Chapter one
Life could be cruel in Middle England, during the Year of Our Lord 1365. Wolves still roamed the landscape and, it was rumored, wizards, and sprites. But, one fateful day, Byth found it necessary to take refuge far from the town of her birth, Gateshead on the Tyne.
When the Plague entered the port at Tynemouth the countryside was thrown into a panic. Byth was too young to remember the last visit from the Black Death, but her father and mother had managed to escape by hiding in the woods east of Durham. Her father was an excellent bowman, having served as one of the King's elite Newcastle Archers against the Scots, providing both game and security for his wife and suckling daughter through an entire winter while the plague played itself out amongst the citizens who remained.
Byth could not remember being any farther than the opposite end of the village, which took several hours to walk. Beyond the village's edge lay deep woods and dark places where men of a stout heart had disappeared without a trace. While Byth did not believe strongly in necromancy nor black spirits, those who had vanished were not mere boys.
Byth's mother and father chose to remain behind in Gateshead after they took over an inn whose owner had succumbed to the ravages of pestilence. With a return of the disease, which spread through the land at the pace of a walking man, Byth's parents thought it best to send the girl into the woods to save herself and her young child.
An innkeeper's daughter was thought to be of loose moral fabric, especially one as beautiful as Byth, but she had resisted every man's advances, even kicking one man where his manhood resided, until one winter's eve when a singularly handsome man spun her great stories of his own kingdom that had been stolen from him and of adventures far a'sea. He poured many flagons of ale but drank few, instead giving them to the much too young Byth. With her judgment impaired by the rich drink, she gave herself willingly to the dark-eyed stranger. Within three seasons she gave birth to a fine bawling girl who showed extraordinary intelligence at an early age. The child had blond hair, unlike Byth's reddish, but she had her mother's creamy fair skin and bright green eyes.
Byth's mother and father knew her nature and realized it was not that of a harlot. They accepted this child as their granddaughter and heaped praise and great love on the child. With his only child and grandchild in danger, Byth's father gave her the meat he could spare, his strong yew bow and a dagger he had stripped from the body of a Scottish knight and he bade her farewell for what, he insisted, would be their last meeting. With tears filling her eyes she trudged away from what had been her home for as long as she could remember into the dark unknown with only her father's hand-drawn map to guide her and carrying her yearling daughter.
With the dangers of travel afoot, given the Plague's wont to drive men to crime, Byth tried to move only after dark to hide her sex and that she carried a young child swaddled inside her bodice. After two nights she came to the edge of her known world and set into the inky night to see where fate, and her father's simple map, might take her. With fewer houses and farms nearby Byth felt more comfortable traveling by daylight and was able to cover a greater distance in the long summer days. Her daughter was quiet and comfortable hidden beneath her mother's clothing.
After many hours trek Byth came to an ancient oak at a crossroads and seeing it as one of her father's landmarks, checked the angle of the sun to determine the points of the compass, and headed directly between the two roads into the dark woods. Byth's path was no longer that of the marked road. Now she would have to rely on her wits beyond that point.
Her steps were easy for many hours proving the worth of her father's map, but at last even his crude drawings became fewer until she found herself at the end of the parchment. As the sun settled low in the countryside Byth huddled herself inside the hollow of a tree to wait out the blackness of night.
Byth awoke to the sounds of a canine snuffling about. Quickly, she drew her dagger and prepared to lash out at whatever beast appeared. A huge dappled wolfhound peered into the hollow of the tree to inspect Byth at length. She watched its every move waiting for an indication of attack. Its tail wagged momentarily before it set to a long loud baying that Byth knew would attract its owner. The child at her breast began to whimper with this ruckus and Byth stood herself up inside the tree's dead portion with her back braced to lash out at the dog when it was time for her escape. The dog stopped its noise and began to wag its tail furiously as it gamboled to an unseen master. Byth prepared herself to meet this new danger with her jaw set and the dagger bared.
A pleasant face peeked into the tree from several yards away. The man had flaxen hair that was tussled as if he had ridden hard for many miles and his ruddy cheeks set off his dark eyes. The wolfhound rubbed against him and whimpered for his attention as only a dog that had been spoiled by an over-affectionate master would.
