Rose Victory - Eagle Series

by Eagle Lady

  “You are a brave boy, undoubtedly another trait inherited from your father.” The king smiled down at Aguilus. “You have my deepest gratitude for saving my daughter’s life.”

  “Your daughter?” Aguilus looked in total incomprehension at the young page, who cheekily stuck his tongue out at him.

  “Yes, my youngest child and more trouble than all the others put together.” Irritated affection laced Henry’s voice. “Come here Elizabeth and thank Aguilus for saving you.”

  The girl approached her father cautiously until she stood beside him. “Thank you, boy,” she muttered, pulling a face at Aguilus.

  “Not very gracious, but then seven year olds are not renowned for their manners.” The king pulled Elizabeth’s skull cap off and laid a firm hand on her shoulder. “We will speak of this little escapade later.”

  Aguilus’ jaw dropped as the girl’s inky black, curly hair fell to well below her waist. How could she have hidden all that hair under that small cap? He looked back up at her face, where bright, grey eyes, identical to her father’s, grinned mischievously back at him. The girl seemed undaunted by the king’s threat and amused by the squire’s reaction to her hair.

  Aguilus could not help it. He grinned back at her, he liked her. It seemed as if something dropped into place inside him. He could not explain it but he wanted to be her friend.

  “Take Princess Elizabeth back to her ladies-in-waiting,” the king ordered the nearest soldier, a hint of impatience in his voice.

  Aguilus watched with regret as the girl walked away. He would probably never see her again, the thought saddened him inexplicably.

  “How is it that Mountroi never mentioned his son to me?” More than a hint of displeasure suffused Henry’s voice. “How old is he?”

  “He is nine, but we only discovered the boy’s existence a few weeks ago, Your Majesty,” Sir Stefan pointed out quickly. “That is precisely the reason why Roydon came to court; to acquaint you with the news.”

  “Ah, his personal reasons,” Henry started to put things together in his mind. Could this be why the earl had refused to marry? He could not chance to produce a legitimate heir if he wanted this boy to inherit. But surely he knew that to be impossible?

  Henry narrowed his gaze on Sir Stefan. “What did the earl really come here for?”

  Stefan hesitated; he glanced at Aguilus then at Sir Ivan. “Ivan, escort Aguilus back to our chambers,” he paused, “and this time keep him there,” he added with unconcealed irritation.

  Ivan blushed, a dull red tide covering his face at the reprimand, but waited silently for the squire to join him.

  Aguilus however still had something to ask the king and he refused to leave until he had had his say. “My father has done nothing wrong,” the squire addressed the king. He tried to remain calm but a note of belligerence crept into his tone, as hands on hips, he continued. “Why have you locked him up?”

  Everyone stared at Aguilus in horror except the king, who just stared at him impassively and held up a hand when Sir Stefan made to reprimand him. “Your father has been locked up because he refuses to obey me, his king, and like you, his courtesy to his liege is beyond lacking.”

  “Are you going to lock me up too?” Henry actually heard a note of eagerness in the squire’s voice. “Can you lock me up with him?”

  The king looked at Stefan in disbelief. “Is the boy trying to get me to lock him up?”

  “I don’t doubt it, Sire. Aguilus is loyal to a fault and he misses his father. But enough of this!” Stefan turned to the boy, his face stern. “Apologise to His Majesty at once. Your father would be ashamed of you if he heard you speak to the king in such a manner.”

  All antagonism seeped out of Aguilus at the knight’s words. He had failed to think before he had spoken and now he had shamed his father. Bowing his head the squire fell to his knees before the king. “I am sorry, Your Majesty. I did not mean to… I just felt angry and…” The boy’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Are you going to hurt my father, Sire?”

  A grim look came over the king’s face. “Not if he comes to his senses and bends to my will. Now go, I need to speak with Sir Stefan.”

  The boy’s eyes widened in alarm, “You are going to arrest Uncle Stefan too…Sire?”

  “Uncle?” Henry raised an eyebrow at the knight.

