Читать книгу Saxon Lady - Margo Maguire - Страница 8

Northern England

Early Autumn, 1068

I t was all Lady Aelia could do to keep her men calm before the battle ensued. She walked the perimeter of the palisade and spoke to the archers, bolstering their courage, praising their prowess in battle.

“’Twas not for lack of skill that we’ve survived against the enemy these past months!” she called to them. “You are worthy warriors, you are Ingelwald’s heroes! Fear not the Norman bastard, Fitz Autier, who invades our lands. He is no different from Gui de Reviers, or any of the others whom you killed in battle—he is powerless against our might!”

Aelia hoped it was true. The tales of Mathieu Fitz Autier’s conquests were many and terrifying. He had become a legend in Northumberland with his ruthless ways, sent by King William to conquer where other warriors had failed. No Saxon man, woman or child was spared when Fitz Autier won the day.

Aelia would just have to make certain that he won naught at Ingelwald.

It was nearly dawn, and a hazy mist hovered below. She could sense more than see the activity on the ground beyond Ingelwald’s stone walls. Fitz Autier, no doubt, was marshaling his men into position. But Aelia refused to be unnerved by the enemy she had not yet seen.

Many formidable thanes of Northumberland had come to Ingelwald when their own smaller holdings had fallen, swearing fealty to Wallis, Aelia’s father. Now that Wallis and so many of those Saxon warriors were dead, it fell to Aelia to deliver her people from the Norman peril.

A sudden, hard yank on her arm nearly pulled her off her feet. She whirled ’round and faced the angry countenance of Selwyn, her betrothed. His bearded face lacked the comeliness of a younger man, someone closer to Aelia’s age. And now he lacked even the lands that had swayed Wallis’s decision to give the man his daughter.

Wallis had wanted to ally himself with his closest neighbor, who had a fine estate to the south. And to keep Aelia near him after she married. ’Twas the primary reason he’d given his promise to make her Selwyn’s wife.

“Get down with the women and children,” he rasped angrily, spraying spittle from his darkened lips.

With distaste, Aelia pulled her arm from his viselike grip. “No. These are my father’s archers. They look to me for—”

“Ingelwald is my ward now, as are you and young Osric,” Selwyn asserted, and not for the first time.

“My father made no such provision,” Aelia retorted, her temper flaring, “as you well know.” Wallis had promised her to Selwyn only for the purpose of allying Ingelwald with its powerful neighbor, Selwyn’s holding—which had already fallen to the Normans.

That purpose was moot now, and Aelia would have an end to this distasteful betrothal as soon as her battle for Ingelwald was won.

’Twas unnaturally quiet on the grounds below, the women and children huddled within the walls of her father’s hall, praying for deliverance. It was not Aelia’s intention to join them.

“Wallis never meant for you to dress yourself as some fabled shield-maiden in breeches and tunic,” said Selwyn, “yet you stand here among the men with your quiver on your back, your bow at the ready. What think you, woman? That you are some fatal match for the bastard Fitz Autier?”

Naught would please Aelia more than to be the one whose arrow took the life of that Norman warrior. Yet she would be satisfied if any one of her father’s men accomplished the feat.

“Aelia!”

She and Selwyn turned to see the young red-haired boy who ran toward them. Her brother was merely ten years old, but had the reckless daring and unyielding fortitude of a man twice his age. ’Twas all Aelia could do to keep the lad out of trouble even as she was careful not to crush his formidable spirit.

“’Tis dangerous up here, Osric,” she said.

“Get away with you, boy!” Selwyn demanded.

Wary of unsettling the warriors who manned the battlements, Aelia drew Osric to a quiet corner and spoke softly to him. “Did I not give you a task—an important one?”

“Aye,” he said.

“But you are here with the archers. Were you not instructed to assist the swordsmen with their armor?”

“Aelia, I cannot,” the boy protested, his exuberance nearly palpable. “I am master of Ingelwald and I must—”

“Bah!” Selwyn’s guttural retort sounded behind her, but she ignored him.

“You must return to the horsemen of Father’s fyrd, Osric. They will need every hand to prepare for battle.”

“They are mounted and ready for the dawn,” her brother said. “My place is here with you. I have my bow.”

And he could easily be shot. Aelia searched her mind for a new task to set him upon, something that would not seem trifling to him.

