Bold Conquest

by Virginia Henley

  Bold Conquest

  by Virginia Henley

  Ebook copyright 2011 Virginia Henley

  Cover Copyright 2011 by Marsha Canham

  Online edition published June 2011

  First published by Avon Books, October 1983. All rights reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical without permission in writing from Virginia Henley.

  This Ebook version is dedicated to my grandsons Daryl and Ryan

  Chapter 1

  Lillyth heard the excited shouts of "Horseman approaches!" and "Rider coming!" that echoed down from the watchtower and were repeated across the courtyard. She lifted her linen kirtle until it was above her ankles and sped from her chamber down to the great hall below, her eyes sparkling with the anticipation of a visitor who might perhaps have news. It would break the dull monotony of endless weeks of waiting for great events that had been rumored for years to take place, but which never seemed to come about. "And like as not ever will," mused Lillyth as she went out of the hall door into the brilliant sunshine of the last day of August in the year of our Lord 1066.

  The yard was becoming crowded as word had spread from mouth to mouth, and Aedward, a young Saxon of eighteen summers, rode into their midst. His eyes quickly sought out Lillyth, and they smiled their welcome to each other as he handed his tired mount over to a serf from the stables. "What tidings, Aedward?" she asked breathlessly, her eyes going wide in momentary fear.

  "No invaders, if that's your meaning. However, I have news that touches you more closely," he confided, his eyes momentarily clouding. "Come, your mother will be anxious for these letters I carry from your father. You will hear all soon enough!'

  The Lady Alison, Lillyth's mother, awaited them at the door as they entered the hall together.

  "Bring Aedward a horn of ale, my dear," directed Lady Alison to a young serving girl. He handed the packet of letters to the older woman, and as he did so he marveled at the stately appearance she presented. She was small, dark and plump and not nearly so beautiful as her daughter, but she was almost regal in her bearing and always wore an air of serene authority that could set one quaking with a glance if she were displeased. Aedward avoided Lillyth's questioning eyes and watched Lady Alison's hands, adorned with many beautiful rings, open the sealed packet. She scanned the pages quickly, while Aedward drank his ale before he could put the drinking horn down. Fashioned from hollowed bulls' horns, the drinking horns had a crescent shape that made it impossible to set them down before they were empty.

  "My Lord Athelstan complains this watch they keep is but another folly of King Harold's," Lady Alison told Lillyth. "No invaders sighted all these long weeks, and their supplies are near run out. Your father says they will keep watch only one more week and then return for the harvest. I think pressing business here at home occupies his thoughts more than rumors of invasions." She was slightly shaken that Athelstan had directed her to make preparations for Lillyth's marriage to Aedward's elder brother, Wulfric, who was patrolling with him on the coast at the moment.

  Even though the betrothal had stood for two years now, Lillyth shied from marriage to Wulfric, and her mother knew she would prefer the youth and kindlier manner of Aedward. She looked at the handsome couple before her. Aedward had beautiful blond shoulder-length hair, a fine mustache and a trim golden beard. In her mind's eye Lady Alison contrasted this with Wulfric's sparse red hair and bushy beard, his barrel-like chest and his coarser manners. But he was strong and brave and would prove a sturdy protector for their daughter; also he was not a poor man, being the lord of the nearest village, Oxstead.

  She sighed and laid aside the letters. "Your lady mother will be most anxious to see you, Aedward. My deepest thanks for coming to Godstone first." She arose. "Don't keep him too long at your side, Lillyth— unless you will dine with us before returning home?" she queried.

  "Many thanks, Lady Alison, but I must let my mother know of the men's return for the harvest— and the other matters," he finished lamely.

  Lillyth arose and walked to the door with him. She wanted to ask a hundred questions, but knew her mother would tell her in her own good time.

  "Tomorrow, early," he whispered, "before the others are about. Bring your gyrfalcon and we'll go hunting."

  Lillyth nodded quickly, and he left.

  "What is it, Mother? Something that concerns me, is it not?" Her eyebrows rose in concern.

  "After the harvest is in, your father wishes your marriage to take place without any further delays."

  "Oh, no," she whispered. "Mother, must it be?" she pleaded.

  "If my Lord Athelstan so directs, daughter, there is no more to be said. However, I will consult the rune stones and see what the future holds."

  Lillyth followed her mother up to the solarium, a bright room where beautiful cloth and tapestries were woven, and watched her take the rune stones from a coffer. Lady Alison laid out the oddly shaped stones before her, and sat and gazed at them for a long time. Then finally, "There is much here that I do not understand." She shook her head to dispel the dark images from her mind, but kept her own counsel about these. "However, one thing is quite plain: The marriage will take place. It is preordained, Lillyth— you know the rune stones do not speak untruths, so it is useless to resist further!'

  Unhappiness and uncertainty filled her daughter's eyes, so she placed a comforting arm about the girl's shoulders. "Come now, when I came from France to wed your father I was terrified, but I managed well enough. You only have to go to the next town. Wulfric's hall is almost the equal to ours, and you will hold the place of honor."

