by Smith, Skye
"That is perhaps how it started," she replied carefully as she put her things back in her bag, "but it went far past that point. Fulk still has rape in his leer."
Fulk shrugged his shoulder, "I am a man. You are a woman. You are pretty and well-shaped, and few courtly women are willing to use their tongue on a man. Under French law you would share in the blame for your rape," he stated.
"No," she growled at him, "under French law the blame would be all mine, for you see, I am a mere peasant while you are a noble." He snickered and his gaze turned again to a leer. "Do not even think it," she said evenly, "if you had succeeded you would not see another sunrise before a horrible vengeance would smite you."
"Believe her, Fulk," said Philippe as he pushed himself to standing. "She knows the secret of pig shit." He laughed aloud.
At the mocking, Gesa's face went red in anger and she said something she instantly regretted. "The bowmen I ride with are led by Raynar of the Peaks. In England he is renown for feeding rapists their own cocks."
The smile dropped from the king's face. "That name again, Fulk. Raynar, Raynar, Raynar. In every dispatch from Flanders they warn us of him. Girl, you say he is here in the palace?"
"Don't soil yourself, sire. If he wanted you dead he would not have spared you at Cassel," she said and again immediately regretted for her brash words.
"Leave us woman," said Fulk in a sudden temper.
"Not before I say what I came to say," she said and moved closer to Philippe. She softened her tone "Philippe, your bride is a true virgin. I have taught her some courtesan ways, but she has no experience of men. Be gentle with her the first few times. Very gentle. She has saved it so long that she lusts to be with a man. If you do not hurt her in the beginning then that lust will be your reward."
"And if I am not gentle?"
She mouthed the words pig shit, without saying them.
When she was gone, Fulk laughed aloud. "You are marrying the wrong woman, Philippe. Think of the sons that woman would give you. She is formidable, she is a beauty, and I'd wager my county that she is wild in bed. My God, she rides better than me, she fights dirtier than me, and she holds her ground to men," and then more softly, "and to kings."
"I don't need to marry her to have sons by her," Philippe mused, "For now, let her be Bertha's guard and confidant. It will keep her in Paris."
"If you don't marry her then I will," replied Fulk. "I will win her heart while she is at court and then take her with me back to Anjou."
"You have made a good start then," Philippe replied wryly, "by trying to rape her across her king's dinner table. Besides, your wife Ermengarde may not approve, and her Bourbon kin will certainly not. As for returning to Anjou, we will discuss that once all of my counts have arrived for the wedding. The reports from Maine have my council worried, and your absence from there is making things worse."
"Philippe, I have been staying away so that when I return I can be the decider and the hero, so that whoever is made Count will bend a knee to me."
"Well, the Manseaux are tired of waiting for you to make a decision. They do not want Garisende's son Hugh, and they do not want the Conqueror's son Robert. They have decided to make Le Mans a commune and Maine a commonwealth. Where do these peasants get these insane ideas that they can rule themselves as freemen and without nobles?"
"Why, from the Flems and Frisians on your northern borders and from the D'Oc on your southern borders. The Manseaux burghers trade with the south where the main market towns have always been communes."
"It was a rhetorical question, Fulk. We need a weak count in Maine, which is Hugh. Robert would be a disaster for me as that would widen the Conqueror's hold on my kingdom, but even he would be more acceptable to my other counts than a commune. A commune. If that idea spreads through my kingdom it could bring the demise of our God given feudal rights."
"What would you have me do, Philippe? I cannot become Count in Maine unless the lords ask it. If I side with Hugh, the Manseaux will rebel. If I take no sides, the Conqueror will prevail, and will slaughter all the freemen that are pressing for the commune in the same way that he slaughtered the freemen of Yorkshire."
The king sighed. "Perhaps they should be slaughtered. Communes indeed, in France, never. This dangerous idea that peasants should stand tall and make their own decisions must not be allowed to spread." He paused to think. "This is why we must keep this vixen Gesa in Paris. She may be useful. If young Robert becomes Count, then I will receive him here to take his oath, and then pay Gesa handsomely to hold him here, and not return to Caen."
