Buch lesen: «The Baron's Bride»

Chapter One

1152

Gisela could hear the sound of angry voices as she rode through the forest towards Aldith’s assart cottage. She glanced worriedly towards Oswin who was riding with her. In this troubled year of 1152, when every man feared attacks upon his property from both known enemies and suspected ones, Walter of Brinkhurst had always insisted that Gisela ride accompanied. Her father’s reeve had been inspecting the autumn work on the field strips and was now escorting her on a visit to her former nurse.

Aldith’s husband had cut the small assart clearing, but he had died two years ago and Aldith had continued to live in the snug little cottage he’d built for her with her fifteen-year-old-son, Sigurd. Her older son, who had died within the first month of his life, had provided her with the milk to feed Gisela, whose own mother had died soon after the birth, and Aldith had given all of her hungry love for her dead child to her master’s daughter.

Though she no longer lived at Brinkhurst Manor, there was still deep affection between them and Gisela visited her nurse frequently.

Gisela put spurs to her palfrey and urged on Oswin, whose usual speed was slow and dignified.

“That sounds as if it is coming from Aldith’s cottage. She has always insisted that she is safe there, but Father has been urging her to come to live at Brinkhurst for some time now.”

Within minutes Gisela and her mount burst into the clearing to find Aldith at the gate of her rough wattle fence, facing two men-at-arms and struggling to hold back Sigurd, who was intent on doing one of them some mischief.

Gisela saw by the blue chevron device on their boiled leather coats they were Allestone men. She kicked her feet free of the stirrups, leaped down easily without Oswin’s assistance and hastened to reach her frightened nurse, with Oswin puffing more slowly in her wake.

“What is it, Aldith?” she said breathlessly. “What has Sigurd done?”

She was aware that some of the villeins and serfs frequently broke the forest laws in their pursuit of game. Old Godfrey of Allestone had, like her father, usually turned a blind eye to these proceedings, yet he had, on one or two occasions, delivered judgement on the miscreant at the manor court, though always tempered with mercy.

Now that Godfrey had been killed in a recent skirmish between royal and rebel troops near Gloucester and had had no living heir—his son having died three years before in the war,—the castle and desmesne had been granted to Baron Alain de Treville, by King Stephen.

Gisela knew little about the baron, having seen him only once from a distance in the nearby town of Oakham. He had looked, to her eyes, to be a tall, forbidding figure; she was now afraid that Sigurd might be in trouble and that this man would have little mercy for his misdemeanours.

“He has done nothing, Demoiselle Gisela,” Aldith said, hastily cutting short Sigurd’s excited attempt to explain, “but these fellows say we must leave our cottage before Sunday next. I keep trying to tell them that we have nowhere else to go but this sergeant says…” She broke down, tears streaming down her brown, workworn cheeks.

Gisela put a comforting arm round her nurse’s shoulders and turned to the intruders.

“I am Gisela of Brinkhurst, the neighbouring manor,” she said peremptorily. “Aldith is my former nurse. She is very dear to me. What is all this about?”

The older of the two men, a grizzled veteran of about forty, cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed.

“Begging your pardon, demoiselle, I understand your concern, but this is Allestone land and, as you know, to cut an assart in the wood is strictly unlawful.”

“We are all aware of that,” Gisela snapped, “but there are many such cottages hereabouts. Rolf, Aldith’s late husband, worked for Godfrey of Allestone as a skilled forester, a free man, and his assart was tolerated by his master.”

“Aye, demoiselle, but the desmesne now belongs to Baron Alain de Treville and he has ordered me to clear this woodland to a depth of half a mile from Allestone Castle, and, as you can see for yourself, this cottage must be destroyed to allow for the total clearance.”

Aldith burst into tears and Sigurd renewed his attempts to fly at the sergeant.

“Surely some allowance could be made for this cottage. Aldith has lived here for some years and…”

“That is quite impossible.” A cold voice broke into Gisela’s pleading and she turned hastily to see that a mailed rider had come into the clearing. She had been so intent on Aldith’s distress that she had failed to notice the jingle of harness or the soft sound of his courser’s progress over the fallen leaves of the forest floor.

