The Falcon and the Flower Part 40

We wil ride across the sands at the last possible minute.

Then the tide wil sweep in and make it impossible for them to fol ow us. Find out exactly where Murphy wil have the horses. I must go hack now. I don't want him to know I ever left the chamber."

John slept late and awoke with a bad head and a worse temper. Jasmine was most grateful that he almost ignored her.

He was incensed, however, that his justiciar had not yet arrived. Jasmine listened to his conversation with his gentlemen intently, and was amazed to learn that the guarded wagons that accompanied him contained the royal coffers and the crown jewels of England. King John was so suspicious of being robbed that he was taking his chests of gold and al the crown's wealth from London to the Bishop of Lincoln's ma.s.sive stronghold of Newark Castle. No wonder he was livid that Hubert de Burgh was not on hand to safeguard the transfer!

As the morning wore on John became ever more agitated. He used every filthy obscenity he could curl his tongue around to describe the miserable, disloyal men who served him.

Jasmine poured al the remaining hemlock into a goblet of wine and urged John to drink it to soothe his nerves. She watched him drain the cup and closed her eyes in relief.

The time was getting closer to noon by the minute and she knew she must get out of the room soon if she hoped to escape the castle. In fact, the very tide she awaited was keeping her husband's ship standing out to sea. Falcon impatiently paced the deck watching for the tide to turn. Once it did so, it would carry his ship into the wash and he would be able to anchor close to Castle Rising where he knew she had taken his two nephews. He experienced fear such as he had not known since her ordeal with childbirth. When he imagined her at the mercy of John's s.e.xual excesses he nearly went mad. He prayed that he could rescue her while she was stil untouched. The only means he had of dispel ing his fear was to give his temper ful rein. He became angry with Jasmine in the extreme. When he got his hands on her he intended to beat some sense into her.

He antic.i.p.ated a confrontation such as they had never had before, but when it was over and the dust had settled, there would be no doubt whatsoever who would rule their household from this time forward. His jaw was set, his mouth was grim, and his determination was inflexible. He was outraged that he must risk leaving his Irish holdings vulnerable while he had to come chasing after her. He intended to give her a lesson she would never forget.

King John began to foam at the mouth and to rol his eyes alarmingly. Jasmine immediately took advantage of the moment. "I wil get Estel e, your majesty. You need some of her medicine." He was in a terrible state. She knew that hemlock could be a deadly poison. Perhaps she had given him too much. She had no cloak, but wore the midnight-blue gown from the previous day. She moved as if her feet had wings.

She flung open Estel e's chamber door and grabbed her by the hand. Breathlessly she urged, "Come quickly before 'tis too late!"

Estel e, ever practical, took up her cloak, but did not bother with her bottles and herbs. "Murphy is watting with the horses,"

she said as the two of them ran down the stone staircase of Castle Rising. The faithful Murphy stood quieting two saddled horses. Jasmine mounted immediately and he helped Estel e into the saddle. "Keep away from the king, he is in a terrible state," Jasmine warned.

He clung to the harness of the two animals, most apprehensive about letting the women ride off on their own.

Estel e grabbed his big hand to rea.s.sure him. "Years back I had a prophetic vision that is now unfolding. The final page wil soon be turned. Al things come at their appointed time. You must let us go to meet our destiny, Murphy."

The first fingers of the incoming tide were stretching across the sands of the wash as Murphy reluctantly let go the reins.

Jasmine and Eslel e dug their heels into the sides of their mounts to urge them out onto the vast stretch of sand.

As he looked down from above, King John saw Jasmine and Estel e immediately. The b.i.t.c.hes were fleeing! He was enraged. He screamed at his gentlemen to fol ow them and fetch them back immediately. How dare anyone disobey direct orders from the king? Flecks of foam flew from his mouth as he rushed from the chamber to the castle's bailey.

His face was bright red with anger and humiliation. He looked truly demented as he ran raving and screaming and issuing orders. "My horse, my horse! After them, d.a.m.n you lily-livered, orders. "My horse, my horse! After them, d.a.m.n you lily-livered, useless, a.s.s-licking parasites."

