Conquered

by Kirsten Osbourne

  “That’s the storehouse.”

  “Across the castle from the kitchens? You expect the servants to carry what they need across this great space,” she pointed to the distance between the two rooms. “You will need to hire twice the servants if they have to do twice the work. Instead, put the storehouse here.” She pointed to the spot where he had put the soldier’s quarters. “They will be able to get what they need quickly and efficiently.”

  He stared up at her in surprise. “I had no idea you were interested in such things.”

  She shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it an interest. To me, it’s only logical to help our people be as efficient as they possibly can.” She looked down at the plans again, looking for more things that a man wouldn’t think about. After a moment she looked up. “I think that’s good like it is.”

  “I thank you for your help.”

  Christiana smiled, thankful she had a husband who would listen to her ideas and not simply ignore them. She stood ready to go upstairs to bed. It was late, and she was tired.

  Charles ran into the room. “Roland. There are men at the walls. You are needed.”

  Roland motioned with his head for Charles to stay with Christiana. Hugh was guarding Eva and Marina upstairs. Charles took Christiana’s arm. “You must come upstairs with me.”

  Christiana shook her head, wanting desperately to follow her husband. “I need to know what is happening.” She tried to pull away from her brother-in-law but was unable to free her arm.

  Charles half-dragged her toward the stairs and insisted she precede him. She sent a message to both sisters. “There is someone at the wall. We must get someone onto the parapet. I need a diversion.” She hoped her sisters would act immediately so she could go out and see what happened.

  From the top of the stairs, Christiana heard Eva scream in pain, clutching her head. “That’s perfect, sister!” she shot the thought to her sisters, and when Charles went to check on Eva, she slipped out onto the parapet. From her vantage point at the top of the wall, she could see Roland arguing with a small group of men who surrounded a man on a litter.

  After a moment one of the men moved and she was able to determine the identity of the man on the litter. She knew Roland would be angry that she was watching, but she had to get her father inside where Marina could help him. “Roland, the man on the litter is my father. Please allow him entrance so Marina can heal him.”

  Roland turned toward the parapet and saw his wife standing there looking down at him. He’d never tried to send a message back to her telepathically, but he did at that moment. “You were supposed to stay with my brother. You are just begging for the enemy to use you for target practice.”

  Christiana stood her ground. “You will allow my father inside?” she asked. She was suddenly desperate to see her father.

  “If you will go inside and keep yourself safe, I will have your father brought in. Send my worthless brother down to me.” Roland’s exasperation was apparent in the thoughts he sent her.

  She hurried in the door and saw Charles looking about for her. He grabbed her arm angrily. “You will stay with me.”

  Christiana smiled up at Charles prettily. “Roland asks for your presence at the gate to help him bring my father inside.” She couldn’t wait to get to her sisters and give them the news. This was one time she wasn’t willing to use her powers, because she wanted to see their faces.

  Charles stared at her in surprise. “I thought your father had died at the Battle of Hastings?”

  “I thought so too. He is injured, and Marina needs to heal him, so please help him inside.” Christiana turned to her sisters who were listening and saw tears in their eyes. She walked to them and the three embraced one another tightly. “Father was asleep, so I could not speak to him in his mind. I have hope that he can be healed. He was on a stretcher.”

  Eva wiped a tear from her eye. “Is it possible he survived and it has taken him this long to make it home?”

  Christiana nodded slightly. “I believe it is.” She had to believe it. She’d never been able to make peace with the idea of their father’s death.

  Marina rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m weak, but I can partially heal him tonight and heal him a little more every day.” She looked tired at the idea of more healing, but all three sisters knew she would never put herself before their father.

  There was a commotion behind them, and the three sisters saw Roland and Charles carrying their father into an empty room at the top of the stairs. All three sisters rushed to their father’s side, making it difficult for the men to get him settled into bed where he needed to be. Roland shook his head as he watched the three sisters all clamoring to be close to their father.

  Finally, Christiana and Eva backed away, allowing their father to be placed on the bed and Marina moved in close, assessing him with her gaze and her touch. “He’s burning with fever. There are multiple arrow wounds. I’m surprised he’s made it this long.” She looked to her sisters. “I have little strength. I’ll need all you can give me to get him through the night.”

  Christiana and Eva joined hands with each other, both of them putting a hand in the center of Marina’s back. Before they could be stopped, Marina placed her hands on their father, over his tunic and closed her eyes in concentration. Less than a minute later, Christiana pulled her back. “It’s too much. You can’t give him any more.”

  Marina nodded briefly, barely having the energy to move her head. Christiana was shaky on her feet, never having poured that much energy into one of her sisters. She and Marina had given a great deal of energy to Eva the day the armies had come, but they’d held enough back to be able to face the attackers coherently. She’d saved nothing this time, being unwilling to lose her father.

  Roland stepped to Christiana’s side, seeing the paleness of her face. He slipped his arm about her waist and pulled her against him, giving her as much support as he could. When he realized the extent of his wife’s weakness, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to their bedroom, placing her on the bed with care. “How can I help you?”

