The Innocent (37 page)

"My lord," Sim said, horrified by this turn of events, "I swear to you upon my lady Eleanore’s life that I met your courier upon the verge and turned over the ransom payment to him. My master would not endanger his wife for any reason. I am telling you the truth. I murdered no one. I followed your instructions to the letter. If you have been betrayed, you had best look to your own house for the traitor."

Again the lord of Gwynfr was silent, his handsome face deep in concentration as he considered the Englishman’s words. He had to be telling the truth. Why else would he have taken his life in his hands to come to Gwynfr? His dark blue eyes narrowed in thought. There was only one person audacious enough to betray him in his own house. She should be by his side right now, but she had sent word by her servant that she was ill with a flux, and begged to be excused this evening.

"Get up," Merin ap Owen said to Sim. Then he turned to his man, Badan. "Go to the lady Isleen’s apartment in the top of the tower, and fetch her to me. If her servant girl says she is ill, insist in my name on seeing her yourself. And if she is not there, bring Arwydd to the hall to me. Do not mistreat her, however," he warned.

Badan ran off with a nod. Sim got to his feet and rubbed his knees. The stone had been hard, and he had been thrown none too gently upon it. He stood silent, waiting, wondering.

"Your lady is safe," Merin ap Owen said quietly, then nothing more.

After some minutes Badan returned to the hall, dragging a most reluctant Arwydd with him by her arm. The girl was crying and clearly very frightened.

"Where is your mistress?" Merin ap Owen demanded of her in a cold, hard voice. "Speak up, wench!"

"I… I do not know!" Arwydd sobbed.

"She told me the lady was sleeping, but when I pushed past her into the bedchamber, the bed was empty, my lord," Badan said.

"Where is your mistress?"
Merin ap Owen asked a second rime.

Arwydd sobbed all the harder. "I swear on the Blessed Virgin’s name, my lord, that I do not know!"

"You knew enough about it to lie, wench," the lord of Gwynfr said. "You must know something even if you do not know where your mistress is."

"My lady went out early today," Arwydd said. "She did not say where she was going, nor when she would be back. It was not her habit to tell me these things. Usually she said nothing, but today she asked that if anyone sought her out, I was to say she was ill and sleeping. That is all I can tell you, I swear it!"

"Yet when it grew dark, you did not come to me and say she was missing," Merin ap Owen pointed out.

" 'Twere plenty of times she didn't come back until after dark, my lord," Arwydd told him. "If I had come to you and then she had returned, she would have beaten me black-and-blue. I was only her servant. I saw to her clothing and hair. I brought her whatever she asked of me. She never spoke with me but to give me an order or to complain about something. She was not an easy mistress, but it was better than serving in my uncle’s whorehouse."

"If I find that you are lying to me, Arwydd," the lord of Gwynfr said softly, "I shall give you to my men for their pleasure."

Arwydd threw herself down before the high board. "My lord! I swear to you that I know nothing more than I have told you! Do not give me to your men, I beg you!" She held out her hands to him, pleading.

"My lord," Sim said quietly, "I believe the girl speaks the truth. The lady Isleen has discarded her because she would have been a liabihty had she known the lady’s plans. Had Arwydd been gone from Gwynfr with her mistress, you would have discovered the lady Isleen’s perfidy all the sooner. Now she is long gone on whatever road and it is certain that she has taken the gold."

"And murdered my courier," Merin ap Owen said. "Isleen always liked poison, and there was not a mark of violence upon my man’s body. His lips were quite blue, and there was a bit of dried froth about his mouth. His horse was gone, and could not be found in the vicinity. My treacherous leman obviously took it. She planned this well, but I shall find her, and I shall show her no mercy! Get up, wench!" he snapped at Arwydd. "Go back to your mistress’s apartment while I consider exactly what I shall do."

Arwydd scrambled to her feet, and dashed out of the hall as if she were being pursued by all the devils in hell.

"My lord," Sim spoke. "What of my mistress? I paid the ransom you required in good faith. It is not the fault of any at Ashlin that the gold has gone astray."

Merin ap Owen looked down on the young Englishman. "I must have the night to reflect on all of this. You may sleep in my stables with your horse, Sim of Ashlin. Come back to the hall one hour after the sun has risen, and I will render my decision on this matter. You could not start back to Ashlin tonight in any event. Have you eaten? No? Then, go the kitchens, and you will be fed. My men will leave you in peace now, for you are as much of a foolish dupe as I have been."

