by Неизвестный
Rod nodded.
She spread her hands, shrugging. "I cannot recall a word of what I said."
"Don't let it worry you, I remember it all." Rod rubbed the stubble on his chin. "You were acting as a channel, a medium in the purest sense of the word."
He threw his head back, drained his mug, and tossed it to one of the young warlocks. The youth caught the tankard, disappeared, and reappeared. He handed the tankard, brimming full, to Rod, who shook his head in mock despair.
He leaned back and sipped at the wine, looking up at the young faces around him, smiling and fairly glowing with the knowledge of their power.
"Have you ever done this before?" he asked, with a wave of the mug that took them all in. "Listened to skull sessions like that one, I mean."
"Only of the Queen's enemies," Aldis answered with a toss of her head. "We often listen to Durer."
"Oh?" Rod raised an eyebrow. "Learn anything?"
Aldis nodded. "He is much concerned with the peasants of late."
Rod was very still for a moment. Then he leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "What's his interest in the peasants?"
Toby grinned knowingly. "Hark now to his latest exploit! He hath brooded trouble 'twixt two serfs on the Queen's own estate. A young peasant wished to marry an old farmer's daughter, and the old man said nay. And the youth would've thrown up his hands in despair and let himself waste away with a broken heart."
"But Durer stepped in."
"Aye. He was after the young one night and day; for knowledge of the boy's suit spread throughout all the villages, and saw to it that the rumor was told with one question appended: Could the youth be a man who would let a doddard idiot rob him of the girl he loved?"
Rod nodded. "And the other peasants started throwing that up to the kid."
"Most certainly. Taunts and jeers and mocking— and the lad stole the girl away by night and got her with child."
Rod pursed his lips. "I imagine Papa was a trifle perturbed."
Toby nodded. "He hauled the boy before the village priest and demanded the lad be hanged for a rapist."
"And the priest said… ?"
"That it was love, not rape, and the fitting punishment was marriage, not hanging."
Rod grinned. "Bet the two kids were real sad about that."
"Their grief was so great it set them to dancing." Toby chuckled. "And the old man gave a heavy sigh, and would have judged it the wisdom of God, and blessed them."
"And Durer stepped in again."
"Most certainly. He was up before the Queen, when she was at table before all her lords and her ladies, crying that the Queen must prove the justice of her new order by declaring herself what was just in this case; for were these not peasants on the Queen's own estates?"
Rod grinned and slapped his thigh. "She must have been ready to spit in his eye!"
"Oh, you know not the Queen!" Toby rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling. "She would most cheerfully have slipped a knife 'twixt his ribs. But the challenge must needs be answered; she must needs hear the case herself, when next she held General Court."
"General Court?" Rod scowled. "What the hell is that?"
"One hour each month the Queen opens her court to all in her realm who wish her ear; and peasants, nobility , and clergy come to her Great Hall. Mostly the great lords but look on while the petty nobility and peasantry bring forth their grievances. And with the great ones watching, you may be sure the grievances brought up are petty indeed."
"Like this case." Rod nodded. "When's this next General Court?"
"Tomorrow," said Toby, "and I think the great lords shall have their tame clergy and peasantry protest the Queen's new judges and priests. The lords shall lodge their protest first, of course; and the other, more common folk shall be echoing them."
Rod nodded. "Put the whole matter on public record. But what does Durer hope to gain by bringing in this seduction case?"
Toby shrugged. "That, only Durer may know."
Rod leaned back, frowning, and pulled at his mug. He studied the young faces around him and scratched at the base of his skull. "Sounds to me like this is information the Queen would like to have. Why don't you tell her?"
The faces sobered. Toby bit his lip and looked down at the floor.
Rod scowled. "Why don't you tell her, Toby?"
"We have tried, friend Gallowglass!" The boy looked up at Rod in mute appeal. "We have tried; yet she would not hear us!"
Rod's face turned to wood. "How's that again?"
Toby spread his hands in helplessness. "The page we sent to her returned to tell us that we should be thankful for the protection she accorded us, and not be so ingracious and insolent as to seek to meddle in her governing."
