Isabella thought of Lord Oadby and shuddered. He had wanted her—though not as his wife.
"But—but surely, the King would not countenance a match made in such a fashion, Lindael."
"He might not, my lady, but then again, he might simply fine your unwanted husband for marrying ye without His Grace's permission. Either way, 'twould not be a pleasant experience for ye, my lady."
"I—I've changed my mind, Lindael. I'll not be riding out today after all."
He nodded.
"'Tisbest, my lady."
Thereafter, whenever the girl was forced to go beyond the
castle walls to oversee the estate or to nurse ailing crofters, she was accompanied by no less than twenty-five heavily armed outriders. In addition, the villeins in the fields kept a sharp eye on the land. If there were a man who sought to capture die Lady Isabella and force her to yield to him, he would find it extraordinarily difficult to do so.
Nevertheless, the girl missed the freedom of galloping over the moors and through the forests. She wondered how the creatures of nature fared without her and was touched when the crofters, suspecting her worry, began to bring injured animals they had found to the keep for her to tend. First, it was an old hound dog belonging to one of the knights, then a bushy-tailed red fox a poacher had attempted to ensnare, then a young deer wounded by a poorly aimed arrow. Had they not been trying to brighten Isabella's spirits, the villeins would have quietly killed these last two beasts and tossed them into the stew pot. The girl knew this and saw that none who delivered the injured creatures to her went away without reward, thereby gaining the love and trust of even the most wary of Rushden's tenants.
"Have ye decided, my lady?" Alice inquired, rousing the girl from her reverie.
Isabella looked at the gowns that had been laid out for her inspection and at which she had scarcely glanced earlier.
"Aye, Alice, I shall wear that one"—she pointed to the most unattractive of the three.
"But—but. my lady," the nanna protested vigorously, "that dress has always made ye look too pale... washed out, if I may say so, my lady. Ye know the new warden will be arriving any day, perhaps even today. Surely, ye want to make an effort to find favor in his eyes...."
Regretfully, for she loved pretty things and had possessed few of them under Lord Oadby and Lady Shrewton, Isabella shook her head.
"Nay, I wish no man to gaze upon me with favor save for two, Alice, and they are not here or likely to be soon, lest Gloucester gives them leave once more to come. The new warden may deal honestly by me and my brother, but then again, he may not. I shall do naught to gain his interest until I determine what sort of man he is. If he harbors no ill plans toward us, we may be comfortable again. If not, why, then, he will soon feel the bite of steel between his ribs!"
"Oh, my lady!"
Alice was aghast. Surely, this was not her gentle mistress, who wished harm to none, speaking.
Abruptly, Isabella remembered with whom she was conversing. She gave a soft strange laugh that was most unlike herself.
"Nay, do not fear, Alice. I shall do naught to bring the King's wrath down upon us, but I must take whatever steps are necessary to guard Giles's inheritance."
And his life, she added earnestly to herself.
Chapter Nine
LORD WARRICK AP TREMAYNE, EARL OF HAWK-Hurst, was tired, his temper, foul. He had ridden long and hard beneath the unseasonably warm spring sun, and he had been forced to suffer his younger half brother Caerllywel's teasing jibes the entire journey as well. Warrick wished he had never informed his brother of his new office and betrothal, much less asked Caerllywel to join him at Rushden: for his brother, knowing the Earl had no desire to leave Court and even less wish to be wed, had seized upon these announcements as a means of jabbing at Warrick's pride, which Caerllywel always thought in sore need of a few pricks. Much to the Earl's irritation, his brother had proceeded to set about this task by likening Warrick to a hog farmer and Lady Isabella Ashley, whom neither had ever laid eyes on, to a sow. As, despite the King's comments to the contrary, this was the same mental picture that Warrick himself had sourly drawn, he was not at all pleased by his brother's observations. Thus, though the Earl was relieved to see the towers of Rushden rising ahead in the distance, his ill mood did not abate. "Well, Waerwic"—Caerllywel gave the Earl's name its Welsh pronunciation and grinned broadly, not in the least dismayed by
his brother's forbidding countenance—"at last, we may discover whether or not Edward has set ye to tending a pig in a poke!"
Warrick's jaw hardened, for of his three half brothers, Ca-erllywel was the only one who would have dared to taunt him in such a manner—especially in his present frame of mind.
