Chapter 9

On the Road to Rockingham Castle

The England Maria passed through in May of 1317 was poorer than it had ever been during Edward I's time. Years of increasingly unstable weather had ruined croplands. Many previously prosperous manors were now abandoned and nature encroached upon what had previously been cleared pasturages. On existing acreages, crop yields had fallen because the soil itself was depleted. During the famines and floods of 1315-16, wheat had sold for forty pence a bushel in London, while in Northumbria people had resorted to eating dogs and horses. Along the Pilgrim's Way, bodies had been stacked like cords of firewood. Near Rochester, starving brigands had cut corpses from the gallows and eaten the rotting flesh. Many of the homeless had taken to the roads and still roamed in lawless bands. The Welsh conducted raids from the hills into borderlands, while the Scots had penetrated as far south as Lancashire. Robert the Bruce's brother, Edward, had conquered much of Ireland.

In the vicinity of Phillip's home, thieves haunted Alton Forest and from headquarters there swept outward to ravage Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire. Robbers, extortionists, pickpockets, and kidnappers plagued towns across the breadth of England. The growing shortage of good pastureland and restrictions on silver exports had forced up prices, and His Grace Edward II had mercilessly raised taxes, further emptying purses and forcing the desperate to a life of crime. Sheltered as she'd been in Fordwich, Maria had only known how the bad times had affected her family. The shortages had meant less extravagance, but never starvation.

Maria, Phillip and Phillip's squire rode all the first night and did not stop until dark of the second. More riding. On the fifth night, they found an abandoned leper, or lazar, house. On the morrow they would reach Rockingham, located in the Midlands.

Saddle sore and exhausted, Maria stumbled from her horse while Gilbert gathered wood for a fire and Phillip set off to find supper. Walking over the swampy land along the River Soar he sniffed out cooking herbs of wild thyme, bog myrtle, and dried sage to flavor his discovery of wild bird eggs and the heron he'd uncovered nesting in the marshes.

With each passing hour Maria found herself more in awe of Phillip and his capabilities. In her seventeen years she'd never travelled more than a half day from Fordwich. Nothing had prepared her for such primitive conditions. Without Phillip she was certain she would have already fallen prey to robbers or the wolves howling in surrounding forests. Phillip, however, seemed to thrive in land that was as unfamiliar to him as to Maria. When streams could not be found for water he uncovered pits and ponds used by sheep or cattle. Using a bow and arrow he shot down waterfowl and devised a snare for rabbits. After fastening a fishing line made of horsehair he caught enough fish for supper. He never appeared uncertain about anything. And if he ever doubted the rightness of their running away or worried about possible repercussions he did not voice his concerns.

As she washed herself in the River Soar which murmured past the lazar house, Maria surreptitiously watched him readying their meal.

You will take care of everything. From my hunger to my mother and Edmund Leybourne, should he indeed be following us.

The aromas from the cooking heron drifted to her upon the wind and as she approached the campfire, Phillip looked up and smiled. A smile that warmed her as a mere fire never could.

She sat beside him. Tomorrow 'twill all be over. I'll have a bed to sleep in and a regular bath and wine to drink. And I shall miss this for then I will have to share you with others. Then we will have to face the reality of what we've done.

After they finished their meal, Phillip banked the fire, stretched out, and, resting on one elbow, studied the slow ascent of the golden moon edging above a monotonous horizon. Gilbert whittled and Maria sat with her legs drawn up, watching her beloved.

"The most beautiful moon I've seen," said Phillip, "was in Venice, I think. Would you say so, Gilbert?"

Gilbert glanced up from the horse he was carving out of a yew branch. "I would think Jerusalem, sire."

"You were more enamored there of the women, I'll wager."

Gilbert grinned and returned to his whittling.

"Tell me about Venice," Maria urged. The few times Phillip had spoken of his travels eloquence replaced his natural reticence. She loved to listen to him talk—as much for the timbre of his voice and the animation of his face as the words.

"'Twas at St. Mark's Piazza, where I was gawking at the ships," he said. "Through a patch of clouds the moon suddenly appeared like an enormous scarlet ball just hanging against the sky. The galleys were to harbor, their sails rolled up and angled against the night, and 'twas so still and beautiful I thought heaven could not be finer."

Maria had seen ships at Fordwich's quay thousands of times, but she'd never viewed them as things of beauty or witnessed a similar scene. "You have seen so much. You must have been to nearly every place in God's world."

Phillip shook his head. "Not even a tiny portion, and 'tis the sights I've not seen that seem most intriguing. There is a cape called Bojader, I'm told, where men come so close to the sun their skins roast black. And near there a sea so shallow it boils away to a stinking slime crawling with sea monsters."

Maria's eyes widened "Monsters? Have you ever seen a sea monster?"

"Nay. But I've slain a dragon." He slid a glance at Gilbert, who grinned.

"A dragon? Jesu! You are totally fearless."

"Hardly."

Phillip was amused and flattered by Maria's hero worship, though she was wrong, of course. Like all knights, he feared being crippled or mutilated in war, but he also feared something deeper, something he could not even explain to himself. Was it the routine, the way of life others of his class so unquestioningly embraced?

"Tell me about your travels," urged Maria. "I want to hear it all. The pilgrims who come to Fordwich with their endless tales of shrines are all cut from the same dull cloth and I hear stories cut from the same. I never dreamed traveling could be other than drudgery and crawling from one holy relic to another."

