Gwyndolyn could not sleep, although she knew she must as she looked to the small bodies of the two orphans curled in her bed. Sofi awoke from a screaming nightmare and after calming her, Robin brought Sofi to Gwyn. Too upset by the news of Erec's danger and of her imminent departure, they could not be convinced to return to their own beds this night.

It was just as well. She seemed to need their presence to keep her hold on her sanity. She knew she should not be so quick to assume the worst. Erec was a lifelong knight with years of service and battle behind him.

Ambush she thought with a shiver.

Erec was ever watchful but an ambush by its very definition...

Turning sharply, she began to pace the length of her room once more when a soft scratching at the door had her eyes darting about for a weapon.

She grabbed up a candlestick and held it, testing its weight. Keeping it from view she cautiously opened the Keeping door a tiny bit, bracing it against her foot and shoulder in case it was pushed.

"My Lady!" she gasped softly. "Come in."

"No. We must not be seen. Come..."

She followed as Lady Alexandi led them to a room Gwyn did not recognize for all her exploring of the castle these many months past.

"This is one of his lordship's rooms. No one will question if they see the light beneath the door. Nor will they intrude upon us."

"But why the secrecy? Why must we not be seen? You are the lady of the hall. Surely..."

"Because I do not know whom to trust. For some time now I have felt that all is not well with his lordship, but he will tell me nothing of what troubles him so. I see men come and go...There are messengers and missives and far too much secrecy..."

"Do you suspect his lordship...?!" Gwyndolyn was incredulous.

"To my eternal shame, I do. What he is involved in is something very dangerous. Of that I am certain. But whether or not my Norbert is a willing participant..."

"This is grave news indeed. How shall you fare when I am gone. Should you not fear to be alone?"

"Nay. Norbert has kept me in the dark about his dealings for my protection. I am only a pawn they can threaten to gain his cooperation."

"As am I for Erec..."

"Just so. But I am not helpless, and neither are you. Norbert will not trust me with the knowledge I seek but I have discovered some of it on my own. I know that it involves Bishop Anouk and the king...and those infernal scrolls. I cannot make sense of it yet. I know also that there are men seeking to kill your new husband."

"Aye." Gwyn nodded. "That much we knew already. Erec thinks mayhap they were sent by the king... I can see it in your face! Surely you do not think that his lordship..."

"Shh!" Alexandi urged, "Nay! Norbert has loved Erec as a father loves a son since Erec was a wee lad. But these men...they are dangerous men and they are powerful men. I do not know what hold they have upon my Norbert. But enough of this. You need a place to hide until Erec can figure this out."

"I have my father's farm...and Erec has Greenwood."

"The farm will not do at all. There is simply no way to defend it. As for Greenwood, if it were the least bit habitable...but alas I fear that is not the case. It will not do either. It is too obvious a place and you would not withstand a siege in such a poorly prepared castle."

"Then we shall hide among the people. Surely..."

"The people love their champion, tis true. But they fear their king more. He has taken all the men and the food and left them to fend for themselves as best they may. Women and children, nay, starving women and children cannot make a stand against ruthless soldiers." The baroness frowned. "No, you must hide away elsewhere..."

Alexandi smiled suddenly. "I know just the place for you."

"I would thank you for it truly. But would it not put you in danger to assist us?"

"Nay. It is not much known that your mother was raised in the abbey. Nor is it much known that I was acquainted with your mother. I shall be safe enough...and so shall you."

"At the abbey? But it is nothing more than a pile of stones. Nothing remains save a few portions of the blackened outer walls."

"And the cemetery."

"Well...yes." Gwyndolyn agreed, confusion furrowed her brow as she went on. "There was no cause for marauders to desecrate the simple graves."

"There is a large mausoleum raised upon a platform of stone with stone steps leading up to the iron gate. Intricate ironwork surrounds the plot and forms handrails on either side of the stone steps."

"You are suggesting that we hide inside a mausoleum?"

"Nay. It is not large enough as there are two stone sarcophaguses inside. It is an ancient family. They were very wealthy."

"Obviously. But..."

"There was a simple boy. I never knew his name. We were not permitted to talk to him you see..."

Gwyndolyn did in fact see, but she nodded for the lady to continue.

"He was left at the Abbey one spring and the Reverend Mother set him with the task of caring for the cemetery. He kept it free of weeds, and kept the stones clean...and he kept the grass clipped short. He was very proud of his duties, you see."

"Yes, I...what...?"

"He fell ill one harsh winter. By spring he was still quite sick but he was so upset over the weeds...Your mother was the helper to our healer then. She was still learning at that time, you see."

Gwyn nodded. She was always grateful to hear stories of her mother, but her confusion grew as the baroness went on.

"The poor lad was so distraught that to calm him, your mother promised that SHE would see to the weeds until he was well again, but if he was good and promised to stay abed."

"I do not understand what this has to do with..."

"One afternoon while she and I were pulling weeds, we accidentally pulled a stone loose, along the side of the stairs up to the mausoleum. I was worried we would get into trouble but your mother was a sensible one. She said that we could just shove the stone back into place. Then we could let the boy repair it properly when he was well again."

Gwyndolyn nodded, sensing that this was somehow important.

---

Drew ignored the scream as the rider in front of him fell from his horse and gave only a passing thought to the bloodied men fighting from the ground. As the first of Fitzwilliam's men joined the fray, half a dozen heavily armed men rode from the opposite direction, effectively doubling the enemy numbers.

A quick glance told him too may had fallen already but the unseen archers could not be chased until the enemy on the field was neutralized. A horse screamed and fell, throwing another of Fitzwilliam's men to the ground before the animal stumbled and fell to the side, pressing the fallen rider beneath more than 1,200 pounds of horseflesh and armor.

