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“It sounds as if no one likes the High Sheriff.” She slipped the coin back inside her pouch.
“He is an awful man and treats not only the servants but also the serfs and villagers terribly. When Lady Catherine was alive she would help us behind his back. But now that she’s gone, we have no one.”
“That’s not true,” said Maira, wanting more than anything to protect these poor people. “You have me. You can count on me now. Tell the others I will do whatever it takes to help them in any way possible.”
“Thank you, my lady. I only wish there was a way to do that without you having to marry the man.”
“Mayhap there is,” she said, thinking of Jacob and his request for her to join his army. She headed out to the courtyard, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. There were torches lit and placed in a circle. And in the center of the circle was Tommy locked in the pillory. Only his head and hands stuck out.
“Guards, pass out the rancid scraps of food,” called out Sir Gregory. “Everyone, throw it hard at the boy to teach him a lesson.”
“But that’s my son,” shouted Cleo. “Don’t anyone hurt him. Please.” Cleo pushed to the front of the crowd but one of the guards shoved her and she fell to the ground.
“Delbert, lock her in the pillory as well,” Sir Gregory said to his right hand man.
“Aye, my lord,” said Delbert, stomping over to Cleo and gripping her by the arm.
“Nay! Leave her alone.” Maira hurried forward, falling to her knees, cradling Cleo’s head against her. “This woman has done nothing wrong. She is only trying to protect her son like any good parent would do.”
“Where have you been?” snapped the High Sheriff. “You are my betrothed and need to be at my side at all times.”
“All times but when you decide to lock me in my chamber without any food?” she asked, helping Cleo to her feet. Mumbles went up from the crowd for the way she spoke so boldly to the man. “Tommy is innocent,” she told him.
“My guards found him sneaking out of the castle,” growled the High Sheriff. “He’s a runaway servant and will be punished for his action.”
“Nay. He was coming after me and that is the only reason he left the castle.”
“What?” asked the High Sheriff. “Where were you?”
“I went out for a ride,” she told him. “I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to leave. The boy was coming after me to warn me.”
“Is that true?” The High Sheriff turned back to Tommy. His frightened little body shook and his eyes darted over to Maira. The guard let go of Cleo. Maira walked forward to hold one of Tommy’s hands.
“Of course, it’s true,” she said. “Do you really think the boy was running away when his mother was still at the castle? How far do you think he would have gotten when you won’t even give him a pair of shoes to wear?”
“That’s true, he doesn’t have shoes,” came a voice from the crowd.
“He only has a thin, ripped tunic and worn out breeches,” said someone else.
“None of us have what we need,” said another voice from the crowd.
“It wasn’t this way when Lady Catherine was alive,” said a man.
“Silence! All of you,” shouted Sir Gregory. Then he turned and glared at Maira. “How do I know you weren’t trying to leave me? Perhaps you were the one running away, not the servant.”
“Me?” she asked and faked a chuckle. “I was merely going out for a ride in the fresh night air like I always used to do at Rothbury. If I were leaving for good, don’t you think I’d have my weapons with me? Do you see them on me?” She held out the sides of her cloak and even turned around to show him it was so. “Besides, you are my betrothed,” she added, feeling sickened by what she was going to say next. “I would never leave the man I am to marry. I am to be your wife soon. Why on earth would I leave?”
She held her breath, hoping she’d sounded convincing enough that the High Sheriff believed her. If not, she wasn’t sure what she would do to help Tommy and Cleo.
“Release the boy,” ordered Sir Gregory. “And let the woman go as well. But let this be a lesson to you to all that I will not tolerate my rules being broken. Next time, I won’t be so lenient, no matter what the reason is that someone leaves these walls without permission. Now everyone, back to work.”
Maira released a breath of relief as the guards opened the pillory and Tommy ran into his mother’s arms. From across the courtyard, Maira spotted the nursemaid holding little Ricker. The boy had his face buried against the woman’s chest.
Maira’s heart broke that the poor little boy had to witness his own father doing such horrible things. Ricker was only two, but would the High Sheriff raise him to follow in his footsteps? This was a very impressionable age. The boy could very well start believing in time that there wasn’t anything wrong with being a tyrant just like his father.
When Maira had returned to the castle, she had every intention of warning the High Sheriff that there was an army hiding in the woods getting ready to attack and kill him. But now, she wasn’t so sure that warning him was the right thing to do. She had a lot to think about and many decisions to make. It had, at first, seemed so easy just to walk away and leave Durham Castle, the High Sheriff, and everyone here behind. But now, she knew secrets that could affect everyone, and wasn’t sure what to do.
She put her hand on her heart brooch thinking of Imanie and wondering what the old woman would tell her. Maira had never run from trouble or challenges in her life. She had always been the protector of her cousins. But now her cousins weren’t here. Should she be protector to the poor servants of Durham instead? And should she join Jacob and his army, finally getting her chance to use her skills with weapons in ways she had always wished she could? Or should she make an alliance with the High Sheriff and marry him the way her father and the earl suggested?
