Page 14 of Always
“And how will you disguise your beauty?” The moment he said the words, he looked away and clamped his jaw, embarrassment rippling across his features.
My beauty. Usually, I gained no pleasure from references to my appearance. Flattery at court was too commonplace and the focus on outward features too important. But I suspected Lance was not one to notice or remark on a woman’s comeliness often, if at all. Somehow the rarity of his praise made it more valuable.
I took in his poor cloak. “We shall dress as peasants.”
“If you’re dressed as a peasant, how will you gain access to the castle and the princess?”
“My brother Charles and his betrothed live in Everly. I shall ask to see him.”
Lance didn’t immediately reject my proposal, and I took hope from that.
“We could trade the boat for a farmer’s wagon and garments,” I continued. “And we could also pretend we are married, that the princesses are our babes.”
“The news of the royal twins’ birth will soon travel through the land.”
“Then we shall only have one babe out at a time.”
“And the Princess Constance? How will we explain her presence?”
“We shall tell her as much of the truth as she can understand.” The bright young princess had been a joy and a delight to the queen and all the ladies-in-waiting. “She will cooperate and pretend we are her parents.” At least I prayed she would.
Lance was silent for a moment, lifting the oars and then dipping them back into the water as effortlessly as if he’d been born for the task. His arms strained underneath the cloak, and the muscles in his neck rippled once again showing his strength and reminding me how much I needed him if I hoped to succeed in keeping my vow to the queen.
“Very well,” he finally said, although somewhat testily. “We’ll go to Everly first.”
The sourness of sweat permeated the tunic Lance had purchased for me when we’d docked along the busy quay of Everly. I attempted to ignore the stench as I made my way along the city’s main thoroughfare. The coarse brown wool chafed my legs, and the simple leather boots I’d also acquired clomped against the cobbled street, especially since they were too big for my petite feet. I’d covered my hair with a rectangular veil tied in place with a cord that wound around my forehead. The veil didn’t obscure my face, and so I ducked my head as I plodded along, attempting to keep my features as concealed as possible.
Like all the other towns we’d passed, word had already reached Everly of the king and queen’s deaths. The usual smoke rising from the chimneys of the city’s many iron smelters was noticeably absent even if the scent of the burning metal still hung heavy in the haze of eventide. Around me was bedlam, a mass exodus of people from the city so frenzied I could hardly push my way through the crowded streets.
Most were nobility fleeing to estates in the countryside, likely fearing to remain visible if King Ethelwulf should send his army farther inland. Others were peasant farmers selling their wares, concluding that they too would vacate to the country where perhaps they could avoid any confrontation with the new king of Mercia.
Surely by now King Ethelwulf had entered the castle at Delsworth and laid claim to the throne. If the rumors regarding his rule of Warwick were true, then nobleman and peasant alike had every right to be concerned.
The peaceful existence we’d known for more than a century, beginning long ago with the reign of King Alfred the Peacemaker, had come to an end. All the more reason to whisk Princess Constance to safety. King Ethelwulf wouldn’t want to leave any rivals to the throne.
I hurried along in the direction of the castle gate, keeping my face averted so no one would see my fair, unblemished skin and beauty and realize I wasn’t a peasant. I tried not to think about the difficulty of the task ahead, the fact that I needed to get inside the royal residence, locate the princess, change her into the plain child’s garments we’d bought, and then attempt to walk back out of town to the eastern gate where Lance had said he’d wait. I had to do it without anyone suspecting who we were or what we were doing.
In addition, I had only two hours to accomplish it all. Before the sun descended and the city gate closed for the night. Even then, I couldn’t keep from wondering if Lance would wait for me, that perhaps he was relieved to be rid of me so he could proceed without me slowing him down.
As I wound my way up the busy street that led to the castle gatehouse, I rehearsed my plan for getting inside. I would reveal myself to the guards, pray they would believe I was nobility, and then pay them each a silver coin from our few that remained.
Then I would request an audience with my brother Charles and hope he hadn’t yet left the city. Among those fleeing, I’d already glimpsed many of the men and women from court, those who had evacuated Delsworth a few weeks ago. Yet I hadn’t seen Charles or his betrothed among them. Nor had I seen the Princess Constance.
I glanced up toward the imposing fortress ahead. Built with a dozen stone towers and spires of varying shapes and sizes, the Everly royal residence was one of the most beautiful works of architecture in Mercia. Set on the high ground overlooking the Upper Cress River, it was more imposing than any other castle I’d seen.
I’d visited the palace last year when the court had traveled with the king and queen to Everly for the summer months. Since the city was within the shadows of the Iron Hills, it was cooler and less humid than the seaport capital of Delsworth.
I was vaguely familiar with the layout of the castle. Even so, it was enormous, and I couldn’t waste precious time racing up and down its many spiraling staircases. Perhaps Charles would be able to lead me to the nursery and the princess more directly.
My foot snagged on a crack in the cobblestone and jolted me with the realization that if I consulted with Charles, I might put my entire family into jeopardy. If King Ethelwulf ever discovered I had anything to do with the escape of the princesses, he’d punish my relatives, likely torturing and killing them in an effort to locate me.
Already I’d endangered them. Most of the ladies, including the wet nurse, knew I was running away with the princesses. King Ethelwulf even now might be hunting me down. What if he’d already infiltrated the Everly royal residence with his spies? Or maybe Saracens were there waiting for me?
I stifled a shudder and forced my feet to keep moving. The simple truth was that if I wanted to help Princess Constance and fulfill my vow to the queen, I’d have to do it through my own ingenuity, without help from Charles or any other nobility who remained.
By the time I came upon the gatehouse, I’d decided my only course was to try the lower servants’ entrance and pay off the guards there. But Providence intervened with the timely arrival of a mule-drawn cart that bounced through the gatehouse followed by a large group of servants and nobility on foot. I broke away from the wall and used their activity as cover. Garnering only a few glances, I slid past them until I was inside the gatehouse. My legs and stomach quivered, and I expected a guard would bolt after me and demand to know my business.
But when no one approached, I dashed into the bailey, attempting to move as though I belonged and was on some urgent errand for a lord or lady. With each step, I waited for a soldier’s shout to impede me. Strangely, no one opposed me.
