by Smith, Skye
Raynar did not correct him. It was easier to continue with the Edgar's man mistruth that Henry had used to explain why it was he that gave Edith away at her wedding. "Then you did not come to England with Robert to fight Henry. You were not at Alton."
"I came with Robert. He promised to restore my fathers lands in England to me. Now Henry promises the same. As I have told them both, what happens in Normandy always effects Boulogne. Normandy sneezes and we catch cold. When Robert asked me to come, I could not refuse." Eustace rode in silence for a ways. "I think that Mary and I would be a good match. How can I gain your approval?"
"You do not need my approval for this match, nor Edith's, nor Henry's. You need Mary's. She is younger than Edith but is not so innocent as Edith was. She fled the convent four years ago and has been living a bit wild ever since. I doubt she is a virgin like Edith was, but then, I doubt you care about that so long as she is not now with child."
Raynar slowed his horse so that they would not catch up to Robert. He had some wise words for this count. "Mary has never known a father's love. Margaret's youngest children, Edith, Mary, and David were sent by her with me to get them to safety away from a dangerous Scotland. I took them to Margaret's sister Cristina, and the safety of her convent Ramsey, umm, which is actually quite close to here. Some say the children were hostages. If you go slowly with Mary and perhaps try to father her rather than bed her, then you may, just may, win her approval."
"That is better advice than Robert gave me. His suggestion was betrothal by rape in front of witnesses. He offered to help," Eustace said this in Flemish so that Robert would not hear. "Why is it that Robert's barons have warned me against your company, and yet I find you charming. They say that you would have killed Robert and the rest of us at Alton when we came to claim the crown from Henry. Is that true?"
"Our bowmen had you in a classic archer trap. One signal, one toot of a horn, and most of the warlords of Normandy would have been slaughtered. It is true. I would have given that signal, whether Henry had ordered it or not. For that reason I refused to take command of his archers. The more I am around Robert and his crusaders, however, the more I regret my decision." He had responded in fluent Flemish and chuckled at the look Eustace gave his words, or perhaps it was due to his unexpected fluency. Flemish and English shared much as they were both North Sea languages.
Eustace switched to French so as not to be rude now that they were in Robert's company again. "So why is everyone so eager to have Mary married off and out of the palace. Is she a shrew?"
"The opposite." replied Raynar in French. "She is quick to laugh and quicker to smile. She is a delight. A beautiful, graceful, healthy, energetic delight. If you can win her over, they you have won a prize worthy of Fate's dice."
"That tells me much but does not answer the question," complained Eustace.
"The answer lies not with Mary, but with Henry. Edith does not want Henry lying with Mary. To love one of the sisters is to love them both. Edith is with child again, so Henry will soon be quenching his lust with his mistresses. Edith must be haunted by questions like: How long can Henry resist bedding Mary? Will he want them both together? How long can Mary resist him? Will she resist him?"
Robert, now listening to the chatter of the two men, laughed aloud. Henry had been the youngest of his brothers, and while the older brothers grew up in the company of warriors to be trained as kings and generals, Henry had grown up in the company of Bishops and court women to be trained for the church. He seduced women like a courtier, rather than took them like a warrior.
"Ahhh. That explains it all," said Eustace. "So that is why my father's old honors have been offered back to me. Even if Mary were a fishwife I would be a fool not to wed her to gain such estates. It will make trade between Boulogne and England expand and will increase everyone's earnings. What is more, Mary will be able to live on either side of the Manche and thus, visit with her sister at her whim."
Robert must have been feeling his aches, as he had slowed, or perhaps he slowed just to enjoy the gossip. "So Henry is matching my offer of your father's estates from '66, then. You are a fool to delay taking Mary in front of witnesses. It would be the fastest way to secure the offer."
"Not such a fool as to do it without her pleasure." Raynar reached into his quiver and handed Eustace a bodkin arrow and told him to take a good look at the point. "Edgar put both his nieces under my protection," he lied. It had been his darling Margaret who had done that when she laid with him. "The sisters know that I am sworn to them. I will give you the same warning that I gave Henry when he wed Edith. If you abuse her, then your fate will be decided by an arrow like this one."
"You see Robert," said Eustace as he passed the armour piercing arrow to him. "I must wed the girl before I bed her."
"I did not say that," chuckled Raynar, "I only warned not to do it without her permission. She must invite you."
Robert looked hard at the heavy point. "I begin to understand how my father and my brother Rufus lost so many lords in England, despite spending so much on the latest in armour." He spoke to Eustace but was looking at Raynar.
"Where the law does not protect the folk," said Raynar. "Where the law is twisted to be unfair to the poor. In those places the Hoodsmen's arrows protect the folk. It has been so for thirty years. When he was crowned, Henry showed his wisdom in restoring Knut's in-common laws and the moot courts, for since that day there have been very few land lords dropped by arrows."
"Bah, fewer dropped because Henry has recruited the bowmen into his army," argued Robert. "so they are no longer living in the forest and watching over the folk."
