Chapter Five #4
Gage shrugged. “He did not have to give a reason,” he said simply.
“Boothe is Lord Stagshaw and that is reason enough, but I will say that he was always threatened by me. I was a better knight, a better man. People liked me but they did not like him. By telling you that I attempted to murder him and steal his inheritance, he tried to change that dynamic. He tried to make himself out to be the victim of his scheming younger brother and thereby gain sympathy. He accused me of something I did not do and was unable to defend myself against. So yes, it is true that I fled and I did not tell anyone. I was not given a choice.”
Wynter had no reason not to believe him.
The Gage de Reyne she’d known those years ago hadn’t been a liar.
More than that, she couldn’t ignore the old embers he was stirring up.
She could see her sisters down the alley, looking at the woman with the silks on her body, and she didn’t want them to see her with Gage.
She didn’t want to have to fend them off and she very much wanted to continue their conversation.
But she wondered if he would after she told him what was on her mind.
“Walk with me,” she said softly.
She started to move and Gage took up position beside her. The River Wear wove a path through Durham and the city was designed around it, so nearly every road led to the river at some point. Taking a small road that branched off from the street of the merchants, they ended up down by the riverbank.
“This is very confusing to me, Gage,” Wynter finally said, pausing as the soft sounds of the river filled the air between them.
“Last night, you were quite guarded. You did not wish to speak of yourself at all. Instead, you chose to glean information from me about what had gone on since your departure. I do not think that was quite fair to me. You simply wanted to use me for your own benefit. If you think to extract more information from me by telling me a little of why you left Northumberland, know that I have told you all I can.”
He nodded, some remorse in his otherwise emotionless face. “I do not blame you for feeling that way,” he said. “It is true we only spoke of things I wished to speak of last night and, for that, I am sorry.”
Wynter cocked her head. “Prove it,” she said. “Tell me where you went after you left Septentrion and do not expect anything from me in return. This time, you will do all of the talking and I will do all of the listening. Fair enough?”
He drew in a long, thoughtful breath. “It is,” he said. “But there is no simple answer to my life since leaving home. It is several years’ worth of my life.”
He seemed reluctant, again, and she hardened. “You said you wished to speak with me, but once again, you are controlling the conversation,” she said. “You clearly do not wish to speak with me at all.”
“I do, I swear it,” he said quickly. “It is simply that there is a lot to tell. It is difficult to know where to start.”
“Start from the beginning.”
She was right. He sighed heavily because this wasn’t going to be easy for him.
But gazing into her jewel-colored eyes, he realized that he very much wanted to tell her everything.
He wanted her to understand. Odd for a man who had never given the woman he’d once called his little sister any more attention than a doting brother would have.
As he’d observed, she was most definitely not his little sister any longer.
This was the moment where the situation between them would change…
Forever.
“Very well,” he said. “If you want the story, I shall tell it. When Boothe told me to leave Septentrion or he would kill me, I left to save my life. He never gave a reason, only that I was to leave and never return. Bull, unable to stomach serving my brother, went with me. I think he mostly went to see that I did not come to harm, which I appreciate. He is a very loyal friend. It all started with booking passage to France on a cog that was old but seaworthy. Our landing in Calais was the beginning of adventures we could have never imagined.”
Already, Wynter was quite interested. “How?”
He smiled at the irony of the question, a rare gesture.
“My original destination had always been Pamplona and my grandfather’s home of Fortaleza de los Vascones because, truthfully, I had nowhere else to go.
So, we made our way south to Paris, working any job we could find to make money – escorting clergy at one point, providing protection for some of the better inns around Paris, and then we heard that the Comte de Troyes was looking for good men because he was preparing to go to war against the English in Poitou. ”
Wynter’s eyes widened. “You fought with the French at Poitou?” she gasped. “My father told me about that battle. He said it was terrible.”
Gage couldn’t deny what was true. “That had been a strange happening,” he said.
“So many English lords that we knew, men we were now fighting against. When de Troyes realized he had English knights among his ranks, he paid us extremely well for any information he could use against Henry’s forces.
I was in an awkward position because although I may have been out of England, I couldn’t take England out of my blood.
I am still an English knight and I knew many of the houses that were part of Henry’s army.
I didn’t want to contribute to the death of Englishmen, nor did Bull, but we knew if we didn’t come through with useful information, we could very well find ourselves in irons, or worse. ”
Wynter was listening closely. “But you still fought?”
Gage nodded. “I still fought,” he said quietly.
“Bull and I orchestrated a careful dance of real information versus vague information when it came to the English warlords. We told them only as much as we dared and, at one point, led a midnight raid into the encampment of the Earl of Chester for supplies. It was enough to solidify trust with de Troyes, but once that trust was established and we were no longer being watched with suspicion, we fled one night under the cloak of darkness. We had our money, and a lot of it, and we didn’t want to get caught up in the endless cycle of battle between the French and the English. ”
There was an old, rotten stump on the riverbank and Wynter sat down, settling in for more of a story than she had imagined. “Where did you go after that?” she asked.
Gage moved in her direction, leaning up against a big tree with a heavy, green canopy.
“South, towards Pamplona,” he said. Then, he sprouted one of those rare grins.
“In Bayonne, while Bull was at a smithy having the new shoes put on his horse, I became ragingly drunk and was preyed upon by one of the serving wenches. I ended up passing out and she stole every bit of coin I had. Fortunately, Bull caught her but when he took the money back, she screamed that she was being robbed and, once again, we were forced to flee. From that moment on, I have never again let myself get drunk out of my senses. In fact, I… forgive me. I probably should not have told you a story about my drunken escapades. That was tasteless.”
He was looking at her with some horror but Wynter laughed. “Why not?” she said. “It simply proves that you are mortal with mortal weaknesses, like the rest of us. At least it has a happy ending. You got your money back.”
“I did,” he said, looking sheepish. “There were a few more adventures here and there, but that mostly ended when we reached Fortaleza de los Vascones. When I arrived, I was told that my grandfather had long since passed away and the lord now in command was my mother’s eldest brother.
Alejo de Soto, Duque de Navarra, was happy to have his nephew serve him, but his sons were not.
They were threatened by Bull and me, prompting some dangerous encounters. ”
Wynter looked at him with concern. “Did your uncle do anything about it?”
Gage nodded. “Uncle Alejo tried to be the peacemakers between his four sons and me, but it was not to be,” he said.
“After a year of being on guard for our very lives, every minute of every day, we knew that we could not remain. But we also knew that we had to earn wages and as seasoned knights, our talents would be in demand. There are opportunities for men of our skill and we simply had to find them. And here we are, back in Northumberland.”
“But why are you back?” she asked. Then, she looked at him with some fear. “Surely you are not returning to Septentrion, not after Boothe threatened you. He still has an army, Gage. I told you that he has been harassing Brian. If he sees you, there is no telling what he will do to you.”
Gage’s expression twitched. “I think Boothe should be more concerned with what I will do when I see him,” he said. “I am not worried about my brother.”
“Then you will not see him?”
“Not if I can help it.”
Wynter paused, pondering thoughts she probably shouldn’t be thinking.
The entire conversation had been incredibly enlightening and, not strangely, she forgave him for not having come to tell her about Boothe’s ultimatum those years ago.
It was clear he’d been wrongly treated, wrongly accused, which was something she’d always believed.
Fortunately or unfortunately, she had an idea.
“Have you and Bull returned looking for a post?” she asked.
“If you have, I am certain my father would accept your fealty. You know he has always liked you a great deal, Gage. Mayhap you will come to Ashleven and speak with him? At the very least, please come to visit. I know he would like to see you.”