The Devil's Diadem (9 page)

‘By what do you mean “well enough”?’ he said.

‘I learned to ride on my father’s courser,’ I said. ‘The horse was old, but still of uncertain temper. Few managed him — my father and I alone.’

The earl stared, then gave a nod. ‘Well, we shall see. The saints alone know what horses are available. I will need to speak to Ludo. Madam,’ he continued, his attention now given back to his wife, ‘I will break my fast below. I need to oversee preparations. Be ready soon. It will be a long day’s journeying for us, and I cannot wait on your prayers.’

‘My lord,’ Lady Adelie said, and the earl left the solar.

She sighed, and turned back to Mistress Yvette. ‘Fetch me some bread and cheese, Yvette, and a mug of small beer. We can pray well enough when we are lurching along the road, and I do not wish to keep my lord awaiting. Maeb, how do the children?’

By the time I returned to the children’s chamber, they had all vanished to the courtyard below, and only the nurse remained, gathering a few last items.

‘Evelyn is waiting in the cart below,’ she said. ‘One of the servants carried her down the stairs. Fetch whatever you need, Maeb, and join us below.’

Suppressing a flare of excitement in my belly, I went to the small chamber Evelyn and I had shared, wrapped my mantle about my shoulders, picked up my bag of possessions and hurried down the stairs.

The courtyard was a mass of movement, cantankerous voices, nervous hooves slipping across cobbles and the excited barking of dogs. The larger part of the entourage that the king and the earls had brought with them was waiting on the road beyond, but the courtyard space was still crowded enough with men and carts and horses.

I stood undecided, not knowing what to do or where to turn, when the earl, who had been speaking to Ludo, his Master of Horse, turned and saw me. He said something to Ludo, and the man hurried over to me.

‘Saints save me, girl,’ Ludo said, his creased face even more deeply lined than usual on this morning, ‘I pray you spoke truth when you said you could manage a horse. Here, man, take this bag and set it into one of the carts — into that of my lady’s, if there be any room left.’

A groom appeared beside me, and I relinquished my bag. ‘This is the one mount I have available that might be suitable for you,’ Ludo continued, ‘and I value her too highly to allow her to be wasted on a doltish rider.’

There was a clatter of hooves, and another groom led over a lovely grey mare, all fine boned and dark eyed and flagged of tail. She was a palfrey, and thus an expensive horse — of far more worth than my father’s courser had been.

I felt the first needle of worry. What if I allowed her to run away from me and she foundered in a ditch?

‘I need to see you ride her first,’ said Ludo. ‘If I am not satisfied, you will need to walk behind the carts, unless a place is found for you within them. Come, we will go to the orchard. There is space there for me to see you ride Dulcette, yet fence enough to stop the mare should she bolt.’

He led Dulcette to a mounting block. I walked over, trying not to notice that the earl was now standing, arms folded, watching, and mounted with Ludo’s help. Once I had settled my skirts and rested my feet in the stirrups, Ludo let me take up the reins, and, my heart in my mouth, I gave Dulcette’s flanks a little press with my legs.

She responded immediately. She had spirit and I knew at once that she was unnerved by this new rider upon her and that all she wanted was to dash. I held the reins firmly, and guided her through the mass of people and horses toward the orchard.

The mare’s ears kept flicking back toward me, and I could literally feel her trying to decide if she liked me or not — her muscles were bunched tight under the saddle.

I did not care if she liked me. All I asked was for her to respect me enough to obey me.

We reached the orchard and some space and quiet. My heart thudding, I gave Dulcette another press with my legs and clicked my tongue. She tried instantly to run away with me, as I had thought she would, but I pulled her back and spoke disapprovingly to her, warning her with my voice.

She responded, praise the saints, her ears twitching faster than a march fly, and I allowed myself to relax a little. I kept her to a hard walk until we reached the farthest reaches of the orchard, then I turned her back, and gave her a little more rein.

I had thought she might break into a trot or even a canter, but instead Dulcette did something remarkable, something I had never before felt while riding.

She broke into a fast-paced gait that was neither trot nor canter, but which was unbelievably smooth.

