Joan Wolf - The Poisoned Serpent

John Melan grinned. “I knew Bernard could count on you, Hugh!” he said. “I knew it.”

Hugh and Nigel and Cristen sat together in the solar after supper. Cristen’s faithful dogs had curled up comfortably on the floor by her feet, and she absently stroked their heads.

Hugh had said nothing about John Melan’s request. Now that the three of them were alone, he told them about the arrest of Bernard.

Nigel, who knew Bernard Radvers, was outraged. “Of course it is a mistake,” he said. “Bernard could have no possible reason to kill the Earl of Lincoln!”

So then Hugh had to tell Cristen’s father about the marriage that Guy had arranged between him and Lady Elizabeth de Beauté.

“It is a brilliant match,” Nigel said slowly when Hugh had finished speaking. “It will give the de Leons complete control of two shires and partial control of several more. In one stroke, Guy will have accomplished what Ranulf of Chester and William of Roumare have been trying to do for years.”

He peered at Hugh intently, trying to read what his intentions might be in regard to this magnificent marriage. Deliberately, he did not look at his daughter.

“Unfortunately,” Hugh said, “the match has apparently given Bernard a reason to wish de Beauté dead. It is well known in Lincoln that Bernard was a close friend of my foster father’s. In fact, before we marched north to the Battle of the Standard, Ralf made Bernard promise that he would look after me if aught should happen to him.”

Hugh’s face was bleak as he said these words. As Nigel and Cristen knew, Ralf Corbaille had been killed at the Battle of the Standard. It was in the aftermath of that very battle that Nigel had first laid eyes upon Hugh and marked his resemblance to the lost heir of the de Leons.

Cristen said thoughtfully, “It looks as if someone murdered Lord Gilbert and arranged to throw the blame on Bernard.”

“That is certainly what it looks like,” Hugh agreed.

“You had better go to Lincoln and look into the matter,” she said briskly. “This knight would not have traveled so long a way to fetch you if things did not look bad for Bernard.”

Hugh met her eyes, his face very somber.

She looked back, her brown eyes clear and calm. “You have to go, Hugh,” she said. “You know that.”

Nigel looked from his daughter to Hugh, then back again to his daughter. They were looking at each other as if he were not there.

“Perhaps you can take the opportunity to pay a visit to Keal,” Cristen suggested. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to check on your chief manor while you are in Lincolnshire. You can make certain that everything is as it should be.”

At her words, a faint smile touched Hugh’s mouth. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” he agreed.

As too often happened, Nigel had the uneasy feeling that the two young people were communicating in a way that he couldn’t comprehend.

He scowled and said crossly, “It’s time for bed.”

Two pairs of eyes, gray and brown, regarded him with tolerant affection.

“Aye, Father,” Cristen said. “It is important for you to get your rest. You have still not regained all of your strength.”

Nigel folded his arms and did not move. “I will go to bed when the two of you do.”

Hugh got promptly to his feet. “I am going, sir. I need my rest also if I am going to ride for Lincolnshire in the morning.”

Cristen came and slipped a hand under her father’s elbow. “Come along, Father. I will find William and send him to help you undress.”

Nigel didn’t know why he felt so grumpy. “Oh, all right,” he said, and stumped off to his bedroom.

Cristen and Hugh looked at each other.

Later , they told each other silently.

The dogs, who had got up when Cristen did, came to press against her skirts. She turned to bring them into the great hall, so that Brian could take them for their last outing before sleep.

The cold weather lifted the morning that Hugh left Somerford with John Melan. Instad of jarring their legs on iron-hard roads, the horses had to wade through a sea of mud for the several days it took for them to accomplish the journey to Lincoln.

Ever since the days when the Roman legions had ruled Britain, a city had been set on the limestone ridge where the River Witham bent sharply east toward the sea. The old Roman fortifications still formed the walls of twelfth-century Lincoln, although the Roman streets, sewers, and buildings had mostly disappeared.

As Hugh rode along the Fosse Way, his mind turned back to the time he had first come to Lincoln. He had been eight years old and running away from the men who had kidnapped him from his home. Until a few months ago, his first memory of his life had been of Ralf dragging him out of his hiding place on a bitter January night and taking him home to Adela.

On this last day of January when Hugh and John Melan rode their mud-splattered horses toward Lincoln, the weather was humid and warm, not frigid as it had been on that night thirteen years before when Ralf had rescued Hugh. And Hugh was twenty-one now, not eight. But as he stared at the towering heights of Lincoln Castle, perched so intimidatingly on its limestone ridge, he felt once again all the desolation of an abandoned child.

He still missed them. He would always miss them: Ralf and Adela, the parents of his heart.

He shut his eyes, and thought of Cristen, and felt better.

He heard John say, “We had best go to see Sir Gervase first. I didn’t tell him where I was going when I asked for leave. I just said I thought I knew someone who could help Bernard.”

For the first time, Hugh realized that he didn’t want to see Gervase Canville. He had nothing against the man, but he didn’t want to see anyone else in Ralf’s place. He had not set foot in Lincoln since Ralf was killed.

He drew a deep breath and said, “Aye. It would be best to see Sir Gervase first.”

Lincoln was a large city, with a population of more than five thousand people. Most of the houses the two men passed as they rode up the main street belonged to the city burgesses. At one time the majority of the houses in Lincoln had been made of wood, but a fire in 1122 had destroyed a great part of the city, and much of the rebuilding had been done in stone.

A group of boys playing in the street with a leather ball stuffed with straw caught Hugh’s eye. They brought back a memory of the time when he had been part of precisely such a noisy, shouting pack of youngsters. Ralf would collect him on his way home from the castle to supper…

It was late afternoon and already beginning to grow dark. Hugh was sweaty and itchy and dirty and hungry, and his stallion, Rufus, was the same.

He felt a stab of longing so sharp that it was almost physically painful. If only he could go home! Ralf would see that Rufus was cared for, and Adela would fill the big tub for him, and…

He compressed his lips in a hard, straight line.

He had not thought it would be so hard to see Lincoln again.

Lincoln Castle had been built at the order of William the Conqueror himself. The castle was guarded most closely by a shell keep, or inner wall, constructed on top of the steep hill, or motte, upon which the castle keep was perched. Steep stairs led from the keep down to the inner bailey, a large courtyard of about six acres encircled by a second stone wall. In Lincoln this inner bailey was called the Inner bail.

The Inner bail was the heart of Lincoln’s garrison. The knights who served on the castle guard lived there, housed in wooden huts. Also inside its walls were a stockade and stables for the knights’ horses. All of their food, drink, and weapons were stored in this area as well.