Several men moved forward and took charge of Ruexner, whose expression was stoic now that he was surrounded. After wrongfully capturing her and Valten more than once, tying them up and lording over them, now he was the captive.
Valten and his father, Duke Wilhelm, stood talking as the men led Ruexner away. They would have to decide what to do with Ruexner and all his men. One knight shouted for someone to go fetch the town barber, or healer, if there was one. A couple of men ran off down the street. Meanwhile, the townspeople milled about, talking and trying to stand on their toes to see what was happening, while the Hagenheim men seemed busy, checking on the injured and watching the prisoners.
A woman walked toward Gisela. She was well dressed, with plump, pink cheeks and a ready smile. “Gisela Mueller?”
“Yes?”
“I am Hette Schwarcz, and I knew the Baroness, Ruexner’s mother. I was telling the truth when I said you were her sister’s daughter.”
Gisela shook her head. “So it was you who said our mothers were sisters. How do you know this?”
She squeezed Gisela’s arm. “Because you look so much like her, and her name was Gisela Russdorffer. Baron Ruexner’s mother and her sister promised to name their first daughters after each other. I knew who you were as soon as you said your name was Gisela. But you are tired now, I can see, and no doubt famished. Come with me to the baker’s shop. The baker’s wife is my friend and she will give you whatever you want to eat. Come.”
Feeling curious, but also thirsty and hungry, Gisela started to go with Frau Schwarcz. The woman looked down at her foot, as Gisela was limping.
“Oh, you are hurt!” The woman moaned. “You poor thing.”
“I injured my ankle, but it is nothing.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Valten coming toward her. “Where are you going?”
“I —”
The woman interrupted. “I am taking her to get some food, just here,” and she pointed to a shop barely thirty feet down the dirt street. “I promise I shall take good care of her.”
Valten looked at the woman, then at Gisela. He moved closer. “Can you walk?”
“Of course. It is only a little sprain. But you come with us. You need to eat too.”
“I will. You go with this woman, but only there. I shall come soon.”
Gisela followed the woman, who took her arm and insisted she lean on her. Once inside the little bakery, which was warm and smelled of bread and roast pig, the woman sat her at a small wooden table and brought out a bowl of pork stew and hot buttered bread, with wine and water to drink. Gisela hadn’t realized how tired and hungry she was, and as she ate, Hette Schwarcz told her about becoming friends with Friedric Ruexner’s mother when Hette was married to her first husband, a merchant who lived in Bruchen.
“Gisela Ruexner, your aunt, was taken by Baron Ruexner when she was but sixteen. He forced her to marry him, since her father was dead and she had no one to object for her. By the time she had her first child, she became resigned to her fate and stayed on with the baron.”
“That is terrible. Did my mother know what had happened to her?”
“Not at first. Baron Ruexner wouldn’t let her write to anyone. By the time she got word to your mother, Gisela had two babes and felt she must stay for her children’s sake. But it wasn’t a happy marriage.”
Hette Schwarcz sighed wistfully. “She loved her children, and then she died in childbirth, bringing forth her third baby. I believe your mother died about the same time. You must have been still a child when your mother died.”
“Yes. I was only two.”
“You are as beautiful as your namesake.” Frau Schwarcz patted Gisela’s cheek. “I couldn’t bear for you to marry that Friedric, and against your will.”
“Thank you for that. I was very grateful.” Gisela felt much better after eating.
“And now everything is well. Ruexner is captured and you will be with your love.” Frau Schwarcz shook her finger at Gisela. “Don’t think I couldn’t see the love in his eyes when he looked at you. He would have fought to the death for you, that handsome Valten Gerstenberg.” She patted her cheek again. “You shall have a happy marriage.”
Valten came into the little bakery with his father and several other men, and Frau Schwarcz served them herself. Gisela didn’t get a chance to talk to Valten, as he and the men discussed what had happened to them the last few days. She didn’t mind, as she happily watched Valten eat, thankful their long ordeal was over.
Gisela learned, as she listened to their conversation, that on his way back to Hagenheim, Friar Daniel had encountered Duke Wilhelm and his men, and he had led them to where they had been when Ruexner had taken Gisela. From there they had tracked them to this town and to the cathedral.