Free The Poisoned Serpent by Joan Wolf Page B

looked curious. “What is she eating? Surely she is not partaking of the same food as the garrison.”
    Dainty, delicately sauced food was not the main staple served up from the castle kitchen.
    “I provided her with my own cook,” Gervase said.
    Hugh looked at his host’s face for a moment, then said with amusement, “She sounds like a perfect nuisance.”
    All of a sudden, Richard laughed. “I doubt that you’ll feel that way, Hugh, once you have seen her.”

7
    A fter breaking fast, Hugh rode to the castle with Gervase and Richard. The morning streets of Lincoln were as Hugh remembered them—filled with people. The weather outside might be cold, but the small, dark houses that most of the residents of the town inhabited were almost as chilly as the outdoors and considerably less appealing than the brisk fresh air and sunshine.
    The Strait was lined with open-fronted booths, which formed part of the ground floor of many of the shopkeepers’ homes. Hugh recognized most of them from the days when he would return home from school and Adela would send him out to make a purchase for her.
    Ralf had employed both a man and a woman to help his wife with keeping the house, but when they resided in Lincoln, Adela had always done the cooking herself. With such a small household, she had not deemed it prudent to hire servants they did not need.
    Gervase had a cook, however. And Richard had his own squire.
    Hugh regarded the tall, muscular black stallion thatRichard was riding and rated him as being extremely expensive.
    Interesting , Hugh thought.
    The three men on horseback crossed the bridge spanning the protective ditch that ran all around the outside of the Roman wall forming the outer boundary of the castle grounds. The men on duty at the gate greeted the sheriff and his party, and the three of them rode through.
    The Bail was almost as filled with people as the city streets had been. Groups of townspeople were streaming to the Minster, where mass would begin in a few minutes. The market stalls set up along the far wall were doing a less brisk business than the church.
    “Who rents the castle stalls?” Hugh asked Gervase.
    “Local craftsmen and farmers,” Gervase replied. “It’s a good location for those who don’t have shops in town.”
    “May I ask what inspired you to allow merchants in the Bail?” Hugh asked with innocent curiosity.
    “I needed the money they bring in,” Gervase returned a little grimly. “After the empress landed in England last September, I had to increase the garrison knights’ pay from seven to eight pence a day. I needed to find the extra funds somewhere, and renting part of the Bail as market stalls has answered the problem very nicely.”
    Rufus was looking around curiously, as if he remembered this place, and Hugh patted the stallion’s thick, arched neck.
    “Why did you need to raise the knights’ pay?” he asked.
    “You know what has been happening in England since the king’s right to the throne has been challenged,” the sheriff replied impatiently. “Great lordssuch as William of Roumare and the Earl of Chester are gathering small armies of men to themselves.” Gervase threw Hugh a disgusted look. “Why, just this past month, the Bishop of Ely himself revolted against the king!” He shook his head. “If I want to keep my men, I must pay them.”
    “That makes sense, I suppose,” Hugh agreed.
    The men reached the east gate of the inner walls through which they entered the castle’s large Inner bail. Inside, a dozen or so horses wandered around the stockade searching for the last wisps of hay from their breakfast. A few men were sitting in front of the wooden huts that housed the castle guard, enjoying the sun and mending harness. In one corner of the yard a group of men practiced their archery, and in another corner a wrestling match was going on.
    The sheriff and his companions rode toward the stables, and grooms came running to take their horses. The men