“If the lady wishes to leave the castle, yet will not surrender to me, then she may leap from the parapets.” Hugh spoke the hideous words as though he were giving his groom permission to unsaddle his horse. My the Lord forgive him. “If she survives the fall – and she will not – I will have my men scrape up whatsoever is left and bring it to me, as my prisoner.” The lady was Trempwick’s mother. She had chosen to meddle, leaving the safer position of Salcey to try and raise more men at arms for her son. Now she would pay the price
The castellan of Rochester already resembled an armour stand, so spear shaft straight with dislike did he carry himself on his mission. His not quite concealed scorn lifted, transmuting to not quite concealed consternation. “And what of the other women and the children?”
“The same path is open to them.” Hugh gave the enemy commander a second to absorb this. “You will surrender to me now, or the siege shall begin. Once it begins there will be no mercy. Taken by storm I shall turn the place over to my troops for sport; taken by surrender I shall execute you for a traitor, and seize anything within those walls worth more than a farthing. As,” he added softly, “is the convention of war.” They had thought him soft, in heart and in head, to ask for the mother, the women and the children to be let go. Fewer mouths to feed would allow the castle to hold out for longer; a lack of innocents to worry for would make defiance easier; there would be fewer voices counselling surrender, afeared of what would come if relief did not arrive, for Hugh had demonstrated his words were far from empty.
A king must be hard, save for when it profited him to be soft. Some must burn so others could be saved.
The castellan shook his head. “Our walls are strong, our cellars well stocked. My lord will come. I cannot be a traitor for supporting my queen, Sir Bastard, only for betraying her.”
“So be it. I shall hang you, when we meet next.”
The men parted, one riding back to his castle, the other to his army, each followed by the five attendants this conference midway between the forces had permitted.
Rochester was strong, very. It was one of the lynchpins of the area. Having cleared the surrounding area insofar as was possible, Hugh would now leave a detachment of his army here to fight a war of waiting while he led the other half to further action.
Holiday next week, holiday next week, holiday next week! Wee! An entire week off! Woo! Yay! And so on.
No, seriously, I started this job not quite 11 months ago and haven’t had a single day of holiday in that time, just ordinary days off.
Thought I had better come bearing a new story part, since it’s been long enough for people to hope I have one if I post here now. Frogs who want to live a long and happy life don’t get their reader’s hopes up and then dash them by posting nothing but a response to comments.
Judas: Alright, I shall let you off then.
I’m going to agree with Cliffracer: it’s human nature to be bone idle where possible
Avernite: Ah well. I’m afraid I’d have to say she was being bloody stupid if she allowed herself to be made a vindictive man’s puppet queen of a realm she doesn’t want and the wife of Mr Nefastus. Heh, I’d have to say she was bloody stupid if she did anything which made her Malcolm’s wife!
Not that I think this is the smartest thing she’s done in her young life, you understand.
I do think it all gets very ...
busy following this path. In a good way. Hope you will find the same
Coz1: :squints at titles: Demi moderator? Congratulations.
The alternative to the fairly quick jump was pages of them dithering before deciding the same, basically much the same thing but twice the length and boring.
Hawise offers no advice. She only comments both choices are bad, there’s no sensible option, and it’s not her place to have any say in it.
Ah, and don’t forget Malcolm’s new grudges against his father … Boy, do they have potential
TiPou: Wow! To steal your format:
First Trempy is blinded by his pride. He also sees power differently to Nell; he views it as a giver of freedom, not as a limiter. He believes she will view it the same way, if only she gives it some thought. From his point of view she could very well be doing that – without him she would have more power because in their relationship he has always held the dominant position. Many of her actions since leaving Trempy can be interpreted as a bid for power. It could even be said she wants Fulk as her husband because he will be a very junior partner, unable to take anything from her.
Second :says from behind her pillow: No! It’s a nice pillow. I like it back here.
Um, I hate this aspect. It’s an absolute
swine to write. That’s before you take into consideration that it is the kind of thing I dislike writing. I’m used to writing things I haven’t experienced personally; the story is packed with them. None of them are a roiling cauldron full of explosive, contradictory ingredients like this! I have never believed I have got it quite right; it’s always been something which needs editing.
