Noticing Walter grinning at him brought Ranulf to his feet. He might as well get this over with, the sooner he could then make plans for their leaving.
A horn sounded, calling the castlefolk to the trestle tables set up below the dais. Ranulf could scarce believe the small number of soldiers who trudged in, some wounded. A demesne this size and so obviously rich could support a garrison of several hundred, so where were the men needed to protect it? He itched to know the answer, but it would have to wait.
He had decided not to question the lady here, where he must guard his temper. She annoyed him too easily with her commanding air, and the less he must talk to her, the better. When he had her away from Clydon would be soon enough to demand answers. She would not be so haughty then.
So he let Walter do what came natural and monopolize the table talk with his jocular humor, even if some of it was at Ranulfs expense. At least Walter kept Lady Reina amused, which kept her attention diverted, and Ranulf did not have to suffer her direct gaze more than once or twice. And after the meal was over, he was able to escape entirely with the excuse of dispatching most of his men, which she did not object to in the least, for his greater force obviously made her nervous, and rightly so. That he could simply take her with that greater force and be done I with it was not an option he allowed himself. That would only lead to the unnecessary killing of her people, which stealth would prevent.
Chapter Nine
"What did you find out, Walter?"
"Her chamber is in the north tower, but can only be reached by that stairwell in the east tower you mounted with her this morn."
Ranulf turned away from the narrow arrow-slit window where he had been observing the activity in the inner bailey. "Aye, I do recall seeing a long passageway running directly through the wall, as in the gallery over the hall. Did your source mention what else is up there?"
"The lord's chamber and the women's quarters, where her ladies and their maids sleep."
"Then there can be no mistakes, and no noise to disturb the women. Is that our supply cart I noticed in front of one of those storehouses?"
"Aye," Searle replied to this. "Erie got Rothwell's men back to camp as you ordered and sent one back with the cart. It has already been loaded with the grain Walter was able to purchase."
"Not enough to fill it, I hope."
"Nay, there will be room enough for the lady."
Ranulf nodded before looking toward Kenric and Lanzo. "Have you decided which of you will ride with her?"
"Lanzo will," Kenric answered, "since he is smaller and will take up less room in the cart."
"An inch smaller," Lanzo grumbled, "which is hardly any—"
"Skinnier, then." Kenric grinned.
Walter chuckled, watching this byplay. "So Kenric decided that Lanzo decided to volunteer? Buck up, Lanzo. Yours will be the most important task. You must see to it the lady does not rock the cart, nor make the slightest noise to alert the guards ere we pass through the outer gate. What think you, Ranulf? Can he do it? He is not much bigger than she is."
"A whole inch bigger," Kenric snickered.
"Can you, Lanzo?" Ranulf asked the boy directly and in all seriousness. "Because if you cannot, and the lady makes her presence known to her sentries, we will have to fight our way out of the keep. Know you how many lives will be forfeit if it comes to that?"
"I will do it," Lanzo said firmly and with eagerness now, then tossed Kenric a superior look before asking,' 'But what is my reason for being in the cart?''
"You should not draw notice, but if you do, you are ill, so ill you could not sit your horse."
"A few moans and puking sounds will help to convince anyone, and serve to cover any sounds the lady might make as well," Walter added. "And our men will surround the cart, though not in an obvious way. They have all been warned to prevent anyone from drawing too near."
"Any more questions?" Ranulf queried. Met with silence, he concluded, "Then we will begin at midnight. Kenric and I will collect the lady. Searle, do you wait outside under the short bridge on the stairs. While Walter distracts the guard in the forebuilding, I will pass the lady to you, so be ready as soon as the door opens. You must secure her in the cart and wait with her there until Lanzo comes to take your place. Be sure you are well hidden when the gates open to admit Eric. His message that our camp has been attacked by outlaws is all the excuse we need to depart. I will have the steward roused to escort us out so there is no delay.''
"And what if he wants to wake the lady?" Walter asked.
"Then you will put your glib tongue to use to see that he does not. But what need to wake her? We are a force leaving, not begging entrance. So there you have it. Get what sleep you may ere 'tis time to begin, for Eric has already sent Rothwell's men ahead, and we will ride the rest of the night and on through the morrow once we join up with the others. Only one man need stay awake to rouse you, Searle, but see that the rest are prepared to leave the moment they are roused, so that only the horses need be seen to. Kenric will wake us here in the keep to get the lady out, and we should be back in our beds to be roused again when Eric arrives."
"Then there is naught else to do for now," Walter said, dismissing the others.
Ranulf moved to the table to refill his goblet with imported wine. "Did you obtain parchment from the chaplain and write out the warning?"
Walter nodded, removing the note from inside his tunic to hand it over. " 'Twould be best left in her chamber. Whoever enters to wake her in the morn will find it. But do you really think 'twas necessary? With this Sir William still bedfast, there is no one here likely to give chase."
"Did you not learn that she has other vassals? She could have sent off for one or more of them today, and likely did, after the morning's attack. She would see the need now to have herself better protected until this wedding mat is planned takes place. Tis not inconceivable that a large force could arrive on the morrow or soon after."
