Page 88 of The Darkland

“Wait!” Valdine threw herself in front of the charger as Spencer spurred him forward. The animal danced and shrieked, thoroughly angering Spencer.

“Foolish wench, move aside!” he commanded.

But Valdine refused to move. “My lord, I cannot!” she said earnestly, glancing about to make sure there was no one to hear her. “Please, we must speak with you!”

Spencer had had enough of the pesky woman. “Move aside or I shall run you over.”

Valdine swallowed hard, but she did not budge. “Lord Edmund lied, my lord.”

Spencer stared at the woman. Her simple sentence had been enough to delay his departure. “What do you mean?”

Valdine moved closer to the horse, followed by her cowering sister. The two huddled together as they spoke.

“Lady Micheline is not dead,” Valdine murmured. “Lord Edmund wished…”

“…her dead, but Sir Corwin saved her.”

The speech pattern was strange but Spencer could not spare it any thought; at the moment, the message they bore was far more intriguing.

“Your husband?” He looked to Valdine. “But why did Lord Edmund tell me she was dead?”

“Because he does not know she lives.” Valdine’s voice was hoarse with emotion, with urgency. “My husband took her…”

“…to the tower in the hope that Sir Kirk would…”

“…return to escort her to sanctuary. But Sir Kirk…”

“…is in Ireland now, not to return for some time.”

Spencer’ anger cooled as the story unfolded. “Is the lady still in the tower?”

The women nodded in unison. “Since we cannot rely on Sir Kirk, we must…”

“… help her ourselves.”

“And how will you do this?”

Valdine looked at her sister, the two of them obviously terrified. Spencer dismounted his charger.

“Tell me.”

Valdine took a deep breath. “We had hoped to dress her in peasant clothing and whisk her from the keep.”

“A valid scheme.”

Valdine nodded hesitantly. “We were planning to do it today. Lady Micheline has the clothes in her possession, but…”

“…finding an escort to take her to the monastery at Crosby has…”

“… been difficult.”

“How so?”

Valdine glanced about as her sister trembled. “The soldiers who remain are reluctant to go against their liege. I sincerely believed we would…”

“…have their support, but it would seem that out of loyalty to the House of de Cleveley, they are fearful of the consequences should…”

“…their aid to Baroness Bowland be discovered.”