Quinn smiled for the boy and ruffled his fair hair.He knew Bayard was right, but leaving so quickly after his return felt like a concession and one he should not be quick to make.
A man cleared his throat in the portal at that moment.A short, spare man stood there, watching Quinn.The new arrival was attired in Tulley’s livery of red with four silver stars.
They must have been spotted when they passed Tulley and followed up the valley.A messenger from the liege lord who had summoned Quinn could only bring good tidings.Perhaps the Lord de Tulley had a plan to help Quinn remain here.Perhaps he sent provisions.
“Quinn de Sayerne?”the man asked.
Quinn nodded.“Aye, that is my name.”
The man surveyed Quinn and a frown lodged between his brows.Quinn realized the state of his appearance and brushed some of the snow from his hair.He would have liked to have had a cleaner tabard, even to greet his liege lord’s clerk, and to have polished his old boots, but there was naught for it now.
“I have a message for you from the Lord de Tulley.I am to await your reply.”The clerk bowed and offered a scroll of parchment.
Quinn accepted it and stepped back outside into the sunlight.He lingered for a moment, eying his own name written across the parchment and the weight of Tulley’s embossed seal.He ran his finger across both, for he had never received such a fine missive before.
“How did you know I had arrived?”Quinn asked, delaying the moment of breaking the seal.
“Your passage at Tulley was noted this morning, and of course, my lord had word of you resting at Beauvoir.”
“Of course.”Quinn knew that Tulley missed little that happened within his holding.
“My lord knew that you would return once the missive regarding your father’s demise had been delivered to your hand.”
“I appreciated Lord de Tulley taking the time and trouble to inform me,” Quinn responded in an echo of the man’s formal tone.“It cannot have been easy to seek me out in the Holy Land.”
“The Lord de Tulley is most fastidious about ensuring the line of succession is maintained appropriately.”
“Still I appreciate his efforts,” Quinn said with a smile.
The servant nodded brusquely.“I shall inform him of such, sir.”
Quinn broke the seal and unfurled the parchment.He read it, then glanced up to meet Bayard’s gaze.
“I am summoned to the lord’s hall, with my party,” he confessed.His investiture awaited him, he was certain.
“That splendid keep?On the mount?”Bayard asked.
“The very one.”
“That is a fine invitation, indeed.”Bayard turned and laid his hand on Michel’s shoulder.His expression so sober that Quinn knew he meant to tease the boy.“Do not worry about the rat tonight,” he advised the squire.“We will leave him for our return.The Lord de Tulley will probably offer finer fare, and the rat will be fatter by our return.”
“Rat?”the messenger repeated with distaste.He peered into the shadows of the hall once more and his complexion paled.“There are rats in the hall?”He grimaced and his gaze flicked between the two knights.“And you planned to dine upon them?”
“It would have been a cold meal, as there is no fuel to be found here for the fire.”Bayard leaned closer to the messenger and his voice dropped.“To my view, rats are not so good raw, for they tend to writhe on the way down.”He made a gesture with one hand meant to clarify his meaning.
The messenger stepped away from Bayard, his horror clear.
“Perhaps you would like to try one?”the other knight suggested.He snapped his fingers at Michel and the boy ducked back into the hall, as if to catch a treat for the clerk.
That man turned and hastened back to his steed, calling the remainder of the message over his shoulder.“Lord de Tulley expects you at the board as soon as you might see fit to present yourself.”
“It is too far to ride all the way to Tulley this day,” Quinn said.“The sun will set early at this time of year...”
“Aye, Lord de Tulley is aware of your progress.He has charged us to leave provisions for you at the barn used to store grain on the border of Sayerne.It is simple accommodation, but there is no grain this year and at least there is a roof.”He spared a glance at the roof of Sayerne’s keep and shook his head slightly in disapproval.
It was somewhat startling to Quinn that Tulley knew so much of his doings, and the state of Sayerne, but he was glad of the suggestion.“I thank you!”he said and bowed to the clerk.“That would be most welcome.”His spirits were restored by both the missive and the promise of a warm meal.
The messenger was already in the saddle and rode out of the bailey with a speed better suited to fleeing the dogs of hell.Quinn could see the clerk’s accompanying party awaiting him in the distance, near the specified barn on Sayerne’s borders.