"Aye, I see your point," Walter allowed. "But will they heed your warning?"
"They know not what manner of man I am or what I am capable of doing, so why should they not? Do you really think they would risk her life to have her back, when she will eventually be returned to them unharmed?"
"Unharmed, but with a husband not to her liking, nor to theirs."
Ranulf shrugged. "That is nothing to us. 'Tis up to Rothwell to get her men and Shefford to accept him once the deed is done."
Walter swirled the wine in his own cup, staring at it thoughtfully. "In matters such as these, the man usually waits until a babe is on the way to strengthen his position. Rothwell is a mite old to have any fertile seed left. He might be able to bed her, but he will get no child on her. Shefford will know that, and know there will be no heir forthcoming. He might decide to forsake the lady and reclaim Clydon for his own."
"Again, that is no concern of ours. Once we deliver her, we are done with this job. With the money from Rothwell, I now have more than enough to meet de Millers' price, enough even should he think to raise it again."
This last was said with such rancor, Walter had to laugh. "The man does not know what he wants. I thought you would kill him when he added another thousand marks the last time. Mayhap this time you will find he had decided not to sell Farring Cross at all."
"Bite your tongue, Walter. I want that southern holding. I want it so bad 'tis all I can think about."
"There are other properties for sale," Walter reminded him reasonably.
"Aye, with worthless land, or keeps in such ruin I would have to continue to hire out my sword for another ten years just to pay for the repairs. Farring Cross might be a small keep, but 'tis in excellent repair, its defenses strong, the land not overworked, and the villeins healthy."
"But 'tis not worth the price de Millers is now asking for it."
"To me it is, Walter. So the man is greedy. 'Tis why I have waited until I have an extra thousand to meet a new price should he dare to make one. I wil
l have Farring Cross by the end of the month."
"Aye." Walter sighed.." 'Twill be nice to lay my head in the same spot night after night for a change. Verily, I am tired of sleeping out in the cold and trekking back and forth across this island."
"You could have gone your own way at any time," Ranulf reminded him.
"And leave you with no one to yell at save those younguns you adopted?"
"Coxcomb," Ranulf snorted, but with a softening at the corners of his mouth. "Begone and leave me in peace. And make my excuses to the lady, for I will not join you for the evening meal. Tell her I have not slept for two days and you are loath to wake me. The less I see of her the better.''
Walter chuckled. "Annoyed you, did she?"
"You do not know the half of it." "Would you rather I collect her when it is time?" "Nay, trussing her up is the only pleasure I will have of this job," Ranulf replied.
Chapter Ten
It was a piece of work, getting from one end of the hall to the other without waking any of the castlefolk bedded down there or alerting the few sentries passing the open arches of the gallery that looked down on the hall. The second time Kenric stumbled over someone's feet in the dark, Ranulf picked him up and toted him under his arm the rest of the way to the stairwell.
"S'wounds, if we had a candle—"
"We would be easier seen," Ranulf growled low.
He set the boy down to traverse the narrow stairs and they lucked onto a wall torch at the top, which Kenric borrowed to light the long passageway.
"Is this it, then?" the boy whispered when they reached the door at the end.
"If Walter's wench did not misguide him. And block the light when I open the door. I do not want the lady waking ere I reach her."
The door was not locked, but it was blocked by a pallet spread on the floor in front of it. Ranulf closed the door again and swore under his breath.
"What is wrong?" Kenric asked.
"One of her maids sleeps in front of the door. You will have to squeeze through the crack and see to it she continues to sleep."
Kenric's eyes widened to great turquoise circles. "You want me to kill her?"
"Sleeps, lackwit, not 'never wakes up.' A light tap on the head with your dagger hilt should do it nicely. Just be quiet about it."
Kenric set the torch in the wall bracket beside the door before he slipped through. In half a minute he was back and opening the door wide.
" "Iwas not a she, but a he," Kenric whispered, his surprise still evident. "That boy—"
"I can guess who," Ranulf replied in disgust. "Just bring the restraints. We will see to the lady first; then you can tie up her 'guard.' "
" Tis done." At Ranulfs raised brow, Kenric amended with a grin, "Just his hands. You said to be quick."
Ranulf grunted. "So I did. Let us have this over with, then."
With the door left open, torchlight spilled a few feet into the room, but only dimly lit the rest of the area. However, it was enough light for what they had to do.
The chamber was not large, though not too small either. It was in fact nearly identical with the one Ranulf had been given for his use. Theo was slumped beside the door where Kenric had shoved him. The bed sat in the center of one wall, the curtains closed about it. A number of items cluttered the room, several tables and stools, a wooden chest at the foot of the bed, a large brazier where a fire had burned earlier, needed even for this warmer weather of late spring.
Carefully, Ranulf drew back the curtains on the bed just enough to lean inside. She was there, no more than a tiny mound beneath her covers, topped by the raven locks spread across her pillow. It was she. Even in the darker gloom inside the enclosed space, he could see the whiteness of her small, piquant face, the dark slanting brows, that full lower lip forming a pout as she slept.
