The Velvet Promise (27 page)

He turned and saw Helen was smiling, a smile of pure pride. "You take pride in such a daughter?" he asked, astonished.

"Yes, I do. She is afraid of nothing. And she always thinks of others first."

"She should have been taught to fear," John said fiercely. "Fear is good at times."

"If she were yours, how would you have taught her?"

"I would have—" John began. Obviously, beating was not the answer; he was sure Robert Revedoune had caused her a great deal of pain. He turned to Helen and smiled. "I don't believe she could have been taught. But if she were mine…" He smiled more broadly. "I would be proud of her, if she were mine. Though I doubt such beauty could have come from something as ugly as me."

"Oh, but you are not the least ugly," Helen said, her cheeks turning pink.

John stared at her, not having really looked at her before. The first time he'd seen her, at the wedding, he'd dismissed her as being haggard and plain, but now he could see she was neither. A month away from Robert Revedoune had done her much good. She didn't seem so nervous as before, and her hollow cheeks were filling out. Except for the widow's peak, her hair was covered, but he could see it was auburn, darker than her daughter's. And her eyes seemed to have tiny gold flecks in them.

"You stare at me, sir?"

With his usual bluntness, John said what he thought. "You are not old."

"I will be thirty-three years old this year," she answered. "That is an old woman."

"Bah! I remember a forty-year-old woman who—" He stopped and smiled. "Perhaps I shouldn't tell a lady that story. But thirty-three years is far from being old." He had an idea. "Do you know you are a rich woman now? You are a widow with great estates. Soon you will have men pounding at your door."

"No," she laughed, her cheeks flaming. "You jest."

"A rich as well as a beautiful widow," he teased. "Lord Gavin will have to cut through them to find you a husband."

"Husband?" Helen suddenly sobered.

"Here!" John commanded. "Don't look like that. Few are like that villain you married."

She blinked at what she should have considered rudeness; but coming from John, it was a statement of fact.

"Lord Gavin will find a good man for you."

She stared at him as if in speculation. "Were you ever married, John?"

He waited a moment before answering. "Yes, once when I was very young. She died of the plague."

"No children?"

"No. None."

"Did you… love her?" Helen asked timidly.

"No," he responded honestly. "She was a simple-minded child. It has long been a fault of mine that I cannot bear stupidity—in a man or a horse or a woman." He chuckled at some private thought. "Once I made a boast that I would lay my heart before a woman who could play a good game of chess. Do you know, I even once played a game with Queen Elizabeth?"

"And did she win?"

"No," he said in disgust. "She couldn't keep her mind on the game. I tried to teach Gavin and his brothers the game, but they are worse than some women. Only their father gave me a challenge."

Helen looked at him seriously. "I know the game. At least I know the moves."

"You?"

"Yes. I taught Judith to play, though she could never beat me. She was as the queen, always worrying about another problem. She couldn't give the proper concentration the game deserved."

John hesitated.

"If we are to spend some time here, perhaps you can give me lessons. I would appreciate any help."

John sighed. Maybe it was a good idea at that. At least it would help pass the time.

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Judith's chamber was as quiet as the rest of the Demari castle when she began her preparations to go to Gavin in the pit.

"Give the guard this," Judith said as she handed Joan a skin of wine,

"and he will sleep through the night. We could set barrels of oil on fire next to him, and he won't wake."

"Which is what will happen when Lord Gavin sees you," Joan muttered.

"I thought you believed him to be nearly dead. Now don't talk any more, but do as I say. Is everything ready?"

"It is. Are you feeling better?" Joan asked concerned.

Judith nodded, swallowing hard in memory of her recent nausea.

"If you have kept anything down, you will lose it when you step into that vile pit."

Judith ignored her comment. "Go now and give the man his wine. I will wait a short time, then follow you."

Joan slipped silently from the room, an art she'd learned through long years of practice. Judith waited nervously for nearly an hour. She strapped the iron box about her stomach, then slipped the rough wool garment over her head. Had anyone noticed the serf walking quietly amid the sleeping knights, they would have seen a heavily pregnant woman, her hands at her lower back, supporting the burdensome weight of her belly. Judith had some difficulty managing the railless stone stairs that led to the cellar.

"My lady?" Joan called in a loud whisper.

"Yes." Judith made her way toward the single candle flame that Joan held. "Is he asleep?"

"Yes. Can't you hear him snoring?"

"I can hear nothing over my pounding heart. Set the candle down and help me unstrap this box."

Joan sank to her knees as Judith lifted her skirts to her waist. "Why did you need the box?" Joan asked.

"To store the food. To keep the… rats from it."

Joan shivered as her cold hands worked at the knots of rawhide. "There are more than rats down there. My lady, please—it isn't too late to change your mind."

"Are you saying you will go in my place?"

Joan's gasp of horror was her answer.

"Quiet, then. Think of Gavin who has to live there."

As the two women pulled the trapdoor back from the pit, the foul air made them turn their heads away. "Gavin!" Judith called. "Are you there?"

No answer came.

"Give me the candle."

Joan handed her mistress the taper and looked away. She didn't wish to look in the pit again.

Judith searched the black hole with the light. She had steeled herself for the worst, and she wasn't disappointed. Yet Joan had been wrong about the floor. It was not totally devoid of dry area—or at least comparatively dry. The dirt floor sloped away from the stone walls so that one corner was mere mud rather than the slime-infested water. In this corner Judith saw a hunched figure. Only the eyes that glared at her told her the heap was alive.

"Give me the ladder, Joan. When I'm on the bottom, send the bench down, then the food and wine. You understand?"

