Chapter Two #3
When her mother was finished cleaning up her face, Wynter collected another towel to dry her face with.
She knew her grandfather, whom she had never met, had been born and lived in Durham his entire life.
Baron Haswell held a good deal of property, including two villages, that had been incorporated into the Ashington earldom when John de Thorington married Haswell’s daughter, Lady Maryann.
Her mother had been an only child and particularly attached to her father, so the trip into Durham was a regular pilgrimage this time every year.
“I’d nearly forgotten,” Wynter said. “I’d lost track of the time. Will we visit Aunt Sedelia?”
Maryann nodded. “We shall,” she said. “We will leave at first light tomorrow because it will take us all day to travel to Durham. We will shop the next day after attending mass, spend the night with Aunt Sedelia, and then come home.”
“All of us?”
“All of my daughters, of course.”
That was usual. John never made the journey. As Wynter finished drying off her face, Maryann picked up the wet linens. “Hurry and return to your father,” she said crisply. “Wear the garment that is the color of wine. That is so striking on your coloring, sweetheart.”
Wynter knew which one she meant, a wine-colored silk that emphasized her striking coloring and ample bosom.
It was a most attractive garment so Wynter simply nodded again, placating her mother so she would get what she wanted in return – the promise of purchasing something she wanted.
Perhaps a lovely scarf or something she could use in her entertainments.
Nay, she wasn’t beyond a bribe. In any case, she was looking forward to the trip, but before she could make it to Durham, she had to get through an afternoon of stimulating conversation with Brian de Luci.
She hoped her heart was strong enough to stand the strain.
And her resolve was strong enough not to become bored to tears.
Quickly, she dressed.
*
“I suppose I am not surprised to hear this,” John said, sitting across the table in his elaborately furnished solar, a pitcher of expensive French wine between him and de Luci.
“Stagshaw has become a virtual recluse since he assumed the title from his father those years ago. That is to say, he seems to make himself scarce when the northern barons are meeting and I’ve not seen him at any celebration or feast in all that time.
I could not believe the man was simply sitting at home, idly passing the hours, though I’d not heard anything differently until now. ”
De Luci nodded grimly. “Now, you know,” he said.
“I’ve been mining the lands that border the Stagshaw barony for the past few years.
Coal, you know. The ground is full of it.
I have big pits dug into the ground and I am making significant income because I can sell it to every smithy from Berwick to Middlesbrough.
It has also provided a means of employment because some of the vassals who farm my land have turned to mining it. ”
John could see exactly where the conversation was going. “And Stagshaw wants what you have.”
De Luci sighed heavily. “The man has never been an ally, but he has never been an enemy, either, until a couple of years ago,” he said.
“The land where the coal was found is not contested. It has never been contested. It is rocky soil that farmers have avoided, but when Stagshaw heard that I was mining the coal and selling it, he decided that it must be part of his lands. That is when the harassment started.”
John shook his head in disgust. “You’ve endured two years of this?”
De Luci nodded. “Two years.”
“Why have you not mentioned this before? I have seen you many times over the past two years.”
De Luci shrugged. “At first, it was an annoyance more than anything,” he said.
“Harassing the miners in the pit, but the harassment began to grow so I posted soldiers to protect the miners. Stagshaw was sending his men out to try to coerce the miners into mining for him and paying them outright for it. You see, I pay them a percentage of the profits. It is more money for them.”
“And when that did not work, Stagshaw tried other methods of provocation?”
De Luci sighed heavily, sitting back in his chair.
“My army is larger than Stagshaw’s,” he said.
“I have more property and more men, but Stagshaw has been extraordinarily aggressive about this. I finally had to station one hundred men in and around the mine because Stagshaw was sending his own miners in to harvest the coal.”
John frowned. “You should have at least told me,” he said. “I would have helped you and you know that.”
De Luci averted his gaze. “It did not seem right to bring you into a neighbor dispute, my lord,” he said.
“Besides, I can handle Boothe de Reyne. I have known him my entire life, you know. Our fathers were friends. Boothe was always a petty, foolish excuse for a child and that has only continued into manhood.”
John was watching him with some curiosity now. “But something has changed,” he ventured. “Why tell me now? What has changed?”
