The Handfasted Wife Page 23

  Alice said to his departing back, ‘It will be done, lord.’ She studied Elditha with a quizzical look. ‘My lady, I have a chamber where you can rest,’ she said in perfect English.

  As they walked into a second hall, she saw people, shades in a thin light, moving about a central hearth. She thought she could make out a cooking pot swinging over a fire. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark she saw a group of soldiers eating from a trestle. Of a sudden, strangulated whimpers pierced the dim chill, cries that sounded like those of a creature caught in a woodland trap. She stopped walking, her eyes searching about, peering into the dim shadowy light, looking for the source. She followed the sound, which had faded into low moans. They seemed to come from an open alcove at the next cross where the hall led into the newer west hall. Elditha drew closer to the alcove pillar and stared down. A bundle of rags was curled in a foetal position on a pallet, writhing to and fro, gasping and keening. She reached out to touch the creature, who appeared little more than a child. This was no child. It was an undersized, but grown, woman, heavily pregnant. Elditha almost gagged as she leaned over, towards a fetid smell that emanated from her.

  ‘Lady Elditha, you have no business here. Come away quickly.’

  ‘Alice of Gloucester; that girl is in labour.’

  Alice caught Elditha’s arm. ‘My lady, come now, this is no place for you. There are others to see to her.’

  ‘Others? Where are they? Why is she not in the bower hall?’

  ‘There is no bower now. It is full of soldiers.’

  ‘She won’t survive without help. Nor will her child.’

  ‘Leave her. You will make Count Alain angry.’ Alice pulled Elditha away. ‘I will send a slave to her. She is a soldier’s whore. I promise that she won’t be abandoned. Come.’ She turned to a shapeless girl hovering close by, snapped her fingers and pointed back. ‘See to that woman.’

  Elditha was helpless. How could these people be so unfeeling? Alice hurried her along yet another walkway into the west hall. She stopped at the back of it, lifted a curtain, unhinged a key from a collection that fell from her belt, and opened the lock on a low wooden door.

  Elditha stared around the chamber. They could not know, because if they had they would never have allowed her to take possession of the very apartment which she had occupied with Harold when they had come to this hall at Gloucester. It was a spacious room. The bed was covered with its usual tapestry depicting a Wessex dragon, its colours still brightly touched with gold thread. They could not have discovered the secret under this bed. She would not be here if they had.

  The trapdoor in this chamber was an unusual feature. Godwin himself had had it cut into the floor planks as a convenient way in and out of his apartment. It blended into the run of the beams and at a glance was insignificant, because the ringed handle was created of the same beech wood and the bed was kept in place over it as an additional concealment. Elditha remembered the door set into the orchard wall at Reredfelle. Lucky for her that Earl Godwin had always liked secret entrances and exits. Alice thrust her hands out from the trailing sleeves of her gown and pointed at Elditha’s belt. ‘My lady, I fear I must take it.’ Elditha unstrapped her seax and, without speaking, held it out. Alice’s long hands reached forward and took it from her. Elditha noticed that Alice wore rings on her fingers that were of English design, patterned with English enamel work.

  Alice reached for the saddle-bag which lay on the bed. Immediately Elditha thought of the precious book, her gems and the christening robe hidden beneath her linen. She did not want this woman rummaging through her treasure. ‘I have concealed no weapon,’ she said sharply and reached out to stop the woman. She had not needed to. There was a rush of skirts. Alice whirled round. Servants came running in shouting, ‘Lady Alice, we need the wise woman now.’

  To Elditha’s surprise Alice looked desperate. ‘But we have none. You must do what you can for her. I shall come in a moment.’

  ‘But …’ The girl hovered in the entrance.

  ‘Find the priest. I shall come.’

  Elditha said with determination, ‘I have had seven children of my own. I know the art of midwifery. I may be able to save her.’

  ‘It may be too late.’

  ‘I can try.’ Elditha reached deep into her bag and withdrew the small package that lay nestled in the corner, under the book. She concealed it in the purse that hung from her belt. Then, she lifted the saddle-bag from the bed and, using her heel, kicked it underneath and out of sight.

  They hurried back through the west hall to the alcove at the crossway, where the girl was now screaming in pain. Elditha knelt by the pallet. ‘It helps to walk. Could you, do you think?’