  Christiana responded with only a vacant stare, and then her eyes fluttered closed. Within moments she was sound asleep.

  He stared down at his bride, wishing she didn’t risk herself to help others. He wondered if she needed the kind of care Marina had needed after healing the man in the forest. He went to find Eva to ask her, but found Hugh carrying Eva into her chamber. “Is she unconscious?”

  Hugh nodded. “She seemed to be okay for a moment, and then she started swaying on her feet and finally, she just collapsed against me.” He stared at her with obvious concern.

  Roland frowned and ran down the stairs to find Joan. He located her in the kitchen where she was helping to clean up after the men’s meal. “I need your help.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the kitchen to the dining room where they could speak in peace. When he had her full attention, he continued. “The girls’ father has been brought here. He was badly injured, and Marina healed him, although she was already weak.”

  Joan nodded, her eyes widening with fear. “The others helped her?”

  “Yes, but all three are now unconscious. After Marina healed the man in the woods the other two took care of her, but today, there is no one to take care of them.” He stared at the servant as if she were his only hope. “Do you know what to do?” Christiana had said she was their nurse and her mother’s before them. He only prayed she knew what she was doing when it came to their exhaustion after they’d drained their powers.

  Joan nodded. “I’ll be up as quickly as I can.”

  She rushed into the kitchen and Roland returned to his wife’s side. “Joan is coming to take care of them,” he told the two men who were hovering over Christiana’s sisters on his way.

  Joan was upstairs within five minutes, three other servants at her side. She had a trencher of broth and a glass of water on a tray. Immediately, she pushed Roland out of the way. “We need all three sisters he
re where we can tend them.” She looked at the oldest of the three servants she’d brought with her, a woman named Martha. “You must take care of the old lord.”

  Martha nodded and hurried from the room. The men brought the other two women into the room and they placed the three of them together on the big bed he shared with Christiana. Christiana and Eva lay side by side with Marina at the foot of the huge bed.

  Roland frowned. “I wish to spend the night with my wife.”

  Joan shook her head. “You may be master here, but I can’t let my mistress die because you ordered differently. She is weak and will need constant care throughout the night. I suggest you sleep outside with your men or in Eva’s room.” She didn’t wait to see if her orders were followed, but instead pulled a chair next to Christiana and carefully spooned water into her mouth.

  Roland watched with shock. Joan hadn’t seemed to have the courage to argue with him before that moment, and he found himself thinking much more of the servant for the way she took care of his wife.

  The three men stood in the hall outside the bedchamber where the women were being kept. “I can’t believe you let a servant speak to you that way, Roland.” Charles shook his head in surprise.

  “I won’t endanger my wife,” he insisted. “She is what keeps this manor together. Without her, I lose everything.” His gaze went down the hallway to the chamber where they’d left the girls’ father. “Have you heard if the father is well?” After the way the three women had reacted to their father’s appearance he prayed their combined strength would be enough to heal him.

  When the other men shook their heads, he walked down the hall toward the chamber where his father-in-law slept. Opening the door, he walked to the old man’s side, putting his hand to his face to see if he was still fevered. “He is better?” he asked Martha.

  Martha shrugged. “I do not know how badly off he was when he came here, but he is not well. He has no fever, but he is unable to speak. I will feed him through the night and keep him alive, but I believe he will need more healing as soon as the sisters are healthy enough.”

  Roland closed his eyes in frustration. Christiana was worried about a threat outside the walls, but all he could see was a man who would drain their strength from them. Could this be the danger she was so certain was coming? He wished the old man could talk so they could discuss whether or not he would be pledging allegiance to Roland and allowed to stay in the house, or whether he was being healed for no real purpose.

  He walked to Eva’s room and undressed, preparing himself to spend a long fitful night in a bed that was too small without his wife. He still wasn’t certain why he’d let the servant speak to him the way she had, but maybe it was for the best.

  Chapter Nine

  Roland slept fitfully through the night and woke early to go check on his wife. He only hoped she had managed to regain her strength during the long night. When he arrived in the bedchamber where the three women slept, he knocked sharply once.

  Christiana came to the door in just her nightgown. “Yes?” She looked exhausted, but at least she was on her feet again.

  “What are you doing up? Where are the maids?”

  She sighed and opened the door wide. The other sisters had already donned dressing gowns and Christiana reached for her own. “The maids are sleeping for an hour before we go heal our father again.” She yawned behind her hand as she shrugged into the wrap.

  “No. I cannot allow you to weaken yourself to such a state.”

  Christiana shook her head at him. “You cannot stop us from making sure our father survives. Do you not understand that if he dies and it’s on our consciences we would never be able to forgive ourselves?” Her look was sleepy but intense.

  Roland shook his head. “You become too weak when that happens. It’s too much.”

  “We do become weak. Usually we try to keep two of us alert at all times, but this is our father, Roland. We would do the same for you.” She turned back to her sisters, who were sitting on the bed looking pale and hollowed out after their exertions the night before.