Rod jerked his head in tight, quick nods, mouth drawn back in grim agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like Catharine."
"Mayhap," one of the boys murmured thoughtfully, "it is all to the best; for she hath cares enough without warnings of doom from us."
Rod grinned without humor. "Yeah. Between the noblemen and the beggars, she's got more than enough worries to keep her busy."
Toby nodded, eyes wide and serious. "Aye, she hath troubles sufficient, between the councillors, the House of Clovis, and the banshee on her roof. She hath great cause to be most afeard."
"Yes." Rod's voice was tight, rasping. "Yes, she hath good cause; and I think that she is thoroughly afeard."
Big Tom must have been a very light sleeper; he sat up on his pallet as Rod came tiptoeing up to his bunk.
"Art well, master?" he whispered in a rasping voice that had about as much secrecy as a bullfrog in rut.
Rod stopped and frowned down at his manservant. "Yes, very well. Why shouldn't I be?"
Big Tom smiled sheepishly. "Thou hast small use for sleep," he muttered. "I had thought it might be a fever."
"No." Rod smiled with relief, shaking his head. He pushed past Big Tom. "It's not a fever."
"What is it, then?"
Rod fell backward onto the bed, cupping his hands under his head. "Did you ever hear of a game called cricket, Tom?"
"Cricket?" Tom scowled." 'Tis a chirping creature on the hearth, master."
"Yeah, but it's also the name of a game. The center of the game is a wicket, see, and one team tries to knock down the wicket by throwing a ball at it. The other team tries to protect the wicket by knocking the ball away with a paddle."
"Strange," Big Tom murmured, eyes wide with wonder. "A most strange manner of game, master."
"Yes," Rod agreed, "but it gets worse. The teams trade sides, you see, and the team that was attacking the wicket before is defending it now." He looked down over his toes at Tom's round beehive face.
"Nay," the big man muttered, shaking his head in confusion. "What is the point to it all, master?"
Rod stretched, let his body snap back to relaxation.
"The point is that no matter who wins, it's going to be hard on the wicket."
"Aye!" Big Tom nodded vigorously. "Most certain true, master."
"Now, I get the feeling that there's a colossal game of cricket going on around here; only there's three teams in the game: the councillors, the beggars…"
"The House of Clovis," Tom muttered.
Rod's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Yes, the House of Clovis. And, of course, the Queen."
"Then, who," asked Big Tom, "is the wicket?"
"Me." Rod rolled over on his side, thumped the pillow with his fist, and lowered his head onto it with a blissful sigh. "And now I am going to sleep. Good night."
"Master Gallowglass," piped a page's voice.
Rod closed his eyes and prayed for strength. "Yes, page?"
"You are called to wait upon the Queen at her breakfast, Master Gallowglass."
Rod forced an eyelid open and peered out the window; the sky was rosy with dawn.
He squeezed his eyes shut and counted to ten, almost dozing off in the process. He drew in a sigh that would have filled a bottomless pit, swung his le
gs over the side of the bed, and sat up. "Well, no rest for the wicket. What'd I do with my damn uniform, Tom?"
Rod had to admit that Catharine Plantagenet had a good dramatic instinct and, moreover, knew how to use it on her court. The guards were at their stations in the dining hall before sunrise. The lords and ladies who were privileged— or, more accurately, cursed—to share the Queen's dawn breakfast arrived right after the cock's crow. Not till they were all assembled, and all waiting some time eyeing the breakfast meats, did Catharine make her entrance.
And she definitely made an entrance, even at that hour. The doors of the hall were thrown wide, revealing Catharine standing in a pool of torchlight. Six buglers blew a fanfare, at which all the lords and ladies rose and Rod winced (pitch was more or less a matter of taste in that culture).
Then Catharine stepped into the hall, head high and shoulders back. She paced a quarter way around the wall to the great gilded chair at the head of the table. The Duke of Loguire stepped forth and pulled the chair back. Catharine sat, with the grace and lightness of a feather. Loguire sat at her right hand, and the rest of the company followed suit. Catharine picked up her two-tined fork, and the company fell to, while liveried stewards invaded from the four corners of the hall with great platters of bacon and sausage, pickled herring, white rolls, and tureens of tea and soup.
