Hellion (34 page)

As they traveled they could not help but notice the crops in the fields were not a great deal better than those in England. It was obvious that it was to be a bad year all around. The poverty, however, seemed even more deeply ingrained here. To their relief, there was little traffic upon the roads they took. Each night they would find shelter in the fields, for Isabelle dared not spare the few coins they carried on lodging, even in church-sponsored guest houses. Who knew when they might need the hard currency? Besides, masquerading as a boy, she would have been housed with other men, a situation she chose to avoid. They carried their scant food with them, supplementing
it with small purchases in the few villages through which they passed. Finally, they reached the ancestral home that Isabelle had never known.

She saw Manneville for the first time from the crest of a hill. It was a small castle, not even as large as Langston Keep, built of grim, dark stones. There was nothing warm or welcoming about it. Belle could well understand now her mother’s delight in leaving it for England. She stood silent for a long time, and then Lind spoke, breaking her reverie.

“Well, lady, what do we do now?”

“I must think on how we can best approach Manneville,” Isabelle said slowly. “Can you see if there is a mews somewhere?”

“Every lord, high or low, keeps hunting birds,” Lind said. He waited for her decision. She had really surprised him in the days that they had traveled together. On that first morning when the sun had finally risen and he had gotten a good look at her, he had been shocked. Gone was Isabelle of Langston. Next to him rode a gangly boy with short-cropped dark hair. He realized that she had cut her glorious red-gold hair and dyed it with walnut stain. Only then did he truly understand how deeply committed she was to finding her husband.

She rode by his side, Couper in her charge, and never once did she complain about the hours spent in the saddle, or the lack and poor quality of the food they ate. She was, he decided, a very brave lady. He had more confidence in her and their mission now than he had when they first started. He still wasn’t certain, however, that they would get safely back to England, or even find Lord Hugh at all, but what an adventure she had led them on, he thought.

Finally Isabelle spoke. “Richard may have a few birds, but it is unlikely he keeps a falconer. Perhaps you could cajole him to take us on, Lind. My brother is very tight with a coin, but he must be convinced to let us stay so we can find out where he is keeping Hugh.”

“Let us be off, then,” Lind said, and together they rode down the hill to the gates of Manneville.

They were allowed into the little castle, and brought to the Great Hall where Richard de Manneville sat at his dinner. Isabelle struggled to keep her eyes to herself, but her quick glance about the hall showed it to be clean. She and Lind stood before her brother. This was the first true test of her disguise. Would Richard penetrate it? She scarcely breathed.

“Well, who are you?” Richard demanded.

“I am Lind, my lord. This is my brother, Lang. We are falconers, my lord. Freedmen.”

“You are not Norman,” Richard said, peering hard at them.

“Nay, my lord. We are English,” Lind answered him pleasantly.

“What do you want, then?” Richard de Manneville demanded suspiciously.

“My brother and I have decided to go adventuring this summer. We have traveled from our home, near the New Forest. Whenever we find ourselves short of coin, we offer our services to the local lord. I saw your mews, my lord, as we entered the castle. If you do not keep a falconer, then perhaps there would be some work for us. And if you do keep a falconer, then we ask but a night’s shelter, and we shall be on our way.”

The man sitting to the Sieur de Manneville’s left leaned over and murmured something to his lord. Sneaking a look at him, Belle recognized Luc de Sai. She held her breath, wondering what it was he had said to her brother. Surely he hadn’t recognized her.

“I have no falconer,” Richard finally said. “My birds are but rough-trained and could use some seasoning. If you do a good job, I may pay you in coin. Until then I will but provide food from my hall, and you can sleep in the stable loft.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Lind said, bowing, and poking at his
brother
to do the same. Together they backed away from the high board and found places at a trestle below the salt. Silently
they ate wooden bowls of hot rabbit stew, and nothing, Belle thought to herself, had ever tasted so good. They hadn’t eaten hot food since leaving England. Afterward, the castle’s steward, a bent old man, showed them to the stables, where they would be housed along with their horses.