She presumed the newcomer was Baron Alain de Treville from the immediate deference shown to him by the two men-at-arms. He sat tall in the saddle and she could discern little of his features under the shadow of his conical helmet with its jutting nose guard and mailed coif for, like all men going abroad in these troubled times, he rode fully armed in mailed hauberk. He gently urged his mount closer to the opposing parties.

He saw a woman clad in an enveloping mantle of dark blue wool, caught upon the right shoulder by a heavy gold clasp which told him she was of knightly class. Even if it had not done so, the very regal stance and the haughty poise of her head would have informed him.

Her hair was mainly hidden beneath her head veil of fine linen and held in place by a simple fillet, covered in the same blue wool as her mantle, but he could just see, by an escaping strand from one braid, that she was fair. He had little chance to judge the stature of her figure, but the rigidity of her form as she stood proud and erect made him sure she was slim and very young.

His brown eyes flashed as he recognised a like spirit to his own. He had heard her high, imperious tones as he had ridden through the wood and he knew this to be a woman to match him in stubborn determination. His long lips twitched slightly as he bowed his head in courteous acknowledgement of her rank. He dismounted and handed his reins to the younger of his two men and came striding unhurriedly towards her.

“Demoiselle, I must reiterate that what you ask is impossible. I regret it must be so, but there it is. I am Alain de Treville, and you, I surmise, are the daughter of my near neighbour, Walter of Brinkhurst.”

He shrugged slightly in the Gallic fashion and the unusual intonation of his Norman French told her he had probably come originally from the dukedom overseas and had only lived in England for a few years.

Her lips trembled mutinously. “Yes, I am Gisela of Brinkhurst and, as I was explaining to your sergeant here, Aldith, whose cottage this is, is my former nurse and we are very fond of her and anxious to ensure her welfare. She cannot be cast from her home with so little consideration.”

“Believe me, demoiselle, I have given this matter every consideration. This woodland must be cut back to give my garrison a clear view of any approaching enemy force. Your father will explain that it is a very usual tactic. King Stephen has commanded me to improve Allestone’s defences, which have been neglected sorely of late.

“Your father will also agree with me that there have been frequent attacks on property in this district by unscrupulous mercenaries. He must be well aware of the need for defensive measures himself.”

His eyes dwelt momentarily upon Gisela’s still-indignant form and then travelled to Oswin, whose portly figure and frowning expression revealing alarm at this unfortunate encounter, hovered anxiously some little distance behind his young mistress.

“I see you do have an escort, but I consider one man is hardly sufficient to protect you should you be ambushed. I would have thought at least two sturdy men-at-arms would be necessary to accompany you when you leave the boundaries of your father’s land.”

“Oswin is perfectly trustworthy,” Gisela snapped irritably. Her father had, indeed, often remonstrated with her recently over such rash behaviour for she had sometimes ventured from the manor lands alone and, as a result of her father’s anger, had suffered curtailment of the freedom she had formerly enjoyed since childhood.

“I am sure he is,” the Baron replied mildly as if to a fractious child, “but it is possible to be too reckless of one’s own safety these days and, if you were my daughter, I would insist on more stringent precautions.”

“Quite likely you would,” Gisela returned drily, “but I am no kin of yours. Now, can we return to the matter in hand? Surely you can make an exception in the case of this one small building?”

He stood facing her, feet astride, one hand upon the serviceable hilt of his longsword. She was annoyed that he continued to smile as if he were reasoning with a child who did not understand the point at issue.

“Demoiselle, you must see that such an exception would defeat the object of the exercise. Your nurse is vulnerable here. The improved defences of Allestone Castle are for her advantage and the rest of the serfs and villeins nearby, as well as for your father and his neighbours, for the castle garrison is at his service should he need to call on it.”