Raynar controlled his temper and spoke as smoothly and sweetly as he could, "True he has recruited many bowmen, but he has given a general amnesty to all of them. All over the kingdom, outlaws are becoming farmers and craftsmen again. Henry's pardon and his Charter of Liberties is bringing peace back to this kingdom, but the land lords well know that the hoodsmen still have their bows. There are lords in this kingdom who are still afraid to ride alone on their own land. Mortain, the Earl of Cornwall, for instance."
They reached a wider cartway and all three could now ride abreast. Raynar rode in the middle, so he could speak easily to either noble. "Robert, the hoodsmen have ranged for thirty years. Henry has recruited the sons, but the old fathers are still dangerous. Back at the hunt, if you had killed that lad with my bow, do you think you would have survived the hunt? Nay, the father would have allowed the boars to have you. You would have outlived the lad by an hour, no more."
"This kingdom is upside down, and Henry is making it worse by allowing more liberties. Have the people no fear of killing nobles? Do they not fear God's retribution for killing His chosen ones?" Robert crossed himself in the way of a Crusader.
Again Raynar had to hold his words while he soften his tongue. "Sometimes they do think twice before killing a priest, but only because priests are usually not armed. The folk of this kingdom have been ravaged by a plague of Romanized priests. They see your God as the god of a desert land far away, and do not believe that his magic works here in this kingdom of rain. Otherwise why would they be plagued by these corrupt priests."
"That is sacrilege. Your words are an abomination." Now it was Robert whose voice was angry. "It is not for the folk to understand the ways of the priests that do God's work. Churchmen live in a wider world. They have their reasons. They have their orders. They are pious men."
"Like your uncle, the Bishop Odo?" asked Raynar. Eustace laughed aloud. It was a mistake. Normans hate being laughed at more than anything else, and it always made them fighting mad.
Robert steamed to himself at the laughter at his expense. "I forgive your insults to my family only because today you saved me from a boar," seethed Robert. "but don't tax my patience more, bowman. I am a royal and you are a peasant, and you forget your place too often!"
"I am the man with your saddle," replied Raynar, "and here is the lodge where you can exchange the verderer
's horse for one more fitting of a Duke." He hurried his horse ahead into the hunting lodge's compound to ask the help of the men that came out to meet them.
They sent out a cart to collect the day's hunt, and had a more fitting horse saddled for the Duke. Raynar asked Robert to delay mounting his new steed for a few moments while he spoke to the cook. He returned with kitchen maids carrying food and ale and sheepskins. The sheepskins were thrown over Robert's saddle to cushion his raw bruises. Raynar boosted Robert into the saddle and the rest of the Duke's men mounted with them and set off for Winchester.
Gossip was sparse until they reached the first cartway where Raynar and Eustace could again ride side by side. Eustace spoke first. "If I wed Mary, I will regain my family's honors in Kent and in London. It will allow me to build storage for my trade goods while they wait for ships."
"What ships do you use. Frisian cogs or some other type?" asked Raynar.
"We use cogs, but we build them ourselves. Our latest have rudders rather than steering oars," replied Eustace.
"And how are they manned. Are there many oarsmen?"
"Some, perhaps a dozen, but not like the old days. We mostly sail now, as the ships are too tall to row. If we need to row we launch a landing boat and tow the cog."
"And for defense against pirates?" asked Raynar.
"We carry archers and slingers," replied Eustace.
"When you have your honor in London, I suggest that you recruit English bowmen as the oarsmen. It takes but one voyage to train someone to the oars, but years to train a good bowman. You would need a smaller crew and you would be safer having the range of Welsh bows on your castle, than you do with arbalesters."
Eustace rode a while before answering. "I like it. Are you from London? Can you arrange a sample crew for me?"
"I can, and more." Raynar knew young bowmen who would jump at the opportunity. "It seems to me that though Henry and Edith would have approved of Mary's bride price, the selection of the honors in Dover and London sound more like the work of the man who is reorganizing the Treasury. He would have understood their importance to your trade in an instant. If you wish to expand your trade to England, you should meet with him first. When I am in London he is a neighbour and we often share wine."
"Then I will beg leave of the court and travel with you to London," Eustace offered. "Be warned that they may not give me that leave as I am supposed to be courting Mary."
"Then we will take Mary with us," replied Raynar. "Yes, I can arrange that with the queen. I am sworn to her protection so I will not be denied her company. Edith will favour the suggestion as it will remove Mary from Henry's company, and it will put her in your company away from the distractions of the court and the courtiers, and their prying eyes and gossip."
"You sound like a matchmaker. I have never had a wife before. Have you ever had a wife?" asked Eustace happily. There was no answer, so he looked around at Raynar. He had turned quite pale in color and had a far away look to his eyes.
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The Hoodsman - Ely Wakes by Skye Smith
Chapter 4 - An Angel dies near Peterburgh in May 1070
Anske was sore and exhausted. She had ridden long and hard sitting squashed to the front of the saddle and without stirrups. She was beyond caring that the pig she rode with was exploring her body with his hands and rubbing his erection against her. All she wanted to do was get off this damn horse.
These men seemed to have been looking for a manor house, but had yet to find it. What did they expect in the pitch black at a time of roving bands of outlaws and warriors. No sane man would show a light from his house.
