Star of Mercia Part 9

Hardly had the Queen left the room than s.e.xwolf, her neglected favourite, sprang out upon her; and bitterly he upbraided her, raging, expostulating, pleading, outside the very door of King Offa's cabinet.

"Hold thy tongue, young man!" said she loudly, in her stateliest tones; and she swept from before him into the hall, where some were setting out the evening meal.

It was a hot evening, even sultry. They opened the doors, and such windows as had swinging frames, and the red glow of sunset shone in upon them for a brief hour. Though few of their court were to be present, they decked themselves that night in their full finery.

Cynerith, clad in wine-purple, was as handsome, seen by twilight, as she had ever been in the days of her prime. Eadburh, in green and crimson, was gorgeous and blatant. Ethelfrith wore white, exquisitely embroidered with silver and gold.

Star of Mercia was she indeed that night. Eadburh seemed a burning brazier by contrast; Cynerith a painted shrew. No more was the Lady Ethelfrith silent; merry words flowed from her lips; time and again her laughter rippled out, soft and joyous. King Offa began, as was his custom, to talk of his wars, and of the stupendous d.y.k.e, boundary between his dominions and the lands of the wild Welsh, which the March folk, at his bidding, had dug in the sweat of their brows; but he soon hushed his voice, and listened proudly while his youngest-born told of her new-found pleasure in hunting, dancing, and friendly company. Even the Atheling, a stalwart, somewhat sullen youth, was seen once or twice to smile.

They brought her cither, and she sang them all her store of songs, with an art and confidence of which none had ever thought her capable. King Ethelbert applauded her and cast fond looks upon her, and at the end of every ditty he prayed her for more.

By and by, when the light faded and the torches were kindled, Offa the King began to yawn, and to doze in his chair. The Queen then conversed apart with Ethelbert. She bore herself meekly towards him, was innocent and child-like in manner and speech. Presently Offa awoke. His wife was beside him, bearing a br.i.m.m.i.n.g tumbler.

"What--what--sweetheart?" said he.

"It is mine own brew that thou lovest so well," Cynerith replied. She waited while he drank, and noted how the potion increased his drowsiness.

"Husband," she whispered, "I have sure proof that it is even as I guessed. He will go hence upon the morrow, leaving us pledges which he hath no mind to fulfil. Then will he stir up the men of his own kingdom, without doubt, hoping to take thee defenceless in thine old age. The hour is ripe, Offa my King! Shall he live to work our undoing?"

"I shall be nithing in the eyes of all men," murmured Offa.

"Lo, no man shall know how the end did come about," said the Queen. "I, thy wife, will be thy handmaid in this as in all things, aye, and bear the blame, if blame be to follow. Trust in me. O son of Woden, it profiteth not a man to spare his enemies. Hereafter shall thy sway reach from the hills of Wales even unto the eastern sea."

And Offa nodded his head.

She took another cup in her hand, and beckoned to Ethelbert, who rose to meet her midmost in the hall.

"We will talk together of the wedding day," said she. "The King leaves all such business unto me." Then they drank to one another, very gravely, where they stood.

Eadburh, sitting by her sister, nudged her, with sneering lips.

"Let us now to bed, children," cried Cynerith.

"I trow we are all full weary, even as our lord the King."

As she pa.s.sed out, she said in the ear of a trusted servant: "Gymbert, be ready against I need thee!"

Edric the seneschal stayed behind, searching the floor and the tables for property mislaid, smothering the torches himself with meticulous care. He heard a light step brush across the strewn rushes. Ethelfrith stood before him, darkly cloaked and hooded.

"My little hare was ailing this evening," said she. "I might not find thee, Edric, though I sought. But even now he is better than I could earlier have hoped."

"I will go see him early to-morrow," said Edric, "if ye do think he will live through this night." He was a man of few words.

"He will live through the night.... Edric, I have no wish to sleep. I have thoughts and fears which break through my rest.... And then ...

Eadburh said ... at least I do fancy that she meant to say...."

"Her tongue wags ever too fast," Edric rejoined. "Well, lady, what said she?"

"It was of my lord King Ethelbert she spake.... I am sorely troubled.

