Captive Rose (12 page)

His eyes fixed on her face and he grabbed her arms, as
slender and delicate as water reeds. "Are you a witch, a sorceress, or an
unearthly vision? How do you know the name de
Lusignan
?"

"I am none of those things, I can assure you, good
knight," she answered, her gossamer veil slipping from her hair as she
shook her head. "You seek my daughter, Leila. She told me about you many
days ago when you were first captured. I am Eve
Gervais
.
Mayhap you remember me, though you were only a child."

Guy's hands slid from her arms and dropped to his
sides. Eve
Gervais
. Surely he was seeing the phantom
of a woman long thought dead. "Eve . . . wife to William
Gervais
of the Welsh Marches? You left for the Holy Land
twenty years ago and—

"Never returned," Eve finished quietly. "Yes,
I am she."

Astounded, Guy searched her face, wondering how he
could not have seen it. Leila's mother! The two women were as physically alike
as only mother and daughter could be.

"What of William?" he asked, though he
immediately sensed her answer from her fleeting expression of sorrow.

"Dead these many years." She swept a slim
hand around her lavish surroundings. "I have since been blessed with
another husband, Leila's adopted father. The physician,
Sinjar
Al-Aziz."

Guy was dumbstruck, his mind reeling.

God's blood, then Leila was no slave! She had lied to
him. Why? Perhaps she was no Christian either, regardless of the
zunnar
around her waist, though it was clear from Eve's
words that she herself practiced the true faith. Yet she was married to an
infidel . . .

"Ah, there is so much I could tell you, my lord,
but time is our enemy this night," Eve said urgently, breaking into his
thoughts. "My son, Roger
Gervais
. Is he yet
alive? You and he were both pages under
Ranulf
de
Lusignan
, who became Roger's guardian when we left for the
Holy Land. You were friends."

Guy felt as if a fist had just slammed into his gut. He
had been so caught up in everything Eve was telling him, he had not even
considered her maternal connection with Roger
Gervais
.

Friends? Yes, he and Roger had been friends . . . once.

That had changed eight years ago when they were forced
to take sides in a barons' rebellion that threatened to tear England apart.
Roger chose to ride with Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, the grasping
Norman traitor who lusted for the English throne, while Guy fought for King
Henry alongside his son, Lord Edward.

It was an irreparable rift that had ended their close
friendship. After the royalists lost the Battle of Lewes, King Henry became a
hostage while Edward and many of his knights, Guy among them, were imprisoned
in Kenilworth Castle.

Guy felt his palms grow sweaty and
a
tightness
gather in his chest from just thinking about Kenilworth's
dungeon and the tiny windowless cell where he had been held captive for over a
year. All thanks to Roger
Gervais
. While Guy was left
to die in prison, Roger forcibly seized his lands in both Surrey and Wales.
Twenty odd
Gervais
knights took up residence in
Warenne
Castle, and one even became his wife Christine's
lover.

Only after Lord Edward, Guy, and several other knights
who survived their long and brutal captivity escaped from Kenilworth Castle and
joined royalist forces at
Evesham
to defeat Simon de
Montfort was Guy able to win back his lands. Unfortunately Roger was not killed
in the battle, but captured alive. He was banished for a time and his estate
forfeited, but under the king's generous peace he, too, eventually regained his
family land, which bordered hard upon Guy's.

Their friendship, however, could never be restored.
Roger's traitorous betrayal ran too deep.

If anything, their hatred had intensified over the
years. Both had lost knights and men-at-arms during numerous confrontations
until King Henry had intervened, forbidding them to make war on each other. An
uneasy truce had hung between them since then, yet the hatred had remained,
ever kindled and ready to ignite at the slightest provocation.

"Your silence tells me one thing, my lord,"
Eve said with a tremulous voice, drawing Guy back from his grim reverie. "Roger
is dead."

"No," Guy stated flatly. "He lives."
At her cry of joy, at the sight of tears swimming in her eyes again, he knew he
did not have the heart to tell her of her son's treachery.

