“Rape his wife? Of course he can. Ye cannae be that big a fool. If a lass doesnae want the bedding, she doesnae want it, and it makes no difference who is doing the asking. Aye, and even if the lass accepts the bedding as her wifely duty, the mon can be a bastard in the taking of her, cannae he?”
George frowned. “This was to be a simple way to gain the coin I need to survive, but it grows more complicated by the hour.”
“Ye felt it was just to capture a murderess and take her to the ones she had wronged. Even if ye dinnae believe that she is innocent, and she is, ye cannae condone what ye say Vachel means to do to her.”
“Non, I cannot. I felt troubled leaving her behind when I learned what the man planned to do. He seems to think he can keep her a secret from the rest of his family, play with her as he pleases until he grows weary of her, and then hang her as was planned. That is an evil I want no part of. I am just not sure how I can help you. I occasionally ride with Vachel’s men, but I am not his vassal and I rarely enter that keep.”
Nigel cursed and dragged his fingers through his hair. “I need to ken where she has been placed within that pile of stone.”
“In Vachel’s bedchambers. He ordered her bathed and dressed in a gown.” He leaned back a little when Nigel paled with fury.
“It would have been better if she had been locked in the dungeons. I cannae see how I can get within the keep and slip up into the master’s bedchamber without being seen.”
“Actually, I think you can get into the lord’s bedchambers unseen, at least into the room he lets everyonethinkis his bedchamber.” George smiled faintly at Nigel’s cross look of confusion. “Vachel thinks that no one knows, but he acts with the arrogance so many of wealth and power do. Those who scurry about doing their lord’s bidding are neither blind nor stupid. They see and hear, and they learn all of the secrets.”
Nigel nodded as he picked up his wineskin and silently offered George a drink. “My family learned the hard truth of that years ago. We also learned that such hidden folk can also be a source of betrayal.”
“Oui, and I suspect that Vachel will die in his secret little bed at the hands of one of them, or by someone who was shown the way by them.”
“I am little concerned about the mon’s fate if he lives out this day. Those gates will soon close, and I need to get the lass out of there.”
George took a long drink of the wine, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Come with me, then, and I will show you how to get into the man’s bedchamber, in and out without being seen.”
“If it is to be so easy why did ye nay do it yourself?”
“Because I am one of those men whose courage is not as strong as it should be,” George replied as he stood up and brushed himself off. “Sometimes I need the prick of a knife at my throat to get me to do what I know is right.”
Nigel hesitated as they moved to their horses and George mounted. This seemed all too easy. He had not only found a man to work with him but a way to slip in and out without being seen. It could be that he had been given an answer to the prayers he had been muttering for hours, but it could also be a trap. This Sir Vachel had to know that Gisele had a companion, a man who had joined her in the fight to stay alive. He could have sent George out to try and find him and ensnare him.
George looked at Nigel and smiled. “You really have little choice. I am the only hope you have. No one else will be leaving that place, not alone. And I do not believe you will find anyone else amongst them who has even my reluctant sense of what is right and just.”
“It just seems suspiciously easy,” Nigel said as he mounted. “Do we just ride in?”
“We do. I am even now devising an explanation for returning and bringing you inside. Has anyone seen you up close?”
“None that have survived.”
“I shall have to leave this place after this,” George sighed, “for someone will recall that I brought a man in.”
“Then ye ride in, and I shall sneak in.”
“You can sneak in there?”
“Aye, and your return will help me.” Nigel dismounted and pulled a small bag of coins from his purse. “Tell them ye wish to buy the lass’s horse.” He gave George some money. “Then say ye must do something, anything, that will get ye back inside the keep. I will follow ye in there. Then ye can take me to this hiding place.”
“We must still get out with the girl.”
“I can slip her out as easily as I slip in. Ye just bring the horse to this place.”
“If you can slip in and slip away so easily, what need have you of me?”
“I dinnae ken where the lass is, do I? And,”—he spoke in French to make his point more clear—“I can speak the language, but it is clear to all who hear me that I am not French.”
George made an exaggerated face of disgust. “I have rarely heard our tongue so completely butchered.”
“Go. I will meet up with you inside,” Nigel ordered.
He watched George ride away. The man seemed amiable and trustworthy. He seemed to be just what he said he was, a man of reluctant courage who had thought he was doing nothing wrong and needed to be nudged to now do what was right. It was better that they enter the keep separately, however. If Nigel discovered that he was wrong to trust George, the man would not be able to just hand him over to the enemy. He would have to find him first. It was a small advantage, but it was better than nothing.
