CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“ R uben,” Paige said hesitantly. “I fear I may have done somethin’ to upset Norah and by exchange, ye.”
Peering at her, he asked, “And what on earth could that be?”
She told him the recount of the afternoon and how Norah had reacted to her suggestions. To her slight relief, he did not grow angry and kept his propriety arm around her back as possessive as moments before.
“Daenae worry about it, lass,” he said. “I’ve been tryin’ to get her out as well but she doesnae want to go. It’s been years but the after-effects of her abduction still haunt her to this day.”
“Do ye think she will try, at least?” Paige asked.
“I cannae tell,” he pressed her closer. “But I do hope so. I want her to have a fulfillin’ life and nae let the fears of those six months where she was taken linger in her heart forever.”
“I wish she would have come with us today.” Paige said. “It might have given her somethin’ to distract her.”
“That’s another thing,” a heavy breath left Ruben. He snapped the reins, spurring the horse into a faster gait. “Norah gets nervous and frantic when she is surrounded by many people.”
Her heart pained her. “The poor girl. It must be horrible to nae be able to trust anyone, or be around anyone with the faith that they can help ye.”
The orphanage was in sight as Ruben replied. “T’is a curse. I daenae ken how to get her away from the past. I ken ye’ve never been in irons, lass but believe me, those chains hold ye. She’s still lettin’ those chains bind her and I am at me wits end on how to make them go away.”
“I wish I kenned how to help as well,” Paige said. “Maybe take her to a priest or mayhap a druid?”
“I’d do anythin’ to ger her out of the castle,” Ruben said. “I can ask the village priest to come to her, but I doubt she would want to see him.”
They arrived at the orphanage while the housemothers had the children filing out of the front doors. The little ones were in starched dressed and the boys were dressed in tunics over dark trews.
“Me laird and lady,” Tessa curtsied. “We are so glad ye’re comin’ with us.”
“We’re happy to be here,” Paige said as she brushed her arisaid down.
A cart came around the corner, driven by one of the oldest boys and seated in the back was Etna. The older woman smiled as the youngest children were sat beside her as it was a walk to the village.
Spying the young lass Nera, Paige remembered her promise about the yellow dress. As she mounted the horse again, she quietly asked Ruben, “How do I go about getting’ the cloth for the housemothers to make their clothes?”
“Ye’ll need to speak with the treasurer,” Ruben said, “I shall introduce ye to him when we return.” He slowed his horse down a walk as to keep up with the children.
“I have sent some of me men ahead of us to secure the fairgrounds. I cannae allow any marauders to turn this joyful day into something to regret.”
“Thank ye,” she said. “And… I must ask, what punishment did ye put upon Elijah?”
“He is going to be a second pair of hands for the farmers when they reap the wheat this season,” he said. “It’s nothin’ painful, but it is long, tirin’, work and I wager he will think twice before he tries to evade being honest again.”
Before they arrived at the fairgrounds, she heard flute and pipe music and the happy laughter of the townspeople.
“Have ye ever been to one?” Ruben asked. “When Norah was a child, we’d go to them every harvest.”
“Well, ye are luckier than I because I have never been,” Paige smiled. “I was never allowed as a child. And the church frowns on such things.”
She paused as a strange sensation ran over the back of her neck. She shook it off— it was probably the wind. “The church frowns on everythin’ that is a bit of enjoyable.”
They broke around the corner and saw colorful tents and carts littering the expansive green. Children ran around adults, holding sweet treats, fruit and clutching simple wooden toys, probably ones they had won, as if they were treasures.
Over to the left, older boys sparred with rough wooden swords while juggler moved through the crowd tossing balls high in the air. Musicians bearing bone whistles, timbrels and fiddles walked in groups to take the cheerful sounds to other parts of the crowd.
Stopping the horse, Ruben alighted first then helped her down. The two younger housemothers began to make rules, ordering the older ones to form groups of four with the younger children.
