A mile from the palace, Bella and Amy turned away from the river they had been following. It wound and twisted through innumerable loops, taking them far out of their way. It was easier to strike across country towards Windsor, and providing they kept the sun behind them they could not lose their way.
The going proved more difficult than Bella expected. It was low-lying ground, often marshy, and the girls had to make so many detours they ought, Bella thought more than once, to have remained with the river.
It was about twelve miles as the crow flew, half as far again by river, but it was three hours before Bella saw the ramparts of Windsor Castle looming ahead of them.
Cautiously they skirted the town on the far side of the river, and set off on the much better road northwards. From here Bella had a better knowledge of the road. To avoid the enormous loop of the river they needed to keep well to the north, then cut through the Chiltern Hills westwards for Oxford.
An hour later, Amy having changed into her male attire and disposed of her gown in the depths of a bramble thicket, they stopped at a wayside tavern. They bought trout pasties, eating them while sitting on the bench outside.
The sun was so hot and they had slept so little during the night they both felt drowsy. First Amy leaned back against the wall of the tavern and was soon dozing. Bella decided it would be sensible to snatch a rest and leaned back herself. She pulled her bonnet down over her forehead, making sure her hair was still securely fastened and hidden, and closed her eyes.
A commotion of horses' hooves, shouts of command, and the bustle of the innkeeper coming to the door of the tavern woke Bella. She glanced up in alarm, then turned away her head in a vain attempt to hide from the new arrival.
'So there you are, without even the sense to stay hidden!'
The voice was amused, though the words were mocking. Bella looked up at the Comte and spoke with a mixture of fear and anger.
'Have you been following us? How dare you! It is bad enough you are spying on the Lady Mary, but intolerable you should follow me, too!'
Amy woke with a start.
'What is it? Who? Oh, Bella, have we been discovered?'
'Get on your horses and don't argue. They'll be here within ten minutes. We have to find somewhere secluded before we can talk.'
When Bella simply stared at him he swore under his breath, dismounted and strode across to her.
'Get the horses ready, and fast!' he shouted over his shoulder to the innkeeper, who made haste to untie the mares from the post where Bella had tethered them.
His words penetrated Bella's dazed mind and she ran to seize the saddles. As she flung on her own, the Comte dealt with Amy's. Brusquely ordering Bella to mount, he seized Amy, still bewildered and sleepy, and unceremoniously tossed her into the saddle almost before the innkeeper had fastened the girths.
'My thanks,' he called as he sprang on to his own horse.
Seeing Bella was already urging her mare forward, he took Amy's reins into his own hands and urged both horses on. Amy, still bemused and half asleep, clutched the pommel nervously.
'What is the matter?' she gasped. 'Where are we going?'
'There is no time to talk. Hold tight!'
Soon they were galloping along the road, which wound through dense woods. A mile or so away from the tavern, the Comte slowed and turned into a narrow track curving up a steep hill.
'It is too narrow to ride together,' he said as he handed Amy's reins back to her. 'Follow me, and quietly. We are still near the road. They might hear us.'
Ten minutes later, they came into a small clearing, the ground dense with a carpet of bluebells. At one side, the trees thinned, and through a gap Bella saw a deep, narrow valley dipping away from them.
'We shall wait here,' the Comte said, dismounting.
He lifted Amy down, then crossed to where Bella still sat on her own mount. He took the reins and led the horse towards his own. When the horses were safely tied, he turned and lifted Bella down.
At his touch, she seemed to emerge from the daze which had enfolded her.
'What is it?' she demanded indignantly, only to find his hand over her mouth and his other arm clasping her tightly to him.
'Hush! Sounds carry a long way. We're being followed, by the King's men.'
Bella's heart was beating so loudly she was afraid the soldiers might hear it. She didn't know whether to believe him or not. Surely the King wouldn't send a troop of soldiers after two unimportant girls?
The Comte removed his hand, but still held her pressed against him. He turned towards Amy who had remained silent and still looked dazed.
'Talk only in whispers,' he said softly. 'We should be able to see them go past from up here,' he went on and, releasing Bella, led the way quietly to where the view of the valley and the road below was unobstructed by trees.
'They will see us out in the open!' Bella whispered urgently.
