The Arranged Marriage (28 page)

“Have you done anything about the
baron?” She asked casually, hoping she could raise some suspicions
without saying anything in particular.

“What about the baron?”

“You were concerned that he was
here.”

Ison looked occupied at something
going on behind her. He brought himself back to her attention
quickly.

“I believe he was here for vengeance
to me my lady, in regards to trying to stir up trouble, but with
that I believe he has failed. I have had it confirmed he has
returned to the Foreign Lands, and he is no longer hiding in
Centurias, if he ever was.”

She decided this should be the time to
tell him about the ring.

“My lady, I mean my queen,” Marla
Stewart practically shouted as she ran up to Rohesia. “Oh I am so
glad you’re here, it’s Claimont.”

Rohesia looked at Ison then as the
woman held gently on to her hands. He nodded at her to
go.

“How is he Marla?” She asked as she
allowed herself to be led off to the Inn where the injured
lay.

“Oh the old fool was trying to save
Tobhy when they attacked,” She advised, her eyes wet from tears.
“He forgets how old he is at times, but when the men started to
plague and tease young Tobhy, Claimont intervened and they beat him
my lady. Right in front of everyone before leaving.”

Rohesia felt herself grow cold at the
thought of Claimont, a kind old man, being beaten by the cold
hearted fools. She put her arm around Marla and tried to gently rub
her shoulder in comfort.

“We rang the bell my lady,” She
continued. “For the guards to come, but it was too late. No alarm
was sounded when they first arrived; we just thought them as
villagers.”

The sight that met Rohesia when she
stepped into the Inn made her feel ill. People, women and children
were lying down, some crying, others covered in blood, as Nani and
the village healer Jenna tried to stretch their attention across
everyone. The sounds were piercing as she felt the urge to take
control of the situation before a few others got trampled in the
confusion. She managed to find Nani in the crowd who was tending
Claimont. Marla joined them.

“How is he Nani?” She
asked.

“He is not so good child, his
breathing his very ragged.”

“Oh no,” Marla said at the news and
tears came to her again. Rohesia came round to her.

“Marla, I need you to do something for
me,” She gently urged the woman’s face to her own. “You must go out
there and gather every woman and girl to come in here and help,
tell them to bring as many cloths and salves as possible, and
whatever herbs they can bring.”

“But they are out there scared to
death,” She stammered. “I doubt that they will come.”

“Then tell them it is by royal order
of the queen and I will also be in here assisting, and hurry. I vow
that Claimont will still be here when you return.”

She finally nodded and made her way
out into the village.

“He’s not going to make it is he?”
Rohesia asked Nani, knowing the answer as soon as she had seen
Claimont’s bloody face. Nani shook her head.

“I doubt he will last the eve. He was
beaten quite badly.”

The anger came then, with full force,
and Rohesia wondered when all of this had become so out of
control.

“We will catch them Nani, I vow,” She
rolled up her sleeves and took one of Nani’s makeshift aprons from
the bench beside them. “Now, where would you like me to
start?”

As soon as Ison was certain the rebels
were gone, and orders were relayed to his men, he managed to find
Rohesia at the corner of the Inn supping on a small mug of ale. He
noticed her gown covered in blood and her sleeves rolled up and he
sighed. Seeing her sit there, with child, and exhausted from
helping her people, made him more proud than he had ever been in
his whole life.

“Rohesia?” He urged quietly as he made
his way over to her. She looked up at him, drained.

“Do not worry my lord,” She said
quietly, pointing to her ale. “Nani assures me that this will not
hurt the babe as a one off.”

Ison smelt the tankard that she held
and confirmed what was in it. He looked at her then,
confused.

“I don’t care about that Rohesia, I
care about you.”

She looked up at him then with more
energy than she expected to muster.

“Thank you my lord,” She whispered as
a tear left her. “He has passed away.”

He looked around to the corner of the
Inn where Marla Stewart was standing over her husband’s dead body
weeping, with only Nani to support her. He looked back at
Rohesia.

“This appears strange to me,” He said
quietly. “Something needs to be done.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come, let me take you back to the
castle where you can get out of those clothes. Then we will
talk.”

“No Ison,” She shook her head. “There
is so much to be done here. We cannot just leave them.”

He held her hand and moved closer to
her for comfort.

“My men have erected tents for those
who are without homes and made them comfortable with beds and
supplies,” He touched her cheek gently. “No one else is seriously
injured and the people have now calmed. Please come with me,” He
urged her. “I have posted guards all around the village and they
will stay there until we return in the morning. Nani will put some
of the women on shifts to tend to those ill-humoured by all of
this.” He concluded, waiting until she nodded her head in
acceptance. She loosed his hand and he watched as she made her way
over to where Marla stood, touching the woman’s shoulder in comfort
and whispering words into her ear. He saw the woman nod and then
hold on to Rohesia in tears as she held the woman in her arms. He
noticed her signal to Nani to put a sheet over Claimont’s body and
gently urged Marla outside to leave her with the refuge of her
family. It almost ripped Ison to the core. He should be having
words with his wife, about neglecting the duties of the kingdom,
things that he should be doing as king; but in truth, Ison had
never seen such a true queen before this eve with her sleeves
rolled up to tend to her people. And soon he was going to have to
berate her for it.

“What did you want to talk to me about
Ison?” She asked him as she dressed into her eve gown.

