Shadowmoor (de Lohr Dynasty #6) (17 page)

So poor Gunnar, unable to resist what was happening to him, stood there and wailed as the women finished cleaning the dirt off of his body and put him in a pair of wool chausses that were really undergarments for girls. There were two legs and a tie around the waist, which was perfect for the skinny lad, and on top of that they put a linen shift, cut off at the knees, and then a brown woolen tunic that was too big for the boy so they cinched it up the waist with a strip of leather.

Since Gunnar had lost his meager shoes when he’d run from Bramley, the seamstress sent her daughter to the leathersmith down the street to see if he had anything for the boy’s feet. As the old seamstress cut Gunnar’s shaggy hair with a sharp knife in an attempt to clean the boy up a bit, the daughter returned with two small leather slippers that the leathersmith had made for a young boy who had died before his parents could pay for the shoes. They were a bit too small but at least they were something, and Daniel paid handsomely for young Gunnar’s first decent pair of shoes in his entire life.

In fact, he paid handsomely for the entire set of clothing and Gunnar, who was still unhappy about the entire event, wasn’t hard pressed to admit that his new clothing was quite warm and free of vermin. He had bites all over his skin from the bugs that had infested his clothing and found it rather surprising that his new clothing wasn’t chewing up his skinny body. With his clean skin, new clothes, and cut hair, he looked like an entirely different boy.

Daniel may have entered the seamstress’ shop with two siblings who looked as if they had just crawled out of a gutter, but he left with a beautifully dressed young woman and her cleaned-up younger brother. With Liselotte’s small wooden chest slung over a broad shoulder, Daniel couldn’t help but grin at the pair as they inspected each other as clean, well-groomed individuals. They had lived so long in squalor that something clean and new was almost something beyond their comprehension. Liselotte seemed a bit more awed by it than Gunnar, who ran at the first mud puddle he saw with the intention of jumping in it until Daniel called him off. Momentarily confused, the child realized his new clothing would not look so new if he covered it in mud. With a grin, he avoided the puddles.

The bustle at the livery had calmed down a bit but based upon the initial discussion with the livery owner when Daniel had first arrived, the man had held aside several sacks of barley, two precious sacks of wheat, five sacks of oats, and one sack of rye grain. Daniel negotiated with the man for the use of one of his wagons to cart away the sacks and promised to return it. As the men were loading sacks onto the borrowed wagon and a groom began to hitch up a team of horses, Daniel proceeded to purchase four goats from the livery owner – two kids for Gunnar and a male adult and female adult. He also purchased a cow and her calf, and seventeen chickens at a very good price.

Since they were going to Netherghyll that evening, Daniel told the livery owner he would come back for the animals and the wagon in the morning, and the livery owner agreed to store everything inside the livery under guard. Pleased with what he had been able to acquire in town, Daniel finished paying for everything and had the groom collect Ares from the barn, where the horse had been gorging himself on oats. The horse was unhappy that he was taken away from his feeding to be saddled and Gunnar was unhappy that he had been separated from his two goats. In fact, the boy was in tears. As Daniel helped the groom saddle Ares, Liselotte went to her sorrowful brother.

“Gunnar,” she said softly, trying to be sympathetic. “You shall see your new friends on the morrow. We will sup tonight in a grand house with more food than you have ever seen. That should make you happy, shouldn’t it?”

Gunnar was trying not to dirty his new clothes as he squatted in the dirt, playing with his new friends. He pulled one of them into his arms, hugging it, as the second kid nibbled his hair.

“I want to bring them with me,” he said, sniffling.

Liselotte bent over, her hand on his newly-cut hair. “Let them remain here tonight where they will be safe and fed,” she said. “Tomorrow, we shall take them home and they can sleep in your chamber with you, I promise.”

Gunnar wiped at his nose. “It is Sir Daniel’s chamber now.”

Liselotte smiled. “You slept in Mother’s chamber last night,” she said. “I am sure she would not mind if you slept there with your goats.”

He frowned. “I do not like sleeping with Mother,” he said. “She wants me to sleep next to her, all bunched up!”

Liselotte laughed softly. “You mean that she hugs you?”

He nodded fiercely. “I do not like it.”

Liselotte stroked his pale hair. “Tonight we will sup at a great house and mayhap they will have a bed, just for you,” she said. “If not, you may sleep with me and I promise not to hug you.”

He was somewhat hesitant about that. “Do not pull my ears, either.”

“I will not, I promise.”

“Can’t I bring the goats?”

Liselotte shook her head. “They will be happier here, just for tonight,” she said. “They are yours. No one can take them away.”

He wasn’t crying any longer but he was still dubious, so very sad to leave his new pets. “We… we will not eat them, will we?” he asked timidly. “If we are going to eat them someday, I… I do not want to take them back to Shadowmoor.”

Liselotte’s smile fled. “We will not eat them, ever,” she said. “I promise you that. I will not let you feel such sorrow again, Gunnar. I will turn the goats loose and chase them away before I would put them in a stew. I am sorry we had to do that, but you know that we were starving. We had nothing else.”

Gunnar looked up at her with his big blue eyes. “What happens if we have nothing else again?”

Liselotte’s gaze moved to Daniel, who was now moving in their direction. Her features took on an odd expression, something between hope and adoration. She couldn’t help it when she looked at him, this man who was different from any man she had ever met. He was so full of joy in life, and of giving. She’d never known anyone so generous and even though she knew there was no hope of anything between them, still, it wasn’t difficult for her to give him her heart.

Even if it would only ever be her secret.

“Somehow,” she said softly, “I do not think we will ever have to worry about that again.”