His men ran to saddle his horse as wel as their own. He waved frantical y toward the stables. "Move out, move out." He grabbed his horse, vaulted into the saddle, and wheeled it toward the sands of the wash. The men who were guarding the treasure wagons became alarmed. The king was waving to them frantical y to move out. Were they being attacked?

Quickly they harnessed the horses to the wagons to fol ow the king out of Castle Rising onto the flat sands.

The king led the chase, oblivious of the creeping, swirling water beneath his horse's hooves. His gentlemen fol owed and then, lagging behind somewhat, came the treasure wagons.

The de Burgh ship came in on the tide and the men on deck stood aghast at what they saw. A large party of king's men and wagons were racing across the treacherous sands of the wash. From their vantage point it was obvious that not al of them were going to make it across the salty flats. The tide was devious. It formed large circles that marooned and trapped whatever was unwise enough to be out there on the sand.

The king's gentlemen became aware of their predicament long before the king. They raced to catch up with their monarch and warn him of the tide that was ready at their heels to swal ow them. As they came up behind him, the king turned and to his horror saw his treasure wagons floating. He heard the harnessed horses screaming as they floating. He heard the harnessed horses screaming as they were sucked under and the cries of the drowning wagon drivers.

The king ordered his gentlemen to go back to save his treasure, but they total y ignored him and sped past in an effort to save themselves from a like fate.

Jasmine and Estel e thundered from the sands of the wash onto dry land, but they were aware that the king and some of his men were in pursuit just behind them. "We are taken, we are taken." Jasmine sobbed in despair.

"Do not fear, child, it was meant to be," soothed Estel e, gentling her horse as the king's men surrounded them.

There was so much shouting and confusion that it took Estel e a few moments to realize that half of the king's party had not made it to safety across the sands. The king did not seem to care that his men and their horses had drowned in his service, only that the crown jewels were lost to the insatiable sea. It was clear that madness had descended upon him, and his gentlemen tried every tactic in their power to calm him. They lied to him blatantly, a.s.suring him that when the tide went out they would be able to ride back out over the wash and retrieve his fortune in gold.

Jasmine was blue with the cold. She whispered to Estel e, "I knew I gave him too much hemlock. The moment he drank it he began to foam at the mouth."

"Too bad it didn't kil him," whispered Estel e. "It stil might,"

she added hopeful y.

King John had unfurled a long whip from his saddlebow and was lashing any man foolish enough to draw close. His gentlemen, in a panic, did not know what to do. Estel e managed to make herself heard over the pandemonium. "We are at Swineshead. There is an abbey nearby where we may take refuge for the night."

Three of the men broke away to search out the abbey and prepare its holy residents for the king's party. The light was fading from the afternoon sky when they dismounted at Swineshead Abbey and wearily ushered the stil -raving king inside. The monks made themselves scarce. The man in robes at the entrance who admitted travelers was the only monk in evidence. After lifting his arms to indicate that the available chambers were on the second floor, he melted away into the shadowed cloisters. Jasmine was not so naive as to think she would go unscathed, and it came as no surprise when John looked about for someone on whom he could vent his spleen and his red eyes alighted upon her.

"b.i.t.c.h! Wh.o.r.e! You are the cause of al my trouble," He stil held the whip and none of his gentlemen had the guts to take it from him. He cracked the whip and it snaked across the floor, catching Jasmine on the ankle. She screamed and ran.

"Upstairs, b.i.t.c.h!" he commanded. She fled. Upstairs was the only avenue of escape from the madman. His gentlemen tried to appease him, but it was halfhearted since they had learned long ago that a tyrant cannot be appeased.

John ran halfway up the staircase after Jasmine, then turned, remembering Estel e. He pointed a terrible finger. "Hag!

Witch! The only reason I let you live is to prepare the decoction I need. Get me some now! The longer you take, the more time I wil have to punish the little b.i.t.c.h upstairs." King John laughed wildly as he moved on up the stairs, brandishing his long whip.

