The Sorceror's Revenge Read Online Free PDF Page B

had hoped.  Malvern had fetched out both the woman and the child to see the trinkets he had brought for their pleasure.  The ruby was Melloria’s own, a gift on their wedding day, which she had sent with other jewels to the Abbey when her women fled the castle, and the other trinkets he had acquired on his travels in Spain and France as gifts for his wife and child.  He had given none of them to Rhoda, buying other trinkets to please her and keeping these to one side.  Melloria had shown no sign of recognition when he showed her the jewel.
    It was true that she had changed for the white streak in her hair, wisps of which just showed from beneath the wimple she wore on her head,  had not been there when he took his last farewell of her.  Also, there were changes in her manner.  She seemed less fiercely proud than when he knew her, more content and quieter, and he thought she had suffered for her face was thinner, older than he remembered.
                  She was still so beautiful that she made him burn with love and desire.  It had taken all his restraint not to make a passionate declaration and snatch both her and the child.  Had she shown any sign of knowing him, he would have told her who he was but she seemed not to recognise him or the jewel, of which she had been very proud.
                  What had happened to change her?  Robert pondered the difference in her nature.  The Melloria he knew had loved pretty jewels and rich materials.  To see her dressed in a sober fashion unlike her usual habit was something of a shock. Why did she dress in dark blue when she had loved crimson, yellow and gold?
                  Had she been afraid to speak out?  He thought he had seen a hint of fear in her eyes when she looked at him.  The wife he adored would not have looked at him in such a way.  That Devil Malvern must have bewitched her.  Robert had not thought it possible but now he realised it must be the only explanation.
                  ‘Stay here and watch,’ he told the man who had played the part of the other peddler.  ‘I need to know when the gates are unlocked – on what days produce is taken into the house and what kind of folk visit there.’
                  ‘Yes, my lord.  I looked about me and I think we could easily take the manor for it is hardly guarded at all, just a handful of men and none of them wore swords.  Malvern is a fool not to take more care for anyone could breach those walls in hours.’
                  ‘I shall not make a full attack unless I am forced,’ Robert replied.  ‘If we bombard the walls people may be killed – perhaps the child or my wife.  We must take them by surprise.  I want to snatch Melloria and the child, though we shall kill Malvern.  I know not what he spell he hath used to bind her mind but it must be broken.’
                  ‘You are certain she is your wife, my lord?’
                  ‘I have never been more certain in my life.’ Robert’s eyes suddenly gleamed with triumph.  Melloria was alive.    She had not known him but she lived and so did his daughter, for the child was clearly hers and of the right age.  ‘She has been ill and that is the reason she seems subdued – and perhaps her mind has been deliberately robbed of its memory.’
                  Robert felt the grief fester inside him.  What had happened to her in the months and years since they had parted.  The woman he had seen was Melloria and yet she was not his wife, the woman who had tortured his thoughts for so long.  How could she be so changed?
                  ‘He hath bewitched her,’ he said, speaking his thoughts aloud.  ‘He is an evil sorcerer and he has cast a spell on her.’
                  The soldier muttered an oath and crossed himself, looking back at the house with a mixture of superstition and