Lord Liar Part 48

Now, however, he had overheard Turold's admission that he had done some "bold wooing," and he guessed the phrase to be Turold's euphemism for attempted rape.

How dared Turold threaten his sister with brutal retaliation for fleeing him?

G.o.drio clenched his hands into fists as he stood there, fighting the urge to leap into the clearing and bury his knife up to the hilt in the nithing's chest.

How wrong he had been, G.o.dric realized, with a sickening sense of how he had failed to help his sister. Aldyth knew she could not depend on you to come to her aid, you blind feel, and so she had done the only thing she could think of--she had run.

And she had run to the very man G.o.dric had wantl to spare her from, that licentious peac.o.c.k, Lord Ranulf. If the Norman where's words were true, Aldyth was still with Ranulf of Kingsclere. Had he already broken her heart?

Would he abandon her somewhere, pregnant and miserable?

He could not, of course, do as he wished and attack Turold while his guard was down. Even if G.o.dric's own moral code had allowed it, the king had made it very clear that fighting among the soldiers would not be tolerated. A minor offense would result in flogging for both parties, and murder would result in the ultimate penalty.

But he would have to make it clear that he would not be tolerant of any aggression against his sister. It was unfortunate, for he had enjoyed Turold's companions.h.i.+p, but he could no longer view the stocky farmer as a friend.

"Turold, what would you do if you were to find Aldyth, say, today?"

G.o.dtic asked casually, several days later. It had been difficult to find an occasion to talk privately to Turold, for after that first meeting with Desiderata, he seemed firmly in thrall with the red-haired camp follower.

She was at his side whenever Turold had no official duties, sharing their campfire and meager rations. Turold no longer shared 247 the tent that he and G.o.drio had rigged to shelter them from the weather's vagaries, apparently preferring to sleep elsewhere with his leman. But now, as they waited in front of the fortress at Pevensey, where the garrison was about to surrender to the king, G.o.dtic waited for Turold's answer.

G.o.dric saw the flash of excitement in Turold's blue eyes. "Why do you ask?

Have you seen her? Do you know where she is?"

"Nay ... nay. I was just thinking about her, you know, and wondering,"

G.o.dtic claimed.

The face Turold turned to him now was blandly wistful. "What would I do?

Why, G.o.dtic, I would welcome her with open arms, of course--if she would let me. Mayhap she would have learned the error of her ways by now. I would accept her with a humbly grateful heart and cherish her always as my wife."

Liar, thought G.o.dric. As much as he despised him now, he was going to have to stick closer than a wet sherte to Tarold so that he would be present if Turold ever found Lord Ranulf and Aldyth together.

suly if his sister was still Lord Ranulf's mistress, he would not have brought her on the march. He would have eereted her somewhere safe, perhaps in that keep of his near Winchester--Beau something, wasn't it?

But would Turold wait to find them together, or was he bold enough to attack Ranulf when the two armies joined again? If so, should he, G.o.dric, intervene? Ranulf of Kingsclere was a Norman and therefore autor an enemy of an English patriot. Moreover, he in dishonor, was that not the truth?

truth? G.o.dric pushed the helm with its jutting s forehead and rubbed his brow.

had thought before that he had possessed the final the Norn were bad and he wha good for his sister--and look what had happened as a re- suit. Could he have misjudged Lord Ranulf, just as he had been wrong about Turold of Swanlea?

Perhaps all Normans were not monsters. The earl, Ranuff's father, had always been fair to him, G.o.dric realized now--perhaps more than fair in forgiving him for his youthful hotheaded hess And G.o.dric had met good Normans on this campaign. Certainly all Englishmen were not all angels of light, either, as Turold's duplicity proved.

When he met Ranulf of Kingselere again, he would judge him through new eyes.

He would find out if Ranulf's intentions toward Aldyth were honorable and if Aldyth was happy with him. If she was, and if Ranulf dealt honorably with his sister, then G.o.drio would give them his blessing.

