Love Beyond Time (18 page)

“Well you should wonder about her
intentions,” Redmond told them. “I know Lady Ingeborg. You wouldn’t
want Savarec to marry her, Guntram. She is circumspect enough here
at court, because Hildegarde insists on discretion in all her
attendants. Away from court, Lady Ingeborg’s reputation is none too
savory among certain of our nobles. Furthermore, she is a friend of
Clodion’s – another person who keeps his private affairs well
hidden from Charles and Hildegarde.”

A moment of tense silence followed this
revelation with the three men looking at each other until Michel
began to issue orders.

“We have no time to waste,” he said. “Danise
is in danger. I feel it in my bones. Redmond, ask among the rest of
the nobles, particularly the ladies. Perhaps one of them has seen
Danise recently, or someone may have noticed in which direction she
was heading. Guntram, you check Lady Ingeborg’s tent, and Savarec’s
as you suggested. Find Savarec.”

“What will you do?” Redmond asked.

“I’m going to talk to Sister Gertrude,”
Michel said. “She’s a sensible woman and she has known Clodion for
years. She may have some ideas that would help us. We will meet at
Savarec’s tent.”

They separated, Redmond to mingle among the
nobles, Michel and Guntram to ride ahead of them back to camp. Near
the royal tents Michel dismounted, turning his horse over to
Guntram. Then he hurried to the queen’s tent. Only a serving maid
was there.

“The women have gone to the edge of the
forest again, to rest beneath the trees,” the maid said in answer
to Michel’s agitated questions.

He found Hildegarde lying on a mattress in
the shade while her ladies fanned her. One glance at the queen’s
pale, wan face and Michel knew he could not raise the alarm over
Danise until he had more information. Hildegarde would be terribly
upset at the news that Danise was missing, and being so disturbed
might well complicate her already difficult pregnancy. He would
have to depend upon Sister Gertrude’s sharp eyes and swift
comprehension. He was not disappointed in the nun. She came to him
at once, and drew him aside so they could speak in private.

“What has happened?” she asked.

“Have you seen Danise recently?”

“No. She’s at the hunt. Hasn’t she
returned?”

“Do you know a Lady Ingeborg?” Michel
asked.

“That one.” Sister Gertrude’s voice conveyed
her opinion of Lady Ingeborg. “She was late in joining us this
morning.”

“Is she here now?”

“She’s over there.” Sister Gertrude pointed
to a plump, middle-aged lady in a dark red gown that was too tight
for her ample curves.

“I don’t want to alarm the queen
unnecessarily,” Michel said. “Can you coax Lady Ingeborg into
strolling to Savarec’s tent with you?”

“No need to coax,” replied Sister Gertrude.
“I’ll order her and she will obey or I will tell Hildegarde a few
interesting facts about dear Lady Ingeborg. Michel,” Sister
Gertrude’s eyes were dark with worry, “where is Danise?”

“That’s what we are trying to discover,” he
said.

“And you think Lady Ingeborg may know
something? She is one of Clodion’s oldest friends. Oh, dear saints
in heaven!” Sister Gertrude’s voice sank to a harsh whisper. “You
believe Clodion has captured Danise.”

“Exactly,” said Michel, not troubling to hide
his own concern from her. “Bring Lady Ingeborg along as fast as you
can, will you?”

He found Guntram in front of Savarec’s tent,
supporting a dazed, soaking wet Savarec.

“I found him in his bed in a stupor,” Guntram
said, “so I dragged him out here and dumped a bucket of cold water
over his head. He’ll wake up soon enough.”

“Wine did it,” Savarec muttered in a thick,
slurred voice. “Herbs.”

Michel caught Savarec by the hair, pulling
his head upward. Savarec winced as the sun fell full on his
face.

“Are you saying that Lady Ingeborg drugged
your wine?” Michel demanded.

“Couldn’t stay awake,” Savarec said. “Why
here? I was – her tent – her bed.”

“She probably had her servants carry you back
here,” Michel observed. “I believe this is the lady herself, come
to apologize to you. Good afternoon, Lady Ingeborg.”

“I have nothing to say to Savarec. He was a
great disappointment to me.” After a scathing look in Savarec’s
direction Lady Ingeborg started to leave. She was prevented by
Sister Gertrude, who took her arm in a tight grip and turned her
around again to face the three men.

