Child of the Phoenix (55 page)

‘Perhaps a little, I don’t know. The physician says so, but he was still feverish.’

She had just returned from the small side chamber where John lay tossing and turning on the narrow bed erected there for him. He was coughing violently, his body convulsed with the force of the spasms which swept over him.

She looked at Luned, her eyes clear in the candlelight. ‘He told me he had seen Rhonwen’s ghost.’

Luned bit her lip. ‘The whole manor is in turmoil about it. Four people have seen her now. What shall we do?’

‘Why doesn’t she stay away!’ Pushing aside the comb, Eleyne walked over to the fire and stared down into it. ‘We go into the forest and she is nowhere to be found; then she comes here and haunts us!’

‘You don’t think –’ Luned hesitated. ‘You don’t think it really is a ghost? If something had happened to her in the forest, something awful, wouldn’t she come to try and find you?’ The girl had gone pale.

‘Nonsense, she is as alive as you or I.’

‘Then why does she wear white? Why does she move so quietly? Why can no one get near her?’

‘Because they are scared of her.’ Eleyne came back to the stool and sat down again. ‘And please God no one does get near her.’

‘You haven’t told the earl or Sir Robin that she’s alive?’

Eleyne shook her head. She picked up the comb and began to pull it through her hair.

‘Are you going to?’

‘No. I want to see Rhonwen, I want to speak to her and give her money. Then I want her to go away.’

Luned nodded. There was something she had to say, something she could put off no longer. It had been gnawing at her day and night.

‘My lady, when I spoke to her she told me … she told me that she thought you loved someone other than the earl.’

There was a moment’s total silence. Throwing the comb down Eleyne stood up. ‘That is a lie! How dare she! It’s not true. I have never loved anyone but John, never. And I am faithful to him. I always have been. How could you –’ she glared at Luned – ‘how could you, of all people, even repeat such a scandalous suggestion?’

‘Because I heard it being whispered in the hall tonight,’ Luned replied softly. ‘That is why. And I wondered where the rumour could have come from.’

There was another long silence. Eleyne closed her eyes. ‘It’s not true,’ she whispered at last, ‘you must stop it.’

‘I’ll do my best.’

‘It would hurt John so much and it’s unfounded. Totally unfounded.’

She brought food to John herself, sitting by his bed and holding the bowls of fragrant stews and possets and his favourite
doucettes
, sweet pastry tarts filled with cream and eggs and sugar, but his appetite was small and he was losing weight before her eyes. The Feast of the Trinity came and went. The weather turned unseasonably wet and cold and they listened to the wind wuthering up the valley from the south-west, tearing the leaves from the trees. Robin ran the earldom with Eleyne’s help, dealing with the important matters as they came in, sorting out a few problems each day to take to John’s bedside. Of Rhonwen there had been no word or sign for two weeks and Eleyne had stopped riding into the forest, her mind too preoccupied with what was happening at the manor.

Then at last John began to improve. His fever left him and he lay back on the pillows, his eyes clear. Eleyne, white with exhaustion, went to sit with him and he took her hand. ‘My darling, you look so tired. I’m sorry, each time it’s more of a burden on you.’

She kissed his forehead gently. ‘As long as you are well now.’

‘I am well. I thought that woman’s curse had killed me for sure this time.’ He gave a wry grimace. ‘In the sun, with the candles gone and the birds singing outside, I find it hard to believe in her malice, but at night, when the fever had me in its grip I thought I saw her every time I closed my eyes.’

‘What woman?’ Her mouth was dry.

‘Your beloved Rhonwen. Did you not hear that her ghost was seen?’

Eleyne looked down at her hands. ‘Yes, I had heard.’

‘And you didn’t want to think that she was dead.’ His voice was gentle. ‘I do know how much you loved her, Eleyne. You were too young to realise that she was evil, my darling. It was not your fault that you loved her. I am only thankful that she has gone.’ He heaved himself up higher on the pillows. ‘Where is Robin?’

