by Anne Herries
‘I believe he means to stay for a while,’ Elona replied, refusing to bend. ‘He says that there was never a chance to get to know you when you were younger and…’
‘Had he not sent me away so young, there might have been.’
‘But that was not his fault,’ Elona told him with a smile, for this time he had fallen into her trap. ‘Your father’s kinsman told him that it was time you had your training and he did what was best for you. It was not that he wished to part from his son, but merely a custom that he followed.’
Stefan glared at her, but said nothing. In his heart he knew that she was right, had known it since he grew to manhood, and Alain’s feeling of being tied to his mother’s skirts had made him realise that he might have been more fortunate in his education than he’d realised.
‘Will you not see your father? He asks every day if you are well enough to receive him.’
‘When you let me up from this bed, wife, I shall see my father.’
‘Very well, you may get up today,’ Elona said and smiled at him. ‘You are not strong enough to walk downstairs yet, but you may sit in my chamber in my chair, and your father shall visit you there.’
He glared at her again. ‘I think you learn too swiftly, Elona.’
‘Of what do you speak, my lord?’ she asked innocently.
‘You know well enough,’ he said and growled low in his throat. ‘Very well, it shall be as you wish—but I warn you, when I am myself you shall pay for this, Elona. I know how to treat a scold.’
‘Indeed, you wrong me, my lord,’ she said and laughed softly. ‘I am the most obedient of wives.’
‘Huh!’ He pulled a wry face, but she saw that he was amused. ‘I have taught you too well, lady, but the battle is not over yet. Believe me, I shall have more lessons for you to learn when I am well again.’
‘And I shall be most eager to learn them, my lord.’ She laughed as his eyes sparked, her heart lifting, for he was truly getting stronger again—and, providing he did not have a sudden seizure, she had every confidence that he would soon be well.
‘I have never told you the truth, because I thought you did not know the circumstances of your mother’s death and I did not wish to cause you pain,’ Ralph told him as they sat together in Elona’s chamber. ‘Your mother was ill after she gave birth to you, but it was not weakness from her illness that killed her—she was poisoned by a physician I employed.’
‘Poisoned?’ Stefan was astonished. He had heard nothing of this. ‘You mean he was an ignorant fool and killed her by mistake or, no…I see from your expression that he did it on purpose? Why?’
‘Because she had discovered that he was incompetent,’ Ralph told him and looked grave. ‘We had become estranged, because of her illness—and because we were too young when we married. Berenice was too young to be married at all, and I…I did not love her as I ought. She was young and silly and I was impatient. I have regretted the breach. For years it haunted me, for I believed that if I had taken more care of her she would not have died.’
‘What did you do to him?’
‘He remained in my service for some time, for I did not know the truth. It was Alayne who first suspected it and she accused him of it—and he tried to kill her in a rage, but this time he was discovered.’ Ralph’s mouth hardened. ‘He was tried before a council of my men and punished for his crimes, believe me.’
‘I would have killed him with my bare hands.’
‘You were but a child,’ Ralph said. ‘The death you would have given him had you been a man was more merciful than my men decreed, for he had been the source of much pain and many deaths amongst them and they had no mercy.’
Stefan nodded, understanding. ‘Then he was well punished. I shall say a mass for my mother’s soul.’
‘It has been done many times,’ Ralph told him, ‘but another cannot hurt. And now I ask you to forgive me if I hurt you by sending you away when you were but a child.’
‘Elona has spoken to you of this?’
‘She did not need to,’ Ralph answered with a smile. ‘Alayne has taken me to task over it many times. She would have brought you home, but you were doing well with your studies and I believed it was the best way. I think Alain suffered for being allowed to remain at home. He loves his mother dearly and would not hurt her for the world, but he needs to be free—to find himself, to prove himself.’
‘Yes, he has told me this,’ Stefan said. ‘I believe it is his intention to leave for the Holy Land soon?’
