Chapter Four #4
Amaury was trying to get his bearings. “Over near the apartment where your chamber is located,” he said.
“They went into the chamber, I fear, for some of the things they bought at the apothecary’s stall.
I think they were burning hemp because I could smell it from the window.
Then, they came out and I lost them in the mist.”
Lista sighed heavily. “Damnation,” she grumbled. “I am going to find everything they bought at the apothecary’s and throw it in the fire. They have been nothing but trouble since we arrived.”
“If you give the stuff to me, I’ll do it.”
Lista nodded firmly, disgusted by her mother and aunt’s behavior. “They are going to embarrass themselves and me in front of these kind people,” she said. “I like them. Lady Addington and Sir Julian have been very kind and I could throttle my mother for behaving so poorly.”
“My lady?”
A voice came from the mist and Lista whirled around to see Julian and another knight emerging from the fog. When their gazes met, Julian smiled timidly.
“Do you require assistance?” he continued. “We saw you abruptly leave, so we came to see if there is something we can do to help.”
Lista didn’t want to drag Julian into her mother’s folly, but she did indeed need help at the unfamiliar castle. She had no idea where to even start looking and her anxiety was on the rise.
“I am sorry to trouble you,” she said. “It seems that my mother and aunt have disappeared. If you could…”
They were interrupted by a howling sound. It was more like a baying, like animals crying at the moon, and there were two of them. Two decidedly female voices that then started laughing.
Lista clapped her hand to her forehead.
“God’s Bones,” she said. “Where are they?”
Everyone started looking around. “Is that your mother, my lady?” Julian asked.
Lista nodded, exasperated. “It must be unless you know of anyone else who would bay like a wolf and then laugh,” she said. “It has to be them. It sounds as if they are in that direction.”
She was pointing off to her right as more howling sounds filled the mist. The knights turned in that direction, listening carefully.
“The gatehouse,” Julian said. “It sounds as if they are on the wall.”
He started to move, with Anteaus and Amaury and Lista following close behind.
Having no idea where she was going, all Lista could do was stay close to Julian as Berwick’s great gatehouse came into view.
There were stairs on the outside of the structure, slick with the wet but also well-lit with torches, and Julian headed up the stairs with the knights right behind him.
Lista took the stairs more slowly because they were slippery and she didn’t want to fall.
She was about midway up when a body was suddenly in front of her and she looked up to see Julian standing there, extending his hand to her.
For a moment, their eyes met and Lista realized his hair wasn’t hanging in front of his right eye like it usually was. She’d tucked it back and he’d left it there. Gratefully, she took it and he steadied her up the rest of the way. Even when they reached the wall walk, he didn’t let go of her hand.
He held it tightly.
Lista would have been giddy with delight had more howling not caught their attention. More howling, more laughing.
Lista’s anxiety had turned to anger.
“There,” she said, pointing off to the right. “It sounds as if it is coming from that direction.”
They were all looking to the west, towards the river, and Anteaus led the way with Amaury, Julian, and Lista following.
Julian was still holding on to Lista because the wall walk didn’t have any railings on this side because they were being repaired.
The wooden railings had rotted away and Cole was in the process of having everything replaced with stone, so there were only partial stone barriers as high as a man’s ankle.
Not being able to see the fifteen-foot drop from the wall because of the mist, Lista was very glad for Julian’s steadying hand.
Truth be told, she was almost glad for her mother getting lost.
Almost.
More howling. They were nearing a tower when Amaury suddenly spoke up.
“Lady Felkington?” he said sharply. “Lady d’Orbec? Cease this foolishness. You’ve caused enough trouble this night.”
Lista could see her mother and aunt come into view.
They were sitting on the edge of the wall, their legs hanging over the side.
She gasped because of the dangerous position and she felt Julian squeeze her hand reassuringly.
She was so startled by the squeeze that she was caught off guard when he released her and went towards her mother, slowly and carefully.
