Lady of the English - By Elizabeth Chadwick Page 0,162
retiring to his mattress, put his back to them.
In the morning the empress and her party had gone. A fresh fall of snow had obliterated all tracks beyond those of monks going down from dorter to chapel in the dead of night. Were it not for the fact that his chestnut stallion and the bay and grey geldings had gone from their stalls, he could have believed it all a dream. As it was, he faced a long trudge back to Oxford.
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Forty-seven
Wallingford, December 1142
M atilda drooped in the saddle. Every muscle was aching and tight with cold and she felt as if the marrow had been sucked from her bones and replaced with ice. They had been struggling through the snow for most of the night, trying to cover the ground between Abingdon and Wallingford before dawn. The light was grey in the east with a streak of oyster white low on the horizon. It had stopped snowing an hour ago and the world was hushed and colourless, the only sound the crump of the snow under the horse’s hooves and the jingle of harness.
Now, finally, the walls and towers of Wallingford Castle rose out of the dawn in lime-washed stone and timber like a sketch on an embroiderer’s linen cloth. Relief coursed through her at the sight, but there was misery too, because although this place guaranteed safety, she did not want to be here, and the circumstances driving her were of defeat and failure.
At the outer works, a herald rode out to greet them and establish their credentials. Matilda realised what an odd party they must look, sharing horses and still clad in their disguising white robes for warmth. The moment the herald recognised them, he raised the horn he was carrying and blew three strong blasts, and the guards hastened to open the gates.
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As Matilda entered Wallingford, folk were shovelling pathways through the night’s fresh snowfall. A groom hastened to take her bridle. De Bohun dismounted and turned to help Matilda from the saddle, but Brian was there before him to claim the privilege.
She felt the hard grip of his hands as he lifted her down, and for an instant they stood as close as lovers. Then he stepped back, putting a body’s distance between them, even while their breath mingled in the icy air.
“Domina, I do not know what you are doing here,” he said,
“but I thank Christ to see you, and know you are safe.” Falling to his knees, he bowed his head.
Matilda wanted to weep aloud, but suppressed her emotion with rigid control. Beyond Brian, everyone else was kneeling too, so that in this bleak courtyard, piled with snow, muddy straw underfoot on the walkways, she was queen of all she surveyed.
“All that is here is yours,” Brian said, as if reading her mind.
It began to snow again in light, fine flakes. She saw the relief and raw anguish in his eyes, and all the tally of the things so long unsaid between them. She swayed on her feet. “All I want is to be out of this bitter cold,” she said, her voice cracking.
Immediately he was contrite. “Come within. I will send a messenger to Cirencester, to my lord of Gloucester, immediately. He will not yet have marched on Oxford.”
“He has no need,” she said wearily. “It is too late; the castle is lost.”
“Then how did you…”
“I do not know.” She blinked hard and rubbed her forehead.
“Dear God, Brian, I do not know.”
He beckoned and his wife stepped from the throng and curtseyed. “Domina,” she said. “Let me show you to a comfortable chamber.”
Matilda summoned the last of her strength and followed 403
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the lady of Wallingford to a room on the upper floor of a fine timber hall. A large, warm fire burned in the hearth and a bed with a soft blanket of red and green stripes, topped by a folded silk quilt, was pushed against one wall. A pleasant scent of incense and beeswax filled the room. There were numerous shelves lined with scrolls and parchments tied up with ribbons, and there were books too. A lectern stood under a window to catch the best light,
“This is the warmest chamber in the castle,” Maude said. “I hope you find it fitting, domina.” Her gaze was closed and wary.
Matilda just wanted to lie on the bed and fall asleep, but would not do so in the presence of Brian’s