Estel e could not reason with the deranged king that she had nothing at al from which to make a herbal drink. She ran down the cloistered hal looking for the kitchens. At last she found them, but only one monk was in evidence and from what she could see the room was quite bare. Almost no food was being prepared for the evening meal, and there appeared to be no stores of food or herbs from which she could draw.

"My good man, what do you intend to feed the king and his men for dinner?" she commanded.

The monk uttered one word in a low, wel -modulated tone.

"Peaches."

"Peaches?" cried Estel e, feeling her heart sink.

Upstairs, Jasmine thought her heart would burst. She had tried her best, but she could not escape the wrath of John.

She had struggled and scratched and clawed and bitten him, but in the end he had managed to tear off her clothes and was in the process of tying her wrists and ankles to the four bed posts. Horror of horror, he had tied her facedown. She knew that not only would he use the whip on her naked flesh, but when he tired of the whip, he would rape her in the deviant manner he had promised.

She lay exhausted yet rigid with fear and apprehension, sobbing for every breath. She wished herself dead, then real fear gripped her that before John was finished with her, she could very easily be dead. She had long since blocked out the stream of filth and invective that poured from his mouth as he described in horrific detail what he was about to do to her. He cracked the whip over the bed and its tail end caught her across her pale back and curled under her breast, leaving a thin red stripe of blood.

She heard a woman's scream fol owed by a loud pounding on a door. She dul y realized the voice was her own, but who knocked? Would someone come to her rescue? John had begun to divest himself of his clothes when the pounding came through to him. He ignored it at first, then realized it could only be Estel e come with his needed decoction. He left the inner chamber door ajar and went into the smal anteroom.

At the door he shouted, "Dame Winwood?"

"Aye" came the reply.

He opened the door cautiously and saw that she held out a goblet. Beneath her gown, Estel e's knees literal y knocked together. Some half-forgotten knowledge of peaches had surfaced from her subconscious while she had been in the kitchens. She had taken a rol ing pin and broken open the peach pits. Then she had pulverized the contents and mixed it with syrup from the peaches, hoping against hope it would disguise the bitter taste until King John had ingested some of the powerful poison. Her ears were c.o.c.ked for more sounds of anguish from Jasmine, but an ominous silence was al that now met them.

She offered up the goblet and held him in an hypnotic stare.

She began to talk; it was almost a chant. "Long ago I had a prophetic vision that has al come to pa.s.s. I saw your brother Richard die and knew you would be crowned king. In the vision you were a wild boar. I saw you murder your nephew Arthur and take the crown across the water to England. I saw Philip of France and his cub Louis swal ow whole your Angevin possessions, Brittany, and final y Normandy. Then they set their eyes on England because its monarch was weak. I believe your ancestors, al those men you betrayed, reached up from the water and took everything you possessed. You were too vain, caring only for the jewels in the crown, rather than the power it represented."

John s.n.a.t.c.hed up the cup and drained it. Immediately he went into a seizure. The whip slipped from his fingers and he fel to the floor, drumming his heels and banging his head. Estel e turned and fled. She cal ed loudly for his gentlemen, and one by one they crept cautiously from their rooms.

"He is dying," she said in a decisive voice. "So that none of you wil be blamed for this I suggest you get him to the stronghold of Newark Castle and the Bishop of Lincoln. He is too weak to ride, in fact I expect him to lapse into a coma any minute. Prepare a bed in a wagon, hurry." She retraced her steps back to the king. He lay stil now. He had vomited and his face was turning black. Alarmed, she knelt to see if he was breathing. He was not. Frantical y she felt for a pulse . . . there was none. The king was dead!

She pul ed off her cloak and wrapped it about him in a way that covered his face. Immediately she heard his men approaching. She stood up and faced them. "Quickly now, he is in a coma, as I feared. Handle him with care, lest he cease to breathe. At al costs you must see that he gets to Newark where both he and yourselves wil be safe."

They carried him down the stairs and out of the abbey to a mule and wagon. "Let me just check him," Estel e said with great concern. The men mounted their horses and Estel e drew back the cloak from King John's face. He was dead; very, very dead. She heaved an enormous sigh of relief and urged the men to hurry. She stood in a trance staring after them long after they were gone from sight.

