Noble Hearts 03 - The Courageous Heart (5 page)

Madeline
shrieked
,
clutching
Meg
to her chest
. Joanna
didn’t have time for panic. She
tugged
Madeline’s wrist
for all she was worth
, trying to wrest her away from the murderer
. Roderick swiped at her with the knife
to chase her off
.
Joanna
shouted and was forced to drop Madeline’s hand to avoid her or Wulfric being cut. Wulfric
screamed
as loud as Meg
.
Roderick took advantage of the boy and jabbed the knife at him. Joanna reeled back to protect the child.

Roderick
snarled in triumph and
lifted Madeline off her feet
to
pull her away.

“No! No!” Joanna yelled
, panic closing in
.
She couldn’t help Madeline without putting the children in danger.

Out of nowhere a
stranger
rushed
at them
and smashed his fist across
Roderick’s
face. Roderick stumbled
. He let go of Madeline. She lurched towards Joanna as the man pounded Roderick across the
face again. Roderick dropped.

The man, their savior, spun back towards Joanna. “We’ve got to
run
,” he
ordered
her, scooping Madeline into his arms as she passed out.

Joanna caught Meg against her chest, struggling to hold both children. It was the man she’d seen in the gate
way, the man she’d recognized.

Her heart stopped
as an avalanche of emotion slammed her
. “Ethan!”

Ethan didn’t have time to acknowledge the fury
of recognition
that flew to Joanna’s eyes
or the knot of emotion rising up from his soul
.
The royal guard
s
had their hands full with Crispin, Jack, and
Aubrey
now
, but from what he’d just witnessed
tucked in
the crowded shadows
of the White Tower
, they would come
looking for Madeline
next
. And if Roderick had been lurking in the courtyard there could be others.

“We have to leave now.” He didn’t wait for
a reply. He shifted
Madeline in his arms
and charged towards the gate. The loiterers in the courtyard hadn’t yet figured out that they should be stopped.

“Where are you going!” Joanna demanded behind him
, panic fighting anger in her voice
.

He didn’t answer. She was following him. That was all that mattered. He could hear the red-headed baby wailing as he dodged around a
wagon
parked near the gate
.

“Stop!
Ethan!
What do you think you’re doing?” Joanna continued to shout behind him. He pressed
fo
rward
over the
moat bridge and
into the clogged street.

“Follow me!” he called over his shoulder.
He saw her pale face turn up towards the heads on spikes around the Tower wall, caught the dread in her eyes as she shot into the London crowd. There was no way life in Derbyshire could have prepared her for this, no more than it had prepared Toby to face the Turk. Joanna’s fright was a reflection of her brother’s. Ethan’s chest squeezed tight with long-forgotten guilt. “Come on!”

The curious
London
masses glanced at them as they pushed past.
Thames Street in front of the Tower had become a
congested
market since the king had returned
,
with people, carts, and animals everywhere. It could work to their advantage. Ethan mapped their escape route with a soldier’s strategy and pressed on.
A woman who wasn’t watching where she was going cut in front of
Ethan
.
He knocked her sideways but had no time to apologize
.

“They have our carriages!
All of our things!
” Joanna
yell
ed
as he edged around a cart selling fish. “Our drivers could be captive. We have to go back.”

There was no going back.

“
Stay close. Keep running
,” he told her, voice firm.

He turned right at the first side street, picking up his pace as they passed down the dim alley between two buildings. Joanna had enough sense to follow as fast as she could. Ethan shifted Madeline in his arms, clamping a hand around her tiny waist to keep her from slipping. Her head flopped against his neck. She was blazing with fever. Another problem.

They burst out into the next street.
It was as crowded as the last.

“Where in God’s name do you think you’re going,
Ethan Windale
!” Joanna screamed at him. A pair of young men passing in front of them startled at her shout.

