Chapter Two
When Joanna awoke in the morning, she could not think where she was at first. The sunlight coming round the edges of the shutters was on the wrong side and the wall opposite too far away. Then she remembered. Poitiers! And at once she remembered too that her mother had been kidnapped and the Earl of Salisbury killed. Apprehension settled clammily on her again.
Eleanor was still sleeping beside her. She sat up in bed, hugging the fur coverlet round her, and looked for Nurse. She was nowhere to be seen. In a panic, Joanna thought she had somehow been kidnapped, too. She opened her mouth and bawled like a baby.
“I want Nounou! Where’s my Nounou?”
A chambermaid came in at once.
“Hush now, hush. Your Nurse is at Mass in the chapel. You were sleeping so soundly you didn’t hear the bells ring for Prime. She said we should let you sleep on, as you were tired from the journey. She’ll be back soon. Let me dress you now, then you’ll be ready for breakfast when she comes back.”
By this time Eleanor was awake, too, stretching in the warm bed. Joanna stood on the bed and two maids slipped her chemise over her head. Then they brought a basin of cold water and she washed her hands and face and rubbed her teeth as Nurse had taught her. They brought her bliaut and helped her wriggle her arms into the long tight sleeves and, lastly, a surcoat, fur lined because the days were still cold, and hose and slippers. They were brushing her hair when Nurse came back.
“Awake at last, lambkin? You must say your prayers before we go down. It is Lent, you know.”
So Eleanor and Joanna knelt on the wood floor and folded their hands while the servants opened the shutters and let in the cold morning air. Eleanor began murmuring from the Easter office for Prime. Joanna mumbled along with her, not remembering the words until they reached the familiar bits at the end.
“Gloria patri et filio et spiritu sancto. Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in secula seculorum. Amen.”
In her head, Joanna was praying, “Please God, let Mother come back safely.”
O O O
It was late morning of the same day and Joanna was sitting with her sister in one of the deep recessed windows of the Maubergeonne Tower. Eleanor was patiently rethreading Joanna’s needle every time she pulled it too far and the thread slipped from the eye. At the best of times, Joanna hated needlework and today she was too nervous to watch what she was doing. She wished she could be over at the gatehouse and listen to the news brought in by the soldiers returning from forays, but Nurse was adamant that idleness was playing into the Devil’s hands and, kidnapping or no, Joanna should fill her time constructively. “Go to the ant, thou sluggard,” she declaimed in the stern tones she reserved for biblical quotations, “Consider her ways and be wise.”
Nurse had at least consented to let them sit in the window where Joanna could keep an eye on the gatehouse. It was cold in the unglazed window and they were wearing their mantles. As Joanna was looking at the gatehouse and not her needlework, she noticed at once the sudden activity there. The guards rushed to line up and she heard shouts and then the creak of the portcullis being winched up.
Joanna dropped her work and, leaning out of the window, curled her fingers round the cold iron grille. A small body of men in full armor clattered into the bailey and there in the center of them was the Queen. Her face, framed by the marten fur lining her hood, was flushed from the ride and she was laughing.
Someone started to cheer and they all took it up. The cooks came out from the kitchens and the smith from his forge, with his hammer still in his hand. The grooms and falconers pressed in behind the knights and men-at-arms and, behind them, the laundresses, waving their red roughened hands. Over on the left, Joanna saw Sir Ralph emerge onto the steps of the porch leading to the Hall and with him were the chamberlain and the chancellor and a group of ladies-in-waiting. They came down into the bailey as the captain of the bodyguard held out his hand to assist the Queen to dismount. Then they passed into the palace and Joanna could no longer see them.
Joanna was out of the room and flying down the stone staircase round and round with one hand on the central column before Nurse could say a word. Her mother was in the Great Hall, surrounded by officials. She stood, tall and slender in green and gold and marten fur, by the fireplace. Joanna hesitated in the doorway, her mouth open, her hands pressed over her pounding heart.
“Yes, of course, I am perfectly all right. Don’t I look it? Don’t fuss so, Ralph. God’s teeth, give me some room here. My legs are frozen. I want to walk up and down.”
Her gown swirled around her ankles as she turned. She saw Joanna in the doorway.
“Joanna! Come here, child.” She bent to offer her cheek to kiss. Close up, she smelled of lavender. “That’s enough, you’re pinching my arms, child. Jesu, you all stare at me as though I were a vision! I’m real enough and famished, too. I can’t wait until dinner. Bring me something light now. A little warm almond milk, that would be good. No, not a word until then, Sir Ralph. Stop bothering me. That’s better, I’m warm now.”
She looked behind her for a chair and two servants ran forward with one. She sank into it without another backward glance. By this time, Nurse and Eleanor had come down and Nurse pulled Joanna to one side.
“Where’s William? He was magnificent. Not hurt or taken, I hope?”
“No, my lady, I’m here.” William came forward and dropped on one knee before her.
“Your arm?” She gestured to him to rise.
“It’s nothing, my lady.”
“I was sorry to hear of your uncle’s death. He died bravely.”
Joanna thought, looking at her mother’s face, that she was not all that sorry about Earl Patrick’s death. The almond milk was brought and the Queen sipped it luxuriously, enjoying the suspense.
“Ah, that’s good. Very well, Sir Ralph, you want to know what happened to me. You all, I could see it in your faces, thought I had been taken prisoner by those Lusignan bandits. I’m surprised you had so little confidence in your Queen. From them, it didn’t surprise me. The oafs were laying about them, yelling and shouting, and paying no attention to their prize. I suppose they thought they would find me patiently waiting to be taken when the fighting ended.” She laughed scornfully. “Not a bit of it. Did I tell you that William was splendid? He fought like a wild boar against the hounds. I want him to be given new armor and a horse and gold, 100 livres of gold. Yes, and some rich garments, an embroidered mantle. Sir Ralph, did you make note of that? Gervase, write it up for me and tomorrow I’ll put my seal to it.”
“Thank you, my lady,” William murmured, and Sir Ralph stirred impatiently.
“It’s very simple really. They were so busy fighting that I just rode off and nobody noticed. No, that’s not quite true. Earl Patrick saw me leave and he came behind me, to protect me. One man came after him and cut him down as he rode. He died in my defense, you see, but to tell you the truth, I think it was unnecessary. They hadn’t noticed me. His death gave me the time to get away as his killer was unhorsed. I rode like the wind, keeping out of sight as far as possible, and didn’t draw rein until I had put several miles between myself and them. Then when I stopped to look about me, I saw that I had ridden away from Poitiers. I thought perhaps it was just as well, as they would more likely look for me on the road to Poitiers, so I kept on going, all the way back to Lusignan.”
“Lusignan, my lady?” Sir Ralph burst out. “You were at Lusignan?”
“Yes, ironic, isn’t it? The garrison was much surprised to see me return and alone, too, I can tell you.”
A buzz of conversation broke out in the Hall. Watching her mother, Joanna could not imagine how she had ever feared for her. She was invincible.
She was laughing again. “Sir Ralph, you are such an old fusspot! Of course I rode alone! Do you think I was going to go back to that mêlée and say, ‘Excuse me please, but would someone act as my escort?’ No, I galloped all the way. It was glorious.”
Joanna was ashamed that she had been so poor-spirited. One day, she vowed to herself, one day I will be like her. I want to be a Queen! One day I will be a Queen, like Mother, and my life will be one long, glorious adventure.