everyone stayed back.
“Here, m’lady.” One of the squired handed her an agate beads. She took them and put it in her pocket with the others.
Another had rolled to the wall, the fifth one not far away. She quickly gathered them and tucked them into her pocket. That left three still missing. She turned and searched the floor. Someone handed her a candle. Maybe the beads would sparkle in the candle light. She raised the candle and methodically went over the floor. Her skirt swished as she turned near the top of the steps.
“Careful, m’lady,” the woman holding the child shouted.
But her warning was too late. Laura heard the pinging sound as one by one, the three beads bounced down the stairs to the bottom.
“I’ll get them,” the mother of the baby said. “I have to bring up a pitcher of water.”
“No. You can’t go down with the baby. I’ll go.” She raised the candle and started down the narrow stone staircase.
The shadows deepened as she left the light from the main level behind her. The cold and damp in the lower regions of the castle were the right condition to create a slick film of ice on the stones steps. Laura picked her way down the stairs until she reached the bottom. Not far in front of her she saw a sparkle. Encouraged, she picked up one of the agate beads.
The large common area at the bottom of the steps was dark, cold and unsettling. Holding the candle high, she scanned the area. The well room door on her left stood ajar, held in place by the only crate in the room. At the far end was a passageway that went deeper under the castle.
There was little debris in the new castle, fewer places for a small bead to get lost. She searched every inch, but found nothing. They had to be here, or had only one bead fallen down the stairs? Tired and frustrated, she leaned against the crate deciding what to do next and accidentally moved the door. Startled, she looked down. Underneath the door was the seventh bead.
She didn’t think the last bead had gone down the passageway. Perhaps it bounced against the door and rolled into the well room.
With the candle in hand, she entered the well room. She raised the candle high and slowly turned around. The well, level with the floor, was in the middle of the room covered with a wooden board. Rows of buckets and pitchers lined the wall, ropes curled neatly on the floor. One full pitcher waited to be brought to the kitchen.
A glint of light caught her eye. The last bead had rolled next to the well. She quickly counted all the beads. Satisfied she had them all, she returned them to her pocket. Relieved and ready to return to the hall, she picked up the pitcher.
A chill crossed her shoulders and she froze. Someone watched her. Rather than turn, she looked out of the corner of her eye. She could barely make out a form in the doorway.
“Jamie, is that you? I was just getting some water.”
“Lady Laura. Are you here alone?” came a man’s slow, careful response.
“Holger, is that you?” She spun around to face him. Get out, a warning voice echoed in her head. She didn’t bother with the candle.
He stood in the doorway and didn’t move when she passed. She took a breath and her heart raced. The noxious odor of the poison drifted into her nostrils.
The heavy pitcher began to slip out of her hands. Holger reached out and caught it the water spilled and doused his shirt, plastering it to his chest. The candle flared and the outline of a leather pouch with a raised engraving of an angel was clearly visible.
Holger looked at his shirt. Slowly, he lifted his head and looked at her, his face set with a maniacal grin.
Laura pushed the pitcher out of his hand. It fell to the stones and smashed to bits. She rushed through the puddle of water. Tugging at her heavy wet skirt, Laura ran up the first four steps. Her feet twisted in her skirt and she lost her footing.
The tinker grabbed her from behind and dragged her down the stairs. Holding her arm like a vise, he pulled her around to face him.
“Give me what’s mine,” he demanded. Fear and anger twisted her insides. Keep him talking. She needed time to think.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have anything of yours.” She pulled her arm away and stepped closer. With all her heart, she prayed her tactics with Bryce’s men would work.
The man held his ground.
“How dare you touch me?” Her scream bounced off the stone walls. With all the noise in the kitchen, she had little hope anyone would hear her. Perhaps, if she was gone too long Mrs. Turner would send someone after her.
“My pin. And don’t say you don’t know what I’m talking about. You were wearing it on your wool all around the courtyard.” His eyes were black and fearless.
