Witch World Part 5

"Yes, the Duke!" Fulk seated himself on the end of the bed, swinging his booted feet. "Talk of fortune! Some good providence winked at your birth, my girl. Karsten's herald rode in this morning with an offer of ax marriage for you."

"Why?"

Fulk's feet stopped moving. He did not scowl, but his face was sober.

"There are a bristle of reasons like darts at his back!" He held up his hands and began to tell off the fingers of one with the forefinger of the other.

"Item: The Duke, for all his might, was a rider of mercenaries before he set his seal on Karsten, and I doubt if he can rightly name his dam, let alone his sire.

"He crushed those of the lords who tried to face him down. But that was a good half-score of years ago and he no longer wants to ride in mail and smoke rebels out of their castles. Having won his duchy he wishes now some easy years in which to enjoy it. A wife taken from the ranks of those he opposed is a gift offering for peace. And while Verlaine may not be the richest hold in Karsten, yet the blood of its lords is very high-was not that often made very plain to me when I came a-wooing? And I was no blank shield, but the younger son ofFarthom in the northern hills." His lips twisted as if he remembered certain slights out of the past.

"And since you are the heiress of Verlaine you are very suitable."

Loyse laughed. "It cannot be true, lord, that I am the only marriageable maid of gentle birth in all Karsten."

"How right. And he could do very well elsewhere. But as I have said, my dearest of daughters, you have certain other advantages. Verlaine is a coast holding with age-old rights, and the Duke has ambitions which run in more peaceful lines now than sword conquest. What say you, Loyse, if there was to be a port here to attract the northern trade?"

"And what would Sulcarkeep be doing while such a port came into being? Those who swear by Sul are jealous of their holdings."

"Those who swear by Sul may soon be able to swear by nothing at all," he returned with a calm certainty which carried a note of conviction. "They have troublesome neighbors who are growing more troublesome yet. And Estcarp, where they might look for aid, is a hollow sh.e.l.l eaten out by its preoccupation with witchery. One push and the whole land will fall into the filthy dust which should have buried it long ago."

"So, for my blood and a plan for a port, Lord Yvian offers marriage," she persisted, unable yet to believe that this was true. "Yet is the mighty lord free to send his ax hither for a wedding? I am a maid close kept in a hold far from Kars, yet have I heard of a certain Aldis who issues orders, to have them promptly obeyed by all who wear the Duke's sign."

"Yvian will have Aldis, and, yes, half a hundred of her ilk, and it is no concern of yours, girl. Give him a son-if your thin blood can form a man, the which I doubt! Give him a son and hold up your head at the high table, but trouble him not with any mewling calls upon him for more than company courtesy. Be glad for your honors and if you are wise you'll speak Aldis and the others fair in their time. Yvian is not said to be a patient or easily forgiving man." He slid down the slope of the bed and stood up, ready to be gone. But before he went he detached a small key from the chain at his belt and tossed it to her.

"For all your ghost face, girl, you'll not go to your wedding without your due or gauds. I'll send Bettris to you; she has an eye for pretties and can help you pull out enough for robes. And veils for your face, you'll need them! And keep an eye to Bettris, don't let her take more than she can carry in her two hands for herself."

Loyse caught up the key so eagerly that he laughed. "So that much of you is female-you want gauds as much as any wench. Give us another storm or two and we can make up what you drag out of the storehouse anyway."

He strode out, leaving the door wide open. As Loyse followed him to shut it once again, she treasured that key tight in her hand. For months, years, she had schemed to get that same bit of metal into her holding. Now she had been given it openly and none would dispute her rummaging for what she truly wanted in the storehouse of Verlaine.

Rights of wreckage and plunder over wave and sh.o.r.e! Since Verlaine Keep had risen on the heights between two treacherous capes, the sea had brought its lords a rich harvest. And the storehouse of the pile was indeed a treasure room, only opened upon its lord's orders. Fulk must believe that he had far the best of the bargain with Yvian to allow her unsupervised plundering there. For the company of Bettris she did not fear. Fulk's latest bedfellow was as greedy as she was fair, and she would not cast any eye on Loyse's choices, given a chance to hunt on her own.

She tossed the key from right hand to left, and for the first time a thin smile curved her pale lips. Well might Fulk be surprised at her choices from the treasure of Verlaine! Also he might be astounded at other things she knew about these walls which he accepted as such safe barriers. Her gaze flickered for a moment to the one where the shield mirror hung.

There was a hurried rap at her door. Loyse smiled again, this time with contempt. It had not taken Bettris long to act upon Fulk's orders. But at least the woman dared not intrude upon her lover's daughter uninvited. Loyse went to the door.

