Chapter Five #3
It was tall – very tall. The portion that faced the avenue was at least four stories tall with the ground floor being two massive arches that were heavily gated.
One could see through the gates to the courtyard beyond.
The manse was packed in with other manses along this stretch of the River Wear, on this exclusive avenue, so it made the maximum use of the space.
The stables and other trades were on the ground floor while the house was built up over it.
All four sides of the manse were four stories tall.
The Rabbit Burrow, by contrast, was only two stories and, as daylight broke, looked oddly out of place amongst the great Medieval houses.
Across the avenue from the Haswell manse was a row of more modest homes belonging to some of the business owners in town, the merchant class.
Gage planted himself back in the shadows of one of those more modest homes and watched the Haswell gates as the sun rose.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long.
He saw the escort ride through the gates and turn north, heading towards the main part of Durham.
He recognized the knights in the lead, two men he’d known from his time at Ashleven Castle.
Sir Dirk de Branton and Sir Etienne de Gault had been squires when he’d known them those years ago, now excellent knights from excellent families.
They were about Gage’s age and he smiled when he saw them, wondering if Dirk was still as arrogant as he once was and if Etienne was still as serious.
He swore in all the years he’d known the man that Etienne had smiled only once. Maybe twice.
It did his heart good to see them again.
Following them through the gates came the de Thorington soldiers bearing the dark blue and red serpent tunics and spread out amongst the soldiers were the women.
He spied the younger sisters, Autumn and Summer, and then Spring, and finally Wynter.
She was bringing up the rear with her mother and Sir Clark de Vries.
Even though he was covered from head to toe in armor and protection, Gage would have known Clark’s proud stance anywhere.
A man he respected greatly.
As the party headed north, Gage followed in the shadows.
At first, he’d been glad to see Dirk and Etienne and Clark, but as he pursued at a distance, the unemotional man in him began feeling emotions.
They were breaking through the barrier he’d created over years of tamping down his emotions, forming cracks and slipping through.
He saw the three knights, riding proudly with honorable positions, and it hadn’t occurred to him until that moment just how far he’d fallen.
It should have been him riding escort as a skilled and noble knight but because of his brother’s cruelty, he wasn’t where he should have been.
Instead, he was a paid warrior and a paid assassin when it was required.
He worked on the fringes, on the dark side of his profession, and he’d never regretted that until this moment.
Not until he saw men who were in a position he should have been in.
That realization cut him like a knife.
He’d told Laurence that he’d never wasted his time with thoughts of revenge towards his brother, but that seemed to have change in an instant now that he saw the tangible evidence of what his brother had taken away from him.
Boothe had stolen everything from him.
Fighting off feelings of rage and depression, Gage continued to follow the escort as they headed into the business district of Durham.
It was a struggle to focus on Wynter and not the abject feelings he was experiencing.
Specifically, the de Thorington group seemed to be heading to the street of the merchants and it was busier there, with more people to conceal his movements.
The morning around them was in full swing.
Once they actually reached the street of the merchants with its rows of mercantile and commerce, it was quite busy as people went about their daily business.
Gage kept his eye on that dark, red head.
He didn’t particularly want to be seen by Clark or the other knights.
He didn’t want to have to explain himself and he wasn’t in the mood for an old friends reunion.
He watched as the countess took her daughters into one of the shops only to quickly emerge and go into another.
He watched them go into four different stalls until they entered a much larger stall that utilized the alley behind it to display wares.
Gage ducked around back to the alley, noticing Wynter right away.
She wasn’t hard to find. She was looking at a woman who had silk fabric draped on her, trying to sell it to customers.
But he also noticed several armed guards, as was usual with the merchant stalls.
They had their own small armies to protect their wares. But Gage didn’t want their wares.
He only wanted one of their customers.
Keeping his eye on Wynter, he moved closer.
*
Wynter thought the woman with the silks draped on her was terribly pushy. She kept trying to put the fabric on Wynter to show her how lovely it was, but Wynter wasn’t in the mood to be dressed and she wasn’t in the mood to shop. That wasn’t like her.
All she wanted to do was go home.
The more the morning progressed, the more disgruntled she became.
She wanted to go home and focus on her plays.
She thought that her next play would be the story of Job because, certainly, she felt that torment now.
A man she’d been fond of her entire life held absolutely no fondness for her, a cold man if she’d ever seen one.
If that wasn’t a tribulation to her fragile soul, she didn’t know what was.
The woman with the silks was coming on strong and Wynter finally turned away from her, forced out into the alley because the woman wouldn’t leave her alone.
She just started walking away, hoping the woman would turn her attention on someone else if she moved far enough away from her.
Fortunately, that was the case, but Wynter was far down the alley by that point.
She thought that she might as well walk around to the main avenue and wait with the escort since she had no desire to go back into the merchant’s stall.
She just wanted to leave.
“My lady?”
A voice came from behind. Startled, Wynter turned to see Gage standing there, emerging from the rear of one of the stalls that fronted the avenue.
Clad in full protection, including an enormous broadsword, he looked every inch the powerful knight except for the fact that he wasn’t wearing an identifiable tunic.
He looked as if he were going to war.
“Gage?” she said, shocked. “What in the world are you doing here?”
Gage smiled timidly. “A reasonable question worthy of a reasonable answer,” he said. “I followed you from your great-aunt’s home.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to speak with you.”
“What about?”
Gage was still smiling, though it was forced because the gesture didn’t come naturally. More than that, there was tension in the air between them and Wynter’s lack of joy in seeing him again seemed to confirm that.
He cleared his throat softly.
“Because I offended you last night, though I did not mean to,” he said. “I could not leave without making amends. If I upset you last night, please understand how sorry I am. We were great friends once, you and I, and I value that friendship greatly.”
Wynter eyed him for a moment. His appearance had been unexpected, but the reason behind it was even more unexpected. Truth be told, she was quite off balance by his presence.
She was also quite guarded.
And perhaps even a little upset.
“Gage,” she said, looking him in the eyes.
“You do not value anything between us and to boldly lie is beneath you. If our friendship had been of any value to you, you would have come to tell me personally that you were leaving those years ago. You would have come to tell us all. I am an acquaintance of your youth and nothing more, so you do not have to pretend otherwise. I have accepted that any friendship we had is purely in the past.”
Gage’s expression didn’t change. “I thought so, too,” he said honestly.
“But when I saw you last night, I realized that I had missed you. I had missed everything I left behind and that is a difficult admission because I went through months and years of missing what I’d left behind and forcing myself to forget about it.
I never wanted to leave Septentrion, you know.
Boothe banished me. It was either leave or he would kill me. And that is the only reason I left.”
Wynter grew serious. “Kill you?” she said. “That is a terrible thing, of course, but I am not looking for a confession. You told me last night to mind my own business and that is what I intend to do.”
Gage’s smile faded and he took a deep breath. “I realize that,” he said. “I can only apologize for being so rude last night. In my profession, I am not used to speaking of myself. I have learned not to do it. But I would like to tell you where I have been, if you will listen.”
Wynter eyed him, but it was difficult not to let her guard down. Gage easily had that effect on her and he always had, so all of those hurt feelings she had been dealing with gave way to resignation.
It was Gage, after all.
Surrender was inevitable.
“I will listen,” she said. “Tell me what happened with Boothe. What reason did he give for banishing you?”