“Your pin?”
A moment of doubt in his eyes quickly cleared. “A barter. Your life for my pin.”
“Lord Jamie, you must come now. Lady Laura.” The voice echoed in Jamie’s head. “Now. By the well. Hurry,” the young girl’s shrill voice insisted.
Jamie came out of the shadows. Laura? He didn’t hesitate. He ran through the courtyard into the kitchen passageway. He pushed people aside until he reached the stairs.
He took the stairs slowly not wanting to make a sound. Halfway to the bottom he heard voices.
“Your pin?” There was indignation and command in her tone. Not fear.
“A barter. Your life for my pin.” Jamie stopped and straightened. Holger?
“My life? Do you think you will live if you harm me?”
“They’ll all think the ghost did it.” He let out a sniggering laugh. “You have no idea its value to certain people. It’s worth much more than your life.”
Jamie, his back pressed against the staircase wall, inched down the steps and peered around the last bend. Holger held Laura around her waist, her arms pinned to her side and the candle in the other and dragged her down the passageway toward the dungeon.
Jamie’s hands fisted at his sides. He came down the last steps and followed them at a distance. With each step, his anger grew until it became a scolding fury.
Holger took Laura into a storage room where crates and barrels were haphazardly stacked. Jamie stayed in the shadows and inched around the room until he was at Holger’s back.
The tinker put the candle on a barrel. “I want my pin.”
Laura said nothing.
Holger raised the back of his hand, but hesitated. He threw Laura to the ground. Jamie, the berserker, stepped out of hiding. He tapped Holger on the shoulder with one hand, the fist of his other cocked and ready.
The tinker turned. His eyes widened in surprise. Jamie let loose and smashed Holger’s face throwing his full weight behind the punch.
He stood over the man with both his hands fisted at his sides. He prayed for Holger to get up so he could knock him down again. He could stand anything, but nobody touched Laura. He nearly killed Bryce all those years ago for his ill placed words threatening her.
Jamie picked Holger off the floor, his arm back ready to hit him again. Holger’s shirt ripped open, the leather pouch visible around his neck. Laura touched his arm.
“I’m all right.”
Jamie’s heart hammered, his breathing ragged.
“He didn’t hurt me.”
Jamie poked the leather pouch.
“Where did you get this?” Jamie asked in a voice that shook the room.
“It’s mine.” Holger’s chin tipped up and he spit out the words in defiance.
“Another item you bartered for?” Laura asked.
Something in Laura’s voice made Jamie pull up. He glanced at the determined look in her eyes and the quick precise movement of her fingers. She tied imaginary knots. Did she think her games would work?
“Yes.” Holger sneered past Jamie at Laura.
Jamie
’s head snapped back to Holger. “When?” He grabbed the man’s jaw with his thumb and forefinger and yanked it so all Holger could see was his face. “When did you barter? Since Angel wore the pouch when she went into the pantry.”
Even in the dim candle light, Jamie saw the tinker’s face turn pale. His eyes looked everywhere, but not at Jamie.
“When?” Jamie demanded, pinching the man’s face with a vise-like grip.
“I was outside the pantry. Those two were yelling at each other. Something about not wanting to get married. She would have none of that. He told her to be quiet. She kept on screaming. I walked away. Thought I would come back later. I got back to the pantry as Mary ran out. So I went in. That’s when I saw her with the linen over her face. He was on the floor with a knife in his chest. The pouch was no good to either of them so I took it.”
The strings of the pouch around Holger’s throat tightened. Jamie glanced at Laura. Her expression was intense, raw and determined. He had never witnessed it before. Her fingers worked faster. Was it possible? He thought the movement only childhood games she played with Lisbeth. He brought his attention back to Holger. The man clawed at his neck.
“The truth,” Laura said softly. Jamie pulled off Holger’s shirt. They saw scars of deep scratches on his chest and neck.
