The Half-Hanged Man by David Pilling

Author:David Pilling [Pilling, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical
ISBN: 9781480281950
Google: ByfenQEACAAJ
Goodreads: 16156664
Publisher: Createspace
Published: 2012-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

7.

Don Carillo did not succeed in killing Pedro the Cruel. Instead, when he saw the Castilian soldiers disembarking from their ships and flooding into their town, Carillo knew the duel would have to be abandoned. He threw his sword at the King of Castile, and galloped to safety with soldiers and citizens in close pursuit, calling him traitor and howling for his blood.

Pedro’s brother, the pretender Enrique, was also lucky to escape. He and a handful of loyal knights were forced to abandon the bulk of their possessions and the fine house they had hired in the merchant’s quarter, and ride for the northern gate as though all the demons of Hell were at their heels. Several knights were pulled from their horses by enraged citizens who would not have dared meet their eyes just a few hours before, and mercilessly beaten to death in a manner that Pedro no doubt approved of.

Enrique himself, with a sadly reduced group of companions, escaped with his skin intact, if not his pride and ambition. Among those who escaped with him were Carillo, Don Charles de Menezes, and Eleanor: she had made her choice, and gone with her brother.

Eleanor was not the only woman to escape from Algeciras in the company of Enrique. The other was his young and beautiful wife, Doña Juana de Villena. She was the daughter of Don Juan Nuñez de Lara, Lord of Biscay and one of the three most powerful nobles in Castile after the King.

Enrique’s mother, Leonor, mistress of the late King Alfonso, had sought to promote the cause of her son by secretly marrying him to such an important heiress, much to the rage and chagrin of King Pedro and Albuquerque, who had planned other matches for her. The girl herself, used as a pawn in the great game of marriage and politics, seems to have persuaded herself that she was in love with Enrique, and insisted on sharing all his dangers.

During the harrowing flight from Algeciras Eleanor was impressed by Juana, who had hacked off her chestnut locks and wore a sword and leather jerkin like any common ballasteros. The young noblewoman never once complained, even when the company was forced to ride hard through the night from Pedro’s soldiers.

At last the pursuit slackened, and the fugitives came to rest in the middle of a desolate, moonlit plain, their exhausted horses threatening to collapse beneath them. Like her companions, Eleanor had ridden thirty miles at a furious gallop, and had to bite her lip against the throbbing pain in her thighs and lower back.

“So this,” said Enrique, pulling off his leather helm and throwing it to the ground in disgust, “is what has become of my coup. This is my army of conquest, which I planned to lead to Seville in triumph! My wife, three knights, and…who in God’s name are you?”

He frowned suspiciously at Eleanor. She drew breath to explain herself, but Charles intervened before she could speak.

“This is my sister Eleanor, Majesty,” he said, “I found her in Algeciras, wandering the streets.

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