Wheel of the Fates: Book Two of the Carolingian Chronicles
Page 37
“And your brother?”
“He refuses.” Carloman waved off Boniface’s protest. “I’ll do it alone. Nothing says we have to be united in this.”
“It would be preferable.”
“But not necessary.”
The bishop nodded. “Not necessary, but preferable.”
“When you get back to Paris, I want it announced immediately. We’ll have a coronation ceremony when I return.”
“How will you deal with Pippin?”
Carloman wasn’t sure he was ready to take Boniface into his confidence. But he was so sure he was right. “In truth, I don’t need him anymore. We’ve put down the rebellion. The church is behind me. Once I elevate the Merovingian, I will rule on his behalf. Pippin will still have his territories and I will have mine, but I alone will serve in the name of the king. I have a son to succeed me while Pippin remains childless. Who do you think the nobles will follow?”
Boniface looked surprised, but after a long moment nodded his consent.
Carloman wasn’t finished. “I also want you to baptize Trudi’s babe. I want it done before the entire citizenry before I leave.”
“Have you spoken to your sister and Odilo?”
“Odilo is in no position to object. If he refuses to attend, I’ll see him hanged.”
Again, Boniface’s face registered surprise, but he nodded. “God’s will be done.”
✽✽✽
Trudi’s face blotched red, a clear sign she was furious. Carloman braced himself for her onslaught.
“How dare you barge into our rooms to demand such a thing of Odilo?” She stood to face Carloman, leaving Odilo to sit alone at the table. “It would be one thing for him to grant you such a boon in private. It’s another to humiliate the man in front of all Bavaria.”
“It’s not a request.”
“We won’t do it.” Trudi poked her finger at his chest. It wasn’t lost on Carloman that Odilo had yet to speak. The Bavarian looked deep in thought, rubbing his hand over his chin.
Carloman turned his attention to Trudi. “You’re in no position to negotiate. He pledged his hands.”
“To Pippin, not you. And neither of us agreed to such a demand.”
“I’m afraid, I must insist. I was shocked that Pippin didn’t make your husband kiss the cross after his defeat. This is my way of correcting that mistake.”
“It will humiliate him and weaken his hold on the city.”
“I will kill him if the baby isn’t baptized.”
That shocked her into silence. Carloman could see that she looked at him as if he were a stranger. In many ways, he mused, she was right. He no longer felt like the same man. He searched for some feeling for his sister…and couldn’t find any.
“Did Pippin agree to this?” Trudi asked in a small voice.
“He doesn’t have to. He’s no longer here and I don’t care to argue the matter.”
“We won’t agree to it.”
Odilo stood. “Yes. We will. We’ll baptize the baby in the church. I will attend, and do what’s required.”
Trudi looked incredulous. “Why would you do that?”
“It’s the only way. They won the day. I no longer set the terms. If I baptize the baby, they’ll leave and I’ll remain Duc of Bavaria and can raise my child. If I don’t, our child loses his father. We’ll raise him as a Christian.”
Having what he came for, Carloman bowed to take his leave.
✽✽✽
Trudi waited until the door closed behind Carloman to turn on her husband. “Why would you agree to that?”
“If our son is to rule all of Francia one day, he’ll need to be Christian.”
Trudi’s heart skipped in her chest. “If he is to rule?”
“He will have as much right to the succession as will Drogo.”
She couldn’t believe it. Odilo had acquiesced to fight another day. He would use his son to gain power. “Carloman’s son is a grown man. He’s already a mayor. If you pit our son against Drogo, he’ll lose.”
“Just like I lost?” There was hurt in her husband’s voice. “Our son has rights.”
“Like Gripho had rights? Gripho is in prison because he tried to assert his rights.”
“Drogo isn’t immortal. If he dies, our child will be the obvious choice.”
“Unless Pippin has a son. This is exactly what Pippin warned me about! If we pit our children against each other, they will destroy each other and the kingdom.”
“Is that what Pippin wanted to discuss with you alone?”
Trudi nodded.
“Then he discussed it with the wrong person. Ruling is my job. You are only my wife.”
His words stung. She hadn’t talked to Pippin to undermine him. “Odilo, please-”
“It’s bad enough that I have to live under Carloman’s thumb, I didn't think you would join in.”
Trudi fought to keep her voice calm. “Husband, I chose you. I married you under the ash and gave you an heir. I love you. But Pippin is right. If we set our children against each other, they’ll tear each other and the kingdom apart.”
“I have a duty to protect the interests of my family.”
“Like you protected me from Theudebald?”
“At least he stood with me against Carloman!”
Trudi was stunned into silence. All the rage she had suffered roiled inside her. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came forth. Frustrated, humiliated, and angered by her impotence, she turned to go. She made it to the door before she stopped. She couldn’t walk away. In a small voice she said the words.
“He raped me.”
“What did you say?”
She rounded on him, finally able to give voice to her anger. “He held a knife to my throat and raped me. Right there on the table next to you in the great hall. While you snored from too much drink, your brother ravaged me. That night you broke down my door? That was the night of my violation. That was the night he ruined me.”
