Timestruck (26 page)

Fastrada might find a way to circumvent
Charles’s precautions for Hiltrude, too. That dire possibility,
Gina admitted to herself, was her sole doing. If she had kept
quiet, Hiltrude wouldn’t have been mentioned at all, and she’d stay
at Chelles, forgotten in all the excitement of a treasonous
conspiracy. There was just one way Gina could think of to make up
for what she had done. She could provide shelter to Lady Adalhaid.
She felt certain Dominick would approve.

“Lady Adalhaid, I want you and your maid to
move to Dominick’s house,” Gina said. “We have plenty of space.
I’ll sleep in Dominick’s room, and you may have mine. Unless, of
course, you’d rather have nothing more to do with me, or with
Dominick. I’ll understand if you feel that way. I have caused a lot
of trouble for you.” She held her breath, hoping that Lady Adalhaid
would agree to the invitation, while knowing she had to give the
distraught woman a chance to refuse.

“I gladly accept your offer,” Lady Adalhaid
said. “To tell the truth, being dismissed from Fastrada’s service
is a great relief. I have spent too many years biting my tongue and
trying to be polite to her, when I really wanted to scratch her
eyes out. I stayed with her in the hope that she’d make a mistake
and provide me with the opportunity to rescue Hiltrude. But she
never has. Fastrada is too clever to make mistakes.”

“Sooner or later, everyone slips up,” Gina
said. “Especially a person who is playing as many dangerous games
with people’s lives as Fastrada is. We ought to be going. Can I
help you with your packing?”

“Imma did most of it before she came to find
me,” Lady Adalhaid said. “But we will require two or three men to
carry my boxes and baskets to Dominick’s house.”

“Ella, will you ask Harulf to find a few
men?” Gina said.

“Imma, come with me.” Ella put an arm around
the weeping maid and led her away.

“I am so sorry about this,” Gina said to Lady
Adalhaid.

“My only regret is that if we are refused
admittance to the palace, we won’t know the latest news,” Lady
Adalhaid responded.

“No one has told me I can’t return here,”
Gina said, “and I’ve noticed that Ella is very clever about picking
up useful information. We won’t be as isolated as you fear.”

In late afternoon Alcuin sent a note to Gina
to inform her that she, too, was henceforth refused entry to the
palace.

“He promises to keep me informed of any
developments having to do with Dominick’s situation, or Pepin’s,”
Gina said, reading the letter to Lady Adalhaid. “Listen to this.
‘Charles perceives two separate problems, and he will deal with
them individually. First and most important is the conspiracy. Only
after the traitors have been tried and punished will Charles
consider his wife’s misbehavior.’”

“Why can’t he see that Fastrada’s greed and
her cruel character are partly the cause of the conspiracy?” cried
Lady Adalhaid in exasperation.

“He is bound to her emotionally and sexually.
Even I, who have known them for little more than a week, can see
that,” Gina said. As she spoke, she folded Alcuin’s letter. “At
least we have a contact inside the palace. While we try to think of
a way to help Dominick, Alcuin will keep us up to date on what is
happening.”

They didn’t need a correspondent within the
palace to learn what happened next. All of Regensburg was talking
about the noble traitors who were tracked to Ratisbon and arrested
there, and who were being transported back to court for trial.
Rumor said Queen Fastrada was so horrified by the plot against
Charles that she was insisting at every opportunity that all of
those involved must be put to death, without exception.

“It isn’t just Dominick she wants dead,” Lady
Adalhaid said upon hearing the latest story. “Fastrada has strong
personal reasons for hating every man among them, for each of them
has, at one time or other, spoken out against her. She never
forgets or forgives a slight.”

“Now she will have her revenge,” Gina said.
“Not to mention all the lands and titles those nobles held, which
will revert to the crown and have to be redistributed. She will
influence the decisions on who will get those lands and titles,
won’t she?”

“You are learning.” Lady Adalhaid responded
to Gina’s remarks with a bitter smile. “All the same, while I
sympathize with anyone who dislikes Fastrada and her ruthless
methods, treason is unforgivable and deserves the death
sentence.”

“Only if a man is truly guilty,” Gina said.
“We both know Dominick isn’t guilty.”

“Just so,” Lady Adalhaid agreed.

