Enchantress Mine (55 page)

Eric Longsword paraded Mairin about amongst the half-savage lords of the Scots court. Her cheeks grew bright pink on more than one occasion as the openly admiring glances of these men touched her. Her captor was enjoying himself hugely, blatantly displaying her beauty and loudly proclaiming to any who would listen his sexual prowess with her. They moved at a snail’s pace through the hall, Mairin keeping her eyes modestly lowered all the while, for she was greatly embarrassed by Eric’s loud and constant bragging. Finally they reached the royal dais where the king and queen sat.

“So, Eric Longsword, this is your long-lost wife,” said Malcolm Ceann Mor.

“Yes, my liege. I promised her I would bring her to court, for she vowed she could not be happy with me again unless she came.”

“What is her name?”

“Mairin of Aelfleah, my liege.”

“Look at me, Mairin of Aelfleah,” the king commanded her. “I would see your face.”

Mairin raised her eyes to him. His mouth, she thought, was like Josselin’s. It was a large and sensuous mouth. Her heart hammered wildly, and she almost cried out her plight to him, but with a supreme effort of will, she restrained herself. She must wait to meet the queen.

“You are very beautiful, Mairin of Aelfleah, as Eric Longsword has told us,” the king said in a kindly tone. “Your husband is a fortunate man.” He looked back to Eric. “You may present your wife to the queen now.”

“My gracious lady,” said Eric, politely bowing to Margaret, “I would present to you my lady wife, Mairin of Aelfleah.”

The young queen smiled graciously at Mairin. “You are welcome to Scotland, my lady.”

To the queen’s surprise Mairin knelt, and catching the queen’s gown, kissed the hem of the garment and said, “Madame, I beg of you to help me!”

Margaret looked startled at this sudden turn of events, and the king said, “What is this? What is it you want, lady?”

Mairin felt Eric Longsword’s fingers digging cruelly into her shoulders. “My wife is not well, my lord,” he said, trying to drag her to her feet. “Her captivity amongst the Normans has weakened her mind. I can never be certain when these terrible spells are going to come upon her.”

“My lady queen,” persisted Mairin, refusing to allow him to move her, “in the name of the Blessed Holy Mother Mary, I beg you to hear me out. I am not mad!” She raised her eyes to the queen, silently pleading with her, and Margaret, who knew fear when she saw it, said,

“Take your hands from your wife, Eric Longsword. I believe her when she says she is not mad. I would hear what she would say to me.” The queen then turned to the king. “This woman is afraid, my lord, and comes to me for aid. I would know why.”

The king nodded his agreement. There was nothing he would deny his Meg. “Speak, Mairin of Aelfleah, but bear in mind the delicate condition of the queen as you do so.”

“My lord king,” said Mairin, “I would not hurt your lady. I know the joys of motherhood. I have a little daughter, Maude, who will be a year old in another few weeks.” She then turned to the queen. “My lady, I beg you to help me for the sake of my child. Eric Longsword is not my husband. I am the wife of Josselin de Combourg, the lord of Aelfleah. Eric Longsword kidnapped me from York on Christmas Day where I had gone to join my husband for King William’s Christmas court.” Unbidden tears slipped down her cheeks. “I want to go home to my husband, and our child. Please help me, my lady! I beg of you!”

Before the queen might reply, Eric Longsword said, “She is mad, my liege. The coming of the Normans caused her to miscarry our child, and she has never accepted it. Let me take her back to our house.” He put his hands once more upon Mairin’s shoulders.

“He lies!” Mairin said furiously, shaking him off. “I am the daughter of Aldwine Athelsbeorn and his wife, Eada. I am the wife of Josselin de Combourg, the lord of Aelfleah. This man sought my hand in marriage before the coming of King William, but my father would not give me to the heir to but five hides of land! Eric Longsword has admitted to me that he sought my father and brother out at the battle of Fulford, and slew them both. Would I wed with the murderer of my father and brother?”

“What proof can you offer, Mairin of Aelfleah, that what you say is true?” asked the queen.

“I was wed to my lord husband, Josselin de Combourg, the day before the feast of Christmas in the year 1066. We were wed in the presence of King William, the ceremony performed by his brother, Bishop Odo. You have but to send a messenger to England to the king. Josselin must be frantic. He will not know where to look for me! If you could but send a messenger to Aelfleah too. My mother will be so worried. She could also confirm the truth of my words.”

“It is deep winter,” said the king. “It would be hard to get a messenger through now, particularly after this last storm.”

