a message for the King, did he not?"
She gathered up the bowl and remaining rags.
"We can do nothing but wait," she said. "Meantime, we must all eat, whatever is happening outside!"
She hurried out of the room again, leaving both of them completely nonplussed.
BOSON BOOKS
-239-
Belaset’s Daughter
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Aaron left the house and crept along, close by the walls of the other houses in the street. He had instinctively turned to his left and was making his way towards the Castle.
He was almost by the West Gate, when a shower of flaming arrows hurtled over his head and into the street beyond the wall. More followed them, and, from the flames which now began to leap into the sky, were finding their targets without difficulty. The hissing and crackling of burning thatch came to his ears, mingled with the shouts and cries of people, as they realised that their homes were burning down around them.
He hesitated for the merest moment, then ran forward quickly, and was through the gates and along the street without anyone noticing. There was mounting panic inside the walls, and he used this to his advantage. Everyone was too busy saving themselves to bother challenging a man who ran past them. Anyone who saw him would assume that he was simply one of the townsfolk trying to get away from the flames. Some people ran towards the gate, trying to get away by leaving the town, but others ran towards the Castle and the higher ground. Aaron ran along with these, and found one of the answers he needed from the gasped comments of a man running beside him.
"Thank God the Castle is still held for the King!" said the man, panting steadily along beside him. "Even if Earl John has not returned."
"Indeed, neighbour!" said Aaron.
The crowd increased, as they drew nearer to the castle gates, and Aaron was squeezed and buffeted by the press as they pushed their way through. Once inside, it was a steep, breathless climb up the path that zigzagged its way to the top of the mount, but at last he reached the green in the centre. Those who had come to the area earlier, before the fighting had properly started, were anxiously asking the new arrivals what was happening. The news that de Montfort s men had set fire to the town was met with cries of despair.
Most of those who had gone into the castle were women and their children, and the thought that they might have lost homes and husbands both was too much for them.
There was the sound of weeping and women clasped their little ones to them and rocked to and fro in their agony.
Aaron made his way through them without stopping, although his heart ached with the pity of it all. Nevertheless, he steeled himself to continue with his own errand, and looked around to see if there was anyone he recognised. There was no-one, but a tall, fair youth, now dirty and dishevelled, and with a look of utter weariness, caught his eye. Aaron made his way to him and stood before him , as he leaned against the wall.
"Your pardon," he said courteously. "But do you know one Jervis FitzHugh?"
BOSON BOOKS
-240-
Belaset’s Daughter
The young man gazed at him, then slowly nodded his head.
"He is my friend or should I say, was," he said, drearily. "I have not seen him since this morning. If you seek him, sir, I cannot help you, for I fear that he is dead. So many of us are."
He stared down at the floor, and blinked hard.
"He is not dead," said Aaron. "He is safe in my house."
The young man looked up, with a smile beginning to light his face.
"Jervis not dead?" he said. "But he vanished! My lord de Warenne sent him with a message to Duke Richard, and we never saw him again. I assumed he was cut down, as he would surely have returned had he been able."
"He is wounded," said Aaron. "But not badly he was knocked unconscious down by the mill, and lay there for some hours. When he came to himself again, he made his way to our house, where he would be among friends. He sent me to find out what has happened and to send to his lord so that de Warenne might know that he is alive."
"De Warenne is not here," said the youth. "The rumours are that he has fled, with Humphrey de Bohun and others. But I do not believe he has