Page 18 of Unconquered

Eada woke with a cry of fear on her lips.

She clutched the heavy blanket around herself as the sweat on her body dried and left her chilled.

When she felt Drogo's hand touch her back, she shivered and curled up in his arms.

It had been five days since she had left her family behind to continue on to London.

By the third day she had begun to wonder if she had made a mistake.

The death of innocents and the destruction the army left behind haunted her dreams.

She loved Drogo, and desperately wanted to stay at his side, but she feared the sadness around her and the horrors she was witnessing were beginning to twist her mind.

She took several deep breaths to try and calm herself, to look carefully at what had made her wake up shaking and afraid.

When she remembered seeing Godwin, she tried even harder.

This time it might not have been some remembered misery of the day that caused her night terror, but a warning of danger.

"Are you all right, cherie?" Drogo asked, idly kissing her neck.

"Wait," she whispered, willing to be diverted by lovemaking only when she was certain it was a normal fear that had awaken her.

"This time my dream may have been more than dark memory."

"You have foreseen something?"

Drogo propped himself up on his elbow and watched her.

He was uneasy, as he always was when she revealed her gift, but he was willing to hear what she had to say.

She had been proven right far too often for him to ignore.

Although he wanted her skill to fade, he knew it was wise to make use of it while she had it.

"I am not sure," she answered cautiously as more and more of her dream became clear.

"I think Godwin may be in danger."

"Can that not wait until morning?"

Suddenly Eada saw it all and understood what she saw.

Godwin was sprawled in the dirt and Sir Guy, his hands drenched in blood, stood over the youth with a twisted smile on his face.

It was night, dark mists swirling about both figures in her dream, and the fear that caused her heart to beat so fast told her that it was this night.

Sir Guy was going to kill Godwin soon, could even be murdering the boy now.

With a cry of renewed alarm, she leapt from the bed and began to pull on her clothes.

"Godwin is in danger now?" Drogo asked even as he climbed out of the bed and began to dress.

"From whom?"

"Sir Guy," she replied as she tugged on her gown and struggled to do up at least enough of her laces to maintain her modesty.

"Sir Guy is going to kill Godwin."

"Eada, we cannot go racing into Sir Guy's camp in the dead of night crying murder simply because you have had a dream about the boy."

"I thought you believed in my dreams and sendings?"

"I do, but we still cannot go and declare Sir Guy a murderer without more than a dream to strengthen our claim.

We will both be thought mad or worse."

"But we have to go now."

"The dream told you it was happening now? Right now?"

"Not exactly," she replied as she fought to calm herself again.

"The dream showed me Sir Guy standing over Godwin with blood on his hands.

It was night and all my instincts told me it was this night."

"Which is but half over.

What you saw could happen at any time in the next four or five hours."

She thrust her fingers through her hair as she struggled to think of something they could do.

He was right.

There was still a lot of the night left and they needed a good reason for being awake and able to catch Sir Guy committing the crime.

Her affection for Godwin made it difficult for her to think, however, and she looked helplessly at a tousled Drogo, who was lacing up his padded jupon.

"I cannot go back to sleep," she said.

"I know Godwin is in danger of losing his life tonight.

I have to do something to save him."

"I know.

We can go outside now and walk by his camp.

The man has been kind enough to set himself next to us so that we need not walk too far," he drawled, his irritation with Sir Guy's constant proximity clear in his voice.

"We can always say that you needed to relieve yourself and that I felt you should not stumble about the camp alone."

"And what if nothing is happening yet? What if this murder is to be done later?"

"If we see nothing, you will come back inside the tent and I will watch Sir Guy's camp.

Even if someone saw us wander into the wood the first time, they would not question my saying I had to go again.

Too many are afflicted with a sickness of the bowels that has them squatting more than standing.

They can think I suffer as well."

She nodded, and after throwing on her cloak, she gave him her hand and let him lead her out of the tent.

"I just pray that I am still seeing what is or will happen and have not dreamed of something that has already come to pass.”

"Be at ease, my love.

You have yet to be wrong, only uncertain from time to time.

We will save Godwin—this time."

Eada grimaced; she had to acknowledge the unpleasant truth.

