Val was off-balance with her attack now. He hadn’t expected her to bring Vesper into the mix. In fact, he’d been doing admirably well– he hadn’t thought of Vesper in over two hours. Now, Margaretha was throwing the woman in his face, trying to weaken him. They were good tactics from a woman who was used to winning.
But not this time.
“I do not know,” he said honestly. “I suppose I shall seek a resolution to that situation when the time comes. Mother, nothing you can say will change my mind. So, before you and I start arguing and say hurtful things, I suggest you stop trying to talk me out of this. I am sorry you do not understand my sense of duty.”
Margaretha fell silent for a moment, but only for a moment. Her son’s words had wounded her. “I know your sense of duty all too well,” she said quietly. “Your father had the same sense of duty. Do you recall how I met your father?”
“I do. He served your father.”
Margaretha nodded. “Indeed, he did. Gavin de Nerra was an astonishing sight, Val. Tall and dark, he was beauty