“What friend?”

“The man who brought you here. The knight-maston.”

The young squire blinked, regarding her coolly. “What was his name?”

“He did not give me one.”

“Of course,” he said. “And neither shall I. You may have surmised – guessed – but if not, let me tell you that I am a man of no small wealth. My presence at Muirwood…it must not be noticed. Can you…can you hide me then? Even from the Aldermaston? If I evade capture, I will amply reward you.”

Sowe approached, quavering and trembling, with a flagon. She handed it to him tentatively and he took it from her hand, gulping fast and hard. His breath was horrible.

After finishing the drink, he wiped his mouth, still bent double. His body shook with spasms of pain or cold. “I will say it again,” he whispered. “No one can know I am here.”

“It will be difficult keeping this secret,” Lia said, looking into his eyes. “Pasqua notices everything. So do the other helpers. If you want me to…”

“I understand your meaning perfectly,” he said, his mouth twisting with a cruel look. “And I promise you, again, that your reward will be sufficiently bold.”

“You misunderstood me, sir…I…”

“I understand you very well. You are a wretched and risk a good deal sheltering me. Eviction from the abbey, from your trade, from those who have raised you…despite how they have pitied you. You desire more than what you have been born to, and you can only get it with sufficient coin. I can appreciate that, and my promise is not hollow. You help me to seek a reward. I will gladly pay it. Do we understand one another? Do not pretend compassion for me. Do not claim you are doing this for anything other than very selfish reasons. As I said, I can understand that. Let us be honest in this at least.”

The look he gave her challenged her to defy his conclusion. But he was right. She did want – no, she expected a reward. They both knew it.

“We do, sir.” She rose and reached for his elbow to help him rise as well.

“Do not touch me,” he said, grunting, and stood by his own power. He trembled like a newborn colt and wiped his mouth again. “Where…where can I hide?” He looked around the kitchen.

“Can you climb to the loft on your own?” Lia asked, cocking her head, feeling a bit impertinent. “Or would you rather retch on me again?”

CHAPTER FOUR:

Pasqua’s Kitchen

The abbey kitchen was near the manor house where the Aldermaston slept. Like all of the buildings on the grounds, it was worked of large blocks of heavy, sculpted stone. It was a spacious square building dimpled with half-columns protruding from the walls and a steepled roof. The interior was not square because of four ovens, one in each corner and the flues inset into the stone so the smoke could escape. Two of the ovens were tall enough that Lia or Sowe could stand within and sweep away the ashes. The other two were smaller for baking.

Two sets of wide double-doors serviced the kitchen, one set facing the abbey itself, the other directly opposite in the rear, but it was seldom used. The wood and iron doors had windows in their upper portions, but only someone very tall like the Aldermaston would have been able to look in, not someone short like Pasqua or many of the learners. Enormous windows were also inset high into the stone walls to allow sunlight to brighten the space. The roof was held up by eight giant stays that rose high above the loft, and sloped steeply to the cupola. There was no way down from that point except a direct drop to the stone-paved kitchen floor below.

The shape of the kitchen made it possible for the ovens to heat the room, which made it a comfortable place for the two girls to live. Lia and Sowe slept in a loft constructed of wooden beams and rails, a sturdy floor, and a ladder connected it to the ground below. Stores of spices – nutmeg, cinnamon, mullyt, cardamom – along with sacks of milled grain, sheaves of oats, pumpkins, and small vats of treacle crowded most of the space. The heavier barrels and sacks were stored beneath them on the floor.

The beautiful abbey rose up beyond the Aldermaston’s residence and could be seen from the upper windows if Lia was sitting in the loft. The abbey was enormous. To the east of the kitchen, past a row of scraggy oak trees, was the famous Cider Orchard where the apples came from that were renowned for making a favorite drink in the kingdom. Past the orchard, the fish pond. Directly to the north of the abbey kitchen, across a small park, lay the learner kitchen and those who cooked and provided for the learners and the rest of the abbey help, but not for the Aldermaston and his guests.