Escapes! by Laura Scandiffio

Author:Laura Scandiffio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Annick Press Ltd
Published: 2003-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Under Siege

Oxford, England, 1142

THE DISTANT POUNDING STOPPED. The hail of stones on the castle’s curtain wall had slowed and then ended suddenly. The king’s great catapults and army of slingers had withdrawn — for the moment at least. Deep within the castle walls, knights and foot soldiers paused at the sudden silence. A sense of relief swept through the garrison. They knew it would not last long, and archers scrambled to prepare for the next assault.

Above them high in the keep, their lady, the Empress Matilda, pulled her robes closer around her and paced the floor to keep warm. The December wind seemed to pierce the stone walls, despite the heavy tapestries that blanketed them, and the fire in the great hearth could not be built up any further. Every piece of wood was precious now.

For nearly three months she and her followers had lived as prisoners within her own castle, surrounded by King Stephen’s army, deafened by the battering of his siege engines. Looking around the crowded garrison quarters, she had seen the hunger in her men’s gaunt faces, the growing panic in their eyes. And now the castle’s great well was nearly dry. Where were her allies? They must come soon to break the blockade. If they didn’t...

Matilda pushed the thought from her mind with a defiant toss of her head. Peering sideways through a narrow window, she could see Stephen’s flags, the glint of his men’s armor in the winter sun.

Anger flared inside her. Who was he to call himself King of England? She had the stronger claim — the only claim — to the throne. She was the daughter of the late King Henry. Stephen was only his nephew. Her father had made all the powerful men of the country swear an oath of loyalty to her, and promise to recognize her as their next queen.

King Henry had still hoped for a male heir — a grandson was his last chance. And so Matilda became a pawn in her father’s search for a powerful alliance. At twelve she was married to a German emperor in his thirties. After his death she was betrothed to the thirteen-year-old son of the French Count of Anjou. When at last her father recalled her to England, she had lived away longer than she had ever been at home. As she listened to the barons’ oaths, she realized her country had become a land of strangers to her.

And where were those loyal barons now? When her father died, Matilda had been away in France, expecting a child. The barons who had never liked the idea of a woman ruling England jumped upon the chance. At their urging, her young cousin Stephen seized the crown.

And now to be trapped like this! She bristled at the thought.

Then she smiled bitterly — they wouldn’t have a woman, but look at the state of the country under Stephen! These were lawless, dangerous times. Barons declared their loyalty to the king, but it was mere words.

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