  “You do realize if your father is unwilling to pledge allegiance to me, I will not allow him to stay here. I won’t kill him, because I won’t hurt you that way, but he will have to leave.”

  Christiana nodded her head. It was as she’d expected, and she was simply grateful he wouldn’t kill her father if he didn’t swear allegiance. “We do understand.”

  “Good.” He looked around him at the empty trenchers and glasses that filled the room. “Why do you eat and drink so much?”

  Christiana shrugged. “We’re not certain, but we’ve learned that the more we use our powers the hungrier we become. When one of us is in that state of exhaustion we’ve found feeding them the entire time makes them regain consciousness more quickly.” She looked up at the knock on the door. “Here is our breakfast now.”

  Roland stared at the amount of food on the tray in awe. It was double what he, Hugh and Charles would eat for a meal, and she and her sisters planned to eat it all? Did the servants really think they could consume that much food in a single meal? He’d never seen a woman begin to eat even half that much.

  He watched with amazement as all three sisters bowed their heads in unison for their silent prayers and then immediately fell on the food. He didn’t say a word as he watched them quickly polish off the entire amount they had been served. When they were done all sisters scanned the room as if looking for more food, and he turned at another knock on the door. The same amount of food had been brought again.

  The sisters continued eating until their second platefuls were gone. Finally they all sat back looking content. Marina sighed. “We need to go check on Father.”

  The three sisters stood in unison, and without another word to Roland they left the room. They seemed to have practiced so many things together. He followed as they entered their father’s chamber, Eva and Christiana standing back while Marina touched their father’s head and nodded briefly. At her nod, both Christiana and Eva put their hands to her back and she closed her eyes in concentration. The look on her face was the one Roland had come to think of as her healing look.

  This time they stopped more quickly, and Marina looked back over her shoulder at her sisters. “He will live.” She sagged down and fell to the side of his bed.

  Roland yelled for Hugh and Charles as he scooped Christiana into his arms and carried her back to the chamber, knowing they were starting the whole process over again. How did these women put so much of themselves into others every day of their lives? Did they never think of themselves first, or was it always others? From what he could see, they all should have been dead years ago, because each sister would give her very life force for another person. He had to teach them to keep some of their energy for themselves.

  He stared down at his wife for a moment, stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers, and looked up as Charles placed Marina at the foot of the bed, in the same spot she’d occupied the previous night. “Put Geoffrey in charge of training the men for the day. You, Hugh and I will stay with the women and make certain they are fed as much and as often as possible.”

  Charles bristled for a moment. “We are to play nursemaids to three young women?” His shocked look also contained outrage.

  Roland shook his head. “No, brother. We will take care of the women to give the servants a break and allow them to cook meals. None of them got any sleep, because they were up all night caring for the sisters. They will not be able to make tasty meals for us if we don’t allow them some sleep.” His tone of voice told the others he would accept no arguments about caring for the three women.

  Charles sighed heavily. “You really want me to spend my day spoon-feeding an unconscious woman?” His eyes softened as he looked down at Marina.

  Hugh walked in carrying Eva and placed her on the bed with her sisters. “Roland, I can’t leave her like this.” Hugh’s eyes were pleading with Roland to allow him to stay with Eva.

  R
oland nodded at his friend. “Charles is about to go down and put Geoffrey in charge of training the men today. We’ll stay here with the women.” Roland stared down at the three sisters, wondering how they had become such generous souls.

  Hugh nodded his thanks.

  Charles just shook his head as he left the room. Roland took a chair beside Christiana and Hugh sank down next to Eva. Just as they were settled, there was a knock at the door. “I’ve brought broth and water for the ladies.” It was Joan, the sisters’ childhood nurse who looked as if she were about to fall over from exhaustion.

  Roland took the tray with the liquids. “We’ll take care of them today. Make sure the cooking is done, but your other duties can wait. All of you who stayed with the sisters last night should rest as much as you can.”

  Joan’s eyes widened. “But we must care for them.”

  Roland shook his head. “We will spoon broth and water into their mouths.” His eyes met hers. “I thank you for your loyalty.”

  Joan went to the door, looking over her shoulder at Roland in surprise. “You don’t want us to do our normal cleaning today?”

  “I want you to make meals and be certain there are enough dishes clean for my men to eat. Nothing else is important on a day like today.” He returned to his seat and picked up a spoon, carefully putting the broth into Christiana’s mouth.

  Joan stood uncertainly in the doorway for a moment before hurrying out to share Roland’s orders with the other women who had sat with the sisters.

  Charles was soon back, and he grumbled as he took the seat beside Marina and started to spoon feed her. Roland wasn’t convinced his brother was truly upset about it, though, because he had a tender look on his face as he stared down at Marina.

  By mid-day the women were slowly waking. Christiana was the first to sit up groggily. She looked around and saw her sisters sharing her bed and Roland beside her with a spoon in a bowl of broth. Before speaking, she took the bowl from his hands and drank down the rest of the liquid. “We’ll all need food as soon as possible. Meat is best, but anything will do.” She stood and headed for the door to the chamber, her legs shaky under her.