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The Chatelaine
by Emily Gilbride
Part 3
11
Holding her skirt clear of her knees, free at last, she ran down the
steps, across the garden, and through the forest, till she came to the
secret hiding-place by the Brook, where she always used to leave her shoes
and dress. But now she had no shoes or dress, only the smock, and she could
hardly take that off yet, much as she would like to. Only when she reached
the River did she pull the smock over her head and hide it and slip straight
from under the overhanging branches into the cool, clear water.
At once she felt better. She plunged down among the streaming water-weed
and darting fishes, laughing at them, pitying them for not being so happy,
so joyful as she was. She glided along through the shadowy depths until she
could swim no further then rose exultantly to the surface and laughed aloud
as she gulped in the sweet evening air. The sun was setting, its golden red
light bouncing along the rippling surface of the river straight to her.
Gaily she sang as she swam this way and that, dancing in the water. Then she
stopped and looked around her, and stayed still, part of the forest in the
silence of nightfall.
Suddenly she saw him. Her knight. He was sitting quietly on the bank
watching her, and while just his presence made her blood race and her head
spin, the expression on his face did more. It caused her heart to squeeze up
into an aching ball in her breast, and tears to spring to her eyes; for
never had she seen or conceived of such adoration, such idolatry, on the
face of any man.
She found herself swimming slowly towards him. She stopped and gazed up
into his eyes, unaware that she too was worshipping.
He said not a word. She swam closer, moving gracefully, silently, towards
the bank.
Then he moved. The spell was broken, and the blissful sense of freedom
she had known a moment earlier surged back through her body. She blew him a
tender kiss, leapt and pirouetted with a cry of happiness, then dived down
into the water, ankles stretching, toes pointing, and so out of sight.
He sat waiting, marvelling, comparing her pure unconscious joy to that of
the wild woodland chorus which heralds each dawn. Could he ever hope to be
so unreserved, so spontaneous?
Of course not. He was a man and a knight and a prince, not a woman or
wild creature, driven solely by instinct and emotion.
Yet, he could admire.
In silence he watched for her, imagining himself waiting until the grey
light of dawn spread over the forest and along the river. But after a few
minutes, with a splash and a laugh, she reappeared just below him and smiled
up at him, love in its innocence written on her face and in her eyes.
'Kiss me,' she said, shyly, 'for I must go.'
She leant her head backwards, her hair, now wet and heavy, falling clear
of her small white shoulders, and pushed her lips up towards him.
He lay down on the bank, gently held the tops of her arms and kissed
first both those small, cold, firm shoulders, then her neck and her throat,
and finally, holding her head up with one hand on each little ear, took the
inviting lips, kissing her long and tenderly, enjoying the sweet freshness
of her tongue and her teeth, the soft fullness of her lips, until,
frightened, she broke away.
He gazed at her.
The wet glass beads around her neck sparkled as she moved slightly in the
water and he caught the flash of her eyes as she turned into the moonlight.
'I love you,' he murmured, 'but I will not keep you. I fear I could not.
Farewell ... '
He got up to go. A lump rose to her throat. She couldn't speak. She
watched him walk away. Suddenly, 'I love you too!' she cried. He turned and
smiled. She blew him another kiss, then he was gone.
Slowly, she swam across the river, dressed, and made her way back through
the forest.
And Modred wondered as he mounted his horse and gave it a flick of the
whip whether perhaps it was true that he was too kind, too courteous in a
word, too romantic; and whether perhaps Agravaine was right when he
said what they should really do was set a trap for her and take her back to
the palace and simply enjoy her
But no, not yet.
12
Sir Hugue needed to be on the road again. He needed adventure. He needed
to escape from his betrothed, the Lady Ornuma, with whom he felt obliged,
now, to observe the formalities, and her two nubile daughters, with whom he
supposed he would always be obliged to observe the formalities.
He felt very sorry for himself.
He needed his mother.
He needed a damsel in distress.
The only damsel in distress he'd seen for ages was his son.
He felt even sorrier for himself.
If that boy were even half a boy, he, Sir Hugue, would not be having to
marry that domineering reverend-mother manquιe. What did she think he was?
One of their damned emasculated priests? She was still beautiful, he had to
admit. And that was half the trouble no longer feeling free to fuck her:
but once they were married she would find out no one was going to
make a Cinderella of him. He'd put her away in a nunnery first.
At least she wasn't a witch.
Which made him think, as he set out that fine spring morning, of two
other females he proposed to steer well clear of during this particular
peregrination. One was Dame Melisande. It had taken him months to recover
from that second visit. The other was the water nymph, whose name escaped
him. Indeed, he had only the vaguest memories of her, but he felt there was
a lot more he should remember.
So he headed east, towards the Saxon Sea. There was always something
happening along that coast to take a man's mind off his troubles.
Sure enough, no sooner had he emerged from the wood and glimpsed the
grey-green ocean over the bramble bushes which massed like a barricade along
the top of the cliffs, than a much-scratched damsel in a torn gown came
crawling out and sobbed, 'Sir Knight, you have been sent in answer to my
prayers!'
Sir Hugue looked her over. He was quite fussy about the damsels he agreed
to champion. This one had been sent in answer to his prayers: she was
gorgeous.