‘He will do so, but for the moment the Duke keeps him at his court. He writes to his mother and to me, and I believe he is frustrated by the delay. Your brother cannot wait to prove himself as much a man as you, and indeed I do not blame him. I have been proud of your deeds, Stefan—and your reputation.’
‘You were swift enough to believe ill of me.’
‘And swifter to realise I had wronged you,’ his father admitted ruefully. ‘Had you wished, you could have ridden off with your men and I could have done little to stop you.’
‘That might have caused bloodshed. I could not raise a hand in anger to my own father.’
‘No, I realise that now that I begin to know you better,’ Ralph said. ‘But that did not prevent you simply riding away, for I would not have used force to keep you. You stayed for another reason, did you not?’
‘To have deserted Elona would have shamed her,’ Stefan said. ‘I thought that she was carrying a child—though I was not sure whose child it might be. I believed she might have had a lover or perhaps been ravished by the brutes that took her, and I could not abandon her.’
‘Yet you did not send for her? The letter Alain brought to Elona was not from you, I think?’
‘I was too stubborn and proud. I have to thank my brother for understanding me better than I could myself.’
‘Alain has his mother’s insight,’ Ralph said. ‘In a woman, such traits are good and often useful, but in a man…’ He shook his head. ‘To tell the truth, I fear for him, Stefan. I think he may find the world too harsh for a man of his nature. You are more like me and I thank God for it.’ The sincerity in his voice could not be denied and at last the shadows of doubt fell away from Stefan’s mind, never to return.
‘I think you worry too much,’ Stefan said. ‘There is strength in Alain, though it has not yet been tried, but when the time comes—’
They both turned as someone knocked at the door and then Elona entered, carrying a sealed document.
‘This comes from the King,’ she said. ‘His messenger says that it is urgent and awaits your reply, Stefan. I told him you had been ill, but he insisted that I bring it to you.’
‘I will see it,’ Stefan said and took it from her, breaking the seal. He read it swiftly and then more slowly. ‘Baron Danewold accuses me of treason against the King. I am called to court to answer the charges.’
‘But how can this be? Why should the King think you guilty of treason?’
‘Because he knows that I have been his son’s man for many years. He fears Richard and therefore he is wary of any that come from Richard’s court. Henry is an old man, my love. He knows that the time left to him is short, and that is why he listens to those who pour poisonous words into his ear.’
‘But you have sworn loyalty to him now that you have returned to England.’
‘Indeed, I have. Henry is our rightful King while he lives, and I would do nothing to harm him, though I would support Richard if there were a struggle between him and his brother John.’ Stefan drew a heavy breath. ‘It is a monstrous lie, yet I must go to answer it. If I do not, the King will think I am guilty.’
‘But you cannot go,’ Elona cried. ‘You are far too weak. The journey would kill you.’
‘I must answer a summons from the King.’
‘But it may be the death of you. Please, my husband, I beg you not to do this foolish thing.’
‘I shall go in your stead,’ Ralph said. ‘He will listen to me, for I have served him faithfully on many occ
asions.’
‘He may arrest you in my stead,’ Stefan said. ‘But go if you wish with a message from me. Tell him that I am laid prone upon my sickbed after a wound that laid me low for weeks, but that I shall come to him in one month and then I will answer any charges against me. On this I give my solemn word before God.’
‘No!’ Elona cried. ‘You will not be well enough in a month, Stefan. You cannot travel for many months.’
Stefan looked at her and the expression in his eyes told her that he would not listen. ‘Go to the King, Father. Tell him that I shall answer in one month or he will hear of my death…’
Chapter Twelve
Elona watched Stefan fighting with Dickon, who was the only one of his men who could be persuaded to train with him. His leg pained him so much that he stumbled when he tried to lunge at his opponent and cursed, and the other men had refused to put him to so much agony. Only Dickon seemed unafraid of his cursing and his rages.
