The Lady and the Prince
Chapter 31

With just the four of them Nick wasn’t at all sure that they could do everything that needed to be done. Parker volunteered to take care of the horses; as a coach driver, most of his career had been spent around them, and he was more comfortable doing that than being a valet.

Elizabeth asked Sylvia to straighten up the kitchen and do what cleaning she could. Sylvie gave her a doubtful look and said, “M’lady, cleaning I can do, but I’ve no skill in cooking or baking.”

Elizabeth replied, “None of us is good at cooking beyond tossing ingredients into a pot around a campfire or frying up bacon or eggs. We’ll all pitch in as we can, Sylvie, but if you could clean and put everything away neatly, that would help.”

“Yes, m’lady, I can do that.”

“Thank you. As for me, I think I will take on shopping for what we need. I know I’m unlikely to find furniture or rugs for sale, but there is produce coming in, and we need food for the winter and also fodder for the horses. Parker, can you tell me what the horses will require?”

Parker said, “We’ve nine animals at the moment, one four-hitch, one two-hitch, and three riding animals including your horse and the prince’s. Hay and oats and water buckets, horse blankets if you can find them, shovels, brooms, and a cart for mucking out. I’ll give you numbers.”

“How are we on water?” Nick interjected.

“The hand pump in the kitchen is working, and the water is good,” Sylvie replied. Parker added, “There’s a well out by the remains of the stable. The horses are drinking it, so I think the water is safe, and the rope and bucket are there too, but it’s the only bucket I have aside from the two with the wagons.”

Elizabeth turned to Nick. “And what will you be doing?”

“Me, Prince Henry Nicholas Warwick, work?” Nick said straight-faced, but then he grinned. “I’m going to close up that open hall the best I can and then do what I can to clear space around the stable, rebuild the stable back wall better, see if I can create a safe enclosure for the horses outside so they can walk around and maybe graze, and I’m sure I’ll think of more while I’m doing that. Why? Did you have something in mind?”

Elizabeth grinned back at him. “No, I think that will do for this morning.”

Nick said, “Parker, go with Lady Elizabeth, please, on her excursion.”

Both the valet and Elizabeth looked at him questioningly. He continued, “I know Elizabeth can defend herself, but you know horse feed better, and there’s absolutely no law here right now. Once she shows she has money, having a man at her side will deter attack or theft, even though of the two of you she’s the more dangerous. But let’s avoid trouble if we can.”

Elizabeth agreed, and Parker could come in handy for lugging around purchases that she couldn’t get delivered. They went off, Sylvie headed for the kitchen, and Nick went to start scrounging unbroken stones he could use from the jumble spread out around where most of the castle had stood.

Sylvie’s job was more a matter of imagination than anything. There was little left in the kitchen, and anything easily moveable or burnable was gone. There was a heavy sink with the pump, one small fireplace, and one large one with iron swing rods bolted to the walls but no pots. There was also a large set of shelves of heavy wood that ran down one side of the room and were attached to the wall. A little damage to one side of the shelves showed where someone had tried to pry them apart, but they apparently gave up when they found how much work it would take.

Surveying the room, Sylvie suddenly noticed a little door next to the smaller fireplace, between the fireplace and a side wall. It wasn’t easily seen, being hidden in the shadow of the side of the fireplace, and she wondered if the invaders had even noticed it. It could be a pantry stocked with food, and she hoped it was. She cautiously opened the door.

She had to duck a little to go through. There was a small room with more shelves built around the walls, but they were empty. Someone had found it and cleaned it out, but there was no damage to the shelving. To one side there was a stairway leading down into blackness. It looked like a monster’s maw, the darkness was so absolute. It needed to be explored, but Sylvie hesitated to go down alone.

But there was no one around except the prince, and he was busy. Besides, she had no excuse to bother a prince about looking in a cellar, and she didn’t want to look like a timid little female. There was nothing she could do about the little female part, but she certainly didn’t want a reputation for being overly fearful.

Sylvie fetched a lantern and lit it. She cautiously descended the stairs, testing each one before putting her full weight on it. There was no railing, so she stayed close to the side of the stairs next to a stone wall, holding the lantern out toward the open blackness.