"The Lord Fulk-" began the girl who stood without, her plump beauty as full and vivid as Fulk's virility.

Loyse held up the key. "I have it." She named no name, gave no t.i.tle to the other, but glanced at those well-rounded shoulders bursting out of the robe which strained over every luxuriant curve the other advertised. Behind Bettris were two of the serving men, a chest between them. Loyse raised her eyebrows and the other laughed nervously.

"Lord Fulk would have you select your bride-clothes, lady. He said there was no need to be timid in the storehouse."

"The Lord Fulk is generous," returned Loyse tonelessly. "Shall we go?"

The women avoided the great hall and the outer chambers of the hold, for the treasure room lay at the foot of the tower in which were the private quarters of the family. For that Loyse was glad; she kept well away from the central life of her father's house. And when they came at last to the door opened by the key she bore, she was very pleased that only Bettris dared follow her within. The serving men pushed the chest in after them and left.

Three globes set in the ceiling gave light to show chests and boxes, bales and bags. Bettris smoothed the robe over her hips in the gesture of a keeper of a market stall settling down to a spate of bargaining. Her dark eyes darted from pile to pile, and Loyse, putting the key into her belt purse, added fuel to that avid hunger.

"I do not think that the Lord Fulk would deny you some selections for yourself. In fact he said as much to me. But I would warn you to be discreet and not too greedy."

Those plump hands fluttered from hips to full, only half-covered b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Loyse crossed to a table cutting down the center of the room, lifted the lid of a casket resting there. Even she blinked at the ma.s.sed wealth within. She had not truly realized until that moment that Verlaine's rapine over the years had yielded so well. From a tangle of chains and necklets she freed a great brooch, gaudy with red stones and much chasing, a bauble not to her taste, but one which in a manner matched the overblown comeliness of her companion.

"Such a piece as this," she suggested and held it out.

Bettris' hands crooked to hold it, then she s.n.a.t.c.hed them back. The point of her tongue showed between her wet red lips as she glanced from the brooch to Loyse and back again. Conquering her repugnance, the girl held the ma.s.sive gem-set thing to the deep V-throat of the other's robe, mastering the impulse to jerk back when she felt the softness of Bettris' flesh.

"It becomes you, take it!" In spite of her wish Loyse' words were a sharp order. But the bait was taken. With attention only for the gems, the woman moved to the table, and Loyse was, for that moment and perhaps others, free to do as she pleased.

She knew what to look for, but how it might be stored she was unsure. Slowly the girl moved between piles of goods. Some were stained with salt rime and from one or two came a faint exotic scent. Having put a small barrier of boxes between herself and Bettris, she chanced upon a chest which looked promising.

Loyse's fragile appearance was deceiving. Just as she had disciplined her emotions and her mind against this day, so had she trained her body. The lid was heavy, but she had it up. And knew by the smell of oil, the sight of the discolored cloths on top, she was hot on the scent. She pawed aside those cloths gingerly, fearing to stain her hands and so reveal the nature of her search. Then she lifted out a shirt of mail, holding it to measure against her shoulders. Too large-perhaps she could find nothing fitted to her slight frame.

She delved deeper. A second shirt-a third-this must have been part of the stock in trade of a master smith. At the bottom was one which must have been made to order for the stripling son of some overlord. For against her it needed very little change at all. The rest were bundled back into the chest while she folded her find as small as possible.

Bettris was trapped by the casket of jewels and Loyse did not doubt that more than one piece from that coffer was now hidden about her person. But it gave her a chance to make her own raids, moving almost openly now between the box she had brought with her and her sources of supply, adding lengths of silk and velvet, a cape of fur, as topping concealment.

To please Bettris and forestall suspicion, Loyse chose from the jewelry also and then summoned the men to carry the chest back to her chamber. She was afraid Bettris might urge unpacking on her, but the bribe had worked well, the woman was in a fever to examine her own spoils privately and did not linger.

In a fury of speed, tempered by caution and the precision of careful foreplanning, Loyse set to work. Those hastily selected lengths of fabric, those packets of lace and embroidery, were dumped on her bed. Then she was on her knees clearing the coffer where her present wardrobe lay. Some things were long ready, fashioned long ago. But here were all the rest. With a care she had not granted the fine stuffs Loyse placed together the dower she intended to take from Verlaine, on her back, in her purse, in the saddle bags which were all she dared carry.

Mail shirt, leather underclothing, weapons, helm, gold trade tokens, a handful of jewels. Over those she threw once more her own garments, patting them smooth, with the care of a good housekeeper. She was breathing a little fast, but she had the coffer closed and was spreading out the other loot when she heard that tread outside-Fulk returning for his key.

