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

Normandy, she would be deep in Wales, utterh isolated from those she most loved.Across the great hall, voices rose suddenly. Joanna saw both Llewelyn andChester stiffen. Sharing a trencher and wine cup with Llewelyn, she was not long in becoming aware that her husband was not drinking Joanna was puzzled;such abstinence was highly unusual at a wedding feast, where male guests seemed to feel a social obligation to drink themselves into oblivion. Her unease grew as she realized that Chester, too, was cold sober.The voices were growing louder. A bench was tipped over; a woman screamed.Joanna gasped as a man pushed away from the table, fumbled for the hilt of his sword. Llewelyn was already on his feet, shouting in Welsh. The man turned, reluctantly let his sword slide back down its scabbard. By then, Llewelyn had reached them, with Chester right on his heels. A brief angry exchange followed, with Llewelyn tongue-lashing the Welshman and Chester berating theNorman. The offenders lapsed into a sullen silence, but tension gripped the hall spread by murmurs of discontent, voiced in two tongues. Joanna bit her lip, watched as Llewelyn took Chester aside, spoke in an urgent undertone.Chester nodded, stepped back, and sent a servant hastening from the hall.Joanna gave Llewelyn a questioning look as he resumed his sea but he said only, "I thought it time for a diversion."Joanna was not long in finding out what he had in mind. Ser$ were entering the hall, carrying several huge baked pies. As all V3 tched, they cut carefully into the crusts, freeing more than a dozen IV 11 birds. The birds soared upward, circling and swooping over the *bles as tf*e men anc*women below laughed and cheered, eagerly13 airing the finale, the release of three sleek sparrow hawks. What re-2 Ited was utter chaos, with dogs barking in berserk frenzy, and men iaIT1bering Up on benches to better view the kills, laying tipsy wagers pon the outcome, animosities forgotten in the excitement of the hunt."That was indeed clever, my lord," Joanna said approvingly, and Dewelyn laughed."It was my man's fault. There is a hamlet across the Dee called Hanbridge, but it's been taken so often by the Welsh that we call it Treboeth, 'the burned town.' It is one thing to do so amongst ourselves, quite another to do so midst a hall full of Normans ... as Rosser should have known.""I see." Joanna watched as a feather wafted slowly downward, came to rest in a tureen of sorrel soup. If the Welsh had such a hatred for Normans, how would they ever accept her as Llewelyn's wife?ONCE the trestle tables were cleared away, there was dancing, but after there'd been two spills, caused by overexuberant dancers whose coordination

was rather the worse for wine, Chester signaled for less risky entertainment:jugglers, a man with trained marmosets, several minstrels eager to sing for their supper. The song requests were becoming increasingly bawdy, and Joanna was once more growing tense. It was not that she found the suggestive lyrics objectionable in themselves, but that they reminded her of what still lay ahead, the bedding-down revelries and the consummation of her marriage.Turning away from a group clustered around the wittiest of the "unstrels, she collided with Maude de Braose, spilling some of her drink upon the sleeve ofMaude's gown."I am sorry, Madame. I did not see you." It was a listless apology, indifferently offered, but the best she could do under the circumstances."Obviously." Maude's voice was tart, her eyes unfriendly. "You've"Wn wandering about the hall like a ghost. Can you not at least make aP^tense that this marriage be to your liking?"The unfairness of that took Joanna's breath away; she'd been trying50 hard to hide her true feelings. "I assure you this marriage is very ^Uch to my liking, Madame." Even had she believed Llewelyn ab lorer*h to be the veritable Antichrist, nothing on earth could have inuced her to admit that toMaude. But she was never to know what imp!hen took possession of her tongue, was even more startled than Maude

ifher than Auto deb nwrey de NWIara. He ,Wj when Llewdm totulaelyn tool»kCastls «s y whilst waibn^tor Hioljag for hiss ranson | /l>d. He did inWtHttefcieed thir-nk of th« &d ^ssed hs wediing to! jib ding to s a girl h(*/.Reminiscing olUireildof Mireb»-eau. He ^ fining all she mid obterould of the ma( '^T j interested, ttaetoiotortierefore^ -, in whai ^ ^d attenhvely^HiuHd as Hugtt li Cortoi **vgs Shropshire ffl'horld boyhoo«»d. Hugl £ ^ new; the matlacttdjwe fact tlhat he'i| J^ywelyn^lthoiiElikisiiltjugh his vs*vife, D«f*tr.^as to Joaruuieascsus^a reasonm for n*?, Thomas CoW, ,]*> orbet, n j-iot at all,-W^e ^fo'kt/jo make suchmaBmn remarkOss in h(, $& xnply that shetas iiws was igrrznorantij Ktr, sband, and stooocoHii.he soon madejt| k^^ady on his fa thaalttset that he con(^ Vist the wall. SkJ HWShe'd be^een inb, 8rr > ^mbered him s* b yto only be-aecause *t/ < expected to id a^U find at Iher wqS-X on who'd leduia^ritxd an abooortivei%/v capitulated sued bsi',-, sued f»ifor Join)y^j gotten it. Tliiiseessltrliat seerncMned to I\y^ rather incotoenfclnrf*herent s speech,(iswhether hemspiqw was pras-aisingli,t iv'^^iving him re,fssuiefuge."15 ved; themanttsoojw was so CD obvion]'Jflt^n several ofbcoiomf his comrnnpanw, VWThey, too, yea:£)k*ad earlltrlier irt|"ll - .nd, Stephen»dBBli a and BajsSaldwim rVV)gies, they sofkt nttrcought nomow to«i;?sWc^ ? obstinacy cite iijllof the inrrinebri4^'16 Vd conversata«tr«orion witHJ-th Joan^^"tsHjy the best foife tt ulr-i her, tMtthat Put.'"'i^^hen, to Joani,h»jl!inmna's hoio^orror, 1^'%/ lord husbadto dlmnd to tithe b^fat*,oice was ove+toujjijilisrly loucfcjjd, car, ^

190to hear herself add, "Your advice I can well do without, Madame. [ j however, need a fresh cup of wine."Maude's eyebrows shot upward. "You want me to fetch it for y0u>, she demanded, openly incredulous."Yes." But Joanna had never in her life given an order to a man woman of rank, and there'd been a brief hesitation, a hesitation that $A not escape Maude."I think not," she said coolly, and turned away."Lady de Braose!" Joanna's