“He will not harm her,” Adali said tightly, “or my mistress, or any of her family. I would kill him myself this night, but that the earl has insisted we resolve this matter within the tenets of the king’s law. Best the marquis of Hartsfield be exposed for all to see as the corrupt creature he is, Kipp St.Denis. You are wise to escape him now while you have the opportunity.”
In the hour before dawn Adali himself awakened Kipp, took him to the kitchens, fed him, and gave him a supply of oat cakes, cheese, salted meat, and wine to aid him in his travels. He also instructed him in a shortcut over the mountains known only tothe local folk. It would cut two days off his journey south. Then, leading him to the stable, he helped him to saddle his horse.
“I have seen to his shoeing,” he told the surprised Kipp. “You will travel better for it. Do not fear that any of your brother’s men will see you leave. Like their master, they will sleep well this day.” He laughed softly as he led the horse from the stables.
Beneath the portcullis Kipp St.Denis mounted his animal. Looking down at Adali, he said, “I am sad, Adali, but I know I have made the right decision, hard as it was. My brother is lost to me.”
“One door closes, another is opened wide,” Adali said wisely. “God watch over you in your travels, Kipp St.Denis.” Then, reaching into his coat, he drew forth a small sealed parchment. “Deliver this to Viscount Villiers, if you will, and your safety is assured.” Then Adali slapped the rump of the horse and watched as Kipp rode forth from Glenkirk Castle. “You have seen nothing,” he said quietly to the man-at-arms on watch.
“Aye, Master Adali,” the soldier replied.
The night faded away, and the day began at Glenkirk as it always did. A messenger was dispatched to the earl informing him of St.Denis’s arrival and Adali’s success at subverting Kipp, who had obviously, according to Adali, been considering a departure from his brother’s service for some time. In midafternoon the marquis of Hartsfield stumbled into the Great Hall, shouting for his brother, for Adali, for someone.
“Ahhh, my lord, you are awake at last,” Adali said coming forth. “Are you hungry? How may I serve you?”
“Where the hell is my brother?” St.Denis demanded.
“Your brother?” Adali looked puzzled. “Is he not with you, my lord? I thought he was always with you.”
“No! He isn’t with me, or I wouldn’t be asking,” snapped the marquis. “Bring me some wine! My mouth tastes like a whore’s cunt!”
“The last I saw of your brother was last night when he put your lordship to bed. This traveling is hard on you, I can see as you are not used to it. Life at court ill prepares one for such travel as yours, my lord.” He poured St.Denis a large goblet of wine and handed it to him. “Your wine, my lord.”
The marquis drained the goblet swiftly. “What time is it?”
“Almost four o’clock of the afternoon,” Adali said cheerfully.
“Where are my men?”
“Like you, my lord, they slept like the dead,” Adali replied.
“Find my brother!” the marquis ordered Adali, who bowed in a servile manner and left the hall. He returned within the half hour to inform Pier St.Denis, “Your brother seems to have left the castle, my lord, for his horse is gone from its place in the stables. It must have been early, for the stable lad did not see him go. I suspect he left during the time when the night watch and the day watch were exchanging places. The night watch thinks he saw a rider leave, but he is not certain, and the day watch saw nothing. I regret I can tell you no more.” Adali bowed.
“If you have harmed him …” Piers St.Denis began, but Adali cut him short.
“My lord,” he said angrily, “you are under the protection of the earl of Glenkirk. No one would harm you or yours while you are here. If we wished you harm, you, your brother, and your men would have all been slain in your beds last night, and already buried in a pit upon the ben, even as I speak. No one here has harmed or injured your brother in any way. I do not know where he has gone, or why. Now, my lord, would you like something to eat?”
“He’ll be back,” the marquis muttered almost to himself. He felt headachy and out of sorts. He ate alone, served by men servants. There were no women in sight at all. Finally he called to Adali, and said, “I want a woman, dammit! Fetch me that serving wench who was in the hall last night. The red-haired wench with the big tits!”
“I regret, my lord, that we have no whores at Glenkirk for our guests,” Adali replied quietly, his tone firm.
St. Denis stamped from the hall and found his bedchamber. While he did not feel sleepy, he did sleep, awakening again just at dawn. Dressing himself, he returned to the hall. “I will be leaving this morning,” he told Adali. “Have you written down the names of the places the earl and Jasmine might be? And the directions to these places?”
“I have, my lord,” Adali reassured him, serving the marquis himself. There were no other servants in the hall to be seen at all this morning. Adali placed a bowl of oat stirabout before the marquis with a chunk of bread and cheese and a goblet of cider.
When Piers St.Denis had eaten, he took the parchment with the listings and the map from Adali and strode out into the courtyard, where his men stood milling about. “Have any of you seen my brother?” he demanded of them, but they all shook their heads no. His horse was brought, and the marquis mounted it, looking about him. “Where are my men’s horses, Adali?”
“We could not stable so many, my lord, and so we sent them up to the high pasture to graze,” was the helpful reply. “It is on your way to Sithean, my lord. If your men carry their saddles and packs up to the meadows on the ben, they can round up their horses, and you will be quickly on your way. To send up for them ourselves would mean the loss of another day for you, and I know that you do not want to lose another day in your search for my master and my mistress.” He smiled.
Piers St.Denis cursed under his breath. He suspected that Adali’s polite manner masked a successful effort to thwart him in his pursuit of the earl and countess of Glenkirk. Yet Adali had been very cooperative. There was nothing the marquis of Hartsfield could put his finger on to justify his suspicions even if his instinct told him otherwise. “If my brother should return,” he began, “you will tell him where we have gone, Adali, will you not?”
“Of course, my lord. If you follow my list as I have written it for you—Sithean to Greyhaven to Hay House, to Leslie Brae to Briarmere Moor and thus on the Huntley, the stronghold of the Gordons—I will know exactly where you are at all times. I shall be able to send Master St.Denis directly to you when he returns.”
“But what of those places where the games are held?” the marquis asked Adali.
“My lord, you should catch up to my master and mistress long before then. If you do not, I can only say, Inverness, Loch Lomond, or Nairn. I do not know which they shall attend, nor when. You will have to find that out for yourself.”
Piers St.Denis yanked at his horse’s head and, without even a simple farewell or thanks, motioned to his men to follow him and rode out of Glenkirk Castle.
