Crusade

‘I have been to see Robert, in Cardiff.’

‘How…?’

‘I have been asking the King for permission for several years. When I heard of your whereabouts, it became much more urgent, so I went to Winchester to plead my case and he relented. He’s getting old himself and softening a bit.’

‘How is Robert?’

‘He’s frail, but well. He is well taken care of — confined, of course, but he can walk about the keep freely and his chamber is warm and comfortable.’

‘Did he tell you his story?’

‘No, he wasn’t really strong enough for that and he said you would be a much better storyteller.’

‘Did he, indeed? He had a habit of getting me to do the things he didn’t like to do.’

‘He gave me this parchment.’

William hands Edgar a small scroll, sealed with Robert’s ducal ring. The Prince’s thin, bony fingers carefully break the seal and he begins to read. At first he smiles, then his eyes fill with tears. The message is only brief and William has no idea what it says. But it has a profound effect on Edgar, who turns and walks closer to the Force.

After a while, he walks back towards William, pushing the scroll up into the sleeve of his shirt.

‘He must be very frail; his writing is tentative, like the scrawl of a child.’

‘I’m sorry. He was a little shaky when we met; he’s a very old man.’

‘He says I can trust you, that your chronicles are fair and accurate, but I knew that already. When I heard that you had arrived on these fells, I knew what you had come for. I have had time to think. The mighty Hereward once told me that the lives of men move in great circles and that at the end of a long journey there should be time for reflection. I have had plenty of time to reflect here in the Pennines. It’s a place for penance, as in Purgatory. Perhaps I am purged; I will tell you my tale. As you say, it may do some good, and Robert seems content that I should let people know more of his life.’

Later that morning, Edgar settles by his fire to begin his account. William of Malmesbury reminds young Roger of the date. It is 31 October, All Hallows, the Feast of the Dead, in the year 1126.

Roger’s responsibility will be to help William remember as much of the detail as possible. It is fortunate that he does not have to commit quill to vellum, as his hand still quivers from the horrors of the previous day and the menacing environment in which they find themselves, with the chilling cold of an approaching winter at over 1,000 feet in the Pennines, the thunder of Ashgyll Force and the screams of the Helm Wind off Fiends’ Fell.

PART TWO

The Rightful Heir

4. Abernethy

The years following the Conquest were a living hell for me and the people of England. Its army, once so potent behind its legendary shield wall, never recovered from the gruesome battle of Stamford Bridge against Harald Hardrada’s formidable Norwegians and the slaughter of Senlac Ridge, where the courageous King Harold and most of the English aristocracy were massacred by William, Duke of Normandy, and his merciless clan.

Some brave souls rose in rebellion but were quickly annihilated. One by one, village by village, burgh by burgh, the English acquiesced. The last great rising came in the North, in the earldoms of Edwin and Morcar. When Svein Estrithson, the King of Denmark, landed with his army, there was a glimmer of hope. But Estrithson was easily bought off by William — his treasury was full with the spoils of his prosperous new domain — and the English rebels, now just a handful of valiant men, were left to their fate.

I played a part in the rebellion, but was too young to lead it; I was no more than a boy and had lived a confined life under the watchful eye of old King Edward. As I was the true heir of the Cerdician line of England’s Kings, the last thing he would have let me do was prepare to be a leader of men and learn how to wield a sword like any other in the realm.

I will always believe that it was King Edward who had my father poisoned when we arrived in England from exile in Hungary in 1057. My father was also called Edward; he would have been fifty-one years old at the old King’s death and the undisputed successor to the throne. None of the events we will speak of would have happened had my father not been poisoned. Ironically, the King placed the blame at the door of Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, the future King Harold, who had travelled to Budapest to bring us home.

But I digress. The real hero of those final days of England’s resistance was the man who saved my life in Swaledale, Hereward of Bourne. He was a great warrior and almost reclaimed this land.

He had stood with Harold on Senlac Ridge and was badly wounded, but his companions got him away and he escaped to Aquitaine. Edith Swan-Neck, Harold’s widow, persuaded him to return. In a long campaign in the North, he came close to killing the King by his own hand, but he had neither good fortune nor enough loyal supporters. William was a cunning, ruthless and formidable opponent and, in due course, prevailed.