Part 7 (1/2)
”This is the woman we've heard so much about!” he murmured in her ear as she rose.” G.o.d preserve us!”
His gaze had fastened on the Aoi woman. He was not the only person in the hall ogling her. Her features were striking but not beautiful, and although admittedly her hair had the glamour of polished bronze, she wore it caught back in a complicated knot that made her look peculiar rather than regal. Her gaze was fierce and commanding, even combative. She was not afraid to look Henry in the eye, and her proud carriage suggested that she considered herself the regnant and Henry her subject.
”I come back, Henri,” she said, p.r.o.nouncing his name in the Salian way with an unvoiced ”h” and a garbled ”ri,” ”but I am not believing that you cared for the child as you promised to me you would.”
”I pray you, Your Majesty,” said Rosvita smoothly into the shocked silence that followed this outrageous accusation, ”let chairs be brought so that our visitors may sit and eat. Truly, they must have a long journey behind them. Food and drink are always a welcome sight to the traveler. Indeed, let Prince Sanglant's mother abide in my own chair, and I will serve her.”
Henry stared so fixedly at the foreign woman he had once called ”beloved,” and whom it was popularly believed he would have married had he been permitted to, that finally Queen Adelheid rose with cool aplomb and indicated Rosvita's seat to the right of Helmut Villam. It was not actually Adelheid's prerogative, but Adelheid was neither a fool nor a quitter.
”Let a chair be brought for Prince Sanglant so that he may be seated beside me,” she said in her high, clear voice.” Let his lady mother be honored as is her right and our obligation, for it was her gift of this child to my husband which sealed his right to rule as regnant in Wendar and Varre.”
Sanglant stepped forward.” I have a child.” His voice had a hoa.r.s.e sc.r.a.pe to it, as though he were afflicted with pain, but his voice always sounded like that. Years ago he had taken a wound to the throat in battle.
He untied a bundle from his back, uncoiled linen cloth, and a moment later held in his arms a yearling child, as sweet a babe as Rosvita had ever seen, with plump cheeks, a dark complexion, and bright blue eyes.” Da da!” she said in the ringing tones of imperious babyhood. He set her on the ground and she took a few tottering steps toward the king, swayed, lost her balance, and sat down on her rump. Lifting a hand, she pointed toward Henry and said, with despotic glee, ”Ba! Ba!”
Sanglant swept her up, strode forward and, by leaning over the feasting table, deposited her in Henry's arms. The king did not even resist. Many yearling babies would have shrieked in rage or fear, but the tiny child merely reached up, got a bit of the king's beard between her fingers, and tugged.
”Ba!” she exclaimed, delighted.
”Jugglers!” said Henry hoa.r.s.ely. He sat and downed the contents of his wine cup in one gulp while the baby tried to climb up to his shoulder to get hold of the gleaming coronet of gold he wore on his brow-not the king's crown of state, too heavy and formal to wear at a feast, but his lesser crown, a slender band of gold worn when circ.u.mstances called for a lesser degree of formality.
Prince Sanglant's smile was sharp. Turning, he tossed the silver ball to the nearest juggler. The poor man jerked, startled, but his hand acted without his mind's measure and he caught the ball. The hall came alive then, as dawn unfolds: people recalled the food on their platters; the jugglers returned to their show of skill and daring; the soldiers who had come forward to publicly and thus irrevocably mark their allegiance to Prince Sanglant rose and waited for his command. Sanglant spoke quietly to Captain Fulk, after which the good captain dispersed his men efficiently, obtained the lead lines of the pony and the goat, and, leading the two animals, retreated from the hall while Sanglant came forward to take his place at Adelheid's left. The young cleric, Heribert, who had appeared so mysteriously in the Alfar Mountains, stuck close by Sanglant's side. It was he who took over serving the prince, although before he had served Theophanu. The princess' expression remained as blank as stone. She rose and went to kiss Sanglant, once on either cheek, and he caught her closer and whispered something which, amazingly, brought a whisper of a smile to her face, seen and gone as swiftly as the flutter of a swallow's wing.
”Go to Princess Theophanu,” Rosvita said to Fortunatus in an undertone. He hastened away to stand behind the princess' chair so that she would have a person of fitting rank to serve her now that Brother Heribert had, evidently, defected to her half brother.