“Do not let this man take me back!” begged Mairin. “Do not force me into an adulterous state, and imperil my immortal soul, my lord king! If not for my sake, then think of my little daughter who weeps for her mother! I would be a servant in your house before I would go with Eric Longsword again, or slay me now, my lord, but do not force me back with this man!” Mairin bowed her head in submission as if a prisoner awaiting the axman’s blow.

“She shall not return to him,” said the queen firmly.

“Margaret, Eric Longsword is my liegeman,” said the king.

“Malcolm, I will not allow this poor girl to be further abused. Until the truth of her words can be proved or disproved, she will remain with me.”

“Very well, Meg,” the king said quietly. “It will be just as you wish it.” He looked at Eric Longsword. “Mairin of Aelfleah will remain with the queen until this matter can be straightened out.”

Eric Longsword glared at the back of Mairin’s head, but she didn’t see him. Her whole body was awash with relief, and for the moment she was incapable of even rising. “Thank you, my lady,” she said gratefully to the queen, and looking down into the incredibly beautiful face, Margaret knew with unwavering instinct that Mairin was telling the truth. At a nod from the queen, the laird of Glenkirk came forward to help Mairin to her feet.

“Take the lady Mairin to my apartments,” she instructed the laird, and then looking to the abbess of St. Hilda’s asked, “Will you accompany them also, my lady abbess?”

The abbess, an elderly woman with a worn and kindly face, nodded her assent, and moved to Mairin’s side. The trio turned to exit the hall, to be momentarily blocked by Eric Longsword. Automatically the laird’s hand went to his dagger, and the abbess set herself protectively near Mairin.

“You will regret your actions, Mairin of Aelfleah,” Eric said venomously. “You are mine, and you always will be!”

“No,” Mairin said quietly, “it is you who will regret your actions. Josselin will kill you for what you have done.”

He stepped aside then, and they moved past him leaving the Great Hall of the king’s house to find their way to the queen’s abode.

“Puir child,” sympathized the abbess. “What a terrible experience ye hae had. Ye were wise to ask the queen’s aid. Never has there been such a good woman as our Queen Margaret.”

“Bride stealing is one thing,” said the laird of Glenkirk, “but stealing another man’s wife is a foul deed. Yer husband will hae to kill him if he has any honor at all.”

“I wish I could kill him!” said Mairin fiercely, and the young laird grinned at her.

“Child, child,” admonished the gentle abbess, “ye must na say such a thing. Dinna put yer precious soul in danger of hellfire over the likes of a man like that.”

They reached the queen’s apartments, and seeing them safe inside, the laird of Glenkirk took his leave of them. The abbess explained to the queen’s serving women that Mairin was to be the queen’s guest, and then she motioned Mairin to sit with her by the fire while they awaited Margaret’s coming. The young queen did not keep them waiting long, arriving with her mother and sister several minutes later.

“Eric Longsword attempted to cajole my lord, the king, into returning you to his custody,” the queen said with a chuckle. “He but succeeded in annoying Malcolm. You will be quite safe with me, my lady Mairin. Now tell me just how you came to be in this man’s clutches.” The queen settled herself into a chair by the fire facing Mairin, instructing her and the abbess to reseat themselves. The queen’s mother sat by her eldest daughter while her younger daughter sat down upon a stool by her mother, resting her head upon her parent’s knee.

“My husband and I live on the manor of Aelfleah which is close by the Welsh border near Hereford and Worcester. My husband came from Normandy with the king, and being his liegeman, went with him to subdue the recent rebellions in the north.” Here Mairin stopped, and blushed. She felt somewhat uncomfortable speaking before Edgar the Atheling’s mother, but Agatha, realizing her plight, waved her hands and said,

“Do not be embarrassed, my lady Mairin. I have faced the fact, if others haven’t, that Edgar will never be King of England. I dislike all this killing in his name. Go on with your story.”

“The king ordered that his Christmas court be held at York,” Mairin said. “My lord sent for me to come and join him, and I did.” For a moment her eyes were sad with the memory of her trip from Aelfleah. “The devastation was too terrible to behold,” she said simply.

“A king must be strong,” said Agatha approvingly.

“I reached York safely,” Mairin continued. “We celebrated the third year of our marriage together, and Josselin gave me this.” She held up the pomander, which was admired by the other women. “On Christmas morning we attended Mass, and all through the service I felt as if someone were staring at me, but from my vantage point I could see no one, and I dared not turn. Finally when the Mass had been concluded I did turn about, and I thought I saw Eric Longsword, but then he was gone. I told Josselin, and he said that perhaps Eric had sworn fealty to Gospatric or Waltheof, for their men were beginning to reenter the city prior to their master’s submission to King William.