  “Only an honorific, Sire”

  “I see…no. I am not going to arrest anyone. Now go before I change my mind.” The king watched as the boy reluctantly followed Sir Ivan down the aisle between the stalls. The squire held his head proudly; nevertheless Henry had seen worry and fear in his golden eyes.

  “Proud, stubborn, loyal and courageous; a good man to have by your side one day.”

  “Aye, Sire, just like his father,” Sir Stefan dared to remind the king.

  Henry’s cold gaze slashed across him in reprimand. “I know what Mountroi is.” Then he turned and called out to Aguilus, he even advanced a few paces to meet the running boy. “Can you keep a secret, boy?” he asked leaning forward and speaking softly, for the boy’s ears only. “You have done me a great service today and you deserve to know that no harm will come to your father from my hand. I will return him to you very soon.”

  Aguilus looked up at the king. His face remained solemn but his eyes, now free of anxiety, sparkled golden in the late afternoon sun filtering through the high windows. “Thank you, Sire. I will tell no one, I promise.” There was complete trust and a pledge of loyalty in the squire’s voice.

  As Aguilus walked away and left the stable the king felt as if he had made an ally for life. Even in character the boy seemed to take after his father. Henry turned to beckon Sir Stefan to him, “Can you answer my question now, Sir Stefan? Why did your lord come to court?”

  Stefan hesitated, “It’s not my place to say, Sire.”

  “Damn it! Am I surrounded by obstinate fools?” Henry glared up at the knight. “Answer me!” he ordered through gritted teeth. “It’s the boy, isn’t it?”

  Stefan nodded. The king had probably guessed already and it wasn’t a secret. “Roydon wants you to make Aguilus his legitimate heir.”

  “Good Lord!” Henry had been expecting something like this but it still surprised him. “That’s impossible, even I cannot do that. The boy is a bastard.”

  “I know, Sire.” Stefan shook his head in regret. “But Roy has his heart set on it. He came prepared to beg Your Majesty to concede his request.”

  The earl of Eagle Rock who had never even asked for anything, much less begged, had been prepared to swallow his pride for the sake of his son. Never in all his years of service to the crown, to him, had Eagle taken anything in return and now it came to this. Henry focused on the knight before him, watching him closely. “Is this the reason why Mountroi would refuse to marry?”

  “Marry, Sire?” Stefan fell back a step, surprise and alarm flared for a moment in his eyes and then a blank look removed all expression from his face. “I know not, Your Majesty.”

  But the king had seen enough and he tired of this farce, besides time was running out. “What your lord wants is impossible. I have a treaty to sign which requires the earl of Eagle Rock to marry a bride of my choosing. If your lord continues to refuse, then I will be obliged to strip him of his title and his lands.

  “God knows I do not want to do this.” Real regret and frustration could be heard in the king’s voice but it remained firm and steady. “An earl of Eagle Rock will marry the princess, be it your lord or not.”

  This time Stefan could not disguise his alarm, he didn’t even attempt it. “You would take his earldom, his lands?”

  “With deep regret, Sir Stefan, but doubt not that I would do it if he forces me to. I will have that alliance.” The king’s voice came across hard, cold and totally convincing. Henry had no doubt that the knight believed him, yet he bluffed. He had been sincere when he had told the boy that he would not harm his father. He would try to get his way by all means possible but he would stop short o
f debasing his most loyal earl.

  “I feel that I have an ally in you Sir Stefan,” Henry continued. “I know Mountroi has no valid reason to deny me, or he would have informed me of it in no uncertain terms. As his friend convince him of the merits of this marriage,” the king paused letting his message sink in. “And of the disadvantages, should he choose to oppose me.”

  Stefan nodded stiffly, his eyes now clearly condemning his callous and ungrateful monarch. After all the service and loyalty that Roydon had given this man, this was the thanks he got! Yet a little voice in his head argued that what the king offered would be considered a great honour by most men. “Have I your leave to see him?” Both his words and the tone of his voice came across curt and discourteous.