'No they will not. Lie down here,' he ordered, and before she fully understood, Bella was lying on her front, the Comte beside her, Amy beyond him, peering through a screen of fresh, green bracken.
'How did you know where we were?'
'When I came back from my own ride and joined the King, he was aggrieved because you did not appear. He sent to your lodging, but no one knew where you were and Amy had vanished, too. Then the stable lad said your mare was gone. He had seen a strange lad riding out on it, accompanying Mistress Amy.'
'I thought they were all too busy!' Bella said, mortified.
'He saw you ride westward, and when the King sent for Sir Thomas, he confirmed you would have nowhere to go but your home in Oxfordshire.'
'But why send soldiers after us? If he did! How can I believe you?'
'You will see very soon I speak the truth. You do not know his gracious Majesty very well, my dear, do you? Despite his marked attentions.'
'Why should he bother about two girls? We are not important.'
'You are not just any girl. The King has been paying you a great deal of regard lately. Gossip was rife. To have you run away from him made him look a fool, and Henry cannot abide that. Nor can he bear to be thwarted in any way. He was very angry. He ordered a watch to be kept on all the river crossings, and sent a troop of men to Oxfordshire, to your home.'
Bella looked pale. 'Is he really furious?'
'I think one or two people hoped he might have a seizure right there, but instead he rode off at a faster pace than I've seen him ride before. He might still fall and break his neck. I did not wait to see.'
'Thomas will never forgive me. But why did you follow us? And where are the soldiers? How did you get here before them? Is it true?'
'I slipped away immediately. I was already mounted, and a lone man can ride faster than a troop. But I will not be far ahead. When I started, my horse was already tired.'
'Why did you come?' Bella asked tremulously.
'Could I permit foolish girls to face the King's wrath alone and unprepared?'
Before she could reply, they heard the noise of several riders.
Shrinking down as far as she could in the concealing bracken, Bella peered into the valley. A troop of half a dozen soldiers came into view, their horses trotting briskly, and passed along the road to vanish behind a spur of hill.
'I am sorry I doubted you,' Bella whispered. 'Thank you for coming.'
'Do not worry. You are safe now,' he said bracingly.
'Safe? How can I be? Where can I go? They'll search for me at home. I won't be safe there!'
'You will not be there when they arrive, and no one will know anything. They'll assume they missed you, and begin to work their way back, searching along the roads. One or two may remain, but if we can't elude them and reach your grandmother we will deserve to be caught.'
'I cannot endanger her! Not if the King is seeking vengeance!' Bella cried.
'Come to my home,' Amy suggested quietly. She was wide awake now, pale but composed, and fully understanding their peril.
'The King will send people there, too.'
'But he does not want me. They will look once and then go away.'
'We must consult Bella's grandmother. We shall not stay, but she might be able to suggest somewhere, the house of a friend who would not be suspected by either the King or your brother. I assume she would want to save you both from Henry's wrath and Bella from the dreadful fate of becoming his wife.'
Bella flushed. 'Of course she would, but I cannot permit it! Even now he might throw her into the Tower, believing she can tell him more than she knows!'
'I doubt if he would do that. It will be made clear to him his brother monarchs may have some sympathy with a king whose queen betrayed him, but to punish an old woman just because her granddaughter has run away rather than be wooed by Great Harry would make him a mere buffoon!'
'Who would dare say that to him?'
'Ambassadors have certain privileges, and though the message may be wrapped up in layers of compliments and obsequiousness, it is fully understood! I have some influence with the French ambassador.'
'You would be in danger!'
'Would you care?'
Bella turned her head away.
'Of course I would care for the safety of anyone who had helped me,' she replied quietly. 'I am most grateful, and I will be more prudent now. What shall we do? Is it safe for us to enter taverns? How soon will it be safe for us to go home?'
'We have to remain hidden. Fortunately the nights are warm. We can sleep in the open. I can risk buying food in the villages. No one will remark on my absence from Court, they won't be searching for me. We may need to remain hidden for a week, but we can go farther north to avoid them as they cast back.'
Bella ignored most of this.
'You are staying with us?' she demanded. 'But there is no need for that. We can manage now. We will be careful, I promise!'
'I have no intention of leaving until you are both safe somewhere. You must think ill of me if you can imagine I would.'
