Enchantress Mine (11 page)

“If Edward dies before I can reach England then you are to hold Aelfleah against all, swearing fealty only to William of Normandy. I am Thegn of Aelfleah, and those are my wishes, Brand.”

“Yes, father! Like you I cannot stomach the idea of a Godwin upon the throne! I will never pledge my loyalty to them!
Never!
”

Aldwine smiled at his son’s youthful fervor, and then he cautioned, “Never, Brand, declare never. If you had to choose between swearing to Earl Harold and losing Aelfleah, I would certainly expect that you would swear. These lands are our life’s blood, my son. We held them first in the days of Aethelwulf, and each generation has carefully husbanded them, some even adding to them so that today this manor is twice the size it originally was. We are one of the oldest families in Mercia.

“Godwin’s family have gained too much power over the years. Particularly since they married their daughter to the king. They are overproud. I will not forget how they slighted our Earl Leofric’s good wife, your grandmother’s cousin, the Lady Godiva. Her ride through Coventry was a Christian act, and she was as brave as any man in battle for doing it.”

“Did she
really
ride naked?” demanded Mairin with all the indelicate curiosity of a twelve-year-old.

“Yes,” said Eada, taking up the story, “she did. I was no older than you at the time. She was a beautiful woman, but it was not just beauty she possessed. She had beauty of soul, and a good heart. Remember that, my daughter. A fair face will benefit you little in the end if your soul is black, and your heart hard.”

“Like the lady Blanche,” said Mairin softly.

“Yes,” agreed Eada. “Like the lady Blanche. Oh, dearest child, I had hoped those memories would have faded by this time.”

“I will never forget Blanche de St. Brieuc,” said Mairin coldly, but then her eyes lightened, and she smiled at her foster mother sweetly. “Pray, lady, continue with your story of the gracious Godiva.”

Eada sighed, and took up her tale. “Earl Leofric had imposed a tax upon Coventry that the lady Godiva considered unjust. When she complained to her husband demanding he rescind the tax, he refused. The lady Godiva was not a woman to be denied so she continued to badger her lord on the matter. Finally in a burst of temper the earl said carelessly that he would indeed remove the tax from the citizens of Coventry on the day that his wife rode naked through the streets of that town!

“He did not, of course, expect her to do such a thing, and considered the matter closed. I am told that the lady Godiva smiled most sweetly at her husband, and then to Earl Leofric’s horror she took up his challenge. Having said it, he could not then take back his words, and naturally was most chagrined.”

“Why could he not take back his words?” demanded Mairin.

“Do you not have your pride, my daughter?” Eada asked gently.

“Aye!”

“Well so do men, perhaps even more than women,” replied Eada, “for a woman like a young willow sapling knows how to bend with the breeze, and retreat before a stronger force. A man rarely does.”

Aldwine smiled in amusement at his wife’s statement. His eyes twinkled, but he wisely held his tongue as Eada continued on with her story.

Learning of the sacrifice the lady Godiva intended to make for the people of Coventry, the women of her family living nearby came to aid their kinswoman. The good people of Coventry, hearing of what their lady intended to do in their behalf, retreated to their houses, closing their shutters out of respect to her upon that fateful day.

“The earl, now shamed by his own actions, placed her himself upon a snow-white palfrey. She was as naked as the day God had brought her into this world with only her dark red hair—the same color as mine, and how proud I have always been of that fact—to shield her nudity. I remember my child’s heart swelling with pride that I could be related by blood to such a beautiful, brave, and noble woman as the lady Godiva.

“The gates of Earl Leofric’s stronghold were opened by the earl. He would allow none of his own men in the courtyard that day. Three nuns, all cousins of ours, escorted the lady Godiva; one on either side of her horse to lead it, and the third who went before to ring a bell warning of their lady’s approach.

“And the people of Coventry remained behind their shutters saying their beads for the lady Godiva until they could no longer hear the sound of the bells that were rung not only by the nun who led the procession, but by every church within the town’s walls. One rogue dared to violate the lady Godiva’s goodness. He was a blacksmith’s apprentice named Tom. The wretch paid dearly for his transgression, however, for the smith took hot coals from his forge and put out both the wicked creature’s eyes. From that day forth the blinded beast was known as Peeping Tom.”

“And Earl Godwin made mock of Earl Leofric’s wife, mother?”

“Aye, Mairin, he did. Peeping Tom was driven from Coventry by the citizens of the town. Earl Godwin’s men found him wandering. They brought him to their master who kept the rude fellow to amuse his guests. Over and over again the tale was told. With each telling it was embroidered upon until both the lady Godiva and her husband were made to seem the fools for their actions.

“The story was not allowed to die for years because of Godwin and his family. They were unable to understand the kindness and goodness of heart that caused the lady Godiva to make her ride. Earl Godwin made Mercia a laughingstock at court, but in the end it did him no good.

“King Edward is a saintly man. He understood the reason behind the lady Godiva’s ride. He honored Earl Leofric, and listened to his wise counsel. Had he not, we Mercians might have totally lost our influence at court. For a time the king even banished Earl Godwin from England, but alas he returned the year before he died, and his influence was stronger than ever. It was because of the king’s kindness that your father swore his fealty first to King Edward. Earl Leofric’s wish before he died and his son, Earl Aelfgar, inherited was that to thank the king for his kindness to the lady Godiva, some of his thegns would swear their first loyalty to Edward. Then to his son.”

Eada smiled somewhat ruefully. “That is why,” she continued, “the king knows your father and why we are now bound for Byzantium. Still, my lord, I should rather be with you than without you. How strange that in my old age I, who have never traveled in my entire lifetime, am now fated to leave my home. Do you realize, Mairin, that even you have seen more of the world in your few years than I have seen in my thirty-six years? I know that I shall be afraid of the sea.”