She heard no sounds as she went down except the occasional creak of a stair. By the time the maid reached the bottom, she could see it was a storage cellar. Again the food was gone, but the rest was intact. There was shelving, a floor-to-ceiling wine rack, and four cradles that might have held kegs or barrels, two large and two small. The floor was earthen and the air was chilly, but Sylvie was pleased with her find. The ceiling beams had protruding pegs where she could hang herbs or vegetables that needed to be kept out of the damp. There was also plenty of storage space, which solved her problem of what to do with the food, dishes, cups, and eating and cooking implements she had. She had both an upstairs and downstairs pantry for food, so she could use the kitchen shelves for the rest. Sylvie went back upstairs to start putting everything away properly.

As Elizabeth and Parker walked down the street, she asked him, “How much do I have to spend?” Winkershime had always carried Nick’s purse, and she assumed Parker did too.

Parker said, “Oh, whatever you want really. Mr. Winkershime withdrew quite a lot of your funds and Prince Nicholas’s as well and gave them to me. I doubt there’s enough for sale in the entire town that would deplete it much, including the town itself.”

“You’re carrying a fortune?” Elizabeth asked, a little alarmed.

“Not at all, Lady Elizabeth. I gave most of it to the prince while we were traveling. With his abilities, I’m quite sure it’s safe, but I have sufficient with me to buy whatever we can find that’s worth buying.”

“Good to know. I think you’re right, finding goods for sale will be the difficult part.”

As they walked, they could see mostly empty, damaged buildings. In a few places the broken doors and windows were boarded up, and in others people were working to make repairs. They saw no stores open for business, but some looked ready if there had only been merchandise to sell.

The market square was busy though. There were only a few stalls, but a number of wagons. The stalls looked thrown together and had mostly used things for sale—tools, kitchenware, sewing supplies, and other small useful items. The wagons had food that had been brought in from the surviving local farms and fishing villages. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

There was a wagonload of hay that was being ignored; no animals in the town had survived the invasion, and few had been brought back in so far. Parker bargained for the whole load and got it cheaply enough and offered the same price for a second if it could be had. The farmer was overjoyed to get anything for his excess hay and promised a second load tomorrow. When he was instructed to deliver it to the castle, his joy turned to shock.

“There’s folks in the castle? But Duke Hubert…”

“Prince Nicholas is currently in residence,” Parker informed him while Elizabeth went to inspect a load of potatoes.

The farmer looked confused. “There’s a prince living in that wreck?” The man suddenly realized that his words could be taken as criticism, and he paled. He added quickly, “Didn’t mean nothin’, of course, a prince can live wherever he wants, an’ I’ll deliver this right quickly.” The farmer hurried to do just that.

Elizabeth bought a wagonload of potatoes and another of dried fish, plus three hams, two dozen winter squash, and half a load of onions; there wasn’t much else for sale that would keep through to spring. She could only get a little flour, two bags of wheat and two of rye, and they were expensive.

They still had camp food for current consumption, but she bought a half dozen live chickens, a leg of mutton, a dozen eggs, a small tub of butter and a large one of lard, half a dozen cabbages, bags of peppers and carrots, and as many apples as were offered for sale. They would get very tired of fish and potatoes during the winter, but there was variety available now so they might as well eat as well as they could and put on flesh before food became scarce.

At the edge of the market, they found a wagon two-thirds full of firewood that was being sold by the piece. It was costly, but Elizabeth got a better price by buying the remaining wood in bulk and offered to buy two more wagonloads at the same price. The woodcutter showed no surprise at being told to deliver it to the castle. Elizabeth and Parker exchanged a glance; word had gotten around fast.

On the way back they took another route, walking a little farther just to see more of the condition of the town. They passed a corner with what had once been a bakery; the sign remained, up too high to be easily pulled down and used for firewood.

Two older people sat dejectedly on the steps. Elizabeth started to walk past, but then she stopped and turned back. She addressed them, asking, “Was this your bakery?”

The man just kept staring at the ground and fiddling with a small object—a pie whistle, perhaps. But the woman replied, “Aye, it was, but there’s nothing left. We expected the supplies to be gone, but everything is missing or destroyed, even the ovens. We’ll not be opening again.”

“What will you do?”

The woman looked at the man, who just shook his head a little. “I don’t know,” she said. “We’ve a son up in Haas, but it’s a long way, and we couldn’t get there before the snow unless we were very lucky and found a ride.”

Parker looked at Elizabeth sharply when she said, “I could offer you a place through the winter. I could pay you, but I think you would rather have room and board?”

The man finally spoke. “A place doing what?”

“Prince Nicholas is staying at the castle, and we need a cook and someone to help with the horses and generally.”