She caught her breath as she saw him stumble again; his language was not fit for the stables and Elona clenched her hands, curling the nails into the palms to keep from crying out. It was ten days since the King’s message had arrived, and Stefan had insisted on beginning to exercise with his men. He had made a remarkable recovery, but his leg was not yet fully healed and the pain made him sweat as he forced himself to do things that he should not have thought of for weeks or months.
He leaned on his sword, shaking his head as Dickon asked him if he had had enough for one day.
‘I must be ready to meet all challenges in a month,’ he answered. ‘If the King will not listen, I may prove my innocence only by combat.’
He could not think to fight Danewold? Elona wanted to cry out her protest, but she dared not. His temper was at boiling point and any protest from her was labelled as nagging and dismissed brusquely. He would have none of her fussing, but she had noticed that he continued to take the medicine that Alayne had sent to make him stronger.
She knew that he would force himself through any pain in order to defend himself against the charge, and she could only pray that the King would listen and not demand that he choose trial by combat.
Stefan swung himself into the saddle, wincing with the pain. He was able to walk without stumbling now, but Elona knew that he suffered terribly, and that he had little hope of winning in hand-to-hand combat. His strength was nowhere near what it had been, and might not be for months to come.
She looked nervously at Dickon as he came to help her mount her palfrey. She had feared that Stefan would refuse to let her accompany him, but he had seemed to relent towards her the previous night, and for a moment he had been as he was before the boar dealt him such a deathly wound.
‘If I denied you, you would probably defy me and follow without a proper escort,’ he told her with a wry smile. ‘Besides, I would have you with me, my dearest one. I have been harsh with you of late, but I could not rest as you begged me. I have but one chance, Elona, to prove my innocence by fighting.’
‘Yes, I know,’ she said, holding back the tears that threatened. ‘It is just that it hurts me to see you in such pain.’
‘At least I did not need to do your exercises,’ he said, a gleam in his eyes. ‘And my strength returns daily. Fear not, in time I shall be as well as ever, my love.’
If he was given time, she thought, but kept her fears inside. Stefan must do whatever was necessary and she would not help his cause by weeping. If she begged and pleaded it would unman him, and he needed all his courage for the trial ahead.
He turned now and saw she was mounted, smiling at her as he gave the order to move off. ‘Courage, my lady,’ he told her. ‘God is just and I am innocent, therefore I must win my cause.’
‘Oh, Alayne,’ Elona cried as Sir Ralph and his wife came to meet her in the palace courtyard. Stefan had been arrested as soon as they arrived at court, and she had been left alone with his men to find lodgings for herself. ‘I am so glad to see you—and Sir Ralph.’
‘I came as soon as I knew what was happening,’ Alayne said, ‘for I knew that you would need me. Besides, Alain is on his way to court. His letter told me that he was due to arrive in England a day or so ago with messages from Duke Richard to King Henry, and I had hoped that I might see him here.’
‘Stefan has been arrested…’
‘Yes, but he will not be imprisoned,’ Sir Ralph told her. ‘I have spoken to his Majesty and it is my opinion that he knows the charges are false and yet he must appear to show fairness. Stefan accused Danewold of killing his people and of abducting you, and now he has been accused of treason. If Henry is to punish one, he must also try the other.’
‘Of what is Stefan accused?’
‘That he plotted with Duke Richard to overthrow the King and that he came to England for that purpose.’
‘That is a lie! He came because he wished for peace—to make a new life and have a family. Surely the King does not believe such lies?’
‘Henry is a fair man,’ Ralph told her. ‘Stefan must answer the charges, but I believe that all will go well for him.’
‘But he is not strong enough to fight for himself,’ Elona said. ‘He has been training, pushing himself to the limit, but he is in so much pain, and he cannot fight as he did—may not again.’
‘I have thought of that,’ Sir Ralph said and smiled. ‘When the King decrees that he must fight to prove his innocence, I shall offer myself as his champion.’
‘You will fight in his stead?’ Elona stared at him, her eyes wide. ‘But it will be a fight to the death…’
‘I shall show mercy to my opponent, never fear.’
