Heart of a Knight by Barbara Samuel Read Free Book Online

corner and cats creeping in to pounce on a stray thread.
    A voice broke into the quiet, startling her. "So fair a maid could only be the lady Elizabeth."
    There was impertinence in the peasant vowels. "I am no maid, but you've named me rightly." Lyssa turned, raising a brow, to see a woman framed in the arch of the door. "You must be Alice Bryony." Lyssa had expected an old woman, bent and tooth-less. This woman was only middle-aged, her body still slim. A plain white wimple covered her hair. Great blue eyes dominated her strong boned face. "The widow healer."
    "Aye." She gave a little bow of her head and an almost mocking curtsy.
    "I have been told your potions staved off the plague."
    "Twas no more than a simple tonic, milady." She moved into the room, lightly touching the tools and fabrics and threads scattered around. Lyssa found she did not mind it.
    Lyssa settled on the bench. "Will you sit? I would hear of your cure."
    "'Tis no mystery." She did not sit immediately, but rounded the room carefully first, like a cautious cat. "The villagers were healthy to begin—and I gave them blood purifiers to keep them hale."
    "The world would pay a king's ransom for it."
    "Twould not save the world. The poor are oft too weak to begin. Your villeins are well-fed. I built only on what you left." She picked up a basket and smelled the contents. "You spun nettle?"
    Lyssa lifted a shoulder. "I've spun a good many things over the years."
    "So I see," Alice said, looking around her. "Lord Thomas told me we are to stay here. I would serve you as your woman, if you have no girl to do it."
    Lyssa considered her offer. Alice was of no small intelligence, and Lyssa was drawn to her calm maturity—not like Nurse, who fussed as if Lyssa were still a child, or Tall Mary with her simmering resentments. Still, 'twas wise to move slowly. "I will think on it." She gestured to the bench. "For now, sit with me, Alice, and tell me of your travels."
    At last Alice lit. "There is little to tell. Our village was hard hit by the plague, and when we left, there were only a handful of guardsmen, my lord, and me to go. The guards fell ere we'd been gone a month." Grimness tightened her mouth. "You saw what we saw, my lady. We feared we'd find no other left alive in the world."
    Lyssa only gave a small nod.
    "We were making our way to London when the blizzard stranded us here. We took shelter, and the rest you know."
    "Lord Thomas must be a kind soul, to have offered protection to a widowed peasant."
    An unreadable expression moved on the great dark eyes. "Aye," she said. "As he has been kind these many months to your villeins."
    "Tell me more of your lord," Lyssa invited, curious. "Where was he fostered?"
    Alice shrugged. "I think he did not foster anywhere."
    Lyssa inclined her head, absorbing that. "How unusual," she murmured. "But perhaps things are different in the north."
    "I cannot say."
    Of course she could not. Like as not she had never traveled more than a few miles until this great journey. "You must be glad to have gone on such a grand adventure."
    Alice looked at her, and Lyssa had the distinct feeling the woman was laughing somewhere deep inside where it did not show. "Aye. A simple woman, wandering the roads of England like a lady."
    Lyssa chuckled at the hint of mockery in her words. "A quick wit and quicker tongue," she said. "I dislike stupid servants. Can you weave?"
    "Aye."
    "Good. Come you here this afternoon, and we will talk again, Alice."
    Alice stood, giving Lyssa a nod, more respectful this time. "As you wish, my lady."
    Lyssa smiled as Alice left her. The woman was a surprise—and perhaps something of a puzzle, as well. There was something, elusively just out of reach, that Lyssa felt she ought to be seeing. Perhaps it would be best to put the woman in some position where she might keep a close eye upon her.
    ----
  4

     
    Thomas kept himself scarce
through the day, fearing he'd make some blunder. He was always more comfortable in