‘He is closeted with your clerks, wrestling with affairs of state.’ She smiled. ‘Poor Robin. He has grown quite thin and pale these last few days. We are lucky he was here while you were so ill. He acts … he acts as though his interests were the same as yours.’

‘You mean as if he were my heir?’ John scowled. ‘Would that he were. It would take a load from my mind. As it is my nieces and my sisters are heirs to the estates should anything happen to me. As to the titles, I don’t know. Perhaps Robin has as good a claim as any, at least to Huntingdon.’ Preoccupied with his own bitterness, he did not notice her face. Then he looked up and saw the tears in her eyes. ‘Sweetheart, forgive me, that was cruel. It is not your fault that we have no children yet. There is still time, plenty of time.’ He pulled her to him. ‘You will give me six fine sons and six beautiful daughters and between them they will rule the world.’ He ruffled her hair gently. ‘You’ll see.’

XII

‘She will be in the old charcoal burner’s hut near the Chester road,’ the messenger had said. ‘Come at midday and come alone.’

‘You can’t go alone,’ Luned said firmly. ‘I will go with you and wait near at hand with a couple of men-at-arms.’

Eleyne was torn between longing and irritation that after causing so much rumour and anguish Rhonwen should openly and arrogantly send this message now, as John was getting better. She had hoped that Rhonwen had gone away.

The forest was sweet with summer, the leaves heavy on the trees, the rides carpeted with late bluebells. As she rode towards the charcoal burner’s hut and dismounted near the remains of one of his fires, she peered warily around. There was no sign of anyone in the clearing; the hut was ruined and deserted. Tying the horse to the branch of a tree she walked across and peered in. Rhonwen was waiting inside. She was thin and pale and her clothes were torn and ragged. Her shoes had fallen almost to pieces, and she was wearing a heavy white woollen cloak.

At the sight of her, Eleyne’s irritation fell away. They clung together for a long time, then sat side by side on a fallen log in the clearing while Rhonwen told her story.

‘So it was Gruffydd who helped you,’ Eleyne said at last. ‘I’m glad, I should have guessed. But now. Where will you go?’ She looked at Rhonwen steadily. ‘You cannot return to my service and you cannot go back to Wales.’

‘I can.’ Rhonwen’s eyes were feverish with triumph. ‘I can go anywhere with a king’s pardon. You can get it for me. The King of England is your uncle, and he will give you anything you ask for.’ Rhonwen caught her hands; her grip was very strong. ‘Surely I do not have to beg this from you? With the king’s pardon even the Prince of North Wales can do nothing against me. I will be safe.’

For a moment Eleyne had almost caught her optimism, but then she shook her head. ‘John would never let me go to the king for that. You made him very angry, Rhonwen.’ She did not add that he was afraid.

‘Pah!’ Rhonwen spat on the ground. ‘I don’t give that for your English earl! Besides, I heard he was dying.’ Her eyes grew still on Eleyne’s face. ‘You love a king,
cariad
, remember that. Your future is in Scotland with him, not with your milksop earl.’

Eleyne was too shocked to speak immediately: ‘So, it was you who started these evil rumours!’ Her eyes flashed with anger. ‘How dare you! And you are wrong. What you are saying is wicked, evil! It is John I love. John!’ The forest was silent as the two women faced each other, save for the distant ringing call of a blackbird hidden in the thicket.

‘So.’ Rhonwen raised an eyebrow. ‘You really believe that? Oh, how he’s got you tamed! I can see the jesses around your ankles.’ She stood up restlessly. ‘He’s not man enough to have got you with child yet, I see.’

Eleyne coloured violently. ‘That’s a vicious thing to say … and not true. I was pregnant, I think. Only I lost it before it was real, and that was my fault. I love John. He is kind and good and caring, and he is my man. I want no other.’ She too stood up. ‘I want no more of this gossip. I understand why you are bitter and unhappy but it’s all your fault. How could you kill Cenydd? He was a good man. I thought you loved him.’

‘I did love him, after a fashion.’ Rhonwen was defiant. ‘I did not mean to kill him. He was useful.’ She grimaced. ‘I had never killed a man before. Now I have killed three people.’