This time they might save Godwin, but they would not be able to free him from Sir Guy.

That meant that Godwin would always be in danger.

She could not be sure if the warning she had dreamt was only for now, for this one night, or if she should see it as a warning that Godwin would now be in constant threat of dying at Sir Guy's hands.

There was no way she could keep a perpetual guard upon the youth.

As they walked closer to Sir Guy's camp, they heard his angry voice.

Drogo increased his pace, and a moment later Eada saw her dream acted out before her eyes.

Sir Guy was in a rage, pounding on Godwin with his fists.

Even as Drogo released her hand to hurry over, Godwin fell to the ground and Sir Guy brutally kicked the defenseless youth.

Several men stood nearby, frowning in disgust, yet hesitant to stop such a highborn knight.

When Drogo ran into Sir Guy's camp, two of the men watching moved to assist him.

They clearly felt that they could safely help one highborn knight restrain another.

Any blame or displeasure that might result would fall on Drogo's shoulders and not theirs.

The moment Drogo pulled Sir Guy away from Godwin, Eada rushed in to help the youth out of the enraged knight's reach.

She knelt in the dirt, holding the barely conscious boy's head on her lap and trying to clean the blood from his battered face with a strip torn from her undertunic.

Her instincts told her that she and Drogo had been in time to save the boy.

She just wished she could be certain that there would not be another time.

"What right have you to stop me from disciplining the stupid boy?" bellowed Sir Guy, swaying as he faced Drogo, his unsteadiness and slurred speech revealing his drunken state.

"I stopped you from killing the boy," said Drogo, his hand held cautiously over the hilt of his sword.

"I can kill him if it pleases me.

He is a Saxon prisoner."

"That he is, but he is also little more than a child.

What has he done that is worthy of beating him to death?"

"He keeps those cursed children around.

He is a Saxon.

What reason do I need?"

"You need a better one than this, fool," drawled a half-dressed Lord Bergeron as he walked into camp and eyed Sir Guy with blatant disgust.

"Especially if it means I must rise from my warm bed to put an end to the disturbance."

"You have no right to tell me what to do," yelled Sir Guy, swinging his fist at his uncle.

Eada gaped when Lord Bergeron backhanded Sir Guy with such force the younger man fell to the ground.

The look on Sir Guy's face as he stared up at his enraged uncle told her that he was as shocked as she was.

It was clear that Lord Bergeron was rapidly losing his patience with his nephew, that he was past the point of merely scolding.

"I do not like to be roused from my bed because a drunken sot is taking out his frustrations on a child.

And do not trouble yourself to think of lies to excuse your actions.

Do you think I do not know why you are in such an ill temper?" Lord Bergeron watched his nephew stagger to his feet and brush himself off, but spoke to Drogo.

"This idiot lost his last woman in a game of dice, Sir Drogo.

Now, as he returns to an empty cot, he pauses to kick at a poor boy to try to sate his anger."

"Why is everyone so concerned about the spawn of our enemy?" snapped Sir Guy.

"Because you have taken this particular Saxon into your household.

He is under your rule and thus under your protection.

He does not deserve to be beaten to death because you have lost your whore to another man."

"If you find the boy so troublesome, I am willing to take him into my care," said Drogo.

"No.

He may not be much good, but he at least tends my camp with some skill." Sir Guy smiled nastily as he wiped the blood from his lips.

"Since you are such a kind man, Sir Drogo, and have such a deep love for your enemy, I will allow you to take the children."

"Thank God," whispered Godwin.

Eada knew the words were heartfelt, for the youth slumped against her, the last of his strength leaving him as relief swept over him, but she still felt compelled to ask, "Are you certain, Godwin? You told me you were fond of them."

"They are no longer safe here," he answered.

Seeing that Drogo was looking her way, she nodded, then turned her full attention on Godwin while the Normans discussed what to do with Hilde's children.

"Are you safe? That is the question I should like an answer to."

"I think I will be now.

Sir Guy spits a lot of venom about his uncle, but he is terrified of the man.

Lord Bergeron has just expressed his disgust over this behavior and that will temper Sir Guy's brutality toward me.

And he has never beaten me like this before.