De Luci drew in a long, thoughtful breath. “My cousin serves me,” he said. “You have met him – Sir Henry de Luci.”
“Aye, of course.”
“Henry is a good lad, newly knighted. He was at the mine about two months ago, helping to stand watch, when de Reyne’s men appeared and started their harassment. Somehow, Henry was caught up in a physical altercation and he was shoved backwards, falling into the pit and hitting his head.”
John winced at the mere thought. “God’s bones,” he muttered. “It did not kill him, did it?”
De Luci shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “But it broke his neck. He cannot feel anything below his shoulders. It is a terrible thing, my lord. A young knight with his entire life before him, crippled because of Stagshaw’s wickedness. A most unworthy bastard to disable young Henry, I might add.”
John could see how badly the incident had hurt Brian. He was a man who wore his emotions openly and this was no exception. John felt a good deal of sorrow for him.
“What do you need from me?” he asked. “Tell me what you wish and you shall have it.”
De Luci forced a smile. “You are kind, my lord,” he said. “Very kind. But I will take care of the Stagshaw problem once and for all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Papa?”
A decidedly female voice came from the doorway and they turned to see Wynter standing there in a delicious wine-colored silk garment. Her auburn hair was brushed, the natural curl caressing her back and shoulders. As she came into the chamber, both John and de Luci stood up to face her.
“Wynter, my dear,” John said, quickly moving to her and taking her by the arm. “Come in and join us.”
Wynter smiled politely at de Luci, who was predictably nervous at the sight of her. “I hope I did not interrupt anything serious,” she said. “I heard you say that you would take care of a problem once and for all, so I apologize if I heard something I should not have.”
Both John and de Luci shook their heads. “Nay, my lady,” de Luci said. “I was speaking of a troublesome neighbor.”
“Oh?” Wynter said, sitting down in the chair her father pulled up for her. “Do I know him?”
“Lord Stagshaw.”
That brought a reaction from Wynter. Her smile faded. “I am sorry to hear that,” she said. “What has he done?”
“A land dispute,” John said. “He has been aggressive towards Brian over some Tynedale land that butts up against the Stagshaw properties.”
Only because the subject was a de Reyne was Wynter even remotely interested. It was enough to keep her engaged. “He has laid claim to this land?” she asked curiously.
De Luci’s nervous gaze moved back and forth between Wynter and her father.
“He is trying to,” he said. “We have been mining coal from the land and selling it at a profit, so there is money involved. It’s purely greed on Stagshaw’s part.
I was just telling your father that the situation became critical when my cousin was gravely injured by Stagshaw’s men a couple of months ago.
Until then, he was a nuisance and nothing more, but after that… ”
“After that, he has forced your hand,” Wynter said knowingly. “At least, I would imagine he has. Now, you must do something to stop him. But we’ve not heard from, nor seen, Stagshaw in years. He has been a ghost to us.”
De Luci nodded. “That is what your father said,” he said. “Unfortunately, I have not been so lucky.”
“Then what will you do?”
De Luci was gradually relaxing as the conversation progressed.
Being in the presence of Wynter de Thorington, a woman who was far out of his class, always made him nervous through no fault of her own.
It was simply his problem, being in the presence of a woman as beautiful as Lady Wynter was.
Her hair was a luscious, glistening dark red in color, thick and wavy, and her eyes were the color of amber with a slight tilt at the ends.
There was nothing imperfect about her, something that left de Luci in awe.
It was difficult to overcome that.
But he tried.
“After my cousin was injured, I thought long and hard about my response,” he said.
“I have another cousin who serves at Northwood Castle, along the Scots border, and I discussed it with him. Michael de Bocage is a great knight and serves in a company of great knights, mayhap one of the greatest knights corps on the border serving the Earl of Teviot. Their advice was sound.”
“Is Sir Michael related to the cousin who was injured?” Wynter asked.
De Luci shook his head. “Michael is on my mother’s side,” he said. “The cousin who was injured is on my father’s. In any case, the collective suggestion of the knights of Northwood was not to involve any of my allies in my retribution against de Reyne.”
Wynter frowned. “Why not?” she said. “Is that not what allies are for?”