Rose Victory - Eagle Series (14 page)

Conscious of the eyes that followed his progress towards the dais, not the least of which were the piercing
grey eyes of his sovereign, Roydon kept his face carefully blank, his pace steady and his head high.  He had already examined the room, now he kept his gaze steady on the man seated on the chair upon the dais. 

The large room was practically empty.  Apart from the
king’s chair, only a big square table with two chairs occupied a corner to the left of the dais.  At this table, two dark clothed men, scribes apparently, had been busy shuffling documents, now they stared at the earl.  At the foot of the dais stood three men; one Roydon recognised as one of the king’s aides, the other two, dressed like wealthy merchants, he did not know.

Apart from the
king himself, that only left the four soldiers of the king’s bodyguard.  The soldiers stood upon the dais, two on either side of the royal chair though slightly further back.  Immobile, hands on the hilts of their swords, they too, like everyone else in the room, stared at the imposing figure that strode across the room.  But pride shone in the soldiers’ eyes for the man that walked towards them.  Unconsciously they straightened their postures even more, for this was their lord.

Over twelve years ago, when the earl headed the
king’s army, he had created from his own trusted men, the unit of the King’s Bodyguard.  Ever since, these personal guards came from and were trained at Eagle Rock.  Only the best and most loyal men were drafted to the special unit and then sent south to serve the king.  They had foiled more than one assassination attempt and doubtless discouraged a good many others.  The earl knew them all well; he and Stefan had trained them and their current eight companions, just a few months past.

Reachi
ng the foot of the dais, the earl of Eagle Rock dropped to one knee and bowed his head in obeisance to his sovereign.

“Everyone out!”  The
king’s muted growl had everyone rushing from the room except his guard, they would need specific instructions.

Roydon looked up to find
King Henry staring broodingly at him.  The fact that he still knelt demonstrated the depth of displeasure and anger that the king felt towards him.  Yet he had done nothing to merit it.  Roydon could not speak or rise until his liege gave him leave, but he locked eyes with the king and stared boldly back.  He had nothing to be ashamed of.

“You imprudent cur!
  Even on your knees you are as arrogant as when you sit on your horse.”  Henry leaned forward in his chair, anger blazing from his eyes, and did Roydon detect hurt, betrayal?  “Why have you taken over a month to answer my summons?”

“I have received no summons from Your Majesty.”  Roydon spoke softly,
his voice grave.

“And yet you are here,” the
king rose from his chair.  Of no more than average height but broadly built, he towered over the kneeling man from the top of the dais.  “How do you explain that, Mountroi?” 

This
sounded serious.  It had been a very long time since the king had called him by his family name.  “I have come on a personal matter, Sire.”  Even though he had to bend his head back, Roydon maintained eye contact.  Now was certainly not the time to make his request.  “No royal messengers have come to Eagle Rock,” he repeated, the sincerity in his voice unmistakeable.  “But I am here now.  What is it Your Majesty wishes of me?”  Roydon asked simply.  “My sword, as always, is at your disposal.”

Henry gave a disgruntled gr
unt and sat back down, apparently mollified by his vassal’s words.  “Rise.”  A scowl now marred the king’s face.  “The disappearance of the messenger will have to be looked into.  No one has dared to attack a royal messenger in a long time.”

“I had some trouble with a band of outlaws in a forest north of here.  They might be to blame,” the earl volunteered as he rose to his feet.

“I trust you dealt with the ‘trouble’?”  A spark of interest appeared in the king’s eyes.

Roydon nodded grimly, “We accounted for more than half their number.  Then I ‘encouraged’ the local baron to see to the rest and clean up his lands.”

“Good.  Good.”  Henry sat thoughtfully for a moment, his fingers drumming on the arms of his chair.  Then he turned to the guards behind him.  “Leave us,” he ordered.  “Wait outside.”

Roydon waited until the men had left.  “You trust me now,
Sire?”

Henry looked up startled.  “Don’t be rid
iculous, Eagle.  I was angry at you.  Your loyalty has never been in question.”  The use of the informal mode of address, a shortened version of his title that Henry had taken to using since he succeeded to the earldom, relaxed Roydon.  “How may I be of service, Sire?”

Henry did not answer; instead he waved towards the table.  “Pour us a cup of wine; you look as if you need one.”  The
king left the dais and took a seat at one of the chairs by the table.

Henry
also looked as if he needed a drink, thought Roydon.  He looked older than his two score and three years, his face deeply lined and haggard, tired.  Not tall, he nevertheless had a tough, firmly muscled physic.  Thinning, reddish hair, cut very short, covered his head, but his eyes were what dominated the king’s otherwise unremarkable features; deep set and intensely grey, indomitable and fiercely commanding.  In a roomful of men no one would mistake him for other than what he was; a king that had brought peace and stability to his country with his strength of character and unconquerable spirit. A man that Roydon felt proud and honoured to serve.

“The message
Your Majesty left at the gate was not conducive to my taking time to either refresh myself or change into more appropriate dress.”  The earl’s tone sounded bland.  “For a moment I thought the guard was going to arrest me, he certainly wanted to escort me here.  I dissuaded him.”

“You would!  Yet you still stopped to stable that devil horse of yours.”

Henry had lost his anger now, but Roydon still detected a certain unease, as if he were unsure of how to proceed, but he also revealed that he had kept track of his movements.  “Black is a warhorse and bad tempered to boot.  He would cause serious injury to anyone who went near him.  Only I control him.”  Roydon handed the king his wine and then sat in the other chair at Henry’s indication.

The earl waited patiently, sipping his wine, while the
king stared thoughtfully into his cup.  Eventually Henry would tell him what he wanted.  It was unlike the king to be so reticent about his wishes especially after the urgency of the summons; Roydon’s concerns were steadily mounting.

