A Passionate Magic (35 page)

Suddenly, Emma was speaking in words Dain
could understand, and he knew a prickling of very un-masculine
tears behind his eyelids as he realized what she was saying.

“Bind Richenda of Penruan to peace and
contentment, to forgetfulness of all hatreds, and to a quiet
happiness in her holy retirement,” Emma intoned. “For the rest of
her life, let her do no more harm.”

“No more harm,” Vivienne echoed Emma’s words,
“for the rest of her life.”

“Peace and contentment,” Agatha chanted
softly.

“Happiness and peace,” Emma whispered.

It’s more than my mother would have
granted any of them
, Dain thought, and swallowed hard to force
down the lump in his throat.

The three women bowed their heads, and
silence filled the lord’s chamber for a while. Then Emma sighed and
opened her eyes and looked at Dain. Looked at him, before anyone or
anything else, as if he had been with her, in the back of her mind,
through all the long conjuring. When she smiled at him, he ached to
embrace her. He did not move, not being certain whether the spell
was fully cast, or if there was still more to come.

“It is done,’ Agatha said. “The spell is made
and cannot now be broken.”

Dain did not know what to say or how to
react. He had half expected smoke, or lightning and crashing
thunder, or leaping tongues of flame. The quiet, almost gentle
working of magic left him awed. He stared at his wife, his sister,
and his elderly friend, and was hard put not to go to his knees
before them.

Vivienne swayed a little, and Emma put a hand
to her forehead.

”Are you – tired?” Dain asked, and then
cursed himself for his stupidity.

“Always, after I work a spell,” Emma said.
“Agatha, I expect you to stay at the castle tonight. I should have
said something before this. We will all sleep well, Dain, but in
the morning we will be our usual selves. Have no fear for us.”

”Agatha, come with me,” Vivienne said. “You
may sleep in my room.” She put an arm around Agatha and they left
the lord’s chamber.

Emma went to the bed and sat down, moving
slowly, as if she was exhausted. Dain stared at her, wanting to
embrace her and not sure if he should.

”Is there anything you need?” he asked.
“Food? Drink? Would you like wine?”

“Nothing, except to rest. Will you stay with
me for a while?”

She began to remove her clothes. When she
fumbled with the knot of her sash Dain set aside forbearance and
went to assist her. He thought how different this undressing was
from their passionate interlude in the cave. He saw Emma beneath
the covers and drew up the quilt for her, tucking it in as if she
were a sleepy child. Then he pulled the chair she had brought from
Wroxley to the bedside and sat there, holding her hand till the sun
set and the sky was dark and the stars began to shine.

Two days after the working of the spell on
Lady Richenda, Sloan and Hawise were married. Dain proclaimed a day
of celebration, and Emma supervised the preparation and serving of
a hearty feast.

Sloan was so well respected that even the
elders of Trevanan came to his wedding, bringing their wives with
them. So far as Emma could tell, everyone in the castle rejoiced
with the bride and groom. Even Hermit insisted on leaving his
chamber for the occasion. Wearing borrowed clothing and leaning on
Agatha’s arm, he came to the hall to join the celebration and to
watch while Vivienne acted as the bride’s maiden attendant.

Hawise was dewy-eyed but composed in a new
gown of fine blue wool that Emma had provided for her, with a
wreath of moorland flowers made by Vivienne upon her unbound hair.
Sloan looked appropriately nervous in a freshly washed tunic, with
Todd and Blake as his groomsmen.

At the feast after the ceremony Dain bestowed
upon the newlyweds a manor that lay within his holdings.

”A knight ought to have land on which to
raise his children,” Dain said. “You have earned this honor, Sir
Sloan.”

“But I’ll still spend most of my time here at
the castle,” Hawise whispered to Emma, “for Sloan has important
duties here, too, and he will never shirk them just because he has
taken a wife.”

For their use while they were at the castle
the couple was given one of the guest rooms. When evening came
their friends escorted them to the chamber with much laughter and
more than a few naughty jokes. Hawise blushed bright red to hear
them. Sloan grinned sheepishly. Then Dain closed the bedroom door
with lordly firmness and ordered everyone back to the great
hall.

