Sapphire - Book 2 (14 page)

“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” said
Henry. “Now listen closely, as I need to get back before Roe sees
me. Your marriage was annulled by the priest today and Roe is now
to be Lady Sapphire’s husband.”

“What?” The baron all but screamed. “How the
hell did this happen?”

“You got careless,” Henry told him. “And you
are a bastard for not telling me you were already married before
you convinced me to give you Lady Sapphire’s hand in marriage. Your
little wife of the sheep showed up looking for you.”

“Damn!” he spat. “I knew I shouldn’t have
married her, but I had a weak moment and gave in. But stop
complaining,” said the baron. “You got half the dowry from
Sapphire, and if it wasn’t for me you’d have nothing. Besides, you
owe me for keeping your secret from years ago about not paying
prisage to the king.”

“That didn’t matter, and you know it.”

“Not true. After all, you know as well as I
that it is the crown’s right to claim one tun of wine from ships
transporting 10-20 tuns, and the king will take two tuns of wine
from ships that have 20 or more. You should be happy you weren’t
operating from a foreign trade ship or you’d have paid coins to the
king for every barrel aboard the ship.”

“Well, I didn’t see that as fair,”
complained Henry.

“I don’t think the king would agree with
you, and that’s why you now pay homage to me for keeping your
little secret.”

I wish you had never caught me. If not, I
wouldn’t be indebted to you today and also at your mercy.”

“Well, I could have turned you in and you’d
be imprisoned or perhaps missing a hand today for trying to take
what by right was the king’s. So being at my mercy is the better of
the two choices, don’t you think?”

“I’ve paid dearly through the years to
silence you,” said Henry. “I just want this all to be over. And
that’s something else I wanted to tell you. Roe is suspicious of
us. He knows about the smuggled wool. I don’t want a part of this
anymore. I decided I really love my brother’s wife even if I only
married her to claim his lands. I didn’t think I’d feel this way,
but I do.”

“We have a shipment right now sitting in the
secret tunnels at the Bucket of Blood. You are not going to back
out now. We need to get it on a ship and to France
immediately.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen. Roe has
put everyone on alert and is checking every ship that comes in or
goes out of port.”

“Then bribe the dockmen.”

“Not that easy. Roe’s put some of his own
men to watch the dockmen. There is no way we’re going to be able to
ship it after all.”

“I’ve already made the deal and I want the
money my contacts are willing to pay to get some of this fine
English wool. So I’ll just find somewhere else for the ship to dock
when they send it.”

“Like where?”

The baron thought for a minute before he
answered. Then a smile spread across his face. “Off the marshes of
Dungeness. There is a spot where the ship can anchor close to the
shore. We’ll take the barrels to the ship by rowboat, a few at a
time.”

“That’s preposterous. It’ll never work,”
said Henry.

“We don’t have a choice now, do we?” asked
the baron. “Now I’ll get the word overseas, and the ship should
arrive sometime next week. I’ll send you a message to let you know
when to meet me at the pub so we can transfer the shipment. I only
hope our coin was enough to keep that damned innkeeper from
spilling our secret.”

“All right,” said Henry. “But after this
shipment, I want nothing else to do with you or your damned greed.
And when this is over, I never want to see you again.”

“Is that so?” he said. “We’ll see about
that! In the meantime, if all goes as planned, we can transfer the
smuggled goods on Michaelmas day. Everyone will be celebrating and
not paying attention. That day is in a sennight. Hold a huge fair
inside your castle walls. When you hear a merchant calling out
blackberry pies for sale, you’ll know everything is going as
planned and that I need you to join us. Understand?”

“Fine. But how are you going to make sure I
know it’s a message from you and not just another merchant selling
pies?”

“No one would ever have blackberries at or
after Michaelmas. There is some stupid superstition. But I’ll have
one of my men pose as a pie vendor and have it on his cart
anyway.”

“I don’t know,” said Henry. “It sounds
risky. And I don’t know about the whole blackberry pie plan as a
signal.”

