Tales of Saxony

By Sandy Grissom

Two romantic stories in one book. The first ione tells of a Sacon lord who needs to marry but has few prospects other than a witchy distat relative. He finds love but not with her. The second is set in modern times but has reflections of the past to explain the motivation of the heroine to marry, well other than love for the hero since their teens. It also cotains fear of discovery for the hero who has witnessed a mob murder and so has come home to hide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandy Grissom
• Release date: Jun 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301980154

Sandy Grissom

Sandy Grissom has loved books all her life. That love began by listening to her older sister read when she was still too young to discover the magic for herself. She's read everything from history to the phone book but her favorite authors are James Michener, Agatha Christie and the mystic William Blake. Over the years, romantic novels became a favorite. The top of that list is Pride and Prejudice. When she retired she had too much time on her hands and spent too much money and trips to the library to get books in order to satisfy her restless soul. It was then she began to write herself. As an adult she held a variety of jobs, all of them grist for her imaginative mind. The occupations in Choppy Waters will hopefully inspire someone to fight for their own dreams, to never give up on themselves or on love. A widow, Sandy recently moved to southern Indiana where she lives near the younger of her two beloved sisters.

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TALES OF SAXONY

Sandy Grissom

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Tales of Saxony

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 by S.K.G. Haag

Rae of Hope Smashwords Edition Copyright 2013 by S.K.G. Haag

That Saxon Woman Smashwords Edition Copyright 2013 by S.K.G. Haag

Cover image by: Lisa Jarvis used under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.0 Generic License

RAE OF HOPE

Chapter One

Raeddeg impatiently waited for his envoy to appear in the chamber. He’d been gone more than four days. Raeddeg was anxious to hear what news he’d bring from Castle Ihota. He had sent a request to the lady of that place, high on a hill in Saxony. It was a place well spoken of as to its prestige. Yet it was remote and therefore less well known to Raeddeg than any of the other castles in the land. Raeddeg’s own lands and manor lay in Saxony as well but on the opposite border, close to the sea.

The castle had originally been a stronghold, a defense against any intruder planning an invasion by sea. It had been built out of stone, that material readily available nearby. The castle had high battlements to repel any such invaders. There had been none since Raeddeg’s grandfather’s time though there were occasional skirmishes to the south. Raeddeg maintained a legion of warriors to handle such matters.

Since then, the keep had been turned into a stately manor house and later added onto inside the still fortified gate and walls. That caused the building to look more prestigious than it had as a protective defense. Gardens added to how imposing a place the castle and grounds appeared.

The manor provided two wings along with the original long front reception area of the castle. Quite large in anyone’s estimation, the castle was enormous when housing only one man.

Inside the oversized heavy wooden front door, a large hall was first entered into. Except for an occasional table to hold a visitor’s hat, the entry contained only an ornate wooden bench. It was there where unexpected visitors were directed to wait while the lord of the manor was notified of their arrival. The long impressive hall had a floor inlaid with polished stone which shone brightly. The stone caused a notable noise from any footsteps made in that hall. Visitors mostly sat or stood still once they realized the resounding echoes it made.

To the right at the front of the hall and on the west, was a large reception room. It was wide and twice as long as it was wide, most intimidating to someone on a first visit. Men and women together would receive guests in such a room. Couples that were considered acquaintances of Raeddeg’s, expected guests or someone who had come for business reasons would be shown into this room on their arrival instead of having to wait in the entry hall.

There was no woman now ensconced at Moldovia Castle. Not since his mother’s passing. So other than those rare occasions when women were included in the guests, men alone waited here to be received by Lord Raeddeg. For the last two years the room had been used by men exclusively.

The room contained two divans, one was more of a small settee and planked by even smaller chairs, and was most suitable for ladies. That grouping resided near to one corner of the room. The other more spacious and comfortable divan, was more centrally located in the room. Two larger and more comfortable chairs resided in close proximity. They were quite obviously more generous to accommodate men. Other plush chairs of different varieties and designs in twos or threes were placed in various areas of the room to provide settings for more intimate conversations.

Passing through this main reception hall but still on the front section of the castle lay what might be called a sun room. Large windows as well as a door to the outside afforded more light into this room than was found in the reception area. The door led out onto a stone patio surrounded by wild flowers but for an opening out to the grass. A divan was placed in this room also and arranged in such a way that one could sit and enjoy the view to the side of the manor.

The grounds on that side of the castle went out for a distance and then fell off to a mossy cliff and then to the sea beyond. The view afforded a majestic picture. The sky and the water showed as grey at times but at other times they became startling shades of blue. Raeddeg often sat in this room studying that view for it gave him peace to look out at where his family had come from and what they had accomplished here on this rocky hillside by the sea.

It was in this room that Raeddeg now sat and waited for his envoy. He had come here when informed that the man had ridden onto the castle grounds. Raeddeg knew it would take a while for Simson to stable his horse and then make himself presentable. Once accomplished, Simson would know where to find him. Though as he now waited impatiently, Raeddeg wouldn’t have cared if Simson had ridden right up to the front door with the news.

Back out past the entry hall and across from the main reception area was a second receiving chamber. It was smaller and decorated in such a way that it was a more suitable place for a lady. She would use the room to entertain guests who’d come to tea or for any other type of short visit. It sat unused the last two years since his mother had gone to her reward. Since no ladies could visit an unmarried man sans her husband or father, without a lady of the manor in residence. Beyond that room toward the back of the house was a great hall suitable for dancing, also unused.

