Banners of Gold by Pamela Kaufman

Author:Pamela Kaufman [Kaufman, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2015-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

I watched Richard closely thereafter, though not to obey Bonel; we all watched the king as we would the sun if it rolled in a fiery ball before us.

The whole countryside responded to his magnetic pull. Trumpets sounded and villeins dropped forks where they stood, knights appeared from nowhere to pound across the grapes. Even small boys crept from under the bushes and begged to water our horses, to carry off our slops, anything to be near his greatness. He was a military Midas, turning everything he touched to an army.

Aye, if I were a knight, I might succumb to his glory, but I was a mere woman, an unwanted nuisance to most of the company, though I tried to be inconspicuous. Everyone shot me resentful glances except Richard himself; he seemed to have forgotten my presence, and I might have escaped if it hadn’t been for Bonel’s Bok at my heels.

We digressed only once from our southern path along the French border in order to visit Constance, Countess of Brittany, and her children, Arthur and Eleanor, the lady known as the Pearl of Brittany because of her fabled beauty. Hamo satisfied my curiosity about this hostile branch of the Plantagenet family: Constance had been married to Geoffrey, Richard’s older brother and a rival to John for his irascible, treacherous disposition; she’d hated Geoffrey passionately until, after his death, Richard had assigned her an even worse spouse in Ranulf of Chester, whom the Countess had refused to accept at all because of his brutal nature. The real contention, however, was young Arthur; Constance insisted on being his regent, and Queen Eleanor claimed that power for herself.

The entrance to the castle was through an excessively murky forest, and the gloom cast a melancholy tinge over our company. Ancient trunks leered like hoary giants and reminded me of tales my mother used to tell. The small fortress was also forbidding with its blank thick walls and narrow bridge. Only a few of us could crowd into the tiny courtyard and I was willing to wait outside, but Hamo gently objected, even with Bok to guard me.

King Richard strode through the door first as the rest of us followed. The great hall was narrow and dark, the smell musty and faintly animal; on a dais at the end stood a tiny sinewy woman flanked by her two children.

“Constance, dearest sister, I greet you after a long absence.”

“Your Majesty,” the lady replied frostily.

Unperturbed, Richard received kisses from Eleanor and Arthur. Eleanor’s oval face looked as lovely as reputed, though it was hard to see in the dim light. By chance, a beam from an arrow-slit struck Arthur fully so I could see his hemp hair, his yellow eyes, his large malformed jaw.

“How many of your knights seek hospitality?” Constance asked resentfully.

“None, dear sister,” the king replied. “We thank you for your graciousness, but we must ride on within the hour. I came to deliver good tidings to my niece, sweet Eleanor.”

The girl glanced at her mother.

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