Friday, November 30, 2007

19

“What do you mean?” asked Wulfgard.

“Being your daughter may be why she killed herself.”

“She slipped from the path,” said Mairyn.

“No, she jumped.”

“How do you know she jumped?” asked Wulfgard.

“She was very distraught. She had found out that you were her father. Normally, that would have been good for her and me through her, but she had behaved quite stupidly.”

“Wait,” said Neemyn. “Who told her she was Wulfgard’s daughter?”

“I believe Gideon may have told her. They have been meeting in secret somewhere while he has been in hiding.”

“Gideon knows that I am Mairyn and Lauryn’s father?”

“Yes he has known for several years. I told him.”

“He would marry his own sister?” Petre voiced the shock that everyone except Madame Gertrude felt.

“If you think he would care, you do not know him very well,” said Madame Gertrude. “He thought it quite the joke. But it seems Lauryn could not live with the idea.”

“If she found out now before they were married, she didn’t have to go through with it,” said Mairyn. “Why then would she kill herself?”

“Once the engagement had been announced, Lauryn noticed Gideon’s attentions to you so she thought she was losing him to you and she thought to draw him closer to herself in the age old way of women and then she found herself with child. And then she discovered it would be her brother’s child and she could not life with that. So she decided to kill herself in a way that no one would forget her.”

“And you just let her do it?” asked Mairyn.

“It was her choice. If the little fool had stuck to the plan instead of trying to think for herself she never would have found herself in trouble, but she claimed to actually have loved Gideon. Imagine that?”

“You have so much to answer for, Gertrude,” said Flora.

“I have only ever done what was asked of me. I can not be blamed for the poor choices of other people.”

“You can when you withhold important information from those around you.” Flora checked Mairyn’s arm. The poultices seemed to be working. She placed her hand to Mairyn’s forehead and found it cool. She bean packing up her belongings.

“I have had enough for one day. If it were not so late, I would find a hot bath to wash this dirt from me. As it is, I will leave you to deal with Gertrude tonight, Wulfgard. I can not stomach her any more.”

“Oh, you always were the good one,” said Madame Gertrude. “But you have nothing but a few herbs for your old age.”

“And what do you have, Gertrude, but the hate of those you have done wrong and your own personal cell if you are lucky, an execution if we are lucky.”

Madame Gertrude blanched.

“I will be back in the morning to check your arm, Mairyn. Take the sleeping draught I left.”

“Thank you, Flora,” said Mairyn.

Flora finished packing her sack. Neemyn took it from her.

“I will see you to the house where you will be spending the night. I have heard more than enough myself and I must check on the whereabouts of my grandchildren.” Neemyn hoisted Flora’s pack over his shoulder and patted Wulfgard on the arm. Neemyn and Flora made a wide path around Madame Gertrude as they left.

“You have done an excellent job sickening us all, Madame Gertrude. And tomorrow we must mount a thorough search for Gideon. You must be placed somewhere with no resources to cause more problems,” said Wulfgard.

“You said if I spoke, I would be helping myself.”

“I made you no promises. You deeds have been heinous, indeed.”

“Might I make a suggestion?” asked Smyth.

Wulfgard nodded.

“We have been cleaning out the barns lately and there is a storage stall that is empty. It has a sturdy door that can be bolted from the outside. We could lock Madame Gertrude in there until such time when a decision can me made as regards her future. We can put in a pallet and a piss pot. We will of course, remain on guard.”

“Yes, Smyth. Make it so,” said Wulfgard.

Two of the men grabbed Madame Gertrude by the arms, while a third walked in front of her and the fourth followed behind.

“I’m thirsty and hungry.” Madame Gertrude whines as they took her away.

“Be sure to water her when you lock her up,” said Wulfgard.

“Should we do exactly what you say, Sire?” asked Smyth. The four men laughed as Madame Gertrude continued to whimper.

“I wish to stay her with Mairyn and Roban tonight, Uncle.”

“A good idea, Petre. We will still post a guard outside but I think we would all feel better if you were here. I will have a pallet brought into you along with food and drink. I’m sure you have things to talk about. I, on the other hand, have much to drown in drink.”

