The Salbine Sisters (37 page)

“What else?” Lillian asked.

“I don’t know.” Though a seed of a plan germinated in her mind. “But when we’re negotiating, one wrong word, one perceived hostile look or tone, could have him stubbornly insisting on the girl. So I don’t want you anywhere near the gates or this man. When the defenders spot him coming up the hill, I want you, Maddy, and Emmey out of sight.”

Lillian folded her arms.

“Watch from the top floor of the Community Tower. You’ll have a good vantage point from there.” Sophia raised a finger. “But do not, under any circumstances, come down and into the courtyard. I don’t care if a full-fledged conflict erupts and fire is raining from the sky, you stay inside with Maddy and Emmey. Do you understand?” When Lillian’s mouth set into a stubborn line, Sophia inwardly sighed and tried another tack. “Maddy and Emmey will need you to protect them.”

“Fine.” Lillian sighed and dropped her arms to her side. “I’d better let Maddy know what’s happening.” She stalked off.

“So what
are
you planning to do?” Elizabeth asked.

“I may have an idea. Barnabus, would you find the Mistresses Averill and Bertha and ask them to come to my study immediately?”

“Yes, Abbess. Who else would you like with you at the gates?”

She wasn’t summoning them for that reason, but no matter. “I’m not sure yet. When I’ve decided, I’ll find them myself.”

“Would you like a company of Defenders present?”

“I suppose there’s no harm in putting on a bit of a show. Have them attend in ceremonial dress. Oh, and come to my study with the mistresses. I have a task for you.”

“Of course.” He strode off.

Elizabeth gazed at her. “Now that we’re alone, are you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“Your plan.”

Sophia motioned for Elizabeth to walk with her, wanting to be in her study when the mistresses and Barnabus arrived. In a low voice, she outlined her intentions for Elizabeth. “But you’re never to breathe a word of this to anyone,” she said when she’d finished. “If I fail, Maddy and Lillian are never to know what was on the negotiating table. They’d be heartbroken.” So she couldn’t fail. Especially since she didn’t have a plan B.

*****

Lillian paused on the Community Tower’s top floor landing to catch her breath and heard Maddy’s low voice answer Emmey’s high-pitched one; two other voices were also contributing to the conversation. When she left the stairwell, everyone peered at her from their stools.

Sisters Rose and Nora stood, bobbed, and said, “Mistress,” in unison. Sister Rose was Maddy’s closest friend, and Sister Nora was Sister Rose’s lover. Lillian had given some thought to this.

“There’s no need to be formal when we’re alone,” she told them. The pleasure on Maddy’s face warmed her, but then she remembered why they were gathered. “They’re coming.” She expected Maddy and her friends to rush to the windows, but they remained where they were, perhaps so they wouldn’t upset Emmey.

Emmey looked at Maddy. “You won’t let them take me, will you, Miss?”

“It’s not up to me,” Maddy said. “But don’t worry. The abbess will protect you.”

Lillian could hear the doubt in her voice and wondered if Emmey heard it too. She crossed to one of the windows overlooking the gates and pushed it open. Defenders had formed a line on either side of the gates and stood at attention, the Salbine crest emblazoned across their breastplates shining dully in the overcast light. Sophia was striding across the courtyard with Barnabus at her side and Elizabeth, Averill, Ivy, Clarissa, and Meredith behind her. Otherwise the courtyard was deserted; everyone had been told to stay inside. Sophia’s group stopped several yards away from the gates and waited. Lillian sucked in her breath as fire and air swirled around her, not through her. Every mage in that courtyard was ready.

“What’s happening?” Maddy asked.

“Nothing, yet,” she said hoarsely. Then the tip of a standard came into view as the noble and his men crested the hill. Lillian counted twenty-two men, a pushover for a couple of mages, let alone six and a company of Defenders, though the defenders were there to protect Sophia and the mistresses as they drew, not as aggressors.

The standard-bearer and a man with a fur cloak draped over his shoulders, presumably the noble, rode in front of the others. The company stopped just outside the gates. Lillian couldn’t see Sophia’s face, but could tell by her gesturing that she was speaking. Suddenly the noble and his men dismounted, and one man, presumably the company’s captain, walked with the noble through the gates. They bowed to Sophia, a good sign. With Barnabus still at her side, Sophia motioned for them to follow her and led them away. The mistresses stood their ground, but started to chat among themselves; fire and air no longer assaulted Lillian’s senses. When the noble’s men streamed through the gates, the defenders relaxed their stances and mingled with them.

