The Secret Eleanor

by Cecelia Holland

  So Bernard had not made the peace as firmly as he thought. Petronilla glanced up at Eleanor and saw her sitting rigid and fierce with her hands in her lap and her gaze intent as a hawk’s on Anjou, while her husband sat stoop-shouldered there on her far side and let all this happen, passive as a mere onlooker. Petronilla turned toward Anjou again, wondering what he would do next—what he meant to win by all this bluster. The two young wolves in mail who attended him were likely his sons; one was standing still, watchful, but the other paced restlessly back and forth, as if he could not wait to get this over, or to find some new victim to pounce on.

  On Louis’s far side, Bernard in his long white cassock had remained completely still, his lanky shape craned slightly forward, his jaw set. Now abruptly he stepped in between the King and the Count, and his voice rang out.

  “Anjou! Did I not command you to set this man free? What do you mean, coming in here like this, like a pack of dogs dragging along a lamb? Unchain him, now, or this goes no further, and the ban of excommunication stays on your head.”

  Geoffrey d’Anjou took a strutting step toward him. Some of the effect of this was spoiled because Bernard was much the taller, but the Angevin Count produced a fine sneer anyway, jamming his fists against his hips.

  “By God’s balls! I told you I would come; I told you I would bring him, although I should have hanged him when I got my castle back. And so I would have, except for the Pope’s immunity decree. But now that’s over.” His head swiveled around toward Louis, sharp, like a snake striking, and his lips curled contemptuously. “Now that you’re back from your glorious Crusade.”

  Bernard’s face was taut; he moved a step to one side to put himself farther from the King, and in the rolling deep preacher’s voice that carried without shouting throughout the wide hall, he said, “I will not accept you back into the community of the faithful unless you free him, my lord Count.”

  “By God’s cock!” Anjou wheeled toward him, so that he was almost backward to Louis. He pulled back his foot and kicked the groaning lump of chains again. “I don’t care if you absolve me of the ban or not, Abbot. Why do I need to go to church? I’ve got my own bread and wine. I’ll hang him. God listen to me, I’ll hang him today, and from this puling King’s own rooftree.”

  Bernard jerked backward a step, as if the Count’s words had struck him like stones, and his hand rose to the breast of his shabby white robe. Tall and ungainly, he swayed, seeming for a moment about to fall over. Petronilla admired his ability to command every eye. Even Anjou was motionless, staring, and the man pacing back and forth behind him was the only movement in the fascinated stillness of the hall.

  Then Bernard straightened to his full height, his arms thrown out as if he himself were on the cross and his head tipped back toward heaven.

  His voice was soft, so they all had to strain their ears to hear him, and yet every word was clear. “Oh, God. To Whom alone belongs all glory and all praise. Hold back Your mighty hand, although they mock You, these creatures of Yours, who imagine themselves free, these scum, who dare take even Your holy name into their mouths and defile it thus worse even than their foul oaths and foul acts defile it.”

  As the words rolled out, his voice rose, clear in the silence; he pressed his right arm wide, as if to summon up the divine wrath, and with his left hand pointed down at Anjou, who was for once quiet, for once listening to somebody else. Even the pacing man behind him had stopped, drawn into the transfixed hush, and pulled his helmet off.

  Bernard lowered his head toward Anjou, and suddenly his eyes opened wide, his lids drawn back to uncover the startling crystalline blue blaze of his stare. Petronilla had seen this before, this stunning effect, as if God himself looked through Bernard’s eyes. Then Bernard’s voice cracked out like thunder in the silent hall.

  “Hear this, Count of Anjou. You have gone too far. Within a month, you will be dead, gone to judgment. There will be no more time to change and to repent. Listen, and hear me, because God speaks through me. Repent. Repent now, before it is too late, and hell yawns for you!”

  In the stillness the curse seemed to billow out like a poison fog. Every gaping face was aimed at Bernard and the Count. Then Petronilla felt her sister give a violent start, and she glanced at Eleanor beside her.

  Surprised, she saw that her sister wasn’t even heeding Bernard. Her gaze was aimed past Bernard, her eyes wide and bright and hot. Petronilla turned her head to follow her line of sight, and at the end of it found one of Anjou’s sons.

