Child of the Phoenix. Barbara Erskine
this worship of ancient gods and spirits in his lands?’
‘I don’t think he knows.’
‘Who told Einion that you could see the future, Eleyne?’
‘Rhonwen.’ It was scarcely more than a whisper.
XIII
‘I should like you to return to Wales, madam.’ John’s lips were tight.
Rhonwen stared at him, her body growing cold. ‘Why, my lord? Have I displeased you in some way?’ Her eyes were challenging.
‘I consider you to be an unwholesome influence, Lady Rhonwen, on my wife.’ Humping his cloak higher on his shoulders, John paced up and down behind the long table. ‘You have deliberately introduced her to practices contrary to our Christian faith.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘Heretical practices which I will not condone under my roof.’
‘No.’ Rhonwen refused to meet his eye. ‘That is not true.’
He swung to face her. ‘Are you saying that my wife is a liar?’
‘What did she say?’ Rhonwen looked at him defiantly. She was pleating her fingers into the rich blue silk of her skirt. She could feel the perspiration cold between her shoulder blades.
‘She said you encouraged her to go to this bard of her father’s, Einion Gweledydd, who –’ he stammered in his anger – ‘who initiated her in some way – ’
‘He was helping her, did she tell you that?’ Swiftly her courage returned. She leaned forward and put her hands flat on the table between them. ‘Did she tell you about her dreams? Did she tell you about the visions which possess her? Did she tell you how they tear her apart?’ She waited, her eyes on his.
‘She told me she saw the death of Sir William de Braose long before it happened,’ he said thoughtfully.
She narrowed her eyes. ‘She told you that?’
‘Yes, Lady Rhonwen.’ Looking up quickly, he saw her expression. ‘You look aghast. Did you not think she would confide in me, her husband? Perhaps you are not as indispensable to her as you hoped?’ His voice was harsh now. ‘She will have no more visions, Lady Rhonwen. I shall see to that. Please be ready to leave by the end of the week.’
‘No!’ The whispered denial was anguished.
He ignored it, and strode towards the door. ‘By the end of the week, madam,’ he repeated curtly.
She stood exactly where she was for several minutes after he had gone, staring round the empty room. From outside the deep embrasured windows she could hear the pure liquid trill of a blackbird. Behind it, in the distance, the call of the cuckoo echoed across the flat levels of the Nene. The room itself was silent. Her mouth had gone dry. She could feel a cold knot of fear in her stomach. This man had the power to tear her from Eleyne. He had the power to send her away.
Why had Eleyne betrayed her? Slowly, heavily, she went to the door.
Eleyne was nowhere to be found. With a snap of impatience Rhonwen made her way down the long winding stair which led from her solar into the great hall at the heart of the castle and then out into the courtyard.
Inevitably she was in the stables, watching a two-day-old colt staggering stiff-legged beside its dam as the pair were led out to the pasture.
Dressed in yet more new rich clothes, this time a kirtle of deep green over a saffron gown, the girl smiled at Rhonwen. Already she seemed older, more confident, more independent. Behind her Luned too was brilliantly dressed, and it was she who noticed the grim set of Rhonwen’s features and faded hastily into the background.
‘Why did you tell him?’ Rhonwen caught Eleyne’s arm. ‘Why?’
Nearby two stable boys turned to stare.
‘You broke your sacred oath!’ Her voice though quiet was vibrating with anger.
Eleyne flushed guiltily. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I think you know.’ Rhonwen almost shook her.
‘I had to talk to someone …’
‘You had to talk to someone!’ Rhonwen echoed furiously. ‘Why not me? Why did you not talk to me?’
The child’s crimson cheeks drained of colour. ‘I don’t know why.’
‘Not only did you tell him – Lord Huntingdon – about the hanging, you told him about Einion; about the most secret things …’
‘I didn’t tell him everything.’ Eleyne turned to face her, wrenching her arm from Rhonwen’s grasp. ‘Anyway, I am supposed to tell him things. He is my husband!’ There was defiance in her voice now. ‘I am growing up, Rhonwen. I don’t have to do everything you say.’
Rhonwen stared. What had happened to her? Could it be that he had already claimed her for his wife; seduced her away and she, Rhonwen, had not even guessed? ‘I thought you loved me, Eleyne,’ she whispered.
‘I do –’ The child stared at her stiffly then, relenting, threw herself towards Rhonwen and gave her a hug. ‘I do love you. Of course I do.’
Rhonwen folded her arms around the girl’s slight body, overwhelmed by her feelings of love and protectiveness. ‘He is sending me away,’ she murmured into the white coif which covered Eleyne’s braided hair. As a married woman her hair was no longer permitted to tumble down her back. ‘He is sending me away.’
Eleyne pulled out of her arms and looked up at her. ‘I won’t let him send you away, Rhonwen,’ she said with astonishingly adult composure. ‘I promise. I won’t let John send you away.’ It was the first time she had used his Christian name out loud.
He listened, half amused, half irritated by Eleyne’s pleas, but he remained adamant. Rhonwen had to go. He had been shocked and outraged by Eleyne’s confessions, and the full weight of his anger, horror and distrust was directed at her nurse.
‘Please, my lord. Please!’ In her anguish Rhonwen sought him out and threw herself on her knees at his feet the evening before she was due to leave. ‘Let me stay! Eleyne can’t live without me. We’ve never been separated, never, since the day she was born. Please. For the child’s sake. You can’t do this to her. You can’t.’
‘It is for the child’s sake I am doing it, madam,’ John said gravely. ‘To bring her safely back to Christ. She has Luned and the others to keep her company and she has her husband. You will leave at dawn tomorrow, Lady Rhonwen, as arranged.’
XIV
Her eyes filled with tears, Eleyne turned from the gates and ran blindly across the courtyard, leaving her husband staring after her. After her anguished farewells, Rhonwen’s horse had turned north on to the road outside and she was already lost to sight among the trees. Behind her the gates closed. John smiled. For the first time in many weeks he at last felt safe, and the realisation shocked him. Had the woman’s influence been that malevolent? He was about to follow Eleyne when he stopped and shook his head. Give her some time alone, then he would speak to her.
Ignoring the men and women who stared after her Eleyne ran up the stairs and into the keep. Tears poured down her cheeks as she fled across the lower chamber and began to climb to the topmost storeys of the great tower. There were empty chambers there, places where nobody ever seemed to come, places where she could be alone and no one would see her grief.
Pushing open a door, she peered into a cold empty room. Ten years before it had been the bedchamber of Lord Albemarle who held the castle for a time while John, when he was a boy, still lived with his uncle at Chester. Now it was deserted, the bed frame dusty, the hangings long gone. John preferred to have his rooms above the newly built gatehouse. Hers were in the south tower behind the great hall, overlooking the river.