She’s scarred, she’s used to being slighted, obviously doesn’t make her a great believer in her desirability. She thinks Fulk will be revolted if he gets a good look. Some things would involve Fulk getting a good look
Simple enough. Easy to write.
She has all the usual fears of the unknown we poor females tend to end up with to some degree. Hers are closer to the extreme end of the scale than the calmer one. Still simple enough.
She’s got a lovely fear of being crushed. Actually this one is very easy – it’s just an exaggeration of one of those normal fears. It wasn’t a phobia, just a strong fear. This is practically gone by now; she’s getting to like the proximity.
She loves the man something stupid, but knows he’s well travelled and she’s not, ergo she thinks she will be a disappointment. Fine, I can manage that. Again, mostly normal for the situation.
All her life sex has been bound up in terms of limitation. Consummate this marriage to that unwanted husband and live with his whims until someone dies. Not tempting for a gooseberry. Even with Fulk there’s an aspect of being subject to his whims; she’s not convinced that can be good. Can handle it.
She’s frequently told that her chances of surviving childbirth are next to none. So it’s dicing with death, relying on unreliable herbal contraception. I can handle it, but there’s getting to be a lot of balls to juggle now.
She fears Fulk will lose interest after a bit; she can’t bear the thought. Can do it, but come on, I only have so many hands!
She also knows however much he loves her she is likely to lose him if she keeps him dangling about at semi-arm’s length. :sigh: Can handle it, but it’s getting a strain.
Then there’s the value of her virginity. She’s spent her life acutely aware of how much that’s worth. Also the general condemnation of women taking lovers, especially before marriage. Gah, too many balls, if you’ll forgive the pun.
That goes hand in hand with her, ahem, education on these things. Can anyone see Trempy managing to do a decent “Useful facts of life for princesses” lecture? Me neither. The man would die of embarrassment; Nell has learned that much from him. There’s not been anyone else in her life to do it. The way she has grown up hardly helps: surrounded by a few men with precious little female company.
Let’s be honest, thus far her experience isn’t terribly encouraging. Trempy had ulterior motives. Fulk is trying not to repeat his past mistakes, scare her, or push her into something she’ll regret; above all he knows she is of a mixed mind on the subject. Broadly speaking – there’s more to the knight’s side of things, and it’s not quite right to discuss that here.
The idea doesn’t exactly appeal. At the same time it does, very much. She’s crazy about the stupid knight, the idea appeals, but the baggage puts her off. She wants to, and doesn’t want to. This ball happens to be weighted with lead and has spikes on the outside. It’s so hard to get the balance right. In a moment she can go from wanting to to not. It’s hellish to write, especially from an external POV.
Like many such feelings, these are not consistent. She’s dumping the responsibility on Fulk, sometimes. “I’m not going to protest, so get it over with; I’m too scared to do anything.” almost. From time to time she gets the idea that she has to, to make him happy, from duty, to keep him, a “I know you want to; I’ll suffer bravely for your sake.” sort of thing. Then she remembers who she is, or something else which sends her right back into “Gah! No way!”
You know, there’s such a lot of it I have probably forgotten something.
It’s a lot to have boiling and it’s kept to a few limited places through the story, from near the beginning right up to now and beyond. Worse, it’s being told mainly in scenes I don’t like writing, don’t have much skill at doing, and hardly know what I am doing with. I’m not completely happy with how it is working. There are bits coming up which fill me with sheer terror, because of what I’m going to have to do with this!
Third The oldest cause of all: he’s jealous. The differences between them become more obvious as time passes, and no one will ever doubt her parentage. He’s also made unhappy by the fact she brought out the worst in William, and that she flouts what is seen as the natural order. Someone with such an attachment to tradition and propriety can’t be happy with a sister like Nell.