"Lucky bastard," said Fulk longingly, "I wonder though, if Gesa would do it for pay." He laughed aloud at a thought and then spoke it. "Forbid her his company, and she will seduce him for free just to spite you. Ah, to be seduced by such as her."
"She has already seduced us both," whispered Philippe, "or hadn't you noticed?."
"These bowmen of hers vex me. What of this bowman, Raynar?" asked Fulk, "As I recall, your spies called him the king of the wolves. They say that in battle he and his men are a danger to all knights, and therefore doubly dangerous to you."
"If he is the man who stopped my march to Cassel, then he is more than dangerous to knights, he is deadly. He is another of these fucking peasants who think themselves equal to those of noble blood." Philippe pawed at some paper on his desk and pulled one out and read for a while. "He has fled England for sanctuary in Flanders with Count Robert, as has Edgar, but the spies say that neither have sworn to Robert as yet."
He pawed at papers again, and reread some lines, mouthing the words slowly. "Our treaty with Robert states that we must at least double the garrison at Montreuil. Nowhere does it say that we must use French warriors to do this. I would love to see the Conqueror's face if he suddenly had a major fortress on his northern border manned with vengeful English." They both laughed at the brilliance of the plan. Now they had a good strategy to discuss with the other counts.
Fulk bowed to leave him, so he could search for the other two women. He wondered if he could bed them both tonight. Philippe called out after him, "Remember Fulk, you stay away from Gesa. She could be useful to me and I will not have her name linked to yours."
"No, Philippe, don't give her away. We could share her," replied Fulk.
"Whatever I decide, you will protect her for me, but you will leave her be," and then in a commanding voice, "understand? You will leave her be."
"As you wish, Sire, for now. Meanwhile should I fetch those other two back?"
"Why?" Philippe replied while finally sniffing the putrefaction on the cloth, "they are dregs in comparison to Gesa. Spoiled rich girls whom we cannot deflower without paying a great price to their fathers. I will take them after they marry."
"And Gesa's bowmen," Fulk asked, "do you want them locked up or locked out?"
"Ha, Fulk! I do believe you are nervous that perhaps you went too far with her, and she may set them on you," Philippe scoffed. "Bah, she played us both well, and left us wanting more. Pass the word that the bowmen are to be treated well, and may roam freely. After all, they are my new best allies, at least until the Conqueror is forced to stop his harrowings."
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The Hoodsman - Courtesans and Exiles by Skye Smith
Chapter 22 - Captain of a ship again in the Thames in January 1102
Mary came over to the tiller and hooked her arm into Raynar's and spoke loudly into his ear so he could hear her words over the roar of the wind. "Ray, you are enjoying this far too much!" That is all she could say before the ship lurched down the back side of the next wave and the resulting freezing spray took her breath away.
He pulled her around him so that she could hold on to the tiller and then wrapped his arms around her to warm her and to steady her against the rolling of the deck. "Do you feel it, Mary? Do you feel the power of the wind and the sea in that tiller? A ship in the wind and waves is a live thing." He pushed at her and the tiller as the ship r
ode up the side of the next wave.
"You must stop these waves," she called to him, though his ear was barely a foot away. "Eustace is getting seasick, and it would not be seemly for him to show such weakness in front of his men." They both looked down amidships where the count had himself pressed up against a post and looked quite green in the face.
"Oye," Raynar called to the beefy tillerman rocking on his legs on the other side of the tiller. "Are we close enough to Shoeburgh Ness for the final tack into the river?"
"Aye, should be," he yelled back against the wind. "The tide is with us."
"Right lass," Raynar said into her ear. "Yell this to the men. 'Prepare to come about'."
"Prepare to come about!" yelled Mary at the top of her lungs. The wind blew her words away, but other men close by heard them and yelled them forward through the ship. Two men carried a long oar forward and then lashed it down over the gunnels there.