The two older people looked at each other hopefully. The woman said, “Well, we can certainly cook and bake, although aside from bakery, what we can make isn’t fancy. I don’t know about horses though. Reggie?”

“We had horses on the farm growing up, but I’d have to be shown. Don’t remember much other than they ate a lot and were fun to ride.”

“I can show you, and there’s no trick to mucking stables,” Parker said. Having help would allow him to spend at least some time being a valet instead of a stableman.

The man and woman stood up. Elizabeth offered them a little money along with room and board, and they eagerly accepted. They quickly fetched the few things they had carried with them back into Sothalia and walked with Elizabeth and Parker to the castle. Elizabeth questioned them a little as they went; their names were Gwen and Reggie Baker, fittingly enough, and the bakery had been passed down to them from Gwen’s parents, who had also been bakers. Gwen joked that that was why she had married Reggie, because of his name.

When they arrived back at the castle, they found it just a little short of a madhouse with delivery people everywhere and Sylvie desperately trying to direct them all. Gwen took charge of the food deliveries to Sylvie’s immense relief.

Parker and Reggie went out to the stable and found the hay just left in a pile in the middle of the floor and went to work moving it to the back of the remains of the stable. The improvised back wall had been neatly rebuilt, but there were still small gaps here and there. Parker and Reggie stacked the hay to make an inside wall as well as outfit one of the empty stalls as an improvised chicken roost. Parker was pleased to find that while Reggie was no longer young, he was still strong and had no objection to physical work.

Elizabeth and Sylvie directed the wood delivery. Much of it could be stacked in the main hall, but some had to go to the rooms they were using for bedrooms, at least enough for a night or two. When the deliveries were done, Elizabeth gave Gwen and Reggie one of the small rooms on the first floor and apologized for the lack of furniture.

“If you can find any furniture for sale in town, let me know,” she told them. “We’re using cots and folding chairs and tables from camp ourselves. We can give you a couple of blankets, but not much else.”

“Good enough,” Reggie said. “It’s snug, and while the floor might be hard, it’s better than being out on the road. We can live here.” Elizabeth understood he meant not just reside but survive, which they might not have done traveling to Haas this late in the year.

It was then she realized she hadn’t seen Nick since she returned and went to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found. However Elizabeth was sure he would show up when the odor of dinner cooking wafted through the air.

Nick had been hard at work while Sylvie was exploring and Elizabeth and Parker were shopping. He sorted out a pile of unbroken reusable stone and carefully built a wall about six feet in to the open hallway. He took a couple of solid timbers and buried the ends in the ground outside and then wedged another timber crosswise between them hard up against his new wall for stability. His wall wasn’t bad, but it was nowhere near as nice as the original castle walls. He just had no experience in wall building and really didn’t know how to do it properly.

The prince went out and repeated the process with the damaged end of the stable. He also moved stones and timbers both whole and broken from what had at one time been a paddock, but the original fencing was completely gone. Building a new wall would be a big job, and he wouldn’t finish today anyway, so he looked for some other small jobs he could do.

The tower caught his eye. It looked undamaged but was now standing alone in piles of rubble and pieces of walls. Nick worked his way over to it and slowly around it, but didn’t find a door. When he had reached the place where he had started, he stood, perplexed. There had to be a way in. The prince could see windows above that looked like just arrow slits. If he could find a bigger window, he could likely raise himself up to it on his matter shield and gain access. Nick started around again but looking up at the tower this time.

He was only a third of the way around when he spotted the door. It apparently had opened onto an upper floor which no longer existed. The door itself looked to be of heavy wood and brass and was closed. He created his shield flat to the ground, stepped on it, and slowly raised himself up.

The young prince stood on his shield as he tried the door, but he found it locked. That was encouraging; it might have escaped the pillaging. But he had to lower himself down, go back to his room, fetch his lock picks, return to the tower, and raise himself back up to the door. The lock was heavy, but was made of brass rather than iron, and he soon had it open.

The door opened inward, and Nick stepped off his shield and into the tower. By that time it was a relief to not have to hold up his own weight. Magic gave him power, but he still had to pull in a steady stream of it, shape it, and control it to maintain the shield while his attention was divided to lock picking as well.

The room he walked into was untouched. There was very little light; interior shutters covered two very narrow deep windows. The prince made a diffuse light and looked around.

