By Honor Bound Part 21

"Will you speak to Macbeth for them?" "Yes, I will. In the meantime, do not mention this to anyone. And do not speak a word of any thing you may have heard between Macbeth and me. Have I your promise on that?" Gruach's voice was suddenly sharp.

"I would never do anything that would cause any trouble for you or for Macbeth."

It was late when Elen left the royal apartments that night after helping Gruach prepare for bed.

"The king will join me soon," Gruach said "Go to your husband."

"Good night, my lady." "I'll talk to Macbeth about Crania," Gruach promised. She smiled at Elen. "Later tonight, when he is in a good mood."

"Thank you." At least Gruach was happy. The strains that had appeared in her marriage after I Macbeth became king now seemed to be resolved, I and they were as close as they had been when Elen I had first known them. [ Elen slipped out of the royal apartments into a back pa.s.sage that provided a shorter way to her own rooms than the usual path. She did not like wandering about the palace late at night. She knew there were rats near the kitchen, and she feared the dark shadows that lurked at corners and alcoves. She picked up her skirts and hurried, Two strangers appeared at the far end of the dimly lit corridor, two rough-looking men who tried to hide their faces from her as she scurried past them. Something about them frightened her. She knew they had turned to look after her. "Who?" asked one man. "Meeting a lover," she heard the other say. Then she heard a guffaw, and the sounds of their boots as they went on their way.

"She reached the end of the pa.s.sage and turned a corner into a more brightly lit hall. She stopped to catch her breath and let her heartbeat return to normal. She wondered who they were, and what business men like that could have in a corridor leading only to the king's chambers. Perhaps there was another exit she knew nothing about. That must be it. They were only taking a quicker way, just as she had done. Her heart had stopped its frightened pounding. She took a deep breath and went on to her rooms.

"Where are Bancho and that son of his? I expected them at my table tonight." Macbeth was clearly annoyed.

"I have not seen them since mid-afternoon, my lord," Talcoran replied. "They went riding together and said they would be back by nightfall."

"They should be here. I planned this feast especially for them. I have something important to tell them, good news for Fergus."

Gruach caught Elen's eye and smiled before speaking to the king.

"Surely they will return soon, my husband. Perhaps one of the horses has cast a shoe and they must walk it back."

"Perhaps. Well, let us eat. We will not wait any longer. You there, bring me wine."

It was a strange meal, with the guests of honor missing, and it ended early. Elen attended the queen when she returned to her bedchamber. A serving girl, asleep before the fire, scrambled to her feet as Gruach entered and hastened to help Elen undress the queen.

"Where are Fionna and Crania?" Gruach demanded. "They should both be here. Elen was with me last night. Tonight she should be free from her duties. Where are those silly wenches?"

"I do not know, mistress," the serving girl said. "Neither of them has been here.""Send for them at once.""My lady," Elen spoke up, "it may be that one of Fionna's children is ill and she could not come.""Then she should have sent a message tome saying so. Was there such a message, girl?""No, mistress." The serving girl looked frightened."Crania has no such excuse," Gruach fund"She was with us when we went to the great hall,but where is she now? That ungrateful wretch!Icoaxed and pleaded with my lord last night untilhe agreed to allow Crania to marry Fergus. That iswhy we planned this evening's feast, to tell themso, to honor Bancho and his son, and none of themhad the decency to appear.""It is very odd," Elen agreed. She wondered if Crania had slipped out to meet Fergus, if the two of them were off in some quiet corner of the palace making love. Could Fergus possibly be so irresponsible as to insult the king by not going to a banquet in his own honor in order to be alone with Crania? And if so, where was Bancho?

"Cousin," Elen said as she helped Gruach into her nightgown, "did they know that Macbeth had agreed

to the marriage?"

"I hinted about it to Crania this afternoon. She was overjoyed. I am certain Macbeth said something to Bancho, and most likely to Fergus, too."

"Then I do not understand where they can be." Elen wrinkled her brow in puzzlement. "Since no one elseis here, I will attend you tonight. May I use this girl to send a message to Talcoran?" He would not knowif she was absent from their apartments, but Elen would observe the proprieties in front of the queen.

"Of course. Thank you, Elen. At least you are faithful. You and Talcoran."

Once Gruach was settled in bed, Elen withdrew to the anteroom and sat down by the fire. It was her

duty as the queen's lady to remain there throughout the night in case the queen should want something.She had spent many such nights, but usually one or two of the queen's other women had been with her,and they had whiled away the time gossiping or telling stories.

She wondered where Fionna was. It was unlike her friend to stay away with no explanation.

And what of sweet, foolish Crania, who had been singularly unchanged by her brief marriage to an aged

thane? Elen did not want to be present when Crania met the queen after this.

Crania may have lost the thing she wanted most by this evening's nonsense, Elen thought. Macbeth may change his mind and not let her marry Fergus after all.

She was growing drowsy. She pulled her shawl about her and shifted into a more comfortable position in

the big wooden chair.

