"We shall make them a fine gift, Eleanore, to show our gratitude," Ranulf said quietly.

"Can we go home tomorrow?" She smiled hopefully up at him. How very handsome he was! How strong and yet tender, and she loved him even if she did not dare to say it. Her gaze strayed to their son. What a marvel the babe was! His voice cut into her thoughts.

"I believe you should rest for a few days before we attempt to bring you home," Ranulf said. "I am on my way to Worcester in the morning. When I return, I shall stop here, and we shall journey home together, petite. Orva says it was an easy birth, but it cannot harm you to rest for a few days. I have given orders that a dozen of our men-at-arms come here in a week’s time to act as our escort. You are not to attempt to leave without me, petite. Do I have your word on it?"

"Aye." She was puzzled. "Why are you going to Worcester?"

"I have been sent for by Duke Henry, who is there secretly. Do not ask me why, because I do not know myself the reasons behind it all. As Duke Henry knows, my allegiance is to King Stephen, but I am certain there is no plot afoot. Sir Garrick was sent to me, and I hold him to be an honorable man. If I can render our future king some small service without infringing upon my loyalty to King Stephen, then it cannot harm us, petite. Duke Henry’s reputation is also one of honor, so I doubt he has asked me to come to Worcester for any nefarious purpose."

"I wonder what he wants," Elf said slowly. "If it is something that no one else can do, and you do it well, Duke Henry will undoubtedly be grateful. That could bode well for our son." She had begun to think like an ambitious mother. "Do not the duke and his wife have a son who is but an infant? Maybe one day Simon could serve him at court! If they grew up together, they might become friends. Good friends. What an advantage for our heir, Ranulf. Our fortunes could be made if you serve Duke Henry well!"

Ranulf de Glandeville looked at his wife in amazement. Now, here was a side of Eleanore he would have never expected existed. She had but birthed their son a few hours ago, and already she was aspiring and envisioning a grand future for him. He did not know whether to be pleased or fearful of this new woman to whom he was wed. "Simple knights rarely, if ever, do great lords such great a service that they are rewarded so magnanimously, petite. My name is not so proud that our son would become a playmate of Prince William's." He smiled at her, and patted her hand.

"You cannot know that for certain, my lord," Elf said to him.

Ranulf chuckled. His wife was not about to give up her dreams simply at his say-so. "Duke Henry, being unfamiliar with the country, has probably been asking the men with holdings in the various regions who live upon those holdings, all about the areas. I was sent to Ashlin because it is on the border between England and Wales. Duke Henry is a great warlord, Eleanore. He may be deciding if he wants to attack the Welsh once England is his by inheritance. I can think of no other reason he might send for me, petite." He arose and, bending, kissed her lips lightly. "You have had a hard day, Eleanore. You must sleep now, and grow stronger. Tomorrow you will need to nurse our son."

"Will you come and see me before you depart in the morning?" she asked him anxiously. "Do not leave without saying adieu to us, Ranulf, and Simon must be baptized before you go."

"I won't leave beforehand," he promised, and then he left her.

Willa reentered the room softly and went to the makeshift cradle, picking up Simon and bringing him to his mother. "Ma says you must attempt to feed him now, lady. Your milk is not yet ready to flow, but the liquid that will come from your breasts is nourishing for the little lord."

Elf struggled to sit up in her cot. Finally comfortable, she unloosed the laces on her chemise and reached out for her son. "How do I do it?" she asked Willa as Simon began rooting about her breasts.

"Just put a teat in his mouth, lady. He'll do the rest," Willa told her mistress. "I seen Ma do it plenty of times."

Cradling her son with an arm, Elf rubbed her nipple against Simon’s small mouth. The mouth opened, and then clamped with surprising strength down upon the flesh. She gasped. "Holy Mother!" she exclaimed. "He is just like his father." Then Elf flushed, realizing what she had said aloud, but Willa just giggled. Fascinated, Elf watched as the infant suckled furiously and with great determination upon her. His blue eyes looked up at her, interested. "Aye," she told him. "I'm your mother, Simon Hubert. I never thought to be a mother, but here we are, my son."