In Pepin s small room in the palace, he and
Dominick were cramped for space even when they were alone. When
Father Guntram was there, which he was for the better part of each
day, the walls began to close in on Dominick until he would have
given all he owned for a single hour out of doors in fresh air and
sunshine, with Father Guntram far away and preferably gagged so he
couldn’t talk.

“It is a wicked sin to wish for your father’s
death,” Father Guntram intoned for the eighth time that day. His
hand was on Pepin’s head, keeping the young man on his knees with
his head bowed in a posture that the most uncaring observer could
see was painful.

“I have never wanted my father’s death,”
Pepin said. It was the same response he had uttered again and again
during the last three days.

Every fiber of Dominick’s being strained to
seize the heartless priest by the neck of his cassock and haul him
away from Pepin. Dominick’s fists ached from the effort he was
exerting to keep from smashing them into Father Guntram’s face,
over and over, until the priest agreed to stop tormenting
Pepin.

In spite of the anger that almost choked him,
Dominick still had sense enough left to know that attacking Father
Guntram was the worst thing he could possibly do. Aside from the
crime of hitting a priest, which Dominick did not want on his
conscience, Father Guntram would take any act of violence as proof
of Dominick’s guilt, and he’d carry the tale to Charles. Or to
Fastrada, which would be worse. So Dominick sat at the foot of
Pepin’s narrow bed and stared at the rolled-up pallet that he
spread on the floor to sleep on at night, and he pretended he
didn’t care what the priest was saying.

“Come, Pepin, confess your sins,” Father
Guntram urged. “You, too, Dominick. Confess and be shriven. Go to
your deaths with hearts and souls made pure by honest
repentance.”

“What death?” Dominick asked, lifting his
head to stare the priest in the eye. “I haven’t done anything
wrong. Neither has Pepin.” That wasn’t exactly true of Pepin, but
Dominick wasn’t going to admit as much to a man who gave the Holy
Church a bad name.

“You, a bastard, have much to repent,” said
Father Guntram, releasing his hold on Pepin’s head to turn his
fiery gaze on Dominick.

“I cannot change the circumstances of my
birth,” Dominick replied. Then he stopped listening and let the
priest’s words roll over him unheeded. He could bear the
accusations, and with Father Guntram busy scolding him, Pepin would
have a rest.

Dominick allowed his mind to wander to more
pleasant subjects than Father Guntram or the approaching trial. He
thought of Feldbruck, where the midsummer harvest was likely just
beginning. In his mind he could see the mountains, the green
forest, and the buildings tucked within the palisade, his home, the
place he had earned with his strong sword arm and his blood.
Lately, whenever he thought of Feldbruck, he saw Gina in the
garden, sitting on the little stone bench, waiting for him.

He was trained to be a warrior, a man of
steel and blood and violence, yet the image dearest to his heart
was no longer a battle scene but the picture of a slender young
woman with short, dark curls sitting beneath a tree with shimmering
green leaves. When she saw him, she would rise and hold out her
arms....

“Confess your crimes and be saved,” Father
Guntram cried, his raised voice interrupting Dominick’s
daydream.

“I have committed no crimes,” Dominick said.
“Quite the opposite. I tried to prevent a crime from being
committed.”

“Every man sins,” Father Guntram
insisted.

“Mine are venial sins,” Dominick said, “which
I will confess to my own priest when I see him again. You are not
that priest.”

“Blasphemy!”

“What is? To point out the obvious fact that
you are not my priest?” Dominick stretched, making the movement
look as languid and lazy as possible. “I have nothing to say to
you, Father Guntram.”

The priest drew a deep breath, a warning to
Dominick that he was preparing to begin yet another lengthy
exhortation on the subject of sins that were crimes against one’s
liege lord as well as against heaven.

“Excuse me,” a new voice interrupted from the
doorway.

“Alcuin, I’m glad to see you.” Dominick was
on his feet, a welcoming hand extended to the tall,
stoop-shouldered cleric.

“What business have you with these sinful
men?” Father Guntram demanded in his usual rude manner.

“Actually, my errand is with you,” Alcuin
said, turning a bland smile on the priest. “Queen Fastrada requests
that you attend her. ‘As soon as possible’ were the exact words she
used.”