For a moment he hesitated. Once she woke to see him in her chamber, there would be no turning back. She would belong to Rothwell, for better or worse. And he knew it would only be for worse. But he would then have Fairing Cross, his own land, earned by his own labor, not given to him, as his younger half brother had come by his land. Ranulf had had to work for what he wanted because his mother had been no more than a village wench, whereas his brother's mother had been a lady—not wed to their father, but a lady nonetheless. For that and that alone, her son, a bastard as Ranulf was, younger than Ranulf was, had been named their father's heir, had been raised with all the privileges accorded a precious heir.
No, Ranulf could not afford to feel anything for this lady sleeping so innocently in her chaste bed. There were little enough ways for a man to earn the kind of money he needed without stealing it, so he could not pick and choose as his conscience might dictate. And she was just another heiress to be fought over and won by the stronger man, Rothwell being that man because he had hired Ranulf. She was no more than a job to him, hopefully the last. So being, he hesitated no longer.
Her eyes opened the instant Ranulfs hand slid across her mouth, colorless in the dark, wide and fearful. The softness of her lips registered, but only for a second, for he had to apply more pressure when her small hand came up to push against his arm. He leaned across her to keep her other arm trapped beneath the cover whilst he exchanged his hand for a gag and quickly secured it with a strip of cloth. Her free hand was ineffective in stopping him, useless no matter how she pushed or pulled.
She moaned, for no other reason than he had pulled her hair in tying off the gag, but Ranulf stiffened, not knowing what caused it, and immediately leaned away from her. He had thought his mind hardened against her, but that soft sound pricked him on the raw, enough to make him furious with himself, with her, with life in general.
"Kenric!" The boy instantly poked his head through the curtain. "Get her hands and feet tied." But the boy did not move, and Ranulf swore under his breath when he looked down to see that the cover had moved enough to reveal the lady was naked beneath it. "Hold her down."
Ranulf angrily left the bed to rummage in the chest he had seen. He returned and thrust a sleeveless shift through the curtain.
"You want me to put it on her?" he heard Kenric squeak in horror.
Ranulf gritted his teeth. "Just do it and be quick about it."
Kenric gave Reina an apologetic look before he slipped the shift over her head. But that was as far as he got. She had both hands loose now, and it was all he could do just to keep her in the bed. He was not Ranulf.
"She will not let me!" Kenric called out desperately.
"She will let you, or she will be carried out of here naked."
No more was heard from behind the curtain after that. Ranulf waited several moments more for the lady to be clothed, then threw the curtain wide to swipe the cover off the bed. While Kenric struggled to bind her wrists with the cloth strips they had brought along for that purpose, Ranulf spread the cover on the floor.
"You are not finished yet?"
"She does not want to make this easy," Kenric hissed in answer.
With a low growl of irritation, Ranulf returned to the bed and grabbed Reina's hands to hold them together whilst Kenric finished wrapping the cloth around her wrists. He did the same with her feet, ignoring the furious looks he was now getting from her. That done, he lifted her off the bed.
"Secure the boy now," Ranulf told Kenric before laying Reina down on the cover. One hand on her chest, just below her breasts, held her there. "Be easy, lady," he unbent enough to tell her. "We do not take you to harm you." There was a spate of garbled mumbling from behind the gag, loud enough to make him lean closer to add, "Do you go quietly, no one will be harmed. Do you draw attention to yourself, make no mistake, there will be killing aplenty. Think you your men, such as they are, can stop me?"
He was satisfied to hear no more noises from her, and she stopped squirming beneath his hand as well. In a moment Kenric returned to kneel beside him, and together they rolled Reina up in the thick cover. This not only secured her more completely but also concealed her and w
ould better muffle any more noises she might make.
"Should she not have more clothes than that shift?" Kenric asked as Ranulf picked up the long bundle to toss over his shoulder.
"She can go to Rothwell naked for all I care," Ranulf said, only to recall that it would be days yet ere she would be turned over to Rothwell. "Very well," he amended surlily. "Find a gown or two in her chest and bring it along."
In another few moments they were both moving back down the passageway to the stairwell. Below, Kenric went ahead, ready to use his dagger hilt again should any of the servants wake to see them, but 'twas unnecessary. The castlefolk's labors had been much increased throughout the day, and they were now dead to the world.
Across the hall, Walter waited by the stairwell leading down to the second floor and the forebuilding where a guard stood duty at the entrance. With a nod, he went down to draw the guard away, and in only another minute Ranulf was able to pass his burden on to Searle, outside the door.
Back upstairs, they waited for Walter to return. He was grinning when he did.
"You had no trouble with the lady?"
'■Nay, we need only wait for Eric to arrive now."
"It has gone too easy," Kenric remarked. "What if Eric is delayed, or—"
"Bite your tongue," Ranulf retorted. "Eric will come within the hour, so return to your beds that you may be 'awakened' for his message."
"Idiot, only one layer of those sacks! Any more will smash her."
Those were the last words Reina heard for a long while. And she was not only smashed but had nearly been suffocated by a sack unknowingly set directly on her face If she had not managed to twist her head to the side, they would have had a fine surprise when they got around to digging her out.
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