She was nearly asleep when Macbeth came into the room. He moved silently on bare feet, but she half opened her eyes, feeling his presence. He had thrown a saffron-gold woolen robe over his nakedness.

Under it, his bare legs were long and straight, covered with golden hair. When he saw her, he gave a m.u.f.fled exclamation and drew the robe about himself. He walked to her chair and stood watching her.

"My lord?" Elen forced herself awake and started to rise. "No, don't stand." He put a large hand on her shoulder to keep her in the chair. "I thought you were sleeping. Are the other women with the queen?"

"The others did not come tonight. The queen is alone except for me."

He tilted her chin up to look into her face. The firelight shone on his yellow-gold hair and beard and flickered across the gold wool robe and the golden-haired arm and the hand that held her chin. There were a few more lines on his face than there had been four years ago when she had first seen him, but they did not detract from his appearance. To her eyes they only made him look wiser, more kingly than ever.

"You are a lion," she murmured, still not fully awake, "a great, golden lion, fierce and powerful and n.o.ble."

"I only wish I were." He sighed, his face darkening. "There are things a king must do that are not n.o.ble at all. G.o.d, how I wish they were not necessary! Sometimes I feel there's quicksand wherever I put my feet. Are you happy, Elen?"

She could not answer the unexpected question. She felt that he would easily detect a lie if she told one, and she did not want to explain the truth. She tried evasion. "Are you, my lord?"

"Happiness is not for kings. It would comfort me to know that you are happy." He dropped onto a stool across the fire from her. She was surprised by his action, and even more surprised by the impa.s.sioned words that followed. "You know I did not want to be ruler of Alba. I fought against deposing Duncan for as long as I could. Having been Mormaer of Moray, I thought I knew how dangerous great power can be, how it can destroy all a man would build and finally corrupt the soul if he does not use it wisely. That was one of Duncan's faults, that he did not use his power wisely. Still, when the time came for me to take the crown, I believed I was strong enough to resist the dark temptations that must sooner or later come to all rulers. But hard though it is to resist temptation, how harder still it is to give in to it, and then have to live with the terrible results. There are so few I dare trust now. So many plots against me."

He stared at her, but she was certain his eyes did not really see her. He looked at something beyond her, some distant, tormented place in his own heart, and his face was suddenly altered, becoming older and drawn, as if his spirit was in deep pain. In that silent moment Elen saw a stranger sitting before her, a man more changed by the lonely burdens of kingship than she had previously realized. Then he shook his golden head and she felt he had rejoined her once more.

"What I have done," he said, rising, "I cannot undo. Goodnight, Elen." He kissed her on the forehead and went into his wife's bedroom, leaving her to ponder what it was that gnawed at him and troubled him so deeply.

The king habitually rose early. On this morning he sat in the queen's bedchamber eating bread and cheese and drinking ale as he watched his wife dress. Elen thought he looked more at ease than he had the night before, with the dark thoughts and suspicions gone. That must be Gruach's doing. She always had a comforting effect upon her husband.

"I like to see you together, my love," Macbeth remarked, "You so fair and golden, Elen all black and white. You make a pretty pair."

"Thank you, my lord." Elen made a mock curtsy and the two women laughed."Has Crania come yet?" Macbeth asked."No." The queen's good humor vanished and her eyes flashed cold grey fire."That is odd. Very odd," Macbeth mused. "Perhaps I should have a search made. Is she notin her room?""No." Another flat reply from Gruach. "I senta servant to look."Elen watched Macbeth turn his head and come to full, wary alertness at the sound of footsteps in the anteroom. His hand went to his waist in a sudden gesture, as if to draw a dagger, but he had none withhim, for he still wore only hissaffron-dyed robe."Who's there?" he called. He relaxed visiblyat the voice that answered him."My lord? May I speak with you?"

Macbeth nodded, and Gruach called out, "The king is in my room, Talcoran. You may come in." Talcoran appeared, booted, spurred, and withhis black cloak wrapped about his shoulders.Above the great silver brooch that fastened it, hisdark face was somber."I apologize for intruding into your privateroom, my queen, but I have news that will notwait.""You do not intrude, my friend." Gruach rose from the stool where she had been sitting while Elen arranged her hair. "Would you like Elen and me to leave while you speak with the king?""No, lady. You may as well hear from me what the whole palace will soon know."Now Macbeth, too, was on his feet, toweringover his friend."Well?" he asked, and Elen had the strangestsensation that Macbeth knew what was coming next."It's Bancho. We found him lying in a ditch. He had been stabbed. Twenty times. He is dead." Talcoran'

s terse phrases and low voice somehow conveyed more grief and loss than loud emotional cries could

have done.

"Fergus?" Macbeth snapped out the question.

"Missing. No sign of him. He is not in the palace nor anywhere within a mile of here."

