Border Fire(59)

"But, mistress-"

"I do wish everyone would stop saying ‘but, mistress,'" Janet snapped. "I did not ask for your opinion, Ardith. Just do as I say."

"Yes, my lady."

The men, clearly believing that the two women were seeking the privacy of nearby shrubbery for the usual reason, did not question them and discreetly looked away. As soon as they were out of sight, Janet said, "You got those other clothes from Tip as I bade you, did you not?"

"Aye, mistress." Ardith hefted the bundle. "They be here, as well."   





 

"Get them out, and be quick about it. I want to get changed before Hob the Mouse wonders what is taking us so long."

Ardith's lips pursed, then pressed firmly together while she hastily opened the bundle and took out the requested garments. Janet's riding dress came off with uncustomary speed, and she sent silent thanks heavenward for the fact that male clothing was more speedily donned than female attire.

"I shall keep my cloak," she said. "I'll need it for warmth, and 'tis plain enough to pass for a man's. Moreover, it may keep the lads from noticing at once that I have changed my clothing."

"They'll surely see that you have lost your petticoats, mistress."

"Mayhap they will," Janet agreed, noting, too, that Ardith's already unwieldy bundle had grown even greater in size. As she knelt to help tie it, she added, "It does not matter if they do notice."

With the bundle securely retied, they hurried back to join the men.

Janet said, "You and I will trade horses, Ardith. Yours is a sturdy, well-built little horse, and it is easier for us to trade horses than saddles. I want to travel faster than my sidesaddle will allow."

"Pray, mistress, tell me what ye mean to do."

"Do not look so fearful," Janet told her. "I am merely going to help Hob raise an army to free Sir Quinton."

"I'll warrant ye've more in your mind than just talking," Ardith said shrewdly. "I ha' seen that look before. What's more, I'll warrant that Hob the Mouse doesna ken all ye've got in store for him."

Avoiding her keen look, Janet said, "You would do well to hold your tongue, Ardith, if that is what you think."

"Aye, sure, but take care. If ye fling yourself into a scrap, 'tis likely that the master will ha' summat to say about it after, and that willna be so good."

"So long as he is free, he can be as angry as he likes," Janet said.

"Aye, well, first we'll see what Hob the Mouse has to say about this."

Hob had much to say, both then and in the hours that followed, but none of it availed him much.

Nearly twenty-four hours later, when the solid ramparts of Carlisle Castle hove into view on the horizon before them, Hob the Mouse viewed them with disfavor. "I dinna ken how I let ye talk me into this," he said dourly.

The third member of their party chuckled, then fell silent when Hob glowered at him. He was younger and much slighter of build and went by the interesting name of Wee Toad Bell.

"Coming to Carlisle was the natural thing to do," Janet replied. "Once we had talked to the men and learned how eager they were to rescue their master, we quite naturally realized that we would all need to know more about the place. Having come so far last night, it was but a step more for us to look the castle over."

"Aye, sure, so ye say," he said, "but we had no business to ride all the way into the Debatable Lands. It isna suitable for ye to be with just the two of us."

"It took much less time with you persuading half the men whilst Ally the Bastard persuaded the others," Janet reminded him. "As to riding so far, we did so to meet with Jess Armstrong because of my meeting him before with the master and our both knowing him to be loyal. We have discussed all this, Hob."

"Aye, but I ken fine what the master will say about it. He didna like it afore when ye wore lad's garments and fell into a scrape, and he-"

"I am no longer wearing those," Janet pointed out, cutting him off without compunction. "These skirts are perhaps not what he would wish to see me wear, but it was kind of Jess Armstrong's sister to lend them and for them to shelter us for the night. Whilst it was safer for me to ride in Tip's clothes to persuade the Bairns, there are many Grahams living in Carlisle who might know my face. It would not do for any of them to see me in men's clothes, so these will serve me better today."

She was riding astride, as she had since leaving Ardith and the others the previous day, albeit now with her skirts kilted up to reveal her bare calves. She wore her drab cloak and her leather boots, and she fancied she looked like any ordinary female in town on a market day. In a covered basket tied to her saddle, she carried minced lamb pies that Jess's sister had baked for her to sell. Anyone who did not recognize her at once would see only a common street vendor.

