Ill Met by Moonlight

by Mercedes Lackey

  Elizabeth’s mouth opened, but Lady Alana shook her head very hard, and Elizabeth swallowed her joy. Her eyes were blazing, as yellow as those of the lion she had created to destroy her abductors.

  Now Lady Alana gestured and Elizabeth put away her embroidery and rose from the bench. If Mary and her companion came to the edge of the hedge and turned, they would see her sitting where she could hear them speak. Elizabeth dropped her shield and Alana pulled her silently away in the opposite direction toward the other maidens near the pond.

  Lady Alana squeezed her hand. “Not a word,” she warned. “Not a word until you have heard this from another source that you can acknowledge to the queen. Catherine is not the kind to approve of those who listen in secret. And do try not to look so … so unreasonably happy.”

  “But my father loves me!”

  “Yes, and knows what will be good for his realm too.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide but, fortunately, before she could ask what Alana meant and just as they arrived at the pond, Ann Cooke slipped and one foot plunged into the water. Everyone cried out. Lady Alana with her unexpected swiftness of movement caught the girl before she could topple into the pond, and everyone’s attention was fixed on her so that Elizabeth’s excitement passed unnoticed.

  Behind the hedge, Rhoslyn had said, “I see.”

  “But you do not see enough,” Mary nearly wailed. “She is a bastard!”

  “She has been declared illegitimate, my lady,” Rhoslyn said carefully, trying to remind Mary that she, too, had been declared illegitimate.

  “No! I don’t mean that. I mean that Elizabeth is not my father’s child. Anne was an adulteress and she was with child before she ever married my father. I even warned the queen, but she will not hear it.”

  For a moment Rhoslyn was speechless. If prejudice was set aside, it was impossible to doubt that Elizabeth was Henry’s daughter. She resembled him so closely, from her red head to her agile mind; she resembled Henry much more than did Mary.

  “Oh, my lady,” Jane Dormer said from behind, “I have begged you not to speak of that to the queen. The king would be angry if she raised the question with him. You do not want to make trouble for Queen Catherine, who is so kind.”

  Jane Dormer had stopped to look at a specially lush bush of roses and now hurried forward and insinuated herself between Rhoslyn and Mary. Rhoslyn dropped back very willingly. She was in a quandary as to what to say. Rosamund Scot had won special favor with Mary because she had always subtly agreed with Mary when she denigrated Elizabeth or tried to make trouble for her sister.

  Now … Rhoslyn’s mind went back to a most significant meeting with Pasgen two months earlier.

  He had come to Iach Hafan, her domain, to tell her that his latest attempt to seize Elizabeth had been a failure. True, he admitted, it had been a spur-of-the-moment arrangement because he had seen her arrive at the Goblin Fair purely by accident. Still, everything had worked, until Elizabeth’s shock at being seized had worn off. Then, somehow, she had diverted a Gate to take her to her own destination rather than respond to the amulet he had given her mortal abductors.

  “But Gates do not respond to mortals,” Rhoslyn remembered protesting.

  “It seems they do to Elizabeth,” Pasgen had said, and she had not imagined the reluctant admiration in his voice. “She has Talent and, more to the point, she can use it. She took the men to an Unformed land and created a lion that killed them. And not half an hour later, she was sitting with Denoriel and others exuding happiness.”

  “What?”

  Pasgen had not bothered repeating himself. He knew that Rhoslyn had heard him and was merely expressing her shock, shock because a mortal child had been able to overpower one of her brother’s amulets, had seen two men killed … and had not been shaken and distraught.

  “I will meddle no more with Elizabeth,” Pasgen had said, with the firm nod that she knew meant his mind was made up, and there would be no shifting him. “I think we have misunderstood the Visions we have shared with the FarSeers. We believed that those were three different possibilities, because that is usually the way FarSeeing works. I no longer think that is so. I think we have been Seeing what will be. The boy will rule, then Mary, and then Elizabeth.”

  Rhoslyn stared at her brother for a moment, absorbing what he had said. She did not like Elizabeth but she could not help but admire her—even more now; a child of eleven who could create in an Unformed land and fight back against adult male abductors with such ferocity. And a small feeling of contentment moved her. From the first time she had Seen the glory of Elizabeth’s reign she had desired it to come to pass.