"If ye value your life, Caerllywel, ye will cease jesting about my bride," the Earl warned. "I do not even know that I will wed the maid."
"Oh, ye will," Caerllywel rejoined easily. "Ye have too much pride to stomach one of His Grace's whores, Waerwic. 'Twill be your downfall someday, that pride of yours."
"Well, when that day arrives, ye may gloat to your heart's content," Warrick intoned sarcastically. "Till then, I pray ye hold your tongue, for I am sore tempted to cut it out!"
"Be my guest, brother, if ye think ye can," Caerllywel said softly.
The Earl gave him a sharp glance at that but made no reply. Warrick would not have cared to cross swords with any of his brothers, with the possible exception of his youngest brother, Emrys, who was the least adept with a blade. Of the other two', however, his older brother, Madog, would probably kill him, and Caerllywel would certainly stand a fair chance. They had not lived most of their lives in the wild Welsh hills for naught.
Savagely, the Earl dug his heels into his stallion's sides and galloped on ahead, his brother's laughter ringing mockingly in his ears.
"I—I came as soon as I found it, m'lady. Be it—be it hurt bad?" "Nay, Wat, I think not." Isabella reassured the lad with a smile as she examined the wounded lamb carefully. "Its leg is broken, but 'twill soon mend if I can but set it properly and keep the poor babe still for a while."
"Oh, m'lady"—Wat's young face was puckered up dreadfully—"indeed, I—I do not know how I came to lose it. I could
have sworn the count was right "
"'Tis naught, Wat. Such things happen, even to the best of us. I am just glad the injury is not worse. 'Tis a wonder the lamb was not killed, falling into such a pit. 'Tis the second one that has been found. Some poacher's trap, no doubt. I shall have Eadric and the others fill it in immediately. Ye will show them the place, Wat. Now fret yourself no longer. If ye had not been so quick to discover the poor babe's absence, searched for it, and heard its bleating, the lamb would have been dead by now."
"Aye, m'lady."
"Fetch me that bucket of water over there, and look through that woodpile for a stick that will serve as a suitable splint. Then bring me my unguents and linen strips."
"Aye, m'lady."
The lad scampered off to do her bidding while Isabella crooned soothingly to the wounded beast. She was so absorbed in calming the frightened animal, she paid no attention to the commotion outside the castle walls; indeed, 'twas doubtful she even heard it.
Warrick's dark visage was ominous in appearance. He had called his name to the sentries, stated his authority and business plainly, and had been politely but stoutly refused admittance to Rushden Castle.
"Mind ye, I'm not saying ye aren't who and what ye claim to be, my lord," Sir Lindael called down from one of the two towers that flanked the entrance to the keep. "But I have my lady's safety to think of, and for all I know, ye might be brigands wishing to carry her off. These be hard and uncertain times, my lord, and there be many ruffians abroad."
"Poor Waerwic," Caerllywel taunted, his voice choked with muffled laughter, "it seems your swine of a bride is as reluctant as ye. Quick, brother, find out which chamber is hers, and give a hog farmer's call in that direction. Perhaps then she can be induced to let us inside. My throat is well nigh parched from eating your horse's dust."
The Earl favored his brother with a withering glance.
"My bride knows nothing of the proposed match between us. Now cease your prattling, fool. God's blood! I do not know why I brought ye with me!"
"Because ye would have died of boredom otherwise. Really, Waerwic, ye would do well to develop a sense of humor. I'll warrant that frown of yours will send your bride scurrying for her sty—"
That was as far as Caerllywel got. The next moment, he was flying through the air, then landing with a thud in the dirt, a large dent in his armor from the flat side of his brother's sword. The Earl's men were laughing uproariously, having long endured too many of Caerllywel's sly jokes themselves not to be delighted in seeing him get his comeuppance. Slowly, Caerllywel got to his feet and brushed himself off, still grinning nevertheless, for he knew how to laugh at himself as well as others.
"I shall repay ye for that low blow, Waerwic," he promised,
ruefully gazing down at his battered mail. "This was a new breastplate too, damn ye! If your bride turns out to be a beauty instead of a pig, I shall steal her away. Unless she wants for sense, she'll see straight off I'm a much better bargain than ye."
Warrick, some of his anger having been vented, only snorted.
"Despite your tall tales of your prowess with wenches, I have yet to lose one to ye," he pointed out.
