Elliott, Kate - Crown of Stars 1 (54 page)

"This difference: that Liutgard does not want to send away troops to Gent, which lies many days' march north and east, when her own lands might be threatened by Sabella. Henry must balance the threat to Gent against the threat to Fesse."

Hanna sighed. "How do you keep this all straight?" "That is only the beginning."

But Hanna could see Hathui was laughing at her, not without sympathy. "Was it difficult for you, when you first came into the Eagles? Did it all seem like so many names that had no meaning attached to them?"

Hathui shrugged. "When Wolfhere is your praeceptor, you never admit you are struggling. But, in truth, it did seem difficult. After a time, though, I began to sort them all out. You must know the name of every villager in Heart's Rest, do you not? And in the neighboring farms and hamlets?" "Of course!"

"Well, then, think of the noble lords and ladies who move on the king's progress as a village. Some remain in the village all the time; others come and go according to what duties they have on their family's estates. Truly, Hanna, they are no different from common men and women. I have observed they have their feuds and their secret lovers, their alliances and their disagreements, just as any folk do. They sleep and eat and pray and use the privies. I am not convinced that, if you were to put one of them in a simple freeholder's smock and any hardworking freeholder into an elegant tunic, you could tell who was the noble lord and who the farmer." "Hathui!"

But Hathui only smiled her proud marchlander's smile and signed that Hanna should attend to the proceedings again.

Attend Hanna did. For some odd reason, Hathui's shocking opinions .nade it easier for her to sort out one noble from the other. That thin glaze of intimidation had worn off, shorn away forever by Hathui's blunt observations. She noticed the old counsellor
—the margrave Helmut Villam—yawning as Duchess Liutgard promised she would ride out at dawn the next day with her retinue. But it would still take some weeks before a levy
could be raised, and longer still to march that force across the kingdom.

The very young man standing beside Villam
—his son, that was it, though Hanna could not remember what the boy's name was or if she had even heard it yet—fidgeted and looked very much as if he wished to be somewhere else. Hanna's milk brother Ivar had that look sometimes when he was thinking about another prank to play or some expedition into the forest he wanted Hanna to come along for; Ivar was the sort of person who was either full of a manic energy or gloomily downcast.

How was Ivar faring now? Had he reached Quedlinhame Cloister yet, to begin his life as a monk? Hanna was a bit unclear on distances within the kingdom and where all the different cities and cloisters were. But one thing Hanna did know: Ivar would not take well to cloister walls. He was bound to get into some kind of mischief.

She sighed. Ai, Lady. There was nothing she could do for Ivar, not now. She had chosen Liath over Ivar and now, as if to punish her for her choice, the Lady had granted she be separated from both of them.

Duchess Liutgard finished her business with the king and moved back to make room for a noblewoman who appeared to be about the same age as Henry. This woman wore her years proudly. Her hair was coiled into long braids and pinned back; though it was gray now, Hanna could see it had once been a rich brown.

Hathui leaned to whisper in Hanna's ear. "Judith, margrave of Olsatia and Austra."

The margrave informed Henry that she would ride immediately to her estates in Austra and raise at least two hundred men to ride to Gent.

"And do not forget that my son Hugh is abbot at Firsebarg now. If you will send word to him, I know he can send a contingent to reinforce yours, Your Majesty."

Hugh!
Hanna did not breathe for a moment. She had almost forgotten Hugh, but staring at this imposing woman she was struck anew by memory of him. Judith was a woman of mature years, broad in girth and dignified of manner. She had delicate features not yet obscured by old age, and Hanna could see Hugh's features there: the sharp planes of his handsome face, the bright, deep-set eyes, the haughty expression. But the margrave's hair had obviously been dark, quite unlike Hugh's light hair. Was it true that Hugh's father had been a slave from Alba, whose men were renowned for their golden-haired beauty?

