Richmond,
We have received your missive regarding the removal of your ward from Lambourn Castle and We approve. Continue to Whitby Abbey with all due haste, whereupon your ward shall begin her sentence with the sisterhood. When you have accomplished this task, you will return to London with all due haste. We have need of you.
Tasked the Day of Days,
Your Lord and Sovereign, Henry…..”
Richmond looked up from the missive. “So we return to London once Arissa is charged to Whitby,” he muttered, lowering the missive as he began to roll it up again. His movements were slow and pensive. “It is as I had hoped.”
“You do not seem pleased.”
Richmond shrugged. “I do not suppose we could take another few weeks before I have to leave her.”
Gavan sighed faintly, glancing up at Arissa and Emma in the distance as they bartered for the garments. “Nay,” he said quietly. “Richmond, I realize this is difficult for you, but the sooner you leave her and attend Henry, the sooner you can return for her. That is what you want most of all, is it not?”
Richmond tucked the missive back in the pouch, noting the second one and remembering that he was instructed to read it alone.
“It is,” he nodded, though he was still feeling depressed. “I still do not like the idea of leaving her with strangers. More than that, I do not want her to be away from me.”
“It is necessary for now. You know that. You and Henry have a great deal of business to discuss and it is better to get it over with.”
Richmond could only nod again. Then he pulled out the second smaller missive and gestured to Gavan with it.
“Hurry the women along,” he instructed. “Whatever they want, buy it for them. Let us depart this berg sooner rather than later. I am eager to get the men settled in for the night.”
Gavan broke away from him and headed for Arissa and Emma, who saw him coming and hastened to wind up their bartering. Richmond watched for a moment as Gavan came upon them and evidently told them to hurry, because he could hear Arissa scolding him.
With a grin, Richmond broke the seal on the second missive and read the short note, also from Henry. This news wasregarding Gavan’s wife and was far more devastating, like a blow to his gut, and Richmond struggled quickly to recover.
He made sure there were no tears in his eyes when Gavan returned with the women a short time later.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Richmond’s encampment hadbeen set up about three miles north of Pickering in a vale of trees with a large brook running through it, enough so that his men were able to wash and cook with plenty of water.
In spite of the fact that it was December in the north, the skies were remarkably clear and the land fairly dry. It was, however, very cold. Richmond had his men spread out and set up a perimeter, setting watch shifts and security, as several of his men set up his tent and stoked two viziers into a nice, warm blaze.
Arissa and Emma had huddled around one of them while the tents went up, until Emma grew bored and began to speak of the winter blooms she had seen. She began to speak of pomades and oils, pulling Arissa into her excitement, and soon the two of them were out of the tent in search of the elusive winter blooms. That was fairly normal behavior for Arissa. Unbeknownst to Richmond, they wandered away from camp.
But his clues came soon enough. Richmond heard a chorus of screams, faint and muffled against the damp trees, and he knew without a doubt the screams came from Arissa; he would know her voice anywhere. He had just located Gavan amongst the soldiers and was preparing to deliver the contents of the second missive when the air had been pierced by the unmistakable sounds of terror. Deterred from his dreaded task, both he and Gavan had been jolted into action.
Within seconds, the entire camp was a boiling cauldron of men and armor, determined to seek out and protect thetwo women from the impending threat. The five soldiers that had been left in charge of the young ladies’ safety suddenly found themselves stripped of their arms and corralled into a tight group. Guarded by ten soldiers of Richmond’s personal choosing, hope for a relatively painless future was not guaranteed as Henry’s most powerful knight discovered their failings.
Richmond and Gavan were already mounted, tearing into the thicket of trees to the south of the wagon, the very last place the two ladies had been seen and assuming it was a logical location to begin. But several feet into the undergrowth, it was obvious the destriers could go no further in the heavy foliage. Dismounting, swords were unsheathed as both knights and several dozen soldiers charged headlong into the dense, wet leafage.
Heart pounding, Richmond was not given ample time to work himself up into a good panic; within moments, he found himself gazing upon a black and blond head from where the ladies sat, perched on a large moldering rock. Beside them, a vaguely familiar figure clad in rags sat happily and several feet away, a cluster of children were hovered intently over a small fire.
Richmond could see that the women weren’t in any danger and his anxiety transformed into simmering anger. Pushing through a bank of heavy brush that he practically tore to shreds with his force and size, he jabbed an armor-clad finger at the two figures on the rock.
“What goes on here?” he boomed.
Arissa started violently, leaping up from the rock in surprise. Emma, her eyes wide with shock, stared at Richmond and Gavan as if the Devil had suddenly made an appearance; covered with exposed swords and weapons, the picture was terrifying.
“We…. we came into the trees looking for flowers,” Arissa stammered. “The children found us and are preparing a special treat in our honor.”
Richmond stared at the overall picture a moment; seventeen very frightened, very cold children gazed back at him as if he were pure evil. On a small fire built into the mucky earth, five small fish were cooking on spits and Richmond sheathed his sword, moving to grasp Arissa by the arm.
“’Twas foolish to venture into the trees without an escort,” he growled. “I would expect more of a show of intelligence from you, my lady. You are fully aware of the dangers that lurk about.”
