Page 94 of The Guardian's Bride
Knowing that filled her with hope, with love, and with fear.
As the cart rolled on, each turn of the wheels rumbled his name.Aedan, Aedan, Aedan MacDuff.Stay safe, she thought. And keep away. But she knew he would not.
Finally, as twilight darkened to indigo sparkling with stars, the silhouette of Carlisle Castle loomed. The escort rolled through the gate, though Rowena was left to wait under guard while Malise disappeared into the keep, asking for the captain of the castle. The effects of the potion were clearing, but she felt dull-witted and just sat.
Malise returned to beckon to Abernethy. “The king is not here. They say he headed out, intending to invade Scotland again. He felt strong enough to don his armor and ride a horse, determined to lead his army in battle. Insistent, they said.”
“Where is he now?” Peter asked.
“The royal camp is a few miles north, near the border of Scotland,” Malise said. “Hurry. Those rogues cannot find us until I can introduce them to King Edward.”
Tents and torchesstretched through the darkness as Rowena walked with Malise, Peter, Hugo and a few men into the royal camp a few hours later. They had left horses and cart with the king’s guards once Malise showed permission to enter, signed by the lieutenant of Carlisle.
Unsteady on her feet, wrists still confined, Rowena felt Abernethy’s guiding hand on her arm. Ahead, Malise Comyn stopped to talk with a few men—lords by the look of them, in fine tunics over shining mail, with gold chains and even fur-lined cloaks; although the summer days now flowed into July, the evenings were cool.
She shivered a little as she and Abernethy waited for Comyn. Then he and Sir Peter took her along a path to a cluster of small tents on the edge of the field near a woodland. Along the way, she noticed Malise’s pronounced limp after the ordeal of travel. She frowned, wondering then if he resented that she had not cured it entirely.
A woman came toward them, tall and tough-looking, wiping her hands on her apron, a kerchief pinned on her head. “It is late, Sir Malise. Who is this chit?” She tipped her head toward Rowena. “A lady by the look of her, and no whore.”
“A lady to you, Dame Bessie. She will stay in your tent. A guard will sit outside for the night.”
“Guarded?” Bessie scrutinized her. “She looks poorly. Is that your doing, sir?”
Rowena blinked, pleased that Dame Bessie took a dim view of Malise.
“No one mistreated her,” he said, though Rowena gave a doubtful huff. “She has had a long journey today,” he continued. “We all have. She will stay here. In the morning, she is to be brought before the king. So clean her up.”
“I want extra coin for this favor. Something is not right here and I want naught to do with it.” The woman took Rowena’s arm. “Audience with the king, hey? Then she is no whore. The king is too weak to crawl out of bed, let alone—”
“Just do what you are told,” Malise snapped.
In the tent, the woman cut the rope from Rowena’s wrists, muttering, then gave her a cloth, a bowl of water, and a corner for privacy. Undressing to her shift, Rowena washed while Bessie shook out her clothing to refresh it.
“Sit there and let me comb the tangles from your hair.” She began to glide an ivory comb through Rowena’s long hair in a surprisingly soothing manner. “Braided or brushed loose? Combed out, it is lovely. Are you wed, do you need a kerchief?”
“Braided. I—am betrothed.” She gazed at her hand, where Aedan’s gold ring glinted in the candlelight. She was a widow—and now a wife again. But she could not admit that, or soon be widowed again.
“What a pretty chain. What kind of stone is on it? It sparkles.”
Rowena set a hand over her chest, realizing that the Rhymer’s crystal, twinkling in the candlelight, was noticeable through her shift. “Just a trinket.”
“Why does the king want to see you? There are no other ladies in this camp. I hear his young queen may arrive with her ladies, but I have not seen them yet.”
“I am a healer,” Rowena said. “Perhaps he wants to see me for that reason.”
“He needs healing, that one! I only see him from a distance. I do the laundry and some chores in camp and rarely go to the royal tents. But he is weak, anyone can see it. Yet he comes out here to stir war with the Scots, even in his condition. I hope you can help him, lady.”
Then no rumor of poisoning had reached the washer-woman’s ears, or she would have said. Nodding, silent, Rowena wondered if she had been summoned to help—or to be reprimanded and unjustly sentenced despite her innocence.
Again, she thought of Aedan as she had done so often that awful day. Where was he? Had he followed them to the royal camp by now? Would he keep away and stay safe, or would he try to rescue her and step into danger?
She remembered Malise’s chilling words.I set a trap, and you are the bait.
Inconstant moonlight madethe way more difficult to follow, but Aedan and the others made progress, sighting the other group now and then—distant moving shadows on the road or the crest of a hill, too far to catch but near enough to see. At a tavern, they learned their quarry had stopped there too and had moved on, perhaps an hour or more. Lingering long enough for ale, water, bread, and wedges of yellow cheese, Aedan and the others took to the road again.
He was deeply grateful for the help of friends who neither complained nor questioned their mission that night. Without sharing his thoughts with them, he was by turns terrified, furious, heartbroken, and determined. He sensed they felt the same.
The cadence of compline bells tolled in the air from some monastery in the hills. Aedan knew that marked the hour ofprayers before bed for those monks, and he was grateful for some sense of the time. Riding on, they stopped in a woodland grove to share what remained of the bread and cheese, then rode a little farther until Carlisle Castle was visible in the distance, a powerful fortress on a high round hill overlooking a river that gleamed in the darkness.