  ‘I cannot,’ the girl said. ‘My leg …’

  Elditha gently lifted the dirty cover and said, ‘Ah, I see. Your leg …’

  ‘She is crippled,’ Alice said.

  Elditha knew what she had to do if she was to save the girl. ‘I need water heated to boiling, and clean rags. And for the Virgin’s sake, hang a curtain here. Hurry, if you care about her life, and that which she bears.’

  ‘Fetch a curtain and hang it,’ Alice said to one servant. To the other, she said, ‘Bring us help.’ When the servant asked whom, Alice replied, ‘Choose two who have children of their own.’

  ‘She will bear fruit,’ Elditha said, touching the girl’s swollen belly. She moved her hands gently over the stomach and said, ‘Bring me herbs – fennel and mint. Her womb will follow their sweet smells and the baby will have an easier release. When I have warm water, I can bathe the passage.’

  Alice lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘This girl told her Norman lover where to look for her cousin, a Saxon, who stole weapons from them.’

  ‘From whom?’

  ‘The Normans, my lady.’

  Why did Lady Alice care if a Saxon was betrayed?

  Alice went on in a low voice, ‘They speared him with one of the swords he had stolen and strung him up as an example to others.’

  Elditha studied the woman. She looked worn and sad. There was no time to fathom this now. ‘Send for a cup of warm wine for her to drink. And I will have my seax back.’

  Elditha held out her hand and Alice returned it, saying, ‘That girl was foolish, but I should have sent slaves to care for her sooner.’

  ‘God will forgive you,’ Elditha said. ‘Hush, the servants come. I think we can save her.’

  Two servants hung a curtain from the garment hooks protruding from the pillars of the alcove. A woman brought a kettle of boiling water, another brought a sponge and strips of linen and placed them on the alcove bench. One of the torch holders returned with a flask of wine and a cup. ‘And bring me the herbs,’ Elditha said. She pulled the package from her purse, opened it and took a pinch of the powder and dropped it into the wine. This she held to the girl’s lips. ‘Sip slowly,’ she said. ‘It will ease the baby’s passage.’

  ‘Do not look on my face. I have no husband. It will bring you misfortune.’ The girl gasped. ‘Lady Alice despises me …’

  ‘Do not speak nonsense,’ said Elditha. ‘You have no need to be ashamed. And I do not believe in bad luck. We make our own. Drink slowly.’ And when she looked up again, she noticed, for the first time, a smile hovering about Alice’s pursed lips. Her face looked less pinched for it.

  They eased a linen sheet over the stinking straw and beneath the girl. She untied the strap that had held her knife and gave it to her. When a great pain grasped the girl, she bit hard on the strip of leather and grasped Elditha’s hand so hard that Elditha wondered how such a small creature could cling so strongly. Then her grasp eased. ‘It is like being in a boat riding on a wave,’ Elditha said, and at last the curtain moved aside. The servant had returned with a small basket of herbs.

  ‘Let the curtain fall,’ Elditha ordered, as she took the basket from the servant. She dropped mint and fennel into the water and dipped a rag into it.

  She asked the servant to help Alice to lift t
he girl’s skirt, gently wiped the girl and felt inside her. ‘I can feel your baby’s head.’ She glanced up and said. ‘What is your name?’

  ‘Greta.’

  ‘Greta, push now because I have the head. Your baby will be born in the sign of the ram, Aries, and that is a good strong sign.’ She spoke to Alice. ‘Make her sneeze. A feather from her pillow will do it.’

  Alice drew out a feather, peered down at Greta and tickled her nose. ‘Push,’ Elditha said. Alice tickled the inside of the girl’s nostrils again. Greta’s nose wriggled. With a great sneeze and a final push her baby was born.

  ‘Well done,’ Elditha said, as she caught the baby and stared at it. ‘A girl, Greta, you have a girl.’

  Elditha slapped the baby into life and felt joy at her healthy cry. She wiped away the blood from the baby’s face with a clean wet linen cloth, wrung it out and carefully wiped away mucous from her delicate nose and mouth. She pressed back the baby girl’s tiny ears and laid her on Greta’s breast. ‘She is healthy. Have you a name?’