  The older one, the restless one, now stood stock-still, his helmet at his side. He was not heeding Bernard any more than Eleanor was. It was the sight of her that had stopped his pacing, and she who transfixed him now. He was staring back at her with such a look on his face that Petronilla caught her breath. Her gaze returned to Eleanor, who was still gazing into his eyes, and her sister smiled, as if in the whole world no one else existed save her and him.

  Petronilla reached up and gripped Eleanor’s arm, trying to draw her out of this; she thought everybody there must see what she saw in her sister’s face. Eleanor abruptly twitched her gaze away from the young Angevin and glanced down at Petronilla, but with a vague look that meant she saw her not. Then her eyes sharpened, and she smiled at Petronilla, not the same way, and reached down and took her hand and squeezed it.

  Anjou was now snarling some retort at Bernard. His voice was strident with sudden doubt. Behind him the son had begun to pace back and forth again, as if he could not bear to be still. He was not tall, but square-shouldered and barrel-chested, redheaded, with a short pale curly beard. Petronilla realized this was Henry FitzEmpress, the son who owed Louis homage for Normandy. Young in years, but not a boy. He roused a little tingle of interest in her, like a powerful animal close by. Then she thought of Ralph, and felt guilty.

  She wondered why she still kept faith with Ralph, who had broken faith with her. She lowered her head, morose. On the stool beside her, Eleanor’s face was flushed, and she was smiling as if she could not stop.

  “You can rant all you want to your milksop French,” Anjou said to Bernard. “I’m made of stronger mettle than that, you’ll find. God gave me Anjou, and He gave you only words.” But he nudged the pitiful chained man with his foot, rolling him over. “You can have this. I’m done with it.” Turning on his heel, he strode out toward the door, and his men fell in behind him, Henry was now only a broad back in a short red Angevin cloak, walking away.

  Petronilla lifted her head, startled, and glanced at Eleanor again. Her sister had stopped smiling. She sat rigid on the chair, her gaze aimed furiously at the departing men. Beside her Louis was slumped on his throne, mute and passive. Bernard still stood before them, his eyes now closed, his head bowed, his lips moving. Nobody was doing anything about this. Then Eleanor shot straight up onto her feet.

  Her voice pealed out as loud and sharp as a war trumpet, cutting across a rising hum of voices. “Count of Anjou, stop where you are! We did not give you leave to go.”

  The murmuring crowd fell abruptly silent; everybody turned toward Eleanor. In the sudden, crackling stillness, the Count spun around, red-faced, and glared at her. “What is this? Who do you think you are to command me, you harlot?”

  Around the hall people gasped, and feet shuffled and scraped on the floor, and everybody seemed to move forward a little, their eyes bright with attention. On the dais, Eleanor stood above them all, and she smiled coolly, gazing steadily at the Count. “Fine righteous piffle, indeed, from one with bastards in half the villages of Anjou. Guards, to the doors!”

  On the far side of the hall, a few men moved quickly together across the yawning double doors; among them, Petronilla saw, was Joffre de Rançun, her sister’s captain, who now planted himself square in the way out, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Anjou turned to fix his blazing look on Eleanor.

  “I have a safe conduct!”

  Eleanor pealed out a scornful laugh. “If that was a safe conduct he just gave you, I sha
ll teach a horse to climb trees. You do not turn your back on the King of France, my lord. You come here by his leave, and you do not depart his hall without it. Come here again and await his word.”

  The packed audience stood open-mouthed, silent, rapt. Petronilla was warm with pride; she cast a quick glance up at Eleanor, and then turned to watch Anjou suffer. She heard Louis whisper, “Eleanor,” chiding, and again, querulous, “Eleanor.” Thierry Galeran leaped nimbly up onto the dais and pulled on his sleeve, drawing him away. Off to the side, Bernard stood rigid, his gaunt face like a terrible mask, his gaze moving back and forth from Eleanor to Anjou. The Count of Anjou set himself, as if he would never stir again.

  “By God, I’ll do nothing at the word of a mere woman!”

