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Roman Baths
“Ieven love the sound of your sister’s voice,” Roland whispered as he and Terric hugged each other.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. You’re mad,” Terric replied hoarsely, sniffling back tears.
Roland took heart that his cousin was grinning, so he didn’t take the insult seriously. “Madly in love,” he admitted.
“I just wish we’d heard the soldier’s reply,” Terric said.
“What’s happening?” Adrien asked as he emerged from the shadows.
Roland quickly explained the unexpected turn of events.
“This means we haven’t come too late,” Terric whispered.
Roland had also harbored a deep-seated fear they might not arrive in time to save Adelina. “We must plan our next move carefully.”
“As far as I could see, there’s only one soldier with her,” Terric said. “And another woman, a maid perhaps. We could steal her away tonight and set sail.”
Roland looked toward the village. Torches were being lit. Men’s voices drifted across the water. “The oarsmen are no doubt armed as well. And we have no way of knowing if there are more soldiers awaiting their arrival in Ravenglass.
“Adrien, stay with the galley. Terric and I will go ashore in the rowboat.”
* * *
The oarsmen brought the longboat into an arm of the estuary and, soon, the vessel’s hull crunched on the shallow banks of a river. Exhaustion made it easier for Adelina to keep the frown on her face. However, she feared Mandeville would hear the frantic beating of her heart when he took her hand to help her alight from the longboat.
She turned to assist Glenda, itching to share the news with someone, but her maid looked ready to collapse and Adelina still didn’t know if she could be trusted.
“Dry land at last,” Glenda croaked. “Praise be to the saints.”
Adelina resolved to give no hint whatsoever that hope had flickered to life in her breast. Not only was her darling brother alive, he was here, close at hand. She was no longer alone. Her instinct regarding the noble instincts of the Montbryces had also proven to be true. Roland had risked a great deal to come to the aid of a woman he’d never met, simply because of family ties that went back generations. She fervently hoped to repay him someday.
A troubling prospect arose. If and when her champions succeeded in plucking her from King John’s grasp, there’d be no alternative but to flee into exile. Normandie was a foreign country she’d never visited, though it was her ancestral homeland. Still, it was a chance at a happy life.
As the weary oarsmen drifted off into the night, presumably to their homes, it was tempting to look out at the water. However, she must keep Mandeville’s attention away from the vessels in the estuary.
In the event, the major paid her no mind when a handful of men emerged from the darkness. They wore no tabard to indicate their allegiance and their weaponry consisted of pitchforks and scythes. Adelina assumed they were peasant stock sent from Waterthwaite.
Mandeville barked terse commands to which the surly newcomers were slow to respond. Adelina’s hopes faltered. She’d assumed the major would be the only guard but, clearly, he’d known there would be an escort awaiting their arrival.
“Only one more night under canvas, my lady,” he declared. “Waterthwaite on the morrow.”
She watched two of the newly arrived men carry her trunk to shore. Mandeville tucked the dowry chest under his arm.
Whatever happened, Adelina swore to ensure her future husband never got his hands on the coin stolen from her family.
She assisted Glenda to follow Mandeville up the bank, gaping when the walls of some ruined structure loomed out of the darkness. Torches cast an eerie flickering glow over the blood-red bricks.
“Roman,” Mandeville explained, gesturing to the high walls. “Used to be a bathhouse according to these yokels. The ceiling’s long gone, of course.”
Shivering, Adelina closed her eyes, conjuring an image of Roman soldiers taking their ease, sharing reminiscences of a faraway homeland. Many of them had perhaps never returned to families left behind. Did their restless spirits haunt this eerie place?
Several small tents had been pitched inside the ruined structure. The major guided her and Glenda to one in the very center of the ruin. If Terric and Roland had followed, they’d see she was surrounded by armed guards. It was doubtful rescue would come this night.
* * *
Lying on their bellies in the long grass of the riverbank, Roland and Terric surveyed the torchlit ruin.
