“He was assigned to guard a maid who had been stolen from her father and held for ransom. Arthur and I approached Sir Philip’s manor after dark, seeking another woman we thought might be held there, and released the lass. Osbert feared Sir Philip would deal severely with him for being surprised in the night and allowing the maid to be freed.”
“So you carried him away as well as the lass?”
“What was I to do? Leave him to die at the hands of a wicked lord?”
“Wicked Sir Philip may be, but he was the man’s lord.”
“May be? He took a knight’s daughter and kept her for ransom. Because Osbert failed to assist this felony, he must now die?”
“Perhaps Sir Philip would not have destroyed the fellow.”
“He was doing so when Arthur and I freed him.”
“Ah, but that was for running away, not for failing to properly guard his prisoner.”
“You believe Sir Philip would have dealt more leniently with Osbert for allowing his captive, for whom he was demanding fifty pounds, to escape?”
“Whether Sir Philip is lenient or not is his business, not yours… or mine. The man was his villein and his to command.”
“He commanded him to aid him in a felony. Must a man obey his lord and violate the laws of God and the King?”
“It is for his lord to decide obedience to the King, and a priest to determine what is due God.”
“If you send Osbert back to Sir Philip, he will slay the man, and if the past days are a measure, he’ll seek some ghastly way to do it.”
“I cannot control what another knight does upon his own manor. I must do what law requires and send the fellow back. The man must be returned to Sir Philip as soon as he is recovered from his wounds.”
“When he will receive fresh ones. You may as well pack him upon a cart and send him back now.”
Lord Gilbert grimaced involuntarily, for he had seen the bloody flesh of Osbert’s back. He pounded a fist upon his table to punctuate his next words. “I will not permit my bailiff to aid a villein who would flee his lord, and there’s an end to the matter. When the fellow is strong enough he will be returned. See to it.”
“I cannot,” I said.
“You what?” Lord Gilbert stood, as then did I.
“I can no longer serve you, m’lord. If Osbert is to be returned to Sir Philip and his death, I must resign my post.”
“Bah… you think a surgeon in Bampton can find custom enough to feed his family?”
“Probably not. I will take Kate and Bessie to Oxford. I have treated men’s wounds and injuries there, and have some small reputation.”
“Then go to Oxford! Go where you wish. I care not. But my bailiff will not tell me where my duty lies. I took you into my service to ease my burdens. Now you seek to increase them. Of what use are you to me?”
The conversation was clearly at an end. I bowed stiffly, because I was stiff, and because my attitude toward my employer was rigid. I stalked from the solar, descended to the hall, and banged open the door to our chamber, causing Kate to start and Bessie to whimper.
“We are to return to Galen House,” I said.
Kate brightened. She had never enjoyed being required to live in my old chamber in the castle. Then I told her why we would return to Galen House and her countenance fell.
“You have displeased Lord Gilbert.”
“Aye. I wish it was not so, but I could see no other way.”
“What will become of Osbert?”
“I have a plan. It will require your help if I am to save him from Sir Philip’s vengeance.”
“You shall have it. Is there no way to compromise with Lord Gilbert?”
“None. Osbert must either be set free of his obligation to Sir Philip, or be returned to certain death. There is no middle way.”
“And you,” Kate smiled gently as she spoke, “are a stubborn man.”
“Principled,” I corrected.
“And Lord Gilbert is stubborn?”
“He is also principled, but not all principled men serve the proper principles.”
“They may be costly, these principles of yours.”
“Aye. We may be required to leave Bampton.”
“I would be sorry to do so.”
“And I, also. I built Galen House to be our home. We will remain within it if we can.”
“What of your plan for Osbert?”
“We will take him from the castle lodgings range to Galen House. If Lord Gilbert learns of it and asks why, I will tell him that Osbert requires constant care, which is no lie, and ’tis inconvenient for me to visit the castle several times each day to see to his wounds.”
“Can he recover?”
“I believe so, but his back will be badly scarred. He may never again bend to touch his toes.”
“What will you do when he is healed?”
“I will tell the man he must flee in the night, and leave Oxfordshire far behind him. If Lord Gilbert asks of his healing I will tell him it goes slowly, so he will not, I hope, require Osbert to be sent back to East Hanney before he can safely escape Bampton.”
“You would lie to Lord Gilbert?”
“To save a life? Aye, I would. But I will not lie to him… I will not tell him the whole truth, that is all.”
“What will Lord Gilbert do when he learns the man has fled? Must you then resign your post?”
“He may require it of me. So be it. I am content, whatever befall.”
“What of the dead chapman and his coin?”
“So long as I am bailiff to Lord Gilbert I will serve him in the matter, and any other. And it may be because of me that Amice Thatcher and her children were taken.”
“You will return to Abingdon to seek them?”
“I must… when my wounds are better healed.”
Before nightfall of that melancholy day I had assigned three grooms to move Kate and me and our goods from the castle to Galen House, and Osbert was placed upon a cart and taken there also. Kate laid a fire upon the cold hearth, and set a kettle of pottage to simmering for our supper. I went to our bed that night strangely content, for a man who had displeased his employer, was in danger of losing part of his income, and had been recently pierced by an arrow.
We had no bed for Osbert, so laid his pallet upon the floor, close to the fire. Even though he slept there upon the ground floor, and Kate, Bessie, and I were in our chamber up the stairs, I heard him groan in his sleep when he shifted upon the pallet and his wounds caused him pain.
Osbert’s appetite was returning, so next morn he ate readily a portion of maslin loaf and cheese, and drank from a cup of ale into which I poured more crushed hemp seeds. He asked why he had been taken from the castle to this place, and I told him where he now was, and why. His face fell as he learned of his peril.
“Sir Philip will send me to my grave,” he said when I had finished.
“So I told Lord Gilbert, but he would not be moved.”
“How long before I am well enough that you will send me back?”
“If all goes as I hope, that day will never come.”
Osbert looked up to me, questions in his eyes. “You think I will not recover from the beating?”
“I believe you will regain your health, though ’tis likely the scars upon your back will always be with you, and will prevent you bending as a man otherwise could do.”
“Then I do not understand. How is it the day I must be sent back to East Hanney may never come?”
“I have a plan. I intend for you to escape this place, when you are well enough to travel.”
“Where am I to go?”
“I will tell you more later, when I have thought more about it. For now, you must regain your health. We will worry about where you are to go when the time approaches for you to flee.”
Truth to tell, I had already in mind a plan for Osbert’s escape, of which I thought he would approve, but I wished to think more on it before I told him, so that, had he questions or objections, I would have answers for him.
Shortly after we broke our fast and I had told Osbert of his danger, there came a loud thumping upon Galen House door. I opened to Arthur’s smiling face, and saw in his hand my sack of instruments and herbs. I bid him enter and tell me of Abingdon. There was much to learn.