The people looked surprised and glanced around at one another.
Jacob shouted, “It is true! I helped her run away. She was trying to get help to keep King Claude from taking over Montciel and forcing you to be slaves in his mines. Do you want to give up your peaceful lives in the sun to go work in King Claude’s mines?”
A louder murmur went through the crowd, with people shaking their heads and looking disgruntled.
“King Leandre would sell you to the King of Valkenfeld for his own gain,” Gerard went on. “But Princess Elyce would not. She wants to save you from that. Even now she plans to defy the will of King Claude and refuses to marry his nephew, Count Rodrigo. He’s trying to stop her from getting help from King Wenceslaus and other noblemen. King Claude is holding her captive, and now you must do your part in staving off his control.”
“What can we do?” a man shouted. “We are not soldiers.”
Gerard noticed that several more of Montciel’s guards had entered the area. They listened attentively, making no move to stop them.
“You must decide who you are loyal to, your king or your princess. Choose wisely, for if you choose the king, you will find yourself, or your son or your husband, deep in a dark hole, mining the wealth of your country for two selfish kings. But if you choose the princess, you will have to be willing to fight both King Claude and King Leandre.”
He motioned toward a side street that opened into the Marktplatz. King Wenceslaus’s soldiers stepped out and moved into the open cobblestone Platz.
“You will have help from these men, King Wenceslaus’s soldiers that he sent to aid you. And you will have the guards from Valkenfeld who are willing to side with King Claude’s brother, Prince Bertold. He will be a good and noble king, not like King Claude. Just as Princess Elyce will be a good and noble queen when given the chance.”
The people were still glancing around and mumbling to one another.
“Do you want to serve King Claude? Or will you stand up for yourselves, your families, and your way of life?”
“I’m not a soldier! I don’t want to kill anyone,” a man said.
“You won’t have to, God willing. You will simply have to make it known to King Leandre that you are not willing to work in the mines and that you are opposed to his agreement with King Claude.” God, I hope and pray I’m right.
“I will fight!” A young man from the middle of the crowd pumped his fist in the air.
“Come up here!” Jacob motioned the man to come to the fountain. Taking him by the hand, Gerard helped him up. “You are Ysabeau’s brother, are you not?”
“Yes. I am Matthias.”
“Tell them what King Claude did to your younger brothers,” Jacob said.
Gerard’s spirit lifted. This was the very man they needed! And just as Matthias began to speak, Bertold returned with the Valkenfeld guards right behind him. They stood at the back of the crowd and listened.
“King Claude’s men seized my brothers from our home, bound them, and put gags in their mouths, even injuring my two oldest brothers who tried to stop them, beating them with their sword hilts. I was out in the fields tending the sheep. They took my youngest brother as a tool to force Princess Elyce to do King Claude’s bidding. King Claude knew she was trying to get support from King Wenceslaus and the other nobles to stop him from taking over Montciel. King Claude told the princess he would kill Dimitry and his brothers if she did not stop making trouble.”
A low, angry roar went through the crowd.
“Now I say to the men of Montciel, let’s start making trouble!” He held up his fist. “Who is willing?”
Several of the men yelled and raised their fists as well.
“Your own brothers may be next,” the young man called over the roar of the crowd. “Are you willing to let this foreign king take your freedom, injure your young men, and bully your women?”
Now all the men, and most of the women, were shouting.
Gerard whispered, “Thank You, God,” at the boldness and heart of this young man who was speaking so well before the crowd.
Meanwhile, Bertold made his way through the crowd to the fountain. They helped him up onto the wall, and he motioned for the crowd to quiet down.
“People of Montciel, it is time our two kingdoms were true friends and allies, not one taking advantage of the other. If I am made king, the people of Valkenfeld will work in its mines for a fair wage of their own free will, not as slaves to my brother, Claude. And no man from Montciel shall be forced to leave his home to work in the mines.”
The people cheered.
More guards began swarming into the Marktplatz, both Valkenfeld guards and Montciel guards, with their swords drawn, their bodies tense and ready for a fight. But the Valkenfeld guards and the Montciel guards who were already in the Marktplatz and had been listening to Gerard, Jacob, Matthias, and Bertold went and spoke to their fellow soldiers.
These guards surely knew of their king’s practice of enslaving men in his mines. Many of them, no doubt, had brothers or other relatives who had been taken and forced to work for Claude.
After a few minutes of heated discussion among the Valkenfeld guards, the guards who had drawn their swords put them away and seemed to be waiting for instruction.
God, thank You that the plan is working. Already they had more men with them than were guarding Montciel Castle. He hadn’t realized how unsure he’d actually been that the plan would work until this moment.
Thank You, God. Now please help me find Elyce and keep her safe.
Twenty-Two
Elyce stayed in the chapel praying for what must have been over an hour. Then she heard a commotion of heavy footsteps and loud voices from somewhere in the castle. Over her shoulder she could see that the guards who were watching her had left.
Father Johannes was motioning her forward. “My dear,” he whispered, “men are converging on the castle, many of them with farming tools as weapons, and they have guards with them. They are demanding to see you.”
“To see me?”
“Yes. They are shouting something. Shall I go find out what?”
“Please do.”
Elyce could not imagine what was happening. Could Jacob have been so successful so quickly? Or was it an angry mob stirred up by King Claude’s men?
Several minutes later the guards were back at their posts, watching her, and Father Johannes finally returned. He said softly, “The people are demanding that you and the young man Dimitry and his brothers be freed, and they are demanding you be made their queen in place of your father. They are shouting over and over, ‘Queen Elyce, Queen Elyce.’”
“How can that be?”
“Jacob and some other men—I am not certain who they are—have been telling the people what you were trying to do for them and what your father, the king, has done by making his alliance with King Claude. I believe even King Claude’s guards are siding with the people of Montciel.”
Could it be true? But her father would be furious, as would King Claude.
“What should I do?”
Father Johannes glanced over her shoulder at the guards. “You need to hide, to make sure King Claude and your father cannot find you. And I have the perfect place. Come with me, quickly.”