Love Everlasting, page 30
The edge of his sword sliced through Kenric’s leather boot and into his calf. Kenric’s scream of pain ended when Royce’s second blow nearly cut him in two.
Royce lowered the bloody sword, resting the tip on the soft, green moss. He hated killing, but he could not regret ending Kenric’s life. Then Julianna flung her arms around his neck and held on tight.
“Oh, Royce, I was so afraid he’d kill you.”
“I was sure he’d kill you.” Royce pressed his face against her braided hair.
“Then you saved both of us,” she said.
She clung to him for only a few moments before Timothy groaned. Julianna moved quickly, and characteristically. Freeing herself, she lifted her skirt high and indicated her linen shift.
“Royce, my hands are shaking too badly for me to tear it,” she said. “If you will pull off enough fabric for a bandage, I will see to Timothy’s wound.”
His hands were shaking, too. In fact, his knees were shaking. They bent far too easily. He knelt on the moss and grasped the bottom of Julianna’s shift. Then he looked up at her.
“I almost lost you,” he said.
“But you didn’t. You rescued me.”
“Only with your help. Your kick distracted Kenric just long enough.”
“Royce, tear my shift, please. Be quick about it. Poor Timothy needs a bandage.”
“No wonder the castle folk love you.” He gave a hard yank on the shift and a foot or so of linen came apart in his hands. “This is how you were during the siege, isn’t it? Calm and practical and always thinking of others, not yourself.”
“Not true.” She bent to kiss his forehead. “I thought only of you.”
With the bandaged Timothy riding pillion behind Royce, and Julianna mounted and holding the reins of the squire’s horse, they started back to the castle. They hadn’t even left the little clearing when they encountered another interruption.
“I see I am too late,” Cadwallon said, appearing out of the trees with several men-at-arms. “We’ve been trailing Kenric.”
“He found us.” A quick motion of Royce’s head indicated the remains of Kenric, covered with his own cloak until someone from the castle came to remove the body. “He told us there was a battle, that Othmar and Edmund escaped, and that you and all the others were killed.”
“Kenric never could tell the truth,” Cadwallon responded with one of his lazy grins. “He is the only prisoner who got away, and the rather stupid man-at-arms set to guard him was the only person killed. Arden is safe and on his way home to Bowen Manor. Braedon is also unhurt. He is taking the rest of the captives to Northampton. We agreed that I should come to warn you about Kenric. But I see there’s no need for a warning. What, exactly, happened here?”
“Cadwallon,” Julianna interrupted, “I am very glad to see you alive, but Timothy needs care. You and Royce can talk at the castle. Ride there with us and stay the night.”
“Yes, do,” Royce added. “I’ll write a report about Kenric’s death for you to carry to King Henry. I will also inform him that I intend to remain at Wortham for some months and, if you are willing, I’ll suggest you as my temporary replacement. Lastly, I will write a formal invitation to Janet. Unless you would prefer to extend the invitation?” he said, looking at Julianna.
“An invitation for what?” Cadwallon asked. Falling in beside Royce, he offered one big hand to steady Timothy and keep him upright as they rode out of the forest and through Wortham village.
“We would like you and Janet to visit Wortham in September,” Julianna said, “to serve as godparents to our child. If Janet could be here for the birth, I’d be most grateful. You may bring Alexander and Sybilla and your new baby, too.”
“I think I can honestly say,” Cadwallon told her, “that Janet will be pleased to accept. In fact, I don’t think you could keep her away.”
* * * * *
With so much news to convey to the king and to Janet, Cadwallon stayed only the one night. In early morning Royce and Julianna stood at the top of the keep stairway to watch him ride out of the bailey.
“Perhaps it’s just as well I had to kill Kenric,” Royce murmured into his wife’s ear. “Since yesterday, you and I and King Louis of France are the only living souls who know the true story of the death of King William Rufus. I can’t see that telling King Henry will do any good now that everyone who was involved in the murder is dead. Louis isn’t likely to talk. If he did, he’d have to explain how he knows, and that would involve naming some of his spies.
