From the Hand of Zillah - March, 1524.

March - 1524

Elenore almost fell into the ocean today. I was cursing and fuming up a wave as I dragged her back to the cabin, with her shouting about mermaids.

Honestly, there are too many fairytales and lullabies running through that head of hers. Of course, I’m the one who put them there...

It was sad to leave my sons, but they’re grown up now with their own children. All I have left is a child who is not my own on a ship heading for Germany.

I am taking her to a distant, unknown country to be married. Elenore is but sixteen, though I have seen younger girls marry, and I have been mother and friend to her since birth -- I shall be a part of her meagre dowry.

Her family have lost their fortunes in trade, and now she has been sent away to a lord who has promised them riches. He lives by himself in a castle, on an island which is closed off from everyone else. She does not even know what he looks like, only that he is somewhat older than her and rumoured to be an eccentric.

The sea is not silent, it roars in the night, my stomach roils, and even with that great, booming giant in the water I can hear my charge crying. I know she is frightened, brought up with dreams and expectations, but I have faith in her; there is a strong soul lurking in there that I have tried to nurture.

Most marriages are loveless, in my own I had to grow fond of Henry, but children often make the journey through life easier and happier.

Elenore is young, fully ready to enter pregnancy. It is the lord I worry about. His own seed, from age and a rich life, might not bear any fruit, and he will most likely take his anger out on her.

We all know what happened to those poor girls who could not bear their husband a son; it was always their failure. Though often or not they could most likely become pregnant should they lay with another man. But men and their egos forbid any mention of such a thing. It is always the woman’s fault, or God's, never the man's!

And they would never be happy with having a daughter, though I can understand that: by law, everything they had earned would belong to the son-in-law instead of their offspring if they died and there were no male heirs. As if women were not already handling their money or houses!

#

Elenore and I have had to take a carriage to reach Hellver Gate Island. More travel! I will have been nauseous throughout most of the journey.

Lord Hellver lives alone in that isolated castle. The village we passed on the way had many young, able men and women that we have hired, using some of the money that Hellver sent us before we left England, and they will follow us to the castle soon after.

I had expected to take a much smaller ship to reach Hellver Gate, however, I was surprised when I was told that we could reach it by cart or carriage. Apparently, the island had once been connected to the mainland, but the sea became violent and engulfed the land in between. Only when the tide changes throughout the weeks and months does the pathway from the mainland to Hellver Gate resurfaces.

Elenore is resting, her head is on my shoulder, She needs to be alert and ready for the meeting with her husband. Her eyes have traces of her night of crying. I press my hand to her hair and brush away a few of the strands.

I suppose I will have to comfort her after the night of their wedding. I have tried to prepare her for it, even telling her of my own harried marriage night: how my brother-in-law and father waved the bloodied sheets in the morning, and that my husband had cried another woman’s name as we coupled. She should expect that, it is life, and all we can do is ignore it and try to take control of the aspects of our life that we are allowed to. I do not know how she will react, though.

And with that thought, Hellver Gate castle looms before us. I shake Elenore awake, for she too will enjoy this sight; perhaps she will see her marriage worth it. I certainly would have been more pleased to marry Henry had he owned such a lavish home, but I had been stuck with a cramped cottage.

The castle is tall, so high that we can see it over the trees. The island even has its own woods! And it is large. Already I am tallying up how many rooms are in there, and how many maids we will need to clean them.

There are turrets and climbing ivy. It appears uninhabited. Our carriage trundles through the beach that is the first circle of this island, and then navigates its way in the second circle, where a small pathway goes through the woods, until we reach Hellver Gate castle.

It is impressive, and I can tell Elenore is astonished by its archaic beauty. Her thoughts of Lord Hellver are clouded by this, for the meantime. I cannot see anyone waiting for us outside of the castle.

Hmph, so the recluse has decided he wants us to come to him. I am not pleased. He had brought us here, the least he could do is step out into the sunlight.

#

Well, we met the husband. He’s quiet, but with a roving eye, like all rich men who believe they can buy anything they want.

It will be difficult for Elenore to rein him in. He is used to being alone. I can’t for the life of me think why he would want to bring a young woman to live with him when he seems more comfortable with silence. Ah, but of course, the marriage bed; even the most docile of men are thinking it. Some women too, until they think of the pregnancy and the pain of it all.

Perhaps he will mellow with company, but dear God I want to slap him when I see him assessing Elenore, every last bit of her, when I am in the same room as them. I’ll hate to see what he is like when accessible maids as young as Elenore arrive to change the bed sheets and wash the floors. I am too old to watch men act like rams and bulls. It makes my head ache and nose wrinkle up as if there is a bad smell in the air.

They will be married in the morning, in a church hidden away in Hellver woods, and I will stand by her side. I must try to stay out of their marriage, no matter how much I want to keep Elenore young and a child forever. Such wishes are a foolish whimsy.

...

Eliza had been sixteen when she had married...