“I’m
taking you to safety,” he told her. He
glanced up and down the street. The Stag Hunt was three more
blocks
over. It might as well have been three shires over. A trio of royal guards had turned the corner
at the crossroads behind them
. Their pikes were at the ready and
they
searched through the crowd like dogs sniffing out a rabbit. “Come on.”

He bolted into the
crowd
, hoping Joanna would follow. The crying of the baby she carried told him she had. They picked thei
r way through a cluster of city
folk an
d around a carriage draped with
n
oble
livery.

“Halt! You there!”

Ethan didn’t need to turn around to know the guards had spotted them. They shot past a store front where a group of shoppers looked up from the wares to see what the commotion was all about. Madeline’s feet knocked a few balls of twine from a table set along the sidewalk. The merchant hollered at them and stepped out to shake his fist. He also blocked the guards who were swiftly gaining on them.

“Down here!” Ethan cut into another small alley, Joanna following. Their footsteps echoed as they ran. They
shot
out into the light of another
thoroughfare
. Ethan ran for a few yards, checking over his shoulder to make sure Joanna was still with him
.
He dodged into another alley heading back to the street they’d just come from.

“What are you doing?” Joanna panted.

“Tryi
ng to lose them,” he answered.

Time was running out. He could give chase indefinitely, but Joanna was red-faced and sweating. She couldn’t go on for long with two children in her arms. The
street was empty of guards when they spilled into it again but still packed with people. He slowed down, marching on, checking over his shoulder to be sure Joanna was keeping up.

“Where are we going?” she asked, out of breath.

“Somewhere safe.”

She didn’t push the question. They continued at a swift walk. More than a few
passersby
shot him curious looks. Madeline was still unconscious in his arms. The baby had stopped crying but now the boy Joanna carried was fussing. At least they had lost the guards.

By the time they reached The Stag Hunt they were far enough from the main
road
that no one paid attention to
them
. Several children
played
in the side street and a woman was putting out her laundry.
A dog barked
and
chased after a butcher’s cart. David sat atop his loaded
wagon
at the entrance to the small courtyard behind The Stag Hunt, the inn’s stable master helping him back it up. Ethan picked up his pace, dashing down the street
to squeeze
between the
wagon
and the courtyard wall with Madeline in his arm.

“Whoa, whoa, what have you got there?” David called as Joanna rushed to keep at his side.

“A friend,” he replied. “She’s ill. I’ll take her inside then come out to help.”

“A friend?” David repeated, cautious amusement twisting his face between mirth and curiosity. “Who’s the other one then.”

“I’m Joanna Dunkirke.”

Ethan winced.

“Oh?” David’s smile grew. “Sister or wife?”

“What?” Joanna snapped.

A scuffle in the street kept Ethan from answering. He
pressed against the wall and
craned his neck to see if the royal guards had found them. The children squeal
ed
into view, chasing the dog. He let out a breath of relief.

“I will explain later, sir.” He shuffled around Joanna, guiding her towards the inn’s kitchen door.

Joanna stumbled through the door
behind him
, juggling the children in her arms. The baby was quiet now and the boy popped his head up
from
her shoulder
to look
around as they crossed through the fragrant steam of the kitchen
to a small side room
.
Ethan
lay Madeline on the room’s long table.

“Where are we?” Joanna demanded,
angry and bewildered
.
She stared at him, eyes as big as moons
, chest heaving
.
“Where have you brought us? Who was that and what did he mean by ‘sister or wife’?” She shook her head and all
but shouted her last question,
“What the hell are you doing here?”

Ethan eased Madeline out of his arms and rolled his shoulders to regain his circulation. He side-stepped Joanna, not meeting her eyes, to stick his head into the kitchen. “Bess, fetch Rebecca,” he called to th
e maid working near the stove.

Bess glanced up with a nod and darted out of the room towards the main part of the inn.