Tonight he was furious over his losses and I was near at hand.

At first he tried to beat the children, but I put myself in his way."

"And have suffered for that bravery." She finished checking his injuries as well as she could under the circumstances and said, "I can see and feel nothing that will not heal.

If you find anything needs more treatment than a good cleaning, come to me or call to me, whichever is safer."

"I will.

I think that, with the children gone, I will be all right.

They have learned to be very quiet, but they cannot hide completely and it was the sight of them which started Sir Guy raging.

I think they remind him that he once had two women he could force to his bed.

I just wish someone would kill the stinking pig."

"Someone will."

Godwin's swollen eyes widened slightly as he looked up at her then sat up with her help.

Eada thought over the words that had just left her mouth and then nodded.

It was not a wish from deep in her heart, but a truth that had suddenly emerged in her mind.

Sir Guy would never see London.

"I pray you are having one of your sendings," muttered Godwin.

"It would give me something to wait for.

I belong to Sir Guy and the thought of doing so for very long, of enduring the man for years to come, leaves me chilled."

"You will soon be free of him.

All you need to do is not let him kill you before he is cut down.

I dreamt of this attack on you.

That is why Drogo and I were at hand.

I believe that means that if you call to me when you are in danger again, I will probably hear you.

So, if that drunken beast starts to beat you or threatens your life, call out to me in your head and make the feeling behind the call as deep and as strong as you can."

"And that will bring you?"

"It brought me to Brun's cousin and then to Brun."

"Then I shall try." He looked toward the Normans as Sir Guy thrust the two scared children at Drogo.

"If you do not come quickly enough, I pray you do not see it as a lack of faith if I just start screaming aloud."

"No," she said and smiled at him.

"I am surprised you did not this time."

"I was caught by surprise for the man has never treated me this badly before and I did not think anyone would or could come to my aid."

"I will, and so will any of Drogo's people.

I think that, since Lord Bergeron has made his disapproval so open, so will others.

It took me awhile to look beyond all the killing and burning to understand that not every Norman behaves in such a cruel way.

Drogo and his men are not the only honorable knights in William's army.

They are as varied in their ways as are our men."

She stood up slowly as Drogo approached, the terrified children stumbling in front of him.

As Godwin explained to the children that they had to go into Drogo's camp, Eada stepped closer to Drogo to allow Godwin some privacy with his charges.

She felt sad that the blind cruelty of one man had caused this separation, for they had already lost their family and now they would think that they were going to lose Godwin as well.

It did not surprise her to see that both of the children were crying when they returned to her side.

With one last look at Godwin, she ushered the children into Drogo's camp and found a sleepy-eyed May hurrying toward her.

The yelling in Sir Guy's camp had roused a number of people.

"I will take them, mistress," May said.

"You will soon need another tent," Eada murmured as she nudged the children toward May's open arms.

"I truly thought the three I had saved from Sir Guy's sword would stay with my mother, but they would not leave you.

You will now have six children to watch over.

I could keep them with me."

"No.

Ivo and I do not mind.

He is already sewing together another tent, for he is sure there will be more children.

And these two will not be staying long with me, not unless Godwin dies or is forced to remain with that beast for all his days."

"But that will hurt you.

You are quick to love the children you take to your arms."

"I am, but I know I can never claim these.

Godwin is their family, and they will always want to be with him.

You go back to bed, mistress, and do not worry about them."

Eada watched May take the children to her crowded tent and then looked up at Drogo.

"I do not think I am the only one you must speak to about collecting every hurt and orphaned child," she drawled.

Drogo shook his head as he tugged her into his tent.

"Ivo was the same about animals.

You saw how he loved your hounds, nearly weeping when we left the dogs with your mother.

The man's heart is as big as his body.

I will speak to him, but he will not heed me.

He cannot turn away from anything or anyone in trouble or in pain.

And such a command will make May unhappy.

That is also something Ivo can never do." He laughed as he started to undress.

"I fear I shall soon have an army of children."

"Who will grow to make you a strong army of loyal soldiers and servants," she said, as she hastily shed the last of her clothes and jumped beneath the warm covers to escape the chilled air.