  "Forgive me, Mother, if I seem ungrateful. What is to be will be. You have told me many times and none has proved you wrong yet."

  Resignation quenched hope, and her light step suddenly dragged as she sought solitude in her own chamber. The room was hot, and Lillyth took off her head covering and her linen tunic, which came to her knees, and fingered the delicate embroidery that banded the neckline and hem. In her soft underdress she crossed to a tall coffer and poured cool water into a bowl. She scented it with a few drops of rosewater she had helped her mother distill, and washed her face and hands. Her red-gold hair fell to her knees and she absently brushed the curling mass back from her brow, sighing all the while.

  What if the invaders were to come in the next week and there was a great battle? What if Wulfric were to be killed? She, shivered at the wickedness of her own thoughts. There was a soft knock at the door and Edyth, Lillyth's young maid, came in.

  "Would you like me to help with your hair before you go down to sup, my lady?"

  "Yes please, Edyth. Perhaps if we plait it, it might be cooler." She picked up the brushes. "I'll do one side while you do the other. Edyth," she began tentatively, "you are betrothed to Walter, one of my father's knights— do you love him?"

  "Oh yes, my lady. When he returns we are to be wed."

  "Does the thought of marriage not frighten you, Edyth?"

  The girl giggled. "Of course not. He is only a man, after all, and I cannot hold him off much longer."

  "You have always told him nay?"

  "I have longed to say otherwise, but if I produced a babe without being wed, you know what your lady mother would do to me," she laughed.

  Lillyth blushe
d at the suggestion. "Suppose you held no affection for the one you had to wed, Edyth? Could you share his bed?"

  The girl shrugged. "Aye, and seek a handsome lover as soon as his back was turned!"

  Lillyth laughed for the first time in many hours. "Come, we must hurry. Such talk is unseemly." However, she winked at the girl as she handed her the tunic, and she quickly set a gold filigree girdle about her hips and put on a fresh covering. Then she went down to the hall, which held only a handful of women. All the fighting men were patrolling with Lord Athelstan. A few young male pages served the meal, and a few old retainers had been left behind. None of the serfs had gone with their lord, for they were not trained as fighting men. They did not dine in the great hall, but in their own humble dwellings, at their own hearths.

  Edgar and May had lived together as man and wife for many years now. Although she had produced a child every year, only one daughter and one male child had survived. Edwina was of an age when she would soon be chosen by one of the young serfs, and they would know the luxury of a hut of their own. Young Edgarson, only ten summers, was still full of mischief that stemmed from the excess energy of the young.

  Edgar tended a vast herd of sheep along with the other shepherds, and May had just served her family a succulent stew made from mutton. It was not every day they enjoyed meat, but when an old ewe had died, the shepherds had quickly divided it among themselves. They didn't need to swear an oath of secrecy. All knew the penalty for theft was death. The penalty for murder was not nearly so severe.

  Edgarson handed his sister Edwina a pear he had filched from the orchard and bit down into his own pear so hard, the juice ran down his chin.

  Edgar knocked his son across the hut in his anger: "Never steal! How often must I tell you?"

  Edgarson picked himself up and grinned. Edgar turned on May, "You're too soft with the lad. You don't beat him enough.”

  May wrung her hands at her son's daring. "I had such hopes for you. I wanted you to become a stableboy and learn to look after the horses, but gathering wood in the devil-infested forests all day has made you afraid of neither man nor beast!" she cried. She carefully touched the small bag of salt she wore at her waist for protection against the evil spirits.

  Edgar moved about nervously. He was to take the moon watch tonight to guard the sheep against marauding wolves. He fingered the wolf's tooth he wore around his neck. It was not wolves he feared, but the night, the darkness. In the open, sometimes his nights were filled with terror. Man-eating monsters dwelt in the forests and in windswept ridges. All peasants wore charms to protect themselves from everything from elves to swarming bees. May and Edwina did not fear bees, however. They looked after an orchard with a hundred beehives and gathered the honey which was the only form of sweetening. It was also made into mead, a delicious sweet wine, when fermented. The only danger connected with their job was an occasional bear, or "bee-wolf" as they were called, that tried to steal the honey. They were both immune to bee stings.

  Edgarson lifted the doorflap of the daub and wattle hut and disappeared outside. May crossed herself, then made a pagan sign. "He isn't even afraid of the dark," she lamented.

  Suddenly the boy darted back inside. "Quick, come see. There is fire in the sky!"

  For the second time that day a cry went up outside and all ran out in time to see a great comet streak its brilliance across the sky. Men crossed themselves and were sore afraid. The babble of voices was great as each foretold what such a thing could mean, but Lady Alison gazed toward the heavens, and she knew it for an omen.

  Lillyth ran swiftly along the mews and lifted her gyrfalcon from its perch and took down the jesses and creance from the wall. Through the high apertures in the wall, the sun slanted down brilliantly though the hour was early and gave a promise of heat for later in the day. At the stables she found Aedward already saddling up her mare, Zephyr. They rode out past the orchards to the meadows beyond, with the worried stableboy gazing after. He knew he should not have let Lady Lillyth ride out alone with the young lord, but what authority did a serf have over his betters?

