Alys Clare: The Rose of the World

‘Indeed you do,’ he agreed, ‘but Rosamund is missing, perhaps taken by this stranger who looks like me. I won’t risk the safety of another of the family, so I-’

She did not let him finish. She spun round, and he saw that, far from picking up her old leather bag, she had a sword in her hands. It was only a short sword, little more than a long knife, but the candle light glinted off its edge and he could see she kept it very well honed.

He took an involuntary step back. ‘You don’t-’

Again, she interrupted him. ‘I don’t know how to use this? Don’t patronize me, Ninian. My mother and I lived here in the wilds for years together, and I didn’t know about this weapon until long after she’d gone. She would have been able to use it, make no mistake, and I can too.’ She held the sword firmly in front of her, the knuckles of her hands white as she gripped the hilt.

She saw his face, and slowly she lowered her blade. He said, so quietly that he was surprised she heard, ‘She was my mother too.’

The sword fell on the floor. She was in his arms, and he felt her shake as she sobbed. Then she pulled away, picked up the sword again and said, ‘Go. I’ll make for the house, and I’ll use all my senses to search for any traces of her. Come back when you can.’

He looked at her set expression and realized there was no point in arguing with her. Usually, she looked like Josse, but as she stood there in the little hut there was so much of their mother in her that Ninian felt his heart tear.

He turned away, let himself out of the hut and raced back up the track to where he had left his horse.

Josse could not remember when he had last felt so weary. He and Gus had split up soon after leaving the house, and they had been searching all night. Occasionally, Josse had heard Gus in the distance, crashing through the undergrowth and always calling, calling, her name. Once or twice they had bumped into each other.

Now dawn was beginning to brighten the sky in the east. He and Gus were riding, slowly and with their heads down, back to the House in the Woods. Neither of them had seen any sign of Rosamund.

They were approaching from the forest and, as the area of cleared trees around the house came into view, Josse saw a cloaked figure standing perfectly still on the edge of the path. He did not for an instant believe they had found Rosamund, for he had immediately recognized his daughter. He and Gus drew rein, and Josse slipped off Alfred’s back. He was about to run to Meggie and take her in his arms, but something in the quality of her stillness stopped him.

He handed Alfred’s reins to Gus, exchanging a warning glance with him. Gus, who, like all the household, was well used to Meggie and her strange ways, gave a brief grin and nodded. Josse turned back to Meggie and waited.

After some moments she said quietly, ‘Rosamund was here. I can feel something of her…’

‘She was almost home, then!’ Josse exclaimed. ‘She-’

Meggie put up her hand, and he stopped. She smiled at him. ‘Of course, you don’t know,’ she murmured. ‘I walked back with her,’ she went on. ‘When we reached the bend in the path back there — ’ she pointed — ‘Rosamund spotted Ninian, and she ran on to catch up with him. I turned and headed back to the hut.’ She drew a shaky breath. ‘Only, it wasn’t Ninian. He was nowhere near the house at that time.’

Josse was trying to make himself believe the unbelievable. ‘So someone was pretending to be Ninian with the purpose of abducting her,’ he said slowly. There was a gasp from Gus, quickly suppressed, but Meggie regarded him with solemn eyes and slowly nodded.

‘Abducted. Yes,’ she said. ‘It is terrible, but I believe we will serve her better if we accept the fact and act accordingly.’

‘We will return to the house,’ Josse began, hardly knowing what he was saying, ‘and-’

Gus interrupted him. ‘May I say something?’ he asked apologetically.

‘Of course!’ Josse said.

Gus turned to Meggie. ‘You just said you could feel her here.’ He sounded embarrassed, as if this brush with Meggie’s mysterious powers was a little too close for comfort. ‘Can you — that is, does this place tell you anything else?’

Meggie looked at him, her head on one side. ‘I was completing my examination when you rode up,’ she replied. ‘Rosamund came running up the path here — ’ she pointed — ‘and someone heavier and with bigger feet was here — ’ again, she indicated — ‘and he had been standing here for some time.’

‘That must be the man she mistook for Ninian!’ Josse exclaimed. ‘You’re sure it was a man, Meggie?’

She nodded. ‘Yes. I, too, saw him, although only fleetingly, and he was too tall and broad for a woman. Also-’ She broke off, frowning.

‘Yes?’ Josse prompted.

She met his eyes. ‘The imprint of this other person is quite different from Rosamund’s,’ she said shortly. ‘Don’t ask me to explain — ’ Josse wouldn’t have dreamt of doing so — ‘you’ll just have to take my word for it.’

‘Can you tell anything else about him?’ Gus asked nervously. ‘Was he — er, was he good?’ The light was still dim, but even so Josse could see the blush that stained the younger man’s face. ‘I mean-’

‘It’s all right, Gus, I know what you mean,’ Meggie said gently. ‘You’re asking if I think this man’s going to harm her. My answer is that I don’t know.’ She paused. ‘I don’t feel an immediate threat from the place where he stood, that’s for sure, but if a stranger lies in wait and takes a girl away from her family, then that in itself is a threat.’

She reasoned well, Josse thought, although how she knew the things she knew was quite unfathomable. The echoes of her words rang in his ears, and he shook his head to dispel them; standing there in awe at his daughter’s powers wasn’t going to help Rosamund.

He took Alfred’s reins from Gus and, holding out his other hand to Meggie, set off up the track towards the house. Gus fell in behind. ‘We shall report to the others,’ Josse said firmly, ‘and see if they have any news. We shall eat and drink, and then I shall ride down to Tonbridge, find Dominic at Gervase’s house and tell both of them that Dominic’s child is missing.’

Quite how he would find the words to do that, Josse did not know. He felt Meggie’s cool hand squeeze his own. She knew exactly how he felt and was trying to give him comfort. He turned and gave her a smile.

Helewise had not slept. The house seemed very empty — Josse, Ninian and Gus were searching out in the forest and, soon after they had gone, Will and his woman, Ella, had slipped away. As they left, Will murmured to Helewise that they would comb the ground around the house. They had not returned.

Helewise had drifted to the kitchen and, rolling up her sleeves, fixed her mind on helping Tilly prepare food. Sooner or later the search parties would return, hopefully with Rosamund. Everyone would be hungry and cold. Tilly kept the fire stoked, and the kitchen grew almost too hot. When they had cooked everything there was to cook, washed the pans and the utensils and tidied them away, Helewise and Tilly sat on either side of the fire and waited.

As the first light of dawn appeared, Helewise ceased her silent prayers and thought about her son and his wife. Rosamund was their third child, a girl after two sons, and she was just eleven years old. Dominic and Paradisa loved all their children but, with the two boys Ralf and Hugo now living in another household as they trained for their adult roles, Rosamund was very much the focus of her parents’ attention. Not that it was spoiling her, for she was an unaffected, affectionate girl with a keen sense of humour that, probably the result of being little sister to two robust brothers, dipped very readily to the vulgar. She was also graceful, gifted with attractive colouring and very beautiful.