He leant down a leather-clad hand and pulled her up onto his lap.
She gazed into his eyes, awed. She was buxom rather than sylph-like, yet
she had flown up through the air as though she weighed no more than a
spiralling leaf. 'Oh, sir,' she breathed. She wiggled her bottom and settled
herself more comfortably.
Sir Hugue then experienced that great drawback of the steel codpiece an
erection in a confined space, cock bent double. Some Sir Lancelot for one
looked on it as a penance. Like wearing a hair-shirt. Sir Hugue did not.
To him, suffering was something other people did. Or better still, something
he did to other people.
'Quick, girl!' He pushed her off, not even looking where she hit the
ground, then slid down and landed beside her. He would have landed on top of
her if she hadn't been quick.
'Get this stuff off me!' he roared then groaned.
'What? But '
'Do as I say! It's you! It's breaking!'
'Me? But oh, you mean your
'
Deftly, she undid and removed his armour, his leathers and his linen
underwear.
His lance stood tall and proud. Now, she gazed at that in awe.
With a great sigh of relief, he vowed from now on always to wear his
quick-release mail. It might not offer such good protection as traditional
armour, but it didn't make a prisoner of one, either.
She leant over and gave the tip of it a gentle kiss then touched it
with the tip of her very pink tongue.
Again he sighed, this time with pleasure. He should spend more time (his
whole life, why not?) on the road. There was just no comparison
Though
before that bitch had forced him to get rid of Tess, things hadn't been so
bad. Ah
He closed his eyes and remembered Tess's lips, Tess's tongue
He
would have to find out where she'd got to. It couldn't be far away. Come to
think of it, she'd probably been expecting him to
He would, oh, indeed he
would, the moment he got back.
But this one was good: she had swivelled round, was on his chest facing
his feet, with her knees one each side of him. She leant forward, and her
hands came back towards him; they flicked her tattered skirt up over her
back, revealing one of the most perfectly rounded rumps, and little round
shit-holes and smooth hairless pussies that Sir Hugue had ever come face to
face with.
But she needed help. He stretched his arms down beside her, put his great
hands over her ears and forced her head, her mouth, down, and lifted his
hips, pushed up into her, felt her throat give and his cock slide happily
in, all the way.
Oh, she was excellent. She must have had a lot of practice and with a
big man like himself.
Now he pushed his tongue out right out watched it grow. He was the
only man he knew whose tongue also swelled and stiffened. When he talked
about it with other knights, they looked at him as if he was a freak. The
women didn't think so. He licked up and down between her cheeks, heard her
squeal with pleasure, then poked it into her bottom hole.
'Now,' he said, when he'd filled her with his seed at both ends, 'you've
answered my prayers. Let me hear yours.'
'Oh, Sir Knight, I
' She licked her lips, swallowed, laughed, swallowed
again. 'Oh, Sir knight
I've never
'
'Don't tell me you've never!'
'Oh, not that! I didn't mean I meant I've never known a man who came
so much. So much
' She gazed at him in awe again. 'Even Sir
MaldeFoix '
'Sir Maldefoix? Who is ?'
'The gentle knight who owns Castle du-Nez.'
'And what is this gentle knight to you?'
'He is the gentle knight who holds captive in his dungeons my sisters and
all the other damsels. It was from there I fled three days since and '
'I see. And these sisters: they ah look like you?'
'Oh, no, Sir Knight. They are beautiful.'
Ah ha. 'Help me on with this armour.'
Upon the cliff overlooking the Saxon Sea and the long jutting promontory
known as le Nez, stood the castle of Sir Maldefoix du Nez.
As Sir Hugue approached, the no-longer distressed damsel ensconced on his
lap and his lance suitably erect she had not replaced the iron codpiece
when she armed him for the coming bout he saw the great gate open and a
knight ride out clad all in silver green, the colour of sage, the colour of
the sea. Even the charger, quite as big and powerful as his own, had been
dyed to make it look like a creature of the sea.
Sir Hugue laughed, secure in his brown-and-black, the colour of the
wulboar, the colours of a man.
'Ho, there, gentle knight!' he roared, as he rode closer. 'Prepare
to defend yourself or release to me now this fair lady's fairer sisters whom
you hold captive in defiance of the laws of chivalry and this brave land.'
The damsel looked at him. 'Hold on,' she said.
He looked back at her scratched and grubby face, the gorgeous bruised
lips, the hazel eyes. 'Don't tell me now that you are the fairest of
them all.'
'I'm not. His wife, Lady Lenore, is the fairest of them all.'
Ah ha. Then he remembered the last time he had got involved with a
married woman and how nearly it had been the end of him. 'I don't do wives.'
'Then, apart from her, I am the fairest of them all.'
'But you said they were beautiful!'
'They are.'
'Not like you, you said.'
'Beautiful, but not like me. Yes.'
'And the other damsels?'
'The Walton Hundred.'
'Hundred?' He suddenly felt faint.
'Nothing special, most of them. The pick of their villages and hamlets,
offered as tribute.'
Protection. Arthur did not approve. He, Sir Hugue, though, liked
the idea. Perhaps he should stay here, sire a hundred bastards. Surely
one of them would take after him, be a man.
