Chapter Five #3
“No. We picked it up before she could see. But the guards didn’t know anything about it. No one had gotten past them, so how did it appear?”
“What about the servants? The maids who clean her chamber?” Bronwyn asked.
“From what I understand, they have already been questioned. But they didn’t know anything, either.
They seemed scared. But I think they were more afraid of the empress’s wrath than the idea that someone might be delivering horrid things into her chamber.
One of the poor wretches actually got on her knees and begged the empress’s forgiveness. ”
“But she didn’t admit to the crime?”
“No. The poor girl knew nothing about it. Strange, isn’t it?” Lady Alice said.
“Yes. What do you think happened?” Bronwyn asked.
“I don’t know. It’s why I’m talking to you.
But it’s not right. Someone is tormenting the empress, and it’s disturbing her mood.
When she greets us in the morning, she is tired, and I see dark circles under her eyes.
And… she has asked us ladies to take turns sleeping in her room.
On the floor.” Lady Alice spoke with distaste.
“Like a servant. I mean, I would do anything the empress asked of me, but…” She squared her shoulders. “The things I do for the crown.”
“If it makes the empress feel safer, I would do it,” Bronwyn said.
“I will. But it’s not a question of doing it or not; we don’t have a choice once Her Grace asks. I just wonder if something else will happen whilst I’m there.” Lady Alice shivered and gave herself a little shake. “I cannot look weak or untrustworthy to the empress.”
Bronwyn nodded. “The empress asked me to look into the matter too.”
“Then you know at least some of this already. What else have you heard?” Lady Alice asked.
Bronwyn related what she knew, which wasn’t much.
She felt a blush of embarrassment cross her cheeks.
She hadn’t been investigating, not properly.
She was a cook and had lost sight of the empress’s commands on her time, especially when there had been dishes to prepare and most of her spare thoughts had dwelled on Theobold and Rupert.
Lady Alice pouted. “What I don’t understand is why has Her Grace asked you to help when you’re just a kitchen maid? She could have asked me. I am one of her ladies. All she does is give you undue distinction. Why is that?”
Bronwyn cocked her head. She hadn’t left the kitchen at Lady Alice’s request just to be insulted. “I can think of a few reasons.”
“Like what?”
“I’m smart.” Bronwyn looked Alice in the eye and ticked the reasons off on her fingers. “I’ve solved these sorts of problems for her before. And she might have thought this was beneath you.”
Lady Alice raised an eyebrow. “You’re developing a honeyed tongue for flattery. You really are smart.”
Bronwyn looked at her sometimes friend, sometimes enemy. Lady Alice seemed pleased, but the way she’d said it, it was clear her words weren’t a compliment.
“There is also another reason,” Bronwyn said. “She may think you are a suspect.”
Lady Alice pouted at that, but Bronwyn turned and left before her friend could respond.
Bronwyn returned to the kitchens, only to be pulled aside by Hugh. “What did Lady Alice want?”
Bronwyn gave a little shrug. “Not much. Why?”
“These nobles, always ordering us around. We serve the empress, not them.” He snorted and said quietly, “Some food is missing from the stores. One of the leftover chicken carcasses from last night has been stripped clean, and some of the bread is gone.”
Bronwyn raised an eyebrow. The bones would still have been good to use to make stock for a broth, but for someone to have helped themselves to such little meat was a bit surprising.
Master Hugh was good in that in his kitchen, he made sure none of the servants went hungry.
Full bellies meant content servants, and he was a firm believer in that.
So for someone to steal food wasn’t just alarming; it was unnecessary.
But with the siege having gone on for weeks, the portions had grown smaller, as he was having to closely ration the food for the number of people in the castle.
“When did you first notice this?” Bronwyn asked.
“Don’t know. At least a day or so ago. But now I wonder if it’s been longer.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Not sure. No one usually steals. There’s no need to. And no one here goes hungry, but…” He gave her a dark look. “We have had more servants join us since the empress took the castle.”
“But just because there are more mouths to feed doesn’t mean someone would steal.” She raised her chin. “Like you say, no one here goes hungry.” Her forehead wrinkled in thought. “I have an idea.”
That night, Bronwyn waited until the kitchen closed.
She didn’t take up her usual spot against the wall in the great hall and instead waited with Hugh and took up places in the corners of the kitchen storeroom.
He hid in the shadows of the kitchen itself, whilst she hid by the food stores, where they kept the leftovers from that day.
The spaces were full of shadows. The delicious smells of cheese, bread, and preserved meat hung in the air.
