Shock froze not only his limbs but his words as well and when he finally turned to face her—she was gone.
“Good, you’re awake.”
Royden turned to see Angus standing just inside the Great Hall door.
“Someone has word on Arran,” Angus said.
Royden hurried to follow Angus, but first chance he got, he was going to find his wife and… damn, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do.
“Don’t get close to him,” Angus said as they approached a figure, draped in the dark brown robe of a monk, standing at the bottom of the keep stairs. “He’s a leper.”
Royden stopped several steps away from the monk. He was hunched over from his illness or the sheer burden of it. The hood of his robe was drawn down over his face as far as it would go and he wore gloves. Royden preferred looking a man in the eye when he met him. Truth and lies could be seen there. This time, however, he didn’t mind since there was no telling the extent of damage the illness had caused to his face.
“You have word of my brother, Arran?” he asked and the monk nodded, keeping his head bent.
His voice was raspy, painfully so. “I met your brother on the road. It was late and cold. He and some other men had a fire and food and I took a chance to beg some food from them. Your brother defended me when the others went to chase me off. He even had them build a fire for me a distance away so I could stay warm for the night. When the men slept, he came to me and asked for a favor. I had mentioned I’d been headed this way. He asked me to stop here and tell you that he had one thing that needed his attention, then he’d be home. A month or more in his estimation. He also told me you would spare me some food.”
“How do I know the message is from him?” Royden asked.
“He thought you would ask that and he told me to tell you that what needed his attention pertained to the promise that you, your da, and he made five years ago.”
Raven.
It had to be. Arran must have gotten some information on her. At least he knew his brother was free of the mercenaries, though he wondered what men were with him. They could be men from their clan since from what the leper had said, Arran seemed in charge.
“I’ll see that you get a full sack of food and you will leave at first light,” Royden ordered.
“Please, I beg of you, let me stay just inside the woods for at least a day or two. I kept a fast pace to get here and slept little. I need rest before I can continue.”
He did sound exhausted and Royden couldn’t imagine how unbearable his life must be. “Two days no more and I’ll see more food is given to you before you leave.”
“Bless you, my son, bless you,” the monk said, bobbing his head slowly.
Royden turned to Angus. “Get him some bread, meat and ale, and take him into the woods to where the tangled tree sits. He’s to stay there. Warn the others he’s there.” Angus went to turn away, but Royden caught his arm and spoke in a whisper. “How did he come to find you?”
Angus kept his voice low as well. “I couldn’t sleep and stepped outside. He stepped out of the shadows, scared the hell out me he did. Scared me even more when he told me he was a leper. I was going to chase him away when he mentioned Arran’s name.”
“How did he get past the sentinels?”
“My guess would be that he blended too well with the night for them to see him. And he walks almost soundlessly, but then he’s probably only a shadow of a man beneath that robe.”
Royden nodded. “See it done and keep a good distance.”
“I’m all for that,” Angus said and took a wide berth around the monk. “This way and don’t get too close or I’ll shove my sword into you.”
Royden saw then that Angus had his sword at his side. Habit. They had all learned to keep their swords with them or some type of weapon close by. It was a habit that would be hard to break. Or maybe they shouldn’t break it.
He entered the keep anxious to find his wife. She wasn’t in the Great Hall and he hurried to see if by chance she waited for him in his solar, but it was empty. He didn’t think she would go to his bedchamber, but he looked there just in case. She wasn’t there.
Her bedchamber. She had to have gone to her bedchamber. He took the stairs and saw that her chamber door sat ajar. A light flickered in the room from the fireplace and he eased the door open not wanting to wake her, though he was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to speak with her until morning.