By Arrangement Part 32

The Swede laughed and drew his sword to menace the threats forming below. His face positively glowed at the prospect of fighting all of these men. "I lost him in the streets. All these houses open and all these goods for the taking got the better of him. Said how it was a pity you weren't with him. Like old times, he said."

Morvan raised an eyebrow at this conversation. David smiled and shrugged.

"We still need some help to move these women out," Morvan said. "Now that your man is here, I will go and fetch some. Thomas should be nearby, and some others. You might cover my back with that dagger, David."

He wore a more dangerous expression leaving than he had when he came. No one challenged him.

"Did any messengers get through to warn the Comte?" David asked when Morvan had gone.

"Nay. Oliver and I stayed a few miles out on the road south as you said. They came right to us. When the King sent some men to block the news from following the French army, we finally left and gave the messengers to them. The Comte won't hear of Edward's landing for many days now." He gestured with his sword. "I clear these men out now."

"Try not to kill them all. They are supposed to be on our side."

Sieg descended two steps so that he could stretch to his fullest height. He raised his dagger in his left hand and his sword in his right, glared at the men facing him, and let loose a primitive Viking war cry. The realization that a King's knight went to get more help had already subdued the soldiers. Sieg's display of strength thoroughly discouraged most of them. Heads began bobbing and shifting as men turned and tried to squeeze down the stairs.

By the time Morvan returned with Thomas Holland and two other friends, most of the soldiers had melted away. Their arrival took care of the rest.

David opened the door and led the way into the attic.

A hysteria of relief swept the women when they saw rescue walk through the door. Several began wailing with delayed shock. Christiana ran into David's arms.

"Thank G.o.d you are whole! You saved us all, David!"

"It was your banner that did it, darling. It seems that sacking cities bores your brother, and he came to investigate your colors."

She turned with surprise to the four knights. "Morvan!" she cried. "Thomas!"

Morvan sidled over and accepted his sister's embrace. He glanced over her shoulder dangerously at David. Christiana pulled back in time to see the look.

"Don't you dare, Morvan. He saved me, and all of the others here. The French knights and soldiers abandoned us and he put his own life between us and danger. You could not have done better."

Morvan's expression softened as he looked at his sister. "If that is how you say it was, then I will not kill him this time."

Thomas Holland walked over. "There is nothing for it but to take them all to Edward. Nowhere else will be safe. But it is some ways, and the citya"

David read his expression and concern. "We will keep them between us. Christiana, gather the women and tell them what we will be doing. Tell them to look to the ground as we move."

She nodded and went over to Heloise and her daughters first. David gestured for Sieg. "You will carry the youngest one," he said. "Do not let her see the bodies."

While his wife explained to the other women, David approached Heloise. She hadn't moved since they entered, and she sat on a stack of cloth looking spent and numb. Her hands clasped something. A faint glitter dangled down her skirt.

She looked up at him. Her hands opened to reveal a gold and emerald necklace. "I thought maybe, if it came to it, I could buy my daughters' safety."

"They will be secure now, madame. I am sure that your husband is safe as well. He will probably be taken to England to await ransom like the rest of the wealthy burghers, but there is no profit in killing such men."

She looked down on the necklace. "Please accept it. To repay you for my husband's role in taking your wife, and for your help here today."

He had no trouble calculating the value of the gold and emeralds. But his role in the day's events was not nearly so chivalrous as the woman a.s.sumed, and he would not profit from them. "It was the arrival of my wife's brother that saved you. If you wish to express grat.i.tude, show it to him." He lifted her to her feet.

"We must go now. Follow the instructions my wife gave you."

The men led the ladies down the steep steps. In the courtyard they all drew their swords. Sieg had convinced the youngest girl to let him bind her eyes, and he lifted her up while she clung to him. David placed his left arm around Christiana. Then they began walking the women through the h.e.l.l of death and destruction that had once been the great city of Caen.

Edward sat in the Guildhall, surrounded by clerks who carefully listed ownership of the spoils to be sent back to England. The arriving pageant of knights and women silenced the chamber. Along the way, other desperate women had attached themselves to the group, and Thomas Holland had even broken away to rescue several. Twenty women marched in on the King, flanked by sword-bearing knights. Whatever inclinations Edward might have had regarding the disposal of these females became irrelevant. In the face of his young knights, he had no choice but to display the chivalry which he had always celebrated in his court. He formally extended his protection to them and had them sent to another chamber for safety.

David turned to go with Christiana, but the King gestured for him to stay. He dismissed the men around him and faced David over a table strewn with maps, grinning broadly.

