The Whispering Night (14 page)

“Aye. You must bring
your lady to me so that I may deliver the message in person.”

Aglette’s heart was
thumping in her chest, with fear and excitement. “How do I know you are who you
say you are?” she whispered. “You cannot possibly expect me to rouse my lady
simply because you, a stranger, say that you bear a message for her.”

Fergus turned around,
back for the kiln, and picked up another bunch of straw. “I shall be at the
stables in one hour. Bring her there so that I may deliver the message.”

Aglette glanced around,
wondering also if someone was noticing their conversation. She felt as if she
was in the midst of something horribly treacherous.

“I will not,” she was
afraid. “I have half a mind to run and tell Sir Bertram that you are here.”

Fergus didn’t look at
her, continuing to bind the straw. “If you do, I shall swear that you helped me
gain entrance and that it was you who plotted to spread the rumor that Sir
Garren was a spy. I shall tell your lord that you are the root of the
resistance within Framlingham and that all covert dealings pass through you.
Even if he didn’t believe me right away, I can guarantee you that your days at
Framlingham are numbered. Suspicion has a way of killing all it stalks.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”
Aglette gasped.

“Try me.”

Aglette was aghast. She
blinked tears of fear and fury away. “But how do I know you are who you say you
are?” she repeated. “Everyone at Framlingham knows of Sir Garren. You could
simply being trying to trick me.”

Fergus looked at her;
she was a pretty girl in a pale sort of way. “Tell your mistress that the ibis
has returned,” he said, more gently. “She will understand and will assure you
that my presence is no trick. Go, now. Tell her.”

Aglette didn’t know what
to say. She turned so quickly for the tower that she nearly dropped the plate
with food on it.

“One hour,” Fergus
called after her. “At the stables.”

Aglette had no idea how
she managed to carry the tray up two flights of stairs with her quaking knees,
but she managed somehow. By the time she reached Derica’s chamber, she was a
mess. The kitchen servants were filling a basin with the water they had brought
and Aglette chased them from the room furiously.  Even Derica, in her stupor,
looked surprised when her red-headed maid slammed the chamber door and threw
the bolt.

“Aglette?” she said.
“What is the matter?”

Aglette looked like a
frantic chicken. She threw her arms up in the air and struggled not to shout.

“A man in the ward,” she
gasped. “He said… he said that Sir Garren sent him.”

Derica’s expression grew
serious, confused. “What do you mean? Who is he?”

“He said his name was
Sir Fergus,” Aglette stammered. “And… oh, my lady, he said that Garren has sent
you a message. He wants you to meet him in the stables in one hour!”

A week of lethargy was
erased in a matter of seconds. “Garren has sent me a message?”

Aglette shook her head
fearfully. “That is what he said, my lady. I am frightened!”

Derica didn’t know what
to feel at the moment. “Is that all? Did he say anything else? How do I know it
isn’t a trick somehow?”

“But who would trick
you?”

“I do not know. But how
can I know for sure that it isn’t?”

Aglette seemed to calm
strangely, though there were tears in her eyes. “He said to tell you that the
ibis has returned,” she whispered. “He said that you would understand.”

Derica’s eyes widened
enormously. “Dear God,” she murmured. “Ibis and alligators.”

“Then you know?”

She closed her eyes and,
as Aglette watched anxiously, tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks. They
were like rivers. But accompanied with the tears was a smile so bright that it
lit up the room. Derica suddenly shouted and began spinning around the room
like a madwoman.

“Aye!” she cried. “I
know!”

Aglette’s fear began to
fade, replaced by some of the happiness her mistress was feeling. “Truly? He
has sent you a message?”

Derica’s answer was to
throw her arms around her maid. The two of them danced jubilantly around the
room.  They hopped and cried and Derica bumped into the couch, stumbled, but
kept going. She could have flown from the window at the moment and not been
aware of it. But her dancing came to an abrupt halt.

“I must get dressed,”
she began rushing around the room. “I must wash. Where is my soap?”

Aglette kept a cooler
head, helping Derica wash quickly with a cake of rose-scented soap. The blue
dress, a form-hugging garment without a hem, was Derica’s choice simply because
it was there. As she pulled up the sleeves, Aglette fastened the stays with
trembling hands.

“’Tis too long!” Derica
exclaimed as she shoved her feet into doeskin slippers.

She was already heading
for the door, tripping on the garment. Aglette struggled after her with a comb.
“I told you that I needed to hem it, my lady,” Aglette said with irritation.

“I shall trip on this
and fall to my death before I can hear Garren’s message.”

“Then pull it up.
Higher.”

Derica had the front of
her skirt bundled in a wad in front of her as she took the narrow stairs.
Aglette ran the comb through her tangled locks. By the time they entered the
ward of Framlingham, Derica let the skirt down just enough to be decent and
struggled to calm herself.

“I will do this myself
from here,” she said. “Return to my chamber and keep watch for my family. I do
not want them trying to follow me.”

“How shall I keep them
from looking for you should they come?”

“Think of something.
Anything. I shan’t be long.”

Aglette watched her
mistress scurry towards the stables. She was shaking with fear, and hope, and
didn’t think it appropriate for her lady to go alone. But she respected her
wishes. Dutifully, she turned back for the tower, hoping the annoying de Rosa
men would not want to console Derica yet again.  She doubted she could hold
them off long and for that, her fear mounted.