Eventually they stopped at a farmer's abandoned summer hut. A hut used by the farm hands so they could keep watch on their herds or on the crows. As soon as her feet hit the ground she began to run, but the pig kicked out at her back and she fell forward onto the ground. She was dragged into the hut and thrown onto some old straw bedding that smelled of goat.
"That horse of yours is finished. It will be dead by morning," said the sergeant to another man. "I have a candle. I'm going to light it. You three wander about outside and make sure that no light is showing through the walls."
When they came back they told the sergeant that there was no light to speak of. They sat in a circle around the candle stub and pulled food from their bags. "Stay outside, you," ordered the sergeant of the last man left outside, "you've pulled the first watch because you haven't been in the candle's light yet."
The man groaned but stayed outside. "Pass me some food then," he grumbled.
They ate their fill. The ransom had included enough food for a week and they ate two days worth now. "This cheese would not have kept in this heat anyway," mumbled the youngest of them.
The youngest, still in his teens, offered cheese to Anske and she said thank you before she chewed it and savoured the saltiness. The first of the ale skins was passed around and they forced her to drink double what they did. At first she complied, but later she pantomimed but drank nothing.
"Let's fuck her," said one of the men looking at her, "if we don't do her soon we'll fall asleep."
"But she is a hostage," said the youngest.
"And we could be dead tomorrow because of her," explained the sergeant. "I need to do her. I've been bouncing her against me for fifteen miles. "
"Who goes first?"
"You'd better all go before me," growled the sergeant. "Once I'm through with her she won't be much use to the rest of you. She poked a hole in my ass with an arrow, and I plan on paying her back in kind."
Anske shuddered. She did not understand much French but their tone had the same meaning in any language. They were all going to have her and the pig wanted to go last. She kept telling herself that servicing all these men was work no harder than a whore did every night. It would not bother her, she would not let it bother her.
She was a strong and lusty Frisian woman. In her youth she had twice done two men at once, simply out of a lust for the high from the continuous sex. Doing four would just be more work. If only the pig wasn't one of them. She was sure that he wanted something more than sex, and whatever he wanted would hurt her. Fear took away her enjoyment of the cheese.
The refugee women who she had helped at Selby last winter had told her tales of men like this. The Norman army seemed to be filled with them. Men that had no morals, no sense of right or wrong, no compassion, and felt no guilt afterwards. Men that could not live in villages because eventually they would do something so horrible, so devilish, that the villagers would kill them. The army was filled with them, because they could hide their own twisted violence in general violence that followed armies.
Thinking about what might happen to her, what they could do to her, was foolish. Stick to the here and now. Stick to the facts. Give herself a goal to keep herself going. She was already carrying Raynar's child so their seed was nothing more to her than if it were thick soup.
If she could get one of the younger men to feel protective towards her, or if she could keep the three younger ones going for as long as possible, then she could delay the pig's turn. A delay was all she could hope fore. A delay to give Raynar time to find her. Delay, delay, delay. Whatever they did to her, she must please them, but slow them down, delay, delay, delay.
She waited while they drank more ale and decided that she must make it so the youngest one had the first turn. Wanting to get it over with, she began to reach towards him, but then she scolded herself and pulled back. No. Not yet. Be patient. Wait for them to make the first move.
The youngest looked at her with heavy ale eyes. He crawled over to her and put a hand on her breast. She pushed it away. He put it back. She played coy for as long as she could but then he was tired of playing and pushed her down and held her down while he pulled at her skirts.
"No, no, no" she said. She pushed him off her to the laughter of the other men and then she pantomimed squatting to relieve herself. She was motioned to go outside a
nd they yelled out for the watcher to keep an eye on her. The watcher took no chances. He held her arm in his iron grip while she peed. When she couldn't pretend to pee any more, he dragged her back to the hut and pushed her inside.
She didn't know what the others had been saying to him, but as soon as she got inside the youngster was on her. She pushed him off again and undid the red scarf from her neck. She motioned to the ale skin and doused the scarf in ale. Then she motioned to the youngster to take off his clothes so that she could wash his parts. Delay, delay, delay.
He knelt in front of her with his cock at attention while she washed it in ale. As his turn was to be last, the pig relieved the watch. All three of the young men kneeled naked in front of her and she washed and caressed each of them in turn, over an over. Delay, delay, delay. The problem was that they were all getting uncontrollably horny. It would delay everything best if she could do them one at a time, not all at once. She pushed two of them away and motioned that it was the youngster's turn. He agreed with her, so the others backed away and draped their cloaks around their shoulders to stay warm. Delay.
She caressed him one too many times and she saw the signs and grabbed the cock and pointed it away from her. Lads were alwasy so ready with so much. The other men moaned from watching, and then laughed at the mess on the far wall. Delay.
And so it went for hours. They each had her. Delay. They each had her again. Delay. And again. Delay. They all enjoyed themselves and had not raised a hand to her for any reason other than a caress. Delay. She remembered from her youthful threesome how she and the two men had been exhausted at the same time. One woman was the equal to two men. Three was just a bit too much. She was always busy. With three they had enough time to rest and then grow hard again. The cycle seemed endless. She could not imagine how busy she would have been with four.
