Page 87 of While Angels Slept
“I will find out,” he said. “I want you to stay to the keep until I know what is going on.”
“But I have a meal to supervise.”
“You may not go outside for any reason, at least not until I know what has my soldiers so excited.”
She sighed and sat down beside him, watching him tie off the last boot. He leaned over and swiftly kissed her before rising from the bedand heading to the door.
“I will return shortly,” he said.
Cantia blew him a kiss as he left the room, shutting the door softly behind him. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, she ended up lying back down on the bed and quickly fell back asleep.
When she dreamt, it was of copper-haired babies and summer weddings.
*
Tevin could hardlybelieve what he was seeing.
He actually looked at Myles, who was standing next to him, as if to confirm that the man was seeing the same thing. Myles looked surprised as well, so Tevin knew they were both envisioning the same thing. In the darkness of the new dawn, a group of weary and ragged people stood at the gatehouse of Rochester. Men in disheveled clothing, old weaponry, and one very old ox cart comprised the group, and at the head of it was Gillywiss.
Tevin had the gate guards raise the portcullis. When it lifted midway, he walked underneath it with Myles, John and Simon behind him. Although John and Simon did not know who Gillywiss was, as they’d never met the man, they could see that the appearance had Tevin surprised. With weapons drawn, they stood behind the earl as he engaged the ragtag leader of the group.
“What are you doing here?” Tevin asked the man. “What is so important that has you traveling in the darkness?”
Gillywiss was astride an old bay stallion. He wearily slid off the beast, coming to stand before Tevin with his usual wild-eyed look and toothy smile. In spite of his exhaustion, he bowed gallantly.
“My lord earl,” he said. “I have brought you something that will make you forever remember my name.”
Tevin cocked an eyebrow at the bold boast. “What do you mean?”
Gillywiss cocked a finger at him and began to walk back into his group of haggard travelers. “Come with me, my fine earl,” he said. “Iwant you to see what I have for you.”
As Tevin hesitantly followed, Myles, John and Simon fell in behind him with their weapons at the ready. The dirty, ragged group of men that had accompanied Gillywiss gave them a wide berth, unwilling to provoke the heavily armed knights. When the entire group reached the ox cart that was in horrific condition, Gillywiss tossed back the dirty canvas that covered the majority of the straw-covered bed. Upon it, in the darkness, lay a body.
“There,” Gillywiss said proudly. “I did what I said I would do.
Tevin’s brow furrowed as he gazed at the rolled-up corpse. It was so dark that he couldn’t see very well. “What did you do?” he asked.
“I found her.”
“Who?”
“Your wife.”
Tevin’s eyes widened as he stared at the pile. “You cannot be serious.”
“Serious indeed. See for yourself.”
Expression full of disbelief, Tevin hesitated a moment longer before snapping his gloved fingers at Myles.
“Bring me a torch,” he hissed. “Now.”
Myles bellowed orders and someone came on the run out of the gatehouse bearing a searing torch, casting warm yellow light into the dark of the dawn. Myles grabbed it from the man, holding it high as Tevin reached into the cart to make clear the contents. He tried to stop his hands from shaking as he rolled the figure onto its back and peeled back the layers of musty, varmint-ridden material. As he tried to get a clear view, Gillywiss stood on the opposite side of the cart, watching intently.
“I told Lady Cantia I would find this woman,” he said confidently. “I have many family members living in Paris, in the catacombs, and they know the streets. They know the people there. So I asked them if they knew Louisa of Hesse. Do you know what they told me?”
Tevin wasn’t looking at him even as he shook his head. But that wasthe only reply Gillywiss received, so he continued in his usual theatrical fashion.
“They told me they might know of her,” he went on, “but there are thousands of people living in the streets of Paris with no names and no history. I spent months in Paris, following clues that would lead me to nowhere or to women who claimed to be the wife of a great English lord but they could not tell me what your daughter’s name was. That is how I tested them. I asked them to name the child they had abandoned. No one could tell me, but this one could. And she wept when she spoke of her.”
