Tuesday Tales: 2021-5-11 Mother

It is time for Tuesday Tales, where you’ll find entertaining excerpts from a group of hard-working writers. I continue here with an adventurous medieval romance featuring a knight. This week’s word prompt is mother. After reading the passage, make sure to visit all the talented authors of Tuesday Tales.

At last the prioress returned. With a calm, remote air about her, she set on the wooden table an offering of broth and bread. “The abbess bids you partake. She is engaged at present but will be along to see you as soon as it can be arranged.”

“And the Lady Sabina? Have you spoken to her?”

“’Tis not my place. That is in the hands of Mother Mathilde.”

“Of course. Thank you. When you say soon, do you mean—today?”

A quick, startled flicker passed behind her eyes. “Assuredly. Mother Mathilde will not keep you long waiting.” She left him. A trace of a highland accent had imbued her words, and he wondered how young she had been when first she entered the abbey’s stony gates. As young as Sabina? Younger perhaps? Many girls entered before the age of sixteen.

The aroma of heated broth wafted to his nostrils. Nicholas had no hunger but had also learned from long practice to eat when the opportunity arose. Once the abbess allowed him to see Sabina, and he convinced her what a brute he was and begged, and hopefully received, her forgiveness, they would be off. He would be busy from here to the River Aln, guiding their path to elude the murderous bridegroom Rothburg.

He sat. The hard brown bread was edible enough when liberally soaked in the broth, and he gave silent thanks for the hospitality. He sat still long enough to finish half the fare. Then he stood, hefted out a sigh, and wiped his mouth with the back of a hand. Studying the cobbled floor for a moment, he began to pace the small room. A growing sense of foreboding came over him. What was taking the abbess so long?

At that moment a petite but regal figure sailed through the rounded portal. “Sir Nicholas de Beaumont, late of Renwick?”

He dipped his head in reverence. “Aye.” He gazed behind her and, seeing no one, strode to the door and looked both ways. “Is Lady Sabina attending?”

She shook her head with solemnity. “The lady you seek was here but is no more.”

I hope you enjoyed the snippet based on the word prompt mother. Thanks for stopping by. Read the other remarkable excerpts at Tuesday Tales.

Happy Reading!

Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Spirited Stories

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