  Henry raised an eyebrow but made no comment. “You will be allowed to see him. However I will require a decision from the earl by tomorrow morning.” The king’s voice, flat and determined, strongly suggested that there be no further discussion on the matter.

  Stefan nodded again, but refrained from speaking. Anger boiled inside him at both the king, for trying to force his friend and at Roydon for being so stubborn and obstinate in refusing the honour the king conferred on him. All this for a woman he had seen but once ten years ago.

  “Escort Sir Stefan to the River Tower and inform the guards that he has my permission to visit with the earl.” Henry turned away from his bodyguard to regard the knight. “Do you need your wound seen to before you go to your lord?”

  Stefan glanced at the forgotten cut on his left arm, which he had previously bandaged with a cloth. The wound seemed to have stopped bleeding, though the white cloth was partially tainted a dull red. “Nay, it’s only a scratch, Sire.” Stefan tried to swallow his anger. “I would like to see Roydon now.”

  “As you wish,” Henry nodded at the soldier beside him. “Escort him to the earl of Eagle Rock.”

  Chapter Nine

  Roydon had been pacing for hours. He had been here three days, yet it seemed like weeks since he had arrived at the Tower. Angrily he flung himself on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

  A ceiling whose cracks and spots he had counted a hundred times already in an effort to remain sane, in an effort to stop his thoughts from going round and round in circles. If he could only stop thinking for a moment! Restlessly the earl got up from the bed and started pacing again in the small area available. His chamber…his cell was not uncomfortable. The bed, although a bit small for his stature, was adequate and supplied with blankets. A brazier at the foot of the bed kept the small room warm and rushes covered the cold stone floor. A tiny table, a chair and a stool made up the rest of the furnishings.

  Even a bath had been brought to him the first night he had spent here. And some of his clothes, those had also been brought, which made Roydon think that he might be here a long time. The room had no windows, so he could only tell of the passing of time by the arrival of his meals. The soldiers who brought him his food also kept him supplied with candles and water for washing and shaving.

  It was a comfortable prison, but a prison none the less. He had tried talking to the soldiers but there had been no response. Apart from that first night when the man had whispered, ‘Your son is fine, my lord’, he had heard no other voice but his own. His jailers treated him with respect and obliged him in any small request he made, like supplying him with parchment and writing implements, to try and distract himself.

  The first evening here he had been too devastated, too impotently angry at the king to think straight. That fate had again conspired to force the same decision on him; to marry or lose Eagle Rock, seemed unbelievable, unreal.

  The second day, he had truly thought that Henry would relent when he realized that Roydon would not back down. The king would be incensed with him but he would find someone else to marry the princess. His liege had a soft spot for him; he had always served loyally and without reserve. Henry would not take his title, his lands.

  But today, as the day had slowly crawled by, his certainty had waned with the setting sun. He no longer felt sure of the king’s intentions. Henry was a strong and determined ruler, it was why Roydon respected and admired him, why he had put his life at risk so many times for him. Henry had brought peace, stability and prosperity to his country. Being the man he was Henry was entirely capable of sacrificing one of his earls, in spite of himself, for the good of his country.

  The thought called into question his own loyalty. Did his failure to comply with the king’s wishes show disloyalty? Surely not, it was a marriage he refused to take part in, not a battle. Someone else could easily take his place, yet the thought persisted and he knew deep down that he was incapable of ultimately defying his liege lord, even if no threat were involved.

  Then the reason why he refused the king’s command would start tormenting him. Was he a fool to wait for his Eagle Lady? A fool to expect her to appear after ten years? His mind said yes, yet his heart would not abandon hope. One day she would return, she had promised him.

  But to what would she return? If Henry did strip him of his lands, he would have no home, no mountain. And then there was Aguilus. What would become of his son?

  Roydon sat on his bed again, his pounding head cradled in his hands. He had come full circle in his thoughts, again. He needed a distraction, anything to stop his thoughts, if only for a moment.

