Read Medieval 03 - Enchanted for Free Online

this
miracle?” Dominic asked skeptically.
    “I shall line my mantle with fur.”

5
    B etween shouts of wind and bursts of
icy rain, the sentry called out the hour. The call was repeated
through the bailey and into the settlement beyond, telling serf and
villein to set aside their tools and bring their animals into the
fold even though there was still light in the stormy sky.
    Motionless but for her own breaths, Ariane stared
through the slit window down to the bailey, fighting her fear of
the coming night by concentrating on the view below. Fragrant smoke
poured from the uncertain shelter of the kitchen area. Servants
bustled about the ovens and spits that had begun working well
before dawn, baking and roasting all that was necessary for the
hurried marriage feast.
    “’Tis fortunate that the harvest is
good,” Cassandra said from the doorway. “Otherwise the
keep would have been sore put to create a feast worthy of the
coming marriage. There has been scant time to prepare for such an
important alliance.”
    Slowly Ariane turned around. She wasn’t
surprised to see Cassandra, for she had recognized the Learned
woman’s voice even before she saw her distinctive scarlet
robes. But Ariane was surprised by the fabric Cassandra held in her
hands.
    With a sound of wonder, Ariane walked closer. Her
first thought was that she had never seen a dress more beautifully
embroidered. Intricate silver stitches flashed at neckline and hem,
and ran likecurved lightning through the lining
of the long, very full sleeves.
    Ariane’s second thought was that the color of
the rich cloth itself was an exact match for the amethyst ring she
wore. Her third thought was that such a magnificent dress should be
worn by a happy bride, rather than by one looking for any way out
of the marital trap.
    Even death.
    Cassandra’s pale eyes watched each shade of
Ariane’s response, from the pleased light in the Norman
heiress’s otherwise dark eyes at the sight of the cloth, to
the slender fingers reaching for the fabric…and curling into
a fist short of their goal.
    “You may touch the dress, Lady Ariane. It is
our gift to you.”
    “Our?”
    “The Learned. Despite Simon’s dislike
of our ways, we…value him.”
    “Why?”
    The blunt question didn’t displease
Cassandra. Rather, it made her smile.
    “He is capable of Learning,” Cassandra
said. “Not everyone is.”
    The shimmering richness of the gift in
Cassandra’s hands captivated Ariane. The subtle play of light
over the lush, dark fabric was entrancing.
    Abruptly Ariane blinked and went quite still,
compelled by something she could not name, only sense. Something
was condensing within the fabric, a picture calling to her like
chords from an ancient harp. Beneath the lightning strokes of
embroidery, embedded in the color and texture of the fabric itself,
there was a suggestion of two figures…
    Unknowingly, Ariane reached out to trace the
design. It shimmered throughout the cloth like an amethyst beneath
a full harvest moon. The play of color and light was as subtle as a
sigh breathed into a storm. Yet like a sigh,the
design was unmistakable to anyone who had the sensitivity to
discover it.
    As soon as Ariane’s fingertips touched the
cloth, she knew that the figures were not those of two knights
fighting or two noblemen hawking or two monks trans-fixed by
prayer. The figures were a man and a woman, and they were
intertwined in one another as surely as the threads of the cloth
itself.
    Silently Ariane traced the figures with her
fingertips, beginning with the woman’s darkly flying hair.
The cloth had a whisper of warmth. It was soft yet resilient, as
though it were alive.
    The feel of it was marvelous, but even more
fascinating was the pattern that became clearer with each moment
Ariane’s fingertips lingered. Though the faces of the figures
were concealed by the subtle sheen of the fabric, the weaver had
been so skilled that there was no difficulty in telling male