Lady of the English (58 page)

“Sire.” Henry went down on one knee to Stephen and bent his head. “My lord uncle,” he said in a light, adolescent voice.

Stephen cleared his throat. “Nephew,” he responded. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

Henry gave them all a smile as bright as the sun. “I thought to pay my respects before I returned home,” he said. “I have only ever been told my mother’s side of matters and my uncle Robert’s, and I want to find out for myself.”

“Is that so?” Stephen said, but his lips were twitching.

Will was amused too, and taken aback at the youth’s daring in walking into the lion’s den. It was a rash move, but not without its merits. Will found himself approving of the youngster, even while he should have been appalled. It was good news that he was leaving, but the motive for being here, spoken with such an open, smiling countenance, was perhaps suspect.

“And what makes you think you will return home?” Stephen asked, but cleared a space at the trestle for Henry to sit. “Why should I not take you prisoner or dispose of you now that you have put yourself in my power?”

“Because I am your nephew and your guest and the rules of hospitality are sacred,” Henry said. “Because I have come under a flag of truce to talk.”

Stephen raised his eyebrows. “To talk about what?”

Henry shrugged. “You have only heard rumours about me from my own side. Perhaps you want to find out about me too.

If I were you, I would.”

461

LadyofEnglish.indd 461

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Elizabeth Chadwick

“Perhaps Cricklade and Purton speak for themselves,”

Stephen said mockingly.

“That was folly; I realise that now. I should not have attacked them.”

A servant arrived with food and drink for the “guest” and Henry set to with an adolescent’s hunger and a complete lack of self-consciousness.

“Is this to spite your mother?” Stephen asked. “Or perhaps to make her pay attention to you?”

“Not at all,” Henry said between rotations of his jaw. “She will be vexed when she hears about this, but I do my best to fulfil my duty towards her.” He paused and rested his knife against the side of his dish. “And anyway, she is right; I should leave England.”

ttt

Henry displayed no inclination to leave straight away, however.

Indeed, he settled his feet under Stephen’s table, making himself agreeable and amenable to all. He took part in the roistering of the court at night with a ribald, masculine sense of humour that everyone appreciated, including Stephen, who rose to the challenge. Henry undertook wrestling matches with the older squires and displayed tremendous aptitude and skill.

He conversed with the barons and chaplains, revealing the depth of his education and intelligence. He even proved an adept dancer.

Will wondered what Matilda had thought of his relaxed ways and mannerisms, the direct opposite of her stiff regard for propriety. Henry would sit on a stool, knees apart, cup dangling between them, and talk as easily to the pot boy as he did to the king. Henry had his own opinions but was eager to listen and learn, being deferential without ever losing face. And always the big smile and the constant energy. He sustained himself on very little sleep and wore everyone out. He would ride out for 462

LadyofEnglish.indd 462

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Lady of the English

a day’s hunting and still be fresh at the end of it despite many rigorous hours in the saddle. Beside him, Stephen’s own swift energy appeared as a diminished trickle dwarfed by a strong silver waterfall.

On the third evening of his visit, Henry sat down in a window embrasure with Will to play chess. “How is my grandmother the queen?” he asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“She is well,” Will replied, not seeing any need to discuss Adeliza’s fragile health.

“And all my little uncles and aunts?”

Will grunted with amusement. “All are thriving,” he said.

“Your youngest uncle was born just a few weeks ago on the feast of Saint Agatha.”

Henry smiled and then said, “And your castles? I understand you have at least two projects under construction.” He flashed a grin. “I even heard something about the latrines at one of them.”

Will sighed with exasperation. “Who has not heard and mocked?” he asked, but under the influence of good wine and the youth’s genuine interest in the castle buildings, he told Henry not only about Rising, but also discussed the fortress he was building at Buckenham on a more suitable site than the former one, which he had donated to the Benedictine Order as land for a priory. The new castle was a circular shell keep, set on a high mound with walls eleven feet thick. As with Rising, Will was in the process of building a village too and encouraging people to settle and work. Already there was a tannery on the outskirts of the fledgling plots.