  Aedward unhooded his falcon, and it went soaring after a wood pigeon. Lillyth lifted her arm high and her small hawk flew to the top of a very tall beech.

  "Try to lure her back," called Aedward, but the bird flew to a still more distant tree. "She's not well trained." He frowned. His own falcon returned obediently to his wrist and he put the wood pigeon into his saddlebag.

  Lillyth watched her little bird fly up into the sunshine and called, "It doesn't matter, let her go. If she wishes to be free, I would not hold her. Would to God I could follow."

  He brought his horse close to hers. "Lillyth, I too hate it. WuIfric and your father have become inseparable. They have even begun to share the same tent, no doubt so they can make plans about you."

  She dismounted and he followed, fastening his falcon to his saddle, and leaving the horse untethered, to graze in the tall grasses. Although she knew she should not let Aedward see her unbound hair, she removed her head covering and leaned against a tree.

  He lifted a tress of hair and pressed it to his Lips. "Oh, Lillyth, I've thought about you night and day."

  She turned to him with tears welling in her brilliant green eyes, and he took her into his arms and kissed her mouth. She returned his kiss, and his arms tightened and he became more demanding. She had been kissed by Aedward before, but never like this. She had been kissed by Wulfric on a few festive occasions, but she had always managed to escape his advances.

  "Oh, Aedward, if only I might wed with you, I wouldn't be so afraid."

  "Sweetheart, how can I bear it? To see you together every day will tear me to pieces." His hands slipped to her breasts. "Lillyth, lie with me, lie with me now, please!"

  She was deeply shocked and pulled away immediately. High born Saxon maidens were brought up virtuously and their honor guarded well. "I cannot. Aedward, you must not ask it of me."

  'But if we love each other— Lillyth, let me be the first," he begged.

  "Aedward, nay, I cannot give you what is promised to another." She ran to the horses and, mounting quickly, rode home as if Satan himself were after her.

  Lady Alison noted Lillyth's flushed cheeks. "I wonder what mischief that pair has accomplished!' she observed shrewdly. “The best thing to occupy your thoughts is work, and believe me, there must be a hundred things to be done in the next sennight. While you've been gadding about, I've set the weavers to finish those two tapestries that are on frames in the solarium. You may have them for your new hall when you wed with Wulfric. His mother has envied my tapestries for years and has nothing so fine, I can tell you. Come up and have a look at them." Lillyth and Lady Alison ascended to the solarium and were met with a dozen women all talking and laughing at the same time.

  "Ladies, the Lady Lillyth and Lord Wulfric are to be wed as soon as the harvest is in, and these tapestries must be finished without delay so that she may take them to Oxstead. Lillyth, I want you to choose two or three girls to help you with your new wardrobe. I know you have many beautiful kirtles and tunics, but if you go through them and give some away to the ladies, you may have new ones. Clothes always delight a woman. Get Rose to embroider your borders with pearls. She has no equal, and Edyth has magic in her fingers when she embroiders with gold and silver threads." She left them all busy, Lillyth not the least of them. All the talk had changed to weddings.

  Lady Alison called two elderly retainers and bid them follow her to the stillroom. There was so much involved in running this large fiefdom. She was responsible for everyone in the town. I must get on with the real business of life, while the men are off playing their silly games of war. It always falls to the woman to be the practical one in this life, she thought ruefully.

  "My lord returns in four or five days' time. Tell the swineherd, the oxherd, the cowherd, the shepherd and the goatherd we will need a couple of animals from each for slaughtering. Tell the barn-men and the stableboys that all must be
well cleaned before the men return. We are to have an especially fine feast this harvesttime in celebration of my daughter's marriage. On your way past the buttery send one of the cheese-makers to me here, please."

  She would have to send women into the orchard to pick the fruit and then she would have to supervise the preserving and pickling. When would she ever find time to gather herbs and mix her simples and syrups, her decoctions, ointments and electuaries? She had to see to the health of every chick and child on their lands, and she knew there was a time coming when her healing powers would be in demand. When the men returned there would be hunting for game birds, boar and deer, and her husband would oversee the brewing and take stock of the wine and ale.

  Meanwhile, Lillyth was deep in the business of selecting materials and colors. "I think perhaps I'd better choose velvet for all my tunics and tabards. The chambers of Oxstead Hall are drafty and it's a long winter."

  "I would suggest black velvet, my lady. It would set off your golden hair magnificently."

  "But Rose, my head draperies always cover my hair completely," said Lillyth.

  "Not in the bedchamber, my lady. Lord Wulfric would be able to see it, and you can wear black velvet over white, or think how striking it would be over red!"

  Lillyth considered. "I'll leave black for mother, it reminds me overmuch of mourning. Perhaps purple velvet over a pale lavender underdress?"

  "Ah yes, and you must have green, it does wonderful things for your eyes and shows up the red lights in your hair."

  "Oh, and could we fashion it with full flowing sleeves in the newest style?" asked Lillyth, feeling genuine pleasure in the new dresses. When Lady Alison returned, she found the women still putting forth arguments for their favorite blue or peach or yellow.