Holger pulled at his throat. He looked at Jamie. He’d find no support there.
“Make her stop,” he begged.
“The truth,” Laura said. Holger looked from one to the other.
“I watched Evan leave the pantry, straightening his clothes. I went in to see his tidbit. I found the girl alone. I thought to have some fun. After all, he’d just had his.” Holger stopped.
Laura’s fingers kept working. Holger’s face turned red.
“I grabbed her from behind and put my hand over her mouth. She fought me. I laughed and told her I liked a woman who needed to be tamed. I thought to persuade her and told her what I’d do to her and her precious Evan if she told anyone about our encounter. I turned her around and pushed her to the floor. Too busy begging for her life, she didn’t scream. She kicked and scratched. As I reached under her skirt, she found my dirk and pulled it out.” In a raspy voice he continued.
“I easily got the dirk from her. That’s when she screamed. I held one of the empty sacks over her face. Stop screaming, I said over and over. Finally, she stopped. I took off the linen. She didn’t move. I stood over her trying to wake her. That’s when Evan walked in. The boy went mad.”
Jamie knew that feeling all too well.
“The boy wasn’t a fighter and I had the upper hand. I could win, but I knew he would tell the others. Evan had to die. I waited for an opening and when it came, I killed him. There was blood everywhere. He covered the wound with his hand as if that would stop the bleeding. Then he grabbed at me with his bloody hands. He finally fell. I didn’t want to be caught with them so I stabbed the girl to make it look like Evan killed her. I heard someone coming. I had to get rid of the shirt. When I pulled it off, the jewel must have gotten caught. I hid and pretended I followed Mary in.”
“You didn’t try to retrieve the pin?” Laura asked.
“I didn’t know it was missing until I left the castle. By the time I went back the pantry was locked.”
“And the poison?” Jamie asked. He said nothing.
Laura’s fingers worked another bigger knot.
“The innkeeper at Canonbie paid me to poison the grain and light fires to the granaries. Make it look like The Maxwell did it, he told me.”
Jamie nodded to Laura. She flicked her fingers and the string around Holger’s neck loosened. Jamie shoved him toward the storage room door. “Sir Herbert will deal with you.”
When they got to the door, Holger pushed Jamie back into Laura, swung the door shut and ran.
“Laura,” Jamie called.
“Go after him. I’m not hurt.”
Jamie scrambled to his feet, shouldered the door and ran after Holger toward the stairs with Laura close behind. They raced out of the passageway toward the stairs. Half way to the stairs they heard a blood curdling scream.
Moments later, Holger’s body tumbled down the steps and landed at their feet. His neck broken, he stared at them with frightened eyes.
“I’ll stay here. Go upstairs and tell Oliver to bring some men. Then go to Herbert’s desk and get the pin. Holger was adamant about its value.” He pulled the pouch off Holger’s neck. “Perhaps your ghost is looking for this. We’ll give it back to its rightful owner.”
Laura smiled at his conclusion then rushed up the stairs.
Oliver jumped out of his chair and sent it flying behind him when Laura rushed into the Great Hall.
“Quickly, to the well. Jamie needs you.” Oliver left with several of his men. She moved on to retrieve the pin.
“Lady Laura. I worried about you,” Sonia said outside Herbert’s room. “I was afraid he wouldn’t reach you in time.”
“You sent Jamie. How did you know?”
“I saw the tinker go down the stairs.”
“You were right. Evan didn’t kill Angel. Holger killed them both.” Laura opened Herbert’s desk and retrieved the pin.
Laura walked into the Great Hall as Jamie and the men brought in Holger’s body. Everyone gathered around.
“Here’s your murderer,” Jamie said, pointing to Holger. “He thought to lift Angel’s skirt. That’s when Evan walked in. He was valiant to the end trying to protect her.”
He held up Angel’s leather pouch. “I found this around Holger’s neck.”
“Maybe that will satisfy Evan’s ghost,” shouted someone in the crowd.
