The Winter Love Page 4

  Henry let her lie on the ground for a while. He was impatient; they were very vulnerable here.

  When Eleanor sat up, he told her to go into the village and get some food for them. “It will attract attention if you do not,” he explained.

  She managed to get up without his help and to walk into the village, but walking was almost as painful as riding had been. She wiped away a tear, hoping Henry had not seen.

  “Come here, boy.”

  The speaker was a woman not much older than herself. “I’ve come to buy food for my master,” explained Eleanor.

  “He looks like he could do with some. He’s just skin and bones with nothing holding him together.”

  Eleanor wondered how she could tell from this distance, then wondered if the woman had seen her faint. There was nothing she could do if the woman had seen.

  “What do you propose for payment?”

  “I have coin.” Henry had given her some, although he doubted that people in this out of the way place would have much use for it.

  The woman nodded. “I will take it. It will be useful for the fair.”

  Eleanor was relieved.

  “You look as if you have been injured.”

  “We both have.” Eleanor did not think this was a lie. Riding on Solomon had certainly injured her. “My master is a soldier.”

  “Does he come from France? Does he have some news? Tell him to come to that house.” She pointed to a small house where a young child sat playing with a cat. “He can tell me the news from France while I cook for him.” Eleanor hoped that Henry would agree to this. Before she turned away she gave the woman the coins that Henry had given her. “That’s too much,” said the woman.

  “That’s what my master said to pay. “

  “He’s either a fool or generous.”

  “Generous,” replied Eleanor, certain that this was one aspect of Henry’s character that she understood.

  The woman smiled. “Then you must be very happy with him.”

  Eleanor didn’t hurry back to Henry; she wanted to be in control of herself when she faced him.

  “Will she feed us?”

  “Yes. You paid her too much.”

  Henry smiled. “I have enough and it pleases me to be generous.” Eleanor doubted the first was true.

  “She wants you to tell her the news from France.”

  “Why does she think I come from France?”

  “You’re on a war horse and you have a beard. She took you for a soldier.”

  “I told you I look like a soldier.” Henry stroked his beard thoughtfully. “She can’t see the beard from there.”

  “She could see that you need a good meal. I made up the bit about the beard.” Eleanor hoped she would not have to tell Henry that she had foolishly told a stranger that he was injured.

  “Take Solomon, then, and lead the way, while I think up some good stories.”

  Eleanor didn’t think he made up the stories that he told them over the meal. He told the story of the battle in which the French king was captured; he told about archers and knights and he told about the Prince.

  “He is a good soldier,” said Henry approvingly, as if they might have had some doubt after the way he had told the story.

  “And do all the soldiers come home soon?” asked the woman.

  “Some are coming now,” said Henry, “but soon it will be winter and they will not be able to cross the sea. And some must stay. There is still fighting to be done.”

  The woman nodded, sadly. “Is your man in France?” asked Eleanor. She knew that the Prince of Wales had gone to France several months ago and the soldiers had been away a long time.

  “Yes,” said the woman. “Our lord is not required to send many men to war, but he sent my man and my brother.”

  Henry was silent. He did not want to give this woman false hope, but he also did not want to cause her more worry.

  “Do you have enough to keep you through the winter?” Eleanor wondered what they could do if the woman did not, but asked the question, anyway.

  “There is enough. It will be hard, it’s always hard, but I will still be here when my man comes home.”

  Henry stood. “Thank you for your hospitality. You have been most generous. My brother sails back to France in the spring and he will seek news of your man.”

  “That is very kind of you.”

  Eleanor agreed. She did not think Henry was lying; he really would try to get some news of her man. She felt the eyes of everyone in the small village on her as she led Solomon through it. Once they reached the road Henry mounted and pulled her up behind him. “You will ride for a while and then walk for a while. It will slow us down, but there is no other way without killing you, it seems.”

  Early in the afternoon they rode into a small town. True to his word, Henry sought out an apothecary and bought some balm for her. As soon as they reached the wood just outside the town they dismounted and Henry handed her the flask.

  “You can either trust me not to look or you can go further into the trees. Either way I will trust you not to run away. But it will take less time if you trust me not to look and I turn my back.”

  He turned away and Eleanor grinned. She didn’t know why she trusted him, but she knew that he would not look just as he knew she would not run. She tended to herself quickly and found the balm instantly soothing.

  “I am ready,” she said as soon as she had made herself decent again.

  Henry turned and she gave him the small flask to put into his pouch. Then they set off again.

  They made very slow progress that afternoon, but Eleanor was able to stay on Solomon for longer periods with fewer ill effects. By the time they stopped for the night she was convinced that she would be able to sit astride the horse for the rest of the way tomorrow. Henry had grumbled that they had not managed to get as far as the coast today, but they had come a long way and must surely reach the ship in the morning.

  As the afternoon darkened she asked Henry how they would manage their accommodation that evening.

  “You’ll have to sleep with the other lads, unless it’s a very rough place.”

  Eleanor’s heart sank. “Could I sleep with Solomon?” she asked.

