Love Everlasting (29 page)

“Well done, my lady,” Michael said, coming up
to Julianna as soon as William had excused himself to make his
afternoon rounds in the bailey. “You have made another friend.”

“I had to bite my tongue to keep from warning
him not to get her with child again. I don’t think Alice could bear
the additional strain.” Julianna spoke before she thought, and she
blushed when she realized what she had just said.

“No need to embarrass yourself, or William,
in that way,” Michael said with a chuckle. “I’ve already told him.
He was shocked by my words, but I’m sure he’ll think of something.
There are ways to prevent conception, and most men know of them.
Ah, now I see by your red cheeks that I’ve shocked you, my lady. I
do know something of women; I wasn’t born a cripple.”

“I know you weren’t.” She regarded him with
new interest, seeing a man of middle height and a more slender
build than most knights. Yet she perceived a supple strength in
Michael and she knew he was honest and completely devoted to Royce.
“I notice that you move more easily these days than you did when I
first met you. I’ve been told you practice regularly with sword and
lance here at Wortham as you did at Norwich.”

“I do,” Michael admitted. “I see no reason to
allow myself to lapse into weakness. A man never knows when he will
be called upon to fight. You have been busy, too. You’ve
accomplished much here in a short time,” he added, effectively
diverting the subject from himself.

“All Wortham really needed was a woman’s firm
hand,” Julianna murmured.

“Royce will be pleased,” Michael said.

“Do you intend to report my activities to
him?”

“Of course. I intend to write to Royce every
month. My letters will be enclosed in the same packet with
William’s monthly reports. It’s a routine matter; most nobles want
to know how their holdings are faring. I’m not spying on you. In
fact, whenever you would like to send a note to Royce, we can add
it to the packet.”

“Perhaps I will,” she said.

She did write to Royce, using small pieces of
parchment that Michael provided, covering both sides because
parchment was so costly, and sealing her letters with red wax into
which she pressed the ring that Royce had placed on her hand at
their wedding. Knowing that William would report on the state of
the castle defenses and what occurred in the barracks or the
village, she recounted details of the domestic side of castle life.
In late March, she made her first request of Royce, asking that he
send grain and barrels of salted meat to replace the supplies that
were running low. Never did she ask anything for herself.

Nor did she ever mention how much she missed
him, or how she longed to hear his voice and to lie in his arms at
night. She did not tell him about the nausea that began to afflict
her in late February and that occurred every morning thereafter.
She knew what the sickness was; she’d heard Janet complaining about
it often enough to recognize it. At first she couldn’t believe it
was happening to her, for she had never experienced it before. But
then, her other husbands hadn’t been as attentive or as virile as
Royce.

Alice guessed her secret, and so did Etta.
Julianna swore them to silence, making Alice take an additional
solemn oath that she wouldn’t tell William until Julianna gave her
permission to do so.

Julianna rejoiced to know she was not barren,
though she did wonder what Royce’s reaction would be. At first she
procrastinated about revealing her amazing news, hoping he would
come to Wortham so she could tell him in person, instead of by
letter. She waited, and held her peace, and repeatedly warned Alice
and Etta not to breathe a word of her secret.

By Easter time the morning sickness had left
her and she felt remarkably well. In the fields around the castle
and the village, men and women worked daily, plowing and sewing the
seed for that year’s crops. Julianna watched them, and thought of
the seed that Royce had sown in her, and she thanked heaven for the
fulfillment of a fond dream. The omens for spring were good. The
weather held mild and sunny, and Julianna began to believe they’d
gather in the first, early harvest well before the food supplies in
the castle storerooms were all eaten. And when the later harvest
began in early autumn, she’d have a more precious crop to offer to
Royce.

In late afternoon of the second Thursday
after Easter, on the ninth day of April, without any warning a
large army suddenly appeared and set up camp around the castle. The
village folk hastily fled to the castle, bringing with them as many
of their animals as they could collect on their way. William
allowed them all to come inside, to stay in the outer bailey until
the danger was past. Then he ordered the drawbridge raised and the
gates barred. The next morning, under the white banner of truce, a
dozen heavily armored knights rode to the edge of the moat and
demanded immediate entrance to the castle.

