The Blue Falcon (28 page)

“
They are Jews,” Edythe shuddered as she noticed the clothing the pursued men wore.

The Jews were granted few favors in the English burghs and
v
illages. On the insistence of the church, they set themselves apart from Christians by their style of dress so that no Christian would unknowingly become involved with them. They were harassed and called infidels and unbelievers; their punishments for lawlessness were most often harsher because they were not Christians. But they lived under the protection of the king and therefore were handled with care.

“
They must have attacked,” Edythe whispered.

“
Nay,” Chandra said, shaking her head.
“
They have no weapons.”

Edythe pointed to the street and Chandra looked to see the same thing: men fleeing and being senselessly slain. Looking again, she gasped.
“
Tedric!”

She watched him as he grabbed the man he chased, spun him about and drew his sword. She screamed, but her sounds were drowned by the noise below. Beside the window on a bedside commode there stood a basin of water for washing. Frantically she grabbed it and flung it out the window. The water drenched Tedric, and as he looked up for the source of this soaking, the man in his hold slumped to the ground, leaving Tedric holding the bloodied sword.

Chandra stared down at him in awe. She watched as he turned and disappeared into the night.

In the great hall where Richard feasted, a page crept nervously toward the king, but was halted by the archbishop at his side. The page whispered in the ecclesiastic’s ear. Immediately the holy man crossed himself, turned to the king and spoke softly and quickly. Richard slammed his goblet down on the table with such force that the hall fell silent. All looked toward the king, whose face reddened with rage. The archbishop continued to speak. Richard stood, his long legs taking him quickly to the edge of the table where he spoke to the earls of Pembroke, Essex and Gloucester.

Word was being passed from the king’s table down to the other tables, through hundreds of knights and nobles, the men being jolted upright as they heard, wondering whether to flee or remain with Richard.

Alaric rose from his table to find out what chaos had interrupted the coronation feast.
“
London is afire,” he heard.
“
Fighting in the streets,” he heard someone else say. Finally
h
e heard the accurate explanation. A group of London Jews bearing gifts for the king were fallen upon by Christians at the palace gates. Rioting even now was ripping through the city, causing great bedlam.

“
Go quickly before you are missed,” Alaric told Conan.
“
By the back halls, and find our residence to be certain the women are safe. The king’s fury will strike down those involved.
Tu
rn your mantle lest anyone place you in the riot, and lay sword to no man, Jew or Christian.”

Mallory and Thurwell met Conan at the door, and before leaving the palace gates they turned their tunics and mantles inside out so that no symbol of the Cross or emblem of demesne was visible.

To go quickly and without violence was their intent, but before they had traveled far, they found the need to draw out their weapons. Frightened Jews raised clubs in self-defense while nobles were ready with their own blades, eager to kill or maim any person of Jewish descent. Madness swept the streets, and flames from the Jewish quarter lit the skies.

It was not far to where the women were housed, but on this night the streets were so littered with crazed rioters that the journey took the better part of an hour. And when the house was finally before them, no amount of pounding could persuade the men protecting that house to open the door.

“
’
Tis Sir Conan of Anselm,” he shouted until he was hoarse.

“
Break down the door,” Mallory urged, anxious to be sure the women were safe.

The bodies of those slain nearby proved that the door was bolted with just cause. Conan heard the bolts moving and the ram being lifted from the door. Gingerly it was opened just enough for a man to peer through and see who the intruder was. Conan was in no mood to wait patiently for his identity to be checked. He pressed his way inward the moment the latches were slackened, nearly taking the door from its leather hinges.

“
Conan,” Chandra gasped, flying from the stair into his arms.

“
You are unharmed?” he asked quickly.

“
Aye, we are safe, only frightened. What madness plagues this city?”

“
Edythe?” Mallory asked.

Chandra pointed to the stair, for by now all the women, maids and servants and noblewomen, had huddled together in one bedchamber above. Mallory rushed past her to see for himself that all were safe there.

“
A misunderstanding,” Conan heard himself say.
“
Of the greatest magnitude.”

“
Conan,” she breathed,
“
Tedric was a part of this. I saw him murder
--
”

“
Have you come to our aid, my son?” came a voice from the stair.

They turned together to see Udele, unbelievably cool for all that had happened in the past hour. Conan let his arms fall from Chandra’s.
“
Aye, madam,” he said.
“
Are the women safe?”

“
Your wife waits yonder. She would benefit from your reassurance,” Udele told him.

Conan quickly passed her on the stair, making his way to Edwina, who by now was terrified and lay weeping and trembling on her bed.

Chandra followed him, returning to the chamber she had had to fight her way out of when she heard voices and pounding at the door below. She found her arm seized by Udele and looked into that woman’s eerie emerald eyes. The two women were
nearly the same size, since Udel
e was a slight woman and Chandra, possibly having grown to her full adult height, was also small. But the eyes of these two would have been better placed on giants. Neither would give way and neither would so much as blink. And in that meeting of snapping blue and chilling green, there was a mutual hatred so intense it could have shaken the ground on which they stood.

“
What would Medwin think of your whorish pursuit of your sister’s husband, I wonder. Or Tedric,” Udele hissed, her breath hot and brash in Chandra’s face.

