Wolf Wood (Part Two): The Dangerous years (24 page)

'Must we go?' Alice hung back.

'We can't ignore her.' Harald slowed his pace. 'We shall stand at the end of the jetty and nod respectfully when Margaret walks past, just as we shall do for the Duke of York if he pays us a visit in his capacity as Protector of the Realm. To do otherwise would be to take sides.'

Alice was shocked to see that her son was doing more than nodding respectfully. He ran along beside the royal barge, waving and shouting.

'Three cheers for Her Majesty!'

He threw his feathered hat in the air and started to shout his hurrahs. Others followed. By the time Alice and Harald arrived, a modest display of respect would have seemed disrespectful. A more enthusiastic welcome was needed. Harald removed his lawyers cap and waved it. Alice followed the other women and curtsied.

Margaret strode down the jetty and made straight for Steven, who swirled his cloak and bowed in the flamboyant manner of the young blades of the royal court.

'Steven Gascoigne!'

She placed her hands on her hips.

'You were here to greet me on this very spot when I left London three years ago. England was in the grips of traitors then just as it is now.'

She turned to the crowd and harangued them in her powerful French voice.

'Through the loyalty of young Englishmen like Steven our dear country was saved. He turned the tide of battle on London Bridge with his crossbow and slew those who would seize power for their own selfish ends …'

Alice clasped her hands together and shuddered. It was like a hideous replay of the incident when Robin was knighted. Margaret was facing defeat then and in desperate need of support. She was facing defeat now and her enthusiasm for Steven was understandable. But why had her son gone out of his way to court the queen's favour?

She had expected him to throw his support behind Robin and the Duke of York. Instead, he had gone out of his way to ingratiate himself with the House of Lancaster. Steven liked to play games. They were dangerous when he was twelve and getting more dangerous with each passing day.

Her son was almost sixteen. Boys were recognised as adults at that age. They could be tortured to death as spies when much younger as the fate of Gareth Pritchard's son had shown. She feared for Steven's future.

Birthday

I
t was Edward's birthday and they were staging a tournament. He was twelve. Maud was already twelve. Her birthday was a week earlier. They had held a party at the castle for her but it was nothing like the one they were holding for Edward. Maud was excited. It was going to be just totally and completely fabulous.

People had come to Ludlow from all over the country. There were at least thirty boys and girls. Their families were rich. And they weren't just a tiny bit rich. They were amazingly rich.

They were the sort of people who lived in huge castles and had soldiers. All of them supported the Duke of York. Maud knew that was important because he was trying to get rid of the bad people in Westminster and the bad people were trying to stop him.

The duke was Edward's father. Parliament had made him Lord Protector. Maud wasn't sure what a Lord Protector did but knew it was very important. Edward said it was like being king but without a crown. The king was ill and York was doing his job for him until he got better. York was in London and her father was with him. He was captain of the guard.

The castle servants had put up a stand on a bank beside the tournament ground. It was protected by coloured canvas. People who were invited to the party were allowed to sit there. The townspeople could come along to watch but they had to stay outside in the open.

Today it was snowing so there weren't as many townspeople as in summer. But a lot of boys had come. Edward wasn't snooty. He played with the boys in Ludlow town and knew a lot of them by name.

Some people were complaining about the snow. Maud thought it was fun. She was warmly dressed in a hooded cloak, lined with fur. The fur was squirrel on the outside and rabbit inside. Some girls had cloaks with expensive fur throughout. Others had to make do with wool.

How you dressed depended on who your parents were. The girls from noble families were expected to dress noble. Those from ordinary families had to dress ordinary, even if their family could afford something better.

Maud's father was Sir Robin Perry. Being
Sir
meant he was a knight and knights weren't ordinary. But her family wasn't noble either so she was expected to wear something in between even if her father couldn't afford it. Edward's mother new that and she had given Maud the cloak for her birthday.

Maud took her place in the stand. She was allowed to sit at the front because Edward said she could. Some of the girls didn't like that. They thought only girls from noble families could sit there but they were wrong. It was Edward's birthday and he could choose some of the girls, even if his mother chose the rest.

Maud's mother had told her to be on her very best behaviour and not do anything to upset anyone. Maud didn't need to be told. She was the girl in the middle. The soldiers' children looked up to her and the nobility looked down. All except Edward. He made friends with everyone.

Edward liked to play a game called
Piggy in the Middle.
When you are
Piggy
you have to fight off people on both sides and that means you need friends on all sides. His father says that being a duke is like being
Piggy
and Edward needs to get used to it because, one day, he will be a duke.

The tournament started with jousting. Maud sat back and watched as men rode horses at one another. They galloped down different sides of a fence and used lances to knock their opponents off their mounts. Jousting was very dangerous and you weren't allowed to do it until you were fifteen.

The jousting was exciting but the real fun would come when Edward led his troops into battle. The younger boys were allowed to fight on foot using wooden swords. They wore real armour and had to keep their visors down so their eyes wouldn't get poked out.

Edward's armour had been made for his birthday. He was growing fast and it would soon be too small for him. That didn't matter. It would be handed on to his brother, Edmund, who was a year younger.