Sim felt relief coursing through his body. He bowed, and hurried out of the hall. Watching him go, Merin ap Owen almost laughed aloud. The lad had shown courage, but his hasty retreat indicated his fear of the situation. Still, he had come to Gwynfr, and he had asked for his mistress’s release.

"What will you do, lord?" Badan asked him, and Merin ap Owen saw the curious faces turned up to him.

"I do not know yet," he answered.

"But you will seek out the bitch?" Badan persisted.

"Aye, I will," Merin ap Owen said, "but the rest I do not know. I will think on it, but be prepared to ride come the morning." He arose then and left the hall.

***

Elf sat by the fireplace, mending one of his tunics. She looked up, her lovely face serious. "What has happened? Was not this the day I was to be released, my lord? Yet it is already night, and I am still here at Gwynfr."

"My courier was murdered, and the gold stolen from him," he said. "Now I must decide what is to be done."

Her face grew paler than it normally was. "How did this happen, my lord?" Elf laid her sewing aside and arose to face him.

He explained to her exactly what he had determined based on the information Sim had brought, on Arwydd’s testimony, on the evidence of his own eyes and instincts. Then to his surprise Elf burst into tears, sobbing so piteously that his heart almost broke. He wrapped his arms about her in a gesture of comfort. Surprised, she looked up into his face, and Merin ap Owen was lost in the moment. Unable to restrain himself, his mouth took hers in a burning, fierce kiss.

Startled, Elf was not certain at first what to do. She had never been kissed so skillfully by anyone but her beloved Ranulf. Instinctively her lips softened, and she was only brought to her senses by the sudden realization of his hard body against hers, his lustful member throbbing against her belly. Still, for a brief moment she allowed herself to be swept away before marshaling her forces, her two small hands pushing against his broad chest.
"My lord!"
She pulled her head back. "Please, my lord, this is wrong, and you well know it!" She stepped away from him as if to put a safe distance between herself and his fiery heat of passion.

"How long have you known that I wanted you?" he asked her.

"Since Christmas morning when you put the wolf-skin cape about my shoulders," she answered.

"I love you, Eleanore," he said softly.

"I know, my lord Merin." There were tears in her silvery gray eyes.

"But you do not love me." He sighed sadly. "You love your Ranulf. Does he love you as I do? Totally, completely, and without reservations? Ah, I never knew that to love brought such pain!"

"Aye, he loves me, and I him," Elf said honestly. "And this you did not know. We have a son, my lord Merin. It is not just my land or my husband calling me back, it is my child. If Ranulf paid the ransom and was honest with you, how can you not allow me to return home on the morrow? No matter your reputation, no matter what I have heard said of you, no matter what you have done, I must judge you in light of how you have treated me. You have dealt with me fairly and with honor. That is how I shall always remember Merin ap Owen when I have returned to my husband, to my son, and to Ashlin."

"I could take you now, here, and show you no mercy!" he cried.

"And having tasted your kiss, my lord, I have no doubt that I should respond to your passion, but come the dawn I should be weighed down with a guilt so heavy it would never leave me," Elf told him. "Women are weak, it is said, but they, too, have their honor. If you dishonored me, you should dishonor yourself. I beg you not to do so, my lord Merin. Do not allow your lust to destroy the friendship that has grown between us. I have never known your like, nor will I ever again, I think." Her eyes met his, pleading, yet proud.

He could force this petite woman, so delicate of bone. She could not prevail against his strength, there was scarce a woman born who could.
But he loved her.
A man did not despoil and hurt something so fair, so innocent, so sweet. The Merin ap Owen that Isleen de Warenne knew might do such a thing and not have a care; but the Merin ap Owen that he was for Eleanore de Montfort would not act in so dishonorable a fashion. Reaching out, he took her two hands, raised them up, and kissed them.

"It would seem, Eleanore, that my love for you is stronger than my lust. Tomorrow I will set you free to return home to your most fortunate husband. And this promise I give you: The Welsh will not distress Ashlin again in my time." He released her hands. "Go to bed now, my love, resting safe in your goodness. Only you know the man I might have been. Tomorrow after you have left me, I will begin a hunt for a vixen. I will run her to ground, I promise you, and I will kill her. She will never trouble you again."