Meseemeth that the Queen and King Ethelbert love each other not, or mayhap.... And there is strife between my mother and s.e.xwolf.... I hate Eadburh!" cried Ethelfrith. "G.o.d forgive me!" she added, horrified.

Surprise and interest went far to conquer Edric's wonted reserve. The little princess irked him usually; but now--yes, and formerly throughout that evening--she showed signs of a spirit that he had never suspected to exist in her.

"Listen, lady," said he. "King Ethelbert should go his ways, taking you with him. He loveth you dearly, as all may see. Here hath he been three weeks, and is no nearer the settlement of that which brought him hither. Ye are scarce even a moment together. This is a drear betrothal."

"Alack! how can I help?" said she. "Can a maid beg a man to wed her?"

"And fret not yourself too greatly over what Queen Eadburh may say or do. Her mind is evil, and all that she looketh upon doth take on for her the same ill hue."

"O Edric, good Edric, dear Edric, say to me that all must be well! My heart sinks within me. Tell me--tell me truly whether my father's court be fair and clean, as I have heretofore dreamed it to be!"

Edric turned away his face, and began to poke, with the staff which he always carried, in the rushes beneath a little table standing under one of the windows. A faint clink resounded. He stooped and picked up a small, finely-wrought key with a handle curiously bent.

"That is my mother's wry-necked key!" exclaimed Ethelfrith. "Great store sets she by it. Thou knowest she weareth it ever upon the chain at her waist."

"She leant much upon the board this evening, playing at chess with Ethelbert," said the old man, "Belike it was rubbed loose, or the chain broke."

"It openeth the garden door of the chamber, built down into the earth, beneath the Queen's bedroom," the Lady continued. "I have never been within, nor hath any that I have heard of. But Gymbert may go sometimes: he hath another key like unto this. Once, one of the maids did whisper.... But I will not believe it!"

"Neither have I ever seen into that chamber," said Edric the seneschal; and both together they uttered the same words:

"This night spake she into the ear of Gymbert, even as she left the hall!"

"O child, be strong!" said Edric. He stopped and coughed. "There would be no harm," he ventured, "in learning to be strong."

They were both silent for a little while. Then "Take thou the Queen's key, Ethelfrith Offa's daughter," said he. "She shall deem it utterly lost. It may serve thee at need."

She slipped it into her bosom, and went softly from the room.

"G.o.d's blood! thou sorry young fool!" cried Offa's wife. "Is this all I must hear from thee--I, who have done thee so much honour? By the Fiend! thou art right hardy! Thinkest indeed that the man who scorneth me shall have my daughter? I am no loser, and Offa and I, we shall share thy kingdom!"

She stamped her foot three times, and scarcely had she done so when a part of the floor of her bedchamber began quickly to descend, and Ethelbert King of the East Angles, who stood upon that part, sank with it out of sight.

There followed one or two cries, fierce, but m.u.f.fled almost to extinction, and a thud.

The Queen put her face to the opening, and called, "Gymbert, is all done?"

There was no reply. She bent low to listen. Then a piercing sound a.s.sailed her ears--the voice of a woman, shrieking again and again, with gruesome, mechanical regularity.

Another moment, and Cynerith had reached the garden. The outer door of this wing, her private door, was open. Upon the threshold stood her youngest daughter, in night-rail and hooded cloak.

Gymbert the Queen's thrall rushed at the Lady Ethelfrith, and tried to take hold of her. She fought and beat him off, and tottered, shrieking still, though more faintly, sobbing and moaning, down the few steep steps and towards the middle of the room, where lay a shapeless ma.s.s from which a pool of crimson was spreading slowly. A flickering lantern swung from a hook upon the wall.

Others arrived upon the scene. First came old Edric; then Eadburh, with her ma.s.s of tawny hair about her face; then Offa, muttering hoa.r.s.ely; and all the inhabitants of the palace thronged to learn what had befallen.

Ethelfrith was seated upon the ground, holding Ethelbert's dissevered head in her arms, and she rocked herself to and fro, and chanted in a far-away tone.

"Under the leaves, under the leaves, There saw I maidens seven!"