Sworn Loyalty - A Medieval Romance (26 page)

Mary gave a short laugh. “You know Lynessa better than anyone,” she pointed out. “The woman is a master manipulator. Once she is captured, will we be able to trust anything she says?”

Erik was silent for a long moment, and at last his shoulders dropped. “She would say anything in order to get loose.”

Mary leant forward. “This is my one chance for getting any sense of what she has done – and if any other threats remain. Once this chance is gone, I know it will never come again.”

Erik ran a hand through his hair. “But to let her in here with you? Alone? Unguarded?”

Michael stepped forward. “I would be happy to be in here as a guard.”

Mary shook her head. “Lynessa would never talk with you in the room,” she pointed out. “She wants to ensure her deeds go with me to the grave.”

Erik’s brow creased. “When she came to visit my mother, what did she do then?”

“She never looked at me,” explained Mary. “She shambled around in a heavy cloak and kept her eyes on the floor. Probably so nobody could identify her. Then she asked for me to fetch some mint leaves for her potion. Of course, I ran off immediately for them.”

Erik nodded. “All right, then. We can have Tina in the room with you, and it seems likely she’ll send Tina off on some quest. Once she does, then Tina can fetch Michael and me from where we are hiding in my room, and the three of us can wait right by your door, listening in. That way, the moment she stops speaking, we can come in and grab her.” His voice became somber. “And if she tries anything else, we can stop her in time.”

Mary gave his hand a tender squeeze. “Lynessa would not want to martyr herself,” she promised. “She wants me to die in slow agony, knowing all along that she has won. She will probably want to tell me how she will be there to pick up the pieces, once you are a lonely widower.”

He gave a low chuckle at that, then kissed her forehead. “Well then, I should be off soon.” He turned to Michael. “And you –”

Michael nodded. “I will ensure everything is ready.”

Erik held Mary’s hand for a long moment, and she was caught in his gaze. He seemed as if he were soaking her in, as if he were heading out on a long journey and did not know when he might return.

Then he stood, and they were both gone.

Chapter 23

Tina turned from the curtains with a pale face, her ringlets bobbing with the motion. “The torches have been lit,” she nervously whispered. “She must be here, in the courtyard.”

Mary’s heart was drumming, but she fought to remain calm. “Pull the curtains,” she advised the woman, “and take up your mending in the far corner. Remember, I have been sick for many days now. Your watch over me is now a tragic routine. I am not even talking now – just laying on this bed, waiting for death to take me. This is a room of somber silence.”

Tina nodded, returning to the small wooden stool, working on the frayed tunic. Mary could see the tense sharpness in her stitches, but she imagined Lynessa would not think twice about it. That could be attributed to the maid being upset at her mistress being ill.

The minutes dragged on, and Mary was sure that every quiet thump, every ragged creak was news of Lynessa approaching the door. She began to wonder if something had gone wrong, if Lynessa had been spooked by Michael’s behavior and had fled.

A soft rapping came, and she froze.

After a moment Tina got up and slowly approached the door. When she drew near she called out, “Who is it?”

Zelda’s rich voice came through the wood. “It’s Zelda, Tina. I have a visitor for the Lady – it’s a local healer. She says she might have a cure that will save her.”

Tina hesitated for a moment, looking back at Mary, then she pulled open the door. “Of course, we will try anything we can, and with thanks.”

Mary blinked through the bed’s curtains at the figure by the door. Surely this could not be Lynessa? The woman was elderly beyond all reckoning, with deep, carved furrows in her face and a twisted nose. Her hair, which stood out from the edges of a ratty grey cloak, was spindly and brown. She was hunched over and walked with the help of a gnarled oak cane.

Tina ushered her in, then closed the door behind her. The maid helped the woman over to the carved chair by the bed. “I’m afraid she won’t be able to tell you her symptoms any more,” she sighed. “The poor Lady lost her ability to talk a full day ago. Now all we hear are inarticulate moans.”

The woman patted her hand. “Not to worry, dearie. I shall soon make everything right as rain.”

