to blister paint off walls. Morgan had soon concluded, however, that there was a calculated element in Henry’s rages, just one more weapon in a king’s arsenal. But as Richard verbally flayed the discomfited cardinal, Morgan felt as if he were watching a fire at full blaze, one that could easily have gotten out of control, and that had never been true of Richard’s father.
Aside from missing Rome, though, Morgan had no complaints, and he had to admit Richard had gone out of his way to treat him as a kinsman, which did much to elevate his status in the royal household. So he put aside any lingering misgivings, determined to make the most of these carefree, pleasant days in Italy, knowing life would be neither carefree nor pleasant once they reached Outremer.
Their leisurely progress down the Italian peninsula would soon come to an end. Upon leaving Naples, they’d ridden to Salerno so Richard could consult with the city’s famed doctors about his recurrent bouts of quartan fever. While there, he finally got word that his missing ships had been spotted near Messina, and he at once picked up their pace, no longer having time to spare for sightseeing. Richard had heard troubling rumors in Naples that Joanna had not been seen in nigh on a year. Now that they’d soon be rendezvousing with the royal fleet, he was hopeful that he’d finally get reliable news about his sister’s circumstances.
BY SEPTEMBER 21 , Richard had reached Mileto in Calabria, where he was offered the hospitality of the Benedictine abbey of Holy Trinity. Like many of the other knights, Morgan had found lodgings in the town, and the next morning, he strolled back to the abbey in hopes of breaking his night’s fast in the guest hall. There he found the king in a volcanic rage, stalking about the hall like a great cat on the prowl, spitting out curses under the awed eyes of Mileto’s bishop, abbot, and monks.
Morgan sidled up to a friend, the Fleming Baldwin de Bethune, who’d been with him in the old king’s service. “What has happened? Why is the king so wrathful?”
“He learned that his sister has been grievously maltreated by the usurper. Not only did Tancred seize the dower lands that were rightfully hers, he has been holding her prisoner in Palermo, keeping her isolated from the rest of the world so she could not appeal to Richard or to the rightful Queen of Sicily, the Lady Constance. Richard,” Baldwin said dryly, “took the news rather badly.”
“This Tancred must be a fool!”
“According to the bishop, Tancred had more immediate worries than the anger of a distant English king, for he was facing a rebellion of the island Saracens and fearing a German invasion. I suppose he hoped that political turmoil would keep Richard in his own domains or that he’d be as indifferent a brother as the French king. Those were two serious miscalculations.”
“Indeed,” Morgan agreed, wondering if they’d be shedding blood in Sicily ere they even reached the Holy Land. Not that he blamed Richard for reacting with such fury, for he had a sister, too, back in Wales. He thought it likely that the news of Joanna’s imprisonment had also lacerated an old wound, for all knew how bitterly Richard had resented his mother’s long confinement. He suspected that Tancred might be about to pay a debt twice over, both for Joanna and Queen Eleanor.
Richard had gotten his temper under control long enough to bid his Benedictine hosts and the bishop a courteous farewell, making a generous donation to the abbey coffers before giving the command to move out. They’d planned to return to their ships for the final leg of their journey, but Richard changed his mind once he was in the saddle. “The rest of you go ahead,” he ordered. “I need some time to myself. Have my galley meet me at Bagnara.”
His knights and lords raised an immediate protest. Richard’s habit of going off on his own without a thought to his personal safety had given them more than one sleepless night. He usually paid no heed to their fears, annoyed that they thought he, of all men, had need of a nursemaid, but this morning he made a grudging concession and agreed to take a knight with him. His gaze falling upon his cousin, he decided Morgan would do as well as any, and told the Welshman he could come along.
Morgan was less than thrilled to be accompanying