When a frustrated Falcon final y navigated his ship to anchor at Castle Rising, Murphy told him what had taken place.

Falcon had seen for himself the horse-drawn wagons being dragged unmerciful y beneath the flood-tide, but when he learned that Jasmine had ridden out across the wash he was fil ed with apprehension.

He paced about like a caged animal, waiting for the tide to sweep back out so that he could ride across the sands of the wash and discover Jasmine's fate. His face had gone white when Murphy told him that after only one night under the same roof as King John, Jasmine had fled.

Before Falcon could continue his journey, Hubert de Burgh and his men arrived back at Castle Rising. He listened with disbelief as Murphy repeated the tale of the king's men riding across the sands and being trapped by the tides of the wash. Al were mounted and ready when the tide retreated sufficiently to al ow horses to gal op the damp sands.

Falcon de Burgh spurred his destrier and its strong legs dug deeply into the wet sand, sending clods flying behind into the faces of those who fol owed. Soon, however, Falcon had outdistanced the others in the race to Swineshead. From the distance he could see a slow party of travelers leave the abbey and decided to pursue it. However, as he drew close to Swineshead Abbey he saw Estel e frantical y waving to him, and swerved his destrier in her direction.

"Where is she?" He shouted the words as he dismounted and ran as she waved her arm.

"Upstairs!"

Sword in hand, he flew down the corridor like an avenging angel. As he drew closer to her, he felt her presence and rushed through the smal anteroom into her chamber. Falcon de Burgh, who had never flinched from anything in his life, recoiled physical y as he saw his naked wife trussed spread- eagle to the bedposts. His legs were unsteady as he crossed the room to the bed. With trembling hands he cut her bonds with his sword. The whip marks on her flesh registered in his brain, blocking out everything save the need for revenge.

Jasmine turned her head, knowing who it was before she ever saw him, She whispered, "Falcon . . . I "

"No!" he cried. "I ask no questions . . . leave it, Jasmine." He took off his cloak to cover her nakedness, and she huddled miserably upon the bed as her husband left her without even the comfort of his embrace.

Falcon emerged from the abbey to see Hubert in deep conversation with EsteJle. He had not sheathed his sword, nor did he intend to until it had found its royal target. "She needs you," he told Estel e grimly. He began to remount when Hubert's voice cut through the red mist that fogged his brain.

"Where are you going?"

"To slay John," he said evenly.

"You are too late it seems. The king is dead."

"I won't believe it until I see it for myself," swore Falcon.

"It's true, my lord. He is very, very dead. I sent his body on to Newark, to the Bishop of Lincoln," Estel e confirmed.

Falcon looked at his uncle the justiciar with alienation in his eyes. "He despoiled everything he ever touched. You wil be the only man in England who is not happy at the news."

Hubert grasped his shoulder hard. "Nay, lad, I'm happier than anyone for I've the most to gain. John's heir Henry is yet a child. Once he is crowned, I'l undoubtedly be named regent. I'l be the uncrowned King of England for many years to come.

Don't stand there gaping. Get your women out of here. Get on that ship and go back to Ireland as fast as the wind wil carry you. I have the business of the realm to see to," said Hubert.

Chapter 43.

Although Jasmine occupied the captain's cabin aboard the de Burgh vessel, Falcon had so far not shared it with her. When she had come aboard yesterday with her grandmother, the wind was blowing strong. The ship had strained against its anchors, making the timbers groan. Jasmine's amethyst eyes were haJf-cJosed against the wind as she searched the forcastle deck for the dark, powerful figure of her husband. She saw that he was busy, but refused to go below with Estel e.

Not too many minutes had pa.s.sed after he weighed anchor before a gigantic wave poised just above the ship long enough for him to shout "Hard astarboard." The wave struck and Jasmine frantical y clung to the binnacle head as the ship turned on her side as if she would rol completely, then incredibly she righted, water streaming from her, washing across the decks. Then she lifted. Jasmine heard Falcon order "Hands to braces" in the maintops. She felt the ship shudder and buck and heard the storm canvas rattle in the wind as the squal heeled her over again. Jasmine was soaked to the skin and waited no longer to seek safety belowdecks.