Tina returned to her chair at the other corner of the room, returning her gaze to her mending. “I am resigned to praying that she will be out of her misery soon,” she admitted. “That seems to be the only path left to her.”

The old woman’s eye twinkled, and for a moment Lynessa was staring out from within the wizened face, her avarice sharp and primed. The look vanished as quickly as it had come. Once again it was simply an elderly crone, worn down by life, offering to do what she could for a fellow human being.

Lynessa stared calmly at Tina for a long moment, considering, then turned her full attention on Mary.

Lynessa’s voice came as the creak of a wagon wheel long in need of a good oiling. “Now, then, dearie, let’s see just what state you are in.” She leant forward, drawing back the curtain. “My name is Gemma, and I am here to help you. You just leave everything to Gemma.”

Mary had done her best to mimic the symptoms that Lady Cartwright had presented. She had spent the time since Erik left wrapped in cool, wet cloths, and only removed them a short while ago. Her skin was clammy. She gave low moans as Lynessa turned her head to and fro, lifted her left arm, and gently pressed in at her lower abdomen. Lynessa gave clucks of disappointment at each stage. Finally she turned to Mary.

“She is near the end, quite near. It is sheer luck that I made it here before she passed altogether.”

Tina’s face fell, and her eyes welled with tears. “Is there no hope then?”

Mary held back a smile. She would have to give the woman ample praise later on for such a fine performance.

Lynessa began to shake her head, then paused as if considering. “Well, now, I’d heard … but one never knows …” Her look brightened. “Yes, I think it’s worth a try. Do you have any sage in the pantry?”

Tina perked up. “Absolutely we do,” she agreed, nodding her head. “Shall I bring you some?”

Lynessa tapped her finger on her chin. “Yes, a handful of sage, and a small bowl of charcoal. Make sure you steep the charcoal in the bowl with hot water for five minutes before bringing it up. That will help to activate it.”

Tina leapt to her feet, nodding. “Five minutes. I promise, it will be done exactly as you have asked.”

She gave one last long look to Mary, then she turned and moved through the door, closing it softly behind her.

Mary took in a long, steadying breath. She could not give away, in the slightest manner, her true state of health. Lynessa had to believe she was completely incapable of speech or controlled movement for this to work.

Lynessa waited a long moment, watching the door, and then her face split into a contented smile. She stood, stretching, her hunch easing as she did so. She moved to stand at the door, pressing her ear against it, then she slipped off her cloak, giving it a kick with her heel to ensure it lay firmly along the base.

A thin tremor of nervousness ran through Mary. Could the others hear what she said now? She dismissed the worry. Lynessa would have her say, and then she would leave. As soon as Lynessa opened that door to depart, the men would take Lynessa into custody. It would all be over.

Lynessa returned to sit by the bed, grabbing onto Mary’s wrist with strong fingers. “Mary. Mary – are you in there?”

Mary feebly blinked her eyes, slowly turning her head as if trying to focus on the sound. She gave a low moan.

There was a sharp pain at her wrist as Lynessa dragged a thumbnail along her delicate flesh. Mary’s moan was sharper now, and no longer feigned.

Lynessa’s eyes brightened with delight. “There you are. Come up out of those fogs, if only for a moment. I have something to tell you.”

Mary allowed her eyes to draw into focus, to settle onto the hard marbles in Lynessa’s face.

Lynessa’s mouth was curved into a satisfied smile. “It is me, Lynessa,” she announced in triumph. “For ten long years, Lady Cartwright has set you after me, training you to foil my plans. But you failed, Mary. You and your vaulted Lady have both failed. First I killed the Lady, right in her own hall. She died without ever being able to set eyes on her beloved son again. And now you will die in the same bed, after having given him back the keep I wanted him to have.”