“You will answer Michel’s questions
honestly,” Sister Gertrude instructed, “or I will speak to the
queen about you. I know a great deal about your activities, alone
and in concert with Clodion. I can have you banished from court
forever.”

“I do not want that. I love being so close to
the power and the excitement that swirls around Charles. Life on my
late husband’s estates is so boring.” Lady Ingeborg’s resistance
wilted quickly. “Very well. What do you want to know?”

“Let’s begin with Savarec’s condition,” said
Michel. “Why did you put sleeping herbs in his wine?”

“It was the only way I could think of to fend
him off,” Lady Ingeborg protested. “He insisted on meeting me in my
tent, and I – I was afraid of him. I feared he would ravish
me.”

“Rubbish,” said Sister Gertrude. “Ingeborg,
you are not afraid of anyone, including the devil himself. I point
out to you that you have just contradicted yourself. If Savarec was
disappointing in the way you implied, then you had no need to fear
ravishment at his hands.”

“
She
suggested the meeting,” said
Savarec, apparently more recovered from the drugged wine with every
moment that passed. “When I got to her tent, she gave me wine to
drink. I remember nothing after that, until Guntram doused me with
water.”

“Sex had nothing to do with your part in
today’s events, nor had fear,” Michel said to Lady Ingeborg. “You
invited Savarec to your tent and gave him drugged wine to keep him
out of the way while Clodion abducted Danise.”

“What?” cried Savarec. “Danise, abducted?
I’ll kill Clodion for this! And you too, you conniving witch!” He
would have attacked Lady Ingeborg if Guntram had not restrained
him.

“Do not trouble yourself to punish her,”
Sister Gertrude advised. “In due time heaven will see to Ingeborg.
Her life is not worth what it would cost you to take it from her,
Savarec.”

“You all do insult me.” Lady Ingeborg was the
picture of offended innocence. “Even if this preposterous story
were true, what would the removal of Savarec from today’s hunt
accomplish? You would still be there, Michel, along with Count
Redmond and Guntram here. Any of you could easily protect Danise,
if she needed protection. Don’t blame me if she is missing. If she
is really with Clodion, she may have gone along with him willingly.
Clodion can be most persuasive.”

“Danise loathes the man,” Sister Gertrude
declared, her eyes flashing angry fire. “She would never have gone
anywhere with him. Savarec, at root this is all your fault, since
you allowed Clodion to become Danise’s suitor.”

“I did not know he would harm her. I hoped to
secure a luxurious life for her as the wife of an honored
nobleman.” Savarec moaned, his hands at his head. “You are right,
old friend, this is as much my doing as Clodion’s. Oh, my poor,
poor Danise, my baby, my little girl.” Tears streamed down
Savarec’s face.

“It’s my fault, too,” Michel said, moved by
Savarec’s open grief. “I should have been more alert to Clodion’s
actions. Guntram and I rode with Charles this morning at Clodion’s
suggestion. Charles told me so after I complained that I couldn’t
find Danise in that mob on horseback. Charles sent Guntram and me
to look for her. At least he had sense enough to be worried right
away.”

“You are wasting time,” snapped Sister
Gertrude. “You must find Danise at once. We do not need to ask what
Clodion will do to her if he has indeed abducted her.” At these
words Savarec moaned again.

“You are absolutely right,” Michel said to
Sister Gertrude. “I think we would do well to assume that Danise
has
been abducted. I will go to Charles and ask for his help
to find her. And you, Lady Ingeborg, are going with me, to provide
whatever information Charles asks of you.”

“I’ll go, too,” Sister Gertrude volunteered,
still holding tightly to Lady Ingeborg’s arm.

“I know nothing about any of this,” Lady
Ingeborg cried.

“After what you did to me, do not expect
anyone to believe you again,” warned Savarec, his grief over Danise
rapidly changing to anger. He wiped his eyes and straightened his
shoulders. “Ill see you severely punished for this, Ingeborg,” he
promised.

“Here comes Redmond,” said Guntram. “He may
know something.”

“I do not,” said Redmond. “No one I have
spoken to has seen Danise or Clodion since immediately after the
hunt began. Michel, we must inform Charles at once.”

They found the king of the Franks just
dismounting before his tent. It took only a few minutes to tell him
what little they knew and what they had deduced.

