“Gatekeeper!”Annelise cried after she had caught the reins of the mare. She led the horse back to the gates and only then realized they werealone.
Where was the gatekeeper? The gate could not have opened byitself.
But there was no one in sight. The walls were as smooth on the inside as on the exterior. She could not even see a mechanism to openthem.
Ridiculous. Gates did not openthemselves.
“Hello?” she called again. “Gatekeeper? Are youhere?”
Nothing moved. Goose pimples rose over her flesh at the silence but Annelise refused to bedaunted.
There was a gatekeeper. He had talked to her. He could not have gone veryfar.
Annelise examined the walls on either side of the heavy gates more closely. They were as smooth as glass, without so much as a nook for a keeper to hide within. She tipped back her head to eye the height of the walls and admired them again. There was neither a ladder nor a stair, nor so much as a walkway. Nary a lookout along the entire wall, as far as she couldsee.
There was not even an opening in the portal to let one peek outside the heavy walls. Did the lord have no interest in seeing who approached his gate? It made no sense to need to open the gate to see whoknocked.
Yves was still in the forest. Annelise knocked once more on the solid door.When there was no response, she knockedharder.
“My brother also needs sanctuary,” shedeclared.
There was noreply
Annelise pushed at the gate but it might have been part of the wall. She spun around, but could see no other break in the walls. She eyed the empty arched windows in the strangely low-built keep, with its sparkling bluepool.
Those windows were most impractical, without so much as a shutter across them. The hall would be cold as cold could be in these winter months. Obviously, those skilled masons had not possessed a speck ofsense...
In that moment, Annelise realized that the air in the bailey smelled like summer. Indeed, her wool kirtle and cloak with its squirrel-fur lining were so heavy that she felt a trickle of perspiration on herback.
Annelise looked about herself with wary eyes. What manner of castle had sheentered?
And what manner of man would be itslord?
One thing was certain. Annelise was effectively his prisoner, and she did not care for that in the least. Surely the keeper could not have truly meant that she would have to wed thelord?
What manner of man washe?
It was clear that Annelise and her host must talk. He had not made an appearance to greet her, so she would seek himout.
But first, she would tend her mare’sinjury.
Her nose told her that she would find a stable to herleft.
It was a relief that in one matter, at least, her host’s abode waspredictable.
* * *
Annelise’s nose was right.Hidden along one side of the palace were the stables. The wooden doors were cast open and straw was strewn on the ground. The pungency of the smell left no doubt as to the building’s use. Annelise’s footsteps quickened with the hope that she would find someonethere.
The gatekeeper, or at least an ostler. A stable boy might even be ofaid.
“Hello?”
She peered into the shadowed stables and a horse nickered from within. Her own mare replied. Annelise stepped into the darkness. Her eyes adjusted enough so that she could make out a pair of low-built stalls and she made her way towardthem.
The first was occupied by a chestnut palfrey. It was a large stall and as her mare seemed glad of the companionship of one of her own kind, Annelise tethered her there. She washed the wound upon the mare’s hip, which was not as deep as she had feared. There were brushes and cloths in the stable as well as the trap for the palfrey and Annelise’s confidence returned as she found these familiaritems.
Annelise removed the mare’s saddle and brushed her down, noting how the creature calmed beneath her touch. The mare drank of the water already left for the other palfrey and ate of the oats. The chestnut palfrey nibbled on Annelise’s hair, making her laugh, and she resolved to return in the morning when there was more light. She could not see a lantern, but she was sure she heard another horse in thestables.