Odilo reached out for her but Trudi recoiled from his touch.
“I told you I didn’t want him in this house, but you insisted he stay. You brought him under our roof and he took your bed. You thought you could control him? He couldn’t wait to fight Carloman. He wasn’t doing it for you. He was doing it to hurt me. When you went off to fight? He came back here to kill our baby. He wanted to cut the baby from my womb. Ask anyone in the city. He shouted it in the square.”
“This can’t be true.”
Trudi let her silence weigh on him. “You know in your heart it is. You know what that man is capable of doing. You closed your eyes to his evil because it served the interests of your rebellion. You looked the other way because your ambition was stronger than your sense. You didn’t start this war because of Gripho. You started it because of your own lust for power. I begged you to find another way, knowing this would be the outcome.”
“Your family took away our power – ”
“Don’t you ever talk to me about defending your family! You know nothing of family. You never had one.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
Regensburg
The baptism was everything Carloman wanted. Crowds lined the street to catch a glimpse of the new heir. Boniface led the procession carrying the cross and a half-dozen priests blessed the crowds as they passed. At every turn, Odilo raised his son skyward and the people bellowed their support. Odilo and Trudi were presenting their new son to the population of Regensburg as a Christian. It would reinforce the church’s role at the center of Bavarian life.
No longer would Odilo use paganism to foment rebellion. No longer would he undermine his rule or his faith. He had placed soldiers along the side of the road to ensure there were no attempts at violence. But rather than the belligerence he expected, Carloman found the crowd to be surprisingly cooperative. Most of the peasants followed the soldiers’ instructions to kneel as Boniface and the procession drew before them. After the first fifty feet, the soldiers didn’t even have to demonstr
ate as the crowd could see what was expected. Many – Carloman assumed they were already Christian – made the sign of the cross on their own.
The celebration inside the church would be far less welcoming. All the remaining Bavarian nobles who survived the battle were gathered there to witness the holy rite. Carloman could understand the hostility they held for him. Many carried wounds from the battle or had lost beloved sons and husbands. Instead of celebrating the newly born Duc-in-waiting, they would greet him and the procession with silence.
Boniface and the priests mounted the steps up to the door of the church and then turned. Carloman and his knights stepped to the side, snapped to attention and turned to observe Odilo and Trudi as they advanced to Boniface. They stopped on the step below him.
“Who do you bring to the church for baptism?” Boniface demanded in a voice that carried throughout the square.
“Our son.” Odilo held the baby aloft.
“And what name do you give him?”
The crowd silenced in anticipation.
Odilo held the child aloft and proclaimed in a loud voice. “Tassilo, son of Odilo, son of Godefred.”
He handed the babe to Trudi and the crowd roared its approval. Boniface took a pinch of salt and pushed it into the babe’s mouth as Tassilo squirmed in Trudi’s grasp. The bishop then took a cluster of basil and dipped it in a bowl of holy water and splashed it over the infant, still tainted by original sin.
“I exorcise thee, unclean spirit…accursed one, damned and to be damned…in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, that thou goest out and depart from this servant of God, Tassilo, son of Odilo, son of Godefred. For God the Almighty commands thee, accursed one, He who walked upon the sea, and stretched out His right hand to Peter about to sink. Therefore, accursed devil, acknowledge thy sentence and give honor to the one living and true God: give honor to Jesus Christ His Son, and to the Holy Ghost; and depart from this servant of God, Tassilo. Because God and our Lord Jesus Christ hath vouchsafed to call him to His holy grace and benediction and to the font of Baptism.”
Carloman and his knights barked, “Amen.”
Boniface turned and led them into the church and up to the altar where they bowed and turned to take their assigned seats: Carloman and his Knights in Christ in the first pews, Odilo, Trudi, and the baby on the altar.
As Carloman turned into the pew, he bowed in greeting to the gathered Bavarian nobles. He restrained an urge to grin at their obvious anger.
As the mass wore on, Boniface wrapped up his Latin prayers and made his way to the baptismal font. He turned to Carloman.
“May we have the Bonpère? Carloman rose and joined him on the altar. Trudi and Odilo followed holding the baby. “Take the infant,” Boniface instructed. Carloman took Tassilo from Trudi’s hands and held him over the holy water. Boniface dipped his thumb in the baptismal font and made the sign of the cross on the baby. With the Bible in his left hand, he extended his right over the child’s forehead.
“Do you renounce the devil and all his angels?” Boniface asked.
“I renounce them,” Carloman and Trudi responded.
Carloman caught Boniface’s eye.
“Do you renounce all his works and his schemes?”
“I renounce them,” Trudi and Carloman replied.
“Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?”
“I do.” Again, only Trudi and Carloman responded.
Boniface held Odilo’s gaze. “You must declare it.”
Odilo looked briefly towards the congregation where the Bavarian nobility sat.
“You didn’t say I had to swear,” Odilo whispered.
“It is required.” Boniface matched his whisper.
“Just finish the ceremony. You’ve got what you want.”
