Page 66 of Rogue Knight
“With your fair hair, you could pass for one of the Danes,” said Alain, piling a plate with food.
“The Danes might have difficulty understanding me,” said Geoff with a grin, “and you know I would have difficulty keeping silent. Besides, I suspect the Danes are gone, at least for a time. If we wear the Northumbrians’ clothing, mayhap we can go among them unnoticed. I doubt the city is deserted.”
“We will need weapons,” said Alain.
“We might find some knives here in the kitchen,” Geoff suggested and began looking on the shelves. In a basket on a shelf next to some clay jars, he found a supply of knives. “Ah, just what we need. And a sharpening tool!” Geoff had never been so happy to see such crude weapons and idly wondered who was wearing his fine steel sword.
An hour later, cleaned up and garbed in the clothes Mathieu had found in the chambers above, they cautiously stepped from the house. Each had a knife tucked into his leather belt. With their fine woolen tunics and leggings, and cloaks fastened around their shoulders with metal brooches, they appeared like good citizens of York, save for their more powerful builds that, to a discerning person, would identify them as warriors.
Dark clouds told Geoff rain would soon fall. They ambled down Coppergate, trying to appear as unthreatening as possible. The street was not empty but many structures lay in ruin. Only a few people now had reason to traverse the street that had once been home to many shops and homes. In a few places, he observed new buildings had risen from the rubble.
The tower castle, or what was left of it, was not far, but it was not Geoff’s destination. He wanted to see if the dragon ships still occupied the River Ouse.
They reached the bank of the river and he peered down its course as far as he could see. Nothing. “’Tis as I suspected. The Danes have deserted York. I wonder why.”
“Mayhap they have what they came for,” Alain suggested, his voice dripping sarcasm. “They took much plunder in Ipswich and Norwich and a horde of armor from the knights they killed here in York, horses as well.”
“Whatever the reason, I am glad to be rid of them,” said Geoff.
“’Tis as if every man went to his own home,” observed Mathieu staring at the river with nary a ship on it. “…the Danes to their ships and the Northumbrians to their woods.”
And where has Emma gone?Geoff wondered.
CHAPTER 13
Something in Emma warned her they had little time. It was the same feeling she had when the sky grew dark just before a storm. And so it was with haste and a quickening pulse that she hurried about packing what they would need, what she must take should they not be able to return. Magnus lay on the floor, his intelligent eyes watching her every move. It seemed only days ago she had gathered the same things when the fire threatened their home.
Finna walked into the chamber and stood next to the chest at the foot of Emma’s bed, gripping her poppet tightly to her small chest. She watched Emma stuff clothes into the familiar tapestry bag. “Emma,” she in her little girl voice, “are we going to Jack and Martha’s again?”
Emma paused and came to kneel in front of the child. Taking her into her arms, she held Finna close, then kissed her on her forehead.
“Yea, we will go to their cottage and then all of us will have an adventure in the forest.”
“The forest?” Ottar asked from the open doorway where he’d been listening.
“Aye,” said Emma. She stood and resumed her packing. “Do you remember the cave you found last summer?” she asked him.
“It was a splendid cave,” he said.
“Well, you can lead the way,” said Emma, “for that is where we are headed.”
“It was dark,” said Finna, a frown forming on her face.
“You need not worry, Finna. We shall make a warm fire and there will be candles for light.”
Finna’s brown eyes were full of trust, but Emma sensed she was not as eager as her brother to take to the woods.
“Do we go for the day?” Ottar asked, his tone revealing his growing excitement.
“Yea, for the day. But we will also stay for a time.” She did not want to tell the twins they were fleeing the Normans, or that they might have to live in the cave for the winter with the ground covered with snow. For now the sun lingered in the trees and it was not so cold a cloak failed to provide adequate warmth.
“Why not see if you can help Sigga and Artur pack the food we will take to make sure she includes your favorites?” The kitchen would be the best place for the twins. Inga was packing the twins’ clothes and those for the coming babe. She did not need the two children underfoot.
Ottar, followed by Finna, raced from the chamber, Magnus on their heels, leaving Emma alone to gaze about the room, realizing how much she must leave behind, the chest of tapestries, the fine gowns she would not wear in the woods, her father’s things in his chamber, things too heavy to carry. She did not like the idea of leaving her home, of fleeing into the forest with her small family, but she would not ignore the warning. To do so would be folly. The Normans, even her lover, now considered her one of the rebels though she had yet to lift her seax against any of them. If the Normans returned, she and her family would be first on the list of those to be killed. Or, they might take them prisoners to use against her father.
The two guards her father had left with her had not wanted to leave their post but it hardly served to guard an empty house. Still, she gave them a choice.
“Return to my father on the Humber or go with us. We cannot remain here for the Norman army is coming.”
