That brought him pause. Indecisive, he turned toward the south where the bulk of the lower bailey was. It was where the gatehouse was located, where he’d entered, and he could see that the lower bailey was full of people. There were makeshift shelters down there. Back toward the north where the kitchen yard was, several people were milling around and he could see that they were receiving food from two enormous iron pots that were bubbling over the open flame. Fortunately, everyone seemed focused on the food and not on an English soldier walking timidly toward the kitchen yard.
Then, he saw it.
The postern gate was off to his right.
The ground sloped here and there was a path down to the gate, through the berms. He didn’t remember these defensive features from when he was a lad, but, indeed, a muddy path led down the slope and to the small postern gate, which didn’t seem to look any different than it had when he was a child.
But one significant thing had changed.
Over the years, mud and earth had built up around the base of the gate so that when Gordie was able to throw the bolt to open it, the gate hardly opened wide enough for a man to passthrough. There was too much debris built up at the bottom of it. Realizing this, Gordie looked around for something to clear the dirt away and only came up with a rock. Given this area was an ancient riverbed, there was good deal of rock around, the same rock the castle had been built out of, so he took that rock and began clearing the dirt away.
By some miracle, nobody noticed.
Working quickly, and getting mud all over himself, Gordie managed to clear away enough mud that he was able to pull the postern gate almost all the way open. It was smaller than he remembered—or perhaps he was simply larger and it therefore seemed smaller than he remembered—but he was able to get through it with no problem. That small, thick, highly fortified door led to a steep slope outside the walls, with a slippery path descending to the moat below.
The moat.
That was going to be a problem because it was a clogged mess of debris. Gordie wasn’t sure how deep it was, but it was so disgusting that no man in his right mind would try to cross that swamp.
Except Ean.
Gordie began hoping his nephew would show himself soon because he wasn’t sure how long the English would stay oblivious to the postern gate being opened. Therefore, he made his way back to the gate and pulled it closed, as much as he could without shutting it completely. At least this way, it would look closed to anyone glancing at it. He had to keep it this way until the clan arrived.
As the sun set completely, Gordie sat by that little gate and waited.
And waited.
If they managed to pull this off, it would be a damn bloody miracle.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Clean up andwash your hands before sup.”
Andreas, Tor, Maksim, and Atreus heard the command, but they couldn’t quite comprehend it. They looked at Gar as if the man had grown another head.
“What did you say?” Andreas finally said, speaking for the group of confused men. “We’re supposed towashour hands?”
The group was in the great hall after the sun had set, all of the settling down in preparation for a fine meal, but Gar’s order had them puzzled. However, simply by the look on Gar’s face, they knew the man wasn’t bluffing.
He was damn serious.
“You heard me,” he said. “Mattie wants the hall to be a cleaner place of refined men and that is what we are going to do. Have a servant bring you a bucket of water so you can wash the dirt off your hands. And wash your faces while you’re at it.”
After the command sank in, the men looked straight at Maksim. As he was the lady’s brother, perhaps they were looking to him for clarification, or perhaps they were even looking at him in outrage because this washissister, after all, but Maksim threw up his hands in surrender.
“I have nothing to do with this,” he said. “But I will say that Matilda is behaving like my mother, who likes men at her table clean and shaved. If Matilda expects me to shave right now, she will be sorely disappointed.”
Gar shook his head. “I did not say that you had to shave,” he said. “But Mattie has worked very hard to clean this hall and I think we should help her. She doesn’t want to eat with a bunch of smelly, dirty men, so we will indulge her. And given that everyone at this table except for Maks has a wife, you know what I mean. Do as you are told. We must make the women happy.”
Andreas and Tor shook their heads in annoyance. Atreus actually groaned, but he understood. Begrudgingly, they sent a servant for water and waited until the man returned with a steaming bucket of the stuff. As they took turns splashing around in it, washing off dirt and blood from yesterday’s battle, William, Troy, Scott, and Blayth joined the group. When they saw all of the bathing going on, at the table no less, they looked at Gar in confusion. Gar simply pointed to the bucket.
“Mattie wants those who eat at her table to be clean,” he said. “I would suggest you follow suit and wash your hands and face also.”
The older men started grinning, looking at each other and trying not to break down into laughter. Given the fact that it was well known that Gar was one of the more slovenly de Wolfe knights, hearing him demand that everyone around him wash was quite ironic. However, they obeyed, taking the bucket from Atreus and washing their hands and faces, making sure they were clean enough for Lady de Wolfe’s table.
It was all quite hilarious.
But also quite touching.
