Page 69 of Rogue Knight
What would Emma and her children do?The king had not spared York or the lands around it. Before they had left for the north, William had given orders for his remaining knights to lay waste the land.
After nearly a fortnight, satisfied with the results of his march to Durham, William turned his army south. The return march to York was a treacherous one, as winter descended with a cold fury and the king chose a perilous route through forested mountains and snow-covered valleys. Even the hardened knights and men-at-arms suffered.
“’Tis freezing,” said Alain, crouched on his saddle beneath his thick, woolen cloak as they rode side-by-side down a treacherous mountain path. Mathieu followed behind them, the hood of his cloak pulled down over his eyes.
“I could wish for that beard I had when we lived as Northumbrians,” Geoff wistfully remarked. Even his gloves had not prevented his fingers from going numb. He could no longer feel his feet. “The cold pierces like an arrow. I even heard trees cracking last night.”
“And wolves howling,” said Alain.
The talk of wolves reminded Geoff of an earlier time and place. “The last time I lived through such a winter was the one Ren and I endured in the County of Maine when he was attacked by the red wolf.”
“I once heard him tell of it,” said Alain. “He remembers that night as if it were yesterday.”
“’Tis not a thing he or I would ever forget,” said Geoff. Nor was the fifty-mile swath of destruction William had cut from York to Durham. Geoff would remember it always.
As his taste for vengeance subsided, Geoff’s love for Emma returned. Perhaps it had always been there, for Emma was too much a part of him. Removed from his rage that day he’d discovered she was Maerleswein’s daughter, he could now see she had been caught between opposing forces, a father she loved and a man to whom she had freely given herself despite his being a French knight. It was a position thrust upon her by circumstances not of her doing. Circumstances that made them enemies from the beginning.
She had not lied, just never disclosed her noble lineage or that her father was chief among the rebels. He could hardly blame her. And in the end, she had saved his life. In his mind he heard Maugris’ words.You will find an ally where you least expect it.The daughter of the rebel leader was an unexpected ally indeed.
He had once believed Emma was all that was good. But that conviction had disappeared at her betrayal. Now, that inner conviction of her goodness returned.I love her. I will always love her.
William’s war on the North had brought them together and then it had torn them apart. He had lost her.
With cheerless effort, they straggled on to York. Nearing the city, Geoff said to Alain, “I would rid myself of the blood that stains my mail and tunic. I find I crave a wash even more than food.”
The Bear chuckled. “Now that is a change all at Talisand would find amusing.”
“Aye, well, food will come after. I would have roast pork tonight and some of that hot bread dripping in butter. Surely they must have found a stray pig or a wild boar somewhere.” His mouth watered. “And wine. Much wine.” He wanted to forget the horrible scenes he had witnessed in the past week and he wanted to forget the haunting image of Emma’s beautiful face that had never left him in the ride south to York.
“Do you think William would have brought a supply with him when he came to York?” asked Alain.
“I have never seen him travel without—”
“Look,” shouted Mathieu, “the castles!”
In the distance, Geoff saw what appeared to be new square towers rising from the snow-covered mottes. William’s new castles. “Dieu Merci,” he said on a sigh. “A place to sleep other than the cold ground.”
As they neared York, the tents of William’s encamped army filled every space of level land near the castles. Palisades circled the baileys, the wooden stakes repaired where they had been knocked down or burned.
Having destroyed his enemies, William was once again asserting his authority over York.
“I grow tired of the fighting,” Geoff said to Alain, “if that is what it was. ’Twas no even match with William’s ordering the slaying of mere serfs.”
“I could not find any honor in it,” said his friend, “and was glad when you steered us away from the burning of the cottages. I long for the peace of Talisand and Aethel and our babe.”
“Mayhap William will release us if the Danes do not return.”
With that happy thought, Geoff dismounted and left the horses to Mathieu, telling the squire they would see him at the evening meal.
Once Geoff and Alain had what sufficed for a bath, they donned the clothes and weapons supplied by their fellow knights, then took their places at the new trestle tables. There was no head table as yet so the king sat among them, his half-brother on one side and Geoff on the other. The hall smelled of new wood, the hearth fire and roasting meat.
Mathieu, along with the other squires, helped serve the king and his knights since there were few servants to be had.
Over a dinner of roast boar, Robert, who had returned from the Humber, told them of his encounter with the Danes.
“We kept a close watch on their ships where they were anchored on the north shore of the Humber. With us there in large numbers, they could not leave to forage for food.”
“Were the rebels supplying them?” asked William.
