Chapter Two
They couldn’t get enough of the trained dogs.
Lots of children were gathering near the food vendors’ row, watching a man with five dogs that were very smart and well trained.
One dog balanced an inflated pig bladder on his nose while still others leapt over little barriers, painted colorfully, and flying little banners.
But her two daughters were mesmerized by the smart canines, so much so that wild horses couldn’t have dragged them away.
Certainly not their mother.
Somewhere, her father was off conducting business at the Earl of Hereford’s tournament.
This was a major event on the Welsh marches and there were people from as far as Devon who had come to enjoy the sport and spectacle.
Her father’s knight had offered to escort her and her children to the sweets vendor, but her father had declined.
That was a good thing, because she really didn’t want to be alone with Lance le Kerque.
Not after he’d mentioned that her daughters needed a father and that widowhood didn’t suit her.
He’d never come right out and made his intentions plain, but he didn’t have to.
He’d been making comments for weeks, nearly ever since he came into service for her father.
Catalina de Efford de Barenton didn’t want another husband.
She just wanted to be left in peace.
“Mama! Look! Look at the dogs!”
Jolted from her reflections, Catalina smiled weakly at her youngest daughter, who was nearly out of her mind with joy at the little dogs who had just spun around in a circle at the owner’s command.
Ines was the excitable one, while Adabella, older by almost two years, was more serious and skeptical.
She was a very intelligent girl and not given to flights of fancy like her younger sister was, although she seemed to be enjoying the dogs nearly as much.
She wouldn’t show it, however, as if embarrassed to be caught enjoying something.
Adabella was a complicated child.
“I believe the dogs are going to be here for the rest of the day,” Catalina said. “If we leave them for a moment to purchase food, I am sure they will be here when we return.”
Ines wasn’t particularly happy to hear that. “Now?” she said, verging on tears.
Catalina was gentle with her. “I am hungry,” she said. “Adabella is hungry and I know you did not break your fast this morning, so let us find something to eat and then we will return. I promise.”
Ines was disappointed, but she nodded her head.
Just once, so her mother wouldn’t think she was being too agreeable.
If Adabella was complicated, Ines was stubborn.
Infinitely so. With a smile, Catalina had reached out to take her daughter by the hand when one of the little dogs suddenly bolted off.
“I’ll get him!” Ines cried.
She was off and running before Catalina could stop her.
That had Catalina telling Adabella, very quickly, to remain with the dogs while Catalina took off after Ines.
The youngest girl was very fast, as small children often are, and Catalina followed her daughter down the main avenue, shouting for her to stop.
Ines wasn’t listening.
At some point, Catalina was certain her daughter was trying to outrun her mother more than she was actually trying to catch the dog.
The more Catalina called to her, the more Ines ignored her, and Catalina was torn between terror and rage.
She desperately wanted to catch her daughter to make sure the girl would be safe, but she also wanted to catch her daughter so that she could swat her on the buttocks for such foolishness.
Ines wasn’t a naughty girl, but she did have a tendency to be disobedient, even at her young age.
Sometimes it was cute, but in times like this, it was horrifying.
The chase went on. Somehow, Ines had managed to end up running down an alleyway, and when Catalina fell in behind her, albeit quite far behind her, she couldn’t even see the dog that Ines was supposed to be chasing.
Now, apparently her daughter was running simply for the sake of running, and that absolutely infuriated Catalina.
Ines had done that before, loving to take her mother on a merry chase simply for the laughs, but it was never in a situation like this.
Never in a busy village where there were people and horses and conveyances that could quite easily run over a small child.
Catalina was seriously thinking about putting a tether around her daughter the next time they went out in public.
Hopefully that would eliminate moments like this.
Moments that took ten years off Catalina’s life.
She was midway down the alley when Ines suddenly took a hard left and disappeared from sight. She’d evidently run in between two cottages, but by the time Catalina reached that point, a panicked glance down the alleyway showed no signs of her daughter.
That child had simply vanished.
God help me, Catalina thought, trying not to panic. God help me to find her!
