She should pay attention now, as Jacob was explaining their errand to Frau Saacha.
“Princess Elyce has a request to make of you. And it is very important that you not tell anyone about it. May we count on you for secrecy?”
“You are very demanding for someone asking for my help.” The old woman punctuated this observation with another of her short laughs. Elyce was surprised her mother and father had chosen this woman to be her nurse.
“Forgive us, Frau Saacha. We are very grateful to you for allowing us to speak with you.”
“Very well, child. What is it you want? I will help you if I can.”
“I am in need of a potion that will cause a person to sleep for several days and appear dead.”
Frau Saacha did not move for several moments. Was she offended? Her eyes narrowed as she stared back at Elyce.
“I am desperate for your help, Frau Saacha. No one will ever know that you gave it to me. I vow to you—”
“Who told you I have such a potion?”
“A woman named Ida, Jacob’s sister”—she indicated Jacob, who was standing beside her—“told me you could make such a potion.”
“But, child, why would you, the daughter of the king, be in need of such a potion?”
“I need it to save our people from King Claude of Valkenfeld.”
“If you intend to kill him—”
“No, nothing like that.”
“This potion is dangerous. It is not to be treated lightly.”
“Of course not.”
Frau Saacha eyed her, shuffling her feet on the earthen floor. “Who is to drink this potion?”
Elyce did not answer right away. Should she tell her the truth? Would Frau Saacha give it to her if she knew what she intended to do?
“I have to know, to know how much to give you.”
Elyce took a breath, then said, “It is for me.”
Frau Saacha turned her head slightly, looking askance at her.
“I want everyone to believe that I am dead. Can the potion slow my breathing and my heartbeat enough that no one can detect it?”
“I must advise you against this, my child. There is too much risk involved.”
“Will it kill me?”
“That is a possibility. It affects people differently.”
Elyce’s heart skipped a beat. But she would not lose her courage now.
“Even though it cannot slow your heart to the point that it is not detectable, it can fool most people, possibly even a physician, and therefore you could be buried alive. Are you prepared to take such a risk?”
“Two of my servants will know the secret, and they will not allow that to happen.”
Frau Saacha fixed a hard stare on Jacob. “You are willing to let your princess go to such lengths? To put herself in so much danger?”
“You said my grandmother was courageous and strong,” Elyce interjected. “Why can I not be as courageous and strong as she? My people are the ones at risk. It is for the saving of many lives that I do this.” Not only their physical lives but their way of life, their joy and freedom.
The woman shook her head. “No, it is not a wise thing to do.”
“I shall take all the blame. I will make certain no one knows you helped me. Indeed, it is all my doing.” Elyce leaned toward her, gazing into her eyes. “I am sure I must seem reckless, but believe me when I say, there is no other way. This is the only way out for my people—and for me!” She’d rather die than marry Rodrigo.
“You could stop breathing,” the woman said. “You might never awaken. And if you do wake up, you will be weak and may even be sick for a few days. Then again, you may feel no ill effects. As I said, it is different for different people.”
“I will follow all your instructions to the smallest detail. I shall not die.” She wasn’t sure why she said that. After all, she could not know for certain that the potion would not kill her. But something inside her gave her confidence that she spoke the truth.
After a few more moments, Frau Saacha stood to her feet. “Very well. But I will not feel responsible if something terrible comes of it. Remember that I tried to convince you not to do it.”
“Yes, of course.”
Frau Saacha took down a few glass vials and cloth pouches from a shelf on the wall and began to mix a tiny amount of each in a pottery bowl. Then she poured it carefully into a glass vial and corked it. She handed the vial to Elyce.
Elyce waited for her to explain what to do. When Frau Saacha didn’t say anything, she asked, “What are your instructions?”
“Drink it.”
“All of it?”
“All of it, if you want to be asleep for three days. When you awaken, someone should be there to give you water and food. You may have trouble seeing and walking for a few hours, until you get your strength back. Eat and drink extra portions two days before, then eat and drink lightly in the several hours before you take the potion.”
Elyce examined the vial in her hand. Was this the answer, the solution to her problems and the problems of her people?
As she walked back to her father’s castle with Jacob, the vial tucked in her pocket, she went over the plan in her head, as she had told it to Ysabeau and Jacob.
She would drink the potion in the early morning hours before her wedding to Rodrigo. She, Ysa, and Jacob would have their bags packed and ready to go, with plenty of warm furs for traveling in the cold, as winters in Montciel and the mountains around it could be very harsh. If she was fortunate, everyone would think she was dead later that morning. They would mourn her and plan her funeral. On the third day, Jacob and Ysa would fill her coffin with bags of sand to mimic her weight and seal it, and they would sneak her out of the castle.
They would go to Jacob’s sister’s cottage nearby so that Elyce could rest until her strength came back and she was able to ride. Then the three of them would travel to the Holy Roman Emperor, King Wenceslaus, in Prague and appeal to him for his help. Her hope was that King Wenceslaus would be so displeased with the enslavement of her people that he would send soldiers to stop King Claude and King Leandre.
It was a good plan, and she was confident it would work, even though it was fraught with risk and danger.
Her only other choice was to marry Rodrigo and let her people be enslaved.
No, she could do this.
She could and she would.
Two
Dericott Castle, Bedfordshire, England
“Wasn’t it a beautiful wedding?” Gerard’s sister, Delia, sighed. “Audrey and Edwin looked so joyful and in love.”
Gerard walked along with Delia and her husband, the Duke of Strachleigh, down the path that led to the lake where a pair of swans had their nest. Gerard liked watching the snow-white birds swim serenely with their chicks.
“It was a beautiful wedding.” Strachleigh put his arm around Delia.
Gerard was glad his brother, Edwin, was happily married, and he was equally pleased his sister, Delia, had found a husband like Sir Geoffrey. He was a good man, gentle and kind and self-sacrificing. Gerard could not have chosen a better man for his only sister, and he was grateful that God had put them together.
“Perhaps yours will be the next wedding,” Delia said, turning to smile at him.