Anita Mills - Fire and Steel

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The great keep of the Condes loomed ahead of them, silent and forbidding, its new twelve-foot-thick walls rising nearly sixty feet above the rounded motte. It stood an aloof guardian to the cluster of wattle-and-daub houses that lay just beneath the wide river-fed ditch. The lead rider reined in, halting the thirty men who rode with him, and looked upward in admiration. Behind him, his squire and his captain muttered oaths as they too stared at the tall fortress.

Jesu, but tis hot, Guy of Rivaux complained aloud as he removed his heavy steel helmet and wiped his sweat-drenched black hair back from his face with the sleeve of his blazoned surcoat. Squinting to stare again, he sighed. Ayewed best hope that the Lady Eleanor lets us in, for twould take a year and more to starve the Condes into submission.

My lord, your helm William de Comminges, his captain, sat uneasily in his saddle and darted his eyes toward a nearby brake of trees.

Nay. Guy shook his head and pointed downward to where deep mud-dried ruts bore testimony to the recent movement of the machines of war. Tis as Curthose saidthe men have gone save for those that guard the walls, and we are out of range from there.

My lord, I like it not, Alan of Poix muttered as he edged his horse closer to Guys. Not even Belesme could breach that outer shell.

Guy turned his attention to his squire. Nay, but God willing, Alan, well not have to try. We bear Normandys banner and Normandys writ, he reminded grimly, and she cannot know why we are come.

My lord De Comminges hesitated to repeat his argument against what they would do, but he felt compelled to remind his young lord once again of the risk they took. If anything happens to the girl, Lord Roger will not rest until we are dead.

Lord Roger. There was so much respect and admiration in the old mans voice that Guy wished anew hed not comewished that somehow fate would have cast him on the other side in this senseless war between the Conquerors surviving sons. Aye, for when it was done, good men stood to lose their lands if not their lives, while those who broke their feudal oaths would likely profit.

There was no question where Roger de Briones heart lay in the bitter quarrel. Although he favored the younger brother, Henry, now King of England, he held lands from Robert Curthose too, and therefore chose not to fight for either of them. Hed quoted Holy Scripture about rendering unto Caesar, and hed sent his Norman troops to Curthose and his English troops to Henry, but he himself had gone to wait out the war on the Welsh border, protecting his English lands from the marauding Welshmen. Henry, who counted Lord Roger as much a friend as any, had understood, but Curthose had not.

Guy himself had no such choice to make {display: inline that themselveseverything he had he held of Robert Curthose, and hed had to place his hands between the dukes to swear fealty for his patrimony. And now he would have to fight for the feckless Curthose or be forsworn. He accepted that as the price of being Count of Rivaux, but it went against his heart to do what he had been sent to do now.

If twere me, my lord, de Comminges mused aloud, Id just say she refused to yield the girl. Let Curthose come himself and take the little demoiselle hostage. Tis he who fears her father, anyway. He leaned over to spit into the dirt. Nay, but Id not bring my lord of the Condes wrath down on my head. Curthose is the fool in this. Casting a sidelong glance at Guy, he could see the young man would not waver. It was to be expected, he admitted to himself, for Guy of Rivaux did not take his oaths lightly. William, who had trained the boy in the skills of war, could take pride in everything about his pupil. Aye, but when he was scarcely seventeen, Guyd won his spurs of knighthood. Hed had to take the field of battle to save his bitter, unloving father from the Count of Mortains fury when that lord had been exiled from England. It had been an act of rare courage for a boy but lately trained in war, as William remembered fondly, reliving again how Guy had plunged into the thick of the melee to lift his fallen sire into his own saddle. Had it been Williams choice, hed have let the old man die, for hed never seen a worse parent in his life. But Guy, armed only as a squire, had taken his fathers sword and literally slashed their way back to safety, rallying Rivauxs troops and driving de Mortain from the field. Jesu, but the boyd known no fear that day. And, as young as he was, hed fought like a seasoned warrior ever since, holding at bay those who sought to encroach on Rivaux lands after the old count died.

Guy was silent, his mind troubled by the task before him. Finally his eyes met Williams, and he shook his head. If I would not have come, hed have sent Belesme.

The dread name hung between them. Young Alan involuntarily raised his hand to cross himself, while William conceded the truth of Guys words. No man, however hardened to violence and war, could want a child to fall into Robert of Belesmes hands. Gods blood, but there were no simple answers in these quarrels between the Conquerors sons. William spat again. Aye, but I doubt Lord Roger will see it that way, my lord. And what are we to do with a small girl when theres an army to be raised?

It was a question that Guy had asked himself over and over without answer. Hed no wish to be nursemaid, not even to one of the greatest little heiresses in Normandy. At nineteen, hed a far greater taste for fighting than for shepherding a child to Rouen. Aloud he answered simply, We take her to Curthose, and then we call up my levies.

But theres no time.

We leave in the morning, press on to Lisieux by nightfall, and have her in Rouen in the duchesss care in three days.

Three days? Sweet Jesu, but we travel fast. Alan whistled softly, shaking his head. Can the child keep the pace?

Shell have to. Guy squinted into the bright sky, noting that the sun had reached its zenith already. We waste time we do not have. Clicking his reins, he nudged his horse forward. Have the approach sounded.

As a boy in Rivauxs red livery pulled out of line to raise his horn to his lips, William reminded his master again, Youd best wear your helm e disappointmentffont-size: re we get into archers range.

Raise Normandys standard above mine! Guy shouted down his line before turning to his captain. Naytis hot, and I would have Lady Eleanor know I come in peace.

Some peace, William snorted. We are come to take a child hostage so that her father will not fight against Curthose, when tis more like that twill guarantee he will.