A Stormy Knight

England, Spring 1151

She dashed down the slope along the outer curtain wall, pulling her dark, heavy cloak snugly around her slender shoulders.
It was late,
and
s
he worried the abnormally bright moon would give her away.
Using care, she
stepped lightly. The sounds of boot scuffles and a hoarse, bawdy laugh echoed off the stone walls around her. Her father
'
s men were on watch atop the wall.

Cautiously, she darted among the trees in the orchard, each blessedly full with the new leaves of spring, until she came to the secret tunnel
which
ran under the curtain wall and out into a small, wooded spot outside the security of the castle. She prayed Nicholas was waiting for her. He never let her down.

Twelve year old Gemma entered the dark, dank passageway and took a deep breath.
Mustering all the courage sh
e
could, she
ran. She carried no candle or torch, so she counted the steps as she went. Her heart raced and her lungs threatened to burst. Each step brought her closer to fresh air and to his waiting arms.

She slowed down as she cam
e out of the end of the tunnel, feeling a
little shaken after going under the heavy, stone wall and then the moat. The moon again illuminated the night for her. The woods around her were bathed in magnificent streaks of silver that filtered through the leaves and landed softly on the landscape before her.

Stepping carefully
once more
, she inhaled the scents of spring and shook off the darkness. She moved with purpose
toward
the meeting spot, trembling in anticipation.
Gemma
lived for these moments and longed to declare her love for him yet again
as
he shyly h
eld
her hand and offer
ed
her quick, chaste kisses. Her father wanted her to marry someone powerful from the nearby Bigod family, but she only wanted Nicho
las.

She picked a twig out of her long, brown hair after she climbed atop a large, mossy boulder
and she
waited.
They met
when his family came to a wedding hosted at her home
and instantly became friends. T
hat friendship had
evolved
into something much more exciting, something
that
made her heart beat as if it were coming out of her chest. It had to be love.
Putting a g
raceful hand up over her heart,
she waited for him to arrive.

The leaves fluttered about in the soft, cool breezes of the night as she waited. Her homeland of England had been in disarray for quite some time, and like the lands around her, things were beginning to calm down.
At her young age, her
only
pressing
problem was Phillip Bigod. He was the man her father pushed as a suitable husband.
Not only
was
he
ten years her senior
, he
left her feeling cold. Phillip was outwardly polite and docile, but she sensed something was wrong with him.

Nicholas was late
,
or he was not coming at all. Gemma twisted around to see if she had missed him, but the night remained still. It was late and most were abed. She was fairly certain her parents were sleeping soundly as well. They had yet to catch on to her nighttime adventures outside of the castle, but she feared her good fortune would not hold out forever.

Gemma
'
s green eyes popped wide open
,
and her heart lurched as a twig snap
ped
somewhere in the woods behind her. She stood up and whirled around hoping to see Nicholas, but instead she saw nothing.
There was no answer when she called out to him
. Fear swept through her slight frame
,
and her hands began to shake. S
quinting in the dark, she searched
for signs of him or perhaps a wayward animal. Another deliberate snap told her she was not alone.

A breeze kicked up and s
he pulled her cloak tightly around her body once more. Her heart sank. Nicholas wasn
'
t coming. He was never late
,
and she ha
d
been waiting for quite a while now. Another noise jolted her. She quickly
spun around
toward
her hom
e and dashed through the woods.

As she neared the tunnel, she stopped to look around one last time. Another noise caught her attention
,
and she
peered
back, only to come face to face with enormous, glowing eyes. She suppressed a scream as an owl screeched in retreat with a fury of violently flapping wings. Her heart thumped and tears streamed down her cheeks.
Scrambling, she went
into the tunnel entrance running faster than she had ever run.

One panicked thought ran all the way to the safety of her bed with her. What had happened to Nicholas?

England, Spring of 1158

Gemma strolled through the great hall and out into the springtime air. The afternoon sun sat high in the cloudless sky. She shielded her eyes as they adjusted to the brilliant light and savored the feeling of the warmth on her shoulders. Her life was finally getting back to normal after the loss of her mother, And
rie de Vere, just one year ago.

