Page 84 of Rogue Knight
They rode through barren hills and dales and splashed through icy streams. The middle of England was a vast wilderness with few inhabitants. Their food consisted of meager pickings except for the few times they managed to hunt and the pace William insisted upon kept their hunting trips few.
Cheshire in the west of Mercia had yet to be conquered and William had vowed he would not return to London until all of England was his. The city of Chester in the far west of Cheshire near Wales stood like a last remaining column in a long forgotten temple, a symbol of lands still free. But, if William had his way, ’twould not be for long.
With unrelenting determination, the king pushed his men forward.
The cold took its toll in suffering and even the death of some horses. Men in William’s army had begun to grumble, particularly those from Anjou, Brittany and Maine, who were neither Norman nor English. They wanted to be released, but William would not hear of it. Instead, for their complaining, the king told them they would serve another forty days.
Though he was not among those affected, Geoff inwardly groaned at the news. Having already endured one march through snow and ice, it now appeared he and his companions would have to endure another. But they did not complain. When he could, Geoff helped the men whose strength was faltering, encouraging them to go on. And he took special care with Athos to ensure his horse did not fall. When he grumbled, it was not to William, but to Alain.
“I like not this duty that takes us over so much ground claimed by winter’s brutal storms. My only hope is that we will soon see the rich pastures of Cheshire.”
“I remember well those pastures. We rode through them two years ago.”
As it turned out, when they reached Cheshire, much to Geoff’s dismay, those rich pastures were covered in snow for the harsh winter was even felt here.
More than a year before, at William’s command, Geoff and the Red Wolf had ridden to Exeter in the south of England to join the king’s army where they laid siege to the walled city. Like Exeter, Chester was an old Roman town with Roman walls, a fortress that would have to be taken by force.
And take it they did by William’s order.
The resistance they met was fierce, but unlike William’s actions in Exeter, where he granted mercy, in Chester he offered none. Instead, he inflicted the same drastic measures on Cheshire he had on York and Durham. The king ordered his knights to ravage the countryside, wasting the land to assure there would be no base for future rebellion. It sickened Geoff to see such a beautiful land treated so. But William had grown intolerant of anything save total submission secured at any cost. The king’s mercy was at an end.
As before, Geoff resisted the killing of innocents. Instead, he and the few men who agreed with him helped those who were left homeless, the young and old and women and children, to escape. He had heard the Abbey of Evesham to the south was taking in those fleeing William’s wrath and so he directed the fleeing toward that shelter where Abbot Æthelwig provided food to the hungry. For all his help, some still died.
If Geoff had ever had a taste for war, he lost it in the snows of England that winter.
Once William conquered Chester, to no one’s surprise, he ordered the building of a castle as a sign of his lasting imprint on that city. Since it had become more difficult for Geoff to disguise his actions to help the fleeing English, he was greatly relieved to be among those knights who were then released from the king’s service.
It surprised Geoff that William, who had acted so ruthlessly to force the people to submit, could then give God thanks for blessing what he regarded as his “holy work” of conquering the whole of England. Geoff believed the holier work had been that of Abbot Æthelwig. But he accepted William’s thanks and words of honor and, with a grateful heart for the end of it, turned Athos north toward Talisand.
As they rode north, Emma was never far from his thoughts.Would she have sent word? Should he go to her even if she did not?
***
By the time Geoff arrived at Talisand, winter was turning to spring. Rain had followed the snow and the hills were once again clothed in green. The picture he had carried in his mind for over a year, of wildflowers dotting pastures where lambs idly grazed, was beginning to take form. There was no starvation in this valley of the River Lune for it was well tended by the Lord of Talisand and his lady, Serena.
“’Tis just as it was when we first arrived,” Geoff said as they reined in their horses on top of a hill to gaze down the long slope leading toward the green meadow in front of the palisade that backed onto the River Lune.
“Only the castle you see in yon distance was not there two years before,” said Alain.
“Aye, of course,” he said letting out an exasperated breath. “But all else is the same, the palisade, the village, the river. I have missed this place.”How I wish Emma was here to see it.
Spurring their horses to a gallop, the three of them raced down the hill to the palisade surrounding the bailey, the manor and the motte on which sat a timbered castle three stories high.
Aethel must have seen them coming for as soon as they passed through the gate and Alain slid from his horse, she flew into his arms.
“Ye have a daughter, husband!” exclaimed the dark-haired beauty as she brazenly kissed her husband.
“Lora?” asked Alain, sweeping his wife off her feet for a hug only the Bear could give.
“Aye,” she said breathlessly, “a babe among many babes born at Talisand in the year ye have been gone. I cannot wait for ye to see her. I was so worried when the tales started coming to us from York.”
Shooting Geoff a glance, Alain said, “’Twas a bad time. But we’ll not speak of it now. I would see my child.”
Alain took his wife off, arms wrapped around each other, making Geoff smile to see them together. Once the old thegn’s leman, Aethel had become the treasured wife of the Norman knight.
Geoff dismounted and handed the reins to the waiting Mathieu. “You served me well, Mathieu. ’Tis time you were a knight and had your spurs. I will see Ren about it.”
“Thank you, Sir Geoffroi. It was an honor to serve you and Sir Alain. Sir Renaud is a grand knight ’tis my privilege to call ‘lord’, but he is no better lord than you.”