  But his head turned and he looked at the door and the knights standing there; more of Louis’s men were gathering around de Rançun, and the way was well blocked. Anjou swung forward again, his face fretful with indecision.

  His son suddenly strode forward, impatient. He spoke into Anjou’s ear, and the father straightened, his face red as a cock’s comb, and nodded. Henry FitzEmpress walked calmly up before the King of France and bowed, not very deeply.

  “My lord King. I ask your leave to go.”

  “I give you leave,” Louis said, blinking. “All of you.”

  Henry wheeled and marched toward the doors. In the sudden silence the clinking of his spurs sounded loud as bells. Eleanor gathered her skirts in her hands and sat down again on her stool. Petronilla gave her another quick look and saw her watching the young lord; as he went by his father and the other Angevins, they turned around and followed him. At the doors, the wall of knights quietly broke up and moved out of their way.

  “Well,” Eleanor said, “that was certainly very interesting.”

  Bernard stepped heavily toward the dais, his eyes hooded, his jaw gripped in a frown. He spoke in a voice aimed just at her. “How shameful your name, Lady, in the dirty mouth of an Angevin.”

  Eleanor said, unguardedly, “I never heard him say my name.”

  Bernard dropped his voice softer yet. “The name of harlot, then.” He turned and walked away.

  Petronilla gave a start and went stiff with fury; she could sense Eleanor’s rage, but Eleanor said nothing. Her head turned, though, her eyes narrow, as she watched the tall storklike abbot walk out, without anybody’s leave; but he was a saint and could go where he pleased. Several of his monks followed him.

  Petronilla’s spirits plunged. She lowered her gaze to her hands in her lap. Bernard’s absolute clarity daunted her. Everything was simple to him: God, or not. He made her feel messy, scattered, indirect, and compromised. The very definition of female. She turned and looked at the front door, where the Angevins had left. The hall was all stirring, competing voices rose like the rattling of dry reeds.

  Eleanor said, under her breath, “What a muddle.”

  Louis was talking to her; he said, “You should leave such things to me, my dear, but I admire you nonetheless.” He leaned forward, looking down at the moaning chatelain in his chains on the floor. “Somebody loose this poor fellow.”

  Petronilla looked away from them both. It was indeed a muddle. Nothing was as it was supposed to be—the weakness of the King left a hole in the center, which Eleanor and Thierry Galeran and Bernard de Clairvaux fought to fill in an endless indecisive sparring match. Most of the crowd had moved up much closer now, and several people were pushing forward, shouting to the King, trying to reach him with their pleas and complaints. Thierry went out to garner the most worthy of them, or, more likely, the ones with the biggest bribes. Petronilla began to long to be somewhere else. She put her fingertips together, her head down.

  Beside her, suddenly, Eleanor spoke to Louis in a low, urgent voice. “Did you mark what just happened, sir? It’s the son we have to deal with, this Henry; he’s obviously gotten le Bel under his thumb. It’s well said the Angevins don’t let their fathers get old. We have to make him pay homage for Normandy, my lord, before this prince grows any greater and decides he doesn’t have to.”

  Petronilla looked away, tired of statecraft and trouble. Louis, who clearly felt the same, was putting Eleanor off in a weary voice—“I’ve been sick. I’m tired, I can’t think. Leave it to Thierry. Bernard will do something.” His secretary was leading forward a petitioner already babbling of his cause, a stout old nobleman who had doubtless just pressed a purse into Thierry’s hand. Eleanor shifted on the stool, restless, and she glanced constantly toward the door, after the redheaded duke of Normandy. Petronilla lowered her head; she felt ground between the millstones, meaningless and lost.

  Outside, in the courtyard, while the grooms brought their horses, Henry wheeled on his father. “I told you coming here would just get us in trouble.”

  His father handed his helmet off to someone else. “Louis is a nothing.” His eyes glittered; he combed his beard with his fingers.

  Henry said, “He is not nothing in Paris. Here he is King. You should have foreseen this. You thought you could defy him to his face, but instead you had to yield; you gave up all the edge we got when he gave up the war.” Henry moved off a little way. His father was more of an annoyance all the time. Nevertheless, he was glad they had come to Paris.