With his newfound clarity, Carloman didn’t hesitate. He knew what to do to bring the pagan in line. He kept his voice low. “Say the words.”
Odilo shook his head.
Carloman lowered the baby towards the font of holy water, dipping his head into the fluid.
“Carloman!” Trudi exclaimed.
“Carloman?” This time it was Boniface
Carloman whispered to Odilo. “I am the hand of God here on earth. From this day forward, you will kneel before the cross. You will accept the holy Eucharist and you will bathe your children in the baptismal font.”
Carloman lowered the baby’s head deeper into the font, his eyes never leaving Odilo.
“Carloman, don’t!” Trudi begged.
“Stop it!” Odilo whispered.
“Give me your vow!” The baby’s head was almost covered, and it struggled in Carloman’s hands. “If not, his next breath will be his last.”
“I give it!”
Carloman lifted the baby out of the font and bowed to Boniface. “I beg your forgiveness, Bishop, for the moment of confusion.”
After that, it all proceeded as Carloman had asked. Odilo bent his knee before the cross, bowed his head in reverence to the Eucharist, and dipped the crown of his baby’s head into the baptismal font. Carloman was named the child’s compater when the blessing was delivered, sending a clear message that should Odilo and Trudi die before Tassilo reached maturity, Carloman would claim pater familias and take the child into his household.
As the mass ended, Boniface blessed the congregation from the altar. Carloman turned to observe the Bavarian nobles. Although grim-faced, they were all kneeling.
He had won.
Chapter Forty
Paris
Bertrada felt like a prisoner. Gunther had brought her, Hélène and the Lady Ragomfred back to the palace on the Île de la Cité and forbade any travel outside the compound until Pippin or Carloman returned. The palace itself was locked down as if in siege. Guards monitored every entrance and exit and patrolled regularly along the ramparts.
Gunther found quarters for each of the three women, made sure they had servants seeing to their needs, and then promptly ignored them.
Their presence created quite a stir amongst the nobles at court, especially when Lord Ragomfred insisted that his wife be returned to him. A delegation approached the gate and demanded Miette’s return, threatening a siege if she wasn’t freed. Gunther ignored their entreaties and calmly told them where they could put further complaint. After a half-day of arguing outside the gate, the delegation left.
Bertrada spent most of her days in prayer. The palace chapel was quite small and used primarily for family services. Ceremonial services for the court typically took place at Saint Germain des Prés. She preferred to pray in a small alcove dedicated to the Blessed Mother.
After the first week, however, she grew bored. She wasn’t finding the same spiritual solace she had found at Chelles. She had seen little of Hélène since their arrival. Her protector had remained in her room, taking meals there instead of in the main hall.
By contrast, the Lady Ragomfred – who insisted on being called Miette – was constantly underfoot. She sought out Bertrada at mealtimes and even accosted her during prayers. Knowing it would likely never stop, Bertrada agreed to provide her an audience in an effort to attend to whatever the young woman needed to get off her chest.
“I didn’t know.” Miette said. It had been the opening sentence of every attempt at conversation since the attack. “The king merely requested that I find you. Salau acted on his own. He wasn’t supposed to kill you or Agnes. If he was, no one told me. You must believe me! If I were in league with him, why would I try to kill him?”
Bertrada kept her face neutral. She believed the woman up to a point. It was true that Miette had stabbed Salau, possibly even saving Hélène’s life, but it wasn’t the whole truth. Miette was holding something back. She wasn’t stupid. She must have suspected that Salau was there to murder her, even if Miette wasn’t specifically told about it.
“Why does the king want to kill me?” Bertrada asked Miette.
“I honestly don’t know, milady.”
She waited, watching Miette closely. The wide-eyed innocence that had dominated the woman’s demeanor faded with a nod. In its place, a cunning intelligence occupied the place behind Miette’s eyes. She shrugged, as if the explanation was obvious. “You’re with child. If it’s a boy, your child will be in line for succession as mayor.”
“Childeric would kill a child?”
“Now who is being naïve?”
“How did he know I was pregnant at the ball? I didn't even know myself.”
“That I cannot say. As Pippin’s consort, you’re a game piece in your own right. Childeric might have wanted to take you off the table to unsettle the mayor. You drew his notice at the ball when you called out to Pippin. You stopped the mayor from pledging his hands. Childeric would kill you for that alone.”
“I am no longer Pippin’s consort.”
Miette grunted. “That only makes you more vulnerable.”
A cold trickle of dread seeped into Bertrada’s stomach, making her queasy. If this woman were right, she would always be vulnerable. “Did you know that Salau was sent to kill me?”
Miette paused before answering. “The words were never spoken. I was told to report back to Childeric when we found you.” She wrung her hands. “But I suspected. I knew it was a possibility. I just didn’t let myself think it all the way through. And then Salau acted so fast.”
“Why did you stop him?”
“If I was as cold and calculating as you think I am, I wouldn’t have.”
“Then why did you?”
“I – I didn’t want you to die.”
Bertrada didn’t know what to make of this woman. She seemed a contradiction. She was cold and calculating and yet, at that moment, she seemed quite vulnerable.