“I do not want Hildegarde overly distressed,”
Charles said. “We will organize a search, but we will do it
quietly. Give out only the news that Danise has not returned from
the hunt and may be lost in the forest. That’s bad enough, but not
as bad as the truth. Lady Ingeborg, you will remain in your tent,
under guard, so you cannot communicate with Clodion. Redmond, I
want you to use your own men-at-arms to set a watch on the men
Clodion brought to Duren. Give orders that none of them is to leave
camp. Discover if any are already missing, and if so, report it to
me at once. Return as quickly as you can; I want you to join in the
search. Sister Gertrude, I depend upon you to keep Hildegarde quiet
and unaffected by this.”

“I want to go with the search party,” Sister
Gertrude replied. “When you find her, Danise will need me.”

“You can do more good here,” Charles told
her. “When we find Danise – and I promise you, we
will
find
her – we will treat her with every kindness and promptly bring her
back to you.”

“I pray you will not be too late,” said
Sister Gertrude.

“So do we all pray,” Charles responded. His
face was grave, his voice solemn.

Willing searchers were quickly recruited.
Fresh horses were saddled. Men weary after a day of riding in humid
heat paused only to refresh themselves with a little bread and
cheese and wine before returning to the forest. There, at the place
where Redmond had last seen Danise, Charles divided them into
several parties and sent them off in different directions. Charles
and Savarec rode with Michel, Redmond, and Guntram, the five of
them spread out among the trees, moving along slowly, watching the
ground for any trace of Danise or Clodion. They did not stop until
it was too dark to see.

“We will begin again at dawn,” Charles said.
“Savarec, I swear to you, I will not leave Duren or end Mayfield
until we know where Danise is.”

“Knowing where she is does not mean she will
be safe.” Savarec had dark circles under his eyes and his face was
set into strained lines as he looked toward Charles. “All the same,
I thank you, my friend.”

Savarec did not sleep that night. Michel and
Guntram insisted he must eat something and then lie down to rest,
but the worried father only tossed upon his bed, cursing himself
for his foolishness in underestimating Clodion’s determination to
have Danise.

Michel was not in much better condition. Left
to himself, he would have continued the search in the dark. Only
Charles’s direct command prevented him from doing so. The thought
of Danise struggling in Clodion’s embrace nearly drove him mad.
Lady Ingeborg’s luring of Savarec, and the way Michel and Guntram
had been maneuvered into riding with Charles so neither of them
could protect Danise, suggested careful plotting on Clodion’s
part.

The sun was not yet above the horizon when
the search for Danise was resumed. By noon Michel had begun to lose
hope, and he was growing worried about Savarec.

“The man is driving himself to the limits of
his strength,” Michel said to Charles. “He is ready to drop from
exhaustion and from this miserable heat.” Michel’s own woolen tunic
and linen undershirt were saturated with perspiration.

“I would order him to return to camp,”
Charles said, “but I believe he would disobey me for the first time
in his life. No, Michel, if one of my daughters were missing, I
would not stop until I found her or I died. Let Savarec follow his
heart. It will help to relieve the burden of guilt he feels.”
Charles did call a brief halt for their little group of men and he
insisted that Savarec must take off his tunic and bathe in a nearby
stream to cool himself. Such was Savarec’s impatience that they did
not stop for long.

It was some time after midday when they heard
a cry from a short distance away. Immediately Savarec kicked his
horse’s flanks, hastening ahead of his companions. A few seconds
later Michel heard Savarec’s angry shout and then a scream of
terror. Michel and Charles urged their horses through the trees to
the spot from where the noises were coming. Redmond and Guntram
followed close behind them.

And there, stripped naked and tied to a tree,
was Clodion. And there was Savarec, tumbling off his horse, his
knife in his hand, and no question in Michel’s mind just what
Savarec meant to do.

“Stop!” Charles’s voice rang out, halting
Savarec in midstep. “Do not harm him, Savarec. Clodion has much to
tell us.”

“Thanks be to heaven, it is you,” Clodion
cried. “Savarec, release me. I know where they have taken
Danise.”

“They?” Michel got off his horse. “What
they
? It’s you who took Danise away.”

“She agreed to ride with me for a while,”
Clodion insisted, “to hear my pleas that she should marry me.”