Derica tried to keep
from running to the stables. She was so excited that she could scarcely
breathe. The stable block was a long, low series of buildings attached to the
outerwall. The wallwalk was twenty feet above, soaring into the sky. She
entered the first building and, seeing only horses and a few servants, went
into the second and third. The fourth block was dim due to the shadows cast
from the wall above.  Derica passed through it, not seeing a living soul. She
was about to exit when she heard someone clear their throat behind her, softly
yet firmly.

Startled, she swung
about. A man in a dirty brown cloak was in the shadows, hidden behind a large
pile of hay. He pushed the hood from his face slightly, revealing bright blue
eyes and a handsome face.

“Lady Derica, I
presume?”

Derica nodded,
hesitantly  “Are you….?”

“I am.”

“I was told that you
have a message for me.”

He nodded. “I am Sir
Fergus de Edwin. Sir Garren has sent me. He told me to tell you that the ibis
has returned to the alligators.”

She smiled at the words
from their private world. “Is he well, then?”

“He is.”

She sighed, visibly
relieved. “I am so glad,” she murmured. “He went through so much here… I have
prayed for him.”

“He is well enough that
he has done nothing but speak your name,” Fergus said. “Garren and I go back
many, many years, my lady. When he asked me to help him in a matter involving a
woman, I did not take it lightly. Garren is not the sort to be infatuated with
a female.”

Derica was pleased to
hear him say that. “Nor I a man. What message did he give you for me?”

“He has sent me to bring
you to him.”

“Bring me to him?”
Derica repeated. “For what purpose?”

“To marry you.”

“Marry?” she sounded
stunned. “After all that happened… after everything my family did to him, he
still speaks of marrying me?”

“It is his heart’s
desire.” Fergus regarded her carefully; she was a strikingly beautiful woman.
He didn’t blame Garren in the least. “But is it yours?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You seem hesitant.”

She shook her head.
“’Tis not that. ‘Tis simply hard for me to believe that he would still want to
marry me after all that has happened.”

“My lady, if you do not
wish to go to him, I am not here to abduct you. I am merely here to help you
should you wish it.”

“Is that what he told
you to say to me?”

“Nay. But I am an
honorable knight. I do not abduct unwilling women.”

“I am not unwilling, Sir
Fergus,” she said quietly. “I want nothing more in this world than to be
Garren’s wife. If he sent you for that purpose, then it is my pleasure to go
with you.”

“Good,” Fergus smiled.
“Then we shall arrange it. A time and place, when there is little chance of
your absence being discovered too quickly.”

“Why not now?”

Fergus peered from the
open stable door. “Where is your family?” he cast her a long look. “I
understand you are surrounded by a host of guard dogs.”

“I do not know where
they are,” she said. “But we can leave Framlingham without being noticed. There
are always peasants coming and going and we can blend in with the crowd. Where
is your horse?”

“In the woods to the
south,” he replied. “Are you certain you wish to go now? Do you not wish to
pack lightly, or to collect anything of personal value?”

Derica shook her head
firmly. “The sooner I see Garren, the better. He is the only thing of personal
value to me.” She could see the indecision on Fergus’ face and she put her hand
on his arm. “Sir Fergus, I have done nothing but eat, sleep and dream of Sir
Garren since nearly the moment I met him. He is all that I have dreamed of and more.
I must be with him. Do you understand that?”

Fergus could see her
sincerity and he felt a stab of envy; he wished a beautiful woman would speak
so fondly of him. But he pushed those thoughts aside, quickly, and removed the
dirty cloak from his back. Swinging it over Derica’s shoulders and pulling the
hood over her honey-colored hair, he began to pile straw on her back.

“Let us do this the best
way possible, then,” he said. “I think I have a plan.”

Derica was so excited at
the prospect of being with Garren that the weight of the straw on her back
couldn’t dampen her spirit.  Although she was angry with her family, she still
loved them and felt a moment of sorrow that she would never see them again. She
also felt sorrow at the prospect that Aglette would take the brunt of their
anger. Still, she had to do this. She knew in her heart she would have risked
death to go to Garren. But hopefully, it would not come to that.

***

Leaving Framlingham
would have been easier had they left a few moments earlier or later. As it was,
the timing was right so that Daniel and Dixon were in the ward, speaking to the
guard captain.  Derica spied them the moment she and Fergus left the stables,
and Fergus saw her hesitation.

“What’s the matter?” he
asked.

The hood was down over
her face, the huge cloak covering her body. “My brothers,” she whispered. “Over
by the main gate, talking to the guard.”

Fergus had no such cover
for his face, as he had given his cloak to Derica. But he was dressed like a
peasant. Still, he was a knight and projected a higher image than most of the
dirty people around him. He knew this was going to be tricky.

“There is my handcart,”
he pulled her towards the small card heavy with straw. “I used this to gain
entrance a few days ago. It is been an effective cover.”

“A few days ago?” Derica
allowed him to lift her onto the edge of the cart. “You have been here that
long and have only now tried to contact me?”

Fergus grinned as he
secured the straw with a length of rope.  “It wasn’t as if I could charge into
the tower and announce myself,” he said, eyeing Daniel and Dixon in the
distance. “I had to make myself familiar with the place and determine who had
access to you and who did not.”

“Like Aglette?”

“Exactly.  I was told
she was your servant.”

“Who told you that?”

“One of the peasants, a
man who sells his grain to the castle. You’d be surprised what these people
know about you.”

His eyes were twinkling
as he secured the last of the rope. Derica pulled the hood further down over
her face.

“Like what?”

Fergus grabbed the end
of the handcart and lifted it. With little effort, he turned it around and
began steering it towards the open gates.

“I hear your something
of a spitfire,” he said.