Orva came into the dormitory chamber. "Ahh, you have begun to feed him. Good! He’s a big boy, lady. Move him to the other breast to encourage your milk to flow. Another day, two at the most, and you will be feeding him royally."

Elf switched the protesting baby from her right breast to her left. Simon suckled as strongly upon the second breast as he had upon the first, but eventually his eyes began to close. Suddenly his little head fell to one side, and he was sound asleep. Orva took the baby and restored him to his cradle, instructing her daughter to watch over the child until she was relieved by another.

"There are three postulants, and two novices within the convent now," Orva told her mistress. "The abbess says they will take turns watching over the baby during the niglittime hours so we may sleep. Are you hungry, lady?"

"I am tired," Elf said.

"Then, sleep," Orva instructed her. "You have done well, lady, and the world is at peace around us, praise be to God and His blessed Mother!"

Chapter 12

Sir Garrick Taliferro and Ranulf de Glandeville reached the town of Worcester two days later. Situated on the east bank of the Severn, Worcester was a beautiful little town with a long and proud history. To Ranulf’s surprise Duke Henry was staying with the bishop. Worcester had suffered at the Empress Matilda’s hand when her troops had fired the town fifteen years earlier. It had not been destroyed, however, and even when King Stephen’s men had attacked it five years ago, Worcester survived. Leveled buildings were rebuilt; the cathedral was restored, but for a fallen tower left to be repaired later.

As the duke’s visit was a secret one, there was no pomp or show, of course. Ranulf was led into a small, paneled room with a fireplace that burned brightly, taking the chill off the wet early June afternoon. Henry of Anjou greeted him with a small smile upon his lips.

"Welcome, Sir Ranulf."

Ranulf bowed low, becoming acutely aware as he arose of how he towered over the duke. Unconsciously he attempted to shrink himself, but the duke, seeing his efforts, just laughed.

"There is no way, my lord," he rasped in his strangely rough voice, "that you can make yourself any smaller. You are bigger than most men in length. While I am tall enough, I am cleverer than most men. If I were insulted by every man who was taller than I am, I should have no friends at all. Sit down, and we will talk."


The two men sat in high-backed wooden chairs with cushioned seats, facing each other.

"I need your help, Ranulf de Glandeville," the duke said. "King Stephen is not well at all. Losing his beloved wife and my wretched cousin, Eustace, in so short a period of time has made him disconsolate, dispirited. His interest in England, in the things about him have waned. He has lost his joy for living. It is unlikely that he will ever regain it. I am informed he is not expected to live for too much longer. I will be England’s king by year’s end, I am told. I believe it to be so.

"The line of descent is now clear, settled, established, and approved of by the church. Still, I worry the unruly English barons may seek to foment troubles, for they have very much had their own way during the years my mother and her cousin fought for supremacy here. I must return immediately to Normandy to oversee my estates, and those of my wife; to put in place the government that will rule in my name once I am England’s king, and must make my progress back and forth across the channel. When I return in the autumn, I would bring my wife and my son with me to show England my queen and my heir. I hope the sight of them will help prevent trouble. I want you to return to Normandy with me. No one is to know that Alienor and William will come to England when I return. This is a secret that you must keep, for it is you I have chosen to escort my wife and son."

"Me?" Ranulf was astounded. "My lord, should not this great honor go to a great lord? I am naught but a simple knight with a small holding. No matter Ashlin’s strategic location, I am still not an important man, and you already have my pledge of loyalty, my liege."

The bright gray eyes looked directly at Ranulf. "It is precisely for the reasons you think yourself unworthy for this task that I chose you, Ranulf de Glandeville. I want the queen and my son brought quietly to England without any fanfare. A great lord could not do that. A great lord might consider that by holding my wife and my son in their charge, that they would have power over me. I will not allow that to happen, and it will not with you. You are an honest man. I know that I can trust you, Ranulf de Glandeville. The queen must appear by my side. Once she and my son are here, I can protect them. It is the journey that is dangerous. You will travel in my train of knights when I return to Normandy in a few days' time. You will be one knight among many, and no one will think anything of it except that you are making your peace with me now that King Stephen is so obviously failing." Then the duke saw the stricken look upon Ranulf’s face. "What is it, my lord?" he asked, concerned.