Lillian turned to Maddy and the others. “They’ve come through the gates. He’s gone off with the abbess.”

Maddy looked fearfully toward the stairwell.

“They’re not coming here. They went in the other direction, probably to the abbess’s study.” To negotiate, but for what? Coin? She couldn’t see that assuaging the noble’s gargantuan pride, though he wasn’t stupid. He’d quickly agreed to talk. Who wouldn’t, when at the gates of a Salbine monastery backed by a paltry twenty-one men? “And everyone looks relaxed. The defenders and the noble’s men are friendly. They’ll probably share ale at the barracks.”

“I’m going to pray for the abbess.” Sister Rose abandoned her stool and knelt. Sister Nora joined her.

“I will too,” Maddy said, rising. “Emmey, why don’t you look out the window with Lillian?”

Emmey scurried to Lillian but was too short to see outside. After pulling the window shut, Lillian carried a stool over and helped her onto it. “All this because you tried to steal his purse,” Lillian murmured to her.

“I didn’t want to,” Emmey said. “I only did it so my ma would stop shouting at me. She wouldn’t have needed me to nick no more if I’d gotten that purse.”

Lillian doubted that. The greedy were never satisfied.

“I was in the market, and I saw the purse right in front of me.” If the noble had been standing, his purse would have been at Emmey’s eye level. Emmey’s eyes must have popped out of her head when the fat purse had appeared right in front of her. “He caught me with my hand in it,” Emmey finished.

“You didn’t have a knife with you?”

Emmey shook her head.

“You do know that men’s purses are attached to their belts. You’d never have made off with it.” Only whores and armed bandits could part a man from his purse without a knife.

“That’s why I had my hand in it.”

Ah, so Emmey hadn’t been caught stealing a purse, but what was inside a purse. “I doubt your little hands could have carried much coin. It’s unfortunate you didn’t have a knife with you, or at least a bag.” What was she doing, expecting a naive eight-year-old to have meticulously planned the theft of a noble’s purse—and worse, offering her advice on how to improve her thieving? “But you were caught, so no matter.” And sentenced to life in prison by the idiot in Sophia’s study.

“The others only ever got boxed around the ears when they were caught.”

“You tried to steal from the wrong person,” Lillian said. “Not that I’m suggesting you should have stolen from the right one.”

Emmey frowned. “I didn’t want to nick.”

“I know.” She pointed out the window. “Look, they’re bringing the horses in now.” Emmey pressed her nose against the glass.

Time wore on. Maddy joined Lillian at the window when Emmey wandered away. “This isn’t how I wanted to spend my last day with Emmey,” she murmured to Lillian, watching the other two sisters sitting on the floor, playing pat-a-cake with Emmey. “And it’s going to end badly, isn’t it? He’s obviously not accepting whatever the abbess is offering.”

Lillian put her arm around her. “Not necessarily,” she said. Though she couldn’t help but worry.

Her worry only deepened as the sun continued its journey across the sky with no word from Sophia. “It’s warm in here, isn’t it?” she said to nobody in particular. She pushed open a couple of the windows, just in time to hear the chapel bells announce six o’clock. They’d been waiting for over five hours, she realized as she gazed out the window, surprised that she wasn’t hungry. Movement caught her eye. “Wait!” she blurted. The noble’s men were leading their horses to the gates!

“What’s happening?” Maddy asked, nervousness tightening her voice.

“I’m not sure. It looks like they’re getting ready to—”

Footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Maddy hugged Emmey to her. Sisters Rose and Nora stood protectively next to them, their faces grim. Lillian fought the urge to draw. If Sophia had given Emmey over to the noble, striking him or any of his men down would ensnare the monastery and Merrin in a bloody conflict that could last years. They’d have to free Emmey another way.

The footsteps grew louder. All released a collective sigh of relief when Averill emerged from the stairwell. She stared at them. “Oh dear. It’s only me. I’ve come for Emmey.”

“Why?” Lillian said. Maddy tightened her grip on Emmey.

“To take her to the library.” Averill frowned when everyone stood their ground. “Look out the window. They’re leaving.”

Lillian turned back to the window. The noble and the captain had returned to the courtyard and were mounting their horses. She looked at Maddy. “It’s true.”