He pushed her off.
Knowing him now, she had been expecting it, and landed lightly, laughing.
'Sir Hugue, take this.' She tore a strip from her already tattered gown,
leaving one shoulder and breast bare.
He looked down, and took it, lance erect again instantly. 'Follow me,' he
said. 'I don't want to have to come back for you. When it is over, you will
ride in with me as my lady.'
They were almost equally matched. When they came together, the crash of
their meeting and falling echoed around the countryside. Dazed, they levered
themselves to their knees, then up onto their feet, drew their great swords
and staggered towards each other.
For a while, Sir Hugue thought he was the stronger, that it would all be
over in a matter of moments. But as the moments passed, he began to wonder.
Then he took a mighty blow to the head that came out of the blue and left
him reeling, and he realised he was in for a long fight if he was lucky.
After an hour two hours? he no longer knew he realised too that he
was slowing down. Slowing down unnaturally. There was magic here! Sea
magic! He could hear the sea churning and pounding in his ears, his legs
felt as though he was wading through the sea, his arms as though at each
stroke he had to lift them up out of the sea. He could not win. The man was
a sea-god. Or the spawn of a sea-goddess.
Soon he was on his knees. Sword still in his hand, still fighting, but
unable now even to breathe, drowning even as he fought, and knowing that at
any second the death blow would fall and his head would be struck from his
body and go rolling off the edge of the cliff, bouncing on the rocks below
That must hurt so
Then suddenly a hand appeared before his eyes, a small hand, a female
hand. How did that hand come to be inside his helmet? He shook his head
violently and nearly passed out. When his head stopped spinning, the hand
was still there and was under his chin, was raising him, lifting him as if
he were a child, up, up out of the weight of the sea, and he was free of it
and looked and saw the great sword swing towards him. He parried it with his
suddenly feather-light shield, thrusting it and the arm that held it aside
and bringing the pommel of his own sword across in a downward blow that
struck the side of the other knight's head with all the force he would have
needed to use if he had still been heaving against the weight of the sea.
He watched him fall, saw him lie there. Dead. Or unconscious.
The damsel came running over. 'Oh, Sir Hugue! I thought for a while I
feared '
Oh, so did I, girl, so did I
He wasn't going to tell her that.
But perhaps she knew. Had it been her who
? 'Was it you who helped
me at the end there?' he gasped.
'Me? Oh no! I know no witchcraft.'
'I thought perhaps as I was wearing your colours
'
She smiled, gloriously.
'Oh, Sir Hugue. You really think that in itself is magic enough?'
'Is he dead?'
She knelt beside the supine knight, tried to open his visor. It was
jammed. She put her ear to it. 'He's breathing.'
Sir Hugue sighed. He was wearing her token. It was up to her.
'You want his head, damsel?'
She did, yes. It was in her eyes.
'To strike off his head, now, will bring you no honour, will it, Sir
Hugue?'
He said nothing. She knew.
'Oh, let us leave him here, as he is,' she said, 'in the hands of his two
goddesses, the Lady of the Sky and the Lady of the Sea. Let them decide. But
be on your guard, Sir Knight. Oh, and look: your horse is injured. You'll
have to ride Sir Maldefoix's charger.'
He looked, and as he looked it caught his eye, tried to come to him,
limping along on three legs.
He shook his head. Not that, no.
'Come, I will help you walk,' she said. She placed herself between them,
his horse's rein in her left hand. 'Lean here on my shoulder, Sir Hugue.'
'The other shoulder. Or shall I bare you this side too?'
She laughed. 'The other shoulder then. Leave me some modesty.'
And so Sir Hugue entered the Castle du-Nez.
The silver-green charger sniffed at the body on the ground and followed
them.
13
That morning was very hot. Cinderella did her grandmother's washing,
standing dreamily in the shade with her hands in the big tub, wishing the
day over and the hour come when she could give herself up once more to the
caress of the cool waters that ran through the enchanted forest. Tonight she
would let him take her in his arms, kiss her once more as he had when first
they met; but oh, she must be so careful! Her mood changed, and her
grandmother found her weeping again, big tears dripping slowly, one by one,
into the tub as she worked.
She told her, brusquely, to stop being silly, and sent her to work in the
herb garden, and after an hour there she felt better and decided to clean
the courtyard by the old lady's door. The flagstones were encrusted with mud
and bird-droppings. She had to scrub and scrub, then scrub again, each
little bit. Her skirt hindered her, so she tied a piece of twine round her
waist and caught it up out of the way, but this left her legs bare and
unprotected, and soon her knees were quite raw.
Meanwhile, her grandmother had been into the village she thought it
better not to send Cinderella until she was used to being dressed as a girl
again and when she returned she saw her down on her poor knees scrubbing
away at the flagstones. She stopped and watched for a moment, unnoticed,
thinking what a very sweet child she had become (Little Fleur had
been rather spoilt) then smiled to herself and thought 'Well, I
mustn't start spoiling her!' and stepped past her with only a 'That's nice,
dear no, no, don't stop!' and went on up to her boudoir.
After another hour, Cinderella had finished. She was tired and she was
hungry. But what had her grandmother meant when she said "Don't stop"?
