by Griff Hosker
He laughed, “You and the Warlord speak the same words from different mouths. It is his advice too! I told him the same as I tell you. I will not wait for I want sons and my Queen shall give them to me.”
William re-entered. “Brother, Geoffrey has fled. He and his household knights have left the castle. They have gone.”
Henry nodded, “Well at least I know where we stand now. Another joins the conspiracy against me.” He turned to William. “I return to Rouen to await my bride. I charge you with the command of Anjou until I return. When I send for them I want every knight and man at arms ready to go to war.”
“I will, brother.”
It was important that we rode back to Rouen quickly. Geoffrey was still the brother of the Duke. Who knew what damage he could do if the Normans in the castle obeyed him? The Empress insisted on coming with us. I admired her for the ride was not the easiest. The weather, although not as bad as in England, was unpleasant. It was with some relief that we reached Rouen and found that Geoffrey had been nowhere near it. Henry summoned Raymond of Mortain. He had become his general and leader of Normans. I took the Empress back to the priory. She had her guards with her and the parting was chaste.
“Alfraed I know you will do so without me asking but I pray you watch over my son.” She hesitated over the word ‘my’ but the proximity of her bodyguards made her correct herself.
“You know I shall. And you take care of yourself. I do not think your work is yet done.”
“It is, Earl, it is. I am content here in the priory. I spend much of the day in prayers. There I only feel the gaze of God. I spent my life in the glare of every man’s eyes. I like the privacy for I can be alone with my thoughts and my memories. Here I can reflect on the bad decisions I made and the ones which brought me joy.” Her look at me left me in no doubt that I fitted into the latter.
Raymond of Mortain arrived a few days later. I was in the room with Henry and his knight and we questioned the man who had mentored Geoffrey. “You spent time with my brother. Tell me about him.”
“But he is your brother, my lord…”
“And I have spent the last ten years away from him. I left the boy and now I see the man. I will be frank with you, my lord, I fear he is our enemy.”
I saw the relief on Raymond of Mortain’s face. “I did not know how to broach the subject lord. He oft spoke disparagingly of you. He is ambitious and would be Duke.” Henry nodded. “He gathered about him those other landless bachelor knights who also sought land and power.”
“I knew he had done that but I thought it was to raise men to fight for me.”
“I think he was self-serving in that respect.”
“Where would he go?”
“To one of your enemies. It is no secret that Flanders, Champagne and France conspire against you. He would find welcome at any of those courts.”
“Soon we go to war. I want you and the other knights you command to be ready when I call for you. My enemies will not know how fast we can move. They will think me a youth who is not to be feared. I will play that part.”
“You know where you will strike, lord?”
“I do but not even the Warlord knows where that will be. It is a secret I have kept from all. I learned well when I rode beneath his banner. I will put those lessons to good use now.”
When we were alone I did not ask Henry what his plans were. I knew that whatever he had planned would wait until he had married Eleanor. Instead I went through his plan for me to meet the Queen. “Who else knows of the meeting?”
“It is a secret.”
“No lord, for I know it. The only real secret is one known by just one or two people. This is known by you, your Queen and me. It is known by your mother. You told your oathsworn. You told the Bishop. You told your priests. Does William, your brother know? What of Geoffrey? Does he have wind of it? There will be others. The intermediary? The scribe who holds your letters? The spy the King of France has with his ear pressed to Eleanor’s door? The list could be endless and I could be riding into a trap.”
“You mean it is not a secret.”
“Exactly. I will take all of my archers and men at arms. I will go as though we go to war. The place you have chosen for the meeting, it is remote?”
“It is.”
“Then ambush is likely. There is a wood close by I understand.”
“It is a hunting forest, the Forest of Fontaine. My grandfather used to hunt there.”
I nodded, “I know it well. The road was a good one but it is a lonely road and few travel it, for it lies between France and Normandy.”
“That is why we chose it. She will not be seen.”
“I will leave with my men the day after tomorrow.”
“But you have the best part of twelve days before you need to be there.”
“And I may be going to war. I need to know the land like the back of my hand. Do I need anything to identify myself to the Queen?”
He smiled, “She chose you because she knows and trusts you. We both thought it was the safest way.”
“And I ride with your authority?”
He handed me a seal, “This was mine before I became Duke. Take this but I think there are few Normans who would argue with the Earl of Cleveland.”
I took the seal and sought Wilfred, Dick and Sir Richard. “We leave the day after tomorrow. We have a delicate mission to undertake for the Duke. We need spare horses as well as tents, supplies and grain for the horses. If any ask, then tell them that we are visiting La Flèche.”
Dick laughed, “And we are not.”
“Of course, but you and most of your archers will be at home for we will be camping in the forests.”
La Flèche, like the forest of Fontaine, lay to the south and so our journey did not create any suspicion. We had fifty miles to travel but we wished to hide from view. We travelled slower than normal. We had time. We took two days over the journey. We passed through the manor of Nonancourt and that would be the last settlement before the forest. Just before the forest we passed between two ancient buildings. I was intrigued by them and so we stopped. The stones which remained looked Roman. This was, after all, a Roman Road. One side had more stones left but most had been robbed away.