Henry listened and absorbed everything like a sponge.

“Are you not afraid that what you are building up will all be destroyed?” he asked.

“Indeed I am,” Will replied, “but if I did not build and have faith in God’s protection, what would remain? Rising is a palace 463

LadyofEnglish.indd 463

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Elizabeth Chadwick

to honour my wife, not a great fortress, so there is no reason for anyone to attack it, and the new keep at Buckenham poses no threat because it is purely for defence.” He gave Henry a severe look. “All of my castles exist to defend my territory, not as bases to steal or encroach on other men’s. Disputes have never been at my instigation. I serve the king because I am his sworn vassal and I will never go back on my word.”

“But what of the future, my lord?” Henry said. “To whom will your own sons swear their oaths of allegiance?”

“I do not think this is a matter for discussion here,” Will said curtly. “It is not something to be decided over a game of chess.”

“Oh, but it is a game of chess,” Henry said with one of his disarming smiles, “and we are both players.”

Will gave him a dark look. “If you take my advice, you will be careful to whom you say such things.”

“I intend to be very careful indeed,” Henry replied with a glint in his eyes that left Will feeling uneasy. The youth had run rings around him but he was not quite certain how.

ttt

The following day, Henry left Stephen’s court, laden with gifts of horses and supplies. Stephen had given him silver for his expenses and paid off the mercenaries in his employ. Many of Stephen’s barons had raised their eyebrows at such leniency and largesse. Some had muttered that it was like the time the empress had landed at Arundel all over again, but Stephen shrugged them off, saying he could not imprison the youth without risking an attack from Anjou and Normandy, and it was too dangerous to keep him here. People might start believing that Stephen was going to accept him as his heir.

Will considered these points as he counted the loss of the ten marks and a packhorse that had been his own contribution to the young Henry’s departure. Everyone had been told by 464

LadyofEnglish.indd 464

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Lady of the English

Stephen to donate towards the youth’s leave-taking so that the royal coffers did not have to stand the entire sum. Will suspected that the damage was done. Men had had a chance to assess the empress’s son and had been impressed by his calibre. Stephen’s own son Eustace had no such charisma to call upon; he was an ordinary youth of small talent, whereas Henry’s personality blazed as brightly as his hair. Stephen was trying to have Rome acknowledge Eustace as the heir to England, but the pope was turning a deaf ear, as was the archbishop of Canterbury. No one here was going to desert Stephen; they had been with him for too long; but many had been given food for thought concerning the succession. Will wagered that the conversation he had held with Henry over the chessboard had been repeated many times throughout the ranks of Stephen’s barons.

“It is suddenly very quiet, isn’t it, Will?” said Robert, Earl of Leicester, joining him in the stable yard, where he was looking at the empty stalls left by the animals Henry had taken with him.

Will glanced at Leicester, whose brother Waleran de Meulan now served the Angevin cause in Normandy. “Stephen is certainly relieved.”

Leicester smiled. “I think we all are, but a little flat too—if anyone dared admit as much.” He approached a bay stallion tethered outside while the groom mucked out its stall. “So what do you think?” he asked, running his hand down the animal’s neck.

“About the horse? A fine beast.”

“Oh come.” Leicester gave him a sharp look. “Do not play the wide-eyed fool with me, D’Albini. Neither of us is going to desert Stephen, but it will not be long until that boy is a man in body as well as in mind. How many here are likely to follow Stephen’s heir, and how many that red-haired youngster, if it comes to the crux?”

465

LadyofEnglish.indd 465

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Elizabeth Chadwick

Will made a face. “It is a great pity all this could not have been settled ten years ago without a war.”

“In hindsight yes, but not at the time,” Leicester said. “We were not to know what the empress’s son would become, nor Eustace. Now we have been given a chance to judge.” He gave Will an astute look. “Henry FitzEmpress knew exactly what he was doing when he turned up here. However disastrously his escapade in England might have begun, he has turned it to his advantage. How many others here are having the same discussion as us in quiet corners? The time is not right even now, but it is coming, and it is our duty not to squander it—for all our sakes.”

ttt

Matilda bit her lip as the messenger bowed from the room. She did not know whether to laugh or be appalled that Henry had gone to Stephen to ask for the money to return home.