“I shall return, Pepin.” Father Guntram spoke
to the top of Pepin’s bent head. “Use this interval to consider all
I have said to you. Repent of your wickedness. When I do return, I
expect to hear a full confession of your sins.” Without a word of
thanks to Alcuin for bearing the queen’s message, he left the
room.

“I could better consider what he has said,”
Pepin muttered, “if only he didn’t say so much. I can’t recall most
of it.”

“That’s because he repeats himself,” Dominick
said, and he bent to help Pepin to his feet. “Father Guntram has
only two speeches. I think I have both memorized. I’ll drill you on
them if you like.”

“No, thank you.” With a groan Pepin tried to
straighten his back. “Bless you, Alcuin, for interrupting.”

“Speaking of sins, I am now guilty of a lie
designed to remove Father Guntram for a little while. Are you being
well treated?” Alcuin asked.

“Yes, aside from Father Guntram’s constant
attendance,” Pepin said. “Please, I beg of you, don’t tell me he
means well or that he is attempting to save my immortal soul. He
has told me so too many times for the words to hold any meaning for
me.”

“My boy, you did plot against your father,”
Alcuin said sadly.

“But Dominick did not! Can’t you explain that
to Charles and convince him to release Dominick?” Pepin asked.

“I have tried. So has Lady Gina. Dominick, I
have disturbing news to impart.”

“Don’t tell me Gina has been arrested?”
Dominick’s hand went to his side, where his sword hilt would be if
the weapon weren’t safely at his house, left there because swords
were not worn at the palace.

“Not Gina,” Alcuin said. “She and Lady
Adalhaid are together, well guarded by Harulf and your other
men-at-arms and well served by that delightful and intelligent
girl, Ella.”

“Good.” Dominick ran his hands over the
stubble on his jaw, wishing he could take a bath and shave. “What
bad news, then?”

“Your brother, Bernard, has been implicated
in the plot against Charles. He is being arrested at this
moment.”

“Bernard?” Dominick scarcely knew whether to
burst into laughter at the sheer lunacy of the charge or to become
seriously worried. “Bernard is Fastrada’s man. She will protect
him.”

“It was Fastrada who denounced Bernard to
Charles.”

“What?” Dominick gaped at Alcuin. “In
heaven’s name, why?”

“I gather Bernard did or said something to
annoy Fastrada. It’s easy enough to do.”

“So she is sending him to trial for treason?”
Dominick shouted. “The woman is mad! If Charles lets her do this,
so is he!”

“Keep your voice down,” Alcuin warned.
Frowning, he looked from Dominick to Pepin and back again. “The
situation becomes more serious by the moment. Both of you must
guard every word you speak, particularly when Father Guntram is
present. Do not confess, for Guntram will most likely not abide by
the sacred seal of the confessional. He is too ambitious, too eager
to gain Fastrada’s favor. Do not provide evidence that will surely
be used against you when you come to trial.”

“Am I to be tried?” Dominick asked, knowing
what the answer must be and prepared to hear his belief
confirmed.

“Yes.” Alcuin bit off the single word as if
speaking it hurt his tongue.

“What of Deacon Fardulf?”

“Fastrada has been attempting to convince
Charles that Fardulf was a party to the meeting of traitors, and
that after it ended he began to fear the consequences.”

“So he protected himself by rushing off to
Charles and telling what he knew,” Dominick finished. “That version
is not true. Gina and I both were in the church and saw how roughly
Fardulf was treated. At first he didn’t want to go to Charles. He
was afraid for his life.”

“The Church will protect Fardulf, and the
truth will eventually be known,” Alcuin said.

“You do see what is happening, don’t you?”
Pepin exclaimed. “Fastrada has found the perfect opportunity to
destroy anyone who ever spoke against her, or who even just
irritated her. She will use the conspiracy as a way to have all her
enemies declared traitors.”

“How can Charles be a party to such
viciousness?” Dominick asked. “It’s not like him. He has always
been a reasonable man. If he refused to execute Duke Tassilo after
all Tassilo did, including plotting against his life, then how can
he justify a death sentence on anyone who has been arrested solely
on Fastrada s instigation?”

“I do wonder how far Fastrada will go,”
Alcuin said, “and when Charles will decide she has overstepped the
power a queen of Francia rightfully holds.”