“Nor do I see any point in revealing how you were forced to spy for Kenric and Deane,” Royce continued. “I know your heart was never a traitor to King Henry. I promise to remain silent if you will, my love.”
“Oh, you may be certain of that, my lord,” Julianna said, laughing freely at last, with every shadow that had hung over her life banished by the man she loved. “Not a word will ever pass my lips.”
Author’s Note.
Henry I is one of my favorite English kings. In a ferocious age he detested what he called “unnecessary bloodshed.” He was known to his contemporaries as Henry Beauclerc, or Henry the Lawgiver, for his determination to establish the rule of law in England and Normandy.
Henry was remarkably attractive to women and was rumored to have fathered more than one hundred illegitimate offspring. He acknowledged them and arranged good marriages for most of them, in the same way that Queen Victoria later married her children off to rulers all over Europe. Henry’s eldest legitimate daughter, Matilda, was married to the Holy Roman Emperor, and his illegitimate daughter, Sybilla, wed Alexander, king of the Scots. During Henry’s reign, England and Scotland were at peace.
The death of Henry’s older brother, King William Rufus, remains a fascinating mystery. Although Wat Tyler was blamed, too many questions are unanswered, which leaves the incident open for modern authors to interpret the event as they choose.
Unfortunately for William, he lived in a time when the only people who wrote history were clergymen. Thus, he became the victim of bad publicity.
William was a homosexual, whose open affairs offended many. He was also an outspoken enemy of the Church, who repeatedly tried to tax Church lands and who almost never attended Holy Mass. Because of his so-called pagan sympathies, it has been suggested that he was sacrificed, or offered himself as a sacrifice, in a pagan ritual conducted near an oak tree in the New Forest which, despite its name, is actually ancient.
It is possible that an outraged relative of one of his young lovers sought vengeance. Or a discarded lover could have killed him. As I suggest in this story, William’s habit of confiscating the lands of people he didn’t like may have led someone to kill the king before he could get his hands on yet more land. Or, perhaps, someone grew weary of paying the exorbitant taxes that William imposed and put into his own purse, for his own extravagant use.
As for Queen Adelicia, historically her character is depicted as I have shown her, kind-hearted, sweet, and gentle. Her much older husband apparently did care for her, though she never gave him the heir he so desperately needed.
That failure eventually led to King Henry’s decision to make his widowed daughter, the Empress Matilda, his heir. He forced his nobles to swear fealty to Matilda. After his death the nobles quickly reneged on their promises, declaring in true Norman style that they would not be ruled by a woman. A long and bloody civil war ensued. But that is a story well known and often told.
The widowed Adelicia then married a nobleman nearer to her own age, William d’Aubigny, and they lived happily together. The couple remained steadfastly loyal to Matilda throughout the civil war. Proof of Adelicia’s remarkable character lies in the pleasant relations she maintained with her arrogant and imperious stepdaughter. Few other nobles of that time, men or woman, could make the same claim.
King Louis VI of France was an inveterate schemer whose great purpose in life was to bring the contentious French nobles under royal control. That included the nobles who held lands in both French and English territories. The result of Louis’s efforts led to frequent conflict with King Henry I of England, as lands and castles changed hands almost as often as some nobles changed their allegiance.
Out of such conflicts are romances born.
About the author:
Flora Speer is the traditionally published author of twenty full-length novels and two novellas.
She writes historical, futuristic, and time-travel romances. Born in southern New Jersey, she now lives in Connecticut.
Flora is currently completing a series of medieval romances to be published on Smashwords. The overall series title is “Lord Royce’s Knights.” See below for the list of individual titles.
Connect with this author:
Web site: www.floraspeer.com
E-mail: fspeer22@sbcglobal.net
Other books in this series, all available now, or soon to be available as E-books through Smashwords:
So Great A Love (Arden and Margaret)
Cast Love Aside (Magnus and Lillianne)
True Love (Braedon and Catherine)
Where Love Has Gone (Desmond and Elaine)
Love Everlasting (Royce and Julianna)
And a “prequel,” Love Above All (Quentin and Fionna, also Cadwallon and Janet)
All of my traditionally published books are now available as E-books from Smashwords.
Speer, Flora, Love Everlasting