"Yes, I suppose they will." Drogo slid in beside her and tugged her into his arms.

"But do not forget that I must feed and shelter them until they are of a size to be of some use.

Maybe I could convince you, Ivo, and May to take in only the older children."

Eada laughed and punched him lightly.

"You already have Brun and will soon have Godwin.

They will make fine soldiers.

Brun already is one, and Godwin is of an age to begin training."

Drogo grew serious and, propping himself up on his elbow, he brushed a kiss over her mouth in hopes of softening his words.

"I would like to save Godwin from Sir Guy, but I do not think I can.

The moment Sir Guy suspects that I want the youth, he will hold on to Godwin all the tighter.

If I were a rich man, I could dangle enough coin in front of the fool to make him forget his hate long enough to sell me the boy, but I do not have that heavy a purse."

"I know.

I was not meaning that you must try to take Godwin from Sir Guy.

You are right.

The man will keep him just to spit at you.

No, I just mean that soon Godwin will be free of that beast and, since he is a Saxon, you can claim him.

He certainly will not be allowed to run free."

"No, but how do you know that Godwin will soon be free of Guy?"

"One of my voices told me.

It said that Sir Guy would never live to see London."

"I hope to God that is the truth.

No man deserves death as much as that one does.

I do not suppose they told you if I would have the pleasure of killing him?"

"No.

That would cause you trouble with Lord Bergeron, would it not?"

"No longer.

Did you not see how frightened Sir Guy was? Lord Bergeron is but one ill deed away from turning his back on the fool.

For all that Sir Guy resents Bergeron's constant interference, he has enough wit to know that it is that man's high place in William's court that helps to keep him alive."

"Then he may begin to behave himself."

He saw the doubt on her face and shook his head.

"I am glad to see that you recognize how little chance there is of that happening."

"One likes to occasionally grasp at even the thinnest of hopes.

If Sir Guy is to die, and my voices say he is doomed, I pray that he does so before all his lies cause you very much trouble."

"No one can pray for that any harder than I do.

The number of people who heed his whispered lies and insults is still quite small.

Something William said in one of our talks yestereve tells me that he is aware of what is going on, has probably even heard some of the talk, but he heeds it not.

He just wondered why Sir Guy was trying to blacken my name."

"Then, perhaps, we do not need to worry about the man and his insults."

"Now, no.

Tomorrow? Who can say? Right now, Sir Guy's own ill reputation is working to take the sting from his words, but that could change."

"It is all most unfair," she murmured as she slipped her arms around his waist and rubbed her cheek against the warm, hard skin of his chest.

"Yes, but I grow weary of talking of the ills of the world—and especially of that.

adder Sir Guy."

"Ah, you wish to sleep now."

She laughed when he gently pinned her to the bed beneath him and gave her a mock look of disgust.

The kiss he gave her not only confirmed the passion he felt, already revealed by his body, but stirred her own.

Eada was more than willing to let desire smooth away her worries.

It could not cure them, but it was a most pleasant way to gain a brief reprieve.

Eada yawned widely as she pulled herself up into the cart.

She made herself as comfortable as she could and looked at May, who sat next to her with Alwyn cradled in her arms.

At her feet sat Welcome and Eric.

It was not only another tent they would need if they kept collecting children, she mused.

As Ivo started the cart moving over the badly rutted road, she looked toward Sir Guy's camp.

Godwin was tossing the last of Guy's belongings into a small cart.

Although the youth moved stiffly, it appeared that he had not suffered any dangerous injuries from the beating he had endured.

He waved at the children, who waved back before the crowds of camp followers blocked him from their sight.

"How are the children?" she asked May in French.

"Unhappy.

They want to be with Godwin," May replied, her French still a little rough but understandable.

"I know, but they are safer with us and it will make it safer for Godwin."

"Sir Guy is just like my old master, Hacon."

"Yes, but his reign of brutality will be as short-lived."

"I pray your voices continue to be correct."

"So do I, and not solely for Godwin's sake.

I want Sir Guy's mouth shut before his insidious whispers can hurt Drogo."

"It would be a sin if such an evil little man could hurt an honorable knight like Sir Drogo with.no more than lies and hints of suspicious acts.

