Read Online At the Crossing Places by Kevin Crossley-Holland - Free Book Online Page A

Sir John said.”
    â€œYes, making enemies…” Lord Stephen said. “Weak kingship fosters enmity. Everyone curses and complains, and then some earls and lords start to think they could do better themselves.”
    When Lord Stephen said that, I thought of how Sir Pellinore prevented Arthur-in-the-stone and Merlin from riding down the king’s highway.
    â€œEnemies within,” said Lord Stephen, “and enemies without. Out here in the March, we need more than words from King John. We have strong leaders…Hereford and Chester. Mortimer, too—he’s the constable at Wigmore. But they need the support of their king.”
    â€œAre they coming on the crusade, sir?”
    â€œIf they were to turn their backs, the Welsh would soon attack,” Lord Stephen replied.
    â€œBut why don’t the Welsh join the crusades as well?” I said.
    â€œThat’s a good question,” Lord Stephen replied. “I could answer that their hatred of the English is greater than their faith. And I could tell you that Welsh warlords still take slaves, human slaves, from here on the March, and they’re not worthy to be Christian knights. And I could say they’d be unreliable allies. They’re unruly and don’t like taking orders and are always falling out with one another.”

16 THE WALL HANGING
    Y OU SEE THAT SQUARE?” SAID LADY JUDITH, STANDING on her toes and reaching up as far as she could with her long right forefinger. “That shows our betrothal.”
    I stared up at the blue silk boy and the green silk girl kneeling in front of their parents.
    â€œHow old were you, my lady?” I asked.
    â€œNine,” said Lady Judith.
    â€œNine!” I exclaimed.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with that?” Lady Judith asked. “The second stage of childhood begins when you’re seven.”
    â€œHow old was Lord Stephen?”
    â€œFourteen,” said Lady Judith. “Now that one right up there! Can you see Lord Stephen falling out of the tree? He was eleven, and he broke his wrist and his right leg. Yes, here he is holding manor court for the first time. And this is when Piers was plowing in Fallow Field and turned up a pot full of Roman coins.”
    â€œRoman coins!” I cried.
    â€œAll in good time,” said Lady Judith. “Lord Stephen may show them to you.”
    â€œWho is this lady?” I asked.
    â€œThe mother of Coeur-de-Lion and King John. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.”
    â€œLord Stephen has met Queen Eleanor?”
    â€œShe’s old now,” Lady Judith said, “very old, and her years are full of groans. But when Lord Stephen met her, she was still the most beautiful woman alive. Look! She was wearing a red mantle, poppy red, with a silver border embroidered with gold lions.”
    â€œDid you meet her too?” I asked.
    Lady Judith shook her head. “Coeur-de-Lion was away crusading, and the queen was ruling England. She summoned Lord Stephen with the earls of Chester and Hereford to advise her.”
    For a while we stood and stared at the enormous wall hanging: The dozens of colored panels were bright as the beds of stormpurple pansies and orange marigolds and cream lilies and red roses in the garden at Caldicot; the wide borders were stitched with little sundials and burning candles.
    â€œSo this is the life of Lord Stephen de Holt,” announced Lady Judith, flexing her fingers. “Up to today. The seventh day of February in the year 1200. The plain linen at the bottom is for the part still unlived. God grant us both the years to complete the whole hanging.”
    I looked at Lady Judith, and I know we were both thinking about the crusade and whether Lord Stephen and I will ever come safe home.
    â€œI’ve been sewing it since we were married,” Lady Judith told me, “and that’s twenty years ago.”
    â€œDo your fingers sometimes get stiff?” I asked.
    â€œAll the