Dodging to the right, Drew rode past, swinging his sword down on one of the enemies as he passed. He did not spare a glance to see the result as he reined to a hard stop and leapt from his horse, landing near Erec's unmoving body.

God's Teeth! The blood.

---

The baroness paused and shook her head, stilling the unspoken question forming on Gwyndolyn's lips and continued with her tale.

"When your mother put the stone back, it would not fit quite right. When she sat upon the ground before it and hugged her knees, I thought she was pondering a solution. But suddenly she lifted her feet and kicked at the stone with her heels. To this day I cannot say who was more surprised when the stone went through the wall and fell with a clatter."

"It was too dark to see how big the hole was but from the echo of the clatter we knew it was deep. Your mother sent me to secretly fetch a few candles. When I got back, she had been able to pull away a few more stones with her bare hands and a little stick she found to dig at the grout between the stones. We were surprised at how easy it was. Mayhap it was age..."

Somewhere during the telling, the lines of worry faded from Alexandi's face and the baroness seemed younger somehow, happier in her recollections. Gwyndolyn was silent. She knew the baroness would get to the point...eventually. In the meantime, she would try to be patient and to draw some joy in learning about her mother as a young girl.

"Your mother tied the candle to her hair ribbon and lit it. Using the ribbon, she lowered the candle into the hole so that we both may see inside our small opening at once. Huddled together on our hands and knees that way, she lit the candle and lowered it. It was not a hole or a tunnel, but a room we had found, and it was much larger than the mausoleum above it."

"A secret..." Gwyndolyn could not believe it.

She had been expecting a hole...maybe an old grave or a forgotten bit of tunnel...but...

"To my youthful mind, I imagined it was a great treasure room, like the kings of old that were buried with all of their treasures. But your mother, remember, was the sensible one. She pointed out the room was quite empty and there were no steps leading down into the room. Thick wooden pillars supported thick ceiling beams but both were only beneath the mausoleum.

"They were not part of the original room. She also pointed out an arch, which was obviously a door at one time, but bricked off a very long time ago. The room was ancient. More ancient than the mausoleum...

"My mother never spoke of a secret room..."

"She would not. We made a pact betwixt ourselves to keep this secret. Over the years, with the help of a ladder we used that room. Your mother stacked the stones to cover the opening and set a large flowering pot in front of that to disguise the poorly stacked stones. It was very unfortunate that the poor boy died shortly after we found the room."

"If he had lived, he would have discovered your secret."

"Aye. But it was not to be."

"Did you never discover what the room was?"

The room was older than the mausoleum but the mausoleum was older than the abbey. Your mother decided that the abbey was built upon the ruins of some ancient castle and the room was either part of an old dungeon or mayhap a wine cellar. Neither would be much use for an abbey so the doorway was sealed...bricked closed...and quite entirely forgotten."

---

Sparing a moment to deflect the sword of a mounted enemy, Drew ducked away and reached toward Erec, who lay prone partially buried beneath another corpse. The enemy horseman turned, and Drew was forced to defend himself. One of Cameron's men rode in to engage, freeing Drew to focus on Erec.

There was so much blood, but he could not know to which of the three bodies it belonged to. Zeus was defending Erec's side, keeping between Erec and the woods. Drew could work with that. He valued his hands and fingers too much to argue when Zeus was so agitated but it left little room to work.

Sheathing his blade reluctantly, Drew bent and grabbed the third body by the feet. With a grunt he dragged the body away far enough to give room. He had his hands upon the ankles of the body that covered Erec when he heard an enraged growl behind him.

Drawing his blade as he turned, he blocked a chopping blow so fierce it set his arm to tingling from elbow to fingertip. The force of the blow caught him quite unawares as the amount of blood upon his foe belied the vicious strength.

Stumbling half a step back, Drew quickly recovered. Though his foe was slightly shorter, Drew sensed his foe was well matched in skill and strength. For the next few moments Drew gave his entire focus to the man attempting to kill him. That Drew was not an easy kill seemed to vex his foe, a fact which gave Drew some small amount of satisfaction.

Enraged, his foe suddenly stepped back, huffing mightily. The man's snarl and growls were predatory, base and animalistic. Drew had heard tales of men who went berserk in battle...Suddenly the enemy let out a crazed roar as he swung his sword high overhead and charged, intent on cleaving Drew's skull in two.

Raising his sword to block, Drew again felt the force of the blow as it reverberated through his weapon, arm, and shoulder. His foe continued to press, using his entire body and his exception strength keeping Drew quite focused on the blade inches above his skull. The enemy snarled, and spittle flew at Drew's face.

With a roar the man stepped back again and the two faced off, panting from their exertion. Warily the man began to circle. Drew followed, stepping continuously to keep the man before him, but cautious not to stumble. They circled full around, so that once more Erec lay behind Drew and slightly off to the side. Drew cast a quick glance at his friend and the enemy charged.

They fought with hard precise intent. There were no wasted moves as they slashed and parried, circling round again trying to gain advantage. Drew was surprised at the level of skill and realized that the man was not berserk, but rather drawing his power from the thrill of the battle and reveling in it.

This was not a simple matter of men met in battle, not to this enemy. For him it was a hunt. Very well, it was not in Drew to become any man's prey. As Drew ducked under a wide swing, he jabbed forward, but his foe dodged easily to the side. As his enemy let out a sound somewhere between a roar and a laugh he swept wide with his foot.

Drew stepped clear,keeping to his feet. He had no desireto bring this particular foe in for a closer fight. The man was just crazy enough to try and chewon Drew's throat like the rabid dog he seemed so content to resemble.