“Give it to me,” Angel’s father said. “I’ll take care of my girl. As for him,” he pointed to Holger, “he can rot.”
“He will. On the battlements,” Oliver said and had his men take the murderer’s body away.
Jamie and Laura walked with the families to the graveyard gate.
“That’s…” Jamie said, dumbstruck, looking at a woman kneeling by a grave outside the cemetery wall.
“Sonia. She’s the person who told me we had it all wrong. Whose grave is she sitting by and why is it outside the wall?”
“She’s been helping you? Interesting. She’s at Evan’s resting place. They wouldn’t bury him inside the graveyard.” He turned to Laura. “Sonia is the woman’s given name. Her father called her his Angel,” Jamie said.
Her mouth hung open. “You didn’t recognize her?”
“I never saw her face. I only heard a woman’s voice.”
Laura was too startled by his words to say anything. Then something clicked in her mind. “Get the others. I think I know what has to be done,” Laura said.
In the mist, before midnight, they reburied Evan next to his Angel. Words of praise were spoken of his honor and sacrifice. Lewis, Angel’s father, buried the small pouch with Sonia. Both parents wept at their losses.
“In my heart of hearts, I knew he would never hurt our Angel. These last four weeks, she’s come to me at night to tell me I was wrong. She never lied to me.” Lewis stood with his arm around Celia. Everyone followed them back to the castle.
Jamie and Laura looked at the two graves. The mist swayed and moved to reveal Angel and Evan standing behind the markers.
“Thank you,” Evan said his left arm around Sonia, the little finger of his left hand clearly crooked.
“I couldn’t see or speak to him,” Sonia said, looking at Evan. “I never would as long as he stayed outside the graveyard. I couldn’t bear being separated from him.”
“Hush, love.” He put his finger to her lips. “I knew Lord Jamie—”
“And Lady Laura,” Sonia added.
“And Lady Laura would make it right.” He turned to Laura and Jamie.
“Tell them,” Sonia said with an urgent nod toward Jamie and Laura.
“Give me a chance,” Evan turned to them. “I have a message. Richard loves you both almost as much as you love each ot
her. He gives you his blessing.”
Tears trailed down Laura’s cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Laura and Jamie turned toward each other. Her eager affection reflected in the passion in her eyes. She stepped willingly into his arms as if it was something she did all the time.
He closed his eyes. She was his, at last. He kissed her on the top of her head.
“That’s the greatest gift you could give us,” Jamie said to Evan.
“There is one more thing before we go, Lord Jamie. Treachery still lurks.” He pointed to the pin Laura wore. “Follow the pin’s ownership. Let no one take it from you.”
“I understand,” Jamie added with pulse-pounding certainty.
“Come, Angel. It’s almost midnight.” Evan took Sonia’s hand and, without a backward glance, walked into the night.
Jamie and Laura walked to the castle.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Jamie said as they entered the courtyard. He turned to face her and stared into her eyes. “It is magic. It’s a love that lasts for eternity.”
“The End – Almost”
Laura and Jamie’s story continues in The Highlander’s English Woman.
About the Author
RUTH A. CASIE is an author of swashbuckling action-adventure, some are time-travel, romance about strong empowered women and the men who deserve them, endearing flaws and all. Her Druid Knight novels have finaled in the NJRW Golden Leaf contest. The Guardian’s Witch, part of the Stelton Legacy series was a Reader’s Crown Finalist. Ruth also writes contemporary romance with enough action to keep you turning pages. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, three empty bedrooms and a growing number of incomplete counted cross-stitch projects. Before she found her voice, she was a speech therapist (pun intended), client liaison for a corrugated manufacturer, and international bank product and marketing manager, but her favorite job is the one she’s doing now—writing romance. To find out more about Ruth and her stories, join her newsletter and visit her at www.RuthACasie.com, on Twitter or on Facebook.
Ruth would love to hear from you. You can reach her at [email protected]