It was a sitting room, nicely furnished with fireplace, rugs, comfortable furniture, and wall hangings. There was a heavy layer of dust on everything though, and he doubted anyone had been in the room before him for years. A stairway at the outer edge of the room curved both up and down. He went up; down seemed like a bad idea and, in some undefined way, forbidding.

The room above was equally pleasant and had four small shuttered windows. There was another fireplace, a dining table for six, a glass-fronted cabinet with ceramic dishes, glassware and silverware, a desk, and shelves holding scrolls and old books. Nick resisted looking through them for the moment; no one else was going to be in this tower unless he helped them get there, so everything was safe and would wait for a closer examination.

The next room up was a bedchamber. The bed was large, and there were two armoires, a full-length mirror, a chest of drawers, and a small table and matching chair. One armoire held rich but outdated clothing for a large man, the other the same type of clothing for a small woman. The chest had bed linens that looked clean inside tightly closed bags. The table had on it brushes, combs, a hand mirror, and jars of dried up salves or something, Nick wasn’t sure. Larger windows were behind four closed shutters, and the prince suspected it would be a pleasant sleeping room in summer, although possibly a bit cold in winter.

There was a ladder that went up to a bolted hatch that opened with a groan of rusty hinges. Nick climbed out onto the roof of the tower and looked around. The town of Sothalia was spread out below him. The tower was the tallest building left, and he could see areas of great damage and others that didn’t look too bad. The outer wall was breached to the east, and the area near it was one of the worst ones.

It was chilly and breezy on the top of the tower, and Nick didn’t stay long. He went down, bolting the hatch behind him. He took the stairs down to the sitting room and hesitated. The stairs going down to the as yet unexplored area disappeared into total blackness; there were no windows below at all. Something was telling him not to go down there, although he couldn’t think of a rational reason not to.

The prince could feel something, a hint of the presence he had felt before, something frightening. Perhaps he should get help before going down there. But what help could anyone be to him against whatever it was? No one else had any magical ability, and none of the others felt what he felt, at least not as strongly. But it did provide a reason why a perfectly good tower had been locked up and not used. Whatever he was sensing, he was pretty sure it was there below him.

He brightened his light, more to make himself feel better than any real need for additional lighting. Nick walked down the stairs slowly, coming to the ground floor room well-fitted out as a kitchen. There was no food, but everything else was there to prepare any sort of meal. A large wine rack with dust-covered bottles stood against one wall, and Nick planned on raiding it another time. The stairs continued down.

He hesitated again. There was a draft of cold air coming up the stairs that made him uneasy. How could the air be moving up from underground? The prince stood still and closed his eyes, feeling for the presence and some clue as to what or who it might be.

It was there, below him, he was quite sure. It wasn’t angry or vengeful at the moment, just watching and waiting. Would it be displeased if he went down? He tried to communicate, both asking and thinking the question, but there was no response, no indication that he had been able to make contact.

Nick sent the light down the stairs ahead of him, following it slowly and pausing every few steps. This flight was longer than the others, the ceiling of the room below him much higher. But he heard no sounds below, just felt the cold draft on his face as he descended.

He reached the bottom of the stairs. There was only one object in the room, a sarcophagus made out of smooth white stone on a stone bier that was higher than he was tall. The room itself was a rougher gray stone and appeared to have been carved out of solid rock since he saw no blocks or seams. Embedded in the floor was a thick band of gleaming silver metal in a circle around the bier.

Nick moved around it sideways, keeping an eye on the tomb. He didn’t know what to expect. There was no reason for anything to happen, really, but the atmosphere was so odd, so still, that he wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been some manifestation. But there was no sound, no movement. The feeling of a presence though was very strong.

On the other side of the room was a door. That was where the draft was coming from. Nick had to take his eyes off of the coffin long enough to lift the bar across it and open it, but when he looked back quickly, nothing had changed.

The prince sent more light out through the door while keeping the tomb well-lit as well. The room beyond seemed vaguely familiar, a large open space with heavy pillars, damp…

Of course, it was the underground torture chamber he and Elizabeth had visited but seen from off to the side at the far end, an area they hadn’t explored much. Nick closed the door and barred it again; he wasn’t sure if it was to keep something in or keep something out, but the bar was on the inside of the door. Months ago when they had been exploring, he had felt nothing, no presence, not when Duke Hubert and his family had been alive.

Nick completed his circle of the room and reached the stairs again. He waited for a few moments, but still nothing happened. Maybe in the dark or at night something might occur, but just at that moment he didn’t care to douse his light as an experiment; some other day, perhaps after he had read some of the books and scrolls and knew more about what he was dealing with. He went back up the stairs, climbing steadily to the sitting room.