"And he is well?"

"Yes," he replied, wishing a bolt of
lightning would strike Roger at his castle on the Welsh border even as they
spoke of him.

"Then you must take Leila to him!" Eve cried
passionately, clutching Guy's arm. "She belongs in her true homeland, not
here. I have prayed for a way to liberate her, but my pleas went unheard until
this night. Now you have answered them. You said it yourself, Lord de
Warenne
. You came here to take her with you." Her
voice was filled with wonderment, and now she looked at him as if she could not
quite believe he was real and standing before her. "If you had come a
moment later, I would have missed you. I was just about to leave for Governor
Mawdud's
palace to intercede for your life. But you are
here—"

"You speak of liberating your daughter," Guy
interjected, growing more confused as he noted the richness of Eve's garments
and the glittering emerald necklace at her throat, "but you are not a
slave, and neither is Leila. Yet so she led me to believe."

Eve waved her hand impatiently. "A ruse. It was
her father's way of protecting her. He told me as much, fearing you might use
her to escape if you knew her true station."

Guy mulled over this revelation, seeing its truth. He
might have tried such a stunt indeed. Then another thought of even greater
import came to him.

"When I arrived in Acre, I was told the
zunnar
was worn by any Christian living in Arab lands . . .
a good way for us to determine friend or foe. Leila wore such a garment when
she came to the prison. Was that also a ruse?"

"No!" Eve said heatedly, clearly affronted by
his obvious misgivings. She stepped away from him and drew herself up proudly. "Hear
me well, my lord. When William was murdered—"

"Murdered?"

"Yes, before my eyes. Bedouin slave traders. They
brought me and my newborn babe to this city, and I was purchased by
Sinjar
Al-Aziz, who later became my husband. As a marriage
gift he offered me anything I wanted, yet I asked only that I might remain a
Christian and raise Leila in my faith. This he granted from his heart, though
his reason told him to deny me. Since then, God has given me great happiness in
my second marriage. I love my husband and will never leave him, no matter his
beliefs. But I do not want such a marriage for Leila and"—Eve paused,
chewing her lower lip nervously— "and neither does she."

Guy regarded her sharply, anger bubbling deep within
him. "She is to marry an infidel?"

"Yes. It has all been arranged. Leila has no
choice in the matter. She . . . she is most distressed. She has told me she
would do anything to escape this marriage, leave Damascus, leave the country, but
there was no way until now."

"She has seemed troubled," Guy agreed,
thinking back on their encounters in his cell, "
although
I believed it was because of her servitude."

"Yes, Leila does not mask her unhappiness well."
Eve touched his arm, her eyes pleading with him. "Please take her away
from here. I can get you both safely out of Damascus. Take her back with you to
England, to her brother. She should have a Christian marriage, as is her birthright,
and a home and family in her true country. She is a virgin. Roger will have no
difficulty finding a suitable husband for her. I beg of you, Lord de
Warenne
, upon your sacred oath as a knight, if ever there
was a young woman needing your aid—"

"Do not fear, my lady," Guy said resolutely. "It
is as good as done." Indeed, he needed no more convincing. Leila might not
be a slave as he had thought, but she was truly a maiden in dire need of rescue
from a heathen marriage and a barbarian land. At that moment
his
own
personal feelings about Roger
Gervais
seemed inconsequential next to her wretched plight. "I will see her safely
home to your son. This I swear, and may God defend my oath."

Eve's great relief was evident on her lovely face, but
before she could offer any thanks, the sound of sandaled feet crossing the
courtyard made her turn pale. Her eyes darted around the room, falling upon a
large, lacquered cabinet.

"Quickly, you can hide in there until all is in
readiness." Running with him to the cabinet, she flung open the latticed
doors and pushed him inside.

Guy banged his head as she shut the doors. He bit off
the curse that jumped to his tongue, crouching because he was too tall for the
cabinet. He pushed aside the silken, jasmine-scented garments hanging all
around him to peer out the intricate wooden grillwork.