She gave Mary’s wrist a sharp twist, and Mary shuddered in pain. Lynessa leant forward. “So everything has worked out perfectly for me, just as I knew it would. The meddlesome Lady is dead. You lived just long enough to turn everything over to Erik, and now he will be right back in my clutches again, with no protection at all.” She gave a short bark. “You even arranged to remove Caradoc and his crew from the picture, so I no longer have to share any of my plunder with him. The entire keep and all it entails is completely my own. I could not have planned for a more perfect ending if I had tried.”

She glanced at the curtained window. “Did you know that fool Caradoc tried to cut me out of my share, years ago? When he realized my mother and I were angling to have me marry Erik, he immediately started in on Avoca. Almost had her too, from what I saw.” Her mouth twisted into a grin. “Until I let the Lady know what Avoca was up to, of course. That was back when the Lady trusted me. I might have exaggerated some of the details, but you know how high strung the Lady was. She would have laid into Avoca even without my prodding.”

Mary’s blood ran cold, but she focused on her breath. In, out. Soon the vixen would be in custody, and this all would be behind them.

Lynessa gave her a patronizing pat on the cheek. “Ah, my dear girl, you don’t know how satisfying this is. I’m still not quite sure how you escaped my little trap at your village.”

Mary’s body chilled into shimmering ice. It took her a moment before the words coalesced into meaning.

Lynessa’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “It seemed that every time Erik returned from overseeing one of those village dances that he could not say enough about a rural girl with ebony hair who played the tambourine and watched over the little ones.” She rolled her eyes. “Your compassion, your patience, your caring …”

Mary could barely believe what Lynessa was saying. She had not thought anyone paid attention to her at the dances. She had been shy, so she had always volunteered to take care of the younger children while her mother sang and her father played the bodhran. She had no idea she had been noticed.

Lynessa smoothed back Mary’s hair. “I knew in another year or two you would cross into womanhood, and that Erik might seek to draw you out of your shyness. His attachment to me, for all my mother and I had done to nurse it along, could easily dissipate once he spent more time with you.” The corners of her mouth turned up. “And so I went to Caradoc and hatched a little plan.”

It was all Mary could do to hold still, to force her breathing into an even pattern, to let the woman speak unimpeded.

Lynessa leant forward to put her mouth by Mary’s ear. “I was perfectly safe, of course, that long, dark night. I was with a priest friend, eating minced lamb with fresh mint. We toasted with the finest cyser. But for your friends …”

Her eyes sparkled with pleasure. “I made sure Caradoc knew to grab your father and mother first, but not to kill them. Your parents were to be tied to that ancient oak by the church. And then you were to be dragged before him.”

Her lips were brushing against Mary’s ear now. “Caradoc was to strip you naked. And then he would rape you, and his lieutenant would rape you, and so on, until every man in his entire bandit clan had experienced the taste of your flesh.”

Lynessa shook her head in mock sorrow. “They searched high and low for you, but you could not be found. So Caradoc simply decided that your mother –”

Mary rolled up off the bed, leading with her left fist, and landed a hard blow on Lynessa’s temple. The woman let out a hoarse yell of surprise, which morphed into a howl of fury as awareness lit her face. Then she sprang at Mary, her clawed hands aiming for Mary’s throat.

Mary drove her hands up from her center, flinging them outward, breaking Lynessa’s hold on her. Lynessa’s hand darted to her hip, then she swiped out, and Mary felt a stinging pain follow the movement, searing across her chest. A line of red darkened her chemise.

There was a heavy thunk at the door, but to her surprise it stayed steadily shut. The bolt’s channel was clear – Lynessa had not touched that in any way. Only her cloak lay at the base. Mary backed up into the center of the room, putting it out of her mind. If Lynessa had kicked a wedge or other device into the door, Mary would be hard pressed to figure it out while Lynessa was trying to take her life. She had to take care of the threat first.

The door shuddered again, and hoarse cries sounded from behind it. Mary’s focus remained on the woman before her, the eyes of Lynessa in the weathered face of a crone, the steady knife hand poking out from a tattered tunic.

Lynessa’s voice was a deep growl. “So you thought you’d draw me in, eh? A lamb to the slaughter? We’ll see just who gets sent to their final repose tonight.”