-"Don't be a fool, Hanna," she whispered to herself. Instantly she wondered how Liath fared. Had they gotten into Gent safely? Was Liath well? Injured? Dead? Did Hugh think of Liath still? Of course he never thought of people like Hanna at all. What if he led a contingent of soldiers to Gent? Could Wolfhere protect Liath from Hugh when he did not understand what had taken place over that winter at Heart's Rest?

Hathui's fingers grazed her elbow, a reassuring touch, though surely Hathui couldn't guess what she'd been thinking. And Hanna had no desire to betray such feelings to anyone else, not when she was herself ashamed of them, knowing how viciously Hugh had treated Liath. This was no time for such nonsense, as her mother would say. She shook herself and attended to the business at hand.

Later, after the audiences were over, Hathui was sent to the king's physician and Hanna was sent to the guest house where the king's children made their residence.

Hanna paused inside the door while the two guards posted there
—by their gold tabards sewn with a black lion members of Henry's Lion infantry—examined her curiously.

Hanna was more curious about the king's children. Ekkehard was young, still in the schola, not yet old enough to be given a retinue of his own and sent out into the world as an adult. Right now he sat beside one of his sisters, who accompanied him on a lute. He had a beautiful voice.

"When the ships came down from the north And he saw the gleam of gold in their belly, Then he plunged into the waters Though they were as cold as his mother's heart, Then plunged into the waters And swam until he reached them.

With his sword he killed the watchmenWith his knife he killed the steersmanAnd the oar slaves bowed before him And begged for him to tell his tale.

When he captured the ships, This was his song."

That was Theophanu, accompanying him. Though the king's court was in a constant hum, and had been since morning, she sat calmly and strummed a lute in time to her brother's sweet singing.

The other sister, small and dark and neat, was Sapientia. She paced back and forth, back and forth, like a caged animal. Hanna took a hesitant step forward. Sapientia saw her, began to rush toward her, then stopped short, recalling her position. She beckoned.

"Do you have a message for me, Eagle?" she demanded.

Without losing track of the song, Theophanu raised her eyes briefly to take in the scene and went back to her playing. Ekkehard sang on, oblivious.

Hanna dropped to touch a knee to the floor. "Yes. King Henry charges you to go now to the smith's quarters."

"Hai!" said Sapientia under her breath, exultant. She turned and gestured to her servingwomen, who sat sewing near the fire. "Come!" she said, and strode out so quickly they had to drop their sewing work on the bench and had not even time to grab cloaks before running out after her.

Hanna hesitated. Ekkehard was well into the song by now, a song within a song, really, wherein the hero Sig-isfrid relates to the hapless oar slaves his many great deeds as well as revealing for the first time his forbidden
king's dragon
love for his cousin Waltharia, the love that would doom them both. Ekkehard had, in fact, an astonishing command of the epic. Hanna had heard old master bards sing from the great epic while taking a night's lodging at the inn, and while Ekkehard's rendition was clearly immature, it was still compelling.

Theophanu glanced up again to study Hanna. The princess' gaze was clear and completely unreadable. Suddenly self-conscious, Hanna backed away and ran right into one of the Lions.

He steadied her with a grin. "Begging your pardon, my friend," he said. "You rode in from Gent with the other Eagle, this morning." "Yes."

"You're new to the Eagles?"

She nodded. She didn't quite trust him: He was a good-looking young man, and the few good-looking men in Heart's Rest
—like her brother Thancmar—were, in her experience, full of themselves.

He opened the door, grinned at his companion guard, and followed her outside. "Where are you barracked tonight?" he asked. He did have a pleasant smile, and a pleasing face, and very nice shoulders, but Hanna loathed men who were full of their own self-importance.
All, except Hugh.
She shoved that thought away.

"With the Eagles, I expect," she said coldly. "Wherever they sleep."

He considered. In the torch-lit entryway, he did not appear downcast or offended by her rejection. In fact, she was not entirely sure he had taken her words as rejection. "Well, if we'll not be barracked together," he said quickly, glancing behind him. "I'm on duty, so I haven't time to talk. You were at Gent. Did you see the Dragons there?"