"Do not kill her on my account, my lord," Elf begged him.

He smiled. "Her death will not be on your conscience, my love, but on mine with many others; but your God will surely not punish me for ridding the world of the devil’s own daughter," Merin ap Owen said. "For that I must certainly be rewarded."

“
Give me Arwydd to take back with me," Elf said to Merin ap Owen the following morning as she prepared to leave his apartments for the last time. "You know what will happen to her if she is left here at Gwynfr or returned to her uncle’s establishment."

"You would have her despite what she did?" he asked, surprised.

"She did what she did to survive," Elf responded. "She is a good girl at heart. I cannot forget that she protected my son from Isleen by keeping the secret of his existence from her."

"If she will go with you, you may have her," he replied. "I will send her to you. Then come to the hall, so I may turn you over to the faithful Sim of Ashlin. I want him to take you from Gwynfr before your husband arrives to attack me, and lives are needlessly lost. I have no doubt that Ranulf de Glandeville is near. I know I would be if you were my wife." He smiled a wry smile at her, then made to leave her.

"My lord!" she called after him, and he returned to her side. Elf stood upon her tiptoes, and kissed his scarred cheek. "I would not embarrass you, or endanger my own reputation by doing this publicly in the hall," she told him. "I thank you. I believe there is much good in you, my lord, despite your evil reputation. Seek for that good for the sake of your immortal soul. I will pray for you, Merin ap Owen," she promised him.

"Then, I shall be as near to being saved from the devil’s hellfire as I have ever been," he told her softly. Raising her hand to his lips, he caught her gaze a moment. "We would have been magnificent together, my lady of Ashlin," he said. Then he was gone.

She felt the heat in her cheeks. She felt the tears slip down her face, and brushed them impatiently away. She did not love him, and yet the knowledge of his love for her was almost too heavy a burden for her to bear.
Oh, Ranulf,
she thought.
I need your strong arms about me reassuring me that all will be well!

"Lady."

Elf looked up to see Arwydd standing hesitantly in the doorway. She motioned to the girl to come in, then said, "I believe you are a good girl no matter the bad mistress you served so faithfully. You are a free woman, Arwydd, and so you are free to make your own decisions. I offer you a place in my household if you will come with me. It will not be easy at first. You betrayed the Ashlin folk. They will not allow you to forget it, for they have long memories, especially my Ida. But I will intercede for you with them if you truly give me your loyalty. In time they will forgive you, for they are good folk at heart."

Arwydd fell to her knees and, lifting the hem of Elf’s skirt, kissed it fervently. "Lady, oh, lady! Your kindness has saved me! Gladly will I come. I will bear whatever I must, for in truth I did grievous wrong to the Ashlin folk. I will beg their forgiveness upon my knees! I swear upon the Blessed Virgin’s name to serve you honorably and faithfully all of my days!"

Elf raised the girl up. "Then it is settled," she said calmly. "Come, for we are due in the hall. The lord of Gwynfr is about to free me, and I am eager to begin our journey home."

They descended into the hall, where the morning meal was already in progress. Seating herself at the high board, Elf ate heartily of the hard-boiled eggs, cheese, butter, and bread she was served. She quenched her thirst with a watered wine. She saw Sim at a trestle below and, smiling, nodded to him. Then Merin ap Owen stood, and spoke.

"I am an honorable man, as you can all attest. The lord of Ashlin manor has delivered the ransom I requested for the return of his wife. The fact the ransom was stolen from me is not his fault. For me to continue to hold the lady Eleanore as my captive would be a dishonorable act. I will therefore release her into the custody of her man-at-arms, Sim of Ashlin. They will leave Gwynfr in peace. And when they have gone, we will depart to seek out the vicious vixen who has stolen my gold. Go, and prepare yourselves to leave. I know not how long we will be away, for I cannot even say in which direction the bitch has gone, but we will run her to the ground, lads. And after…" He laughed darkly.

The sound sent a chill up Elf’s spine. The man she knew had disappeared once again, even as the man they all feared returned in his place. She arose and, without another word, walked down from the high board to where Sim now stood anxiously waiting for her. "Let us go home, Sim," she said, and he nodded wordlessly.