Should she go on? Scrub round the corner and along the flagstone path? She
didn't want to be disobedient and make her grandmother angry with her as
well.
Then the door opened, and the old Lady came out again.
'I wasn't going to stop, Grandmother, really I wasn't! I was just
wondering what you would like me to scrub next.'
'I think you've done more than enough scrubbing for one morning, my dear.
I can't remember when this courtyard looked so clean. You go and tell Cook I
said to give you lunch. No, perhaps not. I mustn't interfere. Not openly.
But you go to the kitchen and see what happens. Just, you know, look
hungry.' She laughed. 'Run along now.'
She must have looked very hungry, for as soon as Cook saw her she said, 'You
could do with a nice big bowl of my chicken soup, Cinderella. The family are
here, but I doubt if they'll want the soup, apart from the master not all
this, anyway. Well, come here. And a chunk of bread, still warm from the
oven. There.' But as the girl held out eager hands, Cook looked at her again
and seemed to change her mind. 'No, on second thoughts, not all that, not
now you're a girl. Who wants a fat girl?'
Betsy, polishing the serving dishes, looked round and laughed as Cook
tipped most of the soup back into the pan.
'There, that's quite enough for you.'
Cinderella took the bowl. It was almost empty. 'Who wants a fat boy?' she
thought, but she didn't dare say so. She was still swollen and sore from
yesterday's thrashing.
She listened to Cook and Betsy gossiping about the new mistress. She
wondered if her grandmother had been pleased with the courtyard, or
if she'd really been cross that Cinderella had stopped when she'd quite
specifically told her not to stop, and had just been saying that to be kind.
She had been cross when she found her crying over the washing. Oh, why was
she so stupid? Why could she never please anybody, never do anything right?
Cook and Betsy were laughing over something Eliza had said.
Her mind went to the ring, and she began to wonder about the young knight
in the forest: who he was, where he came from; why she had been so unkind to
him the night before. Why, why, why.
With tears trickling down her cheeks again, she realised she was standing
there holding an empty bowl. She noticed some other dirty dishes, so she
took them all into the scullery and did the washing up. When she had
finished, she went back outside and sat down on the ground by the door in
the afternoon sunshine, and fell asleep. And dreamed that she was in his
arms.
Later, her ring on her finger, she made her way slowly through the woods.
She had slept late and still felt tired. When she got to the river it was
pitch dark. Clouds had blown up and she couldn't find her special bush.
Deciding it didn't matter, she slipped out of her smock where she was and
left it lying on the bank. She walked beside the stream a little way, then
sat down gingerly on the cool grass, her chin resting lightly on her knees,
and gazed out over the black water, listening.
She was about to plunge in when she sensed something behind her and
glanced round. She could see nothing. She waited, her arms wrapped round her
legs, clasping them tightly to her chest. Then she heard his voice, soft,
like a prayer.
'Where are you, little beauty? I feel you near ... Please, speak.'
She heard herself say: 'I am here.'
He drew closer, saw her, and throwing his cape back off his shoulders,
knelt down beside her, touching oh so lightly, so tenderly her shoulder,
her cheek, her hair. It was as though he was afraid he had imagined her, she
thought, had dreamed her, as she so often dreamed him. He tilted his head
and kissed her lips, which parted, wantingly, and what had been tentative,
tender, became passionate and demanding, and suddenly she realised she was
lying on her back in the grass. Frantic, she tore free and flung herself
into the river.
He cursed himself for his impatience. Ah, she was like a wild creature,
to be tamed, not trapped, that must learn to trust before it can give of
itself. And yet she was no nymph of the river: tonight in his arms she had
felt warm, dry, womanly. He had adored the cold, metallic smoothness of the
moonlit nymph, but she was far more than that. She was flesh and blood, soft
flesh and hot, pulsing blood ...
Once more he waited, watching, wondering, until he heard a small splash,
and saw her looking up at him, her arms resting on the bank.
'Forgive me,' he said.
She stretched up, and taking his hand, pulled him down towards her. She
wanted to take him in her arms and tell him how much she loved him, hold his
head to her breast ... but she had no breast. Oh, what was the use?
She held his hand in both of hers. It was so long and wide and strong,
yet tender, she knew, and sensitive. She carried it to her lips. 'I love
you,' she murmured. 'I love you so much, but '
'Don't!' he begged. 'Not now. I will do anything you say. Promise
anything.'
In silence, she groped for a possibility, for a glimmer of hope, while he
ran the fingers of his other hand over her lips, her cheeks, her forehead,
her eyes, infinitely tender.
'My body ... Never touch my body. Or look at it.'
'My darling '
'Treat me as a lady, with courtesy and deference,' she pleaded, 'as
though I were dressed in fine clothes and '
'Please, my darling. I '
'Not as a village girl that
that you meet naked in the forest each
night to chase and play with, then laugh about next day with your elegant
friends!' She was weeping. 'For I assure you I am not!'
He stood up. 'I have been ungentle and discourteous, my behaviour, in
brief, unpardonable, a disgrace to myself and my my family. I am bitterly
ashamed.' He paused. Was he overdoing it? 'I am unworthy of you.' He paused
again.