  “But what will you do?” she asked. “Is it now that we must confront Vidal? He surely will not accept the fact of Elizabeth coming to the throne.”

  Rhoslyn’s moment of contentment had been drowned by fear. She knew that Pasgen could defeat Vidal one-on-one, but it would not be that way if Pasgen openly defied the Dark Prince. Vidal would bring the whole herd of dark Sidhe down on them. Pasgen was strong and she had her strengths too, but they could not prevail against the whole Unseleighe host.

  Usually that threat was negligible. It was very hard to get the dark Sidhe and the other creatures of the Dark to unite about anything. Ordinarily Vidal could manage to control only a few, but all the Unseleighe would unite to prevent Elizabeth from coming to the throne. Beside that aim, they would be glad to bring her and Pasgen down together if he defied Vidal.

  “I think I will disappear,” Pasgen said, looking suddenly very happy. “I will make a study of chaos lands and Unformed places. I know that they move around, but perhaps I can find a way to fix them or, better, to mark them so I can return to chosen places. In any case, I do not think Vidal’s minions will be able to track me down too easily in those environs.”

  Rhoslyn remembered taking her brother’s hand. “Chaos lands and Unformed places can be dangerous, Pasgen. Be sure to carry the lindys with you.”

  Pasgen smiled at her. “I will. And it will not be as dangerous as being attacked en masse by the dark Sidhe … which I think would happen soon even if I did not defy Vidal. It would have happened already, if Vidal were not so busy in Scotland.”

  Rhoslyn nodded. At court she had heard a great deal about how the Scots refused to abide by the Treaty of Greenwich and give the infant Queen Mary of Scotland into Henry’s hands.

  “May the Powers bless King Henry for being such a stubborn idiot and demanding just what the Scots will not give,” Pasgen continued, with the first wholly cheerful smile she had seen on his face in an age. “If he did not think he already ruled them so that he can issue demands and have them instantly bow, they might be won over. However, Henry’s stubbornness is encouraging Vidal to stir the pot. Long may the Scottish wars rage.” Then he bit his lip. “What about you, Rhoslyn? Will you disappear too?”

  “I cannot. Mother—”

  Pasgen snapped his fingers. “Idiot that I am. I meant to tell you sooner that I agree to her moving to the empty house—” he laughed “—we will have to learn to call it something else. And I have thought of a good way to get clients for her. If you will make three simulacra …”

  Rhoslyn’s mind skipped over his ideas for a booth at each of the great markets with broadcast sheets describing Llanelli’s services and instructions for Gating to the empty house. At the time she had seized on the ideas and they had spent a long time discussing how to protect Llanelli. Now, however, that work was done and Llanelli established, and what shone in Rhoslyn’s mind like a beacon was the end of the conversation she had had with Pasgen.

  “And perhaps I will look specially at empty domains closer to Seleighe places …” he had said, leaving the suggestion hanging.

  But Rhoslyn remembered how her heart had leapt—with hope, not fear. “Yes!” she remembered exclaiming. “Yes. Oh, Pasgen, do you think we could—”

  The joy had drained away from his expression and he had shaken his head. “If they did not kill us out
of hand, we would be pariah dogs, never accepted, never trusted …”

  “And how is that different from what we have now?” Rhoslyn asked bitterly. “Except that among the Seleighe we would not need to fear hate spells and enchanted weapons!”

  He had not answered that, only put out a hand to stroke her cheek. “Will you be safe if I go?”

  Rhoslyn had tried to shake off the dream of moving out of the Dark and smiled. “Oh, yes. I will go to the mortal world and take up residence as Mary’s lady. If Aurelia asks what I am doing, I can say that Mary is the best path to Elizabeth’s destruction but, since I may not use any spell on her, it takes time and skill to influence her by mortal persuasion.”

  Mary’s voice speaking her mortal name cut through Rhoslyn’s memories and she came back to the present with a feeling of mingled amusement and frustration. “But Rosamund thinks there is danger that Elizabeth will further influence the prince into ways that will damn him,” Mary said. “Do you not, Rosamund?”