'I do not think ill of you,' Bella said softly. 'Thank you, monsieur.'
He looked at her consideringly until she dropped her eyes, afraid he would read in them the confusion of her feelings towards him. He had spied on her mistress, yet he had also put himself into danger to save her.
'I think we can drop the formality as we are to be comrades,' he said briskly. 'My name is Charles. Now for plans. My horse cannot go much farther today, so we will make our way slowly northwards. We can find somewhere to sleep tonight, and tomorrow I will leave you while I go and look for food.'
The three of them rode silently through the hills, pausing to drink from a burbling stream. They avoided small villages and hamlets, though Charles ventured to buy a loaf of bread and some cheese from an isolated farmhouse, leaving the girls hidden in the woods while he did so.
Soon afterwards he said they must halt for the night.
'We still have several hours of daylight left, but our horses will be unable to carry us tomorrow if we push them too far,' he warned.
They saw to the horses, taking them to a stream in the bottom of the valley to water them, then leaving them hobbled to graze on the lush, new grass. Charles broke off pieces of the loaf, and Amy and Bella ate hungrily.
'I am so tired!' Bella confessed with a sigh when her hunger was appeased.
'Did you stay awake all night to make safe your escape?' he asked, grinning.
'Not deliberately, but I was too worried to sleep.'
'Why did you choose today?'
Bella realised he didn't know of the King's plans.
'The King bade me sup alone with him, and suggested I might like a room nearer the royal apartments,' she said briefly. 'Also he proposed taking me to Oatlands for us to be alone. I had to do something.'
'Amy, are you being persecuted by Henry, too?'
Amy shook her head.
'I want to go home, too. I'm weary of Court life,' she said briefly.
Charles, after a considering look at her, turned back to Bella.
'Your brother? Would he not help you?'
'Thomas cares for naught but becoming the next Regent of England!' she replied angrily. 'After I have done my duty, that is, and provided another Tudor prince. I don't think he's even considered the complication of dispossessing two princesses, even if the poor child Edward were to die.'
'You're safe now,' he soothed. 'We'll gather some bracken to make a bed, then you must rest.'
Thankful they had brought warm cloaks, Amy and Bella were soon fast asleep, wrapped snugly and cushioned on the soft, fragrant bracken.
For a week they rode slowly, following small tracks through the woods and avoiding habitations apart from when Charles went to buy necessary provisions.
'We must go slowly and keep well to the north, to avoid any search for you,' he insisted when Bella grew impatient.
'But they will not recognise us as boys, and they won't expect you to be travelling with us.'
'If we have to share a bedroom at an inn with other travellers, your secret will soon be discovered,' he said drily. 'Besides, they know you rode off as a boy.'
She flushed in embarrassment. On the first day when he'd found her, she was concerned with her safety more than her appearance. The next morning she had been thrown into utter confusion when he'd complimented her on having excellent legs.
She'd felt naked in front of him. Until it grew too hot for comfort, she insisted on wearing her long cloak to conceal her legs.
Gradually, however, she'd forgotten. It was only when he made such a remark that she recalled her unconventional attire.
Amy, on the contrary, seemed oblivious both of her male disguise and Bella's embarrassment. She was often wrapped up in her own sombre reflections, only half attending to what went on.
'But do we have to go so far out of our way?' Bella persisted. 'Surely the King's men will not search so far north?'
'If we keep to the south of Aylesbury Vale we stand a good chance of meeting them, or of them hearing about us. The vale itself is marshy, and there are few good roads across it. So we will be much better off in the hills to the north, even though it adds many miles to our journey. Are you so very anxious to be rid of me?' he added teasingly.
'That has nothing to do with it! I'm anxious about my grandmother. What will they do to her?'
'Nothing, once they know you have not been there. But they may linger a few days expecting you to arrive, which is another reason for delay.'
Unwillingly she accepted his reasoning, knowing it was wise, yet impatient to reach home. They travelled through the low ranges of hills connecting the Chilterns and the Cotswolds, well to the north of Oxford, and eventually made their way south again. Here there were fewer concealing woods, but Bella knew the countryside and they were able to travel by unfrequented roads.
It was late afternoon when she halted on the crest of a low hill and pointed westwards.