She gazed up at him in the blackness. Was there such perfection in the
world?
'Know that you have my undying devotion and admiration,' he went on, in
that so-sad voice she wanted to go on listening to for ever and yet wanted
desperately to comfort, to make sound happy again as it had before, 'and
that I shall never forgive myself for having insulted you. Rest assured, I
shall not return to do so again.'
Then suddenly, she realised what he meant! She flung herself up and out
of the water and clung to his legs, crying, 'No! No, I beg you! I am yours,
body and soul, for ever! Only do not leave me!'
He gazed down at her there on the grass in the darkness, her arms wrapped
round his legs, her ankles and feet still in the water, and her whole lovely
body shaking as she sobbed out her love for him. Slowly, he unclasped his
cape and spread it over her.
She grew still.
He knelt down before her and after a moment she cupped her face in her
hands and looked up at him. He gazed deep into her eyes, glanced at the ring
on her finger, then met her eyes again.
'You are still wearing my ring. Will you ... Will you be mine?'
She stared at him, speechless with astonishment and horror.
'I see you can never forgive me for the way I have treated you,' he said
stiffly after a moment. 'I understand. Neither can I forgive myself. I had
better go.'
He made to rise, but she put out her hand to him. 'Darling,' she
whispered, 'darling, I forgive you, a thousand times I forgive you. Spit on
me, kick me, but never ask my forgiveness, for I tell you I am yours, to do
with as you will. I love you.'
'You will be mine?'
'You cannot understand, my love. But I promise you this: I will wear your
ring and be faithful to you alone until the day I die.'
'Then I must be content with that?'
'My own love, you must. And now I have to go. Take your cape.'
'May I?' he asked, lifting it.
'May you what?' she teased, smiling at the pleasure that slowly unveiling
her gave him.
'May I kiss you?' he breathed.
'Who am I to say?' She laughed for the first time that evening, and the
sound of it thrilled him, as did the movement of her shoulders when he
crouched over her and kissed them, then ran his lips over her back, up and
down her sides, tickling her and making her wriggle, and so to her bottom,
each cheek of which he gently kissed ... then came back and knelt before her
again. 'Someone
' he muttered. 'My darling, there are marks ...
ridges ... on your beautiful, soft, smooth, round, delicate, priceless
bottom.'
She smiled up at him. 'Sometimes I am a naughty girl. And I bruise
easily.'
He relaxed. 'You are irresistible.' He kissed her lips, lingeringly, then
rose. 'Good night, my love.'
'Good night, my darling.' She blew him a kiss, then lay where she was,
watching the darkness where he had been.
Then after a while, she walked along the bank till her foot found her
smock, then sped back through the forest as fast as she could in the
darkness.
She only realised she still had her smock in her hand when she climbed
over the wall and discovered her bottom had no protection at all from the
sharp bricks. She winced then grinned, and jumped down into the garden.
She pulled the smock on, combed her hair with her hands, then walked into
the kitchen trying to look demure.
Fortunately for her, no one was there.
14
'Bring him to my boudoir, Angharad,' ordered Lady Lenore, the consolable
widow of the Sire du Nez.
Angharad so that was her name had been right. Lady Lenore may be the
elder, but she was still the more beautiful.
She snapped her fingers and a servant ran to support him the other side,
help him up the stairs.
They took his armour off him, washed the blood off him, smoothed some
soothing unguent into his bruises
and let him sleep.
When he awoke, Lady Lenore was sitting on the edge of the bed stroking
his chest.
For a while, she didn't seem to notice that he had woken.
He let her go on stroking.
Then he grunted and sighed with pleasure.
'What are you going to do with us, Sir Hugue?'
'Do with you?'
'There are many of us. My husband was a collector. But I am the
chatelaine of Le Nez.'
'Then I will leave you in peace, my lady. Go. Send me some of the many,
that I may choose one.'
'You would subject me to the same shame my husband did?'
He looked at her, confused.
'There is no need for others, Sir Knight. I am here.'
At last, he understood. It was the blow the many blows to the head.
'I do not normally sleep with ladies who are married.'
'I am not married. I am a widow.'
'Sir Maldefoix was alive still when we left him.'
'He was?' Her hand ran down over his belly, caressing, exciting.
'May I have a little water, a little food?'
'Afterwards.' Her fingertips lit on his still flaccid cock which reared
up into full erection even faster than it had for the witch what was her
name? Smelly something. This one bore about her the scent of the houri, of
Paradise, the rich aroma of the harem. She pulled up her gown, knelt astride
him, lowered herself down onto him, rode him gently, then faster, as she
would a horse.
Soon, his hips bucked, heaving her up towards the roof of the bed.
When he woke again, he was trussed. Servants were lifting him off the
bed. They carried him down the stairs, out into the yard, slung him over an
old brown nag that staggered under his weight, then recovered and waited
patiently.
Sir Hugue did likewise. He had little choice. He wasn't gagged, but who
was there worth speaking to?
His head, which reached almost to the ground, was filling with blood. His
wound would open again. He doubted if that would matter. Sir Maldefoix must
have plans for him which did not include a long and happy life.
He should have dispatched him when he had the chance.
If he ever had another chance
One of Sir Hugue's few redeeming features perhaps the only one? was
his ability to laugh at himself.
