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

of defense.It was very late when Aubrey rose, sent a man to the kitchens for first food of the day. Joanna slipped from the bench, crossed toEleanor."Madame . . . what will happen on the morrow?""They shall assault the castle.""Can we hold?""No, child, we cannot, not for long."Joanna swallowed, sought to emulate her grandmother's composure. "But. . .might not Papa come in time?""No, Joanna. I'd not give you false hope. We cannot be sure my courier made it to John's camp. And even if he did, Le Mans is well over eighty miles away.John could not reach us before Friday, Thursday night at the earliest. . . and by then it shall be too late."Joanna knelt on the floor by Eleanor's chair. "Aubrey is a brave knight.Surely God will not favor Arthur over Aubrey, Madame?"Eleanor did not reply.Wednesday dawned hot and overcast. The sky was leaden, and for a time it did seem as if God meant to favor Aubrey. A rainstorm swept in from the east, denying the attacking army the potent weapon of fire. Aubrey's outmanned force struggled to keep the enemy off the walls, casting down boiling water and stones from the curtain battlements. The de Lusignans responded with mangonel bombardments, set about filling in the overgrown moat so they could make use of a battering ram.In the top floor of the keep, Eleanor stood at an arrow loop, watching asAubrey waged a gallant, futile battle below. His courage was contagious, and his men offered up their lives with desperate abandon, until overwhelmed at the last by the sheer numbers of their attackers. Forced off the walls, they fell back toward the keep. Eleanor, hastening down into the great hall, signaled the guards to stand ready. As Aubrey and the surviving defenders plunged into the hall, they torched the stairs, bolted the door.THE great hall was overflowing with exhausted men. They lay sprawled in the rushes, some seeking sleep while they could, others clutching w'ne flagons close. There was little eating, less talking. In the corner, one youth sat alone, softly strumming a gittern. Aubrey, grey-faced with fatigue, was slumped in the window seat. He raised his head only a'ter Joanna plucked repeatedly at his sleeve, regarding her with bloodshot blue eyes."Sir Aubrey, when they take the keep, what will they do to us?"

156"They want the Queen . . . only the Queen. They might let my me go ... or they might put them to the sword." Aubrey was slurring K' words like one drunk, yet he still thought to add, "But not you, not little lass like you ..." He leaned forward, cradled his head in his arms and Joanna backed away.Taking a candle, she groped her way up the stairwell. The solat door was ajar, but as she reached for the latch, she heard her grandmother's voice."The de Lusignans must not know that Joanna is John's daughter I've already discussed this with Aubrey, mean to claim her as a niece of the AbbessMatilda.""But Madame, might it not be a greater protection for her . . . that she is the King's daughter?""Are you truly as naive as that, Cecily? I should not think I'd need to remind you that Hugh de Lusignan is not a man of honor. They do need me; I shall not be harmed. But they might well see John's bastardborn child as ... fair game, shall we say? And that is a risk I am not prepared to take."Joanna sank down upon the stairs. She sat there for a long time, alone in the dark, not wanting them to know she wept.JOANNA awoke in her grandmother's bed, with only a vague memory of how she got there. Had she fallen asleep upon the stairs? She still wore her chemise, but someone had removed her gown and bliaut, folded them over the foot of the bed.She reached for the gown, pulled it over her head. As she did, she saw the light filtering through the unshuttered solar window. For a moment, her breath stopped. They'd lost the night, their last shield. Even now, men might be gathering below, preparing for the final assault upon the keep.All around her, her grandmother's ladies slept on makeshift pallets. Threading her way between their bodies, she reached the window, climbed up onto the seat. Although to the west a few stars still glimmered, the sky was slowly and inexorably paling, taking on the dull pearl color of coming dawn. The bailey was enveloped in an eerie quiet, men just beginning to stir, to crawl, groaning, from their bedrolls. A few castle dogs prowled about. A sleepy soldier relieved himself against the chapel wall, provoking curses from some of the blanket-clad forms downwind. Up on the curtain wall, guards dozed by empty wine flasks. The aroma of roasting pigeon wafted across the bailey from the gate" house, where Arthur and the de Lusignans had set up their command post. The scene below her resembled not so much a siege as the morning after a drunken carouse, and that, Joanna knew, was what the night had

257go sure of victory were these men that they'd already begun to1 brate their triumph, for they, no less than those trapped within, Ce vi there could be but one outcome. The only question as yet un-wered was how many men would die in the capture of the agingOueen.Footsteps sounded behind Joanna, and she turned as her grandother and Aubrey de Mara entered the solar, joined her at the window The soldier who'd just urinated glanced up, saw them standing there, and raised his voice in a mocking shout. "We've been wagering pon the hour when the keep falls. Think you that you can try to hold out till noon? If so, you'll win me a right fair sum!"The window was faced with an iron grille, but Joanna shrank back, grateful when Aubrey reached out, jerked the shutters into place. "I've set men to bringing up water buckets from the cellar well,