Torches that had burned throughout the day had mostly died to mere embers, and only darkness remained.
Bronwyn curled up behind a barrel and a few sacks of grain and flour and prepared to wait, her back against a wall.
But after a long day of work, in no time at all, she fell asleep.
Bronwyn opened her eyes with a start. Something had moved in the dark. Not a regular noise like the scurrying scuttle of mice as they ate. This was different. It was a rustling, a slight shift and movement of cloth, a quiet step. Was it a rat?
Fully awake now, Bronwyn waited, holding her breath. Her butt was sore from sitting so long and her knees and feet tingled. She wiggled her toes to get rid of the sensation. She could dimly hear Hugh’s snores from the kitchen. Looks like he’s fallen asleep too, she thought with a smile.
And then she spotted it. A lone, slight figure, quiet as a mouse, gliding across the floor. It barely made a sound.
The tall intruder wore a distinctive long habit or dress, her face and head hidden by a veil. The person drifted toward the stores and went straight for the cupboard. The smell of fermented yeast, grain, and beer hit Bronwyn’s nose. Was it Peter? No. The lithe form was definitely feminine.
The woman opened the cupboard and began to help herself. She stiffened at a sudden noise, or lack of one. Hugh had stopped snoring. The woman paused, then reached for more food with a quick, frenetic motion.
Bronwyn watched silently until the woman had a loaf of day-old bread in her hands, tearing a piece of bread free and putting it in her mouth.
Rising from her place against the wall, Bronwyn opened her mouth to speak, when Hugh’s voice cut through the silence.
“What do you think you are doing, girl?”
The intruder started, dropping the loaf. One of her hands drifted to her veil, and she uttered a sharp cry.
Bronwyn came forward. “It’s all right.”
Seeing her, the woman fretted and crossed herself.
Bronwyn held up her hands. “It’s all right. We’re not going to hurt you.”
Bronwyn’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she could see from the woman’s movements that she was middle-aged. The smell of oats, hops, and unwashed body was stronger now.
The tall woman looked from her to Hugh’s large bulk like a deer caught in a trap. She glanced at Hugh blocking the exit, her gaze flicked down at the fallen bread, and she uttered a sob.
Hugh’s mouth dropped open. “Bronwyn…”
Bronwyn picked up the bread loaf and handed it to the woman. “Here. Take it.”
The woman snatched the bread from her hungrily and clasped it to her chest, eyeing them as if either might try to take it.
“What’s your name?” Bronwyn asked.
The woman tore off another piece of bread and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing furiously.
Her eyes were wide as she swallowed a large mouthful.
Her voice was like a low alto. “Sister Rebecca. I’m a sister with St. Mary’s here in Winchester.
” She held the bread tighter as if for comfort.
“Our nunnery fell in the fighting. The men in Matilda’s army…
They came in and didn’t care what they broke, what they destroyed.
I’ve never seen such violence. They didn’t respect the sanctity of the church, or the chastity of my fellow sisters.
They did not care for our vows. We are… We were a holy faction and now… ” Her hands shook.
“It’s all right,” Bronwyn said.
Sister Rebecca looked at Hugh warily. “I’m sorry. I was just so hungry. Sister Joan and I…”
“There are more of you? Where?”
“We were fifty, but now… Only Sister Joan and I escaped.”
“How?” Bronwyn asked.
“I grew up around here, just a few streets away. I’ve known these roads and all the good hiding places since I was a child.
I just never thought I’d have reason to use them.
” Sister Rebecca blinked away tears. “Please don’t throw me out.
I’m sorry I took the bread. I’ll give it back.
Just please, don’t cast me out. Not outside. ” She held out the bread warily.
“Keep it,” Hugh said.
“No one is throwing you out,” Bronwyn told the nun.
Hugh looked at her as if to say, That’s not your decision to make, then said aloud, “Bronwyn is right. It’s not safe. But you shouldn’t have been stealing. There’s no need to go hungry. You and your sister would be welcome. The empress wouldn’t turn you away.”
“Oh, thank you. Thank you,” Sister Rebecca babbled. “Please, what’s to become of us? You promise you won’t throw us out?”
Hugh shook his head. “I won’t.” His voice was gruff.
Bronwyn wondered if perhaps behind his grizzly exterior, he had a warm heart.
Sister Rebecca closed her eyes and exhaled. “Thank goodness. When I heard that man talking, I grew so afraid, I knew we had to keep hiding. It wasn’t safe for us.”