Chapter 2

News from outside the castle and the city still took time to arrive. The army took time to move to the borderlands. Robert was up and nearly fit by the time the first battle took place; it was over a week before the news of the destruction of the army arrived. By that time the enemy was already moving rapidly towards the city. It was obvious that was what they would do, like a whale ploughing through a shoal of fish, the army had been pared down and battered its way through the refugees. They nearly made it to take the castle unawares; they were only three days march from it when the news arrived.

The nuns all panicked: the Sisters of Perpetual Forgiveness, the richest order, found the ways out of the city blocked by fleeing citizens. Their carts loaded with the riches that they had acquired for their order were unable to make progress. The grounds of the nunnery were dug over rapidly and many of the gold crosses and goblets hidden. The Abbess took the Nail from the Cross with her. The Sisters of Mercy were a completely silent order, until a wizened old nun was heard to bawl “In the name of Christ will you get that ox cart out of our way!”.

“Sister Alcuida, you should leave.” Robert told her. “Come with me.”

“I cannot leave these sick people.” She looked around and discovered that many of the sick people had miraculously found the energy and wellness to rise from their beds and make for the gates from the city. “Still, there are some.”

“The older nuns are staying. Sister Alcuida, if you stay, you will be ... abused; you know this.”

“I care little for bodily trials. As long as I can remain to help the sick.”

“No, sister.” Mother Superior Anne weighed in. “I agree with the soldier. Us older ones are less likely to be ravished. You are young and pretty. I know that you took the veil to help others rather than a calling to serve God, but you must find some other place for a while. When it settles down, you may return. You took a vow of obedience. I order you to leave with this soldier. If he stays to protect you, he will also die.”

Robert had had little respect for the nuns, the other nuns, until then. Here he saw them at their best.

“You! Yes you! Soldier! We need help! Lady Harriet is within, she will need protection if the hordes arrive.” A lady in waiting, Lady Arabella by name, was imperiously commanding him to set up some kind of defence perimeter. As far as he knew, he was the only able bodied soldier in the castle, and he was still only three-quarters fit. So a defence perimeter of one to surround the keep.

“Sister Alcuida, come with me. Please. Mother Superior, God be with you.” Robert and Alcuida followed the lady in waiting, who was still under the impression that she was garnering a defence force for her lady – Harriet, youngest daughter of the duke.

“Lady Harriet? Good. First, has a message been sent to your mother and sister not to try and return. Let them seek refuge in the – where? The Shrine of Saint Alec? As good a place as any. They must stay there, in secret if possible; but surely the earl would not storm such a sacred shrine? You must leave with me now.”

“Leave? No! We cannot pack in less than three days. Where should we go? No, out of the question. Earl Laban will not harm us.”

“Milady Arabella, even were it true that he would not allow the duke’s daughter to be harmed, the same cannot be said of you and your friend here.” Two ladies in waiting had stayed, the rest had fled. “You will be raped, ravished and ransacked. When you have given all your valuables – your bodily valuables and your monetary ones – you will be passed to the lower military for entertainment. Forgive my language, but you need to understand the actions of an invading army, you will never be free of accommodating at least one prick.” All four of the women present spent a while trying to understand that comment, but it had the desired effect, Arabella and Sarah were persuaded. They were both in their mid-twenties and coming to the age to leave being a lady in waiting and find a man of reasonable birth. They were both still virginally pure, as was Harriet of course. Harriet had the impression that what was likely to happen might include her whether she willed it or not, whether she should be protected or not. “Dress in riding clothes; and give this nun some to wear too. We will leave in an hour, no later. I will get the horses ready.”

The castle guards had stopped all the horses being stolen, there were five quality horses that could be taken, and a couple of pack animals that would be useful. Though he was only a sergeant, Robert seemed to have assumed enough authority to give the old, infirm, partially limbed, guards permission to take the other horses and leave. They would get short shrift from an invading army and would provide not the least bit of effective defence; however much they might be willing to. A small band of real soldiers would barely break step to destroy them.

An hour later, after having to beat off two attempts to steal his horses, Robert was back at the Great Hall. The danger now was that if he left the horses to find the women, the horses would disappear. If he stayed with the horses, the women might never come down. “Why are you standing there? We were waiting upstairs.” Sarah squawked at him. He ignored her, and commanded all to mount. Alcuida had never ridden a horse, Harriet, Sarah and Arabella had always ridden side-saddle. It would be a slow journey. Still the route he took was at least empty.