  Greta shook her head.

  ‘The Queen who once lived in this palace was called Ethelfreda. She was King Alfred’s daughter. I think it would be a good name for her.’

  ‘Ethelfreda is a princess?’ Greta said.

  Alice smiled, ‘My lady, you fill this girl’s head with nonsense.’

  Nonsense yourself, Alice of Gloucester, thought Elditha, but she said, ‘Thank the Mother of Heaven, Greta, that I was here this night, because you will live to have grandchildren.’ She measured three fingers from the baby’s belly, cut the cord and tied it. She looked down. No afterbirth. ‘Can you push again, just once?’ Greta pushed. The afterbirth was safely expelled.

  Alice cleaned it away into a basin. She frowned. ‘My lady, it is not good.’

  Elditha looked at the sheet. Greta was bleeding copiously.

  ‘Alice of Gloucester,’ Elditha said, giving Alice the powdered mugwort root, ‘we can stop this too. She will need a combination of herbs to drink regularly now. Put a little of this powder into a mixture of sage, pennyroyal, willow weed. Bathe her with the rest.’

  But before Alice could reply, the curtain was sharply dragged away and a black-clad figure bent down to enter. ‘You asked for a priest …’ he said, then stopped and stared at Elditha. ‘So, the Lady Elditha is in charge here.’ Brother Francis drew himself up to his full height and folded his hands under the sleeves of his habit.

  The servant who followed said to Alice, ‘My lord has sent him.’

  He looked like some tall, brooding crow. Why was he here? Elditha glared at him and then spoke with authority in her voice, ‘The child is healthy. You may thank God for a new life.’

  Brother Francis looked aghast. He turned from Elditha to Alice, and reached out and snatched the purse she held from her. He turned it over. ‘I recognise this purse. Our church forbids the Devil’s root.’ He shifted his cold gaze to Elditha again. ‘It is witchcraft,’ he said.

  ‘Brother Francis, it is no such thing. Prayer is the business of monks. Do not meddle in the affairs of women.’ She turned to Alice. ‘It has been a long night. Leave two of your women here and send the meddling monk away.’ She held out her hand towards the priest. ‘Give it back to me or I shall speak with my lord Alain.’ Brother Francis grudgingly placed the purse in Elditha’s opened hand. ‘We shall see what Count Alain has to say.’

  ‘Tell the servants to use this sparingly,’ she said to Alice, ignoring the monk. ‘A little in the washing water,’ she said. ‘Keep her clean. Bathe her and change the sheet.’

  ‘Witch,’ Brother Francis muttered and drew the sign of the cross before lifting the curtain and disappearing into the hall.

  The chapel bell rang for Matins. In a few hours the cocks would crow. Elditha was tired.

  Alice said as she set a candle on a stool, ‘My lady, I will see that they are cared for, but Count Alain will hear of this. The monk will complain.’

  Elditha shrugged, turned her back and plunged her hands into the basin of water sat on a stand. The water became streaked with brown. She didn’t care what Count Alain thought. Nor, right now, did she care how Brother Francis had come to Gloucester or what revenge he was intending.

  ‘My lady,’ Alice said as she handed Elditha a napkin. ‘Lady Elditha, I am not as I seem.’

  Elditha said, turning to face the woman, ‘I have wondered what or who you are. How are you then?’

  Alice said, ‘My father is English. He is with the rebels in the woods.’ She placed a finger on her lips. ‘This will be difficult, dangerous beyond belief. I had not intended to save you, but I shall try to help you and the skald.’

  Elditha gasped. ‘What?’

  ‘Shush, the guards are beyond the door. I shall return in the morning.’ She crossed to the door and turned to add in a low tone that was almost a whisper, ‘You supported the girl. I won’t forget that kindness. I had turned my back to her.’ Alice quietly opened the door, bolted it and was gone without explanation.

  Elditha did not know if she could trust this woman. On her own it might be possible to escape from the hall itself, but the palace yard, through the stockade, the woods and out into the darkness beyond? And she needed help to save Padar. She fell onto the bed exhausted. To her surprise, the next morning, she discovered that she had fallen into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  27

  Easter 1067

  ‘My lady, are you awake?’ The voice came from close to her pillow. Wide awake, Elditha sat up. ‘You will be hungry, so break your fast.’ Alice indicated the table below a high, shuttered window. ‘There is bread, butter and small beer, but hurry. Count Alain asks that you join him for prayer. Later, he says, you must dine in the hall.’

