Read Online Rebellion by Livi Michael - Free Book Online Page B

thought she could see
     the queen in the flames. Then that he had summoned her from them, or that she had never
     left. Then he tried to rise. ‘I will go to her,’ he said.
    â€˜No, no,’ said the young nun, tucking the
     blanket around him again. ‘She is coming here, to you.’
    Almost at once there was noise and movement
     outside the room and the queen came in with his son. He looked at her and his face
     filled with light. ‘My love,’ he said.
    But he could not tell her what he had seen
     in the fire, she had too much news of her own. She and the prince recounted their
     adventures. They had been attacked by robbers and threatened, on the point of death, but
     she had outwitted them, and one of the robbers had rescued them and taken them to a
     cave. They had hidden there for two days until, by some miracle, de Brézé and his squire
     had found them. Then they had ridden towards Carlisle, but before they could get there
     they had been attacked again. An English spy had forced them into a small rowing boat,
     but de Brézé had knocked him senseless with one of his own oars and rowed them to
     Kirkcudbright Bay. So here they were.
    He listened to all this in amazement. There
     was no one like her – she was like a heroine from a story. Miraculously she had found
     her way back to him, with his son.
    â€˜It is so good to see you,’ he said. ‘To be
     with you again.’
    â€˜I cannot stay here,’ she said. ‘I must go
     to Edinburgh, to see the new king.’
    â€˜But you must rest,’ he said, ‘and
     recuperate.’
    â€˜There is no time,’ she said. She had to go
     to the Scottish court, to see how things stood with them after the disaster at Norham.
     ‘Where is everyone?’ she said, meaning his councillors.
    Gradually they appeared. John Fortescue came
     to his room with one or two others. They told her that the news was not good. Warwick
     and his brother Lord Montague had set out to punish the Scots for their support of the
     Lancastrians and they had burned and pillaged their way over the border for a distanceof some sixty miles. No castle, village or house had been spared;
     they had killed many people and destroyed the livelihoods of others, burning all the
     crops and the animals.
    â€˜The Scots will not want to see us now, my
     lady,’ John Fortescue said.
    â€˜That’s why I must go,’ she replied, ‘to
     tell them that I will leave. I will go to the conference at St Omer. But I will need
     money and ships.’
    Already the King of France and the Duke of
     Burgundy were at St Omer, ready to make an alliance with the Great Usurper, as she
     called King Edward.
    She looked at the king.
    â€˜Someone has to stop them,’ she said, ‘or
     what hope is there for us?’ And she turned back to her councillors.
    As they tried to dissuade her, he could see
     her resolve hardening. It seemed to the king that there was a little halo of light
     around her head, like a crown of tiny flames. He could not tell her that he would give
     that crown up; it would be incomprehensible to the queen.
    â€˜One of us must go to St Omer. I must try,
     at least, to attend the conference, if they will let me. And if they will not, I must
     try to speak with my cousin Louis. You must see that,’ she said to the king as if he was
     arguing. But he was not arguing. It was just that he did not want to be left alone
     again.
    â€˜It will be better if you do not come,’ she
     said. ‘We cannot both leave the country at this time. And so much travel will make you
     ill.’
    â€˜Yes,’ he said. He wouldn’t argue; he could
     see that she had to go. Because she would never see the beauty in giving it all up.
    â€˜If the alliance is made we lose
     everything,’ she said, turning back to John Fortescue. ‘But if I can see King Louis I
     know I can persuade him to help us again. I will be