Page 11 of The Herald's Heart
CHAPTER THREE
How could a nearly empty keep smell so much like a charnel house? From a carved chair in the great hall, Talon surveyed the three people who stood in front of the hearth. He wished all of them at the devil, especially the red-haired female, Larkin. He’d been at Hawksedge Keep less than a full day, and the woman had caused him more trouble than he’d found in a twelvemonth living at court.
And where was the earl? ’Twas he who should attend to Hawksedge Keep and its problems. The Earl of Hawksedge might be Talon’s father, but Talon was definitely not the earl’s heir. Although that might change if the earl did not swear fealty to Edward Plantagenet in person. Regardless of the earl’s fate, until he returned, someone had to take charge, for not one of the Hawksedge knights remained to carry out his earl’s orders. Though Cleve might be a captain of the guard, he clearly wasn’t up to the task of restoring and maintaining order.
The only solution was for Talon to take over himself. He’d wanted nothing more than a place at Hawksedge Keep since the day his mother’s death and a few cruel words—“Whoreson, you are not my get.”—had snatched his home and heritage from him. Now the king’s writ gave him nominal authority and every right—even a duty—to act in the earl’s stead.
Talon drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair and took a deep breath. He wished he had not. He leaned forward and pinched his nose to lessen the effect of the smell. Only on the battlefield had he scented such foulness. However, no dead bodies littered Hawksedge Keep’s great hall, only moldy straw.
When he finally released his grip and sat back, he saw that Alice held her apron over her lower face, and Cleve appeared nearly as sick as Talon felt. Larkin’s face had turned bright red behind the sleeve she held over her nose. She did all she could to avoid catching his glance.
“You’re responsible for this, aren’t you?”
The red on her face deepened, and she lowered her sleeve.
“Responsible for what?” she had the gall to reply.
“For this cursed stench.”
She teased her lip with her teeth. Talon wanted to tease it for her; at the same time, he wanted to slap her. He slapped the low table beside him instead. “Don’t bother to deny it. Just tell me how one woman makes an entire keep stink.”
She lifted her chin. “I doubt one or two buckets of pig offal could scent the entire keep.”
“Only one or two buckets?” Talon raised an eyebrow. “And you’ve been haunting Hawksedge Keep for how long?”
Her chin trembled. “A few weeks. And it might have been five buckets … um, perhaps refilled at each visit.”
There she went, drawing that full lower lip between her teeth again. This had to stop. “Saint Swithun’s bones, woman.” He roared out of the chair, needing action to distract him. “I care not were it a rotting carcass in every room. You will scrub this keep from top to bottom until the place smells sweet as a May meadow. Is that clear?”
“Aye.” Her eyes had gone wide, but her posture remained rigid.
“For now, go with Alice to help her bring refreshments.”
The women left, and he stared into the fire. He must be clear with the troublesome Larkin that her position was that of servant. Defiant or not, she would follow his orders.
A discrete cough interrupted his thoughts.
“Did ye have need of me, Sir Talon?” Cleve remained near the hearth, where he had been since entering the keep.
Dragging his thoughts to more important matters, Talon returned to the chair. “Aye.” He sat wearily and gestured to a stool nearby. “Sit down, Cleve. We’ve much to discuss.”
“Thankee, Sir Talon.”
“Tell me, where is the earl? Where are his knights? What happened to the livestock? And why did you abandon the keep in the earl’s absence?”
Cleve flushed. “We removed the beasts for safekeeping. I do not know where the earl is. He disappeared about one month past, leaving no word. Beggin’ yer pardon for sayin’ so, but the earl’s too stingy to pay well. So ’e don’t have many knights ’ere. The only knight he brought with him, Baron Le Hourde, holds Rosewood Castle in fee simple and was recalled there before the earl left. The rest of the keep’s knights guard the border with Scotland. Comin’ back here takes too long, so they have a barracks there at a small holding called Middenton.”
“Does the earl often absent himself without word? Could he have left for another of his holdings and not told anyone?”
“Well, we did send word to his lands in the south, asking if he’d returned there, but all sent back that they had not seen the earl and believed him to still be at Hawksedge. Since he was not, they would search the area between there and here and send us word if he was found. But I don’t think it likely he went far, sir. The earl prefers his southern estates to Hawksedge. When he does come, he rarely leaves the keep. We’ve a great deal of itchweed about, and he fears the plant something awful, he does. Caught an itchweed rash that nearly killed him once.”
“When did you realize the earl was gone?”
“’Bout two days after he arrived. When Baron Le Hourde left, the earl visited the abbey, like he always does. Then he came back to the keep to pray in his private chapel as he always does. He attended supper that night before he returned to his prayers. No one’s seen him since.”
“Where is this chapel?”
“At the far corner of the keep’s third floor.”