“A royal page came then, and told my lord that the king wished to speak with him. We were leaving early the next day, and the king was busy. Josselin escorted me to our tent, and left his squire, Loial, to look after me. The boy admires me, and I told him he might join me inside if it became too cold. I entered the tent, and it was there that Eric Longsword accosted me, putting an arm about my throat, and threatening to kill poor Loial if I cried out. He said he was taking me with him to Scotland, that I should be his by right. When I said I would not go with him, he hit me in the jaw rendering me quite unconscious. When I awoke we were far from York.”

“How absolutely terrifying!” said the queen’s sister, Christina.

“It was very terrifying,” Mairin admitted, “and the thought that my lord husband would have no idea of where I was, was even more frightening.”

The queen glanced about at her serving women, all of whom had been listening, and were now goggle-eyed by Mairin’s tale. “Leave us, all of you,” she said in a no-nonsense tone of voice, and the women reluctantly departed. “There is no need for any more gossip than this incident will engender naturally,” she said.

“Thank you, my lady,” replied Mairin. “I am so shamed by all of this.”

“How did you first meet Eric Longsword?” asked Margaret.

“My father, Aldwine Athelsbeorn, was sent by King Edward to the emperor, Constantine Ducas, in Byzantium. It was my father’s duty to negotiate a trade agreement between the two countries. My mother and I went with him, leaving my brother, Brand, at Aelfleah. We were in Constantinople over two years, during which time I was wed to Prince Basil Ducas, the emperor’s cousin.”

“You are a princess of Byzantium?” Christina was now very impressed.

“I was once,” said Mairin, “but Basil died unexpectedly in the first year of our marriage so I returned with my mother to England. Eric Longsword was a member of the emperor’s Varangian Guard which is made up of Anglo-Saxons and Norsemen. He escorted our party home to England as he and his troop were due for leave. I was in mourning for my first husband then, and yet he dared to approach me. I rebuffed him. Later he suggested to my brother, Brand, that he would be a good match for me, but Brand laughed and told him no.

“He thought that if I were alone and helpless I should turn to him, so he killed my father and brother in the battle with Harold Hardraade. Then King William overcame Earl Harold, and not realizing that I was legally my father’s heiress . . .” here Mairin smiled. “He did not know that my father had a daughter. So not being aware of my existence, King William sent Josselin de Combourg to be Aelfleah’s new lord, but the manor was my legacy, and the only dowry I could bring a husband. Josselin and I were at immediate loggerheads. He claimed Aelfleah by right of conquest, I by inheritance. What was worse, the king had charged him to build a castle to help keep the peace. Aelfleah is very isolated, and the main reason for our prosperity over the years has been that we have escaped marauders because no one knew we were there. Josselin wanted to build his castle upon the boundary of our western hills, but I did not want him to do so.”

“But how did you come to be wed?” burst out Christina.

Mairin laughed. “Josselin and I decided that marriage between us was the only solution to settle Aelfleah’s ownership. We went to London with my mother for King William’s coronation, and the king agreed with us. He ordered us married in his presence, and that of his closest friends, and by his brother, Bishop Odo. It was not quite the wedding I envisioned,” she admitted.

“Do you love each other?” the curious Christina persisted.

Mairin’s face softened and her eyes grew dreamy. “Oh, yes, I love him very much,” she said.

“I think that is the most romantic story I have ever heard,” young Christina sighed.

“When did you see Eric Longsword again?” asked the queen.

“Several months after our marriage, Josselin went to aid Bishop Odo at Dover. While he was gone Eric Longsword led Eadric the Wild to Aelfleah. He had told Eadric that I was his betrothed wife, and that we would hold Aelfleah for Eadric.” Mairin had wisely amended her story so as not to offend Edgar the Atheling’s family who were sheltering her. “I was expecting our first child at the time,” Mairin continued. “I lost that baby shortly after Eadric and his raiders left us.” She then went on to explain how, knowing that Eadric and his men would be coming to Aelfleah, she had helped and led her people so that the manor’s harvest was saved instead of being burnt. She explained to the listening women how they had hidden the livestock to prevent their being driven off, and hidden the castle workers and master craftsmen, and sent the young girls to a nearby convent for safekeeping. “The last time I saw Eric Longsword before he kidnapped me from York was as he rode off with Eadric the Wild,” Mairin finished. “I know he probably felt very much a fool, having been publicly proved a liar. I never expected, however, that I should ever see him again.”