The Minstrel in the Tower Read Online Free Page A

between them and ran. She hadn’t traveled all this way just to be thrown into a moat!
    For nearly two days Alice had searched for the baron’s chateau, asking directions of everyone she met. A dozen times she’d lost her way. And she’d been hungry.
    Once she’d rescued a cat from a tree, and its owner had rewarded her with a handful of plums. A baker had given her a bun for carrying a basket of eggs from the market to his shop. A housewife had poured her a cup of fresh milk, for no reason other than kindness.
    But much of the time she’d been famished and footsore and shivery from worry. And now—“Catch the little baggage!” the steward shrieked as the servants chased Alice around and around the courtyard.
    In one wall stood a wooden door decorated with iron bands. Alice threw herself against it and the door burst open into a great hallhung with beautiful tapestries and banners.
    “What is this?” A very tall nobleman, with straight blond hair and a narrow beard, rose angrily from his chair. “Steward!”
    “Forgive me, Lord Raimond,” the red-faced steward apologized. “This child… she says she’s related to you.”
    A young knight eating at the baron’s table burst into laughter, but Lord Raimond was not amused. “Remove her at once,” he ordered coldly.
    The steward and the servants began the chase again, but Alice, too quick for them, scrambled up a rough stone wall. A little higher than their upstretched arms, she clung to a timber that supported one of the ceiling arches. “Listen to me!” she shouted down. “I am the daughter of Lady Blanche!”
    The echo of her voice fell into a deathly silent hall. For years no one had mentioned Lady Blanche in Lord Raimond’s presence. The only sounds were the sniffing of hunting dogs who searched for bits of food among the reeds strewn on the floor and the shuffle of servants’ feet as they stole away. None butthe steward and the young knight were brave enough to remain.
    Lord Raimond’s voice no longer sounded cold. Now it was hot with fury. “If you don’t come down at once,” he shouted, “I will order my archers to shoot you down!”
    “You’re supposed to be my uncle,” she shouted back, “and you won’t even listen to me! Mother told me to show you the eagle on the lute, but Simon and Odo hid it somewhere. And Roger can’t get out of the tower, and Mother wants you to forgive her…” Suddenly it was too much for Alice, and she started to cry.
    “Stop!” Lord Raimond raised his hand. “What’s this about a lute? Come down here and make sense.”
    Alice lowered herself to the floor, but stood warily with her back against the wall. First she told Lord Raimond about her mother’s illness. When he remained silent, she went on to describe everything else—the journey, Simon and Odo, and Roger’s imprisonment in the tower.
    “She claims to be your niece, my lord,” remarkedthe steward, “but she looks nothing at all like you.”
    “That’s true.” Lord Raimond frowned. “If you’re lying, child, it’s a terrible lie for you to tell.”
    “Have you any proof?” asked the young knight.
    “The lute was supposed to be proof. It’s Mother’s lute, but Roger can play it too. But it’s gone.”
    The stern look had faded from the baron’s face. “Come here,” he said. “I will not harm you.” When she approached he caught hold of her and drew her closer until she stood right in front of him. For a moment he stared at her, with eyes of the same blue as Roger’s.
    “The song your brother sang when the man called Simon recognized him,” said Lord Raimond. “Can you remember it?”
    “I think so. It goes: ’My brother is a noble knight, an…’” Alice’s voice faltered. Then she caught sight of a blue eagle on a white banner behind the baron’s chair. “That’s the eagle on the lute,” she said in wonder. “Not perched, but soaring, with an arrow in its beak.”
    Abruptly Lord Raimond turned to the steward.