Les Hors-la-loi || Outlaws

9

1162, twenty years ago

Nora was seven years old when the strange woman entered her home in the dead of the night, pleading for a place to hide, even just until morning. She remembered clearly how the woman had sobbed pitifully.

"The king is gone. My king, my Tom, he's gone."

Marlena had already guided her to the small dining table and had asked Otis to prepare something to calm her down. Perhaps a warm cup of chamomile tea would soothe her nerves. Marlena wrapped her shawl over her shaking shoulders and got up to help Otis.

Nora walked up to the woman who sat with her head in her hands. "What's your name?"

"Nora!" Marlena began, ready to scold her daughter, but she paused to watch.

"Sabine."

"Where's the king gone?" Nora asked, tilting her head to one side to emphasise her confused state. "When's he coming back?"

Both Nora's parents stopped to watch, hoping and praying their elder daughter didn't offend the woman -- the queen. Otis passed his wife a cup and Marlena cautiously approached to hand the tea to Sabine.

"He's gone somewhere far away, to a place more peaceful than this one. He won't come back. I'll go to meet him one day, don't you worry."

"But . . . if the king is gone away, and you're going to go and meet him, who will be our ruler?"

Sabine's shoulders had stopped shaking, and she had begun to rock back and forth slightly. She glanced up at Marlena, who walked forward and ushered Nora to the bedroom. "Time for bed, my little spider."

Sabine's eyebrows lifted as she glanced at Otis.

"She . . . fond of the arachnids. She learnt the word Anansi from a friend and hasn't stopped calling herself that for weeks."

Sabine smiled. "How precious."

Marlena returned, pulling the door lightly behind her. Nora sat on the floor and peeped through the crack between the door and the wall.

Sabine's smile faded. "Tom is dead."

"What happened, my queen?" Marlena asked.

Sabine waved her away. "Enough of that. It was Tom who made me a queen. Without him, I am the maid I was long before."

"Surely you can still rule as queen without him?" Otis asked.

Sabine shook her head. "I cannot. André . . . he arranged for Tom's death and mine too."

"But you've survived," Marlena said, "how can he strike at you if you've risen from this battle?"

"It's not me I worry about."

"Then who?"

"My child. He will make every attempt he can to harm my child before he or she can rise to the throne. André wants what does not belong to him, and he will go to great lengths to get it. He must never find my child."

"What can we do to help?" Marlena asked, taking the queen's hands to offer reassurance.

"I cannot ask it of you."

"Marlena and I will do whatever we can to help put things right, even if we must hide you in our home for twenty one years."

Sabine glanced between the firm looks on the faces of the couple. "Just my child," she whispered.

"What?"

"I must guarantee that André can never touch my child. I have found a way. Will you look after my baby when I am gone?"