Chapter Twenty-Two
Corisande was confused.
She’d awoken just before dawn to the wagon being jostled, rising to see that the horses were being put back into their harness. The English soldiers and wagons that had been taken captive the day before were being rounded up as several Scots, MacDuff included, began to organize them into a line.
Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Corisande couldn’t believe her what she was witnessing.
The mist was still heavy, but there was a hint of sunlight overhead as dawn approached.
However, it was dark and cold all around, and the Scots had torches to pierce the mist. She could hear gulls calling, as they usually did in Berwick, scavenger birds looking for a morning meal.
Around her, it looked to her as if the captives were all being moved, her included.
Gaia was sitting next to her in the wagon, her legs hanging over the back. She was wrapped up in a blanket, watching the activity, as Corisande sat up beside her.
“What is happening?” she asked, sounding hoarse. “Where are we going?”
Gaia had circles under her eyes as she looked out over the mist. “We are leaving.”
“Leaving for where?”
“Back to England.”
Corisande didn’t quite understand her at first. Then, her eyes widened. “Back to England?” she asked, looking around rather frantically. “What do you mean? They’re taking us back to Papa?”
Gaia looked at her, then. “We are going home,” she said plainly. “They are releasing us, Cori.”
Corisande stared at her sister. “But…” she sputtered.
Then, she grabbed her sister by the arm and lowered her voice.
“But how is this possible? MacDuff told me… I was to come to him last night and he would release us, but I must have fallen asleep. Why did you not wake me? You knew what had to happen.”
Gaia’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before returning it to the misty landscape and the men moving about.
“We are being released and that is all that should matter,” she said. “Be joyful, Cori. We are returning to England and you can return to Cole with a clear conscience and a clean body. You needn’t worry anymore. Cole will still love you.”
Corisande stared at her. She may have been groggy, but she wasn’t senseless.
Something was amiss because Gaia was being far too casual about the entire situation.
Her usually weeping, skittish sister was as hard as a rock.
It was then that Corisande noticed that she didn’t recognize the blanket Gaia was wrapped in.
It wasn’t one of theirs.
“Where did you get this?” she asked, pulling at the fabric.
Gaia pulled it right around her. “It was cold.”
“Who gave you the blanket, Gaia?”
Gaia stared at her a moment. Corisande was only now noticing the dark-circled eyes and she was greatly concerned, but before she could voice those concerns, Gaia spoke softly.
“Is it not enough that we are leaving?” she asked. “Please stop asking so many questions. If you misbehave, they may change their mind, so just… be quiet. Let us leave this place before you start pestering me.”
Corisande had no idea what Gaia was talking about, nor did she recognize the attitude her sister was conveying. She peered at her closely, trying to figure out what was happening.
“Gaia,” she whispered calmly. “What do you know about all of this? Won’t you tell me?”
The wagon suddenly lurched, throwing them both off-balance as it began to make its way through the grass, heading towards the trees.
On the other side of the trees was the road that they had traveled upon when they’d been brought into Scotland, but Corisande didn’t know that and Gaia didn’t remember.
All they knew was that the wagons were heading into the trees with a Scots escort, including MacDuff himself.
Heading for England.
The mist was becoming lighter as the sun began to rise. They could see soldiers walking around them through the mist, a few of them leaning on colleagues for support. They were English soldiers and Corisande caught sight of a few de Bourne men up ahead.
Everyone was leaving, just as MacDuff had promised if she…
…if she…?
“Tell me what you know, Gaia,” she turned to her sister and hissed. “If you do not tell me, I will start screaming and possibly they will stop this caravan to discover what is the matter. And I shall tell them that my sister is ill and they will…”
Gaia cut her off. “Shush!”
She put a hand over Corisande’s mouth, but it was only a temporary measure.
Gaia knew Corisande was serious. In fact, she knew she should probably tell her before someone else did.
When she’d returned to the wagon, wrapped in MacDuff’s blanket, several English soldiers had seen her, including the de Bourne soldiers.
They had seen her coming from the direction of MacDuff’s tent.