He went to the outer door and discovered a large brass key hanging on a hook on the wall next to the door behind it when open. How convenient. Nick took it, opened the door, and created his flat shield, stepping off confidently over the drop and turning around to close and lock the door behind him. He put the key in his pocket and floated gently down to the ground.

It was late, he’d been in the tower for hours, but he could smell food cooking. He hurried his footsteps back to the kitchen and went in to find a strange woman stirring pots, checking meat on a makeshift spit in the small fireplace, and seeming to do multiple things at once with no strain. She just glanced at him and said, “It’ll be a half hour yet,” and then ignored him. Nick considered the quality of the smells in the room and quietly left. Someone could introduce them later when it wouldn’t cause anything to burn.

In the main hall Elizabeth said, “Oh!” when she saw him and ran over and hugged him. “Where have you been? I’ve been so worried. I looked everywhere, and I couldn’t find you.”

“I explored the tower. It’s quite interesting. I’ll tell you later,” Nick said, eying an older man he didn’t know. He and Elizabeth settled into a couple of camp chairs at a small table, and she told him about her day and everything she had bought, and the servants she had hired.

Nick asked her quietly, “We need the help, but are we going to be able to feed everyone?”

“Yes, I think we’ll be fine. In fact, I had an idea while Parker and I were walking through the town. A number of people have returned, but none of the businesses are open, so most have no way of earning any money. It appears a few of the wealthier have hired some of them to help repair or protect their property, but most have little or no way of getting money to buy food or enough food to last out the winter.”

“But there is food available?”

“Yes, although I’m sure less than in other years, but considering how many died here…well, the demand is lower too. But unlike other years, most of the people can’t afford to stock up right now. I was thinking we should buy extra and distribute it to the needy.”

Nick said, “That’s a kind thought, but could we store that much? And there aren’t enough of us to protect a food store. If people get hungry and know we have food, they might just try to take it rather than accept the small amounts we give them.”

“There’s quite a large cellar, and aren’t you enough protection?”

“I don’t think so. I have to sleep, and I have work to do. I can’t stand guard all the time.”

“Could we hire guards?” Elizabeth asked hopefully.

“Then we’d have to feed and house them,” Nick objected.

“There are plenty of empty buildings. We would just need to feed them.”

“Which you’re proposing to do anyway. All right, hire four men as guards if you can find that many who seem trustworthy. As far as buying, storing, and giving out food, I leave it in your hands. As the lady of the house, partial castle, whatever, it falls under your purview anyway. Let me know if you need me to do anything.”

She hugged him. “Thank you. I’ll start on it tomorrow. Now let me introduce you to Gwen and Reggie Baker, our cook and our general handyman.

Elizabeth introduced him to Reggie and to Gwen when she came out to ask where she should serve the food. They had one little folding table for Nick and Elizabeth and a slightly larger one for Sylvie, Parker, and the Bakers. In the end, Gwen set the food out on some of the shelves in the kitchen and let everyone take plates and walk around and help themselves.

They had slices of mutton, chopped cabbage with some sort of sauce, and baked potatoes and carrots. There was water to drink, and dessert was just a baked apple with a little butter on it. Elizabeth hadn’t found any sugar in the market, so sweets were not part of the menu.

Nevertheless, the meal was tasty and far better than any other member of the party could have made. Elizabeth was very glad she had stopped to talk to the Bakers and hired them. After the meal, while the new servants were in the kitchen cleaning up, Nick told her what he had found in the tower.

“With a little cleaning, it could be a very pleasant place to live,” he concluded.

Elizabeth made a face. “With a coffin in the cellar? I’m not so sure.”

“It wouldn’t matter if whatever is down there would stay down there and not do…whatever it’s doing.”

“Perhaps,” Elizabeth said. She was tired and knew nothing could be settled just then.

Nick said hesitantly, “When we marry, I don’t think our little individual cots are going to be quite what we want to sleep on.”

Elizabeth looked at him in surprise at first; she hadn’t considered the wedding night sleeping arrangements in a long time, but she had to agree. “You’re right, but if you’re suggesting we go sleep with the ghost or whatever it is, I don’t think that would do either.”

“No, I understand that, but I turn sixteen in three days. Tomorrow while you’re out looking for guards, look for someone who can marry us too.”