"Ohhh--!" Gruach reeled, her face bloodless. Elen, pale and in a state of shock herself, caught the queen

and guided her to the bed, where she sat staring at Macbeth with terrified eyes.

"Oh, my love, what have you done?" Gruach whispered.

"Lie down, my lady. Put your head back," Elen urged."Talcoran, I will dress and come with you." Ignoring his now crying wife, Macbeth left the room.As she bent over Gruach's weeping form, Elen sensed Talcoran just behind her."Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yes. No. I'll manage.""I know you will. You are stronger than most women." Talcoran regarded the weeping queen on thebed. "Be careful, Elen. This is a dangerous day." He followed Macbeth out of the room.

Elen spent most of the morning with Gruach. After the first shock and tears had pa.s.sed, the queen spent her time pacing back and forth in her chamber, wringing her hands in silent grief.

Fionna arrived at midmorning.

"Where have you been?" Elen hissed as they met in the antechamber. "Gruach is furious with you."

"The baby was sick," Fionna said, not meeting Elen's eyes.

"Have you seen Crania?" "Who?" Fionna looked distracted. "No. I have not seen her, I have never seen her, not for two days." And she went in to the queen.

One by one the queen's other ladies appeared, talking in hushed tones about the tragedy.

"And now Crania is missing," one said. "I heard half her clothes and all of her jewels are gone from her room."

"Perhaps she has run away with Fergus," suggested another. "What a foolish thing for them to do, just when the queen had finally convinced Macbeth to let them marry."

"Be quiet, the queen will hear you." Finally, Gruach appeared in the antechamber, pale but self-possessed.

"We are all going to the chapel to pray for Bancho," she announced. "Elen, you look exhausted. You are dismissed until tomorrow evening. Let those who were not present last night or earlier today wait on me now."

Elen went to the chapel with the others. She knelt a long time, praying for the repose of Bancho's soul, and for Fergus' safety, wherever he might be, and for poor, silly Crania who had once done her a kindness in the days when Duncan was king. Her prayers completed at last, she started back alone to her own quarters, across the courtyard.

Bancho's body was being brought into the palace grounds. Elen turned her eyes away from the sight of his bloodied face. She did not want to remember him like that, the victim of an unworthy death. She wanted to think of him as she had seen him so many times, sitting in his favorite spot in the great hall at Laggan, his booted feet up on a stool, a br.i.m.m.i.n.g cup of ale in his hand, his great, booming laugh ringing out. She blinked hard. She would not cry in public. Bancho would not like that.

Two other bodies were carried in and dumped unceremoniously onto the ground next to Bancho. She had not heard that anyone else had died. Had Fergus, too, been found? If so, whose was the third corpse?

She hurried forward to look at the dead men. She stopped short, her hands flying to her face in fear. It could not be, but it was. She had only seen them for a moment, in semidarkness, but still she recognized their faces. They wore the same clothes in which she had seen them before. She was certain of their ident.i.ties. These were the two rough-looking men she had seen two nights ago in the back corridor that led to the royal chambers.

Then she saw Drust, Talcoran's aide, directing the disposition of the bodies. She hurried to him.

"Drust, what is this? Who are these people?" she asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth in rapid confusion.

"These are the villains who killed your friend the Thane of Lochaber," Drust told her.

"But why?" Elen stared down at the lifeless bodies, then turned her attention to Drust. "Why?"

"Mistress," Drust said, "we believe that Fergus hired these two ruffians to kill his father. We think what happened is that these men set on Bancho and he killed one of them. The second man killed Bancho. Then Fergus killed his father's murderer so he could not talk and implicate Fergus. Fergus's knife was found in the man's back. Fergus has disappeared. We think all of this happened last night, while the king held a banquet in Bancho's honor and wondered why his guest had not arrived."

"No. No, it can't be." Elen backed away from the gory sight on the ground before her. "Fergus wouldnever do such a thing. He loves his father." Drust stepped close to her, too close for any servant but herpersonal maid. There was no disrespect in the movement, only urgency. He bent his head to hers.

"That is the story, mistress," he said, his voice little more than a whisper. "I think before you dispute it inpublic, you should speak with my lord Talcoran, and ask what he wants you to do. Please, mistress, foryour sake and his, take my advice." Elen could not speak. She nodded to Drust and then ran across thecourtyard as fast as she could, ran as if the devil himself were pursuing her, into the palace, along thehallway, until she reached the safety of her own rooms. There she slammed the bedchamber door behindher and leaned against it, panting.

"My lady?" When a startled Ava rose from the chest in the corner into which she had been folding one ofElen's gowns, Elen screamed, flinging out her hands to ward off whatever was coming toward her.

"Mistress, it's me. It's only Ava." The maid caught her hands, steadying her. "I won't harm you.

Mistress, what is it? You are so pale."

"Ava. It is you. Oh, thank heaven." Elen swallowed hard, trying to control her panic. She must be careful what she said.

"It's Bancho," she said. "They have just brought him back to the palace."