  She was magnificent, he thought, as beautiful even as rumor had it—more beautiful. And the fire in her blazed as hot as a star. Wild and proud, Duchess of Aquitaine and Queen of France, she was the finest woman he had ever seen. His balls tightened just thinking of her.

  His father said, “You bowed.”

  “I did what I had to do to get us out of there,” Henry said. He spun toward him, his hands fisted, ready to fight. “You ass, you let that monk make a fool of you.” He shot a hard look at his brother, on his father’s far side.

  The Count’s lips were pressed together, as if he held back some blistering remark. Henry stared at him until his father lowered his eyes.

  His brother cleared his throat and said, loudly, “Here are the horses.”

  The grooms were leading up their mounts and they rode out of the courtyard and down along the island. The Count had a house in Saint Germaine, across the river near the monastery. Henry was thinking of Eleanor again and he slowed his horse, falling farther behind his father, drifting backward out of the crowd, The other men rode up past him, and among them his own knight Robert de Courcy glanced at him; Henry nodded to him to stay with the Count. On the other side, his brother turned to scowl back at him. With a sharp word, Robert cantered on ahead, leading away the rest of Henry’s knights to drive the common folk off the bridge. The river smelled bad here.

  Henry said, “I’ll see you all later.”

  His brother said, “Hey.” His father glared at him, twisting in his saddle.

  “Where are you going?”

  Henry made no answer. The whole stream of horsemen had passed him now, the other Angevins riding on without him, although the Count watched, over his shoulder, until he was on the bridge. Henry trotted his horse back toward the royal palace, on the southern end of the island.

  Two

  The midday August sun was broiling the city. Back in the stifling-hot tower room Eleanor quickly shed the layers of her gown, shook her hair loose, and let her ladies slip her into a plain linen dress. Marie-Jeanne took the court clothes away to brush and air out. Petronilla seemed in a better mood than before; she sat on the floor laughing with Alys and had sent for wine and fruit and cakes. Alys had a piece of sewing in her hands, and the other women gathered around them with their own handiwork.

  Their voices rose in a henhouse cackle of gossip, all thrilled with the clash with the Angevins; chiefly they were interested in Bernard’s curse.

  “Do you think it will work?” little Claire said. Eleanor’s gaze passed briefly over her; she suspected the girl was a spy, and it annoyed her that she had to watch her tongue around her—watch more than her tongue. She turned to the window, putting her back to the other women.

  �
�Anjou is evil enough,” Petronilla said, behind her. “It’s a foul curse that sticks without some evil on the receiving end.”

  Alys retold the popular story that a long-ago Angevin count had married a demoness, who had flown out the window of the church at the Elevation of the Host, and that they all had tails, and perhaps cloven feet. Eleanor had not noticed a tail. She longed for the occasion to make sure of the feet. She climbed into the deep sill of the window and looked out. Beyond the wall of the garden below, the river ran close by; she loved to watch the birds that lived along it, swooping and diving over the slow-moving water.

  Bernard’s curse didn’t interest her. He pronounced such anathemas often, but nobody noticed unless one came true. If he could curse at will, she would be a withered crone by now. Then, maybe she was and didn’t know it yet.

  Yet she admired the white monk. He made a harsh contrast with Louis. The King was spineless. Sometimes the urge filled her to slide her arms into his sleeves and actually move his hands for him, but even that would do no good. He listened to her, but he listened to everybody, and he had no weight of his own; he floated on the air like a dandelion seed, driven by any fickle wind.

  The men around him wished her nothing good, wanted of her only an heir and her duchy Aquitaine. If by some amazing pass she bore a son, a prince of France, she would be a prisoner here the rest of her life. She saw herself disappearing, replaced by a sort of jug in human form: mother of the next king. They would likely send her into a convent, her duty done.

  Even if she stayed at court, barren, there was no such merry exciting life as she remembered her father’s court in Poitiers, forever happy, always thrilling to something new: a jongleur with torches, a preacher full of God, songs and stories never heard before, and gallant young men and beautiful clever women, brilliant wits, gardens and music and tournaments. In Paris there was only the plotting, the planning, the web of power, the game of kings, and they forbade her that.