Annys bit back a smile as she heard the annoyance in Joan’s voice. Her son had a true skill for arousing that emotion in Joan. Joan’s children were quiet, well-behaved little boys, unless they played with Benet. She looked up from her sewing to smile at Joan.
“Has my son led your lads astray again?” she asked.
“Nay yet. He was meeting with them to play ball but they have been waiting for near to an hour they said and he hadnae come.”
A closer look at Joan revealed that worry was behind her annoyance and Annys felt an icy chill flow down her back. “Mayhap Benet got distracted doing something with whichever mon was charged with watching him today.”
“Nay. That was Sir Gybbon. He thought the boy was with mine. Said the lad needed to go to the garderobe first and then said he was meeting my lads right here in the bailey. Weel, my lads finally came to get me because they couldnae find him.”
Annys tossed her sewing aside, leapt to her feet, and started out of the solar. “Then we must find Sir Gybbon now.”
“He waits in the bailey with my lads,” said Joan as she hurried after Annys. “Ye cannae think something has happened to the wee lad. Everyone was watching o’er him. He hasnae gone a step in any direction for a sennight without someone kenning exactly where he is.”
“It appears that this time he may have eluded that constant watch.”
Annys told herself to control the fear welling up inside of her. A clear head was needed now. One could not plan if one’s head and heart were both lost in the fog of fear. But terror was gnawing at her and it was difficult to fight.
She saw Sir Gybbon pacing in front of Joan’s sons. The young man looked both upset and angry. A part of her wanted to yell at him but she silenced it. He had done as he had been told. This was not his fault. She was certain of it. He had simply allowed Benet to go to the garderobe. Somehow the boy had been snatched or led away from there.
“M’lady, I dinnae ken . . .” Sir Gybbon began, his blue eyes dark with guilt.
“Nay, dinnae apologize,” she said and patted his arm. “There is no need. No one said ye should follow the lad right into the garderobe. He was also inside the crowded keep. Nay a place we thought extra eyes needed to be.” She turned to Joan. “What we need now is for everyone to search the keep,” she told her, and Joan quickly began to order people inside to hunt for Benet.
“Do ye think he is hiding in there?” asked Sir Gybbon.
“I hope he is. I hope he is just being a naughty boy and thinking he is doing something funny by hiding on us.” She lowered her voice so that no one else could hear her but Gybbon. “My fear is that the one who poisoned my husband has betrayed us again.”
“Och, nay.” He dragged his hands through his thick black hair. “Mayhaps watched closely for those few times when the lad was alone.” He grimaced. “Such as when he had to visit the garderobe. But, how would he get the lad away from here with none of us seeing anything?”
“Every keep has a bolt-hole, Sir Gybbon. Recall I mentioned one when we took your prisoner to his cell. ’Tis nay a secret for all it can be locked from inside the ledger room. David felt it unfair for only a few chosen ones to ken how to escape an attack so most all here ken where it is. Joan and Dunnie both ken where the extra keys are hidden. I suspect David told Nicolas as weel, giving him one to hide. There is another bolt-hole just for the laird and his closest kin or guards, but, if someone took Benet, it wouldnae be so verra hard to get him outside the walls through that bolt-hole if they uncovered it as it is nay locked. I can only pray that didnae happen for it would mean that they could have already gotten him far away from us.”
Sir Gybbon gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. Annys knew it was intended to reassure her. It did not, but it did stop her from racing into the keep yelling Benet’s name. Someone needed to stay in one place so the searchers could quickly report to her whatever they might find. She soothed her need to join the search by reminding herself that Joan, and several of the younger girls, knew every one of Benet’s hiding places. There was no need for her to direct the search.
One by one her people came out to say that they had found no sign of her son. Each report was a blow to the heart. Annys forced herself to thank the person reporting, say something comforting, and then calmly wait for the next person to report. Joan was the last one to walk up to her and it took every scrap of strength Annys possessed not to fall to the ground and weep at the look upon the woman’s face. Joan had not found her child either.
“He isnae in there, Annys,” Joan said, her voice thick with tears.
When Joan moved to embrace her, Annys held out her hand to stop her advance. “Nay, I will break. I will fall to the ground and be of no use to anyone.” She looked at Sir Gybbon. “Where are Sir Harcourt and the others?”