Here Be Dragons - 1 Sharon Penman (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📖

his twelfth birthday withinAbergavenny's massive stone walls On this Tuesday in late Apnl, he was alone in the uppermost chamber of the polygonal tower The chamber housed the deBraose family chapel, but Will was not there to pray, he was leaning recklessly out of the unshuttered window, watching the road that wound off toward the north, toward Hereford, where his grandfather was meeting with theKing He'd sent word that he would be returning this Tuesday noon, and Will had been keepmg an impatient vigil as the day dragged onDown m the bailey he saw his father, Reginald de Braose, conferring with his uncle, William de Braose the younger His young cousins were playing a rough-and-tumble game of ball with an inflated pig's bladder, under the watchful eye of their mother, Matilda There'd been a full gathering of the deBraose clan at Abergavenny, only Will's Aunt Margaret and his Uncle Giles, Bishop of Hereford, were absent, Margaret having sailed for Ireland to rejoin her husband Walter, Lord of Meath, and Giles having gone into foreign exile in obedience to the Pope's Interdict All were waiting anxiously for word fromHerefordWill did not share their concern, he could not imagine any man getting the better of his grandfather Moreover, he knew that his grandmother fully expected the King to restore her husband to favor, and Will needed no greater guarantee than that As far back as he could remember, his grandmother had been the family linchpin Imperious and earthy and blazmgly outspoken, she'd always utterly eclipsed the Lady "facia, Will's mother, a timid, passive personality who was reduced0 wraithhke incompetence in the presence of her formidable motherin lawNow Will decided to seek her out, to renew his faith in Maude's reassunng certainty that the bad times were over The disgrace that had suddenly come upon their family had been hard on Will Since the5 ot seven, he'd been serving as a page m the household of Lord Fitz' ar>d when he was taunted by the other pages about his grand'ather's f,n r__, , , . ., , , ,, , 8otten r s fall from favor, Will had responded with hot, heedless rage, had to amt° so many bloody brawls that his training at Clun Castle came n abrupt end His father had been predictably furious, Will could not

274recall a time when he and his father had not been at odds. But his gran, mother once again came through when it counted, saying cutting] "Christ Jesus, Reg, let the boy be. Just be thankful he has the pluck t stand up for himself, that he has the backbone you too often lack!" ^C acerbic intervention had spared Will a beating, but added yet one mo ' drop of poison to a relationship already soured beyond salvaging.Will was remembering that as he entered the great hall, saw Maud sitting upon the dais, attended by the submissive daughters-in-law vvh never dared stray out of beckoning range. She frowned at sight of him gestured for him to approach."I saw your cousin Jack's eye; your handiwork?"Will was not fazed by the scowl. "He ran into my fist," he said, saw her mouth twitch."Do not make a habit of it," she said, but when Will grinned, she grinned back.Settling down on the steps of the dais, Will began to occupy himself in carving a whistle. Within moments he'd attracted an admiring audience, his little cousin Philip. Will was quite contemptuous of his cousin Jack, whom he considered a weakling and a tattletale, but he liked Philip, who was only seven. Now he made room on the steps for the youngster, and turned obligingly so Philip could watch him whittle."Will . . . was it truly in this very hall that Grandpapa killed that Welsh lord and his men?"Will nodded, cast Philip a sideways, searching look. Philip's eyes were wide;he was looking about him as if still expecting to see the floor rushes soaked in blood, the walls splattered with gore. Will understood, for he remembered his own confusion when he'd first been told of the Abergavenny massacre. Will had given to his grandfather all the love and respect he did not give to his father, and he'd been shocked to discover that his grandfather had so violated every tenet of the chivalric code. There was no way he could reconcile what his grandfather had done on that December day in 1175 with the accepted standards oi knightly conduct, with the tales told by minstrels and bards ofRoland and Arthur and the Knights of the Table Round, for his grandfather had lured his enemies to Abergavenny under the guise of friendship, murdered them while they ate and drank at his table, then abducted SeisyU s wife and put her young son to death before her eyes.Will had been troubled enough to go to his father with his qualm' but his father had laughed at him. Apparently the Welsh were not cff> ered by the chivalric code. That was not good enough for Will. H often heard his family jeer at the strange ways of the Welsh, heard called "reckless" and "untamed"and "half mad." By Norman s | dards he supposed they were, but those were the very qualities

275t appea^ec^to ^*m' Wales was to Will a wild, mystical land of legend ^ A blood feuds and stark grandeur, and he loved it as if it were his3 Most of his twelve years had been spent within its borders; he ke fluent Welsh, had friends named Rhys and Ifor and Garwyn. He jed a better explanation for the killings at Abergavenny than merely that the victims wereWelsh.He'd gotten that explanation from his grandmother. "Those men ,ere your grandfather's enemies, Will. The enemies of our House. We do not forgive a wrong done us, not ever. You are old enough to underhand that, lad, to learn that in this world we have to look after our own, to do whatever be necessary to safeguard what is ours. Learn that