“Christ’s bones, woman!” Selwyn growled. He pushed Aelia aside, grabbed Osric by the scruff of his tunic and shoved him toward the ladder. “Get you gone, boy! This is no place for a brat.”

“Selwyn, cease! He is not your—”

Sunlight broke over the distant horizon and the first onslaught of enemy arrows came with it. Ingelwald’s archers met the attack, arrow for arrow, as the armored horsemen in the courtyard prepared to exit the gates.

Aelia forgot about Osric for the moment as she took her place among the archers and looked down at the Normans who would seize her father’s hall, his lands, her home. Taking aim, she found a target once, twice, then a third time before she noted a tall knight on a massive destrier rallying his men, keeping them in position.

Aelia could not see his face, for he was clad in armor from helm to spur. Even his horse was protected from stray blows by a coat of steel. When she realized that this knight must be Fitz Autier, Aelia raised her bow and took aim.

But he had no vulnerable spot. She closed one eye and targeted him, ever ready should he raise an arm or bend his body in such a way that a vital part was left exposed.

’Twas to no avail. He was a seasoned warrior who knew better than to leave himself open to attack. His movements were powerful and controlled, his horsemanship without flaw. Still, Aelia kept watch on him as he battled the mighty Northumberland thanes.

When his helmet became momentarily dislodged, she saw that the Norman bastard was a comely demon. Even from a distance, Aelia could appreciate the masculine angles of his countenance, the strong lines of his jaw. His dark hair was long for a Norman—it lay in wet strands upon his brow, which was furrowed in anger—or frustration. So handsome was he that Aelia had no doubt many a Norman maid would mourn his passing.

She raised her bow, but her aim was disturbed by a sudden tremor that racked her narrow shoulders, and a strange light-headedness. She had all but forgotten her mother’s portentous words years ago, but when the sight of the Norman warrior caused a burning heat to singe her from blood to bone, she remembered her saying: “The earth will move and your body will quiver with awareness when you first see your one true mate.”

Aelia had always believed her prediction. It had happened to her mother and grandmother, and all the other women in her line, yet… It could not be a Norman—a bastard Norman.

Fitz Autier could not possibly be the man.

Aelia let the arrow fly and an eternity passed as she waited for it to meet its mark. Her breath caught in her throat and her hands clenched tight with anticipation when a sudden rush of blood burst upon the Norman’s face. Aelia’s heart jumped with jubilation, for she had accomplished what every thane in Britain had striven for: death and destruction of the Norman leaders who had come to take their lands.

But no…Fitz Autier was not slain, merely nicked. Blood gushed from the wound in his cheek, though Aelia’s arrow did not protrude from the spot. With disappointment, she realized she must have only grazed him.

While she watched, he turned his gaze up to the battlement where she stood. Their eyes met and held, and in that moment, Aelia realized that Fitz Autier knew it was she who had wounded him.

And she wondered if he felt the same racking tremor that she experienced once again when he looked at her.

The battle raged all morning and far into the afternoon, and Aelia managed to shrug aside the uneasy notion that what she’d felt when she looked upon Fitz Autier was exactly what her mother had predicted.

Her mother, dead after Osric’s difficult birth, could never have known that Aelia would one day find herself face-to-face with this fierce Norman enemy. And that was the only explanation for the odd sensation she felt when she looked at him.

Aelia had no further opportunity to dispatch the Norman bastard. Though Ingelwald warriors managed to hold the gate, too many archers had fallen. Her Northumberland swordsmen outside the walls managed to carry the day. As dusk set in, the Normans retreated to their camp beyond the southern wood to prepare, no doubt, for battle upon the morrow.

Within the stone walls of Ingelwald, torches illuminated the courtyards and the interiors of every building. Half the village was here, within the safety of the walls, but Ingelwald had expanded over the past few generations, and much of it lay outside. Those villagers whose homes were outside the walls had abandoned their cottages and now sheltered inside.

Aelia toiled in her father’s great hall, tending the wounded, bolstering the men of Ingelwald’s fyrd, and the thanes who had come to Wallis when their own lands had been usurped by the French invaders. “Victory is yours!” she called out amid the groans and misery. “Your wounds were well earned, and Ingelwald takes pride in your valor, your sacrifice!”

Those whose injuries were not mortal rallied at Aelia’s words. They stood or pushed themselves up to hear their lady, taking heart in her praise. She stayed among them until all their wounds were bound, and food was distributed, then left the hall to make her rounds in the enclosure, visiting the families who had come from the village for shelter and protection.