  Rhoslyn swallowed a sigh. She herself had strongly aided in building the wall of doubt and fear over which Mary regarded her sister. Now, stone by stone and inch by inch of mortar, she would have to take down that wall. Not only take it down but set in its place another—a wall that would protect Elizabeth from real harm during Mary’s reign. But to go too fast would destroy Mary’s trust and her influence with Mary.

  Rhoslyn tried to keep her voice flat and neutral when she said, “It is indeed true that Elizabeth leans toward the reformed religion and that Edward is very fond of her, but since she was sent away, Elizabeth is more careful. I notice she does not stray beyond King Henry’s dogma.”

  “But that is still dangerous,” Mary insisted. “Edward is a sweet boy. To teach him to acknowledge the king as—”

  “But it is only natural,” Jane Dormer said, “for a little boy to believe his father is all powerful.”

  “Yes.” Rhoslyn smiled. “And you need not fear that Christ or his merciful mother would condemn a little boy for believing what his father told him. You will have many years to teach him better ways.”

  The smile felt stiff on her face and she suggested that it was still too warm to find walking in the garden entirely pleasurable. Perhaps a bower in the shade and a game … Rhoslyn was not really too warm but she wanted to get out of the area where Elizabeth’s voice rose above that of the other girls as they exclaimed over a mishap to one of their number. Mary could be quite an interesting companion when she could be diverted from the subject of religion.

  As the whole group of girls fussed over Ann Cooke’s wet shoe and stocking, Elizabeth brought from the small basket that contained the book cover she was embroidering, the piece of cloth usually used to protect the embroidery. For now it could serve to dry Ann’s foot and stocking. Her older sister, Mildred, was using dry grass to wipe out the shoe as well as she could. Amid laughter and thanks, Elizabeth and Lady Alana were absorbed into the group.

  Although she now had her delight under control so it would not burst out and make the other girls wonder. Elizabeth was very happy in her return to court.

  Admittedly, there was a dark side to this restoration in that Denoriel was no longer free to visit as he had been in St. James’s. Nor did he and Elizabeth dare meet in the Wilderness as they used to do.

  Whether Stafford was still watching, they did not know but Elizabeth had determined to be a model of propriety. Now when she went out to walk or ride, she made sure to be accompanied not only by her own servants, who were known to be devoted and all too ready to lie for her, but by some of the young ladies being schooled in the queen’s enlarged nursery.

  Because of Denoriel’s enforced absence, Aleneil had taken up her place in Elizabeth’s small entourage as Lady Alana. The war in France was eating money, far in excess of what had been planned, so that allowances were being cut to the bone or discontinued entirely. Kat Champernowne had been forced to dismiss some of Elizabeth’s ladies and gentlemen; thus Lady Alana’s offer to return to service was welcomed warmly. Lady Alana did not require any stipend and would be a helpful support. Kat introduced Alana to Queen Catherine, who soon found Lady Alana better company than many of her own ladies. Lady Alana was approved.

  In the weeks that followed Aleneil had detected no threat to Elizabeth, and Aleneil was actually in a better position to watch for threats than Denoriel, because she was very often present in Elizabeth’s chambers. The only thing that troubled her was that she had sensed Sidhe—almost certainly Rhoslyn—in Mary’s company and she associated that with the growing coldness between Mary and Elizabeth.

  At least, Aleneil told Denoriel when she Gated to Llachar Lle after everyone else at Hampton Court was asleep, Rhoslyn, if it was Rhoslyn, never came near Elizabeth and there was no sense of magic in or around Mary. However, Aleneil could not tell whether the Sidhe was causing Mary to be cold and eye Elizabeth with fear and suspicion. Worse, she did not know what to tell Elizabeth. She did not want to frighten her nor worsen the situation between her and Mary.

  “You think Rhoslyn may be encouraging Mary to believe Elizabeth is a witch?” Denoriel asked anxiously. “Aleneil, warn Elizabeth not to use stickfoot or tanglefoot. Rhoslyn will sense those spells immediately.”