On the day before Easter, Royce received
another coded message from Dunstan de Granville. This one was
delivered by a mud bespattered man-at-arms sent to Northampton from
Royce’s son, Arden.

“I am to tell you the letter came to Bowen
Manor three days ago, with a request that it be sent on to you as
quickly as possible,” the man-at-arms said. “I rode as fast as I
could, my lord.”

“You will want food, fresh clothes, and a
place to rest,” Royce said, beckoning to one of his squires. “Stay
here at Northampton until I decide whether I’ll send a response to
Arden.”

The man-at-arms went off with the squire and
Royce sent for Cadwallon. By the time he appeared, Royce had almost
finished decoding the message.

“Dunstan has been ordered to France with
secret documents for King Louis,” Royce told his friend. “He
believes he is under suspicion and that’s why he’s being sent away.
He has been unable to learn what the disaffected nobles plan to do
next, but he reports that Kenric is far from silent on the subject
of his hatred of me and his scorn for Julianna.”

“Does Dunstan believe he is in danger?”
Cadwallon asked, addressing the most serious problem first.

“He says, not immediately. He intends to
deliver the documents he’s carrying, and he’ll learn as much as he
can from the French in Paris and elsewhere. Then he will try to
reach his own lands at Granville, in Upper Normandy. He promises to
send word of his arrival there.”

“I pray he’ll arrive safely,” Cadwallon said,
crossing himself. “He’s a brave man. It requires a special kind of
courage and intelligence to act as a double agent, and Dunstan has
been doing it for a long time.”

“For too long,” Royce acknowledged. “I will
find a new, and less dangerous assignment for him, if he will
accept it. He does seem to relish the danger.”

“Is that all of the message?” Cadwallon
asked.

“No.” Royce laid the parchment down and
looked at his friend. “Dunstan warns that you and I are the targets
of a team of assassins who may already be inside Northampton, in
the guise of visitors to King Henry’s Easter court. No need to ask
why a band of traitors would want the two of us dead.”

“I must send Janet and the children to
safety,” Cadwallon said at once.

“Give them into Quentin’s care,” Royce
advised. “Alney Castle is nearer than Hatherford. It will mean a
shorter journey for Janet and she can still be with her sister.
Quentin will protect them. I’m sure King Henry will release him
from his forty days of duty to his liege lord, so he can escort
them.”

“You warn King Henry, and I’ll speak to
Quentin at once.” Cadwallon headed for the door. “Then we can face
whatever happens without family distractions.”

* * * * *

Julianna had climbed to the walkway that ran
along the battlements of Wortham Castle to see what was happening.
She found William and Michael already there, both of them
grimfaced. The view below was disturbing, to say the least.

“They are camped all over the fields!”
Julianna exclaimed. “They are ruining the new crops.”

“That’s what they intend,” William said.
“That’s why they’ve come at winter’s end, when provisions are bound
to be low. It takes a long time to starve out a castle with full
storerooms. Our besiegers are in a hurry.”

“It’s odd, though,” Michael said, frowning at
the encampment. “I can see no identifying banners and every shield
has been painted over so they all appear to be blank. Who are the
besiegers? What do they want? Why are they here?”

“To strike against Royce, of course,”
Julianna answered. “We know he has enemies. We must not give them
what they want. Whatever happens, don’t let the drawbridge down,
William. Don’t let them inside.”

“I won’t,” William promised. “But we do have
to speak with them if we’re to learn why they have come.”

“I just explained why,” Julianna exclaimed in
irritation born out of sudden terror.

“William means that he wants to learn what
excuse they are using,” Michael said. “A brief chat with the
leaders may tell us much. If they start boasting or threatening, or
if they become angry and let their tongues run loose, we’ll have a
better idea how to react. And we may learn who they are.”

“There are so many of them,” Julianna
whispered. Her heart sank when she looked out at the fields where
more horsemen and foot soldiers were continually arriving, and
where men were pitching tents all over the meadows and watering
their horses from the river. As for the impatient little group
directly below, at the edge of the moat, they looked upward when
William shouted down to them demanding to know what in the name of
all the saints they imagined they were doing.

