by April Taylor
Joss kept close to his heels as he took a deep breath and strolled across the main gatehouse to the river, resisting the impulse to hurry and saying the words of the enshrouding incantation over and over in his head, waiting for a challenge from the sentries. He could hear their footsteps as they walked their beat across the front of the palace, but he made it to the river without incident. Only then did he realize that he had been holding his breath. He stood for a while under a tree, panting a little and with his hand on Joss’s head.
Once his breathing had returned to normal, he walked along the riverbank until he was level with the pond gardens. Relaxing his shoulders, he let his mind reach out over the wall, although he had no idea how Pippa would have been able to scale it unheard or unseen. Nothing and nobody stirred. He crept along as far as the Watergate tower, where more sentries were on duty. Still nothing. Where could she be?
* * *
Pippa’s senses were once more overwhelmed by the passion of Geoffrey’s kisses. She longed to succumb to the fire that weakened every part of her. His hungry mouth on hers pulled out every ounce of her resolve and when he at last drew back with a soft laugh of triumph, she found her legs trembled with the effort of remaining upright.
She had slipped from the house and into the park close to the Tennis Court. Geoffrey had been waiting as her heart had told her he would be. He stepped out from behind a tree to cover her eyes with his hands and she had turned for his kiss with a willingness that shamed her even as it drove her. The lights from the torches on the palace walls showed her the curve of his cheek and mouth and she stroked his face, trying to commit every part of it to memory.
“I knew you would not fail me,” Geoffrey said, once more bending his head to kiss her throat. It was only the pressure of Ajax’s nose on Pippa’s ankle that brought her back to her senses.
“I am back at Luke’s house,” she told Geoffrey.
“Better there than at that prune-faced merchant’s. I did not like the way his eyes rested on you, my sweetheart.”
He bent once more to smother her with kisses, but she put up her hands and pushed him away.
“Geoffrey, we must talk.”
“There will be time for talking later.”
“No. We must talk now. I had a lot of time to think this afternoon, and what we are doing is wrong and must stop.”
“How can loving be wrong?”
“We have done Bertila a grave injury. Not just me, Geoffrey, but you, too. She loves you.”
“And you do not?” He raised his head and laughed, but not loudly enough for the distant sentries to hear.
“Aye, I do love you, but I must let you go back to her. She loves you and needs you and she has prior claim on your affections.”
She could hear puzzlement and the first stirrings of fear in his voice. “What is this nonsense? We will have no more of it. Do you think I could love a scarface like her when there is you?”
Pippa pushed him back and stood away from the tree trunk against which she had been leaning. “That is a shameful thing to say, Geoffrey. It is her misfortune, not her fault. Bertila is a kind and caring woman. One who would make a loving wife and mother.”
Geoffrey walked forward to take her in his arms again, but instead, trod on Ajax who had come to sit directly in front of his mistress. With a sudden oath, Geoffrey kicked the greyspring out of his way and held out his arms for Pippa, but, on hearing the yelp of pain, Pippa sank to the ground and cradled her dog.
“How dare you? That has decided me as nothing else could. We shall not meet again Master Peveril.”
Peveril hauled her to her feet. “I prithee pardon. Sweetheart, I acted on impulse. I promise I will never do that again. Please do not desert me, Pippa. Heart of my heart, I need you.”
“And why do you need her, Master Peveril? She has just told you that she does not want to see you again.”
The lovers swung round to face an angry Luke. Joss nosed a still-whimpering Ajax, her calm presence seeming to offer comfort. He stopped whimpering and climbed to his feet, one back leg dragging a little on the ground.
“Look, the dog is fine,” Peveril said. He made to walk over to Ajax but was stopped in his tracks by Joss’s persistent snarling. On hearing it, another small black dog came into view, its teeth bared.
“Merrick, quiet,” Peveril said. “Call off your dog, Master Ballard.”
“I will call her off when you are gone. Mistress Garrod said she did not want to meet you again. I heard her say it. Go, and take your animal with you.”
“Pippa is not in her right mind. She loves me. I love her.”
“On the contrary, the moment she said she wanted nothing more to do with you was the first time she has been in her right mind since she set eyes on your conceited face. Begone, as she asks, and do not trouble her again.”
“Or else what, Master Apothecary?” Peveril stood facing Luke, feet apart, hand on the hilt of his dagger.
“That is enough,” Pippa said. “Do you want the whole of the guard down on us? Master Ballard, how dare you follow me?”
“Because I knew where you were going, or rather, who you were meeting. Where are your senses, girl?”
Pippa began to weep. “I came out to tell Master Peveril that we could not meet again. I swear that was my only intent.”
“If that was so then tell him again. Now. In front of me.”
* * *
Luke’s challenge hung in the air. Swirls of almost tangible emotion came down like a mist. Through it, Luke looked at Peveril. The man’s face was full of passion but Luke could not tell if it was rage or despair. His gaze switched to Pippa. When she spoke, he could hear the desolation in her voice.
“It is true, Geoffrey. We cannot meet again. I have wronged Bertila and must renounce you.”