“Eat and drink all you want,” he said, “but
grant the lovers privacy.”

Before Emma could retreat to the hall with
the rest of the crowd Dain caught her hand to stop her from
leaving.

“As for you, my lady,” he murmured, his eyes
shining, “I would very much like to enact the bridal night we never
enjoyed. I was rude to you when you came to Penruan, and the first
time ever I took you to bed I was intoxicated by Agatha’s herbal
potion. I owe you a proper wedding night.”

”Whatever you wish, my lord.” She smiled into
his eyes, touched and warmed by the tenderness she saw there.

He led her to the lord’s chamber and barred
the door. Then he made love to her, slowly and gently, yet with a.
burning need that told her far more surely than words could ever
have done that her magic presented no barrier to him. Dain knew her
and knew what she could do, for he had observed her while she
worked a spell, and still he wanted her. And he trusted her. He had
said so.

As she shimmered into sweet ecstasy Emma
dared to hope that in time – and, perhaps, not much time, either –
Dain would begin to love her.

The wedding celebration continued well into
the night but, while the newlyweds were allowed to linger in their
chamber, everyone else was expected to be awake and at work at the
usual early morning hour.

Dain had ordered a tray of bread and cheese
and a pitcher of ale brought to the lord’s chamber so he and Emma
could break their fast. They were dressed and Dain was buckling on
his sword in preparation for a ride to inspect one of his outlying
farms, when Blake pounded on the door, yelling incoherently.

“What’s wrong?” Emma pulled the door wide,
exposing the white-faced, excited boy. “Blake, take a deep breath
before you try to speak.”

“My lord, my lady.” Blake paused to gulp air.
“I ran all the way from the gatehouse and up the tower steps.”

“For what reason?” Dain asked.

In outward appearance he was calm, but Emma
knew her husband well enough to see how carefully he attended to
Blake’s panting response.

“Todd sent me,” Blake said. “I am to tell you
there’s a large, armed party coming this way, along the road from
Trevanan. The fishermen were up before dawn and noticed the
movement, so they sent a rider here to give warning before the army
even reached Trevanan. Todd said to tell you that he can see their
dust, and they are certainly headed to Penruan. He cannot make out
their banners as yet and they have sent no herald to announce their
arrival, so he is assuming they are enemies who mean to surprise
us.” He paused to take a breath.

“You will want your armor,” Emma said to
Dain. She knelt to open the wooden chest in which his chain mail
was stored. “There’s no need to call for assistance. Blake and I
can act as your squires.”

Dain was already unbuckling his belt and
pulling up his tunic. Emma lifted the mail hose from the chest and
handed them to him, while Blake pulled out the padded gambeson.

“Who can this armed party be?” Emma asked,
noting the grim expression on Dain’s face.

“I have no idea, but I will not go unprepared
to meet them,” he responded.

With Emma and Blake helping him, Dain was
quickly armored and his sword refastened at his waist. With his
mail coif loosely folded at his neck, his mail gauntlets tucked
into his belt where they were easy to reach, and his helm under his
arm, he raced down the stairs, Blake at his side and Emma at his
back.

There were few men in the hall, and they were
all servants too elderly to fight. Sloan appeared a moment later.
Still adjusting his mail tunic, with Hawise carrying his belt and
sword, he hurried to join Dain.

“Todd has alerted everyone,” Sloan said. “The
men are arming themselves. We are prepared to fight, if need be.”
He took his sword from Hawise and gave her a brief kiss.

When Dain and Sloan headed for the door, Emma
and Hawise followed.

“Where do you think you are going?” Dain
asked.

“With you,” Emma said. “If fighting does
begin, Hawise and I will return to the keep immediately and make
ready to receive wounded men. If these prove to be guests, perhaps
a party of King Henry’s men who are riding on to St. Ives or
Penzance, then we will want to know at once, because we’ll have a
fair amount of cooking to do if we are to feed everyone. We ate
most of the bread and pies yesterday.”

“They are more likely to be enemies than
friends,” Sloan said. “Prospective guests would send a messenger
ahead to give their host time to prepare.”

“I am going with you,” Emma declared, looking
deep into Dain’s eyes. She expected an argument. Instead, he smiled
and clasped her hand.