“It is audacious, you must admit,” she said to Robert, who had received the news in stony silence.

“That is one way of putting things,” he growled. “You might as easily say foolish and wilful. What if Stephen had cast him in prison? What if he had been killed? This has been a hare-brained enterprise from beginning to end.”

Matilda tapped her forefinger against her chin. “At the outset it was, I agree with you, but now he has been able to infiltrate Stephen’s camp more deeply than we ever could even with the most accomplished of spies.”

“And what sort of impression do you think Stephen’s barons have garnered?” Robert said with a jaundiced curl of his lip.

“They will have seen his daring and initiative—that he was able to persuade funds out of Stephen.”

“That would not be difficult. Look at the way Stephen drained your father’s treasury in the early days.”

“Yes, but his men will view it as a further example of his weakness, not largesse. By believing he is ridding himself of a 466

LadyofEnglish.indd 466

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Lady of the English

bothersome gnat while showing magnanimous scorn, he has misread the situation.”

“Then let us hope you have not,” Robert said, then heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know Henry’s presence has put new heart into our men, but he is not ready for full command.” He gave her an exhausted look. “You may believe me to be hostile towards him, but in truth I am not.

I will welcome the day when he is old enough to take this burden from my shoulders.”

“I know you are not hostile.” She came to embrace him, worried by how grey he looked. “I welcome it too. When I hold the imperial crown between my hands, it is Henry I see wearing it. But I am still the bearer and the custodian, and it is because of that duty I must carry on. It is like finding the final scraping in the bottom of the barrel when you thought there was nothing left.”

“Yes,” Robert said wearily. “The final scraping.”

467

LadyofEnglish.indd 467

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Fifty-four

Devizes, November 1147

Brian rode into Devizes, his stomach churning and his lips pressed tightly together. Twice on the journey from Wallingford he had had to dismount and vomit at the roadside.

He felt as if he was losing himself and becoming his own shadow. Matilda’s people watched him ride by, their faces filled with trepidation before they looked at the ground or away. In a few eyes he saw sparks of relief, and turned away in shame, because he was here to add to the burden, not relieve it.

In the castle bailey, the grooms greeted him with mumbled words. The few people about hurried to cross the open ground and avoid the blustery spatters of rain. Brian dismounted from Sable and watched the old horse being led away to a straw-filled stall. He was showing his years, his muzzle silvering and his once broad rump beginning to resemble the bony rear end of a cow. After this, they had one more long ride to make, and then their journey was done.

In the hall, William Giffard, Matilda’s chancellor, was working at a lectern by the light from a window. A brazier stood nearby, the heat keeping his writing hand warm. When he saw Brian, he stared through him for a moment, before recognition dawned. “Sire, I did not know you.” Hastily he rose and bowed his tonsured head.

LadyofEnglish.indd 468

6/9/11 5:35 PM

Lady of the English

“Well, that is no surprise, because I do not know myself either these days,” Brian said heavily. “I am here to see the empress.”

Giffard gave him a pained look. “Since we heard the news about the Earl of Gloucester, she has kept to her chamber except to go to church. She has taken his loss very hard indeed.”

“It is a grief to us all.” Brian signed his breast, but the gesture felt empty, because he was empty. “Will you at least tell her I am here?”

Giffard swiftly set his quill back in the ink well. “Indeed, sire,” he said. “I will bring you to her. She may even talk to you as she has not done to others.”

He led Brian up a twist of stairs, along a gallery, and rapped on a closed oak door with his chancellor’s staff of office.

“Domina,” he called out, “my lord FitzCount is here.”

There was a long silence. Giffard looked at Brian and shook his head. Brian took the rod from him and banged on the door again with the brass knurl on the end. “Domina, I must speak with you and I would rather not shout my business through four inches of oak.”