"True. Sad but true," Caerllywel agreed, remounting his steed. "I don't know what 'tis the maids find in that ugly mug of yours to attract them. Well, have ye thought of some means to get us inside yet? I'm like to die of thirst."
The Earl's face hardened once more.
"Sir Lindael, I shall have your head if ye do not lower the drawbridge, and raise the portcullis at once!" he shouted wrath-fuUy.
"I'm sorry, my lord, but I cannot. However, I have thought of a plan," the master-at-arms yelled, beginning to let down a bucket by rope from the tower. "If ye will put the King's writ in this pail, I shall have a clerk examine the scroll, and we will determine whether or not ye may be admitted."
Warrick fumed and cursed mightily under his breath, but it seemed there was naught else to be done.
"Rhys," he barked sharply to one of his squires, "can ye swim?"
"Aye, my lord."
"Then take this writ, and put it in the bucket that damned fool has lowered for our benefit," the Earl snarled sarcastically. "By God, he shall find himself removed from his post and placed in the stocks before this day's end; I swear it!"
"Do not be too harsh with the man, Waerwic." Caerllywel's voice was suddenly serious. "They may, in truth, have had trouble here, and there is no point in getting started off on the wrong foot in your new position."
"When I want your advice, I shall ask for it!" Warrick snapped, but Caerllywel saw the tense muscle working in his brother's jaw relax slightly and was relieved.
The Earl had a fearsome temper that could frighten even his brother Madog at times. If the young Lady of Rushden Castle were to witness it... Caerllywel shook his head and sighed. Even the wicked Brangwen, who had married Lord Gryffydd and made his life hell, was afraid of Warrick nowadays.
The Earl waited in silence while the clerk read the contents of the scroll. At last, as Rhys was being hauled, dripping wet, from
the moat, the drawbridge was lowered and the portculHs raised. Warrick clattered inside and dismounted with an arrogant sweep of his dark brown, gold-lined cloak.
"Take me to your mistress at once!" he demanded imperiously, his eyes narrowed, his voice cold.
"But—but, my lord," the master-at-arms protested vigorously, "surely, ye will want to go first to the keep and bathe and—"
"At once, I said. Do not keep me waiting," the Earl warned grimly. "Ye have already caused my temper to grow most foul by your delays."
Sir Lindael stiffened. There were not many men who had spoken so to him in his life, and he feared now, despite his earlier hopes to the contrary, that the new warden was going to be as bad as Lord Oadby had been.
"As ye wish, my lord," the master-at-arms stated, his manner distant and disdainful as he began to lead the way toward the stables.
"Christ!" Caerllywel groaned, his eyes wide with amazement. "She really does live in a sty!"
"I said to take me to your mistress," Warrick growled, giving his brother a covert look and glancing around with some uneasiness.
The faces of the Rushden men were closed, unreadable, and watchful. Was this a trap? The Earl had been informed that his predecessor, Lord Oadby, had lost his life in an unfortunate hunting accident, but perhaps that had been only a tale. Warrick laid one hand warily on the hilt of his sword, beginning to grow faintly alarmed. What on earth would a wench of good breeding be doing in the stables?
"The Lady Isabella be inside, my lord"—Sir Lindael indicated a half-open door at one end of the stables.
The Earl stared at the master-of-arms icily.
"If this is a jest, sir, I find it a poor one," he drawled.
Sir Lindael drew himself up to his full height.
"I assure ye I would play no trick on the King's warden, my lord. Ye insult me by the suggestion."
"Very well then," Warrick declared and strode inside.
He was so unprepared for the sight that met his eyes that he gasped and stopped short, causing Caerllywel to run right into him. Both men gazed around themselves with astonishment. It was as though they had stumbled into a menagerie, as indeed they had. Birds of every kind twittered and squawked upon perches
here and there. Three rabbits in cages sat up. noses twitching, at the entrance of the two men. A deer, tied in one comer, bounded and thrashed, startled by the intruders. An old hound dog barked and proceeded to chase a bristly porcupine across the hay-strewn floor. Two cubs romped at the heels of a snapping, bushy-tailed fox in a pen. From the loft, a furr>. one-eyed badger glared down, its long claws showing wickedly. Countless kittens mewed, scattering this way and that when a goal bleated and shook its head, causing the bell about its neck to ding loudly.