“You must promise to leave when I order you
to leave,” he said.

“Yes, my lord.” From the look he gave her,
she wasn’t sure if he was going to rely on her meek assent. Dain
was beginning to know her almost as well as she knew him.

The approaching force had nearly reached
Penruan by the time Dain and his companions stepped out onto the
walk atop the gatehouse, where Todd awaited them.

“It’s not a very big army,” Emma noted,
peering through one of the crenels. The open intervals in the stone
wall were meant to allow lookouts or archers a spot from which to
watch an enemy and, for protection of the defenders, a crenel
wasn’t very wide. Even so, Dain put a hand on Emma’s shoulder and
pulled her back to a safer location, where she could still see some
of what was happening below.

“They may have reinforcements coming later,”
Dain said, responding to her comment. “Who are they, Todd? Can you
tell?”

“They haven’t shown their banners yet,” Todd
answered.

“That bodes ill,” Sloan grumbled. “Those men
are too well mounted and well armed to be brigands come to avenge
their fellows after you recently cleaned out their roost near Rough
Tor. Dain, those are almost certainly some nobleman’s troops.”

The armed force reached the ravine over which
the drawbridge usually lay. At Todd’s command the gate had been
closed and barred and the drawbridge had been raised, leaving no
means of entering Penruan. The troops began to spread out in
disciplined fashion to form a line three horsemen deep a few feet
back from the edge of the ravine. Their leader, in full chain mail
and astride a huge gray stallion, placed himself in position to be
first across the drawbridge when – or if – it was lowered.

The horsemen immediately behind the leader
drew apart, and now the squires at last unfurled their lord’s
banners, one on either side of a rider who came through the ranks
to join the leader.

”A woman, by God!” Sloan exclaimed.

“If there is a lady among them, then we need
not worry about a battle,” Emma said. “Let me see better.”

She pushed forward between Dain and Sloan to
look through the crenel. Hawise did likewise at the next crenel,
and both of them cried out at the same time.

“My lord Gavin!” yelled Hawise.

“Father!” Emma exclaimed.

“What?” Dain shouted at her. “Are you telling
me Gavin of Wroxley has brought an army against me?”

“It’s his banner,” Hawise cried. “See, blue
and green diagonally divided, with a single gold scallop shell in
the center. I’d know it anywhere.”

“Damnation,” Dain muttered. He leaned over
Emma’s shoulder so he could see what she was seeing. “That’s Lady
Mirielle with him. I recognize her now. We met once at court. She’s
brave to expose herself to my archers, and Gavin is a fool to put
his wife into danger.”

“My father is no fool,” Emma said. “I am sure
Mirielle knows you would never give an order to loose arrows upon a
woman.”

“Another sorceress at Penruan,” Dain said,
rubbing a hand over his face. “Well, Emma, can you tell me if
they’ve come to besiege us? Or is Gavin likely to challenge me to
mortal combat?”

“It’s far more likely they’re here to pay us
a friendly visit,” Hawise said stoutly.

“An uninvited and unwelcome visit,” Sloan
said.

“We must go down to meet them,” Emma decided.
“Todd, have the drawbridge lowered.”

“No!” Dain thundered at Todd. Then, to Emma,
“How dare you give an order to my man-at-arms when I am present?
And what do you mean,
we
? This is war. You will remain here,
behind the walls, where you are safe.”

“I will not,” Emma said, very distinctly.
“The only way we can learn why my father and Mirielle are here is
by talking with them. I am going to walk out of the gatehouse and
across the drawbridge.”

She headed for the stairs that led down to
the bailey. Hawise went with her.

“Hawise!” Sloan shouted.

Emma turned back to see indecision on
Hawise’s face as she wavered between her old loyalty to Emma and
her new dedication to Sloan.

“Stay with your husband,” Emma ordered, and
went down the steps alone.

“I cannot decide,” Dain said from close
behind her a moment after she reached the bailey, “whether you are
witless or I am. Todd will order the drawbridge lowered, and we
will go out by the wicket gate. The main gate will remain closed
for now. I’ll decide later whether to open it.”

“Thank you, Dain.”

“I may have to kill him,” Dain warned.