She warmed herself at the cabin stove and found a velvet bedrobe of Falcon's to wear while her clothes dried. She expected de Burgh to come for dry clothes after he had weathered the storm, but her wait was in vain. Jasmine knew the storm they had just experienced was nothing compared to the one that was brewing between her and Falcon. She was of a mind to get it al out in the open. She wanted to have at him about his wh.o.r.e, Morganna, and she wanted to explain everything to him about the king. She clenched her fists and ground her teeth in frustration when he did not come. The welts from the whip on her leg and back had crusted over in a thin red line, and she knew she would be able to prevent scars if she rubbed her flesh with a paste of honey and calamint. It became apparent to her that Falcon was avoiding her. Each day when she went up on deck he was in exactly the same spot as the day before. He stood on the ship's prow as it fel and rose in the waves, staring stonily out to sea.

The situation became unbearable for her. She had a great need to confess al to him and receive his forgiveness, as she would forgive him Morganna, after they had had a go at each other. Final y she knew he would not come to her aboard ship, so she pushed him from her mind and thought only of the joy of seeing her children again.

When the ship arrived at Galway, she and Estel e disembarked together without any aid from de Burgh. The antic.i.p.ation of being reunited with her twins almost overwhelmed Jasmine. The moment she saw them she froze for a ful minute, wondering how she could touch them when such a short time ago she had committed murder, then in a rush al was forgotten as they ran into her arms, embracing her as hard as she did them.

Jasmine was undone. The tears flowed unbidden as relief washed over her that the only man who could separate them was gone forever. She chose to sleep in their room this first night home. She told herself she was happy. So long as they loved her, that was al that mattered. She had a long, relaxing bath, after which Estel e dabbed on the honeyed calamint, then in a warm bedgown, she cuddled her babies and rocked them until they fel asleep. She too needed rest, needed to heal. She was asleep before ten o'clock, but after the witching hour, along about one in the morning, she awoke restless as a tigress. She put on her slippers and the velvet bedgown and went silently up to the castle ramparts. Her eyes crinkled against the wind as she looked out over the battlements, her silvery hair streaming out behind her.

She did not know how long she had been there before she She did not know how long she had been there before she realized she was not alone. She was startled and then unnerved to see Falcon staring at her in the shadowed moonlight. He did not speak. He did not move. She knew he was angrier with her than he had ever been before. She knew she would have to be the one to force a confrontation.

"Wel , haven't you the guts to face me?" she accused, taking the offensive while it was stil open to her.

"If I come any closer I wil knock you down, ma-dame," he said with suppressed violence.

She swaggered over to him, planting herself squarely in front of him, and dug both fists into the red velvet bedgown. Falcon was al in black. "You are a Devil!" she threw at him. "An unfaithful, lecherous Devil to boot!"

"You dare speak to me of faithlessness?" he roared.

"Dare? I'd dare anything! What wil you do, take a whip to me?

" She tore open her bedgown to expose her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Wil you put more scars upon me?" she taunted. "Perhaps you'd carve your initials into my breast as you did to your wh.o.r.e!"

"That is a d.a.m.ned He," he bel owed, "and she is not my wh.o.r.e! After you left I confronted her and she admitted she picked the child up on the docks. You owned me heart and soul, yet you had not one grain of faith in me," he accused.

"You couldn't wait to run off to wh.o.r.e for the king."

The hate, love, al -consuming pa.s.sion between them boiled over. She swung back her arm and slapped him ful across the face.

He retaliated immediately and slapped her back. He had no idea of his own strength. The blow fel ed her, and he looked down at the crumpled figure of his beloved in horror. "My little love, my sweeting, what have I done?" he crooned as he bent to pick her up and cradle her against him. She clung to him sobbing and he rocked her until she cried out.

"Falcon, let me confess to you what I did," she whispered.

"Nay, nay, there is no need for confessions between us. I wil always adore you and cherish you no matter what you have done," he promised, almost alarmed at what she would tel him.

"Falcon, please, I must," she insisted.

He braced himself for the blow to come.

In a contrite low voice she said, "Falcon, I murdered King John."