She ambled!

I had only ever seen a horse do it once before — the knight who had passed by our village had been riding a horse that ambled, and then I had watched in fascination at its fluid, effortless gait. An ambler was most highly regarded, for in this gait it could cross ground more speedily and with far less effort than could a horse that only progressed at a trot or canter. Amblers could go further and faster than most other horses.

I was riding a prized animal, indeed.

By the time I reached the gate where waited Ludo, I had a huge smile on my face — I simply couldn’t help myself.

‘She ambles!’ I cried, and Ludo’s face broke into a grin to match mine. ‘You will do well, mistress,’ he said. ‘My mind is easier now.’

I was still smiling in delight when I raised my head to look to the courtyard.

Instead, I met the eyes of Pengraic, who had been waiting a little further back, leaning nonchalantly against a wall, his arms still folded.

He caught my gaze, gave me an expressionless look, then turned away.

Chapter Eight

W
e departed Rosseley shortly afterward. The king, Summersete and Scersberie had been with the column forming on the road outside. Once the earl had mounted, he and Stephen led our contingent from the courtyard and the column began to move westward.

I turned on Dulcette’s back for a last look at Rosseley. The sun was well up and the manor house gleamed golden in the light, the meadows and orchard green and verdant. I must have intuited somehow that I would never return for the house blurred as tears formed in my eyes, and I turned back to the road ahead, wiping at my eyes as I did so.

I kept Dulcette close to the cart which held Lady Adelie, Mistress Yvette and Evelyn as well as Rosamund and the baby, John. Alice and Emmette rode their horses beside me; the twin boys, Ancel and Robert, also horsed, were far ahead close to their father.

The column held some sixty or seventy knights and men-at-arms. I was somewhat relieved to see that, while they all carried weapons, none wore their maille hauberks, which indicated that the king and earls did not think we were under any immediate threat. I thought the knights and soldiers must be relieved also, for today promised to be warm and the maille hauberks would have been stifling. Most of the knights and soldiers rode at the head of the column, but some fifteen or so brought up the rear behind me.

As well there were two score or so male servants and grooms, and another twelve carts besides that which held Lady Adelie. We travelled fast, even the carts, for we had some fifteen miles of roads and byways to travel to get to our first destination — Walengefort Castle, residence of the Earl of Summersete.

Dulcette was a delight to ride, her amble so smooth and comfortable I could relax completely. She and I had come to some silent agreement: we would respect each other. She no longer tried to run away with me, and I allowed her freedom in choosing her own path and pace. About mid-morning Ludo rode past and asked how I did. I simply smiled in return, and I think he was happy, giving me a nod as he rode on.

The day wore on. We stopped briefly at noon, resting under the shade of a group of beech trees and eating a lunch of fruit and bread and beer. I ate with the countess and her children (save the twin boys who stayed near their father), while the men cloistered themselves into two groups a little way off. Eventually, as servants packed away the lunch and men remounted their horses, Stephen came over to assist his mother and Evelyn back into the cart.

Then he led Dulcette over to a fallen log so that I might mount.

I was a little self-conscious with him this close and with his attention only for me. He and I had exchanged only a handful of words since he’d returned to Rosseley with his father, and the only times I had seen him were with other people attending and little chance for us to speak.

Now Stephen fussed over me as I mounted, making sure my feet were well set in the stirrups and the girth tight.

I prayed that the earl was not watching.

‘Maeb,’ he said, finally stopping to look up at me, one hand on Dulcette’s rein that I might not ride forward.

He paused, and I looked at him, feeling as if my heart turned over at the sight of his warm, handsome face.

He smiled, slowly. ‘I look forward to escorting you home to Pengraic,’ he said, his smile stretching even wider.

Then he slapped Dulcette’s neck and walked back to where his own horse waited.

I sat there a few minutes longer, searching for every layer of meaning to that short statement, and what that look in his eyes conveyed.

Soon enough, I recollected myself to look round. Surely the earl would be sitting his horse, staring at me silently.

But he was far distant, still on the ground, talking animatedly with the Earl of Scersberie, and I had the feeling that he’d not noticed a moment of what had just passed.

