The White Lord of Wellesbourne (15 page)

“Last night after we discovered
Ryesdale’s plans for insurrection, I sent a rider to Oxford,” he said. “Gaston
de Russe’s army is camped just outside of the city. I have asked de Russe to
ride for Wellesbourne, meet our army, and ride into London with us. With The White
Lord of Wellesbourne uniting with the army of The Dark Knight, all of England
will tremble in fear of us. So you see, brother,  even if the men from
Whitewell decide to revolt, twelve hundred additional men under the command of
de Russe will ensure that our army stays stable and powerful.”

The uniting of two legends. It
was like the army of Cuchulain uniting with the army of King Arthur; there
would not be a man in England that would not look upon the alliance as
invincible. Luke looked at Mark, who merely shrugged. They had no more
questions of their brother. John wasn’t concerned with the implications of the
strategies as much as he was the logistical issues of bringing a woman on their
march.

“We will have over two thousand
men,” he said to his eldest brother. “She will need her own contingent of guard
unless you plan on being with her every moment. And she will need her own tent,
and bathtub, and…”

Matthew put up a hand. “She is my
wife, John. She will be in my tent. As for the rest of it, I leave it up to
you; however, I will hand-select the guard that will be assigned to her
protection.”

“Won’t they become suspicious if
you do not select Whitewell men to guard her?” John asked. “They came with her,
after all. It would only seem logical to select them to guard her.”

“It will be a chance I shall have
to take,” Matthew replied. “No one from Whitewell, including her manservant, is
to be allowed anywhere near her. I don’t care how you do it, John, but you keep
that man away from her. Assign him something so remote that there will be no
chance of him coming into contact with her.”

“Perhaps we should just leave him
behind with the maid,” Mark suggested. “We can cut the troops off from the man
servant, as he apparently gives the commands, thereby lessening the chance of
revolt.”

Matthew thought seriously on the
suggestion. It was a good one.  “That is certainly something to be considered.”

Finished with his bread, he moved to pour himself
some watered ale.  The brothers settled down to the benches now that they were
comfortable with the conversation and a plan of action was being formed. There
was much that lay ahead, and much more to do. Matthew sat next to Mark, across
from Luke and John. 

“Now,” he said. “To discuss the situation once we
reach London.”

CHAPTER SIX

Though she was supposed to be
with Caroline, Alixandrea ended up in her chamber. Caroline wanted to sit
before her massive loom and continue her needlework, a giant cohesion of color
and birds and other creatures, but Alixandrea had no talent in such things. She
found it boring.

She did, however, have some
talent with drawing, mostly the flowers that she had grown in her garden at
York.  So she went up to her chamber, a floor above Caroline and Mark’s, and
went in search of her drawing case. All she could find was clothes and other
assorted items and realized that not all of her cases had been brought up. It
was a small chamber and it appeared as if only the necessary cases had been
brought up and placed in the small alcove off of the chamber.  She would have
liked to have asked Jezebel where her drawing supplies were, but the woman was
missing. Still. Frustrated, bordering on anger, she went in search of her maid.

There was another small chamber
across from hers with a bed and other clutter in it; it was empty of human
life. Down the flight of stairs was Caroline’s chamber and Adam’s right across
from her. Still no maid. Descending to the second floor, the great hall was to
her left and she could see Matthew seated with his brothers at the great table.
She stood there a moment, watching his strong profile from a distance, hardly
believing she was married to him. She did not feel married.  Tearing her eyes
away from him, she peered into the small room off to the right, a solar with a
massive table in the center of it and a well-worn map spread out across it. The
room was empty.  Puzzled, wondering where to start looking next, she suddenly
caught movement out of the corner of her eye.

She had barely seen the twitch,
but it had been unmistakable. Nearly out of her line of sight was the large
gallery that lined the upper portion of great hall. Tall, tapering lancet
windows were embedded in the wall all around the room, hanging just above the
gallery to allow ventilation and light into the chamber.

Alixandrea took a couple of steps
towards the entry of the great hall, watching the gallery above. The
balcony-like protrusion was built of wood with wide guardrails lining it.
However, there was just enough room to be able to see between them. And she could
see someone on the walk.

The narrow staircase to the
gallery was just inside the hall. Silently, quickly, she darted to the entrance
and slipped up the first two steps. Matthew hadn’t seen her, but John and Luke
did, as they were facing the stairs. She put a finger to her lips to silence
them. Then she pointed the same finger at them and twirled it in a couple of
circles, indicating for them to turn away from her and put their focus back on
their brother before he turned around, too.  Like obedient children, they did
as the lady told them, but she could tell they were uncertain about it.

When she was sure they would not
look back at her and give her away, she shimmied up the steps until she reached
the top. Down on her hands and knees, she peered around the side of the
guardrail and had a clear vision of whatever might be on the gallery.

It was Jezebel, down on her
knees, watching the men through the slats in the railing. Alixandrea’s heart
sank; if she ever had any doubt of what Matthew had told her, it was quickly
dashed. Her maid, the woman she trusted, was spying. She had probably been
there for some time. Though Alixandrea would allow the woman to explain, she
could see no other explanation. She thanked God that Matthew hadn’t shown her
any affection when she walked in the room, for it would most likely be filling
Strode’s ear right now. Matthew had known exactly what could have happened and
had made sure they were careful. Their lives had depended on it.

Anger filled her, so much so that
she stood up. She was not going to hide from this affront. The only way off the
gallery was the stairs she had just mounted, so there was nowhere for Jezebel
to go.  She began to walk towards her maid.

“Jez,” she said in a normal
speaking tone. “What are you doing up here?”

