Philippa Carr - Witch from the Sea

I came down into what seemed like a stable yard. I was amazed at the number of horses and there were some donkeys too. I realized that the voices I had heard had not come from here. It was a strange place. On one side of the courtyard was a door and opening it, I was on a path which wound upwards to the coast road. On the shore several small boats were moored to stakes.

The tide was low and I could see the sharp points of the Devil’s Teeth protruding from the water.

I decided Jennet was not there so I retraced my steps and climbed the stairs. I was now in the small hall-like entrance on the tower side of the iron-studded door. I noticed then another door I had missed, and I realized that it was from behind this that the voices came.

I pushed it open and walked in. There was a large chamber with a big table in the centre of it. Seated round it were several men and a few women. Jennet was among them. These were the people I had seen from the Crows’ Tower—the fishermen of whom Colum had spoken.

I heard Jennet’s shrill: “Why, ’tis the mistress.”

They shuffled to their feet and looked uncomfortable.

I said: “I came to look for you, Jennet.”

“Why yes, mistress,” she said, blushing a little.

“I do not wish to disturb your meal,” I said.

One of the men who appeared to be a leader of them mumbled something.

I said: “Come, Jennet.”

She came at once.

I did not know why but I felt uneasy. These were my husband’s retainers and I was the châtelaine of the castle. Why should I feel that there was something strange about them, that they were not ordinary servants? They were respectful enough and yet in a way they seemed a little shocked to find me here. Why? Wasn’t the castle my home?

The man who sat at the head of the table came over to me and said: “You should be careful, mistress, of the stairs here. They can be dangerous, like. ’Tis easy to trip.”

I said: “I went down them. I had no idea there were so many horses and that there was a path up to the road.”

“Aye,” he said. “But the master would not wish you to use they stairs.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said.

I had a feeling that I had met this man before. There was something familiar about his movements.

I was very conscious of so many eyes upon me. Why should I feel so uncomfortable? Why should the fact that I had disturbed my husband’s servants at a meal—in which my own maid was sharing—make me feel so uneasy, and that I was in the presence of something rather strange?

It’s my condition, I told myself. Everything that seemed a little strange could be put down to that.

Jennet and I came out into the courtyard.

I said: “You have soon become friendly with your fellow-servants, Jennet.”

She giggled in that girlish way of hers. “Why yes, Mistress Linnet, I was always one to make friends quick, like.”

“And your friend … ?”

She blushed. “He be a very fine man, Mistress. He did take a fancy to me from the first. All that time ago …”

“All what time ago? You have not been here so long.”

She clapped her hands to her lips. A silly habit of hers when she had said something impetuously; she had always done it, I remembered from my childhood.

“Well, Mistress, he did see me long ago … when I were out with you and the mistress.”

“I know,” I said, “it was when we were returning from Trystan Priory.”

She looked so embarrassed that I knew I was right. So she was aware that the plot had been made in this house and that the band of robbers who had beset us on the road were Colum’s men.

I felt angry that she should be aware of this; then I shrugged my shoulders.

“It’s all right,” I said. “I know what happened. My husband … confessed.”

Jennet was greatly relieved. “My dear life, what a man he be. There be only one other to rival him and that be the Captain.” Then she appeared to be contrite. I supposed she was thinking of her present lover whom her optimistic nature would always tell her was the best she had ever had.

She said: “He do say, Mistress, that on the road there he fancied me. He would have run off with me, he says, if orders hadn’t been different.”

“It is over now, Jennet,” I said, “and best forgotten.”

Best forgotten! I thought. What a foolish thing to say. How could something be forgotten which had changed one’s whole life, which had brought me my husband and the child I now carried.

“Jennet,” I said rather primly, “I suppose you will always be the same.”

“I suppose so,” she said with happy resignation.

I told Colum that I had been to Seaward Tower and met some of his servants who lived there.

“They are good men,” he said.

“And women.”

“They have their wives and women. That is necessary, you understand.”

“I understand. My Jennet has joined them.”

He burst out laughing. “It does not surprise me.”

“She has quickly found a lover there.”

“Jennet would find a lover anywhere. Who is the man?”

“I know none of them by name. But I thought I recognized the leader of your robber band.”

He laughed again.

“So they know of how I was tricked. I am not sure that I like that.”

“They are discreet. They are not like ordinary servants.”

“No, they do not seem so. I gather that they do special work for you.”

His bushy brows shot up. “What do you mean by that?”

“Such as abducting females on the road.”

“Such work they do admirably, you will admit.”

“They will be laughing at how I was duped.”

“They would not dare. They are good servants and wish me well. They are delighted to have had a hand in bringing me my present happiness.”

I was reconciled.

He put his arms about me gently and drew me to him. “You should not wander about the castle without me or someone with you. There are so many dangerous places … Those spiral staircases … you could so easily trip and fall. The cobbled courtyards, the unevenness of the stones and all the steep paths. You must not wander off alone. I forbid you to.”

“So must the husband of Nonna have talked to her! I am not allowed to ride. What may I do?”

“You may obey your husband. I place no restriction on that.”

“You are … despotic.”

“I am the ruler of my home.”

“The king of your castle.”

“Why should I not be? When the child is born you will have him to occupy you and then we will ride together out into the country. We will visit your parents. Perhaps we will call on the Landors. I heard that your would-be-husband has quickly become reconciled. He is to be married shortly. Of course she is a wealthy young lady. But he has taken his disappointment well, has he not?”

“I feel little interest in his affairs.”

“Why should you when you have a husband and a child of your own?”

“I am content,” I said, “deeply content.”

July had come, hot and sultry. I often climbed to the ramparts although I knew that Colum would have been displeased if he knew. Sometimes I took Jennet with me. I noticed how often her eyes strayed to the Seaward Tower.

She told me something of life in that tower, of the man who was her lover and who had taken her out in his boat on one occasion. They had fished and brought home their catch and it had been cooked and eaten at the table in the Seaward Tower.

“There are plenty of boats there and all those horses,” she said. It was an exciting place, the Seaward Tower. She had helped to clean the lanterns there. Never had she seen so many.

I was beginning to feel uncomfortable now. It could only be about six weeks from my confinement. I was so longing for my child to be born that the days seemed as though they would never pass. One day I wandered down through the inner ward and came at length to Ysella’s Tower. I looked at the iron-studded door and up at those grim, grey walls. Was the story true? It was impossible. How could a man keep someone’s identity secret for ten years? Surely she would have been seen? There would be a door on the other side of the tower similar to the one I had discovered in Seaward; there might be a little path there. Had that long-ago Casvellyn been as forceful as his descendants? I was sure he had. He would have forbidden Ysella and Nonna to leave their towers unescorted and perhaps he had good reason for this in view of what Colum had told me about the robbers on the road. I pictured Ysella up there waiting for the man she believed to be her husband and Nonna waiting for the same man who was hers.