The Sorceror's Revenge

BOOK: The Sorceror's Revenge
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The Sorceror's Revenge
The Apothecary [2]
Linda Sole
Linda Sole Publications (2012)

This is the continuing story of Melloria, Nicolas, Robert, Rhoda and the others. A big story of Medieval history and magic. In this book Nicolas begins to use the dark arts to recover his love and wreak revenge on the man who steals her.

323

 

 

 

 

 

The Sorcerer’s Revenge

 

 

THE APOTHECARY SERIES

 

BOOK 2

 
 
Linda Sole

 

 

 

 

This book is the copyright of Linda Sole 2012.

It is illegal to copy this in any form without the permission of the author or publisher.

Linda Sole is the sole author of these books

 

With thanks to my illustrator Regina Paul

Linda Sole England

 

All characters in this book are fictional other than historical figures and bear no relation to anyone living or dead.

Author’s Note

 

I have gained great pleasure from writing the first two books of the Apothecary series and I would like my readers to enjoy them to the full.  Even if you read and enjoyed The Apothecary, you might be glad of a little reminder. Here is a brief résumé.

 

The Apothecary

 

In the first book, Melloria, Countess, Devereaux, is cast out of the castle on to the moors on a snowy night.  Close to giving birth, she loses her way and collapses outside the gates of Malvern, where Nicholas Malvern, the apothecary, finds her.

 

Nicholas delivers her first child and tells the woman Marta to take her to a wet-nurse in the village, but believing the mother dead, Marta steals the child. Nicholas realises that the woman he rescued is still alive and delivers a second child.  The babe, whom, he calls Iolanthe, enchants him, and when the woman clings to life despite all, he uses all his arts to help her.

 

Nicholas falls in love with her. Because she is close to death he uses the black arts to save her, something he may come to regret.  Melloria has forgotten her previous life and Nicholas calls her Anne, allowing her to think she is his wife. She responds to his loving kindness and is content to be his wife, falling deeply in love with him.

 

Meanwhile, the earl has returned to England and is searching for her.  When he can find no trace of her, Robert Devereaux takes another wife. Rhoda gives him a son and heir, but he still loves Melloria.  Discovering she is still alive, he decides to take her back.

 

 

The Sorcerer’s Revenge

 

The second book begins as England is on the brink of civil war.  Robert Devereaux is driven by his ambition and a ruthless sensuality.  He wants Melloria but she has taken a vow and will not lie with him until her lost child is found. Then he meets the beautiful village girl Alfreda in the woods…

 

In France, Count Niccolai Malvolia searches for a lost child, and dabbles in the black arts to bring his enemy low and take back all that belongs to him.

 

I hope you will enjoy this second book in the series, and I look forward to perhaps writing a third for you. However, the story you’ve been following ends with this book.

 

Best wishes, Linda Sole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prologue

 

Carmelita gazed into the burnished silver of her mirror.  The image was hazy until she waved a hand before it and then it became clear, showing her the face she wished to see, which was of a beautiful woman with pale hair the colour of moonlight and green eyes, with lips as red as cherry juice.  Surely no other woman was as lovely?

             
Smiling in satisfaction, she waved her hand over the surface of the mirror again and saw not her own image but that of a woman in great distress.  This woman had long red hair and was very lovely but she seemed to be in danger.  The picture faded to be replaced by the face of a man she knew – the apothecary.

             
Carmelita respected the apothecary, whom she knew to be a great sorcerer – perhaps as great as she was herself?  Was the woman his woman – and if she was, why could he not help her?

             
Carmelita threw some black powder into her fire.  The fumes it sent up filled her nostrils and she closed her eyes chanting an incantation to make her vision clearer.  Now she began to see.  There would come a time when she might either help or destroy the apothecary.

             
Which would she choose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

Robert Devereaux’s meeting with his steward took most of the day.  Jonathan, his friend and trusted right hand, had in his absence, done all in his power to see that the manor ran smoothly, attending to the matter of leaking roofs and squabbles amongst the freemen tenants.  A part of the lease of the lands they farmed was the promise of certain days given to the lord of the manor, also one tenth of all their crops.  They were bound by their agreements to take their corn to the lord’s mill.  The miller divided the crop into three shares, one for the lord, one for himself, and one for the farmer.  The system was unpopular and many flouted it, taking their wheat to be ground at mills run by independent millers.  One such miller had dared to set up his business on land adjacent to Robert’s and was defying all demands to shut down.  Jonathan had not taken decisive action against him, merely issuing all the tenant farmers with reminders that they must pay their dues to the lord even if they took their corn elsewhere.

