In fact, realizing that the mattress was stuffed with straw made her realize that the two chatelaines, Barbara and Lenore, might have done it deliberately to make her feel unwelcome. Perhaps they did that to all of the female visitors, or perhaps they only did it to women they had taken an instant dislike to. Whatever the case, the room with a view of the pigsty and the scratchy straw mattress belonged to her and it would be a great tale to tell her friends in London. She would regale them with the story of the two harpies of Blackpool Castle.
It sounded like a great play in the works.
Giggling to herself, Isalyn drifted off to sleep in the early afternoon. Contrary to what Barbara had suggested, the noise from the kitchen yard didn’t bother her in the least and she slept for a few hours before awakening in the late afternoon.
Yawning, Isalyn awoke to the sounds of goats bleating. Nonetheless, she felt rested and content, but it occurred to her that the room was a little chilly because of the stone walls and the lack of any direct sunlight into the chamber. With the covers up around her neck, it further occurred to her that no fuel for a fire had been brought as Barbara had promised.
Realizing this, she rose from the bed and quickly put her traveling dress back on. She wasn’t entirely sure that servants hadn’t come while she was sleeping, knocking on the door and not receiving an answer. She assumed that must have been what had happened, so she went to the door to summon a servant to let them know that she was awake and that they could stoke her hearth. Putting her hand on the door latch, she tried to lift it only to realize that it was fixed in place.
The latch wouldn’t budge.
Curious, Isalyn tried to force the latch to lift several times before realizing that it was a futile effort. Peering at the lock itself, she could see that the bolts were firmly in place, meaning the tumblers had been turned in order to move the bolts into their locked position. She could not imagine why the door would be locked, so she assumed that it was merely a mistake. Someone had accidentally locked her in. She began to knock on the door, calling to anyone who was within earshot and asking for help with the door.
That went on for several minutes before she realized there was nobody within earshot to help her. She wasn’t frightened, nor was she angry, but she was annoyed. The sun would soon be down and her chamber would be plunged into chill darkness, so it was important for her to catch the attention of a servant to help her. She didn’t want to be stuck in a freezing tomb all night.
Giving up on the idea of banging on the door and yelling for help, Isalyn went to the shuttered window that faced the wall walk, thinking that she could open up the shutter and speak to one of the soldiers and ask them for help. That seemed to make the most sense, so she made her way over to the shuttered window only to discover that the shutters were locked.
Just like the door.
And the only window that was open was facing over the pigsty.
Now, it was starting to occur to Isalyn that this was no accident. She had received a strange sense of scrutiny from the chatelaines since she had arrived, and now she was in a chamber that was cold, without a fire or food, and with a locked door and one locked shutter. She would have not been suspicious had it only been the door, but now she was starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together and realize there was a pattern.
Her hostesses were making sure that she was not only uncomfortable, but trapped.
It was starting to make sense as to why Isabella had accompanied her to her chamber. The woman had known something that she had not. When Barbara and Lenore had come to the hall to take Isalyn to her chamber, Isabella had looked at the women with an expression that suggested a coldness.
Guardedness.
Considering how friendly Isabella had been towards her, that change in manner had been sudden and strange.
Maybe there was a reason for Isabella’s coldness towards them.
Isalyn was thinking that perhaps she should have given Isabella’s change in manner more credit. This was her first visit to Blackpool and she didn’t know the people, nor did she have any reason to be suspicious of anyone. But in hindsight, there had been signs all around her that she had ignored. She didn’t want to be immediately suspicious of a new place and new people.
Now, she was paying the price.
Going to the window that overlooked the pigsty, Isalyn peered over the ledge to see just how far of a drop it was down into the pigsty. Had her hostesses put her on the ground floor, she could have simply jumped out the window with little effort, but being that she was on the first floor, there were more logistics involved with it. She had no doubt that the pair had known that.
But she wasn’t going to let that stop her.
The yew tree was at the window that had the locked shutters. Isalyn could see it through the pattern of the shutters. Locking those shutters had been to keep her from climbing out onto that tree and making her way to the ground. When she remembered that she had thanked Barbara for shutting them, she felt like a fool.
She had thanked the woman for locking her in.
Sheer rage was beginning to take over at this point. Thinking quickly, she ripped the linens off of the bed in preparation for her escape. The coverlet and the two linen sheets beneath were firmly and carefully tied end to end, creating a rope that she tied off on one of the legs of the bed.
Throwing the rope from the window, she climbed onto the ledge and noticed servants out of the kitchen yard going about their business. She called to them and waved her arms, but when she shouted, the goats and pigs below would make noise because they were startled by the sharp sound of her voice. She shouted four times but, each time, she was drowned out by a frightened animal. Frustrated and impatient, she grabbed the rope and began to lower herself out.
Truthfully, she’d never done anything like this before and quickly discovered that it was not as easy as she had thought it would be. It took upper body strength and a good grip. About halfway down, the bed must have slipped because the rope suddenly gave way and snapped her right off. Isalyn fell the last few feet to the ground, landing on her backside in the mud as the pigs squealed and scattered.
For a moment, she simply sat there, a wee bit stunned at hitting the ground so hard. But her shock was momentary. She was out of the chamber and that was all she cared about. Struggling to her feet, she was also so angry that she was quite certain the devil himself would have run from her at that moment.
Now, she was on the hunt.
Storming out of the kitchen yard, she found herself in the inner bailey, heading for the great hall. Her entire backside was soaked with mud, and it covered most of the back of her head and her hair. It was on her arms and hands, and the only thing it didn’t seem to be on was her chest and face. By the time she entered the great hall, there were flames of fury shooting out of her ears.
She had come to do battle.
Unfortunately, the hall was empty except for the knight who had greeted them when they had first arrived at Blackpool. He was sitting at the table eating the remnants of a meal, but he caught movement out of the corners of his eyes and looked up just as Isalyn approached the table.
His eyes widened at the sight.
“My lady?” he gasped, rising quickly. “What on earth happened to you?”
Isalyn was ready to explode. “What is your name, my lord? I have forgotten.”
“Christian, my lady. Christian Hage.”
“Christian,” she said through clenched teeth. “I will explain the situation to you – the door to my chamber was locked. The shutters were locked except for the ones overlooking the kitchen yard. I had to climb from the window to escape the chamber because no amount of screaming or banging would bring anyone to my aid. I had no fire, no food, and no way to communicate with anyone. Where are those two chatelaines?”