Part 38 (2/2)
”I'm holding you hostage.” She spoke without inflection, concentrating on keeping the sword steady and hoping that her reputation as dispa.s.sionate would carry the king beyond his initial amused reaction.
It seemed to work. Easing himself back in the chair, he asked, ”May I ask why?”
”I want you to command Osbern's knights to cease their attack on Sir David of Radcliffe and Guy of the Archers.”
Henry's gaze flicked toward the field. ”But Sir David and Guy of the Archers seem to be acquitting themselves well.”
”Two cannot win against so many.” She noticed that the sword had drifted down, and jerked it back up.
”At one time, Sir David defeated fifteen men to save my life. There are not more than twenty knights out there, and he has Guy of the Archers to protect his back.” Casually, he inquired, ”Why should you care about the fate of Sir David?”
She was holding a sword on Henry. So why should she be concerned that she had wed without his permission? Yet she was. To wed without the king's consent could sometimes be seen as treason. Stiffening her spine, she answered him with equanimity. ”Sir David is my husband.”
”He married you? I mean...you're married?”
His stunned surprise could hardly be called flattering. ”We are wed.”
”I knew Sir David could fight with the best, but I never imagined him up to the challenge of-” he looked her over, ”-you.”
”We deal with each other very well, but we cannot continue to do so if he's slaughtered in combat.”
Gingerly, he pushed the blade away from his stomach. ”Most felons stick the point somewhere and keep it there.”
The tone of this conversation seemed almost too friendly, and she confided, ”David told me if I ever needed to attack someone I should aim for the eyes, the throat, or the gut.”
”So far, your blade has reached all three, and if it continues to droop, the future of my royal line is in danger.”
She jerked the blade higher. ”So will you order Osbern's knights to cease their attack?”
”I don't think I will have to. It seems my cousin was not well liked and his pa.s.sing is welcomed by at least some who are here.”
Alisoun straightened and stared.
Henry inched the blade away until the tip rested on the arm of his chair.
She didn't notice. She only saw as first one knight, then another, was removed from the fight by his woman. One by one each knight's wife walked into the fight, took her man by the arm, and pulled him out of the combat. All conflict faltered. No man could concentrate on his swordwork while a woman walked through the battlefield.
”The queen would be pleased with this demonstration of filial devotion,” King Henry murmured.
”The women all know what Osbern was, even if the men didn't know or didn't care.”
”A sharp reproach.” Henry touched her wrist. ”But possibly well deserved.”
At last five knights were left facing David and Guy, and Alisoun murmured, ”They must be unwed.”
Henry laughed.
Now David and Guy a.s.sumed more aggressive stances and the five knights began to back away. ”They'll not get far,” Henry said. ”Now we'll see some expert combat, and Sir David will win ransom from them, also. They'll learn a lesson that they'll not soon forget.”
As Henry predicted, David and Guy disarmed each knight. Guy took the ransom from three of the knights, David from two, leaving them even in victory for the day.
Then David removed his helmet, and suddenly Ivo stood by his side. As Alisoun watched, she saw David's startled reaction to her man-at-arms' offer of service. He looked around and she knew when he spotted her, for his eyes narrowed to two tight bands. Then he accepted Ivo's a.s.sistance with every evidence of grat.i.tude.
Ivo had deemed David worthy of his mistress at last.
Bare-headed, without his weapons, but still clad in his armor, David started toward the king. The crowd yielded for him easily and he walked with solemn dignity. Yet the closer he came to the stand, the quicker he walked. When he neared enough to speak, he demanded of Alisoun, ”My lady, what are you doing here?”
The woman didn't seem to realize how his emotions rumbled at the sight of her. In that prissy voice that so infuriated him, she said, ”The same thing you are, it seems.”
”I doubt that.” He leaped onto the stand, and his gaze fell to the s.h.i.+ny blade that rested on the chair's arm. ”Why do you have a sword pointed toward our sovereign lord?”
Henry caught her wrist when she would have moved the blade. ”She served as my bodyguard when your performance distracted my knights.” Waving his sheepish n.o.bles away, he said, ”Nay, nay, my lady Alisoun performed admirably in your absence. Just remain where you are for the moment.”
”With your permission, my liege.” David took the sword from Alisoun's fingers.
”It is good for a subject to ask my permission,” the king mused. ”Especially in matters of marriage.”
He knew. The king knew. David wanted to slap his forehead and whimper. Instead he said, ”When trapping a wily fox, my liege, a warrior must seize the creature at the first moment it is ensnared, lest it hurt itself in the struggle.”
”I do not appreciate being compared to a fox,” Alisoun said crisply.
”I do not appreciate having my wife hold a sword on the king,” David answered just as crisply.
Henry stopped them with a chuckle. Turning to Alisoun, he held up three fingers and counted them down. ”Wealth, breeding, and a devotion to duty. Were not those your requirements for a husband?”
Delicate color crept up Alisoun's face. ”I discovered, my liege, that Sir David's devotion to duty outweighed his lack of...ah...breeding, and-” she coughed, ”-wealth.”
Henry lifted his brows. ”So you wed him knowing full well he didn't meet your requirements?”
”I did.”
”Then, Sir David, although it offends your lady wife, I accept your story of fox and warrior.”
David stifled his laughter. Alisoun stood unmoving.
Henry sighed. ”Although I pity you, Sir David, a wife who shows so little emotion.”
The king's lack of perception shocked David. Couldn't he see by the tilt of her chin that she was angry? That the slight tremble of her fingers signified weariness and relief? That the moisture that wet the outside corner of each eyes presaged her storm of grief at losing Philippa?
But no, Henry saw none of those things. He saw only two unlikely people bound together by wedlock, and he had decided to be amused rather than angered by their unsanctioned union. ”I will fine you,” he said. ”Nothing more.”
Familiar with Henry's constant need for money with which to finance his warfare, David winced. But he knew they had gotten off easily, and probed the king's mind once more. ”Will I be imprisoned for killing your cousin?”
”Who?” Henry started. ”Oh, Osbern. Nay, nay. 'Twas a fair challenge, and he did try to kill you after he had surrendered. Don't concern yourself.” Henry must have noticed the way David stared, for he leaned forward and confided, ”I mean, G.o.d rest his soul, I'll order Ma.s.ses said, but he was older than me, and picked on me unmercifully when we were lads. He might have been obsequious after my coronation, but I knew the manner of man he was. His family is influential and wealthy, so I never dared do anything about him, but the kingdom is well rid of him-although you never heard such denigration from me.”
David bowed, astonishment and relief warring in him, and his knees wavered in a sudden attack of weakness. The king thought David had done him a favor. All his fears-of losing his daughter, his wife, his lands, and his life-had been for naught. He had done what was right, and for that he had been rewarded.
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