             
‘Sir Jonathan felt that the decision must rest with you, my lord,’ the steward told him.  ‘If you were to take a few of your knights and teach this upstart a lesson he might learn that it is unwise to accept the crops of your tenants.’

             
‘He must be given a warning,’ Robert said.  ‘And so must the tenants.  If they continue to defy the terms of their agreements once they have received official warning they will lose their land.’

             
‘You would turn them out?  If you do that their families will surely starve this winter, my lord.’

             
‘Then they should be aware of the consequences.’  Robert rubbed at his shoulder impatiently. His wound still pained him at times.  If Melloria had been alive she would have cured it long since with her potions. ‘You will write a proclamation to this effect and have it nailed to trees and barns in the villages throughout the manor.’

             
‘Would it not be better to frighten the miller, my lord?  Your tenants are poor men and the temptation must be great.’

             
‘I shall not punish those who have taken advantage of my absence, but any who break their agreements in future will be punished harshly.  The miller is not my tenant.  If I burned his mill to the ground or destroyed his goods I should be breaking the law.  The tenants are my responsibility.  If times are hard they expect me to give them food from my kitchens, yet now they would rob me of my rights.  This is the feudal law that I abide by and so must they.’

             
‘There are independent mills in other parts, my lord.  In some cases the lords of the manor have come to an agreement that allows payment of rent and more freedom.’

             
‘I care not what others may do.’ Robert glared at him.  ‘Do I neglect them or tax them unfairly?  Am I unreasonable in the laws by which we all live?  Have I ever demanded that a father bring his daughter to me on the eve of her wedding so that I may take my lawful right of Droit de Seigneur?’

             
‘No, my lord. You have never done any of those things. You have always declared that there is no true law to uphold this right and despised those who insisted on it.’

             
‘Then I have not broken the obligations my position carries.  My tenants will abide by the agreement they gave or leave my land.  That is my final word on the matter.’

             
Leaving his steward to write out the proclamation, which would be read to the tenants, because most could not read, and then nailed up for everyone to see, Robert returned to his own chamber.  His shoulder had felt easier for a while but now it throbbed with pain.  He poured himself a cup of wine from the ewer, which was placed in readiness by his bed.

             
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he sipped the wine and glanced at the letters from his wife’s sister.  He frowned as he broke the seal and saw the barely concealed resentment as she demanded to know why he had ignored her first letter.

 

             
Surely you must understand that this is urgent and of the greatest importance?  If you cared for Melloria at all have the goodness to visit me.

             

Robert opened the other letter feeling slightly aggrieved by her tone.  Did she not realise that he was a busy man?

             
As he began to read the first letter, which was couched in very different terms and explained why she had become impatient and angry at his lack of response, his frown deepened.

             
Beatrice had visited the home of a certain Nicholas Malvern to ask for a cure for her sick nuns.  He was it seemed an apothecary of some skill and fame.  She had seen a young child she thought must be of a similar age to that Melloria’s child would now be if alive.

 

             
When I saw her face my blood ran cold.  Her features, eyes and hair are so like my sister’s when she was a child that I was convinced she must be Melloria’s daughter.  Malvern claims she is the child of his wife and his but I suspect that he saw my interest and was uneasy.  I had thought the child might have been taken to Winchester, but having seen this girl – Iolanthe, she is called, I am certain she is Melloria’s.  I have written again to the Bishop of Winchester concerning the child but I ask you to come with all haste and investigate this matter.

 

             
Robert stared at the letter.  His heart was thudding so hard that he could scarce breathe.  The story of a woman and child that had passed by the convent on her way to Winchester was vague and at best a thin thread, but this was much stronger.  Beatrice was a level-headed woman.  She would not write such impassioned letters if she were not convinced that the child was truly her sister’s.

BOOK: The Sorceror's Revenge
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