“He’s not taking her?” Maddy asked, her voice tremulous.

Averill shook her head. “So let me take her to the library. The abbess wants to see you and Mistress Lillian in her study.”

Maddy’s grip relaxed. “She’s not allowed in the library.”

“The abbess will explain everything,” Averill said, her expression unreadable. “Let me take her. Please.”

“All right.” Maddy let go of Emmey. “Go with Mistress Averill,” she said when Emmey hesitated. “Go on.”

Emmey still wouldn’t budge. “Will I see you again?” she asked Maddy.

Maddy looked to Averill for the answer. “Yes, you’ll see her again.” Averill’s light voice and the smile she quickly masked gave Lillian pause. “So come with me and I’ll show you the library. I’m told you can read.”

“And write,” Emmey said proudly.

“You can write, can you? That’s very interesting. I’d like to see you write. Do you think you can show me?”

Emmey’s wariness vanished. Her chattering echoed up the stairwell as she and Averill descended the stairs.

“Thank you for waiting with us, and for your prayers,” Maddy said, embracing Sisters Rose and Nora in turn.

“Come tell us what the abbess says,” Sister Rose said. “We’ll be dying to know how she persuaded him not to take her.”

Sister Nora nodded. “We’ll have a quick supper and then go to my chambers.”

“I’ll come see you as soon as I can.” Maddy turned to Lillian. “Let’s go see what the abbess wants.”

Lillian mumbled a good-bye to the sisters and took Maddy’s clammy hand when they entered the stairwell. Now that Emmey was safe, rampant curiosity replaced her earlier apprehension. Sophia had kept Emmey out of the noble’s hands, but what had she given him in exchange?

M
addy forced a smile as she and Lillian crossed the courtyard. “At least she won’t go back to prison,” she said, trying to look on the bright side. It didn’t work. Tomorrow at eleven o’clock still loomed.

“Poor mite.” Lillian shook her head. “I hadn’t given much thought to how she must feel until she asked if she’d see you again. Thrown into prison, then into Reedwick, then finding out she has no family in Pinewood, then brought here and almost thrown back into prison again, and tomorrow to the Carmichaels. She really has been living day to day, hour to hour, not knowing if she’ll have a home and anyone who cares. And always, frightened that she won’t have a chance to say good-bye to you.”

“I know.” Maddy was glad Lillian empathized with Emmey, but Lillian’s verbal musings were further dampening her spirits. “And how long will she last at the Carmichaels’?” She couldn’t see Emmey staying on their farm until she took a husband.

“At least she knew love and security for a time. Many children never do.”

Lillian’s attempt to make Maddy feel better had the opposite effect. With a long face, she followed Lillian into the abbess’s study and tried to appear at least indifferent. Pleased was beyond her.

The abbess was hunched over a document on her desk. She looked up when they entered. “Sit down.”

“So don’t keep us in suspense,” Lillian said as they sank into the guest chairs. She glanced at an open bottle of brandy and four drained glasses sitting on the table separating the two chairs. “What happened?”

“He agreed not to take Emmey.”

“We know that!” Lillian snapped. “What did you give him?”

“A document.”

“A document?”

The abbess nodded. “As I said, he’s a proud man who wouldn’t leave empty-handed. Considering what Emmey had already endured, most men would have shrugged when they found out she’d gone. But not this one, not when his men were looking on.”

“He didn’t accept the governor’s assurance that Emmey had died in the prison fire?” Maddy asked.

For some reason, the abbess grimaced before answering. “Too many folk had seen her, Maddy, both inside and outside the prison.”

Maddy hoped Arthur hadn’t suffered any repercussions for his role in helping Emmey escape.

“Bradford needed something to save face, to show that an eight-year-old hadn’t got the better of him,” the abbess continued. “So he came here, and I gave it to him.”

Maddy glanced at Lillian, saw the puzzlement that mirrored her own. “Did he release Emmey from her sentence?” she asked.

“No, and he did have documents that legally entitled him to take her.”

But the noble had left without her. “I don’t understand.”

The abbess gazed at her. “We concluded negotiations over an hour ago, but Mistress Averill had to scribe the documents. Let me read our copy to you.” She rested her elbows on the desk, lifted the document by its edges, and cleared her throat. “‘I, Duke Richard—’”