The “swineherd’s bastard” comment was part of their plan. It gave the one who took her place for the trip to Scotland to stay mostly hidden away, and knowing that the story would spread like wildfire anyone looking for Eleanor would be expecting someone with a bruised face. A staged fight which went too far, thanks to her having one of her moments and losing her temper, causing Hugh to do the same. She was supposed to get what looked like a good slap to the face followed by some time away from the hall for what would be presumed to be a beating, not a split lip and an actual bruise.
Hugh, Miles, Anne, Constance, Hawise, Mariot, Godit, Adele were in on the secret. In the case of the latter three it was in the hope the spy would slip and betray herself. Which Mariot did, though it was only clear when suspicion already landed on her.
Er, looking back I have no idea how I arrived at Eléonore; I know full well that Aliénor is the French version, sometimes spelt as Alianore. I can only conclude I was very tired, and picked the wrong edition from the collection of choices Word offered to me. Because it’s so hard to add in the accents and spell the unfamiliar foreign names correctly I do it the once, put it in Word as a correct spelling, then use the spell checker tool to change it to the edition with the accents. I do it with words like Jesù too.
Dead William: ! Yes, just an exclamation mark. “I am aware of several historical precedents in Scotland for almost the same action.” Really!? I need books on medieval Scotland! I have only lesser cases, such as Margery Paston and the bailiff she married. Now where can I find a good book on medieval Scotland …? :resolves to find one:
Aside from the Anne/William connection there are no Scottish/English royal ties until you get to the generation which came before William’s.
The Scottish royal family is: Malcolm the Elder, Malcolm Nefastus, Anne, James the baby brother, one granny who is Malcolm the Elder’s mother. Not seen or so far mentioned are a couple of cousins, and an aunt. There have been others but they are dead or occupy a position like Nell’s sisters: so far away and for so long they don’t quite count now.
William generally avoided spawning bastards, preferring to keep things neat and tidy. He ended up with two, for various reasons a frog knows but can’t see the point in elaborating as they have no bearing on anything unless I am telling the story of William’s younger life. One fell victim to the high infant mortality rate, the other was later Trempwicked. Oh, I do like the sounds of that: Trempwicked.
The classics are:
Jane Austin: Emma, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abby
Charles Dickens: David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Bleak House, Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Christmas Carol and The Other Two Christmas stories, Nicholas Nickleby.
Misc:
Crime and Punishment
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Gah!)
War and Peace
Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Jane Eyre
Wurthering Heights
Machiavelli’s The Prince and Art of War
Rob Roy
Ivanhoe
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
The Great Gatsby
Vanity Fair
Not precisely a classic but generally considered to be getting there: Gone with the Wind
Think that’s all of them. I’ve read David Copperfield and Oliver Twist before; abridged editions cunningly disguised as full ones. I’ve read about half of Pride and Prejudice, and have seen the famous 6 hour BBC adaptation a few times. I’ve started and dropped Ivanhoe several times over the years; it’s the only classic I’ve approached and not really got on with. I think it’s the atrocious historical accuracy mixed with the ‘Thou hast’iness of the language; mock medieval has always irritated me. Other than that the list is but a selection from the 372 books I own and have yet to read.
Fanclub updates:
Trempy: 3 members
Anne: 2 members
Fulk: 6 members (Following his gooseberry’s example)
Nell: 6 members (Saying some nasty things about Avernite leaving and thus dumping Fulk and her own clubs equal with that dreadful Godit and the clearly insane Jocelyn. Also muttering a few things about traitors being hung if they show their faces again)
Godit: 6 members (Not Happy – the princess gets the knight!!)
Constance: 3 members
Hugh: 2 members (looking sideways at all the excitement surrounding his sister and wondering What The Heck Is Going On!)
Jocelyn: 6 members
Richildis: 1 member
Miles: 3 members
Hawise: 2 members
Mahaut: 1 member
William : 1 member (saying loudly, “What? So I have to be dead before I get a fan club?! What is the world coming to?”)
Malcolm Nefastus: 4 members (thinking that with a few more members and some sharp implements he can make a push for the top spot)
Anti-Trempy: 4 members
Anti-Aveline: 1 member
Anti-Hugh: 1 member
The frog club: 2 members.