Novels 03 The Wise Woman Read online

  Alys nodded sympathetically. “It is a heavy responsibility for you, Father Stephen,” she said. Her face was turned up to him, her dark eyes guileless. “It would be so wonderful if you could get the young lord released,” she said. “The castle would be a happier place! And Lady Catherine would be spared the pain she suffers now.”

  Father Stephen nodded. “Marriage is a sacrament,” he said. “It lasts until God ends it—unless it was invalid from the first. There can be no argument about suiting a man’s or a woman’s whim.”

  Alys nodded. “But no one knows what my lady endures,” she said. “Dreadful acts against her. And she so deep in sin that she glories in them like a beast.”

  Father Stephen looked appalled. “That should stop,” he said. “Whatever the means, I should stop that. That is mortal sin.

  “Here!” he said, breaking off. “You are shivering. Get to your chamber and some dry clothes.”

  Alys turned to go.

  “Alys,” he said hesitantly. She turned. “Swear that you will never think to kill yourself again,” he said. “It is an awful sin, the most dreadful sin. And it would lead you to a terrible judgment and an eternity in hell. An eternity, Alys. Think of it.”

  Alys bowed her head, the sodden purse with the magic dolls safe in her blue hands. “I do think of it, Father,” she said dully. Then she turned and went.

  Chapter

  12

  In the warm chamber the women were still asleep. Alys cast off the cloak and crept naked into bed. She stuffed the sodden purse with the candle dolls beneath her pillow, and pushed her damp hair away from her face. Then she slept and dreamed of the castle as her own, her own ladies calling her Lady Alys, and Hugo’s warm body sleeping beside her. She turned in her sleep and said his name very softly, and smiled. Even when Eliza roughly shook her awake Alys stayed within the joyful confidence of her dream. She smiled at Eliza. He loves me, Alys thought. He loves me and he has promised to find a way for us to be together.

  “My lady wants you,” Eliza said dourly. “She’s shouting for you, complaining you’re late. Best make haste.”

  Alys shook off her lazy contentment, jumped out of bed, threw on her dark blue gown and stuffed her hair in a dark blue cap, and fled across the gallery to Lady Catherine’s bedroom.

  “My lady?” she asked as she opened the door.

  Catherine was sitting up in bed, her fine linen shift torn beyond mending at the front, her bedding rumpled.

  “Alys,” she said and bared her yellow teeth in a smile. “Alys, I have need of your skills.”

  “Of course, Lady Catherine,” Alys said evenly. “What may I do for you?”

  “I think I am with child,” Catherine said. She gleamed at Alys. “Hardly surprising, I suppose!”

  Alys nodded, saying nothing.

  “My lord has been insatiable these last weeks,” Catherine said. She licked her lips like a gourmet savoring a dish. “It seems he cannot leave me alone. And now he has put me with child.”

  “I am very happy,” Alys said thinly.

  “Are you?” Catherine taunted. “Are you really? I find that surprising, Alys, I thought you hoped for a little of Lord Hugo’s attentions yourself! But he has had eyes for no one but me. Isn’t that true?”

  “I know he has been much with you, my lady,” Alys said. She could feel anger rising up in her and the blood drumming softly in her head. “All your ladies have been aware that my lord has visited you often. We are all glad for your happiness.”

  Lady Catherine’s laugh rippled out into the chamber. “I’ll warrant,” she said nastily. “And you, Alys? Have you given up all hope of him looking your way?”

  “Yes,” Alys lied easily. “I am here to serve the Lord Hugh as his clerk and his herbalist when he needs me. When he has finished with my services I will return to my home. I am a servant to his son, and to you, my lady. Nothing more.”

  Catherine nodded. “Yes,” she said, underlining the point. “You are Hugo’s servant. He might use you or throw you aside. It does not matter.”

  Alys curtsied in silence.

  “He can have you if he wishes,” Catherine said simply. “It does not matter now. I have been jealous of you and I was afraid you would take him from me. But now I am with child no one can take him from me. He can lie with you if he pleases, he can take his pleasure on you or desert you. But I have won him, Alys. Do you understand? He is mine now. I am the mother of his child. And neither the old lord nor Hugo will think of you as anything but a diversion.”

  Alys kept her gaze down on the floor. When Catherine fell silent she looked briefly up.

  “Do you understand?” Catherine asked.

  Alys nodded. She could not speak, she was willing the news to be untrue. She was willing Catherine to be barren, to stay barren. She did not need Catherine to tell her that if Hugo had a legitimate heir, then Catherine had won and Hugo’s soft-voiced promises of last night would be set to one side. And in her head she could hear Morach’s cracked ironic voice warning her against wishes which come true, against magic which works when you have stopped desiring it, against dolls which misunderstand their orders and weave their little spells too well.

  “I have need of you,” Lady Catherine said in a different tone. “My own mother is dead as you know, and I have no women friends to advise me. My old wet-nurse died last year and there is no one in the castle who can tell me how to care for myself and the health of the child. Lord Hugh swears you are skilled with herbs, the best healer he has ever known. I expect you to care for my health and advise me. And I will expect you to deliver my child. I want a son, Alys. You will be responsible.”

  Alys moved a little closer to the high bed. “My lady, you need a physician and a midwife,” she said. “I have had some experience in childbirth but for your health and the health of an heir you should have a physician.”

  Catherine shrugged. “Nearer the time I shall have one attend me,” she said arrogantly. “But in the meantime I shall have your advice and your constant attendance. You have attended births, I suppose? You are skilled?”

  Alys shook her head stubbornly. “I am only sixteen,” she said. “My Lord Hugh has been kind enough to trust to my herbs but he had thrown out his medical advisers and would see them no more. It pleased him to use me instead of them. But you have no quarrel with the wise women and midwives around the castle, my lady. You should speak with them.” She did not say that she would rather die than care for Catherine but the dislike between the two women was as tangible as Catherine’s sprawling, half-naked body.

  “What about the old woman at Bowes?” Catherine asked, prolonging the discussion for the pleasure of watching Alys’s pale tense face and hearing Alys searching for excuses. “Would she care for me well?”

  Alys fell into the trap. “My cousin Morach?” she asked. “Oh yes, indeed. She is skilled. She has attended many births. She could come and see you at once and care for you. She is an excellent midwife.”

  Catherine nodded. “I’ll have you both then,” she said in careless triumph. “I’ll send the soldiers to take Morach up. She can live with us here. She can guard my health and you can both serve me. I shall have you wait on me night and day, Alys. And now I want you to look at me and tell me. Am I with child? Is it a boy?”

  Alys dipped a curtsy, hiding her anger and her fear, and went to fetch her little bundle from the women’s room.

  “What did she want you for?” Eliza demanded as soon as she stepped in the door. “Is she foul today? Hugo stayed with her all night, did he not?”

  “I don’t know,” Alys said. “He’s not with her now. She’s full of joy. She thinks she’s with child. I am to confirm it.”

  The other women exclaimed, Eliza’s eyes grew round. “At last,” she said. “Hugo’s done his duty at last.”

  “Yes,” Alys said dryly. “Praise be. And what an act of love it was!”

  “Is it true?” Eliza asked. “She’s had false alarms before. And if ever spite could sto