“It’s just a few things that need to
be resolved, things on which my hands are tied until I am coronated
as king.”

“Oh?” She questioned as he helped her
button up the back of her long white cotton-piece.

“I cannot relay orders to my men
concerning the matters of this because it oversteps the border into
the Quart and I, at this time, cannot leave here to employ us with
more arms to aid in resolving the situation with the rebels,” He
looked at her then as she turned to face him with exhausted eyes .
“I need your assistance my lady.”

“What is it you need me to
do?”

“I need,” He hesitated. “For you to go
through your father’s things with me, allow me access to his logs
and books, and I also need you to sign some special authorisations
in order for certain things to go ahead.”

“What certain things?”

“As I said, the hiring of more men to
extend our searches and the orders to relinquish a few men I trust
to go and get them.”

“But that will take an age Ison. We
need to sort something out about these rebels now instead of
searching through excuses.” She snapped. She was aware he was doing
all he could to find these felons but in the process of it being
sorted, time had allowed an attack on her, it had killed her father
and Claimont, and attacked her people. She was not about to wait
for them to strike again.

“Leave it with me,” She practically
ordered. “I shall sort this out in the morning. I am too exhausted
to talk about it this eve.”

Ison swallowed his own reaction to her
dismissal and decided to leave it until the morning. He had sensed
a change in her the moment they had entered the castle, one that he
knew he was not going to like. He stood there watching her drag her
defeated frame into bed, making him hate whoever was behind all of
this with a passion and intensity, wanting to crush them for
hurting his wife like this.

Ison awoke the next morning to find
Rohesia’s side of their bed empty as warning bells went off in his
mind. He hurried in getting dressed to try and find out where she
had sneaked off to, but it was Josa who got to him first as he made
his way out into the halls.

“Ison, I must speak with you.” Josa
asked him as Ison continued to walk, adjusting his
tunic.

“Not now Josa, I have to find
Rohesia.”

“But that’s who I need to speak with
you about my friend.”

He stopped then and absorbed the
seriousness of Josa’s features.

“Why?” He demanded. “What’s
happened?”

“She came out earlier and ordered
Ecripian men into the Quart to question every person who resided
there.”

Ison wasn’t swayed and shrugged his
shoulders, happy that his wife was starting to take an interest in
that part of the problem.

“So, that’s exactly what I was
intending to this morning, where’s the problem Josa?”

“The problem is she also ordered them
to arrest any person who looked as if they were holding
information, or anyone who raised suspicion. They are out there on
a hunt.”

Rohesia’s words reverberated in his
head from the eve before as the thought of her own men, obviously
angered from the attack, were now out in the Quart with free reign
from the queen to take it out on anyone whom they
wished.

“Surely she would have known this?” He
spoke his thoughts out loud. Not expecting a response.

“She is still grieving Ison, she is
not herself.” He was advised loyally. Ison shook his head again and
started to make his way outside. Josa walked with him.

“Where is she now?”

“In the village helping the villagers,
she is vowing to each of them that vengeance will be served,” He
looked embarrassed about what he was about to say next. “It didn’t
look like her Ison, she isn’t well.”

Ison looked at him then.

“What do you mean she isn’t
well?”

“Do you remember in battle when we
would see grown men become paranoid and vengeful when their wills
were broken?” He asked. Ison nodded not liking where he was going
with this as they continued to walk. “I am not saying her will is
broken, but she is not far from it.”

Ison felt like a failure as he found
no words to object to what Josa had spoken. Rohesia had not been
the same woman since he had returned from Dondayas to find her
father on his deathbed, and he had done nothing to try and ease her
through it. He had maintained a distance from her as he would have
done for a warrior, or a friend. He had not been there for her as a
husband should have been.

“I have to find her.” He said quietly
as Josa nodded and led him to the stables.

The ride into the main village was a
quiet one, as Ison led Josa and a few of his own men to aid with
the repairs. The sight that met them still had a harsh effect on
their senses, even if they had all experienced worse in the Foreign
Lands. But Ecripian had become a home, for each of them, and seeing
such destruction had affected them more than they
realised.

Ison dismounted his horse and ordered
his men to help where they could and stay close. He would need them
to ride into the Quart shortly as soon as he confirmed what had
been ordered. He was hoped he wasn’t too late.

Ison found Rohesia outside one of the
tents helping to prepare soup on a fire that had been
built.

“Rohesia?” He asked as he approached
her. “May I have a word with you?”

She looked at him then, not as his
wife looking up at him, but a stranger who was a might
inconvenienced by this disturbance. She looked around, and then
wiped her hands on the apron she wore.

“Yes my lord?” She sounded bored when
she spoke and Ison didn’t understand the pain that tore through him
at her rejection. It took him a moment to steady himself and
refrain from taking her back to the castle over his
shoulder.

“Have you ordered men to go into the
Quart today and arrest whomever they choose?”

She looked at him them as if he had
two heads.

“Not whomever they choose my lord,
just who they think might be withholding information on the
rebels,” Her smile held no humour. “I told you last eve that I
would sort it and we could wait no longer in order to do so, do not
fret.”

He couldn’t hold back his anger as he
stepped closer to her, his features as threatening as he could
manage.

“I shall fret, seeing as you are
willing to risk having done to the people of the Quart what the
rebels have done here,” He laughed snidely. “You may as well have
sent them in with torches and have the people hung upon the square
for their silence. That would really show them.”