  A knock at the door brought the earl surging to his feet. He straightened his clothing and settled a calm and serious expression on his face. The knock probably heralded the arrival of his jailor with his evening meal, but a welcome distraction for all that. The man always knocked and then waited for leave to enter, for which small courtesy Roydon was grateful. It gave him a sense of control, false though he knew it to be.

  “Enter!”

  The soldier jailor came in, but he had no platter of food in his hands, instead a small smile creased his normally expressionless face. “You have a visitor, my lord.”

  For a moment the words did not register, that the guard actually spoke distracted him, then the words hit and the reserved, closed look on his face cracked. An eager smile and the increase in his heartbeat demonstrated just how desperately he needed companionship, someone to talk to. How much he missed Ivan’s quiet presence and Stefan’s challenging conversations and inane sense of humour. But most of all he missed his son’s constant chatter, his never ending questions, his presence.

  Roydon got a grip on himself, he nodded gravely, the smile now only a slight tilting of his lips. “Then by all means, show him in. A little conversation would be welcome.” Welcome! Ha! He starved for outside information and it had only been three days. Did this mean that the king had relented?

  The soldier’s smile widened at the earl’s obvious pleasure in being allowed a visitor. He had done what he could, within his orders, to make the nobleman’s stay as comfortable as possible. The earl of Eagle Rock was a legend to most soldiers. He didn’t know why the king had imprisoned him here but it wasn’t right. “Ah, here he is.” The man moved out of the doorway. “Sir Stefan, my lord.”

  The knight strode into the chamber. A frown appeared on his face as he looked at the earl and then slowly surveyed the room. “And here I thought they were keeping you in a damp, empty cell.” A grin threatened to break through Stefan’s fake scowl as he looked back at his friend. “Do you know how difficult it is to get to see you?”

  “It’s good to see you too, Stefan,” Roydon grabbed his friend’s right arm in greeting.

  The knight dropped all pretence as he heard the door close behind him and the bolt slammed home. “How are you, Roy? You look exhausted.”

  “I am fine. Just haven’t been sleeping well.” The earl’s pallid countenance and the dark shadows under his eyes certainly gave testimony to the fact. “How is Aguilus?”

  “He is well, none the worse after the incident, but he misses…” Stefan damned his loose tongue when he saw the alarm flare in his friend’s eyes.

  “What incident?” th
e earl snapped.

  “The boy is fine, Roy, truly. He just had a…a little confrontation with your horse.” Stefan tried to diffuse the fear that rose in Roydon’s eyes.

  “How?” The earl demanded gripping the back of the chair that stood beside him.

  Stefan saw no reason not to tell, the boy had come out unharmed after all. “He jumped into Black’s stall in an attempt to…”

  “He jumped into my warhorse’s stall!” The earl’s anger exploded across the small room and Stefan nearly ducked in reaction. Roydon had really lost it this time; his hand actually crunched through and splintered the wood in his hand. “And where were you, while my son stood in mortal danger?”

  Sir Stefan blanched and fell back a step. Even though he knew it to be his friend’s fear and anger that spoke, still the accusation of neglect hurt.

  Roydon realised the unfairness and cruelty of his words the moment they spilled from his lips, but it was too late to call them back. The anger drained out of him. “Stefan, forgive me. I did not mean that. Truly it was my anger speaking. My impotence at being unable to protect him, that spoke.” The earl laid a hand, nicked and cut from the chair’s splinters, on his friend’s shoulder. “Please, forgive me. I know you would protect Aguilus with your life. You love him as I do.”

  Stefan nodded curtly and relaxed. “There is nothing to forgive. But you are definitely going to have to do something about that temper of yours before it gets you into trouble.”

  Roydon smiled ruefully. “Henry said the same thing.”

  “You lost your temper with the king?” Stefan shook his head incredulously at his friend. “But to answer your question,” he continued ignoring Roydon’s attempt to stop him. “At the time Aguilus was jumping into Black’s stall, or shortly before that, I was on my knees in front of the king with two swords at my throat and a pike through my arm. I was trying to get Henry’s attention.” Now it was Stefan who smiled ruefully at the earl. “I got it too!”