“Then I’ll make sure you know it’s me. Take
a bite of the pie and I’ll have a message inside directing you to
either go to the pub or to Dungeness, rather than to have someone
overhear my man talking with you. And I’ll make certain the vendor
has one pie only and sells it just to you. The man who’ll be posing
as a vendor is Urian. He’s always been loyal to me and I’m sure he
won’t betray us.”

“All right,” said Henry, once again looking
around to make certain no one had spotted him. “Go then before
you’re noticed, and I’ll await your signal. And after that, I wash
my hands of all things that have to do with you, baron. As I want
none of your deceit within the walls of Castle Rye ever again.

“Ow!” said Sapphire as her new handmaid,
Erin, ran a brush through her hair.

“I’m so sorry, Lady Sapphire. I am not
skilled at my position of handmaiden. I apologize, and I promise
you I will be gentler.” Erin was sincere in her apologies and
Sapphire could not be angry with the girl when she was trying to do
her best.

“Nay, you are fine,” said Sapphire, taking
the brush from her. “Let me show you how it’s done. If a lady has
long hair such as I do, you need to first brush it from the middle
downward and then move upward instead of starting from the scalp.
This way it won’t become tangled. See?” She gently demonstrated on
herself.

“I see now, Lady Sapphire, thank you.” Erin
reached for the brush and then dropped it, hurrying to bend down
and pick it up.

“Erin, you seem to be quite nervous about
something,” said Sapphire.

“I am very nervous to be your maidservant,
that’s all.”

“Are you sure there is nothing else that is
bothering you?”

“Such as what?” The girl put the brush to
Sapphire’s hair and this time did it perfectly.

“Oh, I don’t know. Is everything all right
between you and Dugald?”

The girl looked downward suddenly and bit
her lip.

“Aye.”

“But . . .?”

“’Tis nothing, really,” she said, trying to
fake a smile but Sapphire could see right through it.

“But what? Tell me.”

The girl was silent.

“Erin, I am a woman just like you. We can
talk in confidence and I promise I won’t tell anyone whatever it is
you want to tell me.”

“Do you really promise?” she asked with
caution in her voice.

“I gave you my word and I will keep it. Now
tell me what is bothering you my dear.”

“Oh, Sapphire, you are so kind. And it feels
so good to have a woman to talk to since I don’t have a mother in
my life right now.”

“Then tell me. Please.” She reached out and
took Erin’s hand in hers, hoping to comfort her and to let the girl
know she could trust her.

“’Tis about my father.”

“What about your father?” she asked. “Is he
ill?”

“Nay,” Erin said, shaking her head. “But I
think he has perhaps gotten involved with some people of a
questionable character.”

“Well, Erin,” Sapphire laughed. “He runs a
pub and inn and has whores working for him with drunkards and
gamblers as his patrons. This is expected in his line of work,
darling. No one would hold it against him.”

“Not just that,” she told her, “but I heard
him talking to someone in the shadows the other night. I didn’t
mean to pry, honest I didn’t, but I couldn’t help but overhear what
they were saying.”

“Really? What did you hear?” asked
Sapphire.

“Well, I thought nothing of it at the time,
but since your betrothed has been asking questions lately about
wool smugglers, I think mayhap there is something to it after all.
I believe my father may be in a bit of trouble.”

“Erin, are you telling me that you think
your father has something to do with the wool that’s been stolen?
That he has a hand in the smuggling? This is horrible.”

“I do. I heard him mention the stolen wool
and the Owlers.”

“Who are the Owlers?”

“They are the smugglers who use the hoot of
an owl to communicate in the darkness of night. I probably wouldn’t
have thought much of it, hadn’t I been grabbed the next morning
when I went out back. I was threatened as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, Sapphire, I am so frightened. And I
never should have said anything to you.”

“Come here,” said Sapphire, getting up and
wrapping her arms around the girl in a motherly hug. Now I told you
I wouldn’t tell anyone your secret so you can confide in me and you
don’t need to be frightened.”

“Someone grabbed me the next morning and
pounded their fist into my face and told me that if I said anything
about what I’d heard they’d kill my father.”

“Oh, Erin, that is horrible. Do you have any
idea who this person was?”