  “Why?”

  “He’ll protect me.”

  Henry thought it over. “Very well. We’ll say that Solomon has need of a poultice during the night and you have to be with him. It can’t be anything too serious, or we’ll have every thief for twenty miles coming after us in the morning. Whilst I may look like a peasant on a stolen horse, my stolen horse looks fast and dangerous and that keeps us safe.”

  Eleanor hoped that he was smiling as he said this, but his back gave her no clue.

  “It doesn’t have to be any weakness at all,” answered Eleanor, as if she had not heard her own words thrown back at her. “Sometimes, at the convent, we give special care to horses who have been working very hard.”

  “You take very good care of your horses.”

  “We have to; they’re very expensive.”

  “Will they miss you?”

  “The horses?”

  “The sisters.”

  Eleanor was silent for a while. “Most of them,” she said, finally. “Convents are not perfect communities, even though we follow the Rule. My brother sent me to the convent to be educated; he didn’t intend me to stay this long. Eventually he recognised my vocation and decided that I should stay.”

  Henry kept his own counsel. One of the few things that had lowered his opinion of Philip was the way that he had treated his sister. He had encouraged her in her vocation because the convent had accepted a smaller dowry than a husband would have. Henry had long since realised that most people who had money were more desperate to keep hold of it than those who had very little.

  “You were happy there.”

  “I am happy there,” she replied tartly. “You do still intend for me to go back?”

  “Yes, I just don’t know when or how.”

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bsp; “Good, I am to take my vows soon.” She felt something change in the way that Henry held himself and she thought he said “May God forgive me,” but she wasn’t sure.

  The inn where they were to stay that night was large and busy. Eleanor stood outside with Solomon while Henry made sure that there was space for them. He accompanied her into the stable and again helped her to unsaddle the horse. This time he left the saddle with her while he went to eat.

  Eleanor busied herself with Solomon. He let her know that he was happy with her, standing stock still for her as she brushed him. This attracted the attention of the other lads, most of whom were having trouble with their own masters’ horses.

  Eleanor enjoyed their attention and took longer than she needed, until Solomon grew bored and nudged her shoulder to remind her to feed him. After she had fed him she began to rub his legs in the way she had been taught. The horses at the convent were treated in this way when they had worked particularly hard and she thought that Solomon deserved the attention.

  When she had finished she sat and waited for Henry to come back. He had not told her to do anything else. When he eventually returned, he was carrying some bread and a bowl of something that smelled delicious. “I’ll bring you some beer in a moment. Have you fed Solomon?”

  “Yes. Thank you, this tastes very good.”

  “I kept a couple of bits of meat from my meal for you.”

  Eleanor smiled up at him. “That’s kind of you. We don’t eat much meat in the convent.”

  “I suppose not. I don’t get much meat, either, even on meat days, but if I eat meat, so do you.”

  She finished her food quickly, then Henry returned with a jug of beer for her. This was also good. He left the balm with her and she found a place where she would not be seen to use it. She was very satisfied when she lay down in Solomon’s stall to sleep. It was only as she finally began to fall asleep that she realised that satisfied was the last thing she should be. She was far from the convent and she had sinned by wearing a man’s clothes and sharing a bed with that man.

  Then she was wide awake again. For many years she had taken it for granted that she would never have a husband or children. She was so certain of her vocation that she had not considered it a loss. Growing up in the convent, she had not seen a man who was not a priest or a monk or her brother for many years. There were usually some children in the convent, but they rarely stayed long. Now she was alone with a man she didn’t know, even sharing his bed. She blushed as she wondered how she would explain it to Mother Abbess. Mother was not the most sympathetic of women. Eleanor’s penance would be great.

  With a sigh she turned over in the straw and Solomon nuzzled her shoulder.

  Henry did not sleep well. It wasn’t that the other travellers who shared his room disturbed him. In France he had slept through skirmishes and had slept with men who snored or were restless. It didn’t take him long to work out that he was worried about Eleanor. She would be safe enough in the stable; Solomon could maim or kill an attacker. No, what worried him was what he was doing to Eleanor. She wanted to go back to the convent and he was taking her further away. Worse, he was preventing her from taking her vows. He was adding sin upon sin. Regardless of Philip’s reasons for keeping her there, Eleanor’s own sense of vocation was very clear and Henry prayed that he would do nothing to put doubt into her mind. He already had enough on his conscience without that and causing Eleanor to leave her chosen life was the last thing he wanted. He would have to make sure that Edward took care, as well. Women found Edward attractive and he liked them. Henry doubted Eleanor would last long if Edward decided he wanted her. She would have no way of protecting herself from him or even knowing that she needed to be protected. She could know none of the tricks that such a man could use and Henry wasn’t sure he could arm her against them in the time they had.

  Edward could be checked if Henry worked hard enough and if he warned Eleanor. She could hardly know the kind of danger she was in. Henry hadn’t known what he was taking on when he took Eleanor and now he was beginning to understand. Despite what it cost him, he would have done it again; he could not have left her to Philip’s murderer and his friends. He vowed that the next time he came across that man one of them would die and it wouldn’t just be for Philip’s sake.