Without a backward glance they departed the hall and walked out into the courtyard, where Arwydd stood holding the horses.

"She’s
going with us?" a disbelieving Sim asked.

"She is a good girl, Sim," Elf said firmly. "Besides, I will not leave her here. She will serve me loyally. You will see."

Sim thought his mistress mad, but he would not question her, for it was not his place to do so. Besides, the lord would send the deceitful witch packing as soon as he laid eyes on her. He helped the two women to mount their beasts, then climbed atop his own horse, and they were off. They rode slowly down the hill away from Gwynfr and onto the narrow track that led them toward the verge, and England.

The day was unusually beautiful, the sky above them a clear blue, the sun shining brightly, the air warm with a definite feeling of spring. It was the first time in days that Elf could remember the sun shining. She considered it a wonderful omen, although perhaps not for Isleen de Warenne, who was to be hunted down. Where had she gone? Elf wondered. But no matter. If Merin ap Owen did not catch her and kill her, she would still have to face God’s judgment for her wickedness. She put Isleen from her mind.

"Merin ap Owen thought my lord might be near, Sim. Do you think it is so?" Elf asked her man.

"Aye, lady, he is. I am surprised we have not come upon him yet," Sim answered her. "I thought surely he would be at Gwynfr’s gates by dawn, but, perhaps finding me gone off the verge yesterday, he divined my purpose and is waiting a reasonable time for my return."

They rode on for a short time, and then over a hill they saw a party of riders coming. Elf strained to see, and then with a whoop she kicked her mare into a gallop, riding straight for the oncoming men. Sim immediately recognized his Ashlin companions and smiled. His lord moved out in front, pressing his own mount forward at a faster pace until the two parties came face-to-face, and the mingling horses skidded to a stop.

Ranulf de Glandeville was off his horse in a flash. Reaching up, he pulled his wife from her mare and wrapped her in a hard embrace. "I love you," he whispered fiercely into her ear.
"I love you!"
Then he kissed her hungrily, desperately drinking from her lips like a dying man wasting away from thirst.

Breathless, Elf finally pulled away from the kiss, looking up at him, her face filled with pure joy. "Why did you not tell me this before," she demanded. "I ached to hear you say those words, for I love you so damned desperately, I thought I would die from it!"

"You love me?"
Now his look became one of surprise.

"Aye, I love you, you big oaf! How could I not love a man who treated me with such delicacy and gentleness?"

"Then, why did you not say it?"

"Because I thought a sophisticated man of the world such as yourself would scorn such words. I feared you would feel obligated by them, and despise me for a romantic fool. I had gained your respect and your trust. I did not want to lose them by softly prattling of love," Elf told him. "Why did you hesitate to say these words to me until now?"

"I did not think you could love a man who took you from the life you loved and had always thought you would live," he admitted. "But, Eleanore, I think I loved you from the first moment I saw you in the hall at Ashlin, so kind and so thoughtful, seeking so desperately to save your brother’s life. I never thought to have a real home or a sweet woman to care for me and bear my children. Then there was the king giving me this incredible gift of you. I feared if I told you of what was in my heart, you would not believe me. I feared you would disdain me, think me a fool who but attempted to gull you so I might more easily have your body. I feared the loss of your friendship, petite." His knuckles lightly grazed her cheek, brushing away the single crystal tear upon it. "Do not cry, petite. We are together once more. I shall never allow you to be in danger again. You will continue on to Ashlin while I go to Gwynfr to destroy it. Merin ap Owen shall not pillage the countryside this year, or in any other year to come."

"Nay," Elf told him, her hand on his arm.

"Have I cause for jealousy, then?"

"Walk with me, my lord, and allow me to explain," Elf said. "I am not certain whether I should be flattered by your jealousy, or offended that you would think me unfaithful to you, Ranulf. Come." She took his hand, and they moved off across the fields while she spoke earnestly to him, explaining that it had been Isleen de Warenne who had been the instigator of the plot to kidnap her. "Make no mistake, my lord, Merin ap Owen is deserving of his reputation, yet he treated me with courtesy, and aye, even kindness while I was in his charge. He protected me from Isleen’s attempts to harm me. In his own way he is an honorable man. Isleen, disguised as Merin ap Owen’s courier, yesterday took the ransom from Sim and has disappeared. That is why I was not returned to you then. Sim is very brave, Ranulf. As it grew near sunset, he rode on to Gwynfr. It was then the deception was discovered. Yet this morning Merin ap Owen freed me to return to you. He is not all wicked,
and
he has given me his word that Ashlin will not be disturbed again."