James asked, “What was this place, lord, a fort?”
I shook my head, “No. We have places like this in the east. They are called mansio. Imagine an inn for important people. This side would have been the place they slept and the other side would have been where the people who serviced the mansio lived.
We mounted. We did not reach the forest until dark. We just found a clearing and camped there. Dick sent his best woodsmen out to make sure we were alone and we were. We had supplies but we would hunt. It would give our presence credibility. With Henry’s seal, we had permission to be there and to hunt, no matter which lord ruled the local manor. I doubted that many would have hunted for the forest was disputed land between Normandy and France. The venison could be very dear in this part of the world. It could cost a hunter his life.
Thar night, as we camped in the forest I told my men what I intended. I knew other leaders told their men just what they needed to know and no more. The difference was that I had ridden with most of these men for so many years that I trusted them implicitly. More than that, I learned, over the years, that if a man had the whole plan in his mind then he would know what to do when things went wrong. And they never went entirely to plan.
“Tomorrow I ride with Dick and his archers to the nearest French manor. I wish to see what we may have to fight. Sir Richard, I want you and my men at arms to make the forest an obstacle for any who try to stop us doing our appointed task. We need ways through the woods. Make the area around our camp a maze to which we hold the only key.”
Wilfred said, “And the road, lord?”
“That must be kept clear and guarded.”
Happy that they understood I lay back and went through all the problems which might occur. The King of France might have t
o agree to an annulment. In fact, he might seek one for he needed a male heir. However, he would not be happy at losing Aquitaine. It was larger than France and England. Whoever ruled Aquitaine was a rich and powerful ruler. It had once been part of the Holy Roman Empire. If Henry ruled there, Anjou, Normandy, Maine and England then he would be the most powerful ruler in Christendom. I shook myself. I was getting too far into the realms of fantasy. Henry ruled just a tiny part of those at the moment and if we could not secure his bride then we might not even be able to reclaim England. As I went to sleep there was something nagging at the back of my mind. Perhaps I was getting old for it would not come to the fore.
I did not take Albert. He was too valuable to ride in the woods. I took one of the palfreys we had brought. A workday horse, he would be perfect for the forest. I put a plain brown cloak over my surcoat and I hung my helmet from my cantle. I wore my shield beneath my cloak and over my back. My archers all wore a dark green cloak. That had been Dick’s choice when I had first made him captain of my archers. It had been the garb he had worn when he had been an outlaw. Now with more grey than brown in his hair his eyes were still as sharp and his arm even more powerful.
We did not ride along the road, we flanked it and headed through the forest. Here I was the most inexperienced. Each of my archers had a keen eye and knew what to look for. I watched the road. We spied little save an abandoned charcoal burner’s hut. When we reached the eaves of the forest we saw the fields of farms. We halted.
“Dick, you and I will go with two others down the road. Have the rest of your archers wait here.”
“Aye lord.”
He chose Ralph of Wales and Henry Warbow. We rode in pairs as though we were just travellers. None of the farms we passed was next to the road. Tracks and greenways led to them but I knew that we were seen. We would be a curiosity, perhaps even a danger, but so long as we did not turn then we would be ignored. This was not England and a land riven by Civil War. The forest was debated but this part of France had been safe from war. The fact that we saw no travellers was not a surprise. Any traffic between France and Normandy would use the river. It was safer than the roads.
“Warlord, will the King of France let his wife leave France and give her lands to the Duke? Will he not imprison her? It would make sense.”
“Aye it would. Eleanor of Aquitaine is a clever woman. She would have thought this through. She must know how to get away from Louis. The problem will arise when he discovers that she has gone to Henry. If this all goes to plan, then that will not happen. We will meet her and escort her to Rouen. They will be married and all will end well.”
Behind us Henry Warbow laughed, “But you do not think that will happen Warlord. You think we will have to fight.”
I nodded, without turning my head, “Perhaps I am a pessimist in my old age.”
“Or just a realist.”
There was a small stand of trees. It looked like an ancient boundary of some kind. We passed through the gap and then saw, beyond it, a huddle of small houses and huts and, on a slightly higher piece of ground, a stone tower with a curtain wall around it and a ditch. We had found the manor. I cursed, inwardly. We had been seen by those in the houses. If we turned around it would be suspicious. We would have to venture forth. I said, quietly, “Henry, Ralph, keep silent. Let Dick and I talk.”
I could speak French and Dick knew enough to respond. If we spoke Norman then, with our swords and horse furniture we would be seen as enemies.
I heard the ringing of a blacksmith’s anvil as we reached the centre of the huts. The castle was half a mile away. I saw the standard which flew. It was that of a banneret. It was not a large manor. I saw a water trough outside the smithy and I reined in and dismounted.
Taking out a copper coin I shouted, “Can we take water?”
The smith came out. As with all blacksmiths he was a huge barrel of a man. He saw the coin I held and nodded. I flicked it towards him. “You are strangers and not from these parts. Do you seek the lord of Illeaiae?”