Impulsively she caught up a veil bordered in silver thread, a dew-hung cobweb of a thing, and pulled it about her head and shoulders, seeing that it became her vilely, but generous enough now that her purpose was gained to allow her father his chance for a jeer or two. With it on she stepped once more to pose before the shield mirror.

SEA WRACK.

The very circ.u.mstances which she hoped would set her free worked against Loyse during the next few days. For while Yvian of Karsten did not ride himself to Verlaine either to inspect the bride he had bargained for or the heritage which would come with her, he sent a train proper enough to do her honor. And she was called upon to be on show, so that underneath her outer sh.e.l.l she seethed with impatience and growing desperation.

At last she pinned her hopes to the wedding feast, for then, if ever, there would be muddled heads within the keep. Fulk wanted to impress the Duke's lords with his lavish open-handedness. He would produce the liquid treasures of the hold and it would be her best chance to follow her plans.

The storm struck first, such a wild blast of wind and raging sea water as Loyse, familiar with that coast since her birth, had never seen before. For the spray reached high enough to spatter the windows of her tower room with its salt foam. And Bettris, and the maid Fulk had sent to help with the sewing of her robes, shivered and shrank with each bat of the wind's fist ringing through the stones of the walls.

Bettris stood up, a roll of green silk tumbling to the floor, her dark eyes wide. Her fingers moved in the sacred sign of her forgotten village childhood.

"Witch storm," her voice came small, overridden by the scream of the gale until Loyse heard only a thin whisper.

"This is not Estcarp," Loyse matched a length of embroidery to satin and set even st.i.tches. "We do not have power over wind and wave. And Estcarp does not move beyond her own borders. It is a storm, that is all. And if you wish to please Lord Fulk you will not tremble at sea storms for Veriaine knows them often. How else," she paused to draw a new length of thread through a needle-eye, "do you think our treasure is gathered?"

Bettris turned on her, lips strained over her sharp little teeth in a vixen's snarl. "I am coast born, I have seen storms in plenty. Yes, I have coursed the sh.o.r.e with the gleaners afterwards. Which is more than you have ever deigned to do, my lady! But this is like no storm I have seen or heard tell of in all my life! There is evil in it, I tell you-great evil!"

"Evil for those who must trust to the waves." Loyse put down her sewing. She crossed to the windows, but there was nothing to be seen through the lace of spume which blotted out the dark of the day.

The maid made no pretense at work. She was drawn in upon her self close to the hearth where sea coral burned fitfully, rocking back and forth, her hands pressed against her breast as if she would ease some pain there. Loyse went to her. She had little of pity or interest in the wenches of the castle-from Bettris and her countless predecessors to the slatterns in the guardroom. Now against her own inclination she asked: "You ail, wench?'

The girl was cleaner than most. Perhaps she had been ordered to tidy herself before being sent hither. Now the face she turned to Loyse drew the attention of Fulk's daughter. This was no village girl, no peasant dragged in to pleasure a retainer and then become a work drudge. Her face was a mask of fear which had been so long a part of her that it had shaped her as a potter shapes clay. Yet under that something else struggled.

Bettris laughed shrilly. " 'Tis no pain in her belly that eats at her, only memories. She was a sea wrack herself once. Weren't you, s.l.u.t!" Her soft leather shoe struck the girl's haunch, nearly turning her into the fire.

"Leave her alone!" For the first time Loyse flashed her hidden fire. She had always kept aloof from the strand after a storm, since there was nothing she could do to dispute Fulk's rule-or rather Fulk's license there-she would not harrow herself with sights she could not forget.

Bettris simpered uneasily. With Loyse she was uncertain of her ground, so she did not rise to the challenge.

"Send the mewling idiot away. You will get no work from her as long as the storm rages-nor afterwards for a while. 'Tis a pity for she is clever with her needle, else she would have been sent to fatten the sh.o.r.e eels long ago."

Loyse went to the wide expanse of the bed where much of her gear had been spread about. There was a shawl there, plain in the welter of brilliant silks and fine fabrics. Catching it up she took it back to the fireside and threw it about the shuddering maid. Disregarding Bettris' amazement, Loyse dropped on her knees, put her hands to cover those of the girl, and looking into that drawn face, tried to will away from them both the grisly customs of Veriaine which had warped them in different ways.

Bettris pulled at her sleeve.

"How dare you?" Loyse blazed.

The other stood her ground, a sly grin now on her full lips. "The hour grows late, lady. Would Lord Fulk take it well that you nurse this s.l.u.t when he meets with the Duke's lords to sign the marriage contract? Shall I tell him why you do not come?"

