There Your Heart Will Be Also (3 page)

****

“My lady, I think I would rather have some fresh food from the garden.”

“Rubbish!
Ye will do no such thing.
A man of your girth needs his sustenance.
Besides I wouldn't touch food from
the
garden.
Give ye the pox
,
it will.”
Charism hid her grin at the man's doubtful expression. He wasn't suitable for the young lady. Until Sarra told her otherwise, the old lady would continue to help her keep the hounds at bay.

“Indeed?”

“Aye, indeed!
Are ye doubting my word, boy?
That food there has the blight and the pox as well
,
I tell ye.
Ye will come to the high table and sup with me.
And that is the end of it!”

When
they arrived at the great doors
,
Charism placed her hands
up
on the
m
and pushed with all her might.
But the
y
wouldn't budge.
She grunted and groaned with the effort.
Finally she
glanced
back at
the visitor
.
“Well
,
are ye going to just stand there and let a little woman strain herself with all this effort?
Get the door
,
will ye
?
”

Barney
pushed open the doors with little effort and stepped back
. He bowed and extended his
arm to Charism, respectfully allowing the “mistress” to go in first.
Th
e
visitor
followed closely behind but as
he stepped
over the threshold
,
Charism watch
ed
him reel
back.

The rushes
were
fairly clean but upon further inspection they
appear
ed to be liberally scattered with something resembling slop
, causing a noxious odor.
Charism looked around with satisfaction.
The girl was up to her old tricks again.
This one would never find a man she was satisfied with.
Besides this one wasn't suitable for the young lady. Until Sarra told her otherwise, the old lady would continue to help her keep the hounds at bay.

The man
jerk
ed at the sound of the kitchen door slapping shut and
the
cook
entering
.
Cook's
long, stringy hair
looked
to have
been slathered
in
pig fat
.
M
ud caked
his
clothing and
his nose
dripp
ed
,
as
h
e came forward
to
drop
the
tray laden with food items on the huge rectangular table.
Looking up at Charism, he gave a toothless grin and sneered.
Before he left, a
hand was
swabbed across his nose, collect
ing
a wad of the runny substance
which was
slung
in
the direction of the food placed on the table.
Charism
hid her mouth behind her hand and
coughed, the sound mingling with her distinctive giggle
.

As
she
studied
the
bread on the table
,
she saw spots.
A
t first thought
,
the white spots were flour, until
they were
noticed moving.
The bread appeared to be in the process of wiggling right off the table
.
She
bit her lip
as the visitor's eyes went wide.

Next t
he smell of the meat assailed h
er
nostrils.
Cook had taken special care with his
“delicacy”
, m
aking certain it
was rotten.

Charism
's
face
surely
showed delight
as she
ambled forward
,
pretending
not
to
notic
e
the disgusting habits
of the keep's hash slinger
or the disgusting nature of the food.
“It seems Cook has prepared the pig intestines today.
What luck
!
M
y betrothed will be able to share in this fine meal.”

Barney
helped
her
in
to
a chair and pushed her up to the table.
Sh
e
noticed his trembling hands as
the
fare
was studied
more closely
.

As she watched, he opened his mouth to speak but
was interrupted by Sarra
's
next plan.

Clank, rattle, stomp, clank, rattle, stomp
.

“Ooooh.”
A low moan filled the air
.

“Wh...wh...what was that
noise
?”

Charism
twisted
in her chair and covered
a
hand with her own gnarled one
.
“What noise
,
my
child
?”

Clank, rattle, stomp, clank, rattle, stomp
.

“Ooooohhh.” The moans became louder, closer.

“That noise.”

“Well deary
,
I don't know what ye are referring to.
My hearing taint like it oughta be
,
but I am certain I don't hear a thing.”

Crash
.

“
Ooohhhh
!”

T
he last sounds float
ed
down the stairwell as
the visitor's
hand
twisted
out from under
Charism's.
Barney
stood up and gradually back
ed
away.
“Perhaps ye could direct me to the garderobe?”

“Aye, just meander across the hall, past the stairs and ye will find the door.
Hurry back soon, my love
. P
ig intestines aren't as good when they chill.”
A slow
,
sadistic grin spread across her
wrinkled
face.

“Aye, sure.
I promise to return quickly.”
Barney
backed up; turning around in mid-flight and fairly flew to the garderobe.
T
he door
was flung
wide
as the stranger
stepped inside.