“I hardly think that will be necessary.” Gisela knew her shrillness of tone could be deemed rude and somewhat ungracious for such an offer but she was so incensed by his lordliness that she could not prevent herself from blurting it out.

“I hope your father is of the same opinion,” de Treville commented pithily and she blushed hotly.

“My father has defended his own manor and been ready to answer the King’s call and to go to the assistance of his neighbours,” she retorted.

He made no answer and his very silence added to her feeling that her behaviour was both callow and boorish.

“It is not to be borne,” she said angrily. “Why should Aldith be made homeless simply for a whim of the new master of Allestone?”

“I am prepared to offer your nurse accommodation within the castle precincts where she and her son will be adequately protected,” he replied smoothly, which rather took the wind from her sails and made her draw in breath quickly.

“But there is the question of her vegetable plot. How will she survive the winter when that is destroyed?”

“Again, I am perfectly prepared to provide for her and the boy. She can take service within the castle.”

Aldith clutched agitatedly at Gisela’s arm and she turned to face her. It was evident from her expression and the meaningful glances she directed at first her son, and then the Baron, that she feared for Sigurd within the castle enclosure.

The boy would not bow down easily to discipline. Since his father’s death he had roved the forest fearlessly at will, and, doubtless, acquired food for the pot both from the woodland and possibly from the Baron’s own private preserves of stew ponds and rabbit warrens.

Gisela said hastily, “That will not be necessary. Aldith and Sigurd must come to Brinkhurst. I know my father will receive them. I will make arrangements for her belongings to be fetched tomorrow.”

She heard Aldith sigh with relief behind her.

The Baron bowed in answer. “As you wish, demoiselle,” he said quietly, “but should your father not wish to accept them, they must come immediately to Allestone.”

He turned as if to move back to his courser, having decided that the matter had been settled satisfactorily. Gisela gave her attention to Aldith and neither of them was aware of what happened next until it was too late. Sigurd gave a great snarl of fury and, leaping the wattle fence, made for his tormentor, whose defenceless back was turned towards him. Gisela heard the boy shout something she could not catch and then came a sudden oath in French from de Treville.

She turned horrified eyes to see the flash of a blade in the November sunlight and to discover that the boy and de Treville were struggling together. Gisela caught Aldith’s arm to prevent her rushing to her son’s assistance and could only watch helplessly with the two men, who had also been taken completely by surprise.

De Treville must have had ears like a lynx for he had discerned before any of them footsteps coming towards him across the fallen leaves. He had swung round in an instant and wrestled with the boy’s arm and now held his wrist in a cruel grasp which made Sigurd give a sudden animal cry of pain.

Gisela saw the hunting knife fall from the boy’s hand on to the leaves below and the older of the men-at-arms rushed forward to secure it. He bawled a quick command to his companion, who rushed to the Baron’s side, ready to give immediate assistance.

Still de Treville held on to Sigurd’s wrist and Gisela saw the boy’s face contort in pain and the colour drain from it. Aldith cried out in fear for her son and alarm for the Baron’s safety. Gisela thought de Treville would break the boy’s wrist as, inexorably, he forced the arm back and back until he released his hold abruptly and Sigurd gave another hoarse half-scream and fell back into the brawny arms of the man-at-arms behind him.

Then, and then only, did de Treville speak. “Secure him and bring him to Allestone.” The voice was deadly calm and ice cold.

“No, no, oh please—” Aldith burst through the gate and ran towards the Norman baron. “—please, please do not hurt him any more. He was mad with fury. He is just a boy and meant no real harm.”

“Indeed?” De Treville raised two dark eyebrows that Gisela could just discern beneath the rim of his iron helmet and placed his right arm across the mailed sleeve of his left. To Gisela’s amazement and deepening alarm, she saw that blood was welling between the rings of the hauberk. She would not have believed that Sigurd’s knife could have done such damage and in so short a time.

“You are hurt,” she blurted out, somewhat foolishly she realised later.