Eleyne closed her eyes. The unease she had felt from the first moment Rhonwen had begun to speak deepened into horror. She looked at Rhonwen for some sign of sorrow or remorse. She saw neither.

‘You are in a state of mortal sin,’ she whispered.

‘Sin?’ Rhonwen gave a bitter laugh. ‘Maybe. For Cenydd I shall have to pay, one day. For the other two, no. They were robbers, nobodies. Cutting Madoc’s throat was no harder than wringing the neck of a chicken. I’ll not burn in your Christian priests’ hell for them.’

‘Oh, Rhonwen.’ Eleyne was despairing.

‘You’re shocked. Now our roles are reversed,
cariad
. Suddenly you’re the dutiful lady and I’m the rebel, in my stolen monk’s cloak and my threadbare shoes.’ She stood very close to Eleyne. ‘I was like a mother to you, you will not forsake me now. You will find a way to go to the king and obtain my pardon. Your English earl does not have to know.’

‘Of course he has to know. I won’t deceive him.’

Rhonwen narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you saying you won’t help me?’

‘Of course not! I will help you in every way I can.’

‘As long as you don’t have to go to the king.’

‘I will try to persuade John – ’

‘No,
cariad
, your earl will not lift a finger for me. He would have me arrested, so I would have to disappear into the forest forever. You would never see me again.’

Eleyne frowned, but not with the fear Rhonwen had hoped to see. She had changed, had learned to live without her. ‘You’ll never find me,’ she repeated, ‘never.’

‘Then how will I reach you?’

‘You won’t. When you have the pardon I will reach you. The people of the greenwood have their methods.’ The mocking smile deepened. ‘But don’t leave it too long,
cariad
. I need that pardon.’

XIII

Robin threw back his head and laughed. ‘So, your nurse is a forest outlaw, with a string of murders behind her! Does this explain why my lady countess is such a spirited rebel?’

‘It’s not funny, Robin. I have to find a way to help her.’ Eleyne had reined in her horse beside him, a pretty merlin on her wrist.

‘You have offered her money?’

‘Of course.’

His eyes were shrewd in the bright spring sunlight. Their attendants had drawn back and they could talk alone. ‘Am I right in thinking you don’t necessarily want her back?’

‘She frightened me.’ Eleyne sighed. ‘But I want what is best for her. And I want what is best for my husband.’

‘He loathes her of course. He has spoken to me about her. You know he thinks she is dead. It might be best if he went on thinking that.’ He wrinkled his brow thoughtfully. ‘Of course, you could always do both. Promise her you will speak to the king when you see him, on condition that she goes as far away as possible, and in the meantime give her enough money to live comfortably in London or Winchester or somewhere far away, under an assumed name.’

Eleyne stroked the soft russet breast feathers of the bird on her wrist as it settled trustingly against her. ‘It might work.’

‘It will work, if you are firm enough. Then you can forget her. John wants to go back to Chester. She won’t dare follow you there.’ He gazed up at the trees, their leaves dappled by the sunlight against a sky of purest sapphire. ‘You know,’ he went on, ‘I almost envy her her life in the forest. At this time of year it must be glorious to acknowledge no master, to lie where you please, to eat the king’s deer till you are too fat to move.’

‘I don’t think so. She is afraid, and the nights must be cold and wet and lonely.’

‘Don’t you believe it. She will have found herself a man by now.’ He gathered up his reins. ‘Come on, we have a long way to go.’

XIV

‘So you are going to send me away.’ Rhonwen clutched the bag of coins Eleyne had pressed into her hand.

‘Only until I can see the king and speak to him about you. You can’t come back with me, you must see that.’

‘Oh yes, I see that.’ Rhonwen’s voice was bitter. ‘You dare not upset your husband. You dare not ask him a favour or beg for your old nurse.’

‘It’s not that I don’t dare, Rhonwen.’ Eleyne tried to keep the impatience out of her voice. ‘It’s that there is no point. He will not relent, and I do not wish to have him upset. He has not been well.’

‘Again.’ Rhonwen threw the money on the ground beside her. ‘So you will not be leaving after all?’