*

Netherghyll Castle

5 miles northwest of Siglesdene

Daniel was genuinely
concerned about meeting the entire de Royans family.

Beneath skies that had been clear most of the day but were now starting to gather clouds as the late afternoon approached, he could see a dark and expansive structure on a distant rise and he wondered what kind of place bred a man such as Brighton de Royans. Glennie had seemed normal enough but that didn’t mean much; she was a female and it was in her breeding to be docile and silly. But her brother had been aggressive, intelligent, and determined, determined enough to try and kill Daniel’s best friend and force Daniel’s niece to marry him.

It was a bold and reckless man who gave such little regard for others. Therefore, Daniel was understandably curious, and concerned, about meeting the rest of the family.

He had no idea what he was in for.

But he pushed those thoughts aside as Netherghyll Castle was sighted. He wanted something from de Royans and he was willing to have contact with the family of his dead enemy in order to get it. Focusing on the castle, he could see dark walls that encircled the top of the entire hill like the embrace of a great iron chain.

Intimidating and enormous, it made quite a sight from a distance and even more intimidating the closer he came. The narrow road that they were traveling upon cut through the green hillside, ending in a massive fanged portcullis lodged into the wall itself.

As Daniel, Liselotte, and Gunnar drew even closer, they could see just how big the walls of Netherghyll really were – at least twenty feet in some spots, an impenetrable fortress of stone and might. The walls were dark, built with a dark gray granite that was prevalent to the area, and they were pocked in places from both age and perhaps a siege or two. From the looks of the place, Daniel could guess it had been there for a couple of hundred years or more, maybe even before the Normans came. It was sturdily built, sunk deep into the mountaintop.

“I have seen many castles in my time, but this place is impressive,” Daniel said. “I am surprised I’ve not heard of such a big place this far north. Curious.”

Liselotte, holding on to Daniel as she sat behind him, gazed up at the tall walls. “See how the gray stone blends into the sky,” she murmured. “It looks as if it is part of the gray clouds above.”

Daniel grunted softly. “The walls are tall enough to touch the sky, that is for certain,” he said. “This place cannot be more than ten or twelve miles from Shadowmoor. Do you know much about it?”

Liselotte shook her head. “I have heard the name of the castle but I do not know anything about it,” she said. “If I have been told, I have forgotten. Truthfully, even before Bramley came, Shadowmoor mostly kept to itself. We were not known to be hugely allied with our neighbors.”

Daniel turned his head enough to catch a glimpse of her. “Why not?”

She shrugged. “It has always been that way,” she said. “I seem to remember my father saying, once, that when our ancestors struck a deal with the Normans to allow them to keep the castle, it alienated them from other Saxon households in West Yorkshire. I suppose we were looked upon as traitors. I think the old prejudices still hold, which is why no one has helped us with our problem with Bramley. We have not asked for assistance and no one has offered.”

They were coming up to the enormous portcullis and Daniel could see soldiers through the grate. “Then mayhap that will change after tonight,” he said. “As I said before, the invitation for sup tonight is fortuitous. Mayhap more fortuitous than you know.”

She looked at him, only really seeing the back of his head. “How?”

“Mayhap it is time to establish new relationships with your neighbors.”

Before she could question him, Daniel announced himself to the sentries at Netherghyll’s big gate and the portcullis began to immediately crank open. The chains strained, creaking, and when the portcullis was about halfway up, Daniel proceeded in, followed by Gunnar on the little mare.

The bailey of Netherghyll was fairly vast and oddly garden-like; there were actually patches of grass that seemed to be well manicured, but the complex that comprised Netherghyll’s keep was truly of interest. There didn’t seem to be one keep but three buildings pieced together around what looked to be a central courtyard, all of them positioned right in the middle of the bailey. The building farthest to the west had the pitched roof and single story of a great hall, while the building attached to it on the east side was tall, about three stories, and built square and block-like. The third building, attached to the south side of the eastern building, was two stories tall and rather long, like barracks. There were small windows cut out at regular intervals.

In all, it was a very big and a very odd complex, far more than Daniel had imagined it would be. More than that, it was evident that the de Royans had wealth. De Royans men were well-dressed and their horses were fat. Daniel again thought of Brighton, and how well-trained and well-equipped the man had been, and it was all starting to make some sense now. Netherghyll Castle clearly had the means. From its fellow castle not far to the south, Shadowmoor, the difference between the two fortresses was like the difference between night and day.

As they came to a halt near the strangely built keep complex, Gunnar leapt off his little mare as Daniel lowered Liselotte to the ground. In her lovely red dress, he was impressed anew every time he saw her. He dismounted Ares, his eyes still on her, as several grooms rushed up to take the animals, most of them focused on the big black war horse with the impressive build.

Ares, an attention seeker, began frisking the grooms for any signs of treats in their pockets and the young grooms seemed quite amused with the horse’s antics. Daniel assured them that it was all right to feed the horse a treat or two. Like a proud father, he was not opposed to having his precious horse spoiled by others, and as he held out his elbow to Liselotte, a shout from the direction of the keep caught their attention.

“Greetings!”

Daniel and Liselotte turned in time to see Glennie approaching on the arm of an older man, both of them coming from the building that was presumably the one-storied hall. Glennie was trying to tug the man along but he wouldn’t run with her so she stopped pulling on him and scurried on ahead to greet their guests.

“I am so happy that you have come!” she said excitedly, looking at Liselotte, still in the red gown from the last time she saw her. She rushed the woman. “You are beautiful, my lady. I am so glad that you purchased that dress. The red color is exquisite on you.”

Liselotte smiled timidly as Glennie grasped her hand. “Thank you, my lady,” she said. “You have excellent taste in selecting it for me.”