“But I love you, Pippa. My whole future is bound up in you. You cannot desert me now.”
“I can. I must. Goodbye, Geoffrey. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Please, as you love me, do not make it harder.”
Pippa’s face crumpled. She turned and stumbled toward the palace. Ajax limped after her. Peveril turned on Luke.
“I am not what you think, Master Ballard. I will not give her up. I cannot, for my life, be without her.” He put his head in his hands.
“You do not give her up. She has given you up, of her own free will. I beg of you to honor her decision and do not try to make her change her mind.”
“I need her.”
“But she does not need you. Goodnight, Master Peveril.”
Luke turned to follow Pippa. Joss, after one final bristle at Merrick, trotted close on his heels. Lengthening his strides, Luke was soon within earshot of Pippa’s weeping. He hurried to catch her up.
“I think you would stop weeping sooner if you tended to your dog. Have you not noticed that he is hurt?”
Pippa wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeve, knelt on the ground and put both arms around Ajax’s neck. Luke stroked his hand down the dog’s side and sucked in his breath when Ajax flinched.
“God’s teeth. That ratsbane has a savage kick. This leg is broken. You must carry him.”
Without hesitation, Pippa gathered Ajax in her arms, and for the rest of the journey the only words she spoke were ones of comfort to her dog. When they reached the safety of the house, she laid him on the kitchen table. Robin had already gone to bed, for which both girl and man were thankful.
Luke gave Ajax a more thorough examination and turned in rage to Pippa. “Wherefore is he so thin? Have you been starving him?”
“I love him. Why would I starve him?”
“I must tend to his ills, but first, give him food.”
“What shall I give him?”
“A dish of milk, first, whilst I make up a remedy for him. Wait here.”
Luke grabbed some leftover meat and bread and took some clean water from the pail. He strode through into his shop, more angry than he could remember, and seized three jars from his shelves. For an elemancer to neglect her greyspring was a sin of the first order.
Forcing himself to be calm, he heated the water before soaking the meat and bread in it. He wondered what great sin he had committed that he should be so sorely tried. There was no denying that he had been required to discipline his mind to repose more frequently in the previous month than in the whole of his life before, and all through no fault of his. Why did God allow women to have this talent of effortless chaos? If this was what love did, he wanted no part of it. Making them elemancers only aggravated the problem. Holding his hands over the bowl, he muttered three different incantations, adding a pinch from each of the jars in turn.
Ajax was just lapping the last of the milk when Luke returned to the kitchen. He fell on the contents of the bowl as if he had not eaten for days. Luke felt his mouth tighten and he glared at Pippa. She glared back.
“No need to look at me as if I have starved him. He refused to eat all the time we were at Master Dufay’s house. What was I to do?”
“Tempt his appetite. Ajax is your only protection when you are out and about. You would doubtless tempt Master Peveril’s appetite if he was languishing yet you won’t look after your dog properly.”
“Have you no heart, Master Ballard?” Pippa asked, making sure that every word dripped scorn. “I admit that I fell in love with Geoffrey. I still love him, but I have decided that duty must come first.”
“Sounded more like guilty conscience about Bertila Quayne to me.”
“And you would know the sacrifice of love, would you? You who have never loved any save yourself.” She picked up the now-empty bowl. “Thank you for this. I will take Ajax to Master Dufay in the morning. One last word before I crouch on my pallet next to the fire. Geoffrey loves me. And he was right when he said you did not know him.”
Whispering endearments, she took Ajax up in her arms and laid him next to the pallet. She settled beside him, turning her back on Luke. He climbed the stairs, knowing there was nothing more to be said.
“I am not what you think, Master Ballard.” Luke would have given much to know what Peveril meant by that remark. Unless, of course, he was telling the plain truth. That he loved Pippa as much as she loved him and could not bear the thought of life without her. What was this force of nature that made sane people act as if they had lost their wits? Love. Wars had been fought for it. Great Harry had brought England to schism for it. Luke had lost his dearest friend because of it. Why could people not see how destructive love was? He determined never to allow its insidious tendrils to wrap themselves around him. The degree of suffering he had heard in the voices of Bertila, Pippa and, aye, even that peacock, Peveril, troubled him, a weight of worry on his chest. It was a long time before sleep claimed him.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next morning, Pippa made her feelings plain. Luke was pleased he was not one of the heavy iron pots crashing onto the table. As if to emphasize her point, she made frumenty. Not for the first time, he thanked the Lord he had never succumbed to the marital yoke. He ate bread and cheese in silence and went through to the shop early. Robin could deal with her.
He practiced what he privately called his “disappearing” spell before raising the shutters. He must ask Master Dufay how to judge if he was performing it correctly. After all, if he could see his own feet, perhaps the spell had not worked at all. In his heightened state of vigilance, he could not afford the anxiety of wondering if he was visible. Was he supposed to feel differently?