“It was dark and I didn’t see his face, but
just after that, one of the whores told me she’d seen Baron Lydd
outside and wondered why he hadn’t requested her services like he
normally did when he came to the pub. She also said she hadn’t seen
him there the night before and wondered why he was there so early
in the morning.”

“So Dugald didn’t hit you after all, like
your father said.”

“Nay, my lady.”

“Did your father know Dugald was
innocent?”

“He did. He was trying to protect the baron,
I’m sure of it. I didn’t want Dugald to get blamed for it, my lady.
But I didn’t want my father to look like a liar in front of Lord
Sexton either.”

“So what do you think the baron was doing
there?” she asked. “Are they hiding the shipment there
somewhere?”

“I don’t know, my lady. Now, please don’t
tell anyone what I said or my father may get hurt or killed. He is
the only parent I have, Lady Sapphire, and I don’t want to lose
him.”

“Of course not,” she said, running a hand
over the girl’s back. “I promised you I wouldn’t say a word and so
I won’t. But tell me, Erin, why don’t you have a mother?”

“I am ashamed to say my mother was a whore
who worked for my father years ago when he first opened the Bucket
of Blood. She wanted naught to do with me, and left. It’s always
been just me and my father, all these years.”

“I’m sorry,” said Sapphire, knowing how hard
it must have been for not only Auley to raise a child by himself,
but also for Erin not to have a mother.

Sapphire knew she needed to tell Roe that
Auley might be involved in the smuggling, but she couldn’t break
her word to Erin. The poor girl was so frightened and if what she
said was true, her father might get hurt in the process. She
couldn’t allow that. This girl had only one parent, and Sapphire
knew from growing up in the same situation how that felt. She
wanted to help this girl and let her know she had someone she could
confide in and also trust. She wanted to be the girl’s friend.

So she wouldn’t tell Roe right now, she
decided. But instead she would try to find a way to investigate
this further herself.

* * *

“You seem quiet tonight, Sapphire,” said Roe
as he strolled through the gardens holding Sapphire’s hand. “Is
something wrong?”

“Nay, my lord,” she answered with a smile.
“I guess I am just thinking of our wedding and missing my father
and sisters, that’s all.”

“Well, I sent the messenger today to give
the news to both your father and your married sister. I’m sure he
will be back with wonderful news from them, so just be patient
while you wait.”

They sat down on the stone bench in the
garden and he took Sapphire’s hand in his. “Sapphire, sweetheart,”
he said, “I want to get a ring for you for the wedding.”

“That’s not necessary,” she told him.
“Actually, my father sent a sapphire necklace as well as a ring
with a sapphire stone in it with me. It used to be my mother’s. I
haven’t been wearing it because I didn’t want the baron to steal
it. But I think I would like to wear that ring if you don’t
mind.”

“That sounds fine,” he told her. “But I will
still be getting something for you as a betrothal gift. You deserve
it, and I want it to be something special.”

“That’s fine,” she said, not even really
listening to him. “So, have you heard word of the baron? Has anyone
seen him, or has he gone back to Lydd?”

That took him by surprise that she should
even be asking about the man she swore she despised. “I don’t
know,” he said. “Why does it matter?”

“Oh, just curious.” She flashed a smile. “I
thought mayhap he’d show up at the pub or something, looking for a
whore perhaps.”

“Did Erin say she saw him at the pub? I
didn’t know he went there.”

“Nay!” she said almost too quickly. “Erin
said naught about the baron. I am the one who wanted to know,
that’s all.”

“Sapphire, you seem jumpy today. Is
something troubling you?”

“Of course not.” She reached up and kissed
him. “What could possibly be troubling me when I am betrothed and
about to get married to such a wonderful man?”

He pulled her closer to him and kissed the
top of her head. She could say what she wanted, but he had no doubt
in his mind there was something she wasn’t telling him. Something
that he needed to know.

The next day was Sunday, and Sapphire
accompanied Roe and the others to mass at St. Mary’s church in the
village. While she’d attended chapel every day as well as the rest
of the nobles, they only went to the church on Sundays and holy
days.