I turned Dulcette’s head for the road, where Lady Adelie’s cart waited for the main column to ride on.

That afternoon Stephen pulled his horse back to ride for a while by his mother’s cart, talking to her.

Together with Alice (Emmette rode ahead, before her mother’s cart), I rode a little distance behind the cart, which gave me the opportunity to sit and watch Stephen to my heart’s content. Of all the nobles and royalty in this travelling band, I thought him the most uncomplicated.

Eventually Stephen reined in his horse so that he fell back to where Alice and I rode.

‘Alice,’ he said, ‘our lady mother wishes to speak with you.’

Alice gave a nod and pushed her horse forward.

Stephen smiled. ‘And now I have my chance to dally a little while with the lovely Mistress Maeb.’

‘You should not,’ I said, ‘for your father will be angry with me. He thinks I have unseemly ambitions.’

‘For
me
?’ Stephen said. ‘I am indeed flattered, mistress.’

‘My lord, my only security is this household, and —’

‘I understand Maeb. I will stay only a moment. After Oxeneford, however …’ He smiled, and I could not help but return it.

After Oxeneford Stephen would lead this column, the earl left far behind and with no chance of seeing how often we talked.

‘When you attended us in the solar the day before yesterday,’ Stephen said, ‘you heard some dark things, yet you have been unable to talk of them since, nor seek any reassurance. When there is a chance, after Oxeneford, I will talk more openly and fully with you of those things. I wish I could do it now … but …’

‘Is it truly as bad as it sounded, my lord?’

‘Yes. I am sorry. There will be dark days ahead, Maeb. I pray we have left Rosseley in good enough time, that …’

His voice drifted off, but I knew what he meant.
That we have avoided the plague.

Then the good humour returned to his face. ‘You looked so beautiful that night in the great hall,’ he said. ‘My father ought to be more worried about
my
ambitions. Not yours.’

With that, and a final wicked smile, he booted his horse into a canter and moved forward to rejoin his father.

That evening, as the sun was setting, we rode through Craumares then across the arched stone bridge over the Thames into Summersete’s castle of Walengefort. It had been a long day, very tiring, and I was glad enough to hand Dulcette over to a groom and aid my lady (and Evelyn, who was still in great pain) to their beds for the night. When I lay down by Evelyn, we exchanged only a few words before I slipped gratefully into sleep.

We rose early again the next day, mounting our horses and carts just after dawn to ride northward to Oxeneford. We followed the Thames now, riding a wide and well-kept road by the riverside. I kept Dulcette behind my lady’s cart, with the two older girls, Alice and Emmette for company. We did not talk much, for the pace was even faster than the previous day, and several times I saw either the countess or Evelyn wince as the cart rattled along.

Both the earl and Stephen stayed out of sight at the head of the column with the king. We had left Summersete in his castle, together with the twins Robert and Ancel (joining his household earlier than expected), but I’d overheard two of the knights saying he might be joining the king at Oxeneford within a few days.

I did, however, have another companion for part of the ride. After our break for the noon meal, and as Stephen had yesterday, Saint-Valery joined myself and the two girls for a while. I was more than cautious of him after what Evelyn had told me, and answered his questions as briefly as I might.

‘Have I said anything to offend you, mistress?’ he asked eventually, keeping his voice low that Alice and Emmette on the other side of me might not hear.

‘I worry only to whom you might repeat what I say,’ I said.

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Mistress Maeb, you are far beyond your rustic childhood now. For better or worse, you have become part of a noble household, and thus will inevitably be drawn into the dealings of the court. Treat everyone with suspicion if you must, but be courtly and gracious in the doing, or else soon your enemies shall outnumber your allies.’

‘Forgive me, my lord,’ I said, stung by his rebuke. ‘It is just that I feel adrift within a dark marshland, where each and every word might sink me to my doom. To me it appears that silence is the greater safety. I fumble. I am sorry for it.’

‘Perhaps I also should beg forgiveness, for I have been peppering you with questions and allowed you to ask none. What would you know? This,’ he waved a hand at the column containing all its knights and lords, ‘must appear so strange to you.’