The arm that held her was relentless in its grasp, but Chandra would not wince or attempt to pull away.
“
Do not hope to intimidate and threaten me as you do poor Edwina, madam,” she returned with venom.
“
I know enough of your wicked methods to best you at your own game.”

“
You are a slut,” Udele spat.

“
I?” Chandra said, and then smiled knowingly into Udele’s eyes.
“
And what would Conan think of your cruel games, lady? His loyalty has been a steadfast thing, but I should think you would fear for the day he learns you have made a mockery of his trust.”

“
You cannot discredit me to my son. He would believe nothing
--
”

Udele stopped as she noticed Chandra’s smile: as superior and cunning as her own could be.
“
Whom would he believe, madam?” Chandra asked.
“
Indeed, between us, whose love does he hunger for?”

“
You will be punished for your sinful lust,” Udele said through clenched teeth, taking her hand from Chandra’s arm.

With poise and dignity, Chandra took a few steps past Udele, turning and looking down at her to speak for the last time, to hurl the last stone.
“
When the punishments are being given out, madam, the one of us who knows a sinful lust best will fall the hardest. I think mine will be the lesser crime.”

She did not look back at Conan’s raging mother again but went on to the chamber above.
I am wicked,
she thought as she climbed the stair.
I depend on his love
--
love that I have no right to claim, even as it tears at his heart.

She looked into the bedchamber that was now crowded with people, the women chattering in fear and confusion and the men leaning out the windows to look out on the turbulent city. Edwina lay in her bed, her face pale and drawn, as Conan leaned over her and tried to assure her that she was safe now.

If I were stronger of will,
Chandra thought hopelessly,
I would find a way to make him hate me, to free his heart for the woman whose right it is to claim it.
Tears collected in her eyes much against her will.
But what little bit of his love I have known is my only treasure
--
and I need
--
his
--
love.
...

***

The morning’s light showed the Jewish quarter to be a smoldering ruin. Panic still was rampant and the women did not dare to venture out from their homes.

King Richard had offered his protection to the Jews, for he depended on their wealth for his Crusade. His journey to the Holy Land to rescue the Holy Sepulcher was an obsession
--
he saw himself as the greatest knight to live, the one man who
w
ould take his army and finally rid the Holy Land of the infidels.

Rumors of the king’s fury trickled down through the streets and reached all the nobles. The news that nobly born Christians had been the ones to overreact and attack the gathering Jews further angered the king, and he was intent on punishing those who had participated. He threatened banish
ments and possibly hangings. And while the king’s rage sent every noble scurrying about to gather names, it was well known to all that he was angry not because those unfortu
nates were unjustly slain, but because they could have filled his purse with wealth. Richard declared that any money owed to the Jewish usurers who were slain must be repaid to him.

Conan and his father walked toward Westminster, Mallory and Thurwell close behind.

“
You are certain this is the course you wish to take?” Alaric asked.

“
If I lay any importance to my oath to uphold justice, I must face Richard with the truth. Chandra saw Tedric kill a man, a man well known here and in the north as a money
lender.”

“
We could take the accusation to Sir Theodoric
--
”

Conan stopped short. He eyed his father and there was anger in his stare.
“
I have long loved Theodoric, but he is shortsighted where T
edric is concerned. He treats Te
dric’s treacheries like boyish pranks. Nay, if I left the punishment to Theodoric, he would take a switch to Tedric!”

“
It would be better if you took Richard more proof,” Alaric counseled, walking on toward Westminster.

“
Where is the proof beyond a witness? Tedric has given Medwin a large sum of money for Chandra’s hand and refuses to confide his source. I must believe the money came from the lender he killed. If Richard has assumed receipt of those debts there would be a record.”

“
Your witnesses will not help you. Even though Chandra and Edythe saw Tedric, Richard will put little stock in women’s reports.”

“
And for that I am grateful. I hate to think of either woman enduring this confrontation, and especially Chandra. I accuse the man she is to marry.”

“
I reason that is the purpose of this,” Alaric said.

Conan did not reply. He walked silently on, looking straight ahead.

“
Do you hope to see justice done and Tedric properly disciplined, or to save Chandra from a marriage she does not desire?”

“
Both,” he said simply.

“
Your motives may be questioned. Are you prepared for that?”

“
She is my wife’s sister. If Tedric were a man of honor and chivalry, it would matter little to me that Chandra does not love him. But if I am to serve my wife and Medwin as I promised to do, I cannot stand idle while she is given in marriage to a thief and murderer. One day, Father, Tedric’s sword will be turned on me. It will pain me to have to kill Theodoric’s son.”

“
That will change,” Alaric said.
“
When this is done there will be little love between our families.”

“
While that is truth, it will never change the way I feel about Theodoric. He taught me justice and honor.”

Many swarmed the halls of Westminster on the business of the riots. All were there to capitalize on the insult Richard felt when his coronation ended with this ruinous event.

When Conan and his father were finally admitted to the king’s chambers, they could see that Richard had not tired of his rage. His eyes were bright and piercing, and energy seemed to seethe from every pore of his powerful physique. He was again surrounded by clergy.