His reply was typically ironic. “So you have noticed, demoiselle.” He waved away his sergeant, who had been overseeing the pinioning of Sigurd’s arms behind his back by his younger companion with a coil of rope taken from one of the saddle bags and who was now advancing upon his lord to offer help.

“No, no, man, it is but a scratch, but could have been worse. The knife might well have been buried in my back had I not turned in time.” He regarded the little scene, unsmiling, while Aldith, sobbing, tore a strip from her voluminous skirt and proffered it to him with trembling hands. He thanked her coldly and, using teeth and his uninjured hand, bound it about the wound.

Gisela now regained her wits and came hurriedly towards him. “My lord,” she said huskily, “I am sure Aldith is right. The boy is beside himself and did not know what he was about. I beg you to take that into consideration when he is brought before you in the manor court. I’m sure my father will speak for him and…”

Again de Treville regarded her sardonically. “I dread to think what he might have attempted, demoiselle, had he really meant me harm. However, we will give ourselves time to think this affair over when we all have cooler heads. In the meantime, your young protégé can cool his within the depths of my gatehouse guardroom.”

The sergeant had secured the rope pinioning Sigurd’s arms to the back of his horse and clearly intended to drag the boy behind him on the short ride to Allestone Castle. The Baron nodded to Gisela and Aldith coolly and moved once more to his own horse. Gisela saw he had some difficulty in mounting and was further distressed. Obviously the arm pained him more than he would admit.

If the injury proved serious, Sigurd could pay for his reckless boy’s temper with his life. Even if it were not to prove so, many lords would not be inclined to mercy, she knew. She was impelled to plead for the boy again.

“My lord, I beg of you…”

He turned just once in the saddle. “I see, demoiselle, that you are far more concerned for the boy’s fate than for mine.” He sighed and she thought, with rising temper, that it was an exaggerated sigh, made merely to cause her concern and possibly to taunt her to further outbursts. She controlled her rising irritation with an effort.

“Naturally, my lord, I am deeply sorry that you are hurt, but you said yourself it is merely a scratch. I beg you to consider that when giving judgement.”

His good hand caught at the bridle rein. “Usually, demoiselle, I am more concerned to discover what was intended rather than the result and, in this case, you must agree, I would be right to infer that the boy intended to deliver a death blow.”

Before she could make any reply—indeed, she could not really think of a suitable one—he had bowed again in the saddle and urged his men to mount up and ride from the clearing. The two stricken women and Oswin were left to stare helplessly as the three mounted soldiers rode from their sight, the sergeant relentlessly pulling the gasping, stumbling form of Aldith’s son behind him.

Only then did the reeve venture a comment. “Demoiselle Gisela, I think you would be very unwise to make any move to anger the Baron de Treville further. I am sure your father, Sir Walter, would be concerned. Indeed, he might infer from what has occurred that we were instrumental in causing this injury…”

“Do you suggest that I encouraged Sigurd to do that?” Gisela demanded furiously and the old man stepped hastily backwards, knowing the intensity of his mistress’s feelings when she took it into her head to champion the cause of one or other of the serfs upon the manor.

“Certainly not, demoiselle,” he said hastily, “but—but had we not been here, the soldiers would have managed and—and…”

Gisela swallowed the sharp bile rising in her throat. She was beginning to believe that, to some extent, Oswin could be right; yet Sigurd had already been furiously angry when they arrived on the scene. She drew a deep breath. She was going to have a very hard job to save the impetuous young fool. She put a comforting arm round Aldith’s shoulders.

“Come into the cottage. You can do nothing for the moment. I promise you, Aldith, both I and Father will do our best for Sigurd, whatever Oswin says.” Her blue eyes flashed fire at the hapless reeve, who quailed inwardly and then gave way and prepared to wait outside the cottage stolidly until his mistress was ready to ride back to Brinkhurst.

Gisela persuaded Aldith that she must come at once to Brinkhurst. She could not leave the distraught woman here alone in this cottage.

