Free Bone of Contention by Roberta Gellis

Diccon was a clever boy, she said, tousling his hair affectionately, and accustomed to carrying messages.
    That seemed to be true enough, for he nodded at once when Magdalene told him Father Etienne’s description of the house in which most of William’s captains were lodged. “In the small lane that goes off the road around the castle,” he said. “The armorer’s shop or the mercer’s?”
    “Oh that silly man,” Magdalene sighed. “He didn’t say, only that it was the largest house in the street.”
    The boy grinned and nodded again. “That’ll be the armorer. Who gets this?”
    “Lord William of Ypres, but I doubt he will be there. I believe he himself is lodged in the castle. Ask for Sir Niall Arvagh or Sir Giles de Milland. If not them…”
    “Any knight in Lord William’s service?”
    Diccon’s eyes were knowing. Service in the whorehouse had made him quick to recognize the difference between gentry, merchant, and peasant. He would not mistake a common man-at-arms for a belted knight. Magdalene nodded to his question, only cautioning him to make sure that Lord William’s men were still lodged in the armorer’s house or that Father Etienne had not made a mistake when he identified the place. Not that delivering the note to the wrong person would be a disaster. It said only, “I am lodged in the Soft Nest on Blue Boar Lane. Magdalene.”
    She then told Diccon to wait for an answer but to leave at once if he were told there was no answer. And when he turned to go, she touched his shoulder and gave him a farthing. His slightly widened eyes and broad grin showed both surprise and pleasure with such largesse. Few of the women in the house would pay him; to their minds they had better uses for their money than paying for service from a boy who already got his food and lodging free, but a grateful and willing messenger might be valuable to Magdalene.
    Her most pressing duty done, Magdalene began to settle into the Soft Nest. She arranged for the care of her horse and mule with one of Florete’s men, who told her the animals could be kept in a shed in the small overgrown space that was left of the garden behind the house. There was some grazing there, and he’d bring them water. He also offered to bring in her traveling basket and canvas carryall.
    Magdalene noticed his eyes on her, fixed on her face at first and then traveling downward to take in her dress. He looked away, then back, and his mouth set in a dissatisfied line, showing he had marked her as beyond his touch. Still, hope springs eternal and he said he was very ready to do any service she requested. Magdalene thanked him, but to make perfectly clear that she would not, like many whores, trade sexual favors for work done, she gave him a penny, telling him to buy fodder for the animals, and to keep any amount that remained after the transaction.
    He hesitated for just a moment, glancing sidelong at her unveiled face, then sighed, took the coin, and went out. A moment later she went to the common room to speak to Florete, who was presiding at the entrance. Magdalene wanted a table for her room so that William and whoever he was meeting could sit and talk. There was nothing like having one’s legs under a table to discourage men from leaping up and launching blows at each other.
    That was easily arranged, but Magdalene was heartily annoyed when two men in the act of paying over their fees both immediately chose her and began to quarrel over who should have her first.
    “Neither!” she snapped. “I do not work here. I am long retired and I have come to collect a woman for my house in London.”
    “Retired?” one of the men said, laughed, and reached for her. “Not with a face and body like that.”
    Magdalene pulled away as Florete said, “No!” The man bringing in Magdalene’s baggage set it down and reached for his club, which was leaning against the table. Florete’s other man stood up. Magdalene slipped by them and retreated to the back