For the next week they worked diligently with the Sieur de Manneville’s falcons, all of whom had been wild caught and only given the rudimentary lessons of training. Together they smoothed the birds’ rough behavior until Lind was satisfied that the falcons could hunt with even Duke Robert’s gyrfalcon. Richard was more than pleased. Isabelle could not ever remember seeing him so amiable. Then she learned her brother would be joining the duke’s court in the autumn. Having such well-trained birds would but be a credit to him.

His young wife, however, would not be going. She had given her husband a son, lost a daughter, and was even now with child again. Isabelle had seen her sitting to her husband’s right that first night. She was a quiet, pretty girl with soft blue eyes, and dark blond plaits that hung neatly on either side of her head. Isabelle could not help but wonder how her brother had attracted such a sweet girl, for it was obvious that all the servants adored her.

Richard was, nonetheless, oblivious to his good fortune in his choice of a mate. He never praised his wife for anything, but he was quick to criticize her loudly and publicly if everything was not to his liking. Seeing him behave so, Isabelle realized now how much like their father Richard was, and how the gentle Blanche de Manneville, for that was her sister-in-law’s name, was much like her own mother. Dutiful. Silent. Uncomplaining. And obviously very unhappy except when in the company of her little son.

Isabelle and Lind had been at Manneville several weeks, and they knew their time here would soon be ending. They had seen none of the Langston men, nor any sign of Alain, the falconer. Manneville’s dungeon was used for storing wine, they
had learned. Isabelle was at her wits’ end. “Where can he be?” she wailed to Lind as they sat in their hayloft one afternoon.

“I do not know, my lady,” Lind replied, “but it is obvious that my lord Hugh is not here at Manneville.”

“If Richard has harmed one hair on his head,” Belle vowed, “I will personally kill him myself, Lind!”

Below them they heard a gasp of fright, and before she might say another word, Lind was over the side and down into the stable to catch their eavesdropper. Isabelle was close enough behind him to see the terrified face of Blanche de Manneville.

“
You are a girl!
” Blanche cried softly.

“I am your sister-in-law, Isabelle of Langston, and please keep your voice down, lady. We mean you no harm.” But Belle did not suggest that Lind release his captive yet. Instead she came directly to the point. “My husband, Sir Hugh Fauconier, was last seen here at Manneville. He has not, however, returned to England. Do you know where he is?”

Blanche de Manneville’s blue eyes were enormous in her fright, but it was not, Isabelle could see, they who were frightening her.

“Richard does not have to know who I am, or that you told me,” Belle reassured her. “In fact I think it far better that he does not know,” she finished with a small smile of encouragement.

“I am not afraid of my husband,” Blanche finally said. “Not since the night he kidnapped me from my home and raped me so I would be forced to marry him. I was to be betrothed to another man, but Richard coveted my lands, which match with his. He wanted a wife, and he chose me for that reason. I may despise him, but I do not fear him. He is a coward at heart, but if you know him, you know that, Isabelle of Langston.”

Belle nodded. “I do know that,” she said. “If you do not fear Richard, then what is it that keeps you from speaking the truth?” she asked her sister-in-law. “Lind, let her go. She will not run.”

“I fear the sorceress, and her brother,” Blanche de Manneville replied. “Richard swore a fealty to her in secret before he went to England to try to steal your lands. She promised him that if he would be her man and be loyal to her, whatever he wanted would be his for the asking. She promised him she would cast the proper spells. You can imagine how angry he was when he returned home defeated at your hands.” She smiled a small smile. “But the sorceress assured him he had but to be patient. She predicted that your husband would come to Normandy, and when he did, Richard would get what he wanted.”

“Is Hugh dead?” Isabelle asked her with a sinking heart.

“Nay! The sorceress came to Manneville after Hugh arrived here with Richard last year. She immediately desired him, and somehow managed to rob him of his memory and his will, using her magic. She took him back with her to her own lands, and his men, too. Richard plans to send Luc de Sai to England when he is at court with the duke, thus providing himself with an alibi. Luc is to kill your son and force you into marriage. Your lands will then be Richard’s, for Luc de Sai is his man, or so my husband believes,” Blanche de Manneville concluded.

“Where is Hugh imprisoned, and who is this sorceress?” Isabelle persisted. “I will find him and get him safely back to England.”