“That is the name of this manor?”
“It is.”
“Then we are lost. We were seeking the manor of Dreux. We were told that the lord of the manor was hiring swords and we are four swords for hire.”
He appraised me. “From your mail, you would be a knight or a man at arms.”
“I was a man at arms and served the Duke of Aquitaine.”
“I thought your accent sounded foreign. You have come the wrong way. You must go back through the forest. There is a greenway just the other side. If you take it then it will lead you to Dreux but it is two days from here.”
I handed him another coin, “Thank you for your help.”
“Whatever you do then do not cross the road to Nonancourt. There is a new Duke of Normandy and it is said he wishes to make war on France.” He pointed to the castle. “The Lord Robert may be hiring swords.”
“No offence, my friend, but we seek the highest pay. The lord of Dreux is a powerful man and he offers good pay. We, too, have heard of the possibility of war. It is why we left Aquitaine.”
“Aye, war is sad for some but it will make me a rich man. I already have two coins more than I had before.” He examined the coins. I had carefully chosen them. I had taken them from Hermund of Alsace. They were Imperial coins. “You have travelled.”
I shook my head, “No but we have had other masters. We take coins where we can. Thank you my friend.” I mounted and we turned to go back whence we had come. I had no doubt that our presence would be mentioned to Robert of Illeaiae but I hoped our thin story would hold until the Queen came through.
Dick waited until we had passed through the stand of trees and were heading back to the forest before he spoke. “Will the castle be an obstacle to the Queen, lord?”
“I doubt it, Dick. It is a banneret. If he has ten men at arms, then I will be surprised. Eleanor is a clever woman. She has obviously chosen this route to avoid any greater danger.”
When we reached the woods Aelric greeted us, “Lord, we have seen the tracks of horsemen in the woods.”
Dick asked, “Hunters?”
“No, Captain, they were horses which bore mailed men. There were the tracks of at least twenty of them.”
Dick looked at me, “No Dick, the banneret would not have so many mailed men. There are others in this forest and I fear they seek the Queen too. We must become hunters and find them.”
Chapter 12
As we headed back to our camp Aelric told us that the tracks had come from the south west. Dick said, “Take five men and back track them. See where they entered the forest. That will tell us if they are French or others.”
I let Dick make these decisions. Tracking and the forest were his domain. I ran through my mind the different possibilities. Now my conversation with Henry came to the fore. More people knew of the Queen’s journey than Henry had imagined. The question of their identity was still a mystery. Who had something to gain from this? Stephen? Eustace? Had the Bishop something to do with this? Could he be in the pay of France? They would have been the prime suspects yet they were both in England. Even if they had spies then the message would take too long to reach them. It had to be someone who was close to our borders. The two names which sprang to mind were Charles of Champagne and Siegfried of Trier. We would have to wait until Aelric had backtracked. There might be a third possibility. If it was Siegfried or Charles, then the tracks would have come from the east and not the west. This felt like an enemy from within. I would wait for Aelric’s report but I thought I knew who the enemy would be.
They arrived back just before dark. His face was black as thunder.
“Well Aelric?”
“We found three of them, Warlord. It would have been simplicity itself to slay them with our bows but you had not given such commands and so we held our hands.”
“Good, for if we let our enemies know that we are aware of him he may escape us.”
“They are Norman knights. Will Re
d Legs recognised one of them.”
Will nodded. He was taciturn and rarely spoke. When he did, his words were worth listening to. “He was one of the knights with the Duke’s brother, Geoffrey, Count of Nantes, lord. I remembered him because he made a disparaging remark about you and your band of brigands. I should have slit his throat when I heard them.”
“You did right to restrain your hand.”
Sir Richard nodded, “So Geoffrey intends harm to the Queen.”
“Not necessarily. He knows the importance of the Queen. He could hold her as a bargaining chip with Henry. ‘Give me Anjou and you can have the Queen.’ Something like that.”
Dick shook his head, “Henry would never agree to that.”
“No, Dick. It would be civil war again and we would never recover England. Eustace would be king. We have to find him and stop him. We have three days at the most. The Queen will be here in that time.”
I sat by the fire. The smell of roasting venison did not make me hungry as it normally did. I had to make the right decision. If I did not then this war which was so nearly over would drag on and, perhaps, end badly for Henry. If that happened then it would be my fault and all of the sacrifices we had made over the last years would have been in vain. My men left me alone. Dick and Wilfred organized the sentries; others saw to the horses and the food. I stared into the fire. The wood crackled and spat. The rich smell of ash and hornbeam filled the air.
The fire had been raked, poked and banked by the time I had come to a decision. I took the piece of venison which James held for me and the beaker of wine. I ate as I spoke and I used the meat to point.
“We need to find Geoffrey and his men.”
“And kill them?”
“No, James. If we attack them before the Queen is here they can ride to the castle we passed and warn the French. The fact that he is hiding too tells me that he has not yet become a total traitor. He seeks the Queen. For what end, I know not. We have to take him when he tries to take the Queen.”