'My old home, though Thomas owns it now of course. His wife and children are there, so we must avoid it. Grandmother's house, which used to be her mother's, is in the next valley.'
He saw a gracious house of mellow, golden stone, built low. A church with a squat steeple was visible behind, and a village of perhaps a hundred cottages straggled alongside the banks of a small river, sprawling over a considerable area. The whole scene was bathed in the evening sunlight, peaceful and still.
To the north were barns and farm buildings, and the hills were scattered with sheep, but there were few people around. The villagers would be at supper, for harvest had not yet begun. In a month or so they would have to spend every daylight hour in the fields, gathering in the corn.
'A lovely place,' he commented lightly. 'Were you sorry to leave it when you went to Lady Mary's household?'
'It is people who make a home,' she replied quietly. 'After Thomas married Jane, and then Father died, it was not the same.'
She turned away and led them down a steep track, sunken so that they could not see above the sides. At the end was a belt of woodland, and though no path was discernible, Bella led him unerringly through it until they emerged to overlook a similar valley, but much smaller and with only a couple of farmhouses visible.
'Grandmother says there used to be a village here, too, but it vanished long ago. There was a great plague and almost everyone died. The ones that were left moved into the next village.'
'We will wait until dark and then I'll go down and discover what has been happening,' Charles said.
'If the King's men are there, they will know you!' Bella protested, suddenly afraid for him.
'I will be very careful. At least there is no inn where they might be staying.'
They concealed the horses within the wood, then sat at the edge of it, overlooking the farm and munching the mutton pies Charles had bought earlier.
'What will you do afterwards?' Bella asked suddenly. 'Will you return to Court? How will you explain your absence?'
'I will not need to. I am not accountable to King Henry, and we have been travelling between Hampton Court and Westminster, and as far as France, ever since we arrived.'
'You left when I did. They might be suspicious,' she persisted, suddenly afraid he might be in danger.
'My dear Bella, there are several hundred people in the palace, and I left after you did. No one will connect the two.'
'So you will go back?'
Her tone was wistful, and he glanced down at her, his gaze searching.
'Would you wish to return yourself?'
Bella shuddered. 'Oh, no. How could I? I enjoyed being with Lady Mary, but I did not enjoy Court life. If she were returned to favour, and spent all her time there, even if the King forgot me, I would not wish to live so publicly. I liked it here, with just a small household, and the farm and the village. But Thomas considers that a lack of ambition. He wanted me to marry well.'
'Even he scarcely expected you to entice the King.'
She chuckled. 'No more than I did! But Thomas has the instinct to make the most of opportunities. Unfortunately he does not think far beyond the first step!'
As they talked, dusk gradually covered the landscape. Amy wandered a short distance away to sit pensively on a fallen log. Eventually, as the light faded completely, Charles rose to his feet.
'I shall go now. In case they are suspicious, and believe me to be yet another of the King's men, how may I convince them I am your friend?'
Bella thought hard, then grinned mischievously as she rose with him.
'Tell Grandmother I once hid her thimble in the secret cupboard beside the fireplace! No one else knows that, not even Thomas or Aunt Anne. If she asks which cupboard, tell her the one the rose hides.'
'Very cryptic! I hope she remembers!'
'She will. It's where she keeps all her most precious things. I discovered it one day when I came into the room and saw her opening it, before she knew I was there. It has been a secret between us since.'
Charles had gripped her by the shoulders, and now he pulled her round to face him.
'Stay here with Amy. No creeping down after me in case you think I need help?'
She gulped. How had he known what was in her mind?
'Of course not,' she replied indignantly.
'If I catch you sneaking down after me I will make you fear me more than you do Henry Tudor!'
She gurgled with laughter. 'That's impossible! You will never be a gross, old man so fat I could never get my arms about you!'
Before she was aware of his intention he'd drawn her close, and without conscious thought her arms slid round him, her hands meeting as she clung to him. Swiftly he bent his head towards her, and kissed her briefly.
'I trust you will never regret those words,' he whispered, and then set her aside. 'Get Amy, saddle the horses, then do not move from here, or I will not be able to find you when I come back. We may need to move swiftly if the men are still about,' he warned, and before she was aware of it he vanished silently into the deepening gloom.
***