  ‘What if I decline?’

  ‘You won’t save the skald that way. If you agree to dine with Count Alain, I can help you flee.’ Alice sank onto the stool by the table. ‘But you must do as he says and arouse no suspicion. I do this every day, dine at his table, look after his household and deceive.’ She glanced down, then up again at Elditha with a profound sadness on her countenance. ‘Lady Elditha, let me explain. I lost my husband at Hastings fighting with Count Alain’s Bretons. Alain of Brittany was his cousin. Yet I am born English. Since Senlac, I have seen for myself English lands pillaged, crops stolen and women used and abused. When war comes to the countryside, the poor suffer. My father has sworn loyalty to the silvatii. They will free your skald.’ She hurried to the door, opened it, looked out, closed it again, returned to Elditha’s side and lowered her voice. ‘Tonight is Holy Friday. The soldiers will be at prayer and Count Alain too. Your door will be unbolted and unguarded. Slip out, keep your mantle close. You will have to get through this hall and out of the back of the first hall. You must get down to the river before they start searching for you. Take the track behind the hall into the woods. On the pathway a boy will be waiting for you. He will guide you. I know that a ship is expected on the Severn.’

  ‘And Padar?’

  ‘We will rescue him, and this I promise, but he may not be able to go with you on the ship. You must go without him.’

  Elditha pulled the blanket around her shoulders. ‘In that case there is no choice, but promise me you will help him.’

  The woman nodded her reply and left Elditha to break her fast.

  A little later, Elditha pushed the unlocked door ajar and peered out of the curtain that separated the chamber from the hall. The west hall was full of soldiers and women were stirring pots on the great central fire. Alice was directing them. Closing the door softly, she went to peer under the bed. Yes, the old chest was still there. She pulled it towards her and opened the lid. It contained a broken saddle. This part of the hall was near to the stables. When the west hall was constructed the hatchway had been set into the floor planking, designed so that old Earl Godwin could slip in and out and reach his horses secretly by night.

  She made herself as flat as she could, crawled under the bed and traced the ou
tline with her fingers. She felt around, moving her hands over the rough planks of the floor. The wooden ring lay flat against the floor. If she moved the low bed it would be easier. She could pull up the trapdoor and drop down into the undergrowth below, close to the stable doors. As she pushed the box back over the trapdoor she felt something caught on the chest and pulled it away.

  ‘My lady? What are you doing?’

  Elditha wriggled out, straightened up and brushed one hand along her dress. A maid had followed Alice inside. She would tell Alice to lock the chamber door, for her own sake, and she would explain about the trapdoor, but not while the maid hovered close. ‘I dropped my pendant, Alice,’ she said and held up the trinket she had dragged from under the box, a tiny garnet that dangled from a gold chain. She slipped it over her head, praying silently that the pendant she had lost many years before would bring her good fortune. The chapel bells began to ring as Alice handed Elditha her cloak. They were just in time for Sext. There was no time to explain the door below.

  Conversation, the spitting of the fire and the clanking of pewter spoons on the table: this was no different to other feasts held at Kingsholm, except that Harold was dead and she was sitting next to Count Alain at the top table. She observed the faces of minor thanes, faces that were lit by firelight into familiarity. Sitting with Count Alain were those who had, like Beorhtric, thrown their lot in with the conquerors, hoping to hold on to their lands. At least their wives had the grace not to meet her cold stare. Farther down the board she picked out a face that she had never seen before: a man with his head shaved in Norman fashion. She watched him turn to speak with Brother Francis. The two men were familiar with each other.

  ‘Wadard, Bishop Odo’s man,’ said Count Alain in French, seeing her look at the man. ‘He is with Brother Francis, whom I hear you displeased only yesterday. It is as well that I am not of Normandy. We Bretons do not pander to priests.’ She contemplated the plate, gold and probably stolen from the English, and did not reply. Count Alain lifted the choicest pieces of fish and offered them to her saying, in French, ‘Fish and lentils test a man.’