Part 45 (1/2)
Did the hall quiet, or was it only the thick table and the heavy embroidered tablecloth hanging down to brush the floor that m.u.f.fled the noise of the feasting mult.i.tude? Lord Druthmar began laughing at a joke told to him by the lord sitting at his right hand. Lady Waltharia had the prince's attention all to herself.
”It's been said that these heretics use evil magic to gain followers. It's also been said that G.o.d aided Ekkehard. Take your pick.”
”I let the church folk quarrel about religion.”
She chuckled and called for more wine. Anna felt it safe to emerge from under the table, wriggling back under the bench. Standing, she wiped off the spoon on her tunic so that it was clean enough to give back to Blessing.
Pet.i.tioners came forward to beg Lady Waltharia to allow them to return to their farms now that the Quman menace had fled. A poet begged leave to entertain them with the song that he had composed this very night in honor of their victory. Blessing's head drooped, her eyes fluttered, she yawned, and tried to climb into her father's lap to sleep.
”I'll take her to her bed.” Sanglant rose, cradling Blessing in his arms. A great shout rose from the a.s.sembled soldiers, cheering him, and for the first time since returning from battle he smiled, acknowledging their tribute. He raised a hand for silence, and the crowd quieted, waiting for him to speak.
”Drink well this night,” he called.” Tomorrow we hunt Quman.”
With the soldiers' cheers still echoing, Anna followed him out by dark pa.s.sages that led them not immediately to the tower but rather to the barracks, a long attic room built over the stables. Pallets of hemp and straw made lumpy beds, but they were a softer mattress than the plank floor. She could smell the horses below and even catch glimpses of them through warped floorboards. It was quiet in the barracks; most of the men still feasted in the great hall. Those who had been wounded in today's engagement had been carried up here to recover, or die.
With Blessing asleep on his shoulder, the prince visited each of the injured men, traded jokes, checked poultices, or quizzed them closely about what they had seen and done in the battle. A few were too injured even to speak, although one of these could at least grasp the prince's hand. One man had a gray face, as though the life drained quickly out of him. Anna knew all their names, Chustaffus, Fremen, Liutbald, and even reckless Sibold, who had taken a grim wound to his chest but joked in a lively enough manner when he saw his prince before him. Maybe he wouldn't die.
There were, of a miracle, only three corpses, hauled back from the battle and now covered with shrouds, but one was faithful Wracwulf, who had been given the honor this day of carrying the prince's golden banner. Sanglant knelt beside his body for a long time while Blessing snored quietly in his arms. After a while, Captain Fulk appeared to take his place with the dead. Only then did Sanglant take his sleeping daughter to the tower chamber where her bed waited. Anna carried a lamp to light their way. Once inside the room, she hung it from an iron hook set into the wall, then helped the prince wash Blessing's hands, sticky with grease and honey, strip her down to her under-tunic, and tuck her into the trundle bed. He stood over the child, watching her slide into a deeper sleep as intently as he had studied his wounded soldiers.
”You're a good girl, Anna,” he said suddenly. With a poker, he stirred the coals in the brazier closest to Blessing.” What do you think? Should I leave her here at Walburg under Waltharia's protection while I ride east? Yet who can I truly trust? Can I trust anyone?”
”You can trust me, my lord prince.”
He looked at her finally and grinned a crooked grin, a charming grin. She would have jumped out the window right then and there, if he'd asked her to; he had that kind of s.h.i.+ning honor to him, so bright that sometimes she thought she could actually see it like a nimbus around him even though she knew it was only her heart that loved him, just as his soldiers loved him.
”So I can,” he agreed, and her heart leaped with joy, knowing she'd won his trust in return.
He had remained still for a long time. Now he began to pace, working the length of the chamber, cutting it into patterns, squares and stars and circles, until she got dizzy watching him. She took off her shoes and lay down beside Blessing on the trundle bed. The feathers were so soft that she thought she might sink forever. She was tired, and she hadn't slept in such a comfortable bed since she'd left Mistress Suzanne's. But she cracked an eye open to see what he was doing. He had stopped by the door and stood there listening, hand poised a finger's breadth away from the latch. The latch creaked, s.h.i.+fted, and turned. He jumped back so that, as the door opened, it hid him.
Lady Waltharia entered the chamber alone. She halted a few steps in, surveying with an ironic smile the empty bed, the silent pallets, the table laid with a pitcher of cider and three silver cups, and the sleeping child. The door closed sharply behind her and she jumped, startled, and whirled around to see Sanglant laughing silently behind her.
She chuckled, sweeping her hair back over her shoulders. Somehow, between the hall and this chamber, her braid had come undone to reveal waist-length hair, still crinkled from its recent confinement in the braid.
”You haven't changed,” she said as she crossed to sit on the edge of the bed, tying back the hangings so they didn't get in her way.
”Haven't I?” he asked, not moving from his place beside the door.
”You once told me you would never marry.”
”Only because my father forbade it. I was captain of the King's Dragons. It was not my right to marry. Then.”
