Chapters (25)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINETEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- ALSO BY S. M. STIRLING
Sir Garrick sighed and nodded. “I’ll take you there. Let me first check your bags.” He pulled everything out, shook each piece and repacked the bags. Just as neatly as Goodwife Romarec had done in the first place, she noted. Yseult sighed with relief to see her Bible, her first book on St. Bernadette, Our Lady’s Little Servant, the Werfel novel, Song of Bernadette, and Trochu’s serious work on her as well as the collected writings of Bernadette edited by Laurentin.
At least I’ll have those, she thought, only briefly regretting the seven novels on her bookshelf.
“Everything is in order here. Let’s go to the chapel. I’ll have to check everything you wish to bring.”
He stood and turned to his men. “Ranulf, Digory, take four men-at-arms. Mount the girl on her own horse; make sure you bring her other one. Get some pack mules for these; pick ones that can keep up. Each of you take a remount as well from our string. Master Johannsen will help you. It’s twenty miles, give or take, to Todenangst. I expect you to arrive around midnight. You’ll take care of the girl; she’ll not be able to mount on her own with her arm injured. See that she’s treated with the proper respect due a young Association noblewoman or I’ll have someone’s ears.”
He escorted her down the stairs and to the pretty chapel off the great reception room. It was late and the stained-glass window was dark, only the wavering light of the votives dancing over the nave. Garrick snapped his fingers and Yseult stifled an improper giggle as two oil lanterns appeared like genies. He placed them on the altar. She picked up her rosary from next to the saint’s votive; a confirmation gift from her mother—pink quartz beads carved in the shape of roses, with an amethyst cross carved with doves dangling from it.
Suddenly timid, she pushed it into her pocket as she shot a look at the knight, and then knelt on the rose velvet cushion before her special prie-dieu. She looked up into the tapestry she had worked years before when she decided to give her devotion to the Saint and Virgin. The compassionate face of the Immaculata and her saint, kneeling below, steadied her.
“I don’t know what to ask for, Lady, Saint. Help me find the strength to walk down this valley of fear, I guess.”
She stood, pillow in hand. Garrick had one of the bags opened and stuffed the pillow in. He gestured to the rest of the setup.
“All of this?” he asked, a slightly ironical note in his voice.
She sighed and shook her head. “No, just this porcelain of the Saint and the picture of the Virgin and her Basilica.”