It would not be beyond the bounds of possibility for Baron Alain de Treville to send men immediately to oust her and destroy the cottage immediately. Punishment must be fast and severe if discipline was to be maintained on his desmesne and, from what she had seen of him, he would rule with an iron hand and not encased in a soft leather glove, either!

Aldith, still weeping, gathered up a bundle of her own clothing and Sigurd’s and one or two items she specially prized as being of her husband Rolf’s fashioning, and Gisela briskly promised that she would send two men with a cart later to convey the one or two pieces of crudely fashioned furniture the two possessed.

Neither woman dared give voice to the fear that Sigurd would not live to require his belongings. Oswin took up the former nurse pillion behind him and they rode back to Brinkhurst in sombre mood.

Both disturbed and angered by her encounter in Allestone wood, Gisela rode into the courtyard of the Brinkhurst manor, dismounted hurriedly and handed her reins to a young groom who hastened to serve her.

She instructed Oswin to see to it that Aldith and her bundles were conveyed to the kitchen quarters, where she must be fed and cosseted until Gisela had had opportunity to explain what had occurred to her father and make arrangements for Aldith’s reception into the household.

She hastened up the steps before the undercroft and into the hall. Her father was seated by the fire, for the November day was chill and raw, and a man seated opposite rose instantly and came towards her with a delighted cry. She almost ran to meet him, her own anxious expression lighting up with unexpected pleasure.

“Kenrick, how good it is to see you. I didn’t know you were expected or I would not have gone out this morning to see Aldith.”

“And how is she?” Her father smiled his welcome as his daughter divested herself of her mantle and came to his side near the fire.

Kenrick of Arcote, their nearest neighbour, only a few years older than Gisela and her friend from babyhood, caught his breath, as he always did at sight of her these days. Gisela of Brinkhurst was now on the brink of womanhood.

She was not over-tall for a woman, but stately of poise and already her youthful, budding breasts were thrusting tight against the cloth of her blue woollen gown. He was sure he could have encircled her waist, cinched in tightly with her ornamental leather belt, with one hand, so slight of form was she. Her luxuriant tawny braids caught golden lights from the fire as she moved nearer to her father.

He thought her heart-shaped face with its small, slightly tip-tilted nose, her luminous blue eyes and generous, sensuous mouth with its slightly fuller lower lip, even the remains of the summer freckling on nose and cheeks—for Gisela rode out in all weathers despite her former nurse’s warnings about the ruination of her fair complexion—quite enchanting. Now he saw, as her father had already noted, that something had disturbed her badly.

Sir Walter urged her down upon a stool beside him and placed a gentle hand upon her bowed head.

“What is it, Gisela?” His heart thudded against his ribcage as he thought she might well have been accosted, even molested, on this ride into Allestone wood. “You have not encountered masterless men abroad and had to ride hard to safety?”

“No, nothing like that,” she assured him hastily and turned, a little uncertain smile parting her lips, to face the anxious frown she could see gathering on Kenrick’s brow.

“No, I have been in no danger. It is Sigurd, Father. He—he attacked the Lord Baron of Allestone Castle and—and he has been arrested and imprisoned there. It is very serious. Aldith is terribly upset and I have brought her here to Brinkhurst. You will give her shelter?”

“Of course, child. You know we owe so much to Aldith we can never repay her adequately. You say Sigurd dared to attack Alain de Treville? How in the world could that happen with the Baron well guarded? Is he seriously hurt?”

Gisela choked back tears as she tried to marshal her thoughts to tell of the encounter coherently. She explained the Baron’s determination to oust Aldith and her son from their home and his reason for clearing the land and her own objections and attempts to dissuade him.

Her eyes clouded with tears as she burst out, “Then—then he refused point blank to reconsider and made to move away. Sigurd—he—sprang at him with a knife—and—and the Baron’s arm was injured. Fortunately he had the presence of mind to turn in time or—or—he might have been killed.”

She read the dawning horror in both her listeners’ eyes and added, tearfully, “I—I blame myself for what—what happened. I should not have interfered. I think—poor Sigurd took that as encouragement for his cause and—and he lost all control.” She stopped and turned away.