Sanglant turned his attention to charming Adelheid while Henry had his hands full of clambering, enthusiastic baby. Something fundamental had changed in the prince in the fourteen months he had been gone from the king's progress. Rosvita had seen battle joined on the field, and she had seen skirmishes played out in the subtler fields of court, but never before had she seen Sanglant maneuvering, as he obviously was now, in the political arena. Of course, before he hadn't had a child and a wife.
Where was Liath?
”You I will be thanking, woman,” said the one known as Alia, who came up beside her.” You are one of the G.o.d-women, are you not?”
It took Rosvita a moment to translate the strange phrase.” Yes, I am a cleric. My service is devoted to G.o.d and to King Henry. I pray you, Lady, sit here, if you please. Let me pour you some wine.”
But the foreign woman remained standing, examining Rosvita with a stare that made her feel rather like what she supposed an insect felt before the hand of fate slapped down upon it. She was shorter than Rosvita and powerfully built, with the same kind of leashed energy common to warriors forced into momentary stillness. Alia did not smile, but abruptly the tenor of her expression changed.” You spoke in the way of an elder,” she said abruptly, ”when you rose to offer guesting rights. For this short time, there will be no fighting between Henri and his son.”
”So I hope,” agreed Rosvita, but in truth the observation surprised her. She did not know what to expect from the Aoi woman. She did not know anything, really, about the Aoi except for legends half buried in ancient ma.n.u.scripts and tales told around hearths at night in the long halls of the common people. Like many, she had begun to believe the Aoi were only a story, a dream fostered by old memories of the ancient Dariyan Empire, but it was impossible to deny the evidence of her own eyes.” Sit, I pray you.” At times like this, one fell back on basic formality.” Let me pour you wine, if you will, Lady.”
”To you,” said Alia without making any movement toward the chair, ”I will give my spoken name, because you are wise enough to use it prudently. I am known among my people as Uapeani-ka-zonkansi-a-lari, but if that is too much for your tongue, then Kansi-a-lari is enough.”
Rosvita smiled politely.” With your permission, then, Lady, I will address you as Kansi-a-lari. Is there a t.i.tle that suits you as well? I am unaccustomed to the customs of your people.”
”Kansi-a-lari is my t.i.tle, as you call it.” With that, she sat, moving into the confines of the chair with the cautious grace of a leopard slinking into a box that might prove to be a cage.
The feast ground on, lurching a little, like a wagon pulled over rough ground, but entertainers took their turns, platters of beef, venison, and pork were brought hot from the outdoor cookhouses, and wine flowed freely. Pet.i.tioners shuffled forward in waves and were sent on their way with a judgment or a coin or a sc.r.a.p from the king's platter for their pains. A poet trained in the court chapel of the Salian king sang from a lengthy poem celebrating the virtues and fame of the great emperor, Taillefer, he who had risen from the kings.h.i.+p of Salia to the imperial crown of Darre. Emperor Taillefer stood alone in the ranks of the great princes, for no regnant from any land in the one hundred years since his death had gained enough power to duplicate his achievement. None until Henry, who had now, through marriage to Adelheid, allied his kingdom of Wendar and Varre with the country of Aosta, within whose borders lay the holy city of Darre. Of course the poet meant to praise the dead Emperor Taillefer while flattering the living king, Henry, whose ambition to take upon himself the t.i.tle ”Holy Dariyan Emperor” was no secret to his court.
”Look! The sun s.h.i.+nes no more brightly than the emperor, who illuminates the earth with his boundless love and great wisdom. For although the sun knows twelve hours of darkness, our regnant, like a star, s.h.i.+nes eternally.”
The entrance of Prince Sanglant and his mother, while never forgotten, was subsumed into the familiar conviviality of the feast. And anyway, it gave everyone there something to gossip about as the banquet, and the poet, wore on.
”He enters first among the company, and he clears the way so that all may follow. With heavy chains he binds the unjust and with a stiff yoke he constrains the proud.”
After all, it was the fifth day of feasting, and even the heartiest of revelers might be forgiven for growing restless after endless hours of merriment and gluttony. In an odd way, Rosvita was grateful to serve rather than sit. She attended to Alia as un.o.btrusively as possible, so as not to startle her or give her any reason to feel spied upon or threatened.
”He is the fount of grace and honor. His achievements have made him famous throughout the four quarters of the earth.”
The Aoi woman did not invite conversation. Young Lord Fride-braht, seated to her right, was certainly too much in dread of her strange appearance and fierce gaze to speak one single word to her. Even old Villam, who had known Alia those many years ago in her brief time at court and who certainly had never before lacked the spirit or courage to flatter an attractive woman, attempted only a few comments before, in the face of her disinterest, he gave up. Alia watched the king, the court, and occasionally her son. She ate and drank sparingly. In this way, the feast continued without further incident.