‘But…’ Elona looked at Alayne and saw the concern in her eyes. She gave no sign of her anxiety, but Elona felt it. Sir Ralph was still strong and handsome, but he was not a young man and it was a long time since he had fought in truth, though he trained often. ‘You are generous, sir—but Stefan would not ask it of you.’
‘He is my son,’ Ralph told her. ‘I would give my life for his if need be—but I can still fight and beat most men half my age.’
Elona could not deny him, for in truth she did not know what he was capable of, nor did she care to offer what must be an insult by doubting his word. She could only pray that it did not come to such a challenge.
Elona was permitted to be present at the trial. She and Alayne sat at the back of the hall and listened as the charges were presented and refuted, waiting with bated breath for the King’s answer. It came after some seconds of almost unbearable agony, and it made the two women look at each other in dismay.
‘You shall prove your innocence by trial of combat, Sir Stefan—do you accept?’
‘Yes, sire,’ Stefan’s voice rang out strong and true, unafraid. ‘I do accept your challenge.’
‘Baron Danewold has put up a champion,’ the King said. ‘You will meet Boris the Boar tomorrow at the hour of nine in the courtyard. It will be a fight to the death, but mercy may be shown if the victor is willing.’
‘I accept, sire.’
‘Hold!’ Sir Ralph’s voice rang out in the hall as he walked forward. ‘I claim the right to fight as my son’s champion. He is but just risen from his sickbed and may name a champion if he so chooses.’
‘Aye, that is true.’ Sir Orlando stood up in the hall. ‘Sir Stefan may choose a champion. It is his right. I also am prepared to fight for him. He once saved my life and I would give mine willingly for his.’
‘Nay Father…Orlando…’ Stefan began, but before he could say more another voice rang out and a younger man came striding to stand beside his brother and father.
‘I claim my right to fight as Sir Stefan’s champion,’ Alain cried in ringing tones. ‘My father is older and not as strong as he once was, though he will likely be angry that I say it. I am my brother’s champion. He gave me that right with this sword, for he told me to take it and make him proud of his brother. I shall defend him against all challengers.’ He held the magnificent sword Stefan had g
iven him aloft for all to see.
Stefan was silent for a moment, and then he smiled oddly.
‘I thank both my brother and my father for the love they show me,’ he said. ‘It is true that I am not yet recovered from my sickbed and, if the King permits it, I name Alain as my true champion.’
Elona heard Alayne’s indrawn breath, and knew that she feared for her son as much as her husband. She reached for her hand, holding it to comfort her as the older woman had earlier done for her.
‘Alain is a brave man,’ she whispered, ‘and strong. I am sure he will win tomorrow.’
Alayne nodded her head, but her face was pale and Elona felt for her. They got up together and went out of the hall. Alain was being congratulated by many of the knights, for his brave speech had aroused admiration and respect.
‘I am sorry that your son must risk his life,’ Elona said as they went out into the chill air. ‘Yet I am glad that he is to fight rather than Sir Ralph, though he would not like to hear me say it.’
‘He would have done his best and perhaps he might have won,’ Alayne told her. ‘There was a time when none could have beaten him in a tourney, but it is many years since he has fought other than to train with his men.’
‘Yes, I thought it must be so,’ Elona said and smiled. ‘Yet it showed love for Stefan in the offer made so bravely. I am grateful to Alain for taking his place, though I know you fear for him.’
‘I must not show my fear,’ Alayne said and lifted her head proudly. ‘It would hurt him if he knew that I was distressed, and I must not weaken his resolve. I have kept him too long at home with me, but I loved him so much and I wanted to have him always with us.’
‘Yet a man must prove himself,’ Elona said. ‘It shamed Alain that he had not done the things that fell to Stefan’s lot.’
‘Yes, I know,’ Alayne said and sighed. ‘And he must have his way. I can only spend the night in prayer and hope that God is kind.’
‘You love him as any mother would her son…’