"Thank you, Father, we're in your debt," Ranulf said as he and Aldyth rose from where they had knelt to receive the priest's blessing after he had wed them on the porch of Strood's small parish church. He handed the English cleric a purse.

"Thank you, my son," Father Lefwin said, acknowledging the donation.

"I wish you all happiness and beautiful babes to bless your union."

Aldyth blushed. Could the priest possibly suspect that she was already with child? But no, the eyes in the beaming, cherubic face of the cleric seemed to hold nothing but genuine goodwill toward her and her Norman husband.

Aldyth was also glad she had brought at least one gown and yell from Beauworth--even this kindly priest would have been shocked to know that under the concealing couvre-chef her hair was short as a boy's!

They bid the priest goodbye and strolled down the street to the small house Ranulf had rented. They had wanted to have a night together as husband and wife before rejoining FitzHaimo and the army division at nearby Rochester.

Her husband. Ranulf was now her husband in legal fact, though she had felt wedded to him ever since the Cotentin.

But he had not been willing to wait any longer once she had shyly confessed that she had missed her fluxes--she who was normally as regular as the waxing and waning moon--and thought she might he carrying his child.

They would marry now, Ranulf had insisted. He was certain she was enceinte even if she was not, for her b.r.e.a.s.t.s had recently seemed fuller and more sensitive than before. Yes, they would marry without delay, even though it meant there would he no witnesses but the priest's housekeeper. It was now summer and this war against the rebellious Norman n.o.bles showed no signs of being over soon, so he and Aldyth could not wait for a proper wedding at Beauworth, with family present.

He loved her, Ranulf told her, and he would not have his son or daughter born outside of wedlock or just barely inside it. They would just have to have another ceremony once gained official permission from the king--if Rufus was en still on the throne at the end of this war. But they had promised themselves they would not think of wars and plots on this all-too-brief wedding night, Aldyth reminded herself as they reached the rented house, their temporary sanctuary from the world.

As soon as they were inside, Ranulf took her into his arms.

"Ah, sweetheart, you make a lovely bride," he told I#g after a kiss that had left her toes tingling and her bxeath hard to come by. His eyes echoed his admiration.

"You are lovelier, I believe, since you have been carrying my Ranulf, you silver-tongued charmer, you've only about him--or her--for a few days." But it was true that she had never felt better in her life. The babe had not, as yet, caused her to feel ill in the mornings, and perhaps she was one of the fortunate few who would not suffer any ill effects of being pregnant other than an increasing belly.

"Do you think Father Lefwin suspected, Ranulf? I mean, about the child?"

He kissed her forehead and chuckled.

"No, sweetheart. After all, I can still span your waist with my hands!" He made a jest of struggling to do so, groaning so realistically that she giggled.

"But I think that FitzHaimo may have guessed that

"Edward' should more properly be called

"Edwina,"

" Ranulf added with a grin.

"Why?"

"I don't know. It might be my imagination, but I fancy he's been looking at me strangely of late. When I asked if he minded my being absent for a day, he smiled so oddly as he told me to go ahead, for even Rufus could not get the army to Rochester in a day's time now that Pevenscy is about to fall.

But I don't think we need worry about him even if he has guessed, sweetheart.

FitzHaimo's a good man." Aldyth sighed, sensing what he would say next. He did not disappoint her.

"But we both know Turold isn't a good man, Aldyth, and unless he's been unlucky enough to have been a casualty of the rebels, he's going to be coming with the king's army. Please, love, let me keep you safe here. I'm sure I can rent this house for as long as we need it. Please say you'll stay here so that I need not fear you encountering Turold when the armies come together again."

"My love, we promised ourselves we would not discuss anything beyond our love this night," Aldyth reminded him firmly.

"I have said I would keep out of sight then, and I will. But for now, kiss me, Ranulf, and then I want you to 251 take me to bed and make love to me.

The babe has not lessened my hunger for you, thank G.o.d."

On the sands of Pevensey Bay a celebration was being held. The king's army was jubilant. Duke Robert's pirates had been turned away by a blockading fleet from the Cinque Ports.