Andrie was a sturdy yet beautiful woman, but her body could not take the strain of her final pregnancy at age forty. The stillborn son would have been her fo
u
rth child. Gavin was the eldest son, few years older than Gemma. Isabel was the youngest. She would be ten in the autumn.

Her father, Blaise de Vere, still mourned his wife. Their arranged marriage was one
that
grew into a deep and abiding love. The affection they portrayed in the presence of family and servant alike was inspiring. Gemma projected this image of love into her relationship with Nicholas, believing it would be as long and as enduring. That proved false.
He
disappeared seven years ago
,
and her heart still ached if she let her guard down.

The mystery behind his absence did not linger long. Gemma overheard her father speaking of his fate with his seneschal, Oliver de Toeni. From her hiding place, she learned Nicholas and his entire family hid a secret.

What she heard shook her to her core and crushed her innocence.
Lord Blaise
received a message
that
indicated the de Reymes family was in allegiance with the Empress Matilda, who believed she was the rightful ruler of the English. Her endless plotting to usurp Stephen from the throne was legendary
,
and the de Reymes paid the price for their involvement. They vanished in the night without a hint of where they had been taken.

Gemma came to her own conclusions when she heard the news. Her family was loyal to Stephen. Nicholas
'
s parents were not. She no longer knew what to believe, but she had an unshakable feeling something was not right. Had Nicholas used her to give his family unfettered access to Blackstone and her family? The de Reymes
'
were never heard from again, leaving her question to linger and to then become her belief. She had been duped in the cruelest way.

She spent many nights thereafter crying for her young love and agonizing over her naivety. She kept her secret
tucked away near
her heart. No one
close
to her knew of her relationship with Nicholas.
Her father never knew
she left the castle to meet him, and she never let on he meant anything to her. He became an intriguing story but nothing more. The truth would die with her.

Her heart grew brittle and bitter over the years that followed. She vowed no man would ever use his seductive and treacherous heart to get close to her again.
Never
again
would she
be so gullible.
Never again would she
feel that kind of pain by her own folly. Matters of the heart belonged in the hopes of the foolish.

Seven years passed quickly. She was now nineteen and refused to marry
and
resisted with such venom her father ceased to bring up the possibility. Phillip Bigod still lingered and still pressed her father for marriage, but Blaise never pushed her.
He
wanted her for the same reasons as Nicholas. Blackstone was valued for strength and position. She refused to be the unpleasant detail in political games.

Blackstone stood proudly on the point where the River Lea merged with the River Thames. London was less
than a day away by horse.
Their home began as a motte
-
and
-
bailey castle. The de Vere family fortified the lands with gifts from the first King Henry. It grew into a stronghold not unlike the Norman-style castles that dotted England
'
s landscape under the reign of William the Conqueror. Blaise shared stories from his childhood
with his daughters
of how the walls were erected and the hall constructed.

Gemma shook lingering thoughts of Nicholas from her mind as she carried a wooden bucket
toward
one of the wells. Leda, the cook, was waiting for water.
She
loved spending her time learning ab
out how the castle functioned. Often, s
he helped Leda
in the kitchen
. Not only did she learn new things, her mind was always busy and fresh. That kept her from dwelling on the past.

As lady
of the keep
, she
spent countless hours learning
,
and her undying curiosity about everythin
g in her small world blossomed. She
was often found in the gardens with Leda studying plants and learning of their uses for medicines and how to preserve whatever grew.
Leda made sure she
knew all of the types of fish that swam lazily in the stock pond and why
bees were more than just pests.

The bucket in her hand dropped with a dull thump to the hard
-
packed ground near the well
,
as a shrill warning call from a guard on duty atop the outer curtain echoed off the walls. She stumbled as she ran down the gentle slope
toward
where her father and some of his troops were running. They raced out of the lesser gate
that
opened o
n the River Lea near the point.

Gemma
'
s father glanced at her before he ran out. His voice boomed through the air,
"
Gemma! Stay within the walls!
"