Medieval 01 - Untamed

state of the rest of the keep.”
    Leather boots slapped rhythmically against stone as the brothers climbed the right-hand turning staircase. If they had been trying to take the keep by storm, they would have been hampered by the fact that all knights were trained to use their right hands in sword fighting. As a result, it was far easier to defend the stairs than it was to take them, for in fighting up the steps, the stone wall forever thwarted the thrust of the attackers’ swords. The defenders, retreating up the stairs, were under no such handicap. They could cut and slash with a will, and their blades would find only the enemy rather than the stone walls of the tower itself.
    Dominic took the final three stairs in a single leap and strode down the passageway that led to his wife’s rooms. He ignored the two small rooms that opened along the way. Those were the quarters of the lady’s maids. As only one was being used by Eadith, he had given the other to Marie.
    The thought of seeing either woman didn’t appeal to Dominic at the moment. He had decided Eadith was a greedy flirt with little to recommend her but her clean hands. Nor was Marie good company. She was sulky that no more gifts of gold and gems and been forthcoming from him since Jerusalem.
    Rather wryly, Dominic realized that part of Meg’s appeal for him was that she wasn’t tripping over her own feet with eagerness to discover the contents ofthe small chests he had brought into the keep when he arrived. In fact, it seemed she wasn’t eager for anything at all from him.
    Except her cursed plants.
    She had snatched them back from him with great speed. He still found it difficult to believe that she had gone on foot over fen and moor—and risked her husband’s certain displeasure—simply to collect a few odd bits of greenery. But there appeared to be no other explanation for what had happened.
    Dominic found himself curious to discover if a few hours of silence had made Meg more willing to talk to him. He also wondered if the golden jewelry in his hands would make her eyes light with welcome for him, despite her anger that he wasn’t falling under her spell as all the other people of Blackthorne Keep manifestly had.
    The door to Meg’s room was closed. Dominic rapped on it impatiently.
    â€œOpen, madam,” he said. “It is your husband.”
    No answer came.
    Dominic knocked less gently. “Lady Margaret. Open the door.”
    No one spoke from within.
    The force of Dominic’s fist made the door shudder. “Open the cursed door or I’ll have it off its hinges!”
    The door swung open.
    â€œWife, you and I will reach an agreement on the basic courtesies I expect from…”
    Dominic’s voice died as he realized that the door had been opened by the force of his fist rather than by his wife’s softer hands. He strode into the room.
    It was empty.
    â€œGod’s teeth,” he snarled, throwing the jewelry onto his wife’s bed. “The witch isn’t here!”
    Dominic strode through the room into what had once been the nursery. From the look of it, Meg spenttime sitting there by the window, embroidering and listening to the sounds of servants in the bailey below.
    â€œEmpty,” Dominic said before Simon could ask.
    The two men quickly checked the ladies’ quarters of the keep, the bath, and the latrine. All were empty.
    As one, the brothers rushed back down the stairs to the forebuilding. The man on duty looked as bored as he undoubtedly was.
    â€œDid Lady Margaret leave?” Dominic asked.
    â€œNay,” the knight said, surprised. “You told me she wasn’t to pass from the keep unless she was with you.”
    Dominic grunted.
    â€œWhat of the lady’s handmaiden?” Simon asked. “Has she gone from the keep?”
    â€œNo. Only serving wenches, and I looked at each of them quite carefully.”
    â€œI don’t doubt it,” Dominic said.
    Both of them knew the knights were still smarting from the rough edge of Dominic’s tongue for not having realized that the “serving wench” they had let out earlier that morning had been, in fact, Lady Margaret.
    â€œWhat now?” Simon asked. “Shall we find Eadith?”
    Dominic grimaced. As much as he disliked the wench with the covetous eyes, Eadith was more likely to know where Meg was than anyone else in the keep.
    â€œWhere to first?”