Food stores were low, but there was fresh water from the well behind the great hall. If tomorrow’s battle went as Aelia planned, the Normans would be routed, and life at Ingelwald would return to normal.

Aelia made her way to the well, where she drew water and washed the grime of battle from her hands and face.

She had not seen Selwyn among the thanes in the hall, nor was he on the battlements. Though Aelia had no desire to wed the man, she wanted to pay him her compliments, for he had fought well for Ingelwald, leading the battle outside the stone walls of her father’s holding.

She took a long draught of clean, clear water and heard her name called by one of Osric’s young chums. A moment later, the lad reached her side. “Osric is gone!”

She wiped the water from her face. “What were his orders?”

“Modig told us to climb to the top of the storehouse and call the alarm if we saw any Normans trying to breach the wall.”

“And Osric left his post?”

“Aye, but—”

“When you find him, tell him he’ll answer to me,” Aelia said, though she knew that Osric had no fear of her. He was a headstrong lad, overindulged by their father in his grief these last two years, since the death of their elder brother, Godwin. Still, Osric was aware that these were unusual times, and that his actions would be severely scrutinized.

“No! He’s gone, my lady! Outside the wall!”

Aelia’s heart dropped to her toes. “Outside? What do you mean, Grendel? Where?”

“He went through the tunnel under the east wall…said he would kill the bastard, Fitz Autier, himself!”

Aelia steadied herself against the trunk of the sapling oak in whose branches Osric and his friends had spent so many carefree hours. There had been so much death of late. She’d lost Godwin, and less than two months ago, her father. She could not lose Osric, too.

“What did he tell you?” She tamped down her panic and moved away from the well and the peaceful, familiar surroundings. “What plan did he have?”

“None beyond wanting to kill Fitz Autier as he slept. Osric said Selwyn treated him like a helpless bairn, but he would show that old man.”

Aelia should have known Osric would react thus. He took much of what was said as a personal challenge. And even if Selwyn had given Osric a worthy task, her brother must have felt insulted to be excluded from the battle.

She had to raise the alarm and assemble a company of men to go to Osric’s rescue. ’Twould mean going to battle in the dark, in territory that was unfamiliar to many of the Saxon warriors who had come from distant lands. Such a conflict could very well prove disastrous.

Mayhap there was a better way.

Sending Grendel to the armory to sup with the men, Aelia made her way to the east wall, where a narrow tunnel had been dug a generation before. There was no point in sending a battalion of men into the Norman camp when one small warrior could accomplish the task, at far less risk.

Aelia knew the territory well. She’d been raised in these lands, had ridden her steed there and hunted with her father and Godwin.

She would try to catch Osric before he had a chance to get into the Norman camp. If he somehow managed to elude her, Aelia would decide upon another likely course.

The ferocity of Ingelwald’s defense came as no surprise to Mathieu Fitz Autier. That they would send a child assassin was either ridiculously stupid or colossally brilliant. The boy claimed to be Wallis’s heir, and if it were true, he would make a fine hostage.

But the matter could wait until the morrow. His men were battle-weary and the boy was safely gagged and tied for the night. If Wallis wanted him back, he could surrender at daybreak when all parties were rested. Then Mathieu would take the Saxon lord prisoner, along with his sons and the daughter, Lady Aelia.

King William’s orders had been clear. Mathieu was to personally escort his Saxon prisoners to London, where they would be publicly displayed and executed.

All was quiet in the encampment. Mathieu did not believe Wallis would attempt an attack in the dark, but he had posted guards to give early warning in such an event. Carrying a torch, he walked among the small canvas shelters that housed many of his soldiers, and headed toward his own tent. It was a large dwelling, serving not only as his sleeping quarters, but as the place where he and his commanders met to strategize, planning their movements and battles.

He ducked under the flap and pulled it closed after him, then walked to the center of the tent. Tugging his tunic over his head, he poured water into a basin and tended his own wounds. For the first time, he allowed his thoughts to touch upon the archer whose arrow had sliced so close to his cheekbone.

It had been a maiden.

Even from a distance, with golden hair tinged red in the sunlight, she was a delicate beauty who’d stood out among the rough soldiers on the battlements. An odd prescience had come over him when he’d first seen her, taking hold of him like an iron fist squeezing his ribs and the bones of his spine. The ground had seemed to shiver under his feet. The sensation had disoriented him sufficiently to put him at risk, and he’d only come to his senses when his helm had been torn from his head.