“Your wife has been dead for over a year now?”

The king’s question took Roydon by surprise.  He nodded slowly, unsure if Henry just made conversation or planned to go somewhere with this.

“How are the girls?”

The king was just making conversation, Roydon decided.  “My daughters are well, Sire.  At the moment they are staying up North with their grandparents.  Lord Reinhart and his lady like to have them for a couple of months each year.”

“I see, but no male heir,” Henry seemed to be thinking aloud.

There would be no better opportunity than this, given that the king himself had brought up the subject, Roydon decided to bring up the reason for his visit.  “As a matter of fact, Sire.  I wanted to…”

The earl did not get a chance to finish his sentence; the king seemed to have come to a decision and he launched into a new topic of conversation.  “I have been approached by a diplomatic envoy from a small country at the entrance to the
Mediterranean sea.  They wish to form an alliance with us.  The terms they offer are extremely advantages, in both trade and the protection of our ships in those dangerous waters.”  Henry paused as if waiting for the earl to say something.

Roydon
had no idea what the king wanted from him.  He was no diplomat, so unless Henry wanted him to go down there and invade the place…  The earl nodded, to see if that got him a bit more information.

“All the terms have been agreed to on both sides, except one, to which I have agreed to in principle.”  The
king had lost all his uncertainty now.  His voice sounded sure and determined, more the strong and confident ruler that Roydon knew him to be.

“I congratulate you,
Sire.  This alliance will obviously bring great prosperity and wealth to our country.”

“Yes it will, just as soon as you give me your consent.”

Baffled, Roydon looked at Henry, one eyebrow raised in query.  “You want my consent, Sire?  What has any of this to do with me?”  Roydon sat, intrigued but relaxed in his chair, the now empty goblet cradled in his hands.  “I don’t understand.”

“One of the conditions of the alliance requires a marriage between our peoples to
strengthen the agreement.”  Henry leaned back in his chair, although he remained tense, his eyes unblinking on the man seated across from him.

Roydon felt as if a deluge of freezing water had suddenly been poured over him.  His huge frame tensed in his seat and his hands closed convulsively around th
e metal cup, easily crushing it, totally unaware of his action.

“You are asking me to marry a foreigner in order to
reinforce an alliance?”  The earl’s words, when he could finally trust himself to speak, came out clipped and unbelieving.

“I am not asking!”  Equally cold and curt the
king’s sharp rejoinder cut through Roydon’s incredulity like a knife and his temper flared into life.

Angrily the earl flung himself from his chair, only to grip the edge of the table with both hands, as he tried to control his rioting senses.  Now that he had new hope of finding his lady, now that he felt deep inside that he would find her, that they would be together, fate tried to thwart him, again.  He would not do it!

Letting go his punishing hold on the table, Roydon turned back to the king.  His anger barely leashed, he spoke through stiff unyielding lips, trying to maintain a semblance of civility.  “I’ll not do it, Sire.  Find another to strengthen your alliance.  You have plenty of nobles who would jump at the opportunity.”

Henry had expected a negative reaction to his edict, which was why he had emptied the chamber, to allow the earl to voice his objection
s in private.  But nothing could have prepared him for this angry and unequivocal refusal straight to his face.  It was something he would not tolerate, even from his favourite earl.

All the same
, Henry still tried to make allowances for the earl’s behaviour.  Reigning in his irate displeasure, he attempted to reason with the solid block of angry nobleman staring down at him.  “You will have to marry eventually to get your heir.  Marry now and you do me and your country a service that I will not forget.”

Roydon backed up a step, his face a dark, stubborn mask.  “No, find yourself some other noble
to appreciate your favour.”  Despite his anger the earl realised he had gone too far.

The
king’s face went deathly pale, even his lips lost their colour as they stretched over his teeth in barely controlled rage.  “The terms of the agreement specifically ask for you, the earl of Eagle Rock,” Henry’s words came out in a low growl.  “And I will have that alliance.”

Roydon made an effort to placate the
king; truly he had not meant to speak such words.  “I beg your pardon, Sire.  I did not…”

“Silence!”  The
king looked intently at Roydon for a moment, cold anger and displeasure blazing from his eyes and then he turned and strode to the dais, taking his seat once again.  Every inch the king, Henry stared down at his vassal.

“In consideration of your past service and loyalty, I will forget your words as those of a fool spoken in anger.” 
King Henry spoke coldly, his anger now subservient to his sense of kingship.  “Give me one good reason why you refuse my command to marry this foreign princess?”

Roydon returned the
king’s cold stare, his face expressionless, but inside both his heart and his mind were in turmoil.  What could he say?  There existed no reasonable excuse for his refusal.  Indeed, in the king’s eyes, as in every other sane person’s, he should be thanking him for the great honour such a marriage entailed.  But could he tell his liege that he waited for a woman that he had met but once ten years ago.  The great earl of Eagle Rock would be the laughing stock of the court, of the whole country.

Roydon remained stubbornly silent.  He would not betray his eagle lady again by marrying another.  Not when they had a son together.  Not when he somehow felt so close to her again after so many years.

“You still refuse my command, Mountroi?”

Roydon nodded firmly
, noting the return to the stilted formality of the address.  “Ask anything else of me, Sire.”  The earl went down on one knee again.  “My life if it pleases you but…”  

“I ask for what I need, what your country needs, nothing more nothing less, and this I will get.”  Henry’s voice rose strong and determined.  “Either you accede to my wishes or I will take from you that which you most value.”

“You would take my children from me?”  Roydon rose to his feet in alarm.

“Do not be a fool, my lord.  I will take your title and your lands.  The next earl of Eagle Rock can marry the princess.”  Henry softened his voice at the pain that
ripped across his subject’s face.  “I do not want to do this, Eagle, but you leave me no choice.”