Loyse regarded her levelly. "I shall do my lord's bidding in this, as in other things, wench. Do not think to lesson me!"

She broke hold with the girl's hands reluctantly, saying: "Stay here. No one shall come near you. Understand-no one!"

Did the other understand? She was rocking back and forth again, racked by old pain cut into her dulled mind even after the scars had faded from her body.

"I do not need you to robe me," Loyse turned on Bettris, and the other flushed. She could not face the younger girl down and she knew it.

"You would be the better for some knowledge of the kind of sorcery any woman knows, lady," she replied sharply "I could show you how to make a man look at you full faced as you pa.s.s. If you would but put a little dark stain upon your brows and lashes, some of the rose salve on your lips-"Her annoyance was forgotten, as her creative instinct aroused. She surveyed Loyse critically and impersonally and the other found herself listening in spite of her scorn for Bettris and all she represented. "Yes, if you would listen to me, lady, you could perhaps draw your lord's eyes away from that Aldis long enough for him to see another face. There are other ways, also, for the charming of a man." Her tongue tip worked along her lips. "There is much I could teach you, lady, which would give you weapons to use for yourself." She drew nearer, some of the glitter of the storm flashing in her eyes.

"Yvian has bargained for me as I stand," Loyse replied, rejecting Bettris' offer, all that Bettris stood for, "and so must be satisfied with what he gets!" And that is more true than Bettris can guess, she added silently.

The woman shrugged. "It is your life, lady. And before you are out of it, you shall discover that you cannot order it to your liking."

"Have I ever?" asked Loyse quietly. "Now go. As you have said, it grows late and I have much to do."

She sat through the ceremonies of the contract signing with her usual calm acceptance. The men the Duke had sent to fetch his bride to Kars were three very different types, and she found it interesting to study them.

Hunold was a comrade from Yvian's old mercenary days. He had a reputation as a soldier which reached even into such a backwater as Verlaine. Oddly enough his appearance did not match either his occupation, nor his reputation. Where Loyse had expected to see a man such as her father's seneschal-though perhaps slicked over with some polish-she found herself fronting a silk clad, drawling, languid courtier, who might never have felt the weight of mail on his back. His rounded chin, long lashed eyes, smooth cheeks, gave him a deceptive youth, as well as the seeming of untried softness. And Loyse, trying to match the man to the things she had heard concerning him, wondered and was a little afraid.

Siric, who represented the Temple of Fortune, who tomorrow would say the words while her hands rested on the war ax, thus making her as much Yvian's as if he clasped her in truth, was old. He had a red face and there was a swelling blue vein in the middle of his low forehead. As he listened or spoke in a soft mumble, he munched continually on small sweetmeats from a comfit box his servant kept ever in reach, and his yellow priest's robe strained over a paunch of notable dimensions.

The Lord Duarte was of the old n.o.bility. But in turn he did not suit his role very well. Small and thin, with a twitching tic which pulled at his lower lip, the hara.s.sed air of a man constrained to some task he loathed, he spoke only when an answer was demanded of him. And alone of the three he paid some attention to Loyse. She discovered him watching her broodingly, but there was nothing in his manner which hinted of pity or promise of aid. It was rather that she was the symbol of trouble he would like to sweep from his path.

Loyse was grateful that custom allowed her to escape that night's feasting. Tomorrow she must sit through the start of the wedding banquet, but as soon as the wine began to pa.s.s-yes-then! Holding to that thought she hurried back to her room.

She had forgotten the sewing wench, and it was with a start that she saw a figure outlined against the window. The wind was dying now as if the worst of the storm had blown out. But there was another sound, the keening of one who has been hopelessly bereaved. And salt air bit at her from the opened pane.

Angry because of her own worries, tense over what was to come and to what she must nerve herself during the next twenty-four hours, Loyse sprang across the room and seized me swinging window frame, pulling at the girl that she might slam it shut. Though the wind had ceased, the clouds were still slashed by lightning.

And in one such revelation Loyse saw what the other must have watched for long moments.

Driving in upon the waiting fangs of the cape were ships: two . . . three of them. And such ships as dwarfed the coastwise traders she had seen pulled to their deaths there before by that treacherous onsh.o.r.e current which enriched and d.a.m.ned Verlaine. These could only be part of a proud fleet of some great seafaring lord. Yet in the continued flashes of light which gave only seconds' viewing, Loyse could sight no activity on board any of the vessels, no attempts being made to ward off fate. They were ghost ships sailing on to their deaths and apparently their crews did not care.