"I don't like this place."

"Neither do I." It wasn't easy for Judith to descend that ladder into hell.

She dared not look down. There was no need to see what was on the floor; she could smell and hear the slithering movements. She set the candle on a jutting stone of the wall but didn't look at Gavin. She knew he worked to push himself upward.

"The bench now," Judith called up. It wasn't easy to maneuver the heavy piece down the ladder, and she knew Joan's arms were nearly pulled from their sockets. It was easier to lift it and set it against the wall next to Gavin. The box of food came next, followed by a large skin of wine.

"There," she said as she set the items on the edge of the bench then took a step toward her husband. She knew why Joan said he was near death.

He was emaciated, his high cheekbones razor-sharp.

"Gavin," she said quietly and held her hand out to him, palm up.

He moved his thin and filthy hand slowly to touch her, as if he expected her to disappear. When he felt her warm flesh against his, he looked back at her in surprise. "Judith." The word was harsh, his voice hoarse from long disuse and a parched throat.

She took his hand firmly to hers than pulled him to sit on the bench.

She held the skin of wine to his lips. It was a while before he understood he was to drink. "Slowly," Judith said as he began to gulp the heavy, sweet liquid. She put the wineskin down, then took a stoppered jar from the box and began to feed him rich, filling stew. The meat and vegetables had been cooked to a pulp easy for him to chew.

He ate little before he leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed in weariness. "It has been a long time since I have had food. A man doesn't appreciate what he has until it is taken from him." He rested a moment, then sat up again and stared at his wife. "Why are you here?"

"To bring you food."

"No, I don't mean that. Why are you in Demari's holdings?"

"Gavin, you should eat and not talk. I'll tell you everything if you will only eat more." She gave him a chunk of dark bread dipped in the stew.

Once again he turned his attention to eating. "Are my men above?" he asked, his mouth full. "I think I may have forgotten how to walk, but when I have eaten more, I will be stronger. They shouldn't have sent you down here."

Judith hadn't realized that her presence would make Gavin believe he was free. "No," she said as she blinked back tears. "I can't take you from here… yet."

"Yet?" He looked up at her. "What are you saying?"

"I am alone, Gavin. There are no men above. You are still a captive of Walter Demari, as is my mother, and now John Bassett."

He stopped eating, his hand paused above the jar. Abruptly, as if she had said nothing, he resumed. "Tell me all," he said flatly.

"John Bassett told me Demari had captured you and my mother. John saw no way to win you back except through siege." She stopped, as if finished with the story.

"So you came here and thought to save me?" He looked at her, his sunken eyes hot.

"Gavin, I—"

"And, pray, what good did you hope to do? To draw a sword and run them through and order my release?"

She clamped her jaw shut.

"I will have John's head for this."

"That is what he said," she muttered.

"What?"

"I said John knew you would be angry."

"Angry?" Gavin said. "My estates are left unguarded, my men are left leaderless, my wife is held prisoner by an insane man, and you say I am angry? No, wife, I am far more than angry."

Judith straightened her back, clenched her jaw. "There was no other way. A siege would have killed you."

"A siege, yes," he said fiercely, "but there are other ways to take this place than by siege."

"But John said—"

"John! He is a knight, not a leader. His father followed mine, as he follows me. He should have gone for Miles or even Raine, with his broken leg. I will kill John the next time I see him!"

"No, Gavin. He is not at fault. I told him I would go alone if he didn't bring me."

The candle made her eyes glow. The woolen hood had fallen away from her hair.

"I had forgotten how beautiful you are," he said quietly. "Let's not quarrel anymore. We can't change what has been done. Tell me what is happening above."

She told him of how she'd gotten better quarters for her mother, yet had also succeeded in getting John made prisoner. "But it is as well," she continued. "He wouldn't have allowed me down here."

"I wish he hadn't. Judith, you shouldn't have set foot in this place."

"But I had to bring you food!" she protested.

He stared at her, then sighed. He began to smile at her. "I pity John's having to deal with you."

She looked at him in surprise. "He said the same of you. Have I done so very wrong?"

"Yes," Gavin answered honestly. "You have put more people in danger, and any rescue now will be much more difficult."

She looked down at her hands.

"Come, look at me. It has been a long time since I saw anything that is even clean." He handed her the empty jar.

"I brought more food and a metal box to keep it in."

"And a bench," he said as he shook his head. "Judith, do you realize Demari's men will know who has sent these things when they see them?

You must take them back."

"No! You need them."

He stared at her. All he'd done was complain about her. "Judith," he whispered, "thank you." He put his hand up, as if to touch her cheek, but stopped.

"You are annoyed with me," she said flatly, thinking that was why he wouldn't touch her.

"I don't want to soil you. I am more than filthy. I feel things crawl on my skin even now as you sit so close to me."

She took his hand and guided it to her cheek. "Joan said you were little more than alive, but she also said you looked up at the guard with defiance. If you still hated, you couldn't be so near death." She leaned toward him and he touched his mouth to hers. She had to content herself with that; he would not contaminate her further with his touch.

"Listen to me, Judith. You must obey me. I will brook no disobedience, do you understand? I'm not John Bassett you can twist about your fingers.

And if you disobey me, it will no doubt cost many lives. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she nodded. She wanted guidance.

"Before I was taken, Odo was able to reach Stephen in Scotland."

"Your brother?"

"Yes, you don't know him. He will be told all of what Demari has done.

Stephen will come soon. He is an experienced fighter, and these old walls won't stand long before him. But it will take days for him to travel from Scotland—even if the messenger can find him quickly."

"So what am I to do?"