A Twisted Vengeance

At dusk the two households sat in the coolness of the garden. Catching her breath after practicing at the butt she’d set up behind the kitchen, Kate stood for a moment at the corner of the building, watching as Sister Clara and Sister Brigida walked into the garden arm in arm, Clara struggling a little to keep up with Brigida’s long stride. Kate quietly thanked Berend, who stood in the kitchen doorway. It was he who had proposed to feed both households a good meal to end the upsetting day. The two sisters had at first declined the invitation to dine in the garden, feeling they should stay up in the solar with Sister Dina – Berend and Griffin had carried her back to the Martha House earlier, and she was now settled in the room she would share with her sister beguines. Dame Eleanor had argued the wisdom of nourishment and good rest, assuring Clara and Brigida that her own maidservant, Rose, could be trusted to care for Dina for a little while. Kate had seconded her mother, having watched Rose gently arranging Dina’s pillows and covers, placing water within easy reach. Clearly, the two sisters had at last agreed.

Nan sat off to one side casting wounded glances toward Eleanor and anxious glances toward the gate in the hedgerow, as if she was expecting someone. Sister Agnes had already gone to sit the evening with Nan’s ailing mother, so she had no cause to worry on Hawise’s account. Did she dread more trouble? A visitor? Matt kindly tried to engage Nan in conversation, but he was met with silence. Glancing at Kate with a shrug, he abandoned his effort and settled himself near the girls.

At Kate’s request, Griffin had taken his food into Eleanor’s hall, where he could watch Elric’s guards at their post in front of the Martha House and follow them when they moved on. Satisfied that everyone was in their place, Kate eased herself down onto the bench beneath the kitchen eaves.

“Better now?” Berend asked as he handed her a bowl of ale and motioned to a serving of stew and bread sitting on the bench beside her.

“My shoulders ache with a good ache, and I am otherwise much restored.” She smiled as Lille and Ghent rose from where they had sat beside Berend and resettled at her feet. All was well. For the moment. Though clearly everyone was tensed for trouble.

Marie and Petra managed to lighten the mood for a moment with a song Sister Brigida had taught them earlier, and then Marie regaled them with the wonders of Hazel Frost’s wardrobe, the colorful embroidered cushions piled on her bed, and ribbons of every hue for her pretty brown hair. Petra groaned and crawled over to sit by the hounds.

Eleanor, unusually quiet and withdrawn, picked at her food and occasionally pressed a cloth soaked in rosemary to the welts on her cheek. Kate felt a twinge of remorse for urging her mother to visit Sister Dina, though she was grateful for her efforts. At least Dina had responded. She was not completely lost in the past.

Shamed, bloodied, cursed. No grave can hold him. He came for me. Whatever had happened, for Dina it was a repeat of something in the past. Kate wondered whether they would ever make any sense of her account. And for all their efforts, they knew little that pointed to an explanation for the intruder.

While she ate, Kate turned over in her mind all that had happened since she’d awakened to the hounds’ barks. She kept returning to Elric’s silence regarding Dina’s ordeal despite having already set guards to watch over her – or to ensure that she did not escape. In either case, he had chosen to lie to her, to say nothing of what he knew, or suspected. Something of import. Why else assign two men to such specific duty when Elric’s chief mission was to spy on the soldiers crowding the city? The other bothersome item was the incident with the hounds.

She had taken a break from her archery practice when she heard Matt, Jennet, and Berend talking in the kitchen. After listening to their frustrating investigations she told them of her mother’s experience with Dina and the foiled attempt to catch Lille and Ghent.

“You say you thought they were soldiers hoping to impress their superior with war dogs,” said Jennet. “So they wore livery?”

“No. I saw none.”

“Then why soldiers?” Jennet persisted.

“From their bearing,” said Kate, “and their clothes – fine but made for ease of movement.”

Berend mentioned his encounter just beyond Bootham Bar, the comments about the dogs. “I’ve worried someone would try to command you to loan them Lille and Ghent.”

“If so, they have little understanding of the loyalty of trained wolfhounds,” said Kate.

“And I’d wager they’d not encountered a woman warrior before,” said Matt. “Not of Dame Katherine’s skill and courage.”

“Still,” said Berend, “we should pay heed to anyone eyeing Lille and Ghent with too much interest when we’re about.”

“What if they were not after the grand hounds for war dogs?” Jennet said in the tone of one trying out an idea. “What if their aim was to quiet them tonight?”

“A bold, desperate act,” said Berend. “Are you thinking whoever it was will return?”

“Sister Dina caught someone who wanted something at that house,” said Jennet. “Now someone might mean to finish what last night’s intruder meant to do.”