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By then it was too late to talk of sending Sybelle back, although they knew their goal must be the manor house at Hay. A few men went before to test the ford. Then a line formed downstream so that if Damas stumbled, there would be a man at hand to catch the mare or catch Sybelle. Despite her haste, Sybelle did not protest. The few minutes extra spent in fording safely were nothing in comparison to the time that would be wasted if she should fall into the river. |
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Besides, most of Sybelle's anxiety had passed. Her specific fear, bred of her previous experience, was that Walter would be ambushed on the road. But there was no sign of that. The pace she had set had not prevented her from looking at the ground as they passed, and it was plain that no large troop had come that way. Thus, they assembled on the bank and turned left from the ford toward Hay at no more than a trot. |
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It was no great distance, but as they sighted the gates to the manor house, which, Sybelle saw with relief, were open, the master-at-arms shouted a warning. A larger troop was coming north on the road toward them at a faster pace. Sybelle cried out and again laid her whip onto Damas, who sprang ahead. The men roared in protest and spurred their mounts forward. |
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Sybelle and her men were somewhat closer to the gate of the manor, and the sound of a woman's voice confused the leader of Heribert's troop. The only woman he knew to be involved was Lady Marie. Had he arrived too soon? he wondered. If so, and if he and his men were seen by the man their master wished dead, he might take alarm and flee. It was obvious that the men following the woman were not knights, nor did they wear the colors of the one their master sought. The whole troop slowed as the leader held up his hand and pulled back on his rein, puzzled and undecided, while Sybelle and her men swept into Hay manor. Only when he saw the gates closing behind those who had entered so hastily did Sir Heribert's man understand that he had guessed wrong and some unexpected element was disrupting his master's plans. |
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The few serfs of the manor who were working in the yard near the gates cried out in fear and drew together when they saw the troop of armed men ride in. They were ignored by Sybelle's men, however. Some dismounted to shut and bar the gates, others rode around the house to explore those parts of the limited courtyard they had not seen, and a third group, |
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