He was standing in the bailey, looking forlornly after the dashing party that had just ridden out, when Cristen approached him.
“Don’t feel bad, Thomas. I think Father felt he had to take the older knights,” she said comfortingly.
“Perhaps. But they had a chance to fight at the Battle of the Standard,” Thomas said mournfully. “We younger men have seen no action at all.”
Cristen patted him on the arm, rather in the way she patted her dogs. “Your day will come,” she promised.
At that moment, Brian came up to her, returning the dogs from their morning exercise. He, too, had been watching the departure of Nigel’s chosen few.
“Did they not look splendid, my lady?” His hazel eyes were shining.
“They certainly did,” Cristen agreed.
“How grand the whole company will look when all of Lord Guy’s vassals join together! I wish I could go with them! How lucky William is to have this chance!”
Nigel’s squire had accompanied the knights, along with several grooms to care for the horses.
“I never got to go to war when I was a squire,” Thomas said gloomily.
With difficulty, Cristen refrained from comment.
Ralf rolled over on his back and proceeded to rub himself industriously into the dirt of the courtyard. His black legs waved in the air as he scratched.
Cedric watched him with intense interest.
“Come along,” Cristen said to her dogs. “I have things to do even if these men do not.”
Thomas looked guilty. “Don’t worry, my lady. Sir Nigel gave me a long list of tasks to perform.”
“How nice,” Cristen said pleasantly. “Then why don’t you start to do them?”
“Yes, my lady,” Thomas said, and hurried off in the direction of the archery butts.
Cristen waited until she was certain that Guy’s feudal force must have left Chippenham for Cornwall. Then she sent for Thomas to come to see her in the herb garden shed. She wanted to be sure that she would have complete privacy, and during the day privacy was at a premium within the castle itself.
“My lady,” the young knight said when he presented himself. “May I be of some service to you?”
Cristen regarded the round, freckled face gazing at her with such gallantly concealed perplexity.
She removed a small pot of bubbling liquid from the charcoal brazier and placed it carefully on a tile to cool. Then she turned her full attention to Thomas.
“Hugh is in trouble,” she said gravely.
Thomas was instantly concerned. “Why? What has happened, my lady?”
Cristen was bareheaded in the warmth of the shed, and now she pushed one of her long brown braids back across her shoulder, where it swung down to her waist.
“I don’t know precisely what has happened, but I know that he needs me.” She paused, then corrected herself. “He needs us.”
The young knight frowned in confusion. “I’m sorry, my lady, but I don’t understand.”
“It is very simple,” Cristen said matter-of-factly. “I am going to Lincoln and you are going to escort me.”
Thomas’s mouth dropped open.
“We can leave this afternoon,” Cristen said.
Thomas shut his mouth with an audible click of teeth.
“We cannot do that, my lady,” he said. “I have not got Sir Nigel’s permission.”
Cristen said, with extreme pleasantness, “Perhaps you have forgotten that in the absence of Sir Nigel, I am the one in charge here at Somerford.”
Thomas gazed at her unhappily. “I have not forgot that, my lady. But…”
“It will all be perfectly proper,” Cristen assured him. “I will take one of my ladies with me…” She tilted her head a fraction, as if thinking. “I believe Mabel Eliot will be best. She is not prone to complain.”
Thomas’s light green eyes sparked with sudden interest. As Cristen well knew, the young knight had a partiality for Mabel. But he shook his head regretfully. “Sir Nigel will have my head if I take you away from Somerford without his permission, my lady. And at such a perilous time! The roads are filled with master-less men these days, looking to prey upon anyone who might easily fall victim to them.”
“We won’t easily fall victim,” Cristen said. “We will have you.”
“I am only one man, my lady,” Thomas said with exasperation. “You cannot expect me to combat a whole band of outlaws!”
Cristen shrugged. “Then we shall have to avoid the outlaws.”
“Nay, my lady,” Thomas said, even more decisively than before. “I will not do it. It is too dangerous.”
Cristen regarded him thoughtfully. Thomas looked warily back. Then he had another thought.
“Besides, as you yourself just pointed out to me, you are the one Sir Nigel left in charge of Somerford. You can’t desert your post, my lady. We are all looking to you for leadership.”
“Lionel is perfectly capable of seeing to the knights, and my women will see to the household. I won’t be missed.”
Thomas looked stubborn. “In normal times, that might be so. But what if we are attacked?”
“We won’t be attacked,” Cristen said.
“How can you be sure?” Thomas demanded.
A long moment passed in silence. Then Cristen said in a very gentle voice, “I don’t think you quite understand, Thomas. If you refuse to escort me to Lincoln, then I shall have to go by myself.”
Thomas looked horrified.
“I plan to ride out immediately after dinner,” Cristen went on. “Either I go alone, or I go with you and Mabel. The choice is yours.”
Thomas ran nervous fingers through his wheat-colored hair, which needed to be cut again. “You are not being fair, my lady!”
“No, I’m not,” Cristen agreed. “I am putting you in a horrible position. I know it, and I apologize. But you see, Thomas, I am desperate. I must and I will go to Lord Hugh. I will feel safer if you go with me, but if you won’t, I will be compelled to go alone.”
Thomas looked miserable.
“I will tell Sir Nigel that I gave you no choice,” Cristen said sympathetically. “I promise that you will not be held accountable for my actions.”
Thomas ran distracted fingers through his hair once more.
“I really think Sir Nigel will be angrier with you if you let me go alone than he will be if you go with me,” Cristen pointed out.
There was a brief silence. Then Thomas said sulkily, “All right, my lady. I will take you to Lincoln.”
Cristen gave him a brilliant smile. “Thank you, Thomas.”
The young knight did not smile back. “You show no mercy, my lady,” he complained.
“I can’t afford to,” Cristen replied. Her smile died away and her face looked suddenly grim.
Thomas scowled. “How the devil am I to explain our departure to Lionel?”
“I will say that someone is ill in Malmesbury and I have been sent for,” Cristen said. “You will be my escort.”
“And what will they think when we don’t return?”
“At first they will think that we have stayed the night in Malmesbury. I have done that often enough. And we will stop in the town long enough to leave a note at the abbey explaining things. I shall ask that the note be delivered to Lionel tomorrow afternoon. We will have enough of a start by then to prevent him from trying to catch up with us.”
“You have thought of everything, my lady,” Thomas said with heavy irony.
Cristen stared intently at the pot that she had placed on the tile to cool. “I hope I have,” she replied. “I’m sorry I must coerce you like this, Thomas. And I am sorry that I must desert the trust my father left me with here at Somerford.”
She drew in a long, uneven breath and concluded starkly, “But nothing is as important as Hugh.”
10
THE MANOR OF LINSAY
Having regained his composure and feeling somewhat rested, Hugh left the town house where he had lived with his foster parents and returned to the sheriff’s. There he washed, changed his clothes, and reclaimed his horse to ride to Linsay, the manor that John Rye held in knight’s fee from the bishop.