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It didn't matter. The servants would tell him what she had done to further her
plans or he would simply have to guess. Somewhere not too far off, she seemed
to have located a large supply of the pennyroyal. This room reeked with its
mint-like, musty-unpleasant smell.
One thing was certain. Running around to see what had been accomplished, the
way he had started to do with this visit to the new Nursing Room, was not the
way to get things done. The center of command at Malencontri had always been
the High Table in the Great Hall the servants had taught him and Angie that
from the beginning. In situations like this, the procedure for him was to seat
himself at the High Table and call for conferences with his lieutenants.
Accordingly, he dropped by the Still Room to leave his order for the promised
beer, and headed for the Great Hall by the fast route through the servants'
quarters. But when he was halfway through the now-empty Serving Room, he heard
the sound of women's voices from the area of the High Table. One was
Geronde's sounding rather fierce at the moment one was the voice of Danielle,
and one a voice he did not recognize.
He stopped, irresolute. It washistable, of course, and if he merely walked
in, looked surprised, and then stood hesitating for a moment, the owners of
the voices would take the hint and make an excuse to go elsewhere.
But his early training in twentieth-century manners disagreed with the
practical purpose for which he needed the table. So he hesitated where he was,
and the words from those at the table came clearly to his ears.
"& they're all alike!" Geronde was saying, with what seemed to be
considerable venom. "Dependable as weather in springtime! He makes agreement,
this husband-to-be of mine, that I shall pass by Malencontri on my way from
Malvern, to ride up toSmytheCastle for a look at my future home with Brian!
But, when I get there he has gone and taken a guest of some sort. I ride hard
to get back here and find him and his guest where?"
She paused, evidently to take a breath, and almost snarled the last word.
"Hunting!" She took another breath. "Of all things, with a wedding we've both
waited years for hunting! As soon as he's back and I can say a word or two to
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him, I'll tell him "
Jim sneezed.
Damn pennyroyal! he thought.Maybe I'm allergic to it
Then he forgot all about allergies.
There had been nothing he could do about the sneeze no warning at all, and no
time to stop it even if he could have. The voices in the Great Hall had fallen
suddenly silent.
There was no way out of this situation now. The faster he moved the better.
He strode the last few steps to the Great Hall as noisily as he could, and
stopped there suddenly, staring at those at the table as if startled to find
them there.
"Forgive me, my ladies," he said, panting discreetly. "I didn't know you were
here."
"Nay, forgive me, James," said Geronde. They were all rising. "I suggested we
get something solid to eat down here and we got to talking. You haven't seen
Brian, I suppose?"
"Just a few minutes past," said Jim. "In the courtyard. He and Sir Harimore
had just come from hunting. Just happened to run into them, while setting up
things for the plague and getting things ready for your wedding with Brian."
"Wedding!" muttered Geronde between her teeth. "Oh, forgive me, James. May I
name to you Lady Joan Montacute, Countess of Kent. My lady, this is Baron Sir
James Eckert, our host."
"Indeed, I guessed it might be so," said Joan. She made no attempt to give
her voice any particularly warm intonation, but the lightness of it, combined
with the young-looking Plantagenet features under the blond hair, gave it a
quality of friendliness that Jim could not help feeling. "It is an honor and
my great pleasure to know you, my lord, but it is clear you have much on your
hands at present. We must make haste to withdraw."
And so they did.
Jim seated himself at the table, which still held several plates of foods and
part-empty wine cups. A small mouse of a servant another recent recruit,
looking to be about ten or twelve years old crept out of wherever she had been
hiding to stand beside his chair.
"May I fetch you something, Your Lordship?"
"M'lord can do for everyday purposes," said Jim kindly. "Nothing to eat or
drink. But get me my squire you know Theoluf."
"Oh yes, your m'lordship."
Jim sighed internally. She would learn.
"I want him. I also want my Master of Hounds, my Stable Master, and I want
Mistress Plyseth of the Serving Room no, not Mistress Plyseth, she's needed
where she is get me her apprentice, May Heather. May Heather will help you to
get used to things here tell her I said she was to help you."
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"Yes, your m'lordship."
"Run along then." She ran.
Who could tell? In twenty years she could turn out to be one of the most
valuable members of the staff.
"At your service, m'lord," said Theoluf, appearing.
"Theoluf," Jim said, "what's our strength of men-at-arms right now in the
castle I mean of healthy men?"
"Frank Short's still not full healed, m'lord of those cuts he got from his
fight with the Bishop's armsman but they're nothing to stop him if he's
needed. Counting him, we've got twelve, counting Yves Mortain as chief
man-at-arms."
"If the plague gets this far west and word gets out we're plague-free here,
there could be a lot of people outside the castle trying to get in. Maybe even
neighbors perhaps men of rank. We're setting up a pavilion outside for a
quarantine station, but those of rank and others may demand to come in
directly."
"Very true, m'lord."
"They must be refused, Theoluf!"
"Aye, my lord!"
"Now, should we try to get more armsmen while we can still get healthy ones?"
"I like to watch each one a month at least, before I keep him. Have we that
time pardon my plain speaking, my lord?"
"No. I don't think we have."
"Then no, I'd rather not. In the field, maybe. But we've got stout walls to
stand behind and servants who've borne steel cap and spear before. I could
drill them some on the way they run up the steps to the wall and take their
place there, so their caps and spears make them look like better-trained
fighters."
"Do that," said Jim. "Now, I may be gone when you have trouble or sick
myself "
"God forfend, my lord!" Theoluf crossed himself.
"But I may be. How well will you and my lady work together defending the
castle? Speak your mind on this."
"I will, my lord. My lady and I have faced attack here though they were
mostly mere brushes when you were gone. We are of like mind in such a defense.
I would rather have her over me than many a belted knight I've known. She is
not rash and that is a thing of value."
"Good."
"Good it is, my lord, and, if I might be so bold, it may well not come to
this. Sir Brian or the Master Bowman may be here when you are gone. Also
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neither Lady Geronde nor Mistress Danielle lacks some experience to command as
I would, or better, should any mischance befall me."
"It's good of you to remind me of that "
Jim broke off in mid-sentence and rose to his feet, seeing Prince Edward was
approaching at a swift pace through the Serving Room.
"Your Grace!" said Jim. "I thought you had left us this morning early."
"I had so planned," said Edward brusquely. "But James, come down from there,
will you, and let us walk a ways. I must talk to you."
"Certainly, Your Grace," said Jim, inwardly grinding his teeth at the
interruption. "Theoluf, we will continue our talk later. Wait me here."
He stepped down from the dais and walked off with the Prince through the
Serving Room, where he now saw his Master of Hounds, his Stable Master and May
Heather, with the mouse at her side, also waiting for his attention. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]