"That is the bow sweep to help the ship make a fast turn so we don't get broadsided by a wave. Those men over there are getting ready to adjust the sheets. I think they are all ready now, so now you must wait until the ship crests the next wave. Wait for it! Now, push that tiller hard, push it girl! "
The ship began its turn as it ran down the wave and then the bow hit the rise of the next wave, the men on the sweep pulled hard on it, and the ship was around. Now men were hauling lines, tightening and loosening as the boom and sail readjusted itself.
"Now allow her to turn too far," he told her. The wind seemed quieter now, so it was easier to speak. "The oversteer makes it easier for the men to adjust the lines. Now bring her back a little, a little more. There, now keep her on that course towards that first head of land on the south bank of the Thames. By the time we get there, the wind and the current will have pushed us into the middle of the river. Ships under sail walk sideways like a dog."
The tillerman had been helping her with the tiller from the other side, and now she smiled at him and mouthed her thanks. He let go of the tiller and unthinking, clapped her hard on her shoulder in congratulations. She almost lost hold of the tiller with the force of his hand, but Ray steadied her, and the tillerman went all apologetic and sheepish. A bear being sheepish just added to her smiles, and she turned forward again and looked down to find Eustace.
The new course took them between the waves, and though it seemed calmer, the ship had taken on a wallowing motion that had not improved her husband’s color. At least now he could stand at the gunnels looking away from the wind without being swept overboard by a rogue wave.
Raynar felt absolutely wonderful. The feeling of the ship under him. The expanse of waves alive all around. The fresh wind reddening his face. A good woman in his arms, and a company of young men at his command. Life did not get better than this.
Eustace was making his way aft, hand over hand along the gunnels. He climbed the steps to the small aft castle and came to stand beside his wife. She shot him a wide smile, but he didn't return it. Instead he looked around for a safe place to hang his head over the stern and then he retched. Luckily the wind took it away from them.
Raynar passed him an ale skin, and Eustace put it to his lips, but could not take a swig. The smell of it was bringing back the nausea. The tillerman left his post to Mary, and brought him a cup of water from the water barrel that the oarsmen used. This he could keep down.
"We'll be in calmer waters soon," the tillerman assured him.
"If I live so long," Eustace grimaced. The tillerman spoke true. Within minutes the waves were no longer being blown over by the wind, and were rolling rather than standing up. He began to feel better, and went and fetched the next cup of water for himself.
Mary gave Eustace the tiller, in hopes that the constant attention it required would keep his mind off his nausea. Being on the tiller meant you had to keep your eyes on the horizon, which also helped.
"Captain Raynar," Eustace said with a suddenly clear head, "Captain Henryk tells me that my father died owing you a great debt for the peace and the wealth of Boulogne. The peace that allowed my brothers to stay in the Holy Land."
"What are you talking about, dear?" said Mary coming closer to him in case he was delirious.
"He is thanking me for what your uncle Edgar and his English exiles did at Montreuil-sur-Mer," replied Raynar. "When your husband was just a lad, that place was a nest of pirates and raiders, mostly Normans, and they were a plague on Boulogne and Flanders. A constant threat to keep Boulogne in its place as an ally to Normandy. A constant threat to keep Flemish ships from venturing too far south through the Straits of Dover."
"Henryk also says that you were never properly thanked by my father," Eustace continued. "In truth, quite the contrary. I have thought about it, and I have decided that the most fitting gift of thanks would be one of my ships. At this suggestion, Henryk pointed out that the last thing you need is another ship. I therefore give you all of my ships." The tillerman's cough made him realize that these words had a somewhat different meaning in English. "I mean to say that you are welcome at any time to use any of my ships."
"Well, that is very generous of you, Eustace, but your captains may think differently." Raynar was giving Eustace a curious look, as if he too thought the count delirious.