Elizabeth smiled and said, “I will. While I’m out finding people, what will you be doing?”

“Clearing paths through the rubble before anyone hurts themselves and building some kind of fence for the horses. And visiting the tower if I have time, I want to look at those books and scrolls and get a bottle of wine to try. If it’s still good, we’ll have some at our wedding feast.”

“I don’t suppose there will be a Harvest Festival this year.”

Nick looked sad. “No, I suppose not. I always liked the Harvest Festival, but we don’t have any cookies or cider or anything.”

“Dried fish and potatoes,” Elizabeth said. At Nick’s puzzled look, she elaborated. “That’s what I can buy more of than we can use. And coins, we have money, I could exchange as much of the larger coinage for pennies as possible, and maybe we could have some sort of celebration.”

Nick looked at her doubtfully. “Do you really think anyone would come for that? The children wouldn’t like it very much, without any sweets.”

“No, I suppose not. But we still have a little time, perhaps I can find something in the market that would do. If I can, we’ll have a celebration. If I can’t, then we’ll skip it for this year.”

“That’s fine with me. Oh, if you hire guards, they’ll need some symbol so people will know that they’re guards. We don’t have uniforms for them, so see if you can come up with armbands, something like that.”

“I’ll put Sylvie to work on it. She’s very good with material. Anything else?”

“No, I’m too tired to think anymore. I’ll go around and light all the fires, and then I’m going to bed. Good night, Elizabeth.”

“Good night, Nick. I’ll walk with you to our rooms.”

Nick grinned at that; he knew that once they were alone, they would have a kissing session no matter how tired they were. Tonight it would just be shorter than usual.

The next day was a busy one. Elizabeth haunted the market and found more flour, cheese, honey, and barrels of wine. It wasn’t great wine, but it would do for a Harvest Festival, provided Gwen could do something with the honey. She hired two young brothers as guards and bought more staples for the winter.

Parker and Reggie helped Nick with the fence. They found good stones for him to move and placed heavy timbers on top from stone to stone. Three stones piled up with timbers between them, and one on top with a capstone made a good solid fence. Then all three carefully combed the enclosed area, making sure there was nothing left in the tawny grass that a horse could injure itself on. The horses seemed glad to get out of the stable, cropping the grass, trotting around, and even rolling a little.

The two servants cleaned out the stable, while Nick moved both the wagons to the back by the hay. Then he cleared areas of stone and debris, making wide safe routes from the stable out to the road and to the kitchen, and a path to the tower and around to under the door.

Lunch had been just cold leftover mutton, bread, cheese, and a chopped cabbage salad that they ate in a short break from work. But by midafternoon the chores were finished, and Nick headed for the tower while Parker showed Reggie how to clean and mend harness.

Nick spent hours going through the scrolls and books. Some were histories, biographies, and books about how to do practical things like dig a deep well, irrigate fields, or build with wood or stone. But nearly a third of them were on the subject of magic. Nick could hardly believe his good fortune. The tower had more scrolls and books of and about magic than he had known existed.

He left the books but took a bottle of wine when he left. The presence was still there, but it remained quiet and made no objection either to him handling the books or taking the wine.

Dinner was a simple fish stew and baked squash. There were little honey cakes for dessert. Gwen declared she hadn’t half the ingredients she should have to make them right and had no idea how they would taste, but they were delicious. If they were a little heavy, no one complained.

The two new guards weren’t much older than Nick. Harry and Vernon and their father had had a smithy, but all their tools, even the heavy anvil, had been taken. Their father had been killed when he tried to help Duke Hubert defend the walls. The boys had been sent to their aunt’s farm for safety, but they didn’t want to go back there again. She had a large family of her own, and feeding the two of them in addition through the winter would create a hardship. They weren’t very good with a sword or a bow, but both were big and strong and quite handy with a hammer or a staff.

Sylvie made them sashes to wear over one shoulder and across to the opposite hip that they were both very proud to have. The remains of the smithy were on the other side of the market, and they asked if they could sleep in the stable instead of tromping back and forth; permission was quickly granted since in the stable they could keep an eye on the horses at night.

As everyone finished breakfast the next morning, there was the heavy sound of the knocker at the front door. All conversation stopped, and everyone looked at each other. Parker went to answer it, muttering, “I’m a valet, not a butler, but I suppose I must be whatever…”

He opened it to a man in a fancy uniform whom he recognized immediately—Walter, the king’s messenger.

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