I would like to think that the man we must now call king was wiser than that."

Eada would have liked to have thought that as well, but she dared not put her hope in William.

The man had his brutal side and he was quick to see treachery at every turning, for it had often been there.

She suspected that, at times, it had been William's suspicious nature that had kept him alive.

London was getting nearer, and if her voices spoke the truth, so was Sir Guy's well-deserved death.

All she could do was pray that it came soon enough.

"I heard you had another confrontation with Sir Guy," said William as he paused by a stream to allow his mount to drink.

Drogo tensed as he edged closer to William's side so that Faramond could also drink.

"Yes.

The man was beating a boy to death."

"A Saxon boy."

"Yes, my liege, a skinny, unarmed Saxon boy of but fourteen years.

I was not the only one who felt that the attack should be stopped," he said quietly and inwardly grimaced, hoping he did not sound too defensive.

"That drunken fool blackens all our names.

Be wary of the man, Drogo.

The hate he holds for you is a dangerous thing."

"I know.

I watch my back most carefully."

"It is said that you have added two more Saxon babes to your household."

"I have.

Ivo's woman cares for them, as does Ivo."

"And your woman?"

"She does as well, yes, my liege." He shrugged in an attempt to look as if he felt it was no more than a minor inconvenience.

"Women ofttimes find it hard to ignore a child in need."

William nodded as he nudged his horse to cross the rocky, ice-cold stream.

"That is their nature and they must be honored for it.

If you gathered Norman babes to your breast, then it would be seen as honorable; but these are Saxon children or, as some call them, the spawn of our enemy.

There are those who begin to wonder over your kindness to Saxons."

"I know.

I am confident, however, that those who have the wit to do so will see that children are no threat." When William gave him a quick, narrow-eyed glance, Drogo prayed he had not gone too far, but knew he had to finish what he had planned to say.

"The worse they can do is eat all my food and leave me poorer than I am now." He felt relieved when William laughed.

"I also think that it is not particularly wise to kill too many of the common people.

After all, if they are all dead, who will plant the fields come the spring or build our homes or tend our animals?"

"The thought of a knight strapping himself into a plow halter is not a pleasant one," William drawled.

Drogo gave an exaggerated shudder.

"Not at all."

"Just be wary, old friend.

I see no harm in children or even that young Saxon boy.

Others will, if only because you treat them so kindly.

Perhaps your years with the monks gave you a more generous spirit.

Do not let that generous nature of yours put a knife to your throat."

He nodded and watched William rejoin his brother and the closest members of his entourage.

Drogo was still trying to decide exactly what William had been trying to say when Serle rode up beside him.

One look at Serle's frowning face told him that the older man had seen him talking to William.

That brief conversation had obviously looked serious from a distance.

"It was hard to be certain, for William's expressions change like the weather in this cursed place, but was that a pleasant talk or a warning?" Serle asked.

"A little of both, I believe.

William seems to think my years with the monks is the cause of my soft heart."

"It did little to soften Bishop Odo," Serle drawled, nodding toward the armored churchman riding at William's side.

Drogo laughed, but his good humor did not last long.

"I cannot turn aside children and boys."

"No, not even if it would be the wisest thing to do, at least until William actually sits upon the throne of England."

"I wish I could say that there will be no more fairhaired Saxons added to my entourage, but I have three within my camp who gather all the forlorn to their breasts with an ardor I cannot fight, even if I wished to."

"Since William thinks your kindness is due to your time in the monastery, it might be wise to remind others of it as well.

It would be easy enough to make some think that you are more a monk than a warrior." He grinned when Drogo raised his eyebrows in an expression of exaggerated doubt.

"I know that Eada's place in your bed makes you look more sinner than holy man, but I do not think that will matter.

We both know that not all churchmen hold to their vows of chastity.

They still tend the poor and nurse the ill, however."

"I know what you are saying, and it cannot hurt to try and steal some of the sting from Sir Guy's lies with such a reminder.

It is no lie and I am not really trying to defend myself when I use it.

That I will not do, for I have done no wrong."

"I know, son.

I just pray that others have the wit to know it, too, and to continue to treat Sir Guy's lies with the scorn they deserve."