“We will not travel a great distance by sea, my love,” Aldwine reassured his wife. “Most of our journey will be upon land, but it will not be an easy journey. None of the other members of the delegation will be taking their families. You must travel as we would travel. It will be necessary for you to leave your women behind for I cannot bring carts and all manner of fripperies. We must cross various mountain ranges on horseback before the snows of late autumn come. There will be a few comforts, but little danger, as we will be well protected by a contingent of young men who go to join the emperor’s personal guard in Constantinople. I am only sorry that Brand cannot be with us.”

His words made Eada’s head reel for she could not imagine any world other than her own familiar one and Brand was like her in that he found it difficult to picture that which he could not see. Yet she knew that other worlds existed, and it occurred to her that they were as safe and familiar to their inhabitants as Aelfleah was to her.

Contrary to his father’s sorrow at having to leave him behind, Brand was not a bit regretful. If he never left England it would not matter a whit to him. He loved his lands, his horses, his dogs, and his falcon. When a wife was chosen for him he would do his best to love her and the children they produced. Unlike his father he was a true Anglo-Saxon. Aldwine Athelsbeorn took more after his Norman grandmother. He was curious about things that did not really concern him.

Mairin was also excited by the prospect of travel. She had only recently begun to learn Byzantium’s history, and now she badgered her tutor to teach her everything about this fabled remnant of the once mighty Roman Empire. Brother Bayhard willingly complied. He was going to miss teaching Mairin, and although Aldwine Athelsbeorn had found him another position with a family whose manor was just over the Wye, Brother Bayhard knew he would never have another pupil like Mairin. He cherished their last days together.

Mairin had been at Aelfleah six years. In all that time she had never left the security of the manor. Her whole life it seemed was bound up in this place with its hills and fertile fields, the river, and
The Forest.
Her memories of Brittany had been softened by the passage of time until Aelfleah’s world became the only reality for her. She loved the manor and its valley, but best of all she loved
The Forest,
and so it was difficult to say good-bye to her little realm.

It was a warm and sunny afternoon when she made her last visit to
The Forest.
The creatures had long since learned she was no enemy, and did not hide from her. She knew certain of the doe by their markings, and she had named them and their fawns. There was a particularly beautiful fox vixen she had healed several years prior. Now each year the dainty creature proudly displayed her kits to Mairin. Mairin loved the playful balls of fur with their needle sharp little teeth. Mairin would miss them all.

Brand bid his family farewell and Godspeed on the day of their departure. There was a lump in his throat, for he was of an age that considered tears a sign of weakness in a man. He would not show such public weakness before those whose safekeeping had been given over into his hands.

Brother Bayhard was not of so hearty a constitution. He wept noisily and copiously when Mairin impulsively kissed his cheek in sweet adieu. Eada and her women wept too while the horses shuffled their feet nervously at the irritating sound. Aldwine debated whether to speak harshly to his wife so they might get under way, or let her have her moment. There was but one female servant going with them, a pert young woman named Nara. She rolled her eyes comically at all the commotion which caused Mairin, who was eager for their departure, to giggle. Nara looked over at the young girl and winked.

Aldwine smiled, and spoke firmly to Eada. She sniffled, but before her tears might begin anew she was boosted into her saddle by a nearby servant. The Thegn of Aelfleah quickly signaled the start of their journey, and they were on their way. Dagda sidled his horse up next to his young mistress as they rode through the gate of the manor house, and down the dirt road across the Aldford.

Reaching the other side of the small river Mairin stopped for a moment looking back at Aelfleah.

“It is not like Landerneau, Dagda, is it?” she said quietly. “I know we shall return to Aelfleah.”

M
airin wondered afterwards if Aldwine would have taken his wife if he had known how hard the trip was to be on Eada. A voyage by sea might have been easier had the seas been calm, and the long miles between England and Constantinople might have even been covered in a shorter time. The Anglo-Saxons, however, were suspicious of covering great distances by a capricious sea when a safe land route was available to them. Consequently, as the Thegn of Aelfleah had promised his wife, they had avoided the sea as much as was possible.

It had been necessary to cross the waters separating England and Normandy, and they had done it in good time. Their party consisted of the six members of England’s trade delegation to the emperor, the three women, and a troop of fifty young men going to serve in the Imperial Guard of the emperor, Constantine X Ducas. They moved swiftly across a corner of Normandy into Ile de France, through the Kingdom of Aquitaine, and finally into the Languedoc, following roads that had been built over a thousand years earlier by the Romans.

They followed the coast east from Marseilles into various small states—Genoa, Parma, Modena, Bologna—until they embarked from Brindisi across the Adriatic Sea to Macedonia. The voyage was but a day’s journey in time and Eada’s beads never left her hands. The whole way her fingers twitched nervously up and down the strand of white coral. Each day they traveled twenty-five to thirty miles from the break of dawn until the final light faded from the sky. At first all the bright summer days seemed the same, but as they reached Macedonia each day grew visibly shorter and Eada showed strong signs of exhaustion. By the time they reached Thessalonika Aldwine realized that his wife could travel no further at such a quick pace.

Over Eada’s protests a ship was found that could take all of King Edward’s delegation the final distance to Constantinople. Accustomed to the choppy northern seas, Eada was surprised by the pleasant voyage. The ship glided across the turquoise waters of the upper Aegean Sea, through the Dardanelles, and into the Sea of Marmara. While sitting upon the deck in the bright sunshine where she was refreshed by the warm breezes, Eada’s strength returned. By the time they had reached the fabled city she was quite herself again.