"There are hills out there, they say, made from a lodestone that draws the metal fastening from ships' planking and lures sailors to their doom." Phillip gazed at the moon, which had begun to fade in the immense expanse of heaven, the brilliance of countless emerging stars. "And the Garden of Eden is out there somewhere, too—far to the east, atop a mountain so high it pierces the moon. There's a palace in Eden made of crystal and jasper columns, and streams bedded with jewels." He sat up and hugged his knees. "I looked for the Garden. If 'tis truly there, I cannot find it."

"Perhaps you will." Maria was certain he could do anything.

Phillip shook his head. "I am thirty years old. 'Tis time to settle down." He shifted position and gazed at her, his expression serious. Softly, so that Gilbert would have strained to hear, he said, "And I would do so with thee, Maria. No one else."

As she lifted her gaze to the glittering darkness Maria's heart soared. When they'd first met she had thought him as inaccessible as the moon. Sometimes she still sensed a remoteness.

But I have done the impossible. I have ensnared the moon and soon it will belong to me.

* * *

Rockingham Castle had originally been built by William the Conqueror on the site of an ancient British fortress that dominated the valley of the River Welland. It remained a royal residence. Kings used it both as an administrative center and as a hunting lodge for Rockingham Forest, which covered most of Northamptonshire.

"God is with us!" Phillip said, pointing to the standards flying above the castle in the gathering darkness. "Not only is Lord Sussex in residence, but also His Grace."

"Our king?" Maria asked, dismayed. She'd been too young to remember his visit to Fordwich and now she must face him as a runaway? She imagined his royal disapproval as being a thousand times more terrible than Henrietta's.

In one of the few physical gestures of their journey, Phillip leaned over and patted her arm. "Do not look so frightened. His Grace hates the Leybournes for their part in his favorite's death. On that basis alone he will approve our marriage."

The horses began picking their way up the rutted road to Rockingham Castle. "King Edward is not over mean?"

Phillip smiled. "He is kind and generous." And petulant and hot tempered when crossed, he silently added. But generally only to his enemies.

They passed beneath the portcullis without more than a rudimentary challenge from the porter. Rockingham's outer bailey consisted of the great wall, chapel, and various domestic offices. The courtyard itself appeared deserted.

As Maria dismounted her legs shook as much from fear as fatigue. "I'll not have to meet our lord and... everyone, will I? Not just yet? I am so bedraggled from our traveling."

Before Phillip could reassure her, a stocky knight with deep-set brown eyes emerged from one of Rockingham's two towers and strode toward them.

"Lord Rendell?" he asked.

When Phillip nodded, the man introduced himself as Michael Hallam, squire to the earl of Sussex. "My lord asked that I await your possible arrival. This morning he received a missive from Fordwich detailing... events and enlisting his help in the matter. My lord thought mayhap you would ride for Rockingham."

Michael Hallam's fierce eyes swept Maria, seeking in her a clue to Lord Rendell's bizarre behavior. She looked no different from any other woman, and he found the entire affair, as related by the lady's parents, incomprehensible. What true knight would risk disgrace over a mere female? In the two years since Michael had become Richard of Sussex's squire he'd guarded his lord with fanatic loyalty; he sensed trouble here.

"Then my lord is expecting us?" Phillip asked.

Michael nodded. "They are dining in the great hall."

"The king and queen also?" Maria asked. When Michael nodded curtly, her frightened eyes sought Phillip. "I could not possibly meet them in my state."

Though Michael's face remained impassive, inwardly he was annoyed. Women's preoccupation with fashion and cleanliness was witless vanity. If this girl was so concerned about the impression she made on others, she should not have tempted Phillip Rendell. Some of history's greatest knights had literally lost their heads over a female. While Maria d'Arderne hardly looked a seductress, she'd caused one man to act illogically, which did not bode well for Michael's sire, who could be chivalrous to the point of stupidity. He certainly sometimes acted against commonsense in order to protect a friend.

"My lord bade me tell him should you arrive," he said, taking his leave. "If you prefer you can await him here."

While Gilbert and Phillip gave instructions for the care of their tired mounts, Maria nervously twisted her hands together. Finally, she spotted Michael Hallam and a man who Maria first thought must be Kind Edward himself. He was tall and powerfully built, with a regal carriage, hair more sun streaked than blond, and a strong handsome face.

Overcome by awe and fear, she whispered, "Our very king!"

Phillip slipped a comforting arm around her waist. "Not our king. Our lord."

He left her to greet the earl of Sussex. Watching, Maria was surprised at the intensity of the reunion. Obviously, the bonds of friendship between these two men ran deep. But why should they not? Richard Plantagenet owed Phillip his life.

Imagining how she must look with her mud and sweat-stained clothes, Maria tried to calm her nerves while Phillip related their flight. Occasionally, Richard would look from Phillip to her but she could gauge nothing from his expression.

What is he thinking? Is he calling me foolish and irresponsible? Is he telling Phillip he cannot help? Will he send me back under armed escort to Edmund Leybourne?

When Richard of Sussex finally approached, Maria sank to a curtsy made awkward by apprehension and the weariness of the ride. Upon rising, she stumbled. Richard caught her arm to steady her.

"Damoiselle d'Arderne, I am honored to meet you." He smiled into her eyes. "I can well understand that my friend would risk much for you." Richard's compliment was merely designed to put Maria at her ease. His first impression was merely that Maria d'Arderne looked very young and very vulnerable.

Seeking to allay her fears, he continued, "Though I am your parents' lord as well as Phillip's, you must know where my sympathies lie. I think His Grace will take much pleasure in thwarting Edmund Leybourne."

"Thwarting him, my lord?" Increasingly overwhelmed, Maria had trouble comprehending his meaning.

"Aye, damoiselle. Phillip and I have decided that you two should be married. Tonight."