Charism held up her bony fingers and ticked off the time.
Before
reaching
her middle finger, the
door
flung open
with enough force to rip it off its hinges.
The suitor's l
egs and arms
pumped
furiously
as
he
ran
out
through
the keep doors.

“Why
,
I didn't even get
to eat
!
”
exclaimed Charism, a smile
wreathing
her face.

Barney
moved his legs
as fast as
he
could
until he was
past the castle gates and into the surrounding wood.
A
shallow creek
loomed in the distance.
Running until his lungs felt as if they would explode, he reached the water's edge
and stopped.
He fell
beside the cool stream, taking deep gulping breaths and trying to regain his composure
.
He splashed w
ater on his face and
allowed
it
to
trickle down over his neck and into the deep
V
of his tunic.

After a moment, Barney lifted his head from the icy cold stream.
T
he
sound of a
deep
,
resonant
voice
took him off guard
, almost sending him headlong into the rushing liquid
.

“Well?
How did ye
fare
?”

Gaining his composure,
Barney
shook out his hair and leaned back on his haunches
.
His water
-
coated eyes struggled to focus on the man in front of him.
Cedric MacNeil was not a Scot to be trifled with.
At over six feet tall, with fierce blue eyes
and a daunting demeanor,
he was rarely
challenged
.
A sword hilt peeked above his shoulder, drawing Barney's attention.

To avoid his master's wrath, Barney said,
“La
i
rd Cedric
,
the mistress, she met me at the gate, ye see.
And those rumors ye mentioned from England, well
,
they were correct
.
A
t least on the physical side
of things
.
The woman is so old and bent over
,
s
he
favors a witch
to be sure
.”

“Aye
.
W
hat happened
after she met ye
?”

Barney scratched his head.
“She did just like y
e
said.
She offered me something to eat.
I suggested the garden but the lady told me some story about the pox.
She led me toward
the keep doors
,
and I
'
ave to tell ye
,
I was gettin' mighty frustrated with her pace.
She was going at the pace of a turtle on a winter morning
, she was
.
I thought about hoisting her over m
e
shoulder
and to
the door, but I was in no hurry to enter the hall.
I was kinda pleased with the outside workings
,
but
I
had a feeling the inside would leave a very bad taste in
m
e
mouth
—
and perhaps in
me
bowels too.
W
hen I saw the food
,
I
knew I was right.
And it explained why ye mistress looks
a hundred
,
when she is supposed to be twenty!
” Barney paused,
and then
added,
“
But like I was sayin', i
f I was pleased for ye with the outside, the inside changed
them feelins
real quick.
There was wormy bread, which I don't mind eaten when I'm in a pinch
,
y
e
understand.
There was some kind of rotten meat.
And I can't
begin to
describe the smell of the rushes on the floor.
Why I think they must
'
ve thrown buckets of animal excrement about.
”

Cedric was losing patience with
h
is
hired hand.
Barney must have noticed because he rushed ahead with the rest of his explanation.

“I remembered what ye said about not eatin
'
the food
,
and I asked to use the privy.
While I was there
,
I needed to go.
Couldn't help it.
Being scared does that to a fellow.
A
fter I breathed real slow a few times, not the best place for it
, of course
,
but I had to catch m
e
breath
.
Anyway
I pulled aside m
e
kilt to relieve myself.
But I have this habit of looking in the hole before I, well ye know.
One never knows where a spider might make its home.
And y
e
'll never guess what I seen there.”

Cedric raised an eyebrow.

“Well don't you want to know?”

“Aye, I do.”

“Well it sure wasn't no spider!
It was a head!”

“
A what?”
asked Cedric
,
squinting his eyes
.

“It was a head.
Didn't have a body.
Was just floatin
'
around in
the
first
level
garderobe.
I never seen anything like it.”
Cedric went still and
stared
up at the crystal clear sky as
something
dawned on him
.
S
ince when
was
a garderobe on the first floor?

Cedric paced, t
apping a finger to his lips
.
H
e asked, “Did the lady give you
her
name?”

An intense look of concentration knitted Barney's brows together.
“I don't think so.”

Cedric pondered
the
information.
“You did well, Barney.”

Barney reached out
his hand
as a coin flipped through the air and landed in his palm.
“Do y
e
need me for anything else?”

“Not yet.
Ye may go back and wait with Duncan and the others until I send for ye.
”

“Aye, Laird Cedric.”