Sir Maldefoix appeared now, up on his silver-green charger. He took hold
of the brown horse's halter and still without a word led it out through the
great gate and along the top of the cliff. At one point, where the trees
came almost to the edge of the cliff, the path cut through the wood. And
among the trees, Sir Hugue asked 'What are you going to do with me?'
'I am going to hang you, sir'
'I spared your life.'
'You did not, however, spare my wife.'
'She '
'You lie.'
'I
' But what was the point?
'This now is Gallows Hill. When we reach the top, you will see the
scaffold. It is well used. I have hanged half the men around here.'
'For you mean your wife ?'
'Fool! No, for objecting to me siring their children.'
Ah ha. Sir Hugue, who already exercised le droigt de seigneur in
his villages, liked this idea. Why do it only once? Why not keep doing it,
siring children in all the cottages and hovels? Including some boys.
This Maldefoix was no fool.
'Out of my way, woman!' he heard then a strangled gasp, and seconds
later a thud as Sir Maldefoix he could see this landed on the
ground. And lay still.
What was happening? Woman, he had said. What woman?
Then a voice a voice he knew said 'Sir Hugue. I missed you when you
visited the Castle of Damosels.'
Morgan le Fay. Princess Morgana.
He could not have imagined a situation in which she might be good
news. This was the situation.
'Your your highness.'
'What does this gentle knight propose to do with you?'
'To hang me, your highness.'
'And do you feel that he is justified in taking this course of action?'
'No! No, your highness. He accuses me of sleeping with his wife '
'Did you? By "sleep with" how quaint! I assume you mean fuck. Did
you? Fuck her?'
'I I Yes! But it was her. She
'
'You want to say that she fucked you. Raped you, perhaps. Poor little
thing. You, I mean. Alone and defenceless in a world of brutal
women.'
'Well, I I '
'Were you trussed then as you are now?'
'No. No, I '
'Then I do believe I should rouse poor Maldefoix and permit him to
proceed with this execution.'
'Oh, your highness, I
'
'Yes?'
'I
I could be useful to you?'
'You could? Well, perhaps you could, yes. More useful than Maldefoix. You
are a fool and a womaniser, but what man isn't? And you are less so than he
is. Also you have the entrιe to Camelot and the court. Yes. You will do my
bidding?'
'Yes, yes!'
'If ever you fail to do so, being hanged by Sir Maldefoix will seem like
a foretaste of Paradise compared with what I shall do to you.'
'Oh, your highness, I will, I will. There is no need to talk of '
'We shall see.' She pulled out a knife, cut the cord that bound him.
He jerked and wriggled and fell forward, landing on his poor head yet
again.
'Take his armour off. Come on! I haven't got all day.'
She insisted that Sir Hugue don all Maldefoix's things underwear,
leather, the silver-green armour and put his own ragged underwear (all
they had left him) on Maldefoix.
'Now truss him up.'
The other knight was unconscious. Sir Hugue tied his arms and legs, and
said: 'Now?'
'Pity to waste a good gallows. Throw him over the brown gelding.'
They went on up to the scaffold at the top of the hill, and there Sir
Hugue hanged Sir Maldefoix, and while Sir Maldefoix was still kicking his
heels in the wind, Princess Morgana gave her new leige-man his instructions.
'You will proceed from here directly to Beau Regard, in Maldefoix's
armour and on Maldefoix's war-horse. There, you will marry La Bel Ornuma as
soon as may be.'
'Why?'
'Why?'
'Yes, I mean why on his war-horse and in his '
'Your horse cannot be ridden, and besides, you are now the Sire du Nez.'
'Lady Lenore said that she was the '
'Her lord is the lord. You defeated her lord, you fucked her, and after
much quaint courtly hesitation (who would ever have suspected you of
quaintness?) you finally dispatched said lord to his eternal rest. Ergo: you
are her new lord. The sky goddess and the sea goddess who protect the Sire
du Nez will go with you.'
'They didn't protect him.'
'Oh yes they did. Till I interfered, and lifted you up out of the sea in
which you were floundering and were about to die.'
'You? That was you?' Twice she had saved him. But how did she know
so much about him? And why? Why the interest? 'It was already my
intention, princess, to return to Beau Regard and, once there, to take to
wife La Bel Ornuma, my beloved and betrothed, who awaits me even as we
speak, anxious as I am to sire a son to '
'Not a son! Not under any circumstances! You have a son.' Her anger
turned to a mocking smile. 'Of sorts
From Beau Regard, you will proceed to
Camelot, which fortunately is close by. As Sir Hugue de Beau Regard. You
will not wear the accoutrements of the Sire du Nez. You will tell no one
there that you are now the Sire du Nez. That will be our secret. At
Camelot, you will make contact with my son, Prince Modred. You will place
yourself unreservedly in his service and at his disposal.'
'That is all?'
'You will then if Prince Modred gives you leave, for from now on you
will do his bidding in all things return to Beau Regard. And to your
son.' Again the mocking smile.
'He is to be my heir?'
'No, he is not. When you die which will be sooner rather than later if
you do not please me your heir, the new chatelaine de Beau Regard, will be
La Bel Ornuma's daughter.'