His deliberations were interrupted by the rising cadence of voices in the kitchen. With an angry sigh, he stalked through to find Pippa and Robin in the middle of a heated debate. So intense was their anger that neither of them noticed him at all. Luke took a slow step forward. Still they did not appear to observe him. He looked down. He could see himself quite clearly. Were they unable to because they could not or because they were too engrossed in their argument?
“How would a mere child like you know about the feelings of adults?” Pippa said, throwing up her arms.
“If it makes one as addlepated and moony as you, I don’t want to.” Robin sat stolidly on the bench.
“You wait til it happens to you. You won’t be so high and mighty then.”
“Men—proper men, don’t go around sighing like a dizzy-eyed wench. We have more weighty matters on our minds.”
“Aye, like where your next meal is coming from. Shift yourself and go and find me sage and bay leaves.”
Luke went through the motions of removing his “cloak” and strode to the fireplace, making both of them jump in sudden fright. His satisfaction that they had not seen him was tinged with consternation when he discovered Ajax’s leg was not healing at all. They needed Dufay. Now. Ajax’s well-being was so closely tied to Pippa’s that he knew he could not delay. The leg should have healed overnight. It had not.
“We must take Ajax to Master Dufay, this instant, Pippa. Robin can consider the weighty matter of cleaning out the ashes. We need soap.”
Their walk to Dufay’s house began in an uncomfortable silence. Pippa almost dropped Ajax when she tripped over a tree root near the yard gate. Luke stopped her from falling and Ajax whimpered. They had passed the stable block without exchanging one word before it occurred to Luke that Pippa was not sulking, but was too upset to speak.
“I am sure Master Dufay will be able to help Ajax,” he said. “Despite Master Peveril’s protestations of love for you, there was no love in the kick that broke the dog’s leg. I hope he does not deal out the same remedies to his own dog.”
“I can forgive Geoffrey many things, but not that,” Pippa said. “In a way, Ajax helped me to say goodbye to him. I do not think I would have been able to do that alone.”
Luke could not help the arrow of pain that ran through him. “I know you suffer much, Pippa, but you did right. And I am very proud of the way you confessed your sin regarding Bertila. This has hurt her more than we can ever know.”
“I am aware of that, Luke, and I am ashamed. When I was away from Geoffrey, I could see that it was not right or just, but as soon as I came near him, it was as if my mind was wandering, lost in fog, and he was the only person who could lead me out of it.”
Luke shook his head, but said no more.
Dufay looked bedraggled and half-asleep when he answered his door, and Luke wondered if the Elemagus had worked late or overslept. As it was, he glanced from Luke to Pippa without saying a word, then stepped back and pulled the door wide, taking in a deep breath as they passed.
“I assume you are not here for your next study session, Master Ballard, and I would fain know what is wrong with Ajax.”
Pippa curtsied. When she lifted her head, her eyes were full of tears.
“Sir, I would not come for myself, having disgraced your hospitality as I did, but Ajax is hurt and Master Ballard says you are the only person who can help.”
She held out the greyspring to Dufay, who took him and carried him to the workroom, laying him gently on the clean rushes. Hera came across to sniff at Ajax and both she and Joss stood over him in what Luke could only conclude was protection. Dufay stroked his hands across the injured dog quietly and delicately, his eyes closed.
“I think his leg is broken,” Luke said. “That I could feel, but despite my best endeavors, I cannot mend it.”
“You are right. This has come from a grievous blow.” Dufay opened his eyes and even Luke stepped back when he saw the black anger flashing from them, an anger that was directed at Pippa. “How did this happen?”
Pippa opened her mouth, but nothing came out. It was Luke who replied, trying hard to keep his voice neutral.
“Pippa met Geoffrey Peveril last nig
ht to end their relationship. She held out against all his blandishments and, in revenge, he kicked Ajax.”
“I hope that will teach you, madam, that a fair face can conceal a black heart. You must learn that our greysprings’ health mirrors our own. We call them into being, and because of that, they are part of us. Ajax is as much a part of you as Hera is of me or Joss of Luke. If you suffer, your greyspring suffers and, in the same balance, if your greyspring is hurt, so are you. Do you understand?”
“But my leg doesn’t hurt.”
Dufay sighed. “I did not say the injuries would be identical, simply that your health and his mirror each other. You do not have a broken leg, but did you by any chance, hurt your feet either last night or this morning?”
Pippa’s face showed her astonishment. “Aye, I tripped over this morning.”
“Quite.” Dufay rubbed his hands together as if to warm them. Taking a deep inward breath, he passed them, palms downward, above and along the length of Ajax’s body. Luke saw the tension drain from the dog and his eyes close. Dufay eased the broken leg into line and circled the break with one hand, muttering an incantation. After a few moments, the air above his hand grew red and solidified into a sphere small enough to fit into his palm. With his free hand, Dufay took hold of the sphere and crushed it to powder. Then he sprinkled it onto the dog’s leg. The red dust sank into the fur and vanished, leaving no trace.
Dufay stood up. “We will leave him to sleep it off. Hera and Joss will stay with him and come to us if there is need. Let us go and have a drink.”