"We saw one company of them, but I never got inside the city. We turned back, Hathui and I." "Was there a woman with them, do you know?" "A woman? With the Dragons? Not that I noticed." "Ai." He grimaced, disappointed. Had he a sweetheart

among the Dragons? Having misjudged him, she suddenly found him rather attractive. "My sister rides with the Dragons."

"Your
sisterT
He laughed outright. "You're thinking a common born lad like me has no business having a sister in the Dragons."

Since she was thinking so, she did not deny it.

"It's true most of them are nobleborn, bastards usually, or younger sons without a bequest to get them into the church. But my sister never wanted anything except to fight. She dedicated herself to St. Andrea very young, before even her first bleeding, and couldn't be swayed. She joined the Lions, bludgeoned her way into them, more like. I followed after her."

Hanna remembered how her young brother Karl had looked at her the day she rode away from the Heart's Rest as a newly-hatched Eagle. Had this young man watched his sister ride away so? Had he followed her, years later, because of that admiration?

"She distinguished herself," the Lion continued, eager to talk about his sister in front of a new audience. "Saved the Dragon banner, she did. Some say she saved the prince's life, although others say no man or woman can do that. That he's under a geas, spoken on him when he was an infant by his mother, that he can't be killed by mortal hands or some such kind of thing. Ai, well. I say she saved his life."

"I didn't see her," repeated Hanna, sorry she hadn't. "What's her name?"

"Adela." He touched a hand to his chest and gave a little bow, a courtly gesture no doubt picked up from watching the noble lords. When he smiled, he had a dimple. "And I'm called Karl."

She laughed. "Why, so is my brother called Karl. I'm Hanna."

"Ai, Lady. That's a bad omen
—that you might think of me as a brother." And, that suddenly, he had remembered it was night, and he was young, and she was—

well, pretty, perhaps, but at the least desirable and a new face among so many familiar old ones. She flushed and was angry at herself for doing so.

"And what does your sister say? About the prince?" she said, to say something.

He grunted. "Nothing but praise, which is tiresome in a woman when she's speaking of a man. She's as loyal as a dog to him. They all are, the Dragons. don't see it myself." He ran two fingers down to a point at his chin, along his fine light beard, musingly. "How can you call him truly a man'when he can't grow a beard?"

Since Hanna did not know the answer to this question, she wisely said nothing.

The door into the guest house opened. "Hai! Karl! You've had enough time." His companion blinked into the night, saw their figures, and beckoned. "Come on. Back inside. You'll get nothing from an Eagle, you know how they are."

Karl blew her a kiss and went back to his post. "Lord, have mercy," she muttered and hurried back to the chamber where the king held court. But Henry had gone to bed, or so Hathui told her. "Where do we sleep?"

"You haven't been propositioned yet?" asked Hathui and laughed when Hanna betrayed herself by blushing. But the older woman sobered quickly enough. "Attend to my words, Hanna. There is one thing that will get a woman thrown out of the Eagles, and that is if she can no longer ride because she carries a child. 'Make no marriage unless to another Eagle who has sworn the same oaths as you.' ' "That's a harsh precept."

"Our service is harsh. Many of us die serving the king. I'm not saying you must never love a man, or bed one, even, but do not make that choice lightly and never when it is only for a night's pleasure. There are those
— old men and women mostly—who know the use of certain herbs and oils—"

"But that's magic," Hanna whispered. "And heathen magic, at that."

Hathui shrugged. "I've seen a deacon use herbs and chants from the Holy Book to heal wounds, so if that's magic, I suppose some in the church don't frown on its use. I'm just saying, Hanna, that if the desire is strong enough, there are ways to prevent conception, though they don't always work. But every gift from the Lady is both burden and treasure. That is the lesson She teaches: Just as fire can both warm and kill, so can that feeling we call sweet passion bring as its fruit death or a blessing in the form of a healthy child." She smiled wryly. "Sometimes it is easier to devote yourself to a saint, as I did. I had no virginity to pledge to St. Perpetua when I became an Eagle, so I offered my chastity instead."