"No, I mean it," said Eustace as he pulled on the tiller to correct the ship's heading slightly. "I will tell all of my captains if you ever have need of a ship, that they are to loan you theirs, and of course, go with you." He expected at least a smile back from the elderly captain, but the man was staring behind them towards the open sea, and Flanders, and he had gone very, very quiet.
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The Hoodsman - Courtesans and Exiles by Skye Smith
Chapter 23 - Rousting raiders in Montreuil sur Mer in October 1072
They were finally approaching Montreuil. Edgar was armed with an assortment of letters of authority signed and sealed by Philippe, King of France. Some gave him command of Montreuil, and of the borders with both Normandy and Boulogne. Some gave him command of the port and of the ships berthed there. Some gave him the authority to recruit English exiles from Scotland, and bowmen from England, and to charter ships from Robert of Flanders.
With Edgar rode most of the exiles that had accompanied him to Flanders. They would be the errant knights of the fortress. With him also was the mounted wolfpack that Raynar had taken to Paris, but minus Raynar. Raynar had made directly for Oudenburg to fetch three full wolfpacks of bowmen who, once the fortress was in order, would range along Montreuil's borders with Normandy and Boulogne and bring grief to any armed men crossing that border without permission.
Riding with Edgar was Count Robert of Flanders, who had just supervised the replacement of the Flemish garrison at Corbie with a French one. He was leading that same Flemish garrison in support of Edgar to ensure that the current castellan of Montreuil obeyed Philippe’s orders to hand over the fortress into Edgar's care.
Count Robert was reveling in his own good fortune. Once Montreuil was handed over to the English exiles, he would lead his Flemish garrison from Corbie back to Brugge by way of Calais, and put a scare into Count Eustace of Boulogne to make him realize that his alliance with William of Normandy was finished.
Count Eustace had become too cozy with William since he had won honors in the invasion of England in '66, and since he had used the civil war in Flanders as reason to mislay his prior commitments to Flanders and to France. Robert and Philippe hoped that a visit by the Corbie garrison might remind Eustace of his long-term allegiances. If not, then the next time he tried to cross through Corbie or Montreuil to visit Normandy, he would be reminded in a more forceful way.
Most critical to the success of all of these missions was their escort of French knights led by Count Fulk of Anjou. Fulk, who had earned the name Le Rechin (The Shark), was an Angevin hero amongst French knights, and his presence legitimized Edgar's claims more than any Latin scribbles on scrolls. Fulk, of course, was along under du
ress. He had not wanted to come, and indeed Philippe had refused when Edgar first asked for the loan of Fulk.
Fulk was only here now because of Gesa. One night at the palace just before the endless celebrations of the marriage slowed down and everyone left for home, Raynar had complained to Gesa that Philippe would not order Fulk to escort Edgar. That night she sexually teased Fulk so intensely that he mauled her bodily in full view of a number of courtiers. It took less than an hour for Philippe to hear of it, and but moments more to order Fulk away from Paris and to Montreuil.
The small army now marching towards Montreuil had been taking their time, to allow Raynar time enough to fetch the other wolfpacks from Flanders. The army would keep their distance from the great fortress until either Raynar arrived, or they were discovered.
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Raynar traveled towards Brugge with Prince Canute of Denmark and his escort. Canute was turning north away from the Brugge road at Lille. They rested a full day at Lille due to a torrential rain storm, and it was there that they spoke at length about Montreuil.
It was Canute who suggested to Raynar that he not bother with horses for the three wolfpacks, but instead load the men onto ships and make a swift passage down the coast past Calais and to the three usable harbours that were close to Montreuil.
"Those three coves are storm holes where raiders gather to spend the winter months. They will be gathering there now. Montreuil is supposedly French," Canute continued in Danish, "but the castellan runs it like his own business and allows shelter to the pirates in exchange for a share of their plunder."
Canute must have had a nasty thought about the pirates, because he crossed himself to ask for forgiveness for such a sin. "The pirates, of course, are wise enough to give free passage to Normandy's ships because otherwise the Norman fleet would arrive one day, and slaughter them."