"Pray, m'lady. Step forth." Still brandishing shining steel at chest level Byth shuffled forward ready to attack. The dog growled as Byth came nearer. The man hissed loudly at the dog, quieting the beast.
"Why have you made this tree your home, young miss?" The man's voice was melodic and familiar. Suddenly, Byth saw him for the man who had brought her with child and she darted forward to stab him. The dog began to bark viciously at Byth's thrust but the man danced away easily. He hissed at the dog again and the barking ceased but the dog's eye's followed Byth's movements carefully now. With the quiet, the man heard the whimpers of Byth's child.
"What have you under your cloak, angry woman?" The man asked mockingly.
Byth measured the distance to the dog and knew she couldn't reach the man without being attacked.
She knew her best chance for survival was to present the man with the spawn of his loins so she tugged back her bodice to reveal the young girl's sweet blond head.
The man smiled broadly, obviously taken by the beauty of the youngster.
"And who's child is this?" he asked with genuine pleasure.
"Do you not recognize your own flesh, m'lord?" Byth's tone was insolent. The man's smile faded quickly when he peered more closely into Byth's face.
"The Innkeeper's daughter..." The man stepped forward quickly and snatched the blade from her hand prompting the dog to bark again. The man raised his hand towards the dog and it shied away just out of reach. Tossing the blade aside he pushed Byth against the tree holding her neck firmly while he held her hand so she could not cover the child again. Byth struggled but his grip was strong and she felt dizzy as he cut off her air. He examined them both closely before he released her. He tore the young girl from Byth's grasp as she panted to regain her breath. The man spun away from the mother while the dog snarled savagely at her. He measured the bundled child's heft and looked deep into her clear eyes before he turned back and smiled broadly at Byth.
"You have given me a fine daughter."
"She is mine!" Byth snapped causing the dog to snarl again as Byth pressed forward. The man eyed Byth again before he spoke.
"You may ride my horse. I wish walk with my new-found child to learn more of her nature." Byth glared at the man with her jaw set, but her child had ceased to whimper and Byth thought she heard the child actually coo.
Byth climbed into the saddle and threw her knee over the horn like a proper lady. She had ridden a horse before but never a magnificent creature like this. Her mind wasn't on the fine mount she rode but watching this man holding her baby.
They walked for several hours and through the entire journey the man whispered to the child and chucked her under her chin until at length the little girl seemed quite smitten with the handsome man, smiling often, and squealing with delight when he held her high above his head. Byth watched him closely, and his dog, who never strayed from his side for long. Without her blade, against a stronger man, Byth knew she had little at her disposal to snatch back her daughter.
At last, the dog dashed in long loping strides towards a clearing. A lone woman stood on its edge and clapped her hands causing the dog to sprint towards her. Kneeling she rubbed the dog's head. The woman glanced at Byth, astride the horse, and then at the man as he chatted to the bundle of cloth in his arms. As the horse trotted the several yards into the clearing, its obvious home, Byth held her head low to the woman who she assumed must have been the man's most recent victim of sexual conquest.
Though this woman did not show signs of child Byth thought this man must have plied other women with stories and ale. The slender woman stepped forward and stoked the neck of the horse as it neared her. Looking directly into Byth's face she spoke.
"I am Marielle..." The woman was pretty and her voice rang clearly.
Head held low, Byth responded quietly, "I am called Byth, m'lady."
The woman dipped her face to move into Byth's eyesight and smiled.
"Call me Marielle, please." Byth was embarrassed by this woman's niceties and wondered if she would continue this pleasant behavior when she discovered that this man had taken Byth to bed and bore him a daughter at a tender age.
Turning, the pleasant woman spoke to the defiler of young women.
"And what have you caught this day?"
"A child. A girl." Smiling and holding the girl above his head, to her obvious delight, he proclaimed loudly, "My child!"
"And her mother?" The woman asked.
"Yes. This is she," he nodded towards the rider on the horse.
"The Innkeeper's daughter?" Byth nodded as Marielle extended her hand and bowed her head. "M'lady."
Confused, Byth slid from the saddle. She glanced towards the top of Marielle's bowed head and back towards the man who now nuzzling the baby to his cheek.