The little maid turned to her,
startled. From her angle, she’d never seen her mistress mount the stairs. Her
wide brown eyes were huge with shock and she leapt to her feet.

“M’lady,” she stammered. “I… I
was looking for ye. I haven’t seen ye this morn and I thought.…”

Alixandrea walked right up on
her. It was an effort not to reach out and strangle her. “So you look for me,
hiding up here in the gallery?”

“I did not want to bother the
lords, m’lady. I thought you might come in to join them.”

“Then if that’s true, you already
saw me in here a few minutes ago. Why did not you announce yourself?”

Jezebel’s face turned red. By
this time, the men below had heard the voices and had turned to see where they
were coming from.  Matthew was actually on his feet. Alixandrea caught his
movement out of the corner of her eye and when she turned to look at him,
Jezebel suddenly pushed past her.

In her panic, the maid misjudged
her own strength; an intended brush against the lady pitched Alixandrea right
over the thigh-high railing. Only the quick reflex of grabbing the banister as
she went over the side saved her from falling twenty feet to the cold, hard
floor below.

Alixandrea shrieked with terror
as she dangled high above the floor. Matthew bolted faster than he had ever
moved in his life, running for the gallery stairs like a madman. Luke followed
him while Mark and John rushed over and positioned themselves underneath the
lady, hoping to break her fall if she lost her grip.  They held out their arms,
waiting, hoping to God that no one would be killed.

Jezebel ran right into Matthew as
she tried to escape down the stairs, screaming as he grabbed her and
practically tossed her onto Luke. Luke roughly took the maid as Matthew raced
onto the gallery. It wasn’t a long gallery, but Matthew swore it was the
longest run of his life. It seemed to take forever, knowing he was running as
fast as he could yet hardly appearing to make any ground.

He could see Alixandrea’s fingers
around the top of the railing and he aimed for them, reaching out, finally
coming upon her and grabbing her wrists.

“I have got you.” He almost
pitched forward himself in his haste but managed to hold his balance. “It is
all right, I have got you.”

He effortlessly pulled her up,
straight into his arms. Alixandrea grabbed hold of him, panic in every breath,
every movement. When she finally realized that she was safe, the tears came.
Matthew held her tightly.

“Is she all right?” Mark called
up.

Matthew took her face between his
two hands, looking into her wet eyes. “Are you well?” his voice was shaking.

She nodded. He pulled her back
into his powerful arms. “She is well enough,” Matthew said to his brothers.
“Simply scared.”

By this time, Luke had Jezebel
down on the floor.  The maid was weeping uncontrollably.  Over the top of
Alixandrea’s head, Matthew caught sight of the woman.

“Take her in the solar,” he
growled. “Do not let her out of your sight. I shall join you shortly.”

Luke nodded, yanking the woman
out of the hall and listening to her cries echoing against the walls. Luke
wasn’t hurting her in the least; she simply knew she was in a great deal of
trouble. Matthew listened to her cries fade as he rocked Alixandrea in his arms
gently.  The woman was shaking terribly.

“Are you truly all right?” he
asked into her hair. “You did not hurt anything?”

She sniffled, struggling for
calm. “Nay,” she said, her nose stuffy with crying. “I am well enough.”

He pulled back just long enough
to look her in the face, just to make sure she wasn’t lying. When their eyes met,
he smiled bravely at her.  “Then why don’t we get down from here?”

She wholeheartedly agreed,
clinging to him even as they descended the stairs.  She was unsteady and
Matthew directed her to the nearest bench. Mark and John crowded around them.

“Did she shove you, my lady?”
John asked anxiously. “Did she do it a-purpose?”

Alixandrea shook her head as Mark
shoved a chalice of ale at her. She took a long drink even though she did not
much like ale.

“She was trying to escape me,”
she gasped. “I don’t believe she purposely tried to shove me over the side.”

Matthew was sitting next to her,
straddled across the bench. His blue eyes were soft with concern.  He watched
her hands shake as she took another drink of ale.

“As long as you are all right,
that is my utmost concern.”

Alixandrea’s bronze eyes fixed on
him. “But she knows that we suspect her now. Why else would she try to run?”

Matthew shrugged casually, his
big hand reaching out to clasp her arm comfortingly. His voice was deep, rich,
reassuring. “All she knows is that you caught her spying. I doubt she knows the
extent of our knowledge and how it relates to Strode and the army.”

“Then what are you going to do
with her?”

“Throw her in the vault as
punishment for nearly killing you. After that, I do not know. But we can at
least keep her isolated from your man servant in the vault and he will have no
further source of information.  Your little maid has just given us an excuse to
cut out the eyes and ears of those inside Wellesbourne who have been sent to do
us harm.”

She sensed that he thought this
event, such as it was, had a positive side. Slowly, her shaking lessened and
she began to feel better, though still exhausted. The past few days had been
most taxing.  With Matthew’s strong hand still on her arm, she finished the ale
and set the empty cup aside.

“If you will excuse me, I think I
should like to rest a while,” she said. “It has been a busy morning.”

Matthew stood up with her. “Come
along, then. We shall get you settled and then I will return to see what I can
glean from your maid.”

Hand on his, she paused. “You are
not going to hurt her, are you?”

He gazed down into her
magnificent bronze eyes. “Would you think me capable of such a thing?”

“Nay,” she shook her head,
suddenly ashamed. “I did not mean it the way it sounded. It is just… Jezebel
has been with me a long time. I know she must be punished, but I….”

She trailed off and he clutched
her hand, leading her out of the hall. “Trust me that I will do what is best.”

“I do.”

She was still shaking in spite of
the fact that she had calmed somewhat. In her mind, she could still see herself
falling from the balcony and the thought rattled her; consequently, the trip up
the spiral stairs was slow going.