Edward said it was important to wear proper armour. It was very heavy and you had to get used to it. You didn't just wear it on a horse. A lot of fighting was done on foot and you didn't have a horse to support you then. Horses had their limitations. They could get shot away from under you. You used them to break up enemy formations and pursue the enemy when they broke ranks.

The jousting ended and the boys trooped up to the stand. Edward's brother, Edmund, was his second in command. Maud's brother, Simon, was captain of the guard. He was the same age as Edmund and they were close friends. The other boys were the son's of soldiers.

They would be fighting against a battalion led by a grandson of the Earl of Salisbury. He was a Beaufort and they used to support the House of Lancaster. Now, some of the Beauforts had changed sides. That was why it was so important not to offend them. No one wanted them to change back again.

The girls in the stand held out their favours. These were silk scarves with things embroidered on them. Edward's mother had supplied Maud's. It was green and had a yellow flower in a corner. There was a lot of giggling when they were handed out. There was more to giving favours than giving a scarf. It was one of those things you were expected to know more about when you got older.

Edward received her favour and got others. One was from the sister of the boy he was going to fight. Her name was Katherine de Salisbury and she was very snooty. He tied her favour to his sword harness so that it hung over his heart. His mother had told him to do that and the snooty girl looked pleased. He tied Maud's favour round his sword arm. She liked that. It said she was his
friend-in-need
and he would be hers
too.

The boys saluted and went down onto the tournament ground. They were allowed to ride horses into battle but had to dismount and fight on foot. There were points for who could capture the high ground in front of the stand and things like that. Men with white surcoats would tell them to leave the field if they were struck a blow that would have killed them if the sword hadn't been made of wood.

They rode to the opposite ends of the ground. It was snowing so heavily they vanished from sight. Then a trumpet sounded and they charged back. Maud saw them thundering out of the gloom, swords raised and banners flying.

Edward reached the marker flags and sprang from his horse. The other boys followed. One twisted his ankle and was ordered off the field. The others made a dash for the high ground. They got there before the opposing force and a flag was raised to show they had won the first round.

Edward now had to hold onto what he had won. That wasn't easy. The boys on the other side were bigger. Soon he was struggling to keep his battalion together. Gaps appeared in his ranks and a big boy broke through and grabbed Edmund. He put a wooden dagger to his throat and dragged him down the slope.

'Surrender!'

He shouted for Edward to give in but Edward attacked. Maud watched as the dagger jabbed at Edmund's neck and one of the white-coated officials dashed in. She expected him to say that Edward had lost. Instead, he raised Edward's arm and declared him the winner. The snooty girl clapped excitedly and her brother glared at her angrily.

The adults prepared to leave. They were complaining about the cold and talking about warm fires. The girls who had given Edward their favours were allowed to kiss him. The snooty girl kissed him fully on the lips and said how strong and brave he was. The other girls came from lesser families and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

Maud came last. He put his cold cheek against hers and whispered in her ear.

'How do you think I did?'

'You lost, Edward.'

'Aye, Maud.' A tear appeared at the corner of his eye. 'If that had been a real battle, Edmund would be dead.'

***

E
dward lay in bed with three other boys. Normally, he slept alone or with Edmund. That wasn't possible. So many people had come for his birthday party. The castle was bursting at the seams. Every available space was being used. The servants had dossed down in the great hall and the guests were crammed into the bed chambers.

That wasn't unusual. People often slept in cramped conditions but that didn't mean you had to like it. There were mattresses on the floor beside his bed and the commode was overflowing. He had tried to get the boys to go onto the battlements for a wee but with limited success. It was blowing a gale out there and few were prepared to brave the elements.

People usually did what he said. He was the son of a duke. That made him an earl and gave him authority. He was the Earl of March. People called him March like they called his father York. Edward tried not to use his authority unless really necessary ... like when people pissed in corners and made the place stink.

Tonight, his authority was diminished. He was an earl but so were four of the other boys in the room and they were older than him. York had the same problem. He was Lord Protector but that didn't mean much in the eyes of the nobility. They didn't even see him as
first amongst equals,
which was how they were meant to see the king. They were forever squabbling amongst themselves and their children were just the same.

The families at his birthday party were part of the alliance against the House of Lancaster. That didn't mean they were beholden to the House of York. They were supporting his father because they had fallen out with the Lancastrians, not because they liked him.

Edward thought about his father. They had never been close. Much of the time, they lived apart. His father was a serious man who had few real friends. The ordinary people liked him because he was honest. But he didn't mix well. He gave speeches and people applauded. Warwick was different. People loved him. He strode into crowds, picked up babies and slapped men on the back. When that happened his father hung back and people forgot he was there.

Warwick was twenty-six and York was forty-three. Warwick was the son of the Earl of Salisbury but that wasn't why he was so rich and powerful. Warwick had married an heiress and that was how he become an earl. Edward wondered about marriage. His parents would expect him to marry someone chosen by them.

The awful Salisbury girl was being coached to go after him. He knew that from the way she reported back to her mother every time she spoke to him. The thought of living with someone like her was mind-numbing. He wanted a wife like Maud. She was fun and she told the truth even when she knew he might not like it. That's what people did when they really liked you.