But they’d also seen Corisande and Gaia coming from his tent the night before, which could have also meant something lascivious. Two women coming from the Earl of Fife’s tent, unchaperoned, and then the captives being released at daybreak could start a myriad of dark rumors.
It had to be addressed.
But that was more terrifying than the actual deed for Gaia.
Now that it was over with, she wondered if she was brave enough to face what she had done.
Perhaps she had hoped to keep it from Corisande, but the truth was that it simply wasn’t realistic.
Corisande had to know. Last night, Gaia had been courageous, but this morning…
Not so much.
“Please, Cori,” she said softly, pulling her hand away from her sister’s mouth. “Please be quiet. I will tell you want you want to know, but you must be quiet.”
Corisande’s gaze was intense. “What do you know?” she demanded. “What happened?”
Reaching out, Gaia took her hand and squeezed it tightly. “Let me do this for you, Cori,” she whispered. “I had to do it.”
“Had to do what?”
Gaia took a deep breath. “It did not matter which sister warmed his bed, only that one did,” she murmured. “I could not let it be you. Not when you have a future with Cole. You wanted to protect me, but not this time. Not like that.”
Corisande’s eyes widened when she realized what her sister was telling her. Then, she slapped her own hand over her mouth to keep from crying out. As she looked at her little sister, her eyes filled with tears.
“Nay,” she breathed. “Oh, Gaia… nay. Tell me that you did not.”
Gaia squeezed her hand again. “It is not the end of the world,” she said. “Look at me. I am uninjured. You are uninjured. We are going home and you will marry Cole. Everything will be as it should be. That is all we should be concerned with.”
The wagon bumped over the ground as they entered the trees, dripping wet from the mist. Water fell on their faces, but Corisande didn’t even bother to wipe it away.
She was far too devastated.
“But you…” she wept softly. “You should not have done that. It is my duty, as your sister, to…”
Gaia cut her off. “You have always protected me,” she said. “I have been a silly, worthless fool, but you have always protected me. It is my turn to protect you.”
Corisande didn’t know what to say. It was the most selfless, brave act she’d ever heard of.
From Gaia, no less. She had no idea her little sister was capable of such things.
She pulled Gaia into an embrace, holding her tightly and feeling like a failure.
She was horribly torn. She loved Cole, but she loved Gaia, too.
Now, Gaia had done something no woman should ever have to do, all to protect her sister.
It was shattering to realize that.
But that grief, that deep agony, was Corisande’s last coherent through before the forest around her exploded.
They’d found an old man who knew the land around Berwick extremely well.
While chaos was going on in the town of Berwick and Scots were being captured or killed by the dozens, a very old man who lived in a hovel to the north of the town had been sitting in the tavern called Blankenship and drinking to his heart’s content.
When the English had come looking for someone to tell them about the hills north of Berwick, he’d been more than willing to come out with the information for the price of another drink.
Three drinks later, Kress and Achilles had what they needed to know.
When the Scots began to move through the mist at dawn, the Executioner Knights were ready.
The old man had told them about a portion of the hills that was rocky and protected by a ring of trees, trees that would protect the Scots from English eyes or bombardment.
He even drew a crude map for them in the dirt floor of the tavern, describing a stream that dumped into the river from the northeast, leading straight into the area where the Scots were most likely gathered.
All the Executioner Knights had to do was find that stream that fed into the River Tweed.
It wasn’t that difficult.
Heading out of Berwick city in the mist, they crossed the bridge and came to a road that led to the Ord Crossing.
All they had to do was follow it. Once they made it to the bridge, they crossed over and began to search the bank on the other side where the old man had said the stream was located.
They found it, though it was disguised in a marshy area, but the stream itself headed northeast, right into a forested area.
As they approached, they could smell the smoke from the cooking fires.
They knew they’d found the encampment.
At that point, the sun was rising further and there was more light to work by.
And be seen by. They stashed the horses near the edge of the trees and made their way inside the forest, picking through the wet undergrowth, until they finally began to see signs of human habitation.
An entire Scots encampment was beginning to awaken.
They spread out inside the tree line to see if they could find the women.