  “I will remind her, although I know she has not used any spell at all at court. I do not know whether Mary still has some doubts about Elizabeth or is now accounting what she saw in the garden that night as owing to her near sight. More likely it is because Edward is so warm to Elizabeth that Mary is so cold.”

  Denoriel frowned. “It must be Rhoslyn influencing Mary to hate Elizabeth. I remember Mary as being sweet and gentle and fond of Elizabeth, too, when Elizabeth was only a baby.”

  “Mary is jealous,” Aleneil sighed. “I think she desires Edward’s love for herself. But, even more important, because religion in the form of the old faith is the wellspring of her life, she fears Elizabeth’s influence will encourage Edward toward the reformed religion. He is taking great interest in Elizabeth’s New Year’s gift for the queen.”

  That made Denoriel gape at her in mild surprise. “Edward is interested in women’s clothing?”

  Aleneil laughed. “No more than any boy of his age. What has taken his fancy is Elizabeth’s translation from French into English of a long—” she sighed “—and incredibly boring poem by Margaret of Navarre, called—at least the translation is called—The Mirror of the Sinful Soul.”

  He shook his head. “But if Elizabeth thinks the poem is boring—”

  “I did not say that Elizabeth thought the poem was boring, and neither does Edward. It puts forth the idea that since all people are sinful only God’s mercy can save a person from hell and only faith can gain God’s mercy. Good works, as in the old religion—which resulted in the extreme wealth of the Church—are no longer necessary.”

  Denoriel groaned; it was clear he found all the convolutions and flourishes of mortal religions incomprehensible as well as absurd. “The things these mortals can dream up to worry about. Who cares? I surely hope that Elizabeth will grow out of this fancy.”

  “I am sure she will.” Aleneil laughed. “It is not a heart preoccupied with guilt and sin that brought about such a flowering as we ForeSee.”

  “True enough.” Denoriel smiled. “And she certainly does not seem preoccupied with sin when she goes Underhill. Nor is she worried about doing ‘witchcraft’ when we teach her spells. She loves them.” He sighed. “I miss her.”

  “You would see more of her, although under formal circumstances, if you found yourself a good friend at court that you could visit.”

  “No, not yet.” Denoriel sighed. “The men I need are with the king in France.” He sighed again. “This war cannot come to a good end. Henry and the emperor Charles have entirely different purposes and plans. Charles desires to attack and take Paris and Henry wants to extend his influence in France by taking the towns near the Pale of Calais. Do you know that when Norfolk and Suffolk first brought the army across the n
arrow sea they had no idea what the king intended them to do there?”

  Aleneil nodded. “One of the privy councilors had a letter from Norfolk saying very tartly that he had expected to know, when he set out with the vanguard from Calais, where he was supposed to be going!”

  Denoriel laughed at the absurdity of it. “Yes, and then Henry decided that they should attack Montreuil or Ardres, which is just outside the Pale. Naturally this did not please Charles, because if the English only hang about Calais, they will never help him take Paris.”

  Aleneil frowned. “Can the result of the war have any influence on Elizabeth?”

  Denoriel shook his head. “Not unless Henry so infuriates the emperor Charles that he breaks his agreement with England and makes truce and treaty with France. Then Henry would be odd man out. If France and the Empire combine against him he might become desperate enough to offer Elizabeth as a bride to gain an ally.”

  Aleneil looked startled and anxious. “She is nearly old enough and such a marriage might take her out of the line of succession. Denoriel, you had better make some connections in court so we can be warned of any such plans and arrange to counter them.”

  “There is no hurry,” Denoriel assured her. “First we must see what the end of this war will be. It may not fall out the way I now see it.” He stared unseeingly at the wall for a moment, then added, slowly, “What we must guard against right now is Mary’s animosity. She has the queen’s ear and might influence her against Elizabeth. And that would be beyond either of us to counteract.”

  Chapter 28

  Elizabeth had been feeling the effects of Mary’s coldness for some considerable time now, and it troubled her even more than it troubled Aleneil. Of course, Elizabeth knew Mary had been the one to accuse her of meeting a man in the garden, which resulted in her exile to St. James’s Palace. However, her opportunity to visit Underhill and spend so much time with her Da made Elizabeth very forgiving of her exile.