The lights of the wreckers, of the sh.o.r.eline scavengers, were already moving in cl.u.s.ters from the high gate of Verlaine. For a man on the spot might just conceal some rich picking for himself in the general confusion, though Fulk's weighty hand and a quick noose for those caught had cut down such thievery to a shadow. They would cast nets to bring in the flotsam, turn to tasks they had long practice in. And for any who went ash.o.r.e still living! Loyse exerted her strength and dragged the girl away, shut and barred the window.

But to her surprise the face the other now turned to her was no longer troubled by ancient terrors. There was intelligence in the depths of the girl's dark eyes, excitement, a gathering strength.

She held her head slightly to one side as if she listened for some sound she must sort out of the brazen clamor of the storm. More and more it was apparent that whatever had been her place in the world before the sea brought her to Verlaine, she was no common soldier's wench.

"That which has been long in the building," the girl's tone was remote, she spoke as if from the core of some experience Loyse could never know. "Choose, choose well. For this night is the fate of countries, as well as that of men, to be made and unmade!"

"Who are you?" Loyse demanded as the girl continued to change before her eyes. She was no monster, put on no shape of beast or bird as rumor whispered could be done by the witches of Estcarp. But that which had lain dormant, wounded almost to death, within her struggled once again for life, showed through her scarred body.

"Who am I? n.o.body . . . nothing. But one comes who is greater than the I who once lived. Choose well, Loyse of Verlaine-and live. Choose ill-and die, as I have died, bit by bit, day by day."

"That fleet-" Loyse half turned to the windows. Could it possibly be that some invader, reckless enough to sacrifice his ships to win foothold on the cape and so a path to Verlaine, sailed out there? That was a mad thought. The ships were doomed; few if any of their crewmen could win the sh.o.r.e alive, and there they would find the men of Verlaine had prepared the grimmest of welcomes.

"Fleet?" echoed the girl. "There is no fleet-only life-or death. You have something of us within you, Loyse. Prove yourself now and win!"

"Something of you? Who are you-or what?"

"I am n.o.body and nothing. Ask me rather what I was, Loyse of Verlaine, before your people pulled me from the sea."

"What were you?" the other asked obediently as might a child at an elder's command.

"I was one of Estcarp, woman of the sea coast. Now do you understand? Yes, I had the Power-until it was reft from me in the hall below us here, while men laughed and cheered the deed. For the gift is ours-sealed to our women-only while our bodies remain inviolate. To Verlaine I was a female body and no more. So I lost what made me live and breathe-I lost myself.

"Can you understand what it means to lose yourself?" She studied Loyse. "Yes, I almost believe that you do, since you move now to protect what you have. My gift is gone, crushed out as one crushes out the last coal of an unwanted fire, but the ashes of it remains. So do I now know that one greater than I had ever hoped to be comes in on the drive of the storm. And she shall determine more than one of our futures!"

"A witch!" Loyse did not shrink; instead excitement flared. The power of the women of Estcarp was legendary. She had fed upon every tale which had come out of the north concerning them and their gifts. And she smarted now with the realization of opportunity lost.

Why had she not known of this woman before-learned of her- "Yes, a witch. So they name us when they understand us but little. But do not think to have anything of me now, Loyse. I am only the charred brands of a long quenched fire. Bend your will and wit to aid the other who comes."

"Will and wit!" Loyse laughed harshly."Wit I have and will, but no power here, ever. Not one soldier will obey me, nor stay his hand at my bidding. Better appeal to Bettris. When my father is in humor with her, she has some slight recognition from his people."

"You have only to seize opportunity when it comes." The other allowed the shawl to slip from her shoulders, folded it neatly, and laid it on the bed as she pa.s.sed it on her way to the door. "Take your opportunity and use it well, Loyse of Verlaine. And tonight sleep sound for your hour has not yet come."

She was out of the door before Loyse could move to stop her. And then the room was curiously empty, as if the girl had drawn after her some pulsing life which had watched and waited in shadowed comers.

Slowly Loyse put off her robe of ceremony, replaited her hair by touch, rather than with the aid of the mirror. Somehow she did not wish to look into that mirror now, for a p.r.i.c.king thought that something else might stand behind to peer over her shoulder lurked in her mind. Many foul deeds had been done in the great hall of Verlaine since Fulk became master there. But now she believed that perhaps the one which would bring him to judgment had been wrought with the woman of Estcarp for its victim.

And so intent was she upon her thoughts that she did not remember this was her wedding eve. For the first time since she had hidden them there, she did not bring out the garments resting at the bottom of her chest, to examine them and gloat over the promise they held.