But first William ll and then Henry I had refused to condone a marriage for Lady Margaret of Blackthorne. Her father′s estates had always been the lure for the Scots lords whose families had asked Meg′s hand for their sons. That was the lure that had brought a famous Noman knight from Jerusalem to the northern marches of King Henry′s realm. With outward composure Meg watched the proud warrior ride closer This was the man who would claim her as bride, and with her, the vast domain that she would inherit upon the munment death of her father. "God be with you, m′lady, for ′tis certain tile Devil will be!"Īs Eadith spoke, she crossed herself again. The closer Dominic le Sabre rode, the more she feared her handmaiden was right.
Yet even as Meg spoke, fear washed coolly down her spine.
"What is a nameless Norman bastard to make a daughter of Glendruid tremble?" I am the last of an ancient and proud line, Meg said in a husky voice. I tremble for you, my lady, since you have not the wit to tremble for yourself!" "This one is truly the Devil wearing man′s flesh," Eadith said, crossing herself. Against all custom, Dominic le Sabre approached the Saxon keep with nothing but the war horn′s deep cry attending him.
No retainers hurned behind the knight no squires appeared leading war-horses or pack animals burdened with the shmmg metal tools of war. Horse and chain mail-dad knight loomed larger with every moment, riding openly up to the keep, fearing nothing. The horn had been sounded by someone hidden within the forest that lay beyond the keep′s cultivated land. Nothing moved behind the war-horse but silver mist twisting above the fields. "I will hear no talk of war."Įadith′s mouth thinned, but she spoke no more of war.Standing at a high window of the keep, shielded from view by a partly closed shutter Meg searched the land for the riding household that must have accompanied the warrior, who would soon become her husband. War is more likely to be waged than a wedding," Eadith announced with savage satisfaction. "That is why I will wed-to end the bloodletting. "Nay, mistress." Tis fitting that your bridegroom wears chain mail and rides a savage destrier. "They say that of all Norman knights," Meg said to her handmaiden with desperate calm, " yet among them surely there must be men of Kind and generous hearts."Įadith made a sound that could have been a throttled laugh. "They say he is a devil, m′lady the widow Eadith muttered. Horse and man seemed one, indivisible, fierce with the male power singing in their blood like a storm. a knight in full armor riding a huge stallion. As though summoned, a dark shape condensed out of the mist. The sound of a war horn sliced through the day, announcing the coming of Blackthorne Keep′s new lord. Spring in the Reign of King Henry I Northern England
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