What?
But he kept his mouth closed. He wasn't a complete fool.
Then he said, 'She has two daughters.'
'I know. But no sons.' She glanced at Maldefoix, who was hanging
limp and still. 'He's gone
So, Sir Hugue du Nez, at the top of this hill,
as high as you can get around here, dedicate yourself to the sky goddess of
the Sires du Nez
Well, go on!'
Sir Hugue hated such things. Faced with any kind of solemnity, he felt
only embarrassment.
'Gaze up at the sky and say something.'
He gazed up, mumbled 'O Sky Goddess, I dedicate myself to your service.'
There was a pause, then a peal of thunder. Out of a clear sky?
'Did you do that?'
'Me? If I had done it, it would mean nothing. She accepted you. Now go
down to the beach, immerse yourself in the sea, and dedicate yourself to the
sea goddess of the Sires du Nez. Then if she accepts you return to
Castle du Nez. Leave Lady Leonor in charge. And take Angharad with you to
Camelot. If she is to Prince Modred's taste, make him a gift of her. If she
is not, dispose of her. But do not leave her at Beau Regard: she will cause
trouble there.'
'Yes, but
' But she had gone. Vanished.
He sighed with relief. Morgana was hard work
And now? Did he really
need to go down to the sea? He glanced at Maldefoix. Yes, he really needed
to go down to the sea he really needed to do whatever Morgana bade him do.
He shook his battered head, trying to clear it, trying to think, and slowly
it dawned on him that in return for his life he had sold himself body and
soul; that Morgana of all people now owned a Knight of the Round
Table.
He looked again at Sir Maldefoix, sometime Sire du Nez: at least he
wasn't laughing.
15
Cinderella was still trying to look demure when she found herself
standing before the mistress the next afternoon.
'Now, Cinderella, listen to me.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'Don't interrupt. I have noticed that you are not only ungrateful and, I
imagine, a vain and spiteful little vixen, but '
'Oh no, ma'am! Please, I am not those things you said!'
'Be silent, girl! I have told you once already not to interrupt me. I
shan't tell you again. Now, not only, as I say, are you ungrateful and vain
though I'm sure I can't think why with no breasts and that deformity
between your legs but also, and more importantly perhaps, you are
undisciplined and lazy. Cook has been spoiling you. I have looked for you in
the kitchen on two separate occasions, only to be told you were "out". I
also hear that you have been bothering the old mistress in the tower. Do you
not realise that a lady like her finds offensive the clothes and the
smell and the doings of an unwanted stable-yard slut like yourself. You hear
me?'
'Oh, yes, ma'am.'
'That you disgust her as you disgust my dear daughters and, I must say,
you disgust me, though I do try to be charitable.'
She pulled a tiny lace handkerchief from between her ample powdered
breasts, held it affectedly to her nose, sniffed, and replaced, it,
lingering, fingering, her eyes intent on the face before her, while
Cinderella, her attention drawn, marvelled at the sheer bulging tightness,
the whiteness, the smoothness, of those milking-time udders, wondering why
the nipples didn't come bursting up and out, and whether it hurt very much.
And concerned, sympathetic, she looked up again into the lashless green
eyes.
'Oh. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry, ma'am.'
'I have a kind heart too kind, some would say, but there we are.'
'Oh, indeed you have, ma'am.'
'So, I have decided not to get rid of you, though I am sure I should as
you are nothing but trouble. But no: I shall keep you here in the house, as
a serving wench. You will work in the kitchen, you will work in the house,
keeping things clean, and you will be trained to wait on my daughters and
myself as our personal maid. You will have no free time. Well, girl?'
'Oh. Yes. Th-thank you, ma'am.'
'Good. Then we have an agreement. As long as you are industrious and
obedient, you will be allowed to remain here as a humble member of this
household. But if you do not give satisfaction and I mean to everyone
you will quickly find yourself with a new master or mistress somewhere
very nasty indeed. Do you understand?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'I want never to catch you idle, from the moment you wake in the
morning to the moment you are permitted to sleep at night. Never. You
know what they say.'
'Er no, ma'am.'
'The Devil finds work for idle hands. That is what they say. And do you
know what that work is? Ah, shake your head, but you know, you impudent
brat. Play not the temptress with proud Lucifer, or one dark night he will
emerge from the cellar, or the well, or a shadowy glade in the forest, and
he will have come for you!'
She said the last word with such force that Cinderella, who had just
started dreaming again (it was the mention of the Forest that did it) jumped
to attention as the old sergeant had once taught her. 'Yes, ma'am!'
The woman stared at her, speculatively.
'When you wander off into the forest in the evening (which, by the by,
you will never do again) have you not seen, not sensed, the Devil there,
with his eye on you? Are you not frightened, out there alone in the dark?'
'Yes, ma'am I mean, no ma'am. That is ' (the first thing that came
into her head) 'does he ride a horse, ma'am?'
'A horse? You've seen someone on a horse?'
'Er yes, ma'am. Sometimes, ma'am.'
