Hawksmaid by Kathryn Lasky

Author:Kathryn Lasky
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

A BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

Falconry is not simply for show; to have a hawk for carrying about on one’s wrist is not only senseless but vain. Hawks are spirited and independent by nature. Thus a falconer will do well to remember those qualities and appeal to them during training.

MARIAN TRIED TO PREPARE herself to look into the void of those terrible eyes. But she was not prepared to walk into the steward’s chamber and see the abbess flanked by Sir Guy of Gisborne, her mother’s murderer.

On the other side of the abbess was a man dressed in bishop’s robes. “Who’s that?” Marian whispered to Ellie. Surely the Bishop of Ely wouldn’t be present for the planning of the feast to honor him.

“The Bishop of Hereford—the very good friend of the sheriff.”

Marian felt her stomach turn. She swallowed and shut her eyes tightly against the nausea. Steady! Steady! she told herself. This is precisely why you are here. Gold and silver were suddenly secondary to what she might see and find out.

The steward had begun to address the fifty-odd servants who stood before him in the castle library when he was interrupted by the abbess. From the grim look on his face it was fairly obvious that the abbess had encroached on his domain.

“This is to be a grand feast,” she said, raising her hand and gracefully inscribing an arc in the air. Marian noticed that the abbess wore a large ring on her finger. Nothing fancy. No gemstones. But bigger than the simple gold ring that a nun received after her solemn vows signifying her marriage to Jesus Christ. “It is a feast in honor of King Richard’s chancellor, the Bishop of Ely.”

The abbess kept talking. Marian tried to listen closely but she could not stand to look at her or Sir Guy.

And now the abbess was talking about the gold platters on which the roasted swans would be served, as well as the ducks and the suckling pigs. In addition a boar and an ox were to be roasted, sliced, and served with apples. There were silver platters on which the sugar sculptures would be served, then cheeses and nuts. The best of wine was to be poured in the French gold goblets.

Marian suddenly remembered that her father had had a secret compartment in his chamber where he kept a few silver pieces and jewels. She thought of her mother’s Star of Jerusalem and felt a stitch in her heart when she remembered the flare of the white rays against the blue. If only the Star of Jerusalem had been tucked away and not on a chain around her mother’s neck. (Much of the Fitzwalter treasure had been hidden behind ledgers containing the castle records. If one pushed a scroll entitled Oat Yield, 1140–1170, the entire shelf mysteriously swung open. Perhaps this room, too, had a secret place.)

Marian began to examine the room as closely as she could from where she was standing. She scanned the innumerable shelves of books

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