“That is to make sure ye always have someone bigger to help ye,” Tessa instructed. “Ye must nae stray! As delightful as it is, a fair is full of tinkers and tricksters waitin’ to take advantage if ye are alone! Be mindful.”
“And if ye find yerself in trouble, look for one of me men. They wear me clan colors with a red band on their arm, so ye can find them easily,” Ruben told them as he gestured to a guard a step behind him. “Like Williams here.”
As the housemothers took the children one way, Ruben turned her another way. The fair was teeming with people, most of who stopped to speak with Ruben and were happy to meet her too.
An old woman invited her to the church to celebrate her grandchild’s christening, another woman asked if she could get her daughter a position in the castle.
As she considered her answer, a third lady asked her to come and sew with her and her friends on Sunday afternoons.
“I will attend yer granddaughter's christenin'. And as for yer daughter, I must ask the housekeeper first, but I shall let ye ken her decision,” Paige said calmly. “And I would love to sew with ye. Please tell me the directions to yer home.”
Ruben listened in on the conversation and when the women left, he inclined his head, “Ye handled that well. T’was prudent of ye to think to ask the housekeeper as I ken ye’re nae all that familiar with the runnin' of the castle yet.”
“I thought it was best to be cautious,” she said as they stepped around a juggler tossing daggers.
“Ruben!” She grabbed at him. “Look at that.”
She was entranced at the sight of an acrobat upon a pole, his body upside down while balancing with one hand. Her breath held tight as he leaped from it and landed on both feet with bended knees.
“They are from the East, lass,” he said. “Their people have some truly unusual skills.”
“I can see that,” she said as they wandered though some stalls.
The woman from the east were selling exotic wares, porcelain dolls, cup and silks from China, and precious stones from the Far East. Paige had never seen such beautiful wares.
She reached to touch a length of purple cloth, it slipped through her fingers like water. She had never touched something so delightful.
“Ye like, lady?” the seller asked.
“Very much.” Paige replied.
She felt Ruben’s looking over her shoulder, “What do ye want it for?”
“It would be a lovely shawl,” she said. “T’is so soft.”
When the lady told her the price, she belatedly realized she had no coin with her. “I daenae think?—”
The unsettling feeling from before rippled over her skin again. God above—what was that?
“Nay,” Ruben said, taking her pause as reluctance, she assumed. He then slid the gold coins over the stall’s small ledge. “She’ll take it.”
As the lady cut a length, she turned to spy a man carefully put a torch aflame in his mouth, seeming to eat it. She watched another swallow a sword and a tightrope walker carefully walking on a thin piece of rope and a pole for balance.
“Such abilities…” she marveled.
“Me laird,” William leaned in. “It looks like Morigha is comin’ to ye.”
Hearing him, Paige asked, “Who is that?”
“The local seer,” Ruben said, nodding to a wizened figure walking with a cane.
Her face was marred with wrinkles, her hair grey, and her eyes were so pale Paige feared she was blind. Her cloak was grey like the morning mist. “Some of the men in the village call her an oracle. The ones in the church say she is a witch. However ye take it, all agree she has the sight.”
“Has she ever given ye a prediction?” she asked.
“Nay, but she told me faither that she’d once foreseen how he’d meet me maither,” Ruben nodded. “And she was right.”
“What did she say t?—"
“What can I do for ye, Morigha?” he asked as the woman came to stand by them.
“Nae ye, me laird,” her voice was crackling as she turned her gaze on Paige. “I have a word for yer wife. I’ve been watchin’ ye from the moment ye arrived and I cannae hold back any longer.”
Ruben’s eyes flitted between her and the seer, “Well, speak yer mind.”
“Nae here,” Morigha said. “Come with me, me lady.”
Instinctively, she looked to Ruben, he would know if it was best to as she asked. Indulgently, he nodded but then turned to Williams. “Stand outside the tents. I daenae want to leave anythin’ to chance.”
As Paige followed the lady and William a step behind her, she was led to a tent. She parted the low curtain and startled a little when she jolted a windchime.