The poet finished his panegyric at last, and a cleric came forward to give a pleasing rendition of ”The Best of Songs,” the wedding song taken from the ancient Essit holy book.
”My beloved is mine, and I am his. Let me be a seal upon your heart, like the seal upon your hand.”
The king's favored Eagle, Hathui, beckoned to Rosvita.” His Majesty will take his leave of the hall now.”
”What make you of this turn of events?” asked Rosvita. Although Hathui was only a common-born woman, she had a keen eye and the king's confidence.
”It is unexpected.” Hathui laughed at the absurdity of her own statement. Henry had gotten the baby settled on his knee and was now feeding her the choicest bits, mashed into a porridgelike con sistency, from the platter he shared with his queen.” I believe the king would be better served if he sorts it out in the king's chambers, in some manner of privacy, away from the a.s.sembly.”
Almost as if he had overheard the Eagle's statement, Sanglant rose to toast the newly married couple. Despite his common clothing, he had the carriage of a prince and the proud face of a man who expects loyalty and obedience in those who follow him. He knew how to pitch his voice to carry over the buzzing throng.
”Let many blessings attend this union,” he said to cheers. When the hurrahs tailed off, he went on.” But let me call before you one blessing, in particular, that is held by our blessed regnant and my beloved father, King Henry.”
The hall quieted. The guards at the doors strained forward to hear. Even the servants paused in their tasks.
At the sound of her father's voice, the baby stood up in Henry's lap and sang out, ”Da! Da!” in a voice surely meant someday to ring out above the clash of battle. Henry laughed as many in the a.s.sembly chuckled appreciatively or murmured to each other, wondering what the prince was about. b.a.s.t.a.r.ds siring children was nothing unknown, alas, but it wasn't customary to bring such a left-handed lineage to the attention of the entire court.
A fly buzzed annoyingly by Rosvita's ear. As she slapped it away, Sanglant continued.
”King Henry holds in his arms my daughter, whom I have named Blessing, as was my right as her father.”
”And a blessing she truly is, Son,” replied Henry. Despite the shock of Sanglant's and Alia's arrival, Henry had mellowed under the influence of the child. Or so it seemed. He was a subtle campaigner, and in such circ.u.mstances it was easy to forget that his wrath, once kindled, was slow to burn out.” In your place, with such responsibilities, it is wise for you to come seeking forgiveness of me. You cannot hope to feed and clothe a retinue in this guise you have taken, garbed something like a common soldier and without even the gold badge of your royal lineage about your neck. Surely your daughter deserves more than this journeyer's life.”
Adelheid's smile sharpened as she looked at Sanglant to see how he would respond to this thrust.
The prince downed his cup of wine in a single gulp and, with a flush staining his bronze-dark cheeks, replied with an edge in his voice.” I ask for nothing for myself, Your Majesty. I thought I made that plain when I returned to you the belt of honor which you yourself fastened on me when I was fifteen. What I wear now I have earned through my own efforts. Nay, I return to court not for my own benefit.”
They were like two dogs, growling before they bit.
”If you do not come seeking my forgiveness, then why are you here?” demanded Henry.
”I come on behalf of my daughter, Blessing. I ask only for what is due her as the last legitimate descendant of the Emperor Taillefer.”
Taillefer. Dead these hundred years and his lineage died with him, for no child sired by his loins had reigned after him and his empire had fallen apart soon after his death.
Rosvita understood, then, everything that hadn't been plain to her before: the puzzle of the pregnant Queen Radegundis, who had fled to the convent after her husband Taillefer's death; the mystery of Mother Obligatia and the cryptic words of Brother Fidelis; and most of all, the inexplicable l.u.s.ter that made Liath appear to be far more than the simple king's messenger she supposedly was.
”So many show such an interest in a common Eagle,” the king had said once, over a year ago, when she had been brought before him to face his judgment. But a child born of Taillefer's line would surely retain some of Taillefer's legendary glory, the corona of power that cloaked him at all times.
Henry stared at his son.” Do you mean to suggest that the Eagle you ran off with is descended from Taillefer?”
Sanglant's answer was pitched not to carry to his father but rather to the entire a.s.sembly of n.o.bles and serving-folk.” Who here will witness that I made a legitimate and binding union of marriage with the woman called Liathano?”