Wulfgard went to Mairyn and kissed her on the forehead. “Good night, my daughter.”

Mairyn stroked Wulfgard’s cheek with her good hand. “Good night, my father.”

“Good night, Petre.” Wulfgard kissed Petre on the cheek. Wulfgard nodded to Roban and left.

“We found out so many horrible and disturbing things today,” said Mairyn.

“But we did hear one really good thing,” said Petre.

“What was that?”

“You and I are not really related.”

Petre leaned over and kissed Mairyn on the mouth.

The morning broke bright and clear. All of the available men in Wulfgard’s halle were awake and breaking their fast before the sun came up. They were joined by many men from the village and both of the hunt masters. All of the skilled hunting dogs (Elkhounds, Beagles and Terriers) had been rounded up and were waiting in the courtyard with their various handlers or owners.

The men had prepared drink bladders filled with weak wine and ale. Cook had wrapped up smoked meats, cheeses and bread in individual packets for each searcher. The men would not come back with out their quarry this time.

Petre and Jonithon would remain in the halle with Mairyn and Roban, acting as their guards. They would stay in Mairyn’s room until Gideon had been caught. Smyth, Franc, Llood and Briin would remain on guard over Madame Gertrude, two at a time and changing shifts every few hours. Shepp was still healing at home with his wife and while his spirit was willing his body needed time to recuperate, which was fine with Joscelin his wife.

Despite Wulfgard’s orders, Zelda had thrown her daughter Zina out of her house. Zina was staying with Nanci and her sisters to make sure Zina stayed out of further trouble and to keep an eye on her in case Gideon showed up.

The women of the town and halle had an alarm system of bells and gongs setup in case Gideon should somehow get past the searches and show up while the men were away. The word had spread quickly about Lauryn being Wulfgard’s daughter and Gideon knowing of this fact all along and he still went along with the marriage plans and he even got her with child and that is why she threw herself from the mountain. Everyone would be on edge until Gideon was caught and dealt with.

The men and dogs had been divided up into search teams of at least two men and one dog. Most groups had more of each. Every man was armed with at least his knife and most carried swords with a few hunting bows and war bows among the archers.

Wulfgard met with the searches as they finished organizing in the courtyard. Wulfgard gave out pieces of Gideon’s clothing to each search party for the dogs to use as scent guides.

“Gideon is my son and as much as it breaks my heart to admit it, he is dangerous in such a cold and calculating way that we must find him today, capture him and lock him up before he does any more harm.”

No one replied but several men gave Wulfgard sympathetic nods. They knew what it was like to have children that did not grow up the way you would hope.

“While I hope that we can bring him in without harm to him, I do not want anyone else injured or killed trying not to hurt him. Do not put yourselves in danger protecting him. It would be best if we could speak to him for more answers to a long list of questions, but the most important thing is that he does not have the opportunity to hurt anyone else.”

Wulfgard joined his search group and all of the parties were off in various directions.

It wasn’t long before one of the groups got a hit at the skull cave. They gave the signal for other groups to join them as backup and then proceeded with caution into the caves. Wulfgard was among them.

When they entered they did find the caves empty but there were signs that Gideon had used the caves as a hiding place and camp. The floor was littered with half eaten food and Gideon had defecated in several corners. They also found two skulls that had been thrown against a wall and splintered into many pieces. Wulfgard sent one of the men to find Jondan and Izabo to tell them of the desecration of the skull cave so they could have it cleaned up and resanctified. He also wanted Jondan to figure out who the two skulls had belonged to.

The search parties had been gone through the mid-day meal. Very little food was eaten by anyone except Madame Gertrude who ate several helpings of food. Her guards just kept feeding her to keep her quiet.

Mairyn and Petre tried to play a game of squares but could not concentrate so they gave up and spent most of the time sitting quietly in front of Mairyn’s fire, holding hands.

Roban was spinning yarn with a drop spindle and Jonithon was helping her by rolling the spun thread into balls. They seemed to be finding ways of communicating and Jonithon was showing Roban plenty of romantic attention.