“It is hopeless,” Blanche replied. “Her name is Vivienne d’ Bretagne, and she is very powerful. Even the church turns a blind eye out of their fear of her. Your husband is lost to you, Isabelle. Go home, and be on your guard for Luc de Sai. Protect your child!”

“Where is this sorceress’s lair, Blanche?” Isabelle demanded in a hard, fierce voice. “
Tell me!
”

“What of your child?” Blanche pleaded.

“He is well-guarded, and under the king’s protection.” Isabelle altered the truth only slightly to ease Blanche’s worry,
and to gain her own way. She had to know where Hugh was! “
Tell me!
”

“Vivienne d’ Bretagne’s castle is located on the coast, near Lamballe. Ohh, you must beware of her, Isabelle. She sees, they say, into a person’s very heart, and mind, and soul. They say she is the devil’s daughter.”

“You have seen her,” Isabelle said. “Tell me what she looks like, Blanche. Is she beautiful?”

Blanche nodded. “She is very, very fair. Her hair is like midnight, and she has eyes the color of violets. It is difficult to understand how one so beautiful could be so wicked, but she is.”

“You will not tell Richard that I was here, will you?” Belle asked her sister-in-law.

Blanche de Manneville shook her head. “Nay,” she said in her quiet voice. “I think that what my husband has done, and plans to do, is very wrong. I cannot fight him openly, you understand. I have neither the courage nor the means; but by telling you what you need to know, perhaps he can be foiled. I do not understand how you plan to gain the advantage of this sorceress, but I will pray to God and His Blessed Mother to watch over you and keep you safe, sister. If it were me, I should go home to England and to my child.”

“Do you love my brother?” Belle asked her sister-in-law.

“Nay!” The answer was quick, and then Blanche flushed guiltily. “I am ashamed to say I do not, nor do I respect him, though he does not know it, or understand how I feel. My sole use to him is as a breeder.”

“If I were married to Richard, I should feel the same way,” Belle said to Blanche. “I would gladly leave
him
in the sorceress’s hands; but I am not wed to Richard de Manneville. I am Hugh Fauconier’s wife, and Hugh Fauconier is the kindest, most noble of men. I love him, and I will not rest until he is free!”

“Then if you are that determined,” Blance said, “I will tell you the way to go, Isabelle of Langston.”

*    *    *

Lind and Belle departed Manneville before dawn on the following morning. They had collected several coppers and a small piece of silver from the Sieur de Manneville, who was feeling unusually generous at the thought of how well his birds now performed and how they would certainly help bring him into the duke’s favor. It was mid-September now, and while the sun remained warm above them in a luminescent sky, the morning air had an underlying chill to it. They guided their horses through the misty dawn. Their journey, Blanche had told them, would take two days.

“Be certain to get to the castle, which is called La Citadelle, before sunset. At sunset the drawbridge is raised, the gates barred, and a pack of wild dogs loosed upon the land. Any living thing found by these beasts is torn to bits,” Blanche warned them.

Consequently, they rode hard the first day in order to be certain to reach La Citadelle on the following day before dark. Although they expected Vivienne d’ Bretagne had her own falconers, they had decided to offer their services to her anyway, as a means of entering the castle grounds to seek for Hugh and the Langston men.

As they rode on the second day, they were struck by how desolate the countryside was about them. There were no villages or farmsteads. Just miles and miles of empty green and rocky landscape. The salt tang of the sea filled the air as they came closer to their destination.

In midafternoon they saw it: a great, grim, gray fortress, its four towers thrusting forth into the golden afternoon. La Citadelle was surrounded by a wide, deep moat on three sides. On the fourth side it clung to the cliffs, almost seeming to be one with them. Below it the seas roared endlessly, as they had for centuries before and would for centuries after. The two riders stopped for a moment to observe the fortress,

“If he’s there, lady, we’ll never get him out,” Lind said, his fears returning tenfold. There was an air of wickedness about
the place. The thought of crossing over that drawbridge was frightening.

“I cannot ask Duke Robert for his help if I am not certain whether Hugh is there or not,” Belle said with logic. “As soon as we have proof, we shall leave, I promise you, Lind.”