  He dreaded arriving at the coast tomorrow as much as he wanted to be there already. He wanted to discuss his problems with Edward, but Edward was changed. They had never been as close as Henry was with his older brother, but the distance between them seemed so much greater now. At first, Henry had been overjoyed to think that he would be able to return home with his brother, but Edward had been poor company and had avoided him. The ship was small enough for this to be obvious. And now he was bringing a nun onto Edward’s ship - a nun who looked like a boy. He sighed as he tried to work out how Edward would react and how much help he would be. He sighed again; he had no choice. The only way he could get home quickly and get Eleanor to safety was to sail with Edward. Edward would have to become Eleanor’s protector as well, but he could not be allowed to seduce Eleanor.

  Chapter Three

  Eleanor wanted to ask Henry to stop the first time she saw the sea. They had come over a hill and it lay before them, stretching out as far as the eye could see. It was so vast that she couldn’t comprehend it. Her mind was full of questions. How could people bear to get into ships to cross it? Weren’t they afraid when they could no longer see the land? How did they find their way? What happened when they ran out of sea? They were going on a ship; would they lose sight of the land? How long would they be at sea? She kept stretching to look around Henry to catch sight of it again.

  “Keep still,” he said finally. “You’ll soon have more of the sea than you want.”

  “You don’t like the sea.”

  “No. You might as well know, I get seasick. I was ill all the way back from France.” The feel of his body against her changed and she wondered if he was afraid. Then he straightened slightly. “It’s not very far now. When we’re on the ship you can look at it as much as you want.”

  Eleanor thought the sea must be a terrible thing if it could make a strong man like Henry sick.

  Eleanor tried not to fidget, but the sea was a very welcome distraction from constantly thinking about how uncomfortable she was. Even from this distance she could see that it was not the same everywhere and she had not expected it to move quite so much. Something so huge and so flat from a distance should be still. She knew from tales and sermons that there could be storms and shipwrecks, but had never thought very much about how they might happen. As they drew closer to the sea, she could see boats and ships moving on top of it. They were moved by the sea, rather than moving through it. It was wonderful.

  They made their way through the small town until they arrived at the quayside. There was only one ship there and a young man, who was a plumper, shorter, clean-shaven version of Henry, came onto the quayside to greet them. He looked angry. He was also extremely good looking. Eleanor’s idea of male beauty was mostly inspired by her brother, who she knew was regarded by some of the older nuns as a fine looking man, but this man was a different type entirely. Although shorter than Henry, he was still tall. He had more flesh on him than Henry, but there was no excess. She could see that he was muscular, but it was his face that pleased her most. He frowned now, but there was a symmetry about it that almost took her breath away. His face was more tanned than Henry’s. It struck her that its proportions were entirely what they should be and she knew that it would be a while before she tired of looking at it, if ever. At first she could not tell what colour his eyes were, for he never seemed to look directly at her or Henry, then she saw that they were the same grey as Henry’s.

  “You brought a boy.” The man’s tone was an accusation.

  “I brought a nun.” Henry was angry, too, but Eleanor couldn’t see his face as he let her down from Solomon.

  “He looks like a boy.”

  “SHE is a nun.” H
enry was exasperated now. “I’ll explain how she comes here when we’re at sea. Eleanor, can you see if you can get Solomon on board. He hates ships even more than I do and he might cause you less trouble.”

  Eleanor took Solomon’s reigns and walked backwards onto the ship. Solomon followed her calmly and obediently. Henry followed both of them more reluctantly.

  “Wait!” Henry’s brother signalled for one of his men to take Solomon, but the horse protested so much that the other man backed away, shaking his head. “You look like a boy.” The captain peered intently into her face. Eleanor stood her ground.

  “I’m a nun. My name is Sister Margaret.”

  The captain nodded. “You sound like a woman, but a boy could easily do that.”

  “I’m a woman.”

  “I could ask you to prove it.”

  “And I could kill you.” Eleanor’s hand went to the knife that she now wore on the loose belt around her tunic. She had noticed on the first night that the other boys in the stable wore belts and knives and Henry had agreed that it would make her blend in better. She drew it an inch out of its sheath, even though she had no idea what to do if she must use it.

  “What’s a nun doing threatening murder?”

  “She’s defending her honour, Edward. It might not be something you’re used to.”

  The younger man looked with disgust at his brother and turned back to Eleanor.

  “I’m Edward Attewood and this is my ship. I assume you’re coming to Southampton with us.”

  When Eleanor said nothing he looked at Henry again, who nodded. He thought for a moment. “Dan, show Sister Margaret where to put that horse.”

  When Eleanor was gone Edward turned to his brother. “Are you sure that’s a woman?”

  “I’ve had her breasts pressed into my back for two days,” said Henry drily, “I’m sure.”

  Edward grinned. “I’d have enjoyed that. It was wasted on you.”