Hob and Wee Toad wore their usual accouterments, including steel bonnets and leather jacks, but neither carried the usual number of weapons. Hob's crossbow was strung to his saddlebow, his sword hung at his side, and his dagger and pistol occupied their customary places. But he carried neither lance nor Jedburgh ax.   





 

"We are going to estimate how high the walls be; that's all," he said.

"Well, we must have some notion of how long the scaling ladders must be," Janet said reasonably. "You told me that yourself."

"I were talking wi' Jess," he said. "Ye was sleeping, or so I thought."

"I have learned the importance of listening," Janet said. "How will you measure them?"

"We canna do more than look and tak' a guess," he said, still frowning. "More oft than not, such ladders prove too short, but we'll give it a try."

Wee Toad Bell looked from one to the other, his head bobbing on his thin neck like an apple on a twig. He said nothing, however, having met with Hob's displeasure nearly every time he had gathered enough courage to speak. Janet knew the younger man had heard only what Hob wanted dearly to say to her, and she was sorry to cause Wee Toad discomfort, but having come so far, she would not leave Carlisle without first learning exactly what she had come to learn.

Occasional thoughts intruded of what would happen when Buccleuch discovered-as he certainly would-that she had not gone home as he had thought she had. Quinton would be angry with her, too. She did not doubt that for a moment, and just thinking about it sent prickles of ice through her veins, but she would not let that stop her either. She had meant every word she said to Ardith. It would be far worse never to hear him scold her again. She would bear whatever punishment he chose to mete out if only he were still alive to do so. As to Buccleuch, she would not think about that until it was unavoidable.

Their view of the great castle was daunting. Its great, square, red-stone keep squatted solid and strong at the top of a steep slope behind plain but massive walls. From her position on the Stanwix Bank, a line of bluffs that reared above the River Eden on its north side, the huge castle seemed to tower above them. It was the English Border's greatest stronghold, a fortress not to be taken easily.

They descended from the bluffs to cross the river at a ford that the recent rains and runoff from melting snow had made deeper than usual, and Janet noted that Hob kept a close eye on her. For all the heed he paid to Wee Toad Bell, the younger man might have been swept away into Solway Firth without his noticing.

Casually, as they approached the bustling town nestled round the base of the castle wall, Janet said, "You will be more easily recognized than either of us, Hob. Perhaps you should study the height of the walls whilst we walk a little apart from you and mingle with the townsfolk. No one will think it odd that you have come into Carlisle, but if anyone should recognize you and me together, tongues might flap, and we can gain nothing good from that."

Knowing that he could dismiss her reasoning as weak, especially since it would be far more dangerous for her than for him or Wee Toad to be recognized, she did not look at him, pretending to be fascinated by the bustle in the street.

Wee Toad said cheerfully, "'Tis true, Hob. Them what ken ye in Carlisle would think only that ye've stepped across the line to ha' a drink in a guid tavern."

Instead of silencing the little man again, Hob said, "Ye willna stray far, mistress. I'll want to keep ye within sight."

"I'll not stray far," Janet said, thinking that "far" was an ambiguous word at best. "Come, Wee Toad, We'll tie our ponies yonder."

"Nay, then," Hob protested, "we'll no be leaving good ponies standing within reach of these thievin' English-begging your pardon, mistress."

She grinned at him. "Then you take them. I can hardly pretend to be selling meat pies from the back of a horse."

"'Twas a daft notion, that," Hob said.

"It will serve excellently well," she retorted. Without waiting for Wee Toad to offer assistance, she slipped down from her saddle and untied the basket of meat pies. Slinging it over one arm, she began to walk toward the castle. For some moments, feeling Hob's sharp gaze on her, she wandered aimlessly from one side of the street to the other. As the big man strolled nearer the castle wall, she did likewise, hoping that he would think she was just hovering near him. But the moment his back was turned, she slipped into the crowd and hurried toward a postern gate that she had noted as they crossed the Eden.