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me for amusement for the time being. ‘Tis just a shame we do not visit more often but my lord
does his best to avoid Lord Tibald’s hospitalities.”
    “I do not blame him; I would do the same if I had the choice.”
    “So you are held against your will? I thought as much.”
    Isabel looked at her with interest and Evelyn wondered with horror if
she had been the subject of much gossip last night.
    “Not openly so, but it has been made clear to me that much suffering
will occur should I do otherwise. Lord Tibald wishes
for our betrothal so he may take my lands. I am just praying for my brother’s
safe return…he is in the Holy Land,” she added.
    Isabel nodded and gave Evelyn’s arm a squeeze. “Then I shall pray for
you too. I should not like to see you betrothed to such a man. I have seen what
marriage to men like these can do to a woman. I would not wish it upon you.”
    Evelyn looked at Isabel in surprise. “Not you, surely, Isabel?”
    She could not see jovial Isabel being oppressed by her husband.
    “Nay not I, although there are times when I would
enjoy some conflict. Sir Walter was more than double my age when we
married and no livelier than he is now. Still, a wise woman knows how to
control her husband and ‘tis not without its merits.”
    “I doubt there would be much controlling Lord Tibald .
Not even you could accomplish that task, Isabel.”
    The shrill sound of a woman’s scream echoed through the air, breaking
their merriment. A scurrying look at the source revealed a young family stood
in the muddied road while a small hoard of Tibald’s guards surrounded what Evelyn assumed to be their home. Further inspection
revealed several other peasants with the same look of distress on their faces.
The sound of angry male voices drew her attention to a group of men, in front
of which Sir Gabriel stood.
    “Isabel, what is happening?” She turned to her, still clinging to her
arm as Isabel looked on with sadness on her face.
    “A burning I should think.”
    “A burning?”
    Evelyn spotted the torches ready to be lit, awaiting their moment to
wreak their destruction on the wooden shelters.
    “Aye, not uncommon here, I believe.”
    “Can we not do something?”
    She watched in horror as Gabriel pushed away from the men and the
guards stepped in front of them, forcing them back from their homes. A shouted
order saw the torches lit. Evelyn knew such events were not unusual but she had
never seen in with her own eyes and such a barbaric act would never have been
allowed to occur in Beldersert .
    Isabel gave her a woeful smile. “What would you have us do, Evelyn?
Stand in front of their flaming torches? This is not our business. Come away,
you would not want to witness such an act.”
    “Nay, I cannot.”
     She pulled her arm away from Isabel, dashing towards the first
home. Isabel shouted after her but she ignored her, knocking past the guards
who were not expecting her to barge through. As she stood in the doorway of the
hut, Gabriel looked at her in incomprehension. The soldier holding the flaming
torch stood mere paces away, his hand poised to set the home aflame.
    “Evelyn, what in God’s name are you
doing?”  His anger made his voice shake and Evelyn looked fearfully from
him to the flaming stick, but she stood firmly.
    “I beg of you, do not do this!”
    Running his hand through his hair and shaking his head with a sigh, he
moved towards her to grab her but she pulled her arm from his.
    “Evelyn, you should not be here. Go back to the keep.”
    “Nay, not until you stop this madness.”
    “I cannot, I have my orders.”
    “What could these families have possibly done to deserve having their
homes destroyed?”
    “They have not paid their rents for many months, Evelyn. ‘ Tis no more
than they would expect.”
    “That does not mean ‘tis right!”
    She could not understand how he could be so cold, his eyes a blank mask
of disinterest. Or was it weariness? Did he weary of such tasks?