The Untamable Rogue (15 page)

I
vo was lying
on his bed, dozing. He had emptied three bottles of wine but he still could not sleep and certainly could not forget. Little Liz was haunting his mind and his heart felt heavy at the thought of taking Jelonka as his wife in three days. He had always discounted marriage and children for himself and now it was to be precisely the little snake that robbed him of his freedom. He cursed himself for getting her pregnant. He had counted on her word that she was protected with a potion from Grandmother Aneta. Either the potion had not worked or Jelonka had lied to him. Had he maybe fallen into a well-planned trap? A violent knock at the door pulled him from his lethargy. Who was that now? His father? He was doing everything that he was expected to do. Was it not enough that he was taking this little snake as his wife?

There was another knock – this time more vigorously.

“Yes!” he shouted, annoyed. “I’m coming, damn it!”

Awkwardly he heaved himself out of the bed and staggered to the door. He felt wretched and the waggon was turning like a carousel. He had to hold onto the wall so as not to fall over. He made heavy work of unbolting the door before opening it.

His grandmother stood before him.

“You must find her, boy. She’s gone and it’s already getting dark. – The silly girl!”

With these words the old woman pushed straight passed him and into the waggon. Shaking his head Ivo shut the door again and turned to his grandmother. He could not understand anything the old woman was saying. Who had gone? Why should he find her? – Had Jelonka run away – had she reconsidered after all? Hope spread through him. Grandmother Aneta sniffed and wrinkled up her nose.

“You’re completely drunk!”

“Yes!” declared Ivo with difficulty. “Commmm-pletely drunk!”

“We’ve got to sober you up first. Go and sit down!”

Ivo staggered backwards and tottered to an armchair that he fell into. He belched loudly. “Scu-use me!”

“It’s OK. Stay there, I’ll be right back!”

“Y-yes, OK. I won’t run … away,” Ivo assured her and chuckled. Somehow the whole situation seemed to him suddenly to be terribly funny. He felt a macabre sense of humour in this awful situation. It had been a long time since there had been so much excitement in his life. The whole world seemed to be acting crazily and he was standing in the middle of the drama.

The old healing woman shook her head unhappily and set off to her waggon to prepare a potion for her grandson.

Some time later Grandmother Aneta returned with a cup, shut the door behind her and gave the draught to Ivo.

“Here! Drink that!”

Ivo put the cup to his lips and drank it in one go. He coughed and shook himself.

“Uhh! What sort of poison is that?” he gasped in disgust. He felt as if his innards were collapsing.

With great foresight Grandmother Aneta was standing ready with a bucket for when Ivo vomited.

“Theriak Venezian. I got it from a Venetian peddler. I put it in brandy with a few herbs. A suberb miracle potion that can wake the dead!” the old woman informed him proudly.

“Sooooooo! Wakes the dead …! – I was thinking that this devil’s potion nearly killed me!”

“But you’re still alive,” the old woman stated dryly. “You also seem to me to be completely awake compared to the way you were before. Now you can fulfil your mission.”

“If you think that I’m going to go and fetch this little madam then you’re much mistaken. I’ll be glad if I don’t have to marry Jelonka.”

“But who’s talking about Jelonka? It’s Liz who’s disappeared.”

Ivo shot out of his chair. Suddenly he felt completely wretched again and he swayed slightly.

“Liz!? – Liz has disappeared?” Disbelief and horror lay in his voice and showed in his face.

“Yes, she left the camp this morning, at least that’s as much as I can work out. You must find her and help her to save her inheritance. Your destiny is bound together,” explained Grandmother Aneta.

“And Jelonka?”

“That will sort itself out tomorrow, of its own accord. Another man is meant for her, and the child …”

“What about the child? I’m not happy about this pregnancy but it is after all of my blood.”

“The child will never see the light of day. It is a seed that will not grow because it was sewn in the wrong ground. Don’t grieve. Everything is as it is and everything happens as it should happen.”

“How am I to find Liz when I don’t even know where she’s gone? The area is full of the tracks from our people so I’ll never find hers.”

“You can’t let her down. The threads of your lives are woven together, don’t forget that. – Saddle your horse and ride away. Listen to your inner voice.”

Ivo was still looking sceptically. He had just found out that he would not now marry Jelonka after all and that his child would never exist and now he was again bound to a woman without him being able to do anything about it. He was not yet sure what he should think about any of it but he knew that he had to find Liz and help her. They would see what would then happen. He had seen and experienced enough to know that his grandmother always spoke the truth. He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently.

“Good, my boy, and now go!”

I
vo steered his
horse up to the building and dismounted. It was already late but a light was still burning in the house so he knocked at the weathered door. It took a while, but then he heard dragging footsteps and the door was opened. Ivo looked at the old man who stood before him, pipe in hand.

“Good evening! I’m sorry to disturb you so late in the evening but there was still a light burning and so I thought …”

“It’s OK, young man. I usually only find sleep late in the night and I always read the Bible for a while. The young people are already asleep – they must of course get up when the cockerel crows and milk the cows. – Well then, what brings you to us? Do you need somewhere to sleep?”

Ivo nodded.

“Yes, I wanted to ask if I could sleep back there in the barn and whether you might have some spare water for my horse.”

“”You can put your horse in the stable. There’s water in the drinking trough and in the corner is the box of oats– you can take a shovel-full. You can sleep in the barn. – Are you hungry? – I’ll give you something – wait here.”

Before Ivo could reply the old man had disappeared into the house, so he waited at the door until the old man appeared again a while later. He pressed a basket into Ivo’s hand.

“Thank you, that is very kind of you.”

“Oh, that’s OK. It’s just a little bread from yesterday, a little cold roast meat and a jug – you can fill that with water,” the old man waved him away.

“Once again, thank you. Good night!”

“Yes, sleep well, my boy.”

After the old man had closed the door again Ivo took his horse to the stable, gave it something to eat and drink and set off to the well with the basket. There he filled the jug and then went to the barn where he was to sleep. His thoughts wandered to Liz. He was very worried about her. He had searched for her all day in the forest, but unfortunately without success.

If she had managed to leave the forest then she may have come through this village, which was why he wanted to ask around the next day. But what if she were still wandering around in the forest? In the worst case she could actually die of hunger or thirst, fall victim to an animal or get into the hands of robbers. He did not want to imagine all the awful things that could have happened to her, but the horrible images came into his head of their own accord and tortured him. In the barn he found a place to eat his meal and he lay down to sleep. It took a while for him to finally fall asleep and his sleep was plagued by horrible nightmares.

When he awoke it was still dark but as he stepped out of the barn and looked east he could already make out a red shimmer on the horizon. It could not be long before the sun would rise. He wondered where Liz may have spent the night. Hopefully she was safe and was not suffering. It was not without danger for a woman to travel alone and she was not only without male protection but also travelling completely without means. He had to find her as quickly as possible. He would help her deal with her guardian and get to her rightful inheritance, then he would find work somewhere and earn the money that he would need for the crossing to America. By now he knew that he loved Liz but he also knew that he was not the right man for her. It was impossible for her to marry a gypsy if she did not want to risk losing her inheritance, and he could not ask that of her. No, she belonged in her world. What could he offer her? He was not only poor, he was also absolutely no gentleman. He wanted her more than he had wanted Lavinia – more than anything in the world. And precisely because he loved her he must leave her in peace. It was selfish to want her for himself when that would mean her social ruin. No! He would make sure that she got her home back and he would damn well look for the right marriage candidate so that he knew that she was well taken care of before he left England.