A moment later, when the arrow grazed him, he’d looked up and caught her gaze. It was as if…

No, he was no young swain easily infatuated by a comely face. Besides, this was a Saxon woman, one who would kill him if given the opportunity. She had nearly succeeded this morn.

Mathieu washed the wound in his cheek. It likely needed sewing, but he would not disturb Sir Auvrai now to tend him. Mathieu stretched his shoulders and back and took note of several new bruises. ’Twas the price of war: no more, no less. But this time, when William’s enemy was routed, he would be master of the spoils.

Victory here assured Mathieu of the land he’d craved for years, and marriage to the most beautiful woman in all of Normandy—Lady Clarise, daughter of Lord Simon de Vilot.

Mathieu had served William for years. As the bastard son of a noble father, he had fewer rights than his legitimate half brothers, and no possessions beyond his horse and his armor. Yet he’d earned the respect and affection of his liege lord, who was now king of England. Soon, Mathieu would collect his reward. As overlord of Ingelwald and all its neighboring lands, and as son-in-law of Simon de Vilot, Mathieu would be no less than his brothers’ equal.

No, he would surpass them.

Aelia derided these ignorant Normans for making camp right beside the river. Did they not know that the rushing water masked whatever sounds an intruder might make as she slipped unseen into their midst? There was clutter here, too, making it easy for her to hide as she watched the men bed down for the night.

Silently, Aelia slipped under a discarded tarpaulin, keeping one corner lifted in order to see out from beneath it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With deliberate effort, she slowed her breathing and calmed her nerves as she settled in to wait. She had not seen Osric in the flickering torchlight, but all was quiet in the camp. If her brother had killed Fitz Autier, ’twould not be so, unless the Norman’s dead carcass remained undiscovered.

Where would he be?

A moment later, Fitz Autier walked into sight and that odd, shivery feeling came over Aelia once again. This time she was sure it must be fear for Osric that caused the strange sensations. The bastard strode through his camp, passing right in front of her. This Norman whose reputation had preceded him to Ingelwald was just a man, not some warrior god with powers beyond those of any mortal.

Yet his physical stature was greater than any Saxon she’d ever known. Without his armor, his chest was a wall of granite and his arms thick with muscle. His hands worked at the buckles and laces of his tunic and chausses as he walked, and Aelia wished he would desist. Surely he would not disrobe before reaching his shelter, not when the night was so chilly. She had no interest in seeing his flesh bared.

He finally ducked into his tent, and Aelia would have made a run toward it, but two sentries came close, taking away her moment of opportunity. Was Osric waiting for Fitz Autier inside that tent? Would he be able to kill the Norman without help?

Osric thought much of himself, and though he knew how to handle a knife, he was no match for a full-grown man—especially not one like Fitz Autier, who was as likely to spit a young Saxon lad on his sword as he was to take him hostage.

Aelia had to move. She had to get Osric out of there before he found himself on the wrong side of the blade.

Though anxious to leave her hiding place, she had no choice but to wait for the sentries to pass out of sight. She forced herself to remain still and watch for activity within the camp, half expecting Osric to emerge stealthily from the Norman’s tent with his bloodied knife in his hand.

Waiting for the best possible moment to move, worrying all the while, she observed the guards on the perimeter of the camp, wondering whether or not Osric was inside Fitz Autier’s tent.

If he was not, then Aelia herself would accomplish what her brother had set out to do. Osric’s idea had been a good one, though ’twas not suitable for a young boy to carry out.

When the guards and their torches were out of sight, Aelia slid quietly from the tarp and crawled to the Norman’s tent. She lay perfectly still, listening intently for sounds within. But all was silent. She heard naught.

Was Osric inside, awaiting the perfect moment?

The flap was loose and Aelia slipped under it, disturbing the canvas as little as possible.

Once inside, she held still for another moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the gloom. Campfires burned outside, casting a small amount of light through the fabric walls. Aelia’s eyes were drawn to the figure who lay upon a fur pelt.

He was unmoving, but not dead. And Osric was not here. Aelia heard the Norman’s breathing, deep and even in sleep. She drew her knife from its sheath at her waist and crept toward him, past the center pole, past the suit of armor that lay in an orderly arrangement near the far wall.

When she was close enough to see the stubble of dark whiskers that grew upon his jaw, she raised her arm and struck.