Kym and Kohl, who were left at the halle when Neemyn joined the search came running into the halle screaming that gongs were being hit down by the lake. Their voices were followed by the distant sound of clanging which grew closer as more women began hitting their gongs and bells. There was the brief sound of a woman’s scream and then barking dogs and men yelling could be heard from the mountain paths.

“You two stay in here and barracade the door by pushing the chest in front of it,” said Petre as he headed to the door. “Do not open the door until you hear my voice, do you understand?”

Mairyn nodded to Petre. Petre and Jonithon ran towards all of the noise and commotion. Mairyn slammed the door to her room shut and she and Roban pushed the chest in front of the door and then they sat down with their backs to the chest and waited.

Petre and Jonithon entered the courtyard with their knives and swords drawn. The town was full of the sound of women screaming and bells and gongs being hit. The barking of the dogs and the shooting of the men with them could be heard at various points on the path down the mountain into the town. Smyth, Franc, Llood and Briin rounded the corner of the halle with their swords drawn just as Gideon came running into the courtyard. He came to a skidding halt, looked around the yard like a cornered animal, saw Petre and ran at him head long with his knife raised to kill.

Petre ducked and crouched and rammed himself into Gideon’s midsection, pushing him back into Smyth who was behind Gideon. Gideon’s knife flew from his hand as the wind was knocked out of him. Llood kicked Gideon’s knife away from Gideon. Franc picked up the knife and ran off while Petre flipped Gideon on his back and sat across his chest. Gideon continued to fight even though he could not breathe. Petre punched him in the face, knocking out several teeth. Gideon tried to buck Petre off of him and flip Petre over his head. Petre punched Gideon again breaking Gideon’s nose and ripping open the skin on Petre’s hand.

Gideon howled in pain, covering his face with his hands. Franc came running back into the courtyard with a length of rope. Smyth and Llood grabbed Gideon’s upper arms as Petre got off of him. They rolled him over, lashing his wrists together behind him while he cursed and yelled at them, his blood flying in all directions and showering those close by. They turned Gideon over and bound his ankles while he tried to kick them. Once that was done, they all jumped away from him. He squirmed and fought the ropes, flopping around on the ground like a landed fish. He continued to curse them. After catching their breaths, the men looked up to see all of the town’s women and the men and dogs who had been on the search parties ringing the edge of the courtyard in complete silence. Their relief at having captured Gideon was overshadowed by Gideon’s continued foul cursing and screaming.

“He slit Zelda’s throat,” said Minta. The crowd tried to back further away from Gideon. Zina, Zelda’s daughter, screamed and fainted.

Wulfgard got everyone organized. Gideon was taken off to the barns and put in another of the empty stalls and guards were placed by him and the ones by Madame Gertrude were reinstalled. Zina was taken back to Minta’s house and put to bed with her friend Nanci keeping watch over her. Next door at her mother’s house, Zelda’s body was being wrapped and put on a litter after several people reviewed the room where she was killed. Her body would be taken to the cold cellar and placed there with Lauryn’s body until the burial rituals were performed. The dogs and men were sent off to their various homes to be fed and rested for the night. Generally, everyone struggled to get back to normal, knowing a tribunal would be held in the town square beginning after midday dinner. Everyone made a conscious effort to forget about Gideon for the rest of the evening and into the night. Tomorrow would be soon enough to deal with his madness, because mad he must be.

Petre went to tell Mairyn and Roban they could come out of Mairyn’s room as Gideon had been caught. Petre moved the chest back to where it belonged. The evening meal was being served. Petre and Mairyn sat together at the evening meal, Petre telling Mairyn what he knew about Gideon being caught. Roban sat with Jonithon. He patiently pantomimed his explanation to Roban. Cook had made a simple meal of a thick stew with bread and butter. The meal was filling and satisfied the simplicity that was needed after the day’s events. Wulfgard took to his rooms alone and closed himself in with a large jug of ale. No one expected to hear from him for the rest of the night

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