“Father, I know how terrible a crime this is, to attempt to kill your lord. In spite of everything, Sigurd is still just a boy and—and you will try to save him, won’t you, for Aldith’s sake?”

Walter of Brinkhurst let out an explosion of breath and leaned back in his chair, considering for a moment.

“Gisela, as you’ve said, this is a very serious matter indeed. Sigurd may well hang for this, or be maimed, at the very least. The boy is getting past control. I’ve said as much to Aldith many a time recently. Now, child, stop weeping, you will make yourself ill. You cannot blame yourself. The boy could well have done this whether or no you were present.”

Kenrick gave a hasty nod of agreement to this last statement.

Walter went on, “Though, I have to say, you were unwise to come to odds with Lord Alain over this. He is quite within his rights to clear his own land for defensive purposes and Aldith’s assart was cut by Rolf unlawfully. It is to be hoped that your disagreement with the Baron has not further prejudiced him against the boy. Such a man is unlikely to countenance any criticism of his orders, especially before his men.

“I cannot say how I would have reacted to that myself. However,” he added hastily, as he saw his daughter’s eyes begin to brim with tears again, “what’s done is done and we must make the best of it we can. Certainly I will plead for the lad at the manor court, but I have to warn you that my intercession is unlikely to be received well by my neighbour. From what I hear of the man, he makes his own decisions, consulting with no one, and likes to keep himself to himself.”

Gisela reached up to hug her father. She loved him dearly, this broad-built, heavily muscled, still-active and attractive man, whose brown hair was beginning to recede now from his brow. His round, blunt-featured face with the brown eyes that were often disposed to twinkle whenever he gazed on his lovely daughter, the apple of his eye, but which now had darkened with concern for her distress and the reason for it, began to take on an expression of very real alarm.

Baron Alain de Treville had been sent by King Stephen expressly to assist the shire reeve of Oakham to keep the peace in this district and Walter of Brinkhurst felt distinctly uneasy at being the man to oppose him on any matter. He fervently wished his daughter had never met and come into open conflict with his most powerful neighbour.

He gave another heavy sigh. “We may have need of this man in the future, so be circumspect in your dealings with him. Kenrick has come to inform us of another attack on a nearby manor, this time only five miles on the far side of Oakham, more than likely the work of that devil, Mauger of Offen, or the rabble of unruly routiers he keeps to attend him.”

Gisela turned a horrified face to Kenrick. “Were people killed?”

“Fortunately not. The family was away attending a wedding in Leicester Town. When the place was attacked the household servants fled into the forest land nearby and only returned when it was all over, but the manor house was sacked and its valuables stolen, then the house was fired. It’s unlikely it will be habitable this winter.

“Only the sense of preservation of the serfs in the village in running and hiding saved their womenfolk from pillage and rape. As your father says, Gisela, it isn’t safe these days for you to ride far from the desmesne without suitable escort. This unrest has been going on far too long. It is time Mauger was brought to justice. Everyone in the shire knows who is responsible for these depredations.”

Sir Walter shook his head regretfully. “The wily fellow covers his tracks and disowns those fellows who are caught. The King is too busied with continued insurrection throughout the realm to be concerning himself with our small pocket of land here.

“In the South, men are suffering far worse. There is talk of merchants being savagely tortured to reveal hidden wealth, nuns ravished and priests murdered while church plate is plundered and no man can trust his neighbours. It is a sorry state of affairs when our King and his cousin, the Empress Matilda, cannot reach an equable solution of their differences.”

Gisela said fiercely, “Father, you said all men swore allegiance to the Lady Matilda when commanded to by her father, the late King Henry. Why didn’t the barons keep faith—simply because she is a woman?”

Her father shrugged. “There is no binding law which says in England that the eldest son of the monarch must inherit. Even before King William came to our shores from Normandy he believed he had right of inheritance, but the Witan chose Harold Godwinson to be King and William only succeeded in his claim by his victory at Senlac.