"A splendid plan, David! G.o.d, what a victory!"

David thought of the hundreds of bodies they had just pa.s.sed. People of all ages and degrees, butchered and stripped naked. The streets were covered with blood.

"Is it true that you ordered everyone put to the sword?"

Edward scowled. "It was my right when they did not surrender, and they knew it. Hundreds of our men died from their resistance. Not just at the bridge, but in the streets. Those d.a.m.n stones and benchesa I have rescinded the order, however. h.e.l.l, they should have yielded."

When faced with twenty thousand, they should have. But London would not have yielded, David thought. Nor would you have wanted her to.

Edward waved off the destruction of Caen like so much flotsam of war. He beamed with delight and pointed to the map on the table. "We will be clear all the way to Paris. Their army cannot return in time and none will stop us now. No sieges will delay us once word of Caen spreads." He frowned a little. "Do you know the river Somme, David? It worries me. We could find ourselves trapped between it and the Seine, and there appear to be no crossings except a few bridges. d.a.m.n, I should have had you make this map as well. Yours are far better."

David walked over to procure a quill from a clerk. He returned and bent to the map, and drew two lines across the river. "Here. You can ford the river, but the water moves like a tide, so you must cross when it is low."

Edward rubbed his hands together. "Splendid. We have the constable and chamberlain, you know. Rich ransoms there. I am sending them and the other hostages downriver in the morning, along with the spoils. Shipfuls of it. By the way, where are those weapons?"

"Nearby in the town of Bayeaux."

"Excellent. We will be going there next."

"My man will come and show you their location."

"Not you? You must join us. This will be a glorious campaign."

"My role is over. I would like to return to London with my wife."

Edward regarded him, and a different expression replaced his glee. "You sacrificed much to remain loyal to me, David. I do not forget such things. During the last two days I have been knighting men whom I never met before. Let us do it now. Take the place a.s.sured by your blood and earned by your loyalty."

"I am honored by the offer, but I prefer that you did not."

Edward looked a little annoyed. David smiled amiably. "I do request some other favors from you, however, if you feel moved to grant them."

The King's eyebrows rose.

"When I return to London, I will bring your treasurer one third of the price of the license which you granted me. The next third will come in two years, and the rest four years hence, as I first suggested."

"You have already paida"

"Nay. That was the bride price for Christiana. I wish to turn that story into the truth, and I ask that you never reveal our original bargain. She is never to know."

Edward laughed. "The girl has won your heart, has she? Well, I would be fool to turn down another thousand pounds. It will be as you request. And the other favors?"

"I ask that you remember your oath to help reclaim Harclow, and aid her brother as you can when the time comes."

Edward looked down thoughtfully before nodding.

"Lady Catherine must be removed from London," David added. "She knows too much, and my continued value to you, should you require me, will be compromised by her."

Edward grinned. "I wish you could have been there when she came to tell her tale. I let her spin on and on. A clever woman, I suspect. I've never much cared for clever women. I have already sent her to Castle Rising to attend on my mother. She will be held in close confinement with her there. Those two can drive each other mad with their schemes. The merchant, Frans, is enjoying less comfortable accommodations until I return and he is ransomed. The disadvantages of being a commoner."

"I would like Christiana and myself to go downriver with your people in the morning."

"Of course. I will give you some doc.u.ments to bring back. We found written plans for the invasion of Southampton. I will have the priests read it from the pulpits so the people know how close England came to seeing French troops on her soil."

The Earl of Warwick entered then, and Edward turned to greet him with a new spurt of excitement. David took his leave and made his way to the chamber which held the women. Sieg waited outside its door.

"You will go to Bayeaux with the King before heading south," David explained.

"Ja. You want me to show him where the gonnes are?"

David nodded. He reached into his pourpoint and withdrew some folded parchments. "Here is Theobald's recognition and the French king's permission for my succession at Senlis. You already have the ring and the drawing. Wait until he has already learned of my betrayal. You will not be safe if you bring that news. You may not be safe in any case once he sees that the ring's stone is pink, and is his and not his brother's."

"I know what to do."

"Will you come back to London afterward? Today you more than repaid that debt you always claim you owe."

"Hardly repaid, David. Those Mamluks were set to kill me. If you hadn't planned that escapea"

"Morvan and I could not have held them off today."

"Ja, well, I may join this war for a while. When the French finally catch this army, the battle should be wonderful. I will send word to you if I don't return by fall."