Each platter was brought first to Brom O'Berin, where he sat at the Queen's left hand. Brom took a sample of each platter, ate a morsel of it, and placed the remainder on a plate before him. Then the huge platters were placed on the table. By this time Brom, finding himself still alive, passed the filled plate to Catharine.
The company fell to with gusto, and Rod's stomach reminded him that all that had hit his digestive tract that night had been spiced wine.
Catharine picked daintily at her food with the original bird-like appetite. Rumor had it that she ate just before the formal meal in the privacy of her apartments. Even so, she was so thin that Rod found it in himself to doubt the rumor.
The stewards wove in and out with flagons of wine and huge meat pies.
Rod was stationed at the east door; he thus had a good view of Catharine, where she sat at the north end of the table, Milord Loguire at her right hand, Durer, at Loguire's right hand, and the back of Brom O'Berin's head.
Durer leaned over and murmured something to his lord. Loguire waved a hand impatiently and nodded. He tore the meat off a chop with one bite, chewed, swallowed, and washed it down with a draft of wine. As he lowered the cup to the table, he turned to Catharine and rumbled, "Your Majesty, I am concerned."
Catharine gave him the cold eye. "We are all concerned, Milord Loguire. We must bear with our cares as well as we may."
Loguire's lips pressed tight together, his mouth almost becoming lost between moustache and beard. "My care," he said, "is for your own person, and for the welfare of your kingdom."
Catharine turned back to her plate, cutting a morsel of pork with great care. "I must hope that the welfare of my person would indeed affect the welfare of my kingdom."
Loguire's neck was growing red; but he pushed on obstinately. "I am glad that your Majesty sees that a threat to your welfare is a threat to this kingdom."
The skin furrowed between Catharine's eyebrows; she frowned at Loguire. "Indeed I do."
"Knowing that the Queen's life is threatened, the people grow uneasy."
Catharine put down her fork and sat back in her chair. Her voice was mild, even sweet. "Is my life, then, threatened, milord?"
"It would seem so," Loguire murmured carefully. "For the banshee was upon your roof again last night."
Rod's ears pricked up.
Catharine's lips turned in, pressed between her teeth; her eyes closed. Silence fell around the table. Brom O'Berin's voice rumbled into the sudden quiet. "The banshee hath often been seen upon her Majesty's battlements; yet still she lives."
"Be still!" Catharine snapped at him. Her shoulders straightened; she leaned forward to take up her goblet. "I do not wish to hear of the banshee." She drained the goblet, then held it out to the side. "Steward, more wine!"
Durer was out of his seat and at the Queen's elbow in an instant. Plucking the goblet from her hand, he turned to the steward who had come running up. He held the goblet up while the steward filled it from his ewer and the court stared; such courtesy to the Queen was, from Durer, somewhat unusual.
He swung back to the Queen, dropping to one knee and holding up the goblet. Catharine stared, then slowly accepted it. "I thank you, Durer; yet must I confess that I had not expected such courtliness from you."
Durer's eyes glinted. He rose with a mocking smile and bowed very low. "Drink deep in health, my Queen."
But Rod was a trifle less trusting than Catharine; moreover, he had seen Durer pass his left hand over the goblet just before the steward poured.
He left his post and caught the goblet just as Catharine raised it to her lips. She stared at him, face paling, rage rising in her eyes. "I did not summon you, sirrah."
"Your Majesty's pardon." Rod undipped his dagger from his belt, shook the blade out onto the table, and filled the conical sheath with wine. Thank Heaven he'd taken the precaution of resetting Fess before he went on duty!
He held up the silver horn and said, "IconFess, with apologies to your Majesty, that I cannot analyze my actions; it is only that I fear for your Majesty's life."
But all Catharine's anger had vanished in fascination at Rod's action. "What," she said, pointing to the silver horn, "is that?"
"Unicorn's horn," Rod answered, and looked up to see Durer's eyes, burning with rage at him.