“You cannot hope to stand against Lord
Royce,” William yelled.

“Lord Royce is not at home,” came the mocking
response. “Nor will he return again.”

“What do you mean by that?” Julianna cried,
forgetting that William was supposedly in charge of the
discussion.

“Hush,” Michael warned her. He took her arm
to draw her away from the crenel where she was standing.

“No!” she cried. Disregarding the insistent
pressure of Michael’s hand, she leaned into the nearest crenel, one
of the open, rectangular spaces set at regular intervals into the
high stone wall that topped the battlements. Archers could shoot
through the crenels, boiling oil could be poured through them, and
shouted messages could be exchanged with those below, as William
was trying to do. Julianna shouted over William’s attempt to make
himself heard. “Where is Royce? What have you done with him?”

“Why, it’s my Aunt Julianna!” A too-familiar
voice floated up to her.

“Kenric!” she screamed down at him. “You
fool! Royce will have your head for this!”

“I think not, dear aunt. Royce is dead, or
will be very soon. It’s been carefully arranged, you see. Now, all
you have to do is hand over Wortham to us.”

“On what terms?” William demanded when
Julianna stood shocked into silence by Kenric’s claim that Royce
was dead.

“Everyone inside the castle is free to go,
except for Lady Julianna, Sir Michael, and the seneschal. I assume
that is you, my good man?” Kenric’s smile was so repulsive that
Julianna felt ill upon seeing it.

“I am Sir William, the seneschal,” William
said with quiet dignity.

“Well, then, you have it in your power to
save everyone in the castle, save for those three souls I have
named,” Kenric told him. “It’s a reasonable request.”

“Be damned to you!” William shouted. “I’ll
not hand over a castle entrusted to me by Lord Royce. Not without a
battle.”

“Royce is dead,” Kenric called back.

Julianna moaned and clamped a hand over her
mouth to keep from screaming at Kenric. She leaned against the
stonework lest she sink to her knees out of fear for Royce.

“Let King Henry tell me that Royce is dead,”
William called down to Kenric. “Let the king send word by an honest
nobleman whose face I recognize, and let him sign and seal a
document of transfer granting this castle to you. Then, and only
then, will I hand over Wortham.”

“Very well,” Kenric responded. “You have just
sealed the fate of every man, woman, and child inside those walls.
We come prepared for a long siege.”

At his signal, the troop of horsemen wheeled
and began to ride away. Only Kenric remained, to shout a final
remark.

“Oh, by the way,” Kenric called, taunting
them, “the siege engines should arrive within the week.”

“Can he be telling the truth?” Julianna
whispered. “Can Royce really be dead?”

“No,” Michael said. “Never think so. It’s an
idle boast, meant to dishearten us.” Taking her by the shoulders,
he gave her a gentle shake, as if to waken her from a
nightmare.

“I agree with Michael,” William said. “Royce
has dealt before with brigands and traitors. We have only to wait
until he comes to relieve us.”

“Kenric warns that they are bringing siege
engines,” Julianna reminded him.

“Or not,” William said with a disparaging
shrug. “That claim may be just another idle threat.”

“Does Kenric expect us to believe he intends
no more than to force the three of us to surrender?” Julianna
asked. “I cannot believe that’s all he wants. Just look at the army
he has assembled. He could never gather so many men together on his
own. Other nobles are involved in this siege. They are camped out
there on Royce’s fields, though they are letting Kenric do their
talking for them. What do they hope to achieve?”

“I can make a few guesses,” Michael said.
“They, and Kenric in particular, want you, Julianna, because you
ruined the scheme to kill Queen Adelicia. Once you are in their
hands, they will no doubt use you in some new plot against Royce.
In the end, Kenric will kill you, and it won’t be a quick or
painless death. They want me because I am Royce’s secretary, and
William because besiegers always want to capture the defender of
the castle. We will be ransomed or, possibly, hanged, but you -”
Michael looked at her and shook his head.