He watched Eve move to the archway where she met
another woman, obviously a servant, who bowed to her. They conversed in hushed
tones for several long moments, the slave woman glancing occasionally at the
cabinet. It was clear to him that Eve had divulged his hiding place, which made
him nervous. Could the slave woman be trusted?

His fears were somewhat allayed when the two women
warmly embraced, more like dear friends than mistress and slave. Then Eve
walked back toward the cabinet while her servant disappeared into the
courtyard. As Eve drew closer, Guy could not resist calling out to her in a
loud whisper, "Who was the woman?"

"Do not worry, my lord. I would trust
Majida
with my life . . . and I just have," Eve
whispered back through the tiny diamond-shaped openings in the cabinet doors. "Everything
has been arranged. She has gone to seek out a friend of mine, a special friend
who will help you and Leila leave the city.
Majida
is
stealthy and swift. My friend should be here within the hour with his wagon."

"A wagon?" Guy hissed, highly skeptical of
such a method. "Surely we will be found out! I say we lower ourselves over
the wall next to the house and avoid traveling through the city gates altogether."

"And be swept into the
Barada
?
If you survive the river's swift currents, you will find
Mameluke
soldiers patrolling its banks when you reach the other side. No, my lord, you
must leave this to me."

Guy groaned to himself, rolling his eyes. Never before
had he entrusted his hide to a woman, but he had little choice. "As you
say."

"Good. When
Majida
returns, I shall summon Leila to this very room. Then I will need your help, my
lord."

"Name it."

"I will give you a sponge and a vial of sleeping
sedative to hold in readiness until I signal you."

"Why the devil do I need that?" Guy asked,
frowning.

"Leila must be drugged for the journey."

"Drugged? I was under the impression she wanted to
leave Damascus."

"She does, she does," Eve said quickly, her voice
quavering, "but I fear the excitement will be too much for her. Better she
does not know what is in store. If we do not drug her, there is always the
chance she may become frightened in the wagon and inadvertently give you both
away. Leila is prone to tears when she becomes upset."

"What woman isn't?" Guy complained under his
breath.

"Forgive me, my lord. I did not hear you."

"I said we can't have that." Damned if he
wanted a mewling female to contend with on their journey to Acre. Better to
drug her and deal with any tears later, when the danger was past. "Very
well. What do I have to do?"

"When I
lift
my veil
over my head, which is your signal, pour the sedative over the sponge and then
creep up behind her as you did to me and cover her mouth. In only a moment the
drug will take effect, and she will sleep for a day or better." Eve
drummed her slender fingers on the latticework. "Oh, yes. You must wash
your hands as soon as Leila is unconscious. The fumes left on your skin are
potent enough to give you a terrible headache if you inhale them."

"My thanks for the warning," Guy said,
wincing at the pain in his neck and shoulders. He couldn't stay cramped up like
this much longer. "When did you say your friend would get here with that
wagon?"

"Soon, my lord. I am sorry about the cabinet, but
I have nowhere else to hide you," she apologized, sensing his discomfort. "You
are as tall and broad a man as I have ever seen, other than William." She
sighed softly,
then
asked, "Is Roger the same?"

"Close," Guy answered tersely, then quickly
changed the unsavory topic. "What of your husband, Al-Aziz? Do you expect
him soon?"

"No. No.
'Tis
a most
fortunate thing. Tonight he spends with his second wife . . . though Leila did
say he wished to speak with her when he returned from the hospital." She
appeared momentarily concerned,
then
shook her head. "Ah,
either way, he will not come home until very late. A great physician's life is
a taxing one." She fell silent, leaning her shoulder lightly on the doors.

"What will you tell him, my lady, when he
discovers Leila is missing?"

"I do not know," she replied simply, meeting
his eyes through the ornamental grille. "Perhaps I will tell him the
truth. It is hard to deceive one who knows your heart as if it was
his very own
."