Chapter Three: Hale
Baron Hale of Hawkshead, passed the reins of his horse to a waiting groom and, pausing to clap the lad on the shoulder, exited the stable yard in the direction of the Hawkshead Keep. Though it would have encompassed barely a tithe of the immense bulk of Castle GreyβHale's childhood homeβthe Keep was still a forbidding structure. The first Baron of Hawkshead had ordered it to be built atop the high hill whose peculiar shape gave his fiefdom its name. From this place of strength he had commanded the loyalty of the lands for many miles around. Time had weathered smooth the heavy black stones since then, but had done nothing to make the walls less defensible or imposing.
The two men-at-arms on duty outside the double oaken doors saluted smartly as Hale approached.
"Good even, my lord," said the senior of the pair.
"Good even, Haldric," Hale replied. He had become Baron of Hawkshead for less than a year, but already he knew each member of his staff, and particularly his guardsmen, by name. It was a habit of his years in Rivenland's military. A good commander knows his troops.
Passing through the oaken doors and into the hall beyond, Hale noted the torches were already begin to burn low in their sconces. His evening's ride had taken him farther afield than usual. At thirty-six years of age, Hale still had a soldier's build and bearing. His blue eyes were sharp and piercing above a hooked nose and strong jawline. He wore no beard and kept his dark hair pulled back in a short tail. A few strands of silver already gleamed among the jet, giving Hale a slightly grizzled air. Broad shoulders and thick biceps strained the finely woven fabric of his doublet and a sabre scar adorned his right cheek. More scars and weapon calluses were visible on the baron's large hands, as he lifted one of the torches from its bracket, using it to light his way up the winding stairways of the Keep's central tower.
On the second landing, Hale espied Goodwife Tyrol just entering the door the to servants' stair. She carried a guttering candle in a shallow clay dish.
"Good even, Mistress Tyrol," Hale called softly.
The elderly woman dropped Hale as deep a curtsy as her stiff limbs would allow. "Good even to as well my lord. Is there something you require?"
Hale smiled and shook his head. "Nay mistress, I am well. How fare the ladies of my house?"
The Goodwife had been the baroness' maid when she was a girl and a nurse to the baroness' four daughters' by her first husband. Though the girls were now well past the need of any nursing, the youngest two being fully eighteen years of age, it was still her habit to checking on the young ladies every evening. For this obvious devotion, and for other reasons, Hale was always careful to be nothing but courteous to the Goodwife.
"Her ladyship is fitful," she admitted. "The babe in her belly wakes her with kicking and her back and feet pain her."
"Do you judge it serious?" asked Hale. "Shall I send for a healer?"
"Nay, nay milord," the Goodwife assured him, shaking her greying locks. "She endured worse during her last confinement, for all that she was not then one and twenty. And grumble though she will I know she is glad of the chance to make you an heir before her bearing years are done."
"That may be some ten years hence," Hale pointed out.
"Mays and ifs make beggars of princes," the Goodwife chided gently, as though Hale were a thoughtless boot boy and not the lord of the Keep. "Though, truth to tell, I hope you are right. I should like to see my lady thronged round with pretty children to keep her smiling when I am gone."
"That is what I hope for too," said Hale. "Though I pray she may have your company as well for many years to come."
"Thank you my lord," said the Goodwife smiling.
"And what of the young ladies?" Hale asked as Goodwife Tyrol turned back to her dusty stairwell. The look she gave him was sharp and knowing, but Hale thought there was more of indulgence than condemnation in it.
"I would hazard that they fain more weariness than they feel, my lord, and a little of my raspberry tea seems to have quite settled their stomachs."
"What would this little family do with out you mistress Tyrol?" Hale said with feeling.
"I could not say, my lord" she replied wryly. "Though I dare to guess that with or without me it should not stay a 'little' family very long."
Hale chuckled warmly and the Goodwife bobbed another creaky curtsy before departing. The Baron of Hawkshead proceeded upstairs and, laying aside the snuffed torch aside, entered his solar. A great four-poster bed dominated the center of the round stone room. The heavy drapes of rich, wine-colored velvet were drawn, but Hale could make out the soft rustle of cloth and low whimpers that issued from behind them.