He turned back to Joanna. “Let me help.” He pulled the boy out of her arms, giving Joanna a chance to cradle the red-headed baby. The boy didn’t fuss as Ethan held him but he didn’t look happy. Black hair, blue
-green
eyes. There was no doubt who the child was. He had his mother’s pout.

“You can’t keep us p
risoner here,” Joanna growled.

He
didn’t know how to reply to the statement
. Instead he stared at the red-headed baby in her arms. There was no doub
t whose child that was either.

“What’s wrong with her,” he nodded towards Madeline.

Joanna ignored him
and spun to face Madeline’s prone form on the table. “My lady?” she spoke, brushing the fine sweat that misted
Madeline’s
forehead with her sleeve. “
I knew this would happen.
My lady, wake up. Wake up.” Madeline didn’t stir. Joanna straightened
,
anxious and pleading
. “I need water.”

“What seems to be the trouble in here?”
Rebecca de Talemunt’s large frame
appeared in the doorway. She took one look at Madeline and rushed to the table. “Who is this? She’s burning up. Dunkirke, fetch some water!”

Joanna jerked to take action at the command but stopped dead as Ethan replied, “Yes, ma’am.” He put Wulfric down and fled the room. She stared after him, dumbfounded.
Ethan had never obeyed an order in his life.

“We should move her to a bed.” The large woman shook her head as she smoothed a hand across Madeline’s pasty face. She scooped Madeline into her arms. “Oy gevalt, she’s burning up! It’s good you brought her to me.”

Too stunned to do anything but follow, Joanna held Meg close, took Wulfric’s hand, and tailed the woman out into the kitchen, across to a hall, then
up a narrow flight of stairs.

“Get that door,” the woman directed her when they reached the second floor.

Joanna did as she was told and opened the door into a small but clean inn room. The large woman carried Madeline to the narrow bed and lay her down. Joanna shuffled in behind her with the children.

“How long has she had this fever?” the woman asked.

“I’m not sure,” Joanna answered. “We had a long journey from Derbyshire and Lady Madeline hasn’t been in the best of health since Meg was born.
We’ve all been trying to keep her from too much activity, but.…
”
She dropped her explanation, fear that she was ashamed to feel closing in on her.

The woman glanced at the babe in Joanna’s arms. She spared a smile for Wulfric before turning her attention to Madeline once more. “Are you her lady’s maid?”

“No, ma’am. This is Lady Madeline of Kedleridge. My mistress, the Countess of Derby, and the Earl of Derby and Lady Madeline’s husband Jack, I mean Lord John, were just arrested at the Tower. We barely escaped.” She spilled the story before she could stop herself.

The large woman goggled at her. “Arrested at the Tower?”

Any explanation Joanna wanted to give was cut short at the sound of footsteps clomping up the stairs. A moment later Ethan appeared in the doorway with a bucket of water in one hand and a covered basket in the other.

“I thought you might need this as well.” He handed the basket to the woman and set the bucket on the floor by her side.

“Thank you, Dunkirke,” the woman nodded. She reached into the basket, found a rag, and wet it in the bucket to sponge Madeline’s forehead.

Joanna took a step back and watched as Wulfric buried his face in her skirts. Her panic refused to lessen.
Every sound drifting from the street on the other
side
of the window made her jump.
Even indoors the noise was thick.

The woman left the wet cloth on Madeline’s head and took the cover off of her basket, drawing out bundles of herbs and vials of tinctures.

“You’re a healer?” Joanna asked.

“Rebecca is the best healer in London,” Ethan confirmed.

Joanna whipped to study Ethan. The chase was over but her pulse
beat harder
. The man
who
stood behind her was
an apparition. But it wasn’t right. He
was
far from the cocky lord she had always known Ethan to be. His shoulders were stooped and his clothes simple. The beard that covered his face was thick and wild, and his hair was so long and matted that if Toby could see him he would weep in shame. But his eyes were the same as the last time she’d seen them, when they sat together in silence over Toby’s body.