Catalina’s calls for her daughter resumed in earnest.
*
He hadn’t gone to check on his horse, nor had he lain down to rest. Instead, Essien decided to go into the village.
The tournament was being held in a wide-open field to the southeast of Lioncross Abbey Castle.
The precise location was in the space between the village of Lioncross and the castle itself, so the rather large vendor village that had popped up to the east also butted up against the village itself, integrating itself into the cottages that were on the fringe of the settlement.
That was how Essien found himself in the village.
He’d just wandered in. He could smell fresh bread baking somewhere and had followed his nose, but then the wind shifted and he found himself standing in a small avenue that was full of people but no bread.
At one point, he thought he caught a flash of Rebecca’s bright red hair, and that had him darting into an alleyway to get away from her.
Pressed flat against the wall that he was next to, he dared to peek out from behind his protection when he heard sniffles.
Lots of them.
Curious, he looked around only to see a small girl sitting on the ground several feet away. She had been partially in the shadows, so he simply hadn’t noticed her. She had bloodied knees, and her palms were scraped, and he turned to her purely out of natural concern.
“My lady?” he said gently. “Are you injured?”
The little girl looked up at him. She was a beautiful child, with dark blonde hair and enormous blue eyes.
Those eyes were full of tears, running down her face, and her reply was to hold up her hands to show him the scrapes on her palms. She was quite young, and small, so he took a knee a few feet away to be more on her level.
“Did you fall?” he asked.
She nodded firmly, almost angrily, looking at her bloodied palms, but she didn’t speak. She just kept sniffling.
“Ah,” he said. “I see. Let me guess—you were chasing a very bad man whom you saw rob a vendor who was selling apples made from the shiniest gold. He took those golden apples, which were the only thing the vendor had to sell, because he has twenty beautiful daughters and he must buy silken dresses for all of them. Is that what happened?”
Her tears were fading. Sort of. “There were apples?” she said, wiping her nose and smearing mucus and dirt across her cheek.
Essien nodded. “Golden apples,” he confirmed.
“You were very heroic to chase the thief, but do not feel bad that you did not catch him. He had five hundred men helping him and not even you can fight off five hundred men, so you should not feel sad. Let me take you back to your mother and she can clean your wounds. I will tell her how brave you were.”
The little girl wiped at her eyes but didn’t move as he had requested. She simply looked at him, repeatedly wiping her eyes and smearing dirt all over her face. She didn’t seem apt to speak again, even after his charming story, and he was running out of things to say.
He glanced at the child’s clothing. It was rather fine, with expensive embroidery, and she had well-made leather slippers. This wasn’t some lost peasant child. This was a child whose parents had means, perhaps even the child of a knight competing in the tournament.
Someone was surely looking for her.
“Since you are so brave, mayhap you will accompany me back to the lists?” he said, trying to convince the child to go with him. “Surely I will be quite safe with you as my escort. Will you not help me? Please?”
He held his hand out to her, but she continued to remain on the ground.
She didn’t seem too eager to comply with his request. He was certain that he was going to have to try again when she abruptly stood up.
She didn’t take his hand, however, and Essien stood up beside her, thinking that she really was a tiny thing, and with so many people and horses and wagons about, a child that size could easily be lost or crushed.
Essien had always been thoughtful and chivalrous, something that had gotten him into trouble on occasion.
Whereas many knights could simply discount a lone child in need, Essien wasn’t one of them.
His sense of compassion wouldn’t allow it.
If there was a need for assistance, he would always offer to provide it.
Even to a lost little girl.
“My name is Essien,” he told her, reaching out to grasp her little hand. “What is your name?”
Surprisingly, she didn’t pull away from him. “Ines,” she said.
He smiled. “Lady Ines,” he said. “I am honored to make your acquaintance. Do you know where your mother or father is?”
She shook her head and hiccupped again. “I was finding the dog.”
“Finding the dog?” Essien repeated. “What dog?”
She pointed down the alleyway, to the busy street. “He ran away.”
He nodded in understanding. “I see,” he said. “Was it your dog?”