“My lady,” he said in that steady, raspy voice. “I am going to help you to your feet, but you must be very careful not to slip. It is a long drop to the ground and I do not want you to injure yourself.”
Meadow looked up at the knight, having no idea of the danger she was in. “It is a lovely night,” she said. “We were just commenting on how lovely the night is. So dark and close. This is a time when witches walk the earth. Did you know that?”
Julian shook his head. “I did not, my lady.”
Meadow smiled at him before catching sight of her daughter a few feet behind him. “Ah,” she said, extending her hand to Lista. “My daughter has come. Have you met my daughter, Knight? She is a good and obedient lass.”
Clearly, she didn’t recognize Julian from earlier in the day and he didn’t remind her. He simply held out his hand to her.
“Let me help you rise, my lady,” he said, ignoring her question. “Take my hand.”
Meadow looked at the hand but made no move to take it. “I think not,” she said. “We are enjoying the night. I think we will remain here a little longer.”
Listening to her mother, Lista knew she was drunk, but she was probably also under the influence of any number of weeds or potions that she’d bought at the apothecary. She managed to get around Julian and came up between her mother and aunt.
“Stop it, both of you,” she hissed. “You are shaming yourselves and worst of all, you are shaming me. You are making a mockery of Lady de Velt’s invitation to sup, so get up and behave yourselves.”
Meadow and Flora looked at Lista, shocked by the tone she took. “You cannot speak to me that way,” Flora said. “I will do as I please.”
“Shut up,” Lista snapped, her patience gone.
“You are a foolish, ridiculous woman and you have lured my mother into your foolish and ridiculous world. I’ll see no more of this, do you hear me?
My mother is going with me but I do not care if you fall off this wall and break your stupid neck.
Do whatever you wish but leave my mother out of it. ”
With that, she grasped her mother under both arms and pulled her away from the ledge. Then, she helped her mother to her feet as Flora hurled insults at her.
“Ungrateful child!” she said. “Ungrateful and unruly child. Leave your mother alone. You cannot command her!”
Lista ignored her. She had her mother on her feet and that was all she cared about.
Julian was there, once again offering his help.
Lista had her hands on her mother, helping the woman walk, but when she looked up at Julian, all she could see was that handsome face in the weak torchlight. When their gazes met, she smiled.
He smiled back.
Meadow grabbed his outstretched hand and Julian led her and Lista back down the wall walk towards the tower.
That left Flora sitting on the edge, grumbling and insulting her niece, as Amaury went to the woman and held his hand out to her.
Flora turned her nose up at him, but he did what he’d done a hundred times before.
He grabbed her by the arm to pull her to her feet but instead of being compliant, as she usually was when it came to Amaury, she violently pulled away from him.
That momentum caused Amaury to lose his balance and with the slick stone, he wasn’t able to recover.
He pitched right over the side, disappearing in the mist as Flora screamed.
Startled, Lista and Meadow came to a halt just in time to hear Amaury hit the ground below.
It was a sickening, loud noise. Flora was still screaming and men down below were shouting, and Lista broke away from her mother, running for the tower with the stairs that led below.
She could hear Julian calling after her, telling her to slow down, but she didn’t listen.
She took the tower stairs too fast and ended up slipping at the bottom, falling to her knees in the mud of the bailey.
But she was on her feet in an instant, running over to the area where Amaury had gone down.
Men were gathered around a crumpled form on the ground and Lista pushed through, only to be confronted by a man who had fallen on his face into the mud. At least, that’s what it looked like. Amaury’s neck was bent at a sharp angle and she fell to her knees beside him.
“My God,” she gasped in horror, putting her hands on the man to turn him over. “Amaury, can you hear me?”
Julian and Anteaus were beside her, helping her roll Amaury over, but it was abundantly clear that the man was dead. His neck was broken and when he rolled onto his back, one eye was shut and mashed with mud while the other eye was open, staring into nothingness.
One look and Lista knew he was beyond help.