Artus wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was clear that he was becoming less hostile to her appearance and increasingly interested in what was going on. Out of the corner of her eye, Maitland could see Thomas and his men coming around the side of the outbuildings and they seemed to be holding a few things, though she couldn’t make out what they were. Not wanting Artus to see them, she pointed towards the tower to keep his attention away from the covert operation behind him.
“I have not been inside the keep yet,” she said. “Can you tell me about it? Is it inhabitable?”
Artus cocked his head. “Inhab… habit…”
“Inhabitable. It means livable. Can people live in it?”
The boy looked up at the tower while over by the gate, Thomas and his men had evidently found what they were looking for and were setting up a spit with the large pork side impaled on it.
“Only Laird Letty would sleep there,” the boy said.
“Laird Letty? Who is that?”
Artus’ face twisted, his expression turning both grim and painful. He shook his head as if unwilling, or unable, to answer her question.
“It was his home, with his wife,” the boy said. Then, he pointed to the outbuilding. “This isourhome. We sleep here.”
Maitland looked at the dilapidated building. “We? As in you and the children?”
“Aye.”
Maitland turned to look at the tower. “Laird Letty,” she said. “Was he your guardian?”
Artus lowered his gaze. “He was our king. He told us he was our king.”
Maitland began to suspect who Laird Letty was, especially by the expression on the lad’s face. Everything Lady de Wolfe had told her came to mind, of the horrors of Edenside and the servant who was selling children, so she had a feeling that Laird Letty was that servant. She felt very sorry for Artus. Looking at his face, she could believe the terrible tales that she’d been told. The child was skinny, beaten, and woefully underdressed for the cold weather. Even in June, the weather here was cold. He didn’t even have shoes.
Impulsively, she went to the lad.
“Artus,” she said quietly. “I know what happened here. I was told how someone sold children and how some of the children died. I swear to you that it will never happen again. I am here now and I will take very good care of you. In fact, you will havethe protection of these bigSassenachknights and you need not be afraid, not ever again. No one will hurt you.”
Artus lifted his head, looking at her with big, if not suspicious, eyes. Then, he began to back away, taking his stick and Queenie with him, dragging the raggedy old woman backwards as he lifted his stick, silently threatening Maitland not to follow him. She stood there, watching him sadly, as he stumbled back into the outbuilding and disappeared.
Perhaps it was just too much for the boy to absorb– a change in his life, and a very big change, following the horrors that he’d endured. Maitland truly didn’t blame him for his mistrust. She wasn’t sure what she could do to earn it other than what she was already doing– preparing food and repairing what they could of the place would be a start. She could only earn his trust by her actions and not her words.
Sometimes, words were simply useless.
The day began to deepen and as the children remained hidden, progress was made in several areas– the keep door was rehung, but it didn’t fit particularly well and Desmond promised to send a smithy and a carpenter from Wark to set it properly. The same could be said for the gates of the complex, which had been secured for the most part but were badly in need of solid repairs. Lastly, the pork side was roasting beautifully over the open flame, sending the smell of roast meat into the air, that heavy and lovely scent.
To eat with the pork, Tibelda had managed to find a big iron pot in the scattered kitchen yard behind the outbuildings. She put the dried beans and enough water to cover them, and they soon began to bubble over the same fire that was roasting the pork. Maitland and Tibelda both went over what provisions they’d brought from Wark, carefully planning daily meals with what they had. Tibelda was excellent at managing provisions,so Maitland left her with them. While Tibelda watched over the simmering beans, Maitland went back to the tower to inspect it.
The tower had the unusual ground-floor entry and the door Desmond had rehung was heavy and fortified with iron, certainly sturdy enough to protect the ground-level entry. Immediately to her right was a stairwell, with steep spiral stairs that not only went up, but went down. She discovered that there was a vault below, which didn’t have much in it by way of supplies or anything of use, but it did have a well, and the ground-level floor above it had one large room, which looked as if it had been used as a hall because there was a long table, two long benches, and a hearth that had an old bucket in it.
The spiral stairs led to a second floor above the ground level, and this floor contained two chambers with various broken beds, a broken trunk, and other items that could have been chairs or tables at one time. It was difficult to tell because everything was smashed and broken, but there were fortified chamber doors on this level. Even if the enemy made it into the tower, it would be very difficult to get past those doors. Unlike the entry door, they were intact and solid.
Finally, the stairwell led up to a roof that contained a very tiny wall walk around the tower, and there was a great iron basket, raised from the roof itself, that was for signal fires along the borders. All pele towers had them, only it appeared as if it had been many years since the signal fire of this particular iron basket had been used.
For a moment, Maitland simply stood there, looking out over the green countryside, thinking that Edenside was really no more than a ruined tower and a few outbuildings. Nothing grand, nothing honorable, where foundlings were tended and prepared for the world. This wasn’t the noble venture she had expected or hoped for. In fact, the entire trip had beencompletely unexpected once she and Tibelda had reached Wark Castle, but there was one redeeming quality about this place–
It was hers.
Looking around, Maitland felt like a queen ruling over her people. All of this belonged to her and she was going to do the very best that she could, but that meant the children, wherever they were, were no longer going to sleep in that sod outbuilding. She wanted them in the keep where it was safe and warm, so she left the roof to go to the level below where there was broken furniture spread out in two chambers. Each chamber had a large hearth, and this was where they were all going to spend the night. She intended to clean it up, and warm it up, as best she could.
It was time to take action.
As the hours of the afternoon continued to trickle on into dusk, and the smell of meat continued to fill the air, Maitland took Tibelda with her as they moved their meager belongings into the tower. The men were still milling around outside, fixing gates and doors and inspecting the grounds, while Maitland and Tibelda turned their attention to the keep. They would now do what women did best.
Out came the lye soap and rags.