Inside was dark; and she blinked to adjust her eyes, then jerked to a stop when two cats wound through her legs.
“Sit,” Morigha gestured to a stool near a table then sat opposite her. “I see storms wrapped around ye, lass. Ye are torn between two worlds and ye daenae ken which way to turn.”
Paige blinked. “W-what?’
“I see change, all around ye,” she intoned. “Ye daenae ken which way to go, ye have major decisions to make in yer life but ye must decide, very soon. Events will unfold that will force ye to choose a side. Duty, or love will be the question.”
“Duty or love…” she parroted. “I—I have nay idea what ye mean.”
“Ye shall see,” Morigha said. “Ye love deeply, but there is conflict there as well. Ye arenae allowin’ yerself to feel how ye ken ye should.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I think ye mean about me husband.”
“Do ye really think that is what it is?” the seer asked, her hauntingly white eyes looked otherworldly.
Paige frowned, “What else could it be?”
Instead of replying, the seer seemed to gaze right through Paige. “First comes the warrior, second comes the laird, third is the maiden with the healin’ touch.”
Now, Paige was beyond confused. What on earth did she mean by that?
“I think it’s time for me to join me husband,” Paige stood. “Thank ye.”
Stumbling out of the dark tent and into the bright day felt like moving from one world to another and she felt oddly unsettled. Ruben saw her state immediately and went over to her.
His gaze was sharp as he asked, “Are ye all right?”
“Aye,” she shook her head, trying to throw the strange feeling off. “She is just… peculiar.”
“She is.” Ruben steered her to the carts selling hot treats and purchased buns for them.
After a nibble, Paige thought over the baffling prediction then asked, “What did she tell yer faither?”
“That he would find his wife on the battlefield of ice,” he said. “See, me faither went to the aid of a northern clan to stop the invaders.
“Me maither was a healer in trainin’ at that time, and she’d come to the help of the wounded after the battle had ended. Snow had fallen all through the battle so ye can imagine what the field looked like at the end.”
“I see,” Paige finished her food. “She told me I would have to soon choose between love and duty.”
His head jerked back, “And what on earth did she mean by that?”
“I daenae ken.” Paige chose to refrain from telling him the other part of her prophecy.
First comes the warrior, second comes the laird, third is the maiden with the healin’ touch.
Ruben did not know what to make of the first part of the riddle, she was sure he would not unravel that one either. Shrugging, Paige decided to enjoy the fair and while they walked, spoke with more village people who were eager to meet her.
The day slipped away in a sublime mix of children’s laughter, fun games, a few that she won and swiftly passed off the silly toys to the children. When she won a doll, she knew exactly who it was for.
“Where is Nera?” she asked Ruben while looking around.
“Probably with her caretakers,” he said. “Walk with me; let’s find her.”
While they searched the fairgrounds, Ruben paused to inspect some horses for purchase. Paige then noticed a little girl with beautiful black hair, looking around and sniffling.
Paige offered a smile and was surprised to find the child walking toward her.
When the girl stopped in front of her, Paige went down on her haunches and asked, “Are ye all right, little lass?”
The little girl sobbed. “I cannae find me maither.”
Crouching, she reached for the lass. “Tell me, what is yer maither’s name?”
“Mama’s name is Elspet,” the girl said, sniffling. “Me name is Hanna.”
Looking around, Paige tried to find a woman, any woman, who looked like the girl. “When did ye last see yer maither?”
That late in the day, most of the people from the fair were gone to their homes, and some of the shopkeepers were closing their stalls. She looked over to Ruben while he was bartering with the horse breeder.
Turning to the little girl, she took a chance. “Where was the last place ye saw yer maither?”
“Over there,” the girl pointed to a far end of the field that had some outhouses and tall grass; beyond that was a forest. It looked like there was a path leading into the woodland too.
Could it be that the woman had wandered off, or had someone taken her away?
“Let’s go and see if we can find her.”