Moving down the entry hall and sharing a wall with the general reception area on the right was a room where men sometimes gathered. It was much smaller than the reception chamber at the front of the manor but afforded more privacy and was used for discussion privy only to a handful of men at any one time. Again it had not been necessary to use the room for some time since there had been no woman in the manor that might be offended by such important but to ladies, mostly boring talk. Raeddeg’s private study was beyond that room.

Moving past these front rooms one would discover the two wings of the house. The east wing contained the kitchens and dining areas. There was a breakfast room, a small intimate dining room which, like the breakfast room, could accommodate eight or ten at table. A larger dining hall capable of serving as many as a hundred guests was located in that wing, also.

None of these rooms had been used to entertain for some time, Raeddeg recalled. He continued to muse on about his home while he waited for Simson to arrive. No, not for dinner parties and certainly not for invited guests who came to stay for a fortnight or perhaps a month’s visit. There hadn’t been any of those in quite some time. Often, in his loneliness, Raeddeg allowed the freemen warriors who lived on the estate to eat with him in the large dining room. Raeddeg hated to eat alone.

The kitchens were located beyond the dining rooms. Then the pantries and other meal preparation areas beyond that. Finally there was a staff dining room and then a common room for the staff to relax in during the infrequent times when they weren’t busy.

On the floor below ground were rooms for the female help, the cooks and maids, to sleep in. These were small rooms since the staff spent little time in them other than to sleep. Unlike some manors, though, each person on staff at Moldovia Castle had a private room of their own. It hadn’t been a problem to give them their own privacy in that way for the manor was quite spacious. These days many of the rooms set aside for staff were empty and therefore dusty, like much of the castle. When Lady Morea was alive, the rooms were filled with maids, cleaners, and kitchen help All of this comprised the lower east wing of the manor house.

Moving down the west hall on the ground floor, you would discover a library and various other rooms where the host and his guests, ones that were staying for any length of time, could relax and visit with more privacy than either of the front reception halls might provide. Casual guests were confined to those front reception areas. The rooms here were more for family and friends. This wing of rooms was only used to entertain close acquaintances and certainly friends, those who came to stay for those longer and most welcome visits.

The west wing also contained a gaming room where the men could play cards or talk over the major issues of the day. There was a drawing room where guests gathered before being called in to dinner. Beyond that a withdrawing room for family only. None of these rooms had been used to any degree for quite some time. Below ground on that wing, were the rooms provided for the male staff members. Both of the below floor wings also provided storage for linens, stores of food and the like.

The manor above ground was four stories high. The second floor comprised a number of bedroom suites on both wings of the house. Those wings, like on the floor below, jutted out the back forming an ‘E’ shape without the center bar. Inside the E, a lush well maintained garden resided. In this enclosed and protected area to the north, guests had once enjoyed taking tea on many pleasant summer afternoons and early evenings.

A second withdrawing room for family and friends was on this second floor and wing as well. Each area was furnished very nicely…and quite unused. Except for Raeddeg’s suite of rooms in the west wing. His mother had moved to a suite in the east wing when Raeddeg’s father died, turning over their suite of rooms to the new master of Moldovia. These days the east wing of bedrooms sat empty.

The third floor held a long gallery that ran across the front of the structure. The back wall of the gallery was decorated with family portraits and various other paintings that were pleasing to the eye. Comfortable chairs and a number of writing desks were located all along the hall. The front wall had been built to comprise a great many tall windows They were all slightly narrower than tall. The desks and chairs sat between the windows but were easily moved in front of them. For one had an excellent view of much of the countryside to the south from the gallery windows, as the builder had intended.

The long hall allowed one to feel as though they were more outside than in and was often used as a place to get some walking exercise when the weather outside was inclement. Additional bedroom suites were on the wings of this floor, as well, none having been used for almost two years.

Part of the fourth floor in the east wing was used for storage. Unused furniture and other like items were placed up there. As a child, it was Raeddeg’s playground. He used the pieces to inspire his imagination for the games he invented. That was when he was still young and before he began his training with the mounted guard. The rooms now sat dusty and empty but for the covered pieces of furniture and a trunk containing some of the Lady Morea’s treasured possessions.

The middle section on this floor led to the turret rooms above. Those rooms were used for quiet dinners on occasion but more often for dessert or after dinner drinks. The views from the turret rooms were spectacular in all directions. The roof itself showed off many chimneys of all shapes and designs. From a distance, the manor appeared most impressive as well as quite significant. As it truly was.

The west wing on the fourth floor contained a number of rooms that hadn’t been used for years, not even when Raeddeg’s mother was still alive.

Most of the rooms in the castle were empty and quite dusty. After Raeddeg lost his mother, he secluded himself in his grief. Visitors were not invited. Then later when he was able to accept company, he mostly invited men. The few dinner parties he tried to host were too uncomfortable for Raeddeg. It was difficult to find a partner for the evening, in order to entertain properly, without the lady thinking he had more in mind than just dinner.

Away from the manor house, there were a number of small houses at various locations outside the gates but still on the extensive property. Some of the houses his father had built, others were ordered constructed by Raeddeg. One such place housed his land overlord and others the free farmers that worked the land. Raeddeg also provided houses for the men who were obligated to him in some fashion and provided that obligation in the form of labor. In effect, they worked for Raeddeg, either as farmers or they tended to the animals.

His warriors resided in their own large edifice inside the gates. One more nicely appointed house was used by his advisor, Simson, and his wife. That structure was inside the gates as well.

Raeddeg’s land was wide ranging and required a great deal of his time to maintain it in good order. Raeddeg watched over his responsibility for all of it most willingly. He was proud of what his family had achieved here. They’d taken barren land and created a thriving community. The estate supported a great number of people as well as much of the economy of a village that had sprung up in his grandfather’s