'When he is Lucifer, the Star of the Morning, he rides a white stallion
decked with gold, and wears a pale cloak, but when he is Satan, Prince of
Darkness, his stallion is gleaming black and he comes booted and spurred,
wearing black velvet trimmed with silver. Some say that he is always masked,
others not ... but 'tis said that he is very beautiful ...' She noticed that
Cinderella was listening entranced, and snapped: 'Enough of this foolish
talk! Go and get a thrashing, at once! And come straight back!'
'Yes, ma'am.'
Her heart sinking, though she had known it was coming, she curtsied and
left the room.
Ten minutes later, she was back, trying desperately to stand still and
not jump up and down screaming with her hands on her bottom.
'Ah. That wiped the smile off your face.'
'Y-y- '
'So now perhaps you will stop interrupting and start paying attention,
and answer me properly when I ask you a question. Do you like wearing that
smock?'
'Y-y-y-yes, ma'am.'
'Do boys or girls wear smocks?'
'G-girls, ma'am.'
'Then you are a girl.'
She hesitated, frightened of saying the wrong thing. Then, 'Y-yes, a
g-girl, ma'am.'
'But an ugly, deformed one.'
'Yes, ma'am,' she sobbed.
'Stop snivelling, and put your hands down at your sides! ... Right. Who
is your father?'
'The m-m-master, ma'am.'
Jumping to her feet, the woman slapped Cinderella's face, then slapped it
again, and again and again, screaming 'Don't lie to me!', until, crying
uncontrollably, the girl turned away from her and bent over, covering her
head with her arms.
Then she sat back down and watched her for a moment.
'Preposterous. Quite preposterous. Stand up properly, girl! Look at me!
Put your hands down! ... The master never had a daughter. Well, did he?'
'Wh-what, ma'am? I I'm sorry, I '
'I asked you whether the master ever had a daughter. Other, that is, than
his two beautiful new step-daughters, whom he adores, and thinks of as his
own children. Well? Did he?'
'No, ma'am.'
'The he is not your father, is he, girl.'
'N-no, ma'am. I I'm sorry, ma'am.' She was crying uncontrollably. 'I
d-didn't underst-stand, ma'am.'
'If you don't stop that disgusting noise instantly, I will send you back
to Cook ... That's better ... Now, where were we? Oh yes. The master your
father. If ever you make such a ridiculous claim again, I'll have you
whipped through the streets of the city as a common impostor ... Now. Who is
your father?'
'Please, ma'am, I don't know, ma'am,' she sobbed.
'And your mother?'
'She - I don't know, ma'am.'
'Well, who cares? Whoever she was, she's dead.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'And you are an orphan.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'Never forget that.' She stared at the girl for a moment, noting with
satisfaction the way her cheeks were swelling and turning blue. 'What are
you?'
'I I am an orphan, ma'am.'
'What is your place here?'
'I am am
'
'You are a homeless young trull whom we kindly allow to live in our
kitchen, and have arranged to train as a maid, in order to keep her off the
streets and out of mischief.'
'Yes, ma'am. Th-thank you, ma'am.'
'You can thank me by working hard and remembering your place. What is
your name?'
'Cinderella, ma'aam.'
'Have you no other name, or names?'
'Er n-no, ma'am.'
'All right. You may go.'
'Yes, ma'am. I will try to be good, ma'am,' she sobbed, then curtsied and
went.
The mistress remained where she was, smiling to herself. That was all
right, she thought. It had been a very good idea to put the stupid child in
a dress. In just a couple of months everyone had come to think of her as a
girl. Perhaps later, when she had been licked into shape, she could have a
maid's uniform, and a bedroom in the servants' quarters, but not yet. If
they were hard on her for the first six months, or year perhaps, she would
make a very good maid, docile, eager to please, thrilled with any luxury
such as a straw pallet in a tiny room of her own; and, of course, completely
unpaid, absolutely reliable, and permanent, because totally dependent.
But things must get worse before they got better.
She followed the girl down to the kitchen and saw her out in the yard
washing her face under the cold water from the pump, then pulling her skirt
up at the back and wetting her bottom with handfulls of water. She was
unlucky, though. At that moment one of the stable-boys approached, and the
mistress saw her embarrassment as he cracked some lewd joke then passed on.
She shouted, 'Cinderella! Come here at once!'
The girl came running, water dripping from her hands and her bruised
face.
'Why aren't you working, girl?'
'I'm sorry, ma'am. I was just going to '
'No, you weren't, you were out there acting the bitch on heat again.' She
looked round the kitchen, then into the scullery. 'Go and wash those pots
and pans. And move when I tell you to do something!'
Cinderella fled to do as she was bid, seizing a black pot from the floor
by the range as she passed.
The mistress turned to the cook. 'Make her work, Cook. Scrubbing pots,
scrubbing floors, scrubbing clothes. And keep her well beaten. The harder
you treat her, the better I shall be pleased.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'I want her brought to heel. She will continue to sleep here on the
floor, and wear any old ragged smock that no one else wants. However, you
will not give her meals: she can feed off the scraps until I see that she is
earning her keep.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
The mistress gazed at the cook. The cook held her gaze.
'I shall expect to see a vast improvement in her whole bearing and
attitude. Within weeks.'
'Oh, you will, ma'am, you can depend on that.'
The mistress swept out, and Cook sat down to ponder and absorb the latest
developments.
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