"You believe him?"

"Aye, I do," Elf said quietly. "You must trust me in this, Ranulf. I was Merin ap Owen’s captive for four months. There is a side to him he does not show to others, except perhaps his longtime servant, Gwyll, who looked after me. There is goodness in him, Ranulf. I slept in an alcove off his bedchamber all those months because he feared that Isleen would hurt me given the chance. His apartments, however, were not open to anyone but Gwyll. I was safe there. Not once did this man attempt to accost me in a lewd manner. I could have been back at St. Frideswide's, for that matter, I was so safe in his charge."

Her words troubled him, but Ranulf knew his wife would not lie to him. It simply was not in Eleanore’s nature to lie. "What did you do during the day?" he asked her, curious.

"Gwyll and I found an old loom and a tapestry frame. We put them by the fire, and I kept myself amused in that manner. Before the winter set in, I gathered roots and plants to make a store of salves, lotions, and medicines for the castle. They had none at all. I showed Gwyll what he is to do in the future," Elf finished.

Ranulf laughed. He simply couldn't help it. It was so very typical of his wife’s sweet nature and kind heart. "I suppose you mended the Welshman’s clothes for him, too," he half teased her.

"Aye, I did," she admitted. Then she giggled. "There are no women, even servants, at Gwynfr Castle, my love; and Isleen was certainly not about to repair the poor man’s tunics. I could hardly have my captor going about looking shabby."

He roared with laughter. "Petite," he told her, "I most certainly do love you with all my heart and soul. You are quite unique, my Eleanore."

"The lord Merin has gone after Isleen, Ranulf. He will, I suspect, have a difficult time finding her, for she could have gone in any direction. Gwynfr is already a half ruin. Leave it be, so that when, or if, he ever returns home again, what is left of Gwynfr will be there to shelter him. Let us go home and see our son, my lord. I think it is past time we gave him a brother." She smiled up at him.

Ranulf nodded in agreement. How could he refuse her request? He really could not. Merin ap Owen had almost beggared them, but he had his wife safely back.

They walked back to their horses, where the others awaited. Now the lord of Ashlin noticed Arwydd. "Who is she?" he asked.

"Her name is Arwydd," Elf began.

"The wench who betrayed Ashlin?" he demanded, his brow darkening.

"The very same," Elf replied calmly. "She is to be my new servant, my lord, and I will hear no more about it. Arwydd made a bad mistake. She was compelled to serve a wicked mistress. She repents of her own ill judgment, and she has done us both a great service. Arwydd knew about our son. Yet she helped me to dry up my milk before I reached Gwynff, and she never told either her mistress or the lord of the castle of our child. What do you think Isleen would have done if she had known we had a baby, Ranulf? All the devils in hell could not have prevented her from going to Ashlin and stealing our son away. Arwydd prevented this tragedy by remaining silent. She deserves a second chance, and I mean to see that she gets it. She is freeborn, and she has a good heart, Ranulf. She served Isleen faithfully, and her reward was to have her mistress desert her. She will be loyal to us, I guarantee it."

"It would seem I can deny you nothing, my lady wife," he answered her.

Elf stood upon her toes, and kissed him lightly upon the lips. "Thank you, my lord," she said as he then lifted her into the saddle.

Ranulf mounted his own horse.

"Are we going after the Welshman, my lord?" Sim asked him.

"Nay," Ranulf replied, and then briefly explained to his men the reason for his decision. "Ap Owen has gone after Isleen de Warenne. He is punished if he catches her, and he is punished if she eludes him, I am thinking," he concluded. "Let us go home!"

By late afternoon they were well over the border and into England again. The day remained fair, and the countryside about them empty but for their party. For the next three days they traveled back to Ashlin, camping at night in the open, for so desolate was the countryside that there was no religious house for them to shelter in, or even the rudest inn or manor house. Each night the horses were staked within a crude enclosure of brush, and a huge fire was built to keep away any predators. They were a large enough party to be safe from bandits. They ate what they could catch, and the bread they carried with them.