David looked to the doc.u.ments held in the ma.s.sive hand. "Be careful, my friend. In this one thing, I cannot guess how he will react."

Chapter 23.

Men crowded the docks, carrying looted goods to the waiting boats. The spoils had been listed and a.s.sessed, and now it all headed back to England.

David stood amidst the fruits of war stacked on one of the piers. A river breeze offered some refreshment from the stench of death hanging over the city. An open box of silver plates glittered ten paces away in the summer heat.

He watched as Christiana walked down the dock to meet her brother. He could tell that this leave-taking weighed heavily on her. She had seen far too much of war's ruthlessness last night, and knew that Morvan might not survive this campaign.

David could not avoid contemplating the implications of that. He did not even try to. The son of Senlis was incapable of ignoring the fact that it was in his interest to have Morvan Fitzwaryn never return to England.

For with Morvan gone, Christiana became the heir of Harclow, and one day Edward would indeed reclaim the lands in the name of his dead friend Hugh Fitzwaryn.

With Morvan gone, David de Abyndon, b.a.s.t.a.r.d son of the n.o.ble Theobald of Senlis, would become the lord of Harclow as Christiana's husband.

Being an English knight was one thing, being an English baron was quite another. But in truth, the land and status were the least of it. The merchant in him knew the real value of Harclow. He had been there, just as he had been to most of the estates along the Scottish border. He alone knew that in the hills of Harclow and other c.u.mbrian lands there were many caves, ancient caves, in which animals had lived since time began. And in the caves of Harclow alone there lay an earl's ransom of the rare stuff called saltpeter that was essential to make powder for gonnes. And he had paid King Edward one thousand pounds for the right to be the crown's exclusive agent for the purchase and sale of saltpeter, and had taken Christiana Fitzwaryn to wife in order to hide the arrangement.

He watched brother and sister meet and embrace. His mind began involuntarily calculating the tremendous loss of profit when he actually paid Morvan for the contents of those caves. Aye, it was very much against his interests to have Morvan return. In fact, having Sieg guarantee that Morvan fell during battlea Christiana looked up at her brother with glistening eyes. Even at a distance, her worry was palpable. Her sadness twisted his heart. His mind emptied of everything but the desire to comfort her. Theobald had been right. Recognizing one's options was not the same as choosing them. He would turn his back on these golden opportunities which Lady Fortune had capriciously offered him. He would do it for Christiana, because he loved her.

Christiana and Morvan stood arm in arm while men burdened with booty jostled past. This was what war was really all about. Profit, of the most primitive sort. All of the talk of chivalry and honor appeared very false to her today.

"Every farmhouse in England will have new cookware and cloth," Morvan said, surveying the boats riding low in the water.

"Is any of it yours?"

"Nay. My prize is your safety. It is enough for me." He glanced to where David waited fifty paces away.

"And for your merchant, I think. This time, at least."

"David. His name is David."

"Aye. David."

"I know that you still do not favor him, Morvan, but he is a good man. You can not deny that he proved that."

"He has goodness in him, but much more too. Things that I do not understand. But he has proven that he can protect you. I can part from you today with an easy mind, if not an easy heart."

"It will not be such a long parting. This war cannot last once winter threatens."

He turned his attention from the boats to her. "However long it lasts, I do not think that we will see each other for many months. Knowing that you are safe and have a home frees me to leave the court. I may not return with the army. I think that I will seek some adventure when this campaign ends."

Her spirits had been battered by the destruction of Caen, and now a new sadness spread through her. She embraced him. "I pray that you change your mind. My place with him does not dim my love for you. If you must seek adventure, let it be for a short while only. And my home is yours too. Please believe that."

"It will not be so long. But you have found your future, Christiana, and now it is time for me to find mine." He set her away, and smiled down at her. "I must leave you now. Edward has duties for me. No tears, sister. This is not forever. Go to your husband."

He walked away, and soon the sight of him became lost in the bustling crowd. She kept watching, hoping to see his dark hair one more time, praying that his words were true, and not the last that she would ever hear him speak.

David came up behind her. She felt his presence, and then the comfort of his arms surrounding her, holding her closely.

"I love you," he said.

How like him to know that she needed that right now. But then those blue eyes had always seen into her heart. She turned to him, and to the sanctuary that his declaration offered.

"I worry about him," she said.

"He is skilled and strong, Christiana. And in battles, they do not try to kill knights, but take them for ransom."

"Aye. But I know the value of a knight's ransom and there is no father to pay it. He could live his life in the hole of some French keep if Edward fails."

"If he is captured, I will get him out."