”Maybe I'm wrong,” she observed, rising to go to the unshuttered window.” You are not what you were.” She leaned out on o the ledge, hands braced on the wooden frame set into the stone opening. From the trundle bed Anna could not see what Waltharia was looking at, if indeed she was looking at anything except the sky and the stars. It was probably warmer outside than in. The stone walls had a way of holding damp and chill jealously inside them.
”What is she like? Your wife, I mean.” ”Do you envy her?”
She turned.” I suppose I would have, once. But you would have been too much trouble, even if I could have had you. My father was right about that. I needed a more compliant husband.” Because he remained silent, she grinned delightfully and sat on the ledge. Wind stirred her hair.” He's a good man, Druthmar. Good enough.”
”He acquitted himself ably today.”
”So he did. But he isn't you. You're the best stallion in the king's stable. I can't help but admire so much handsome flesh. Especially when I discover it standing half naked at my trough.” He laughed.” I needed a wash.” ”You can wash here. I can have water brought up.” ”You're the one who hasn't changed.”
”Perhaps not. In the old days before the church of the Unities saved my ancestors from the Abyss, it was said that certain priestesses of my people mated with stallions in order to bring good luck to the tribe. I must be descended from one of them.”
He came forward finally and threw himself down on the bed, lounging on his back with casual grace as he watched her. From her place in the trundle bed, Anna saw him outlined in lamp glow. The mellow light gave his tousled black hair a silky sheen.
Waltharia remained seated at the window.” You married a woman who claims to be the great granddaughter of Emperor Taillefer and who has also been excommunicated and outlawed for sorcery, one who hasn't been seen since she left Werlida in your company. In truth, nothing remains of her but the child. The same could be said, I suppose, about your mother.”
His lips curled, although not in a smile.” What a great deal you know.”
”Do I? It seems to me that the person who believes she knows a great deal most likely knows very little.”
”A wise saying.”
”My father taught me well.” She walked to the table to pour herself a cup of cider, letting the rim of the cup linger at her mouth as she examined him over the lip.” What happened to your wife? Did you abandon her?”
His expression grew stiff.” More like she abandoned me. I have reason to believe she still lives. Whether she cares to return to me and the child I do not know. But you are right. The same could be said about my mother. How have you learned so much, out here in the marchlands?”
”I received a message from my father some weeks ago.” She paused suggestively, lowering the cup. Anna almost sat up, eager to hear what would come next, but just in time she remembered that she was pretending to sleep.” He suggests that I support you as well as I am able.”
”What does he mean by that?”
”What do you think he means? Why did you leave your father's court and turn your back on your father's authority?”
”Because he wouldn't listen to me. There is a cataclysm coming, and we must prepare for it.”
”The folk who work my estates think the Quman raids are cataclysm enough.”
”So they are, but they are nothing compared to what we will have to face.”
She set down the cup and simply watched him for a while in silence. Anna examined her profile: a strong face, as proud as a margrave's heir must be but also clean Jike unstained linen. She had faint scars along her jaw below the mutilated ear, and a wine-colored birthmark in the hollow of her throat, easy to see from this angle, but nothing evil in her face, no hidden hatreds or petty jealousies. She knew what she possessed, and she wasn't afraid to rale what was hers.
”Of course, I am inclined to support you in any case, Sanglant.”
”Are you?” He was either very drunk or very tired.
Her smile hadn't any answering softness in it.” We live in a time of troubles. Eika raid from the north while Quman strike at us from the east. Machteburg burned to the ground, did you hear that? For two years running there have been poor harvests in the march-lands. A hailstorm flattened a church south of here this spring. A two-headed lamb was born in d.u.c.h.ess Rotrudis' lands. A child here in Walburg was born with six fingers. Along the north coast a thousand birds washed up on the sh.o.r.e, all of them dead. Half of the fraters wandering in my lands speak heresy instead of truth, and the people listen to them. In a time of troubles, the land must have a strong leader.”
”My father is a strong leader.”
”So he is, but he thinks too much about Aosta and Taillefer's crown. We need a strong leader here in Wendar and the march-lands. Sapientia is weak, Theophanu is cold, and Ekkehard is young and by all reports foolish, if not already dead. But we march lords have not forgotten that Henry has one other child.”
Sanglant had been resting his head on his hands, but now he pushed himself up.” What intrigue is Villam hatching?”
”My father loves Henry. No man loves the king better. But my father loves Wendar most of all.” She fished into her sleeve and drew out a gold torque, holding it up. Its metal gleamed richly; light winked on the braided surface.” You no longer wear your gold torque, my lord prince. But you should.”
He hissed sharply, taken aback by the precious ornament hanging so casually from her hand.
”I pray you,” she went on, her voice sliding into a sweet languor as she dangled the torque from her fingers, ”let me see how it becomes you.”
Anna was old enough to understand what went on between men and women. That Sanglant was aroused was evident enough; he was flushed with more than the wine. Women were subtler but not always more difficult to interpret. Only a fool or a child would not have known what was on Waltharia's mind at this moment.