"Analysis complete," murmured the voice behind his ear." Substance poisonous to human metabolism."
Rod smiled grimly and pressed the knob at the apex of the horn with his little finger.
The "unicorn's horn" turned purple.
A gasp of horror went up from the whole court; for they all knew the legend, that a unicorn's horn will turn purple if poison is placed in it.
Catharine turned pale; she clenched her fists to conceal their trembling.
Loguire's hand balled into a huge fist; his eyes narrowed as he glared atDurer. "Slight man, if any part of this treachery was yours…"
"Milord, you saw." Durer's voice crackled. "I but held the cup."
But his burning eyes were fixed on Rod's, seeming to suggest that Rod could save himself a lot of trouble and agony if he would just drink the wine right there and then.
Rod was assigned as one of the four guards who would escort Catharine from her apartments to the Great Hall for the General Court. The four of them waited outside her chambers till the door opened, and Brom O'Berin stepped out, preceding the Queen. Two soldiers fell in before the Queen and behind Brom; Rod and another Guardsman fell in behind her.
They moved down the corridor slowly, matching their pace to Catharine's; and the Queen, draped in a heavy fur cloak and weighed down by the great gold crown, moved very slowly. Somehow, she contrived to look stately rather than clumsy.
As they drew near the Great Hall, a slight, emaciated, velvet-clad figure came scurrying up— Durer.
"Your pardon," he said, bowing three times, "but I must speak with your Majesty." His lips were pressed tight, anger in his eyes.
Catharine stopped and drew herself up to her haughtiest.
Chip on her shoulder as large as a two-by-four, Rod thought.
"Speak, then," she said, looking down her nose at the cringing little man before her; "but speak quickly, sirrah."
Durer's eyes flared at the word of contempt; "sirrah" was a term reserved for peasants.
He managed to keep his manner respectful, though. "Your Majesty, I beg you to brook no delay in hearing the Great Lords' petition, for they are most greatly overwrought."
Catharine frowned. "Why should I delay?"
Durer bit his lip, looking away.
Catharine's eyes kindled in anger. "Speak, sirrah," she snapped. "Or do you mean to i
mply that the Queen fears to hear her noblemen?"
"Your Majesty… Durer spoke with great reluctance; then the words came in a rush. "I had heard there were two peasants to be heard in Court today…"
"There are." Catharine's mouth hardened. " Tis the case you recommended to me, Durer.'*
The little man's eye shot a malevolent gleam at her; then he was all fawning humility again. "I had thought… I had heard… I had feared…"
"What hast thou feared?"
"Your Majesty hath been most concerned for your peasants of late…" Durer hesitated, then stumbled on. "I had feared… that your Majesty might… perhaps…"
Catharine's eyes hardened. "That I might hear these two peasants before I gave ear to the petitions of my noblemen?"
"Your Majesty must not!" Durer dropped to his knees, hands clasped in supplication. "Thou must not risk offense of the Great Lords today! Fear for thy very life if thou—"
"Sirrah, do you call me coward?"
Rod closed his eyes; his heart sank.
"Your Majesty," cried Durer, "I meant but to—"
"Enough!" Catharine turned away, spurning the meager form of the councillor. Brom O'Berin and the Guardsmen moved with her. The great oaken doors swung open before them.
Rod risked a glance back over his shoulder.
Durer's face was contorted with malevolent glee; his eyes glittered with triumph.
The best way to get a teenager to do something is to tell her not to…
Brom led the Queen's entourage into a great vaulted room, lighted by a row of clerestory windows on each side. Fifty feet above, the roof-beam ran through the hall like a spine, with oaken ribs running down to the granite walls. Two great wrought-iron chandeliers hung from the ceiling, with candles burning in the sconces.
They had come in onto a raised dais, ten feet above the floor of the hall. A huge gilded throne rose before them.
Brom led them in a swing around the lip of the dais to the throne. There the Guardsmen lined up on either side, and Catharine mounted the last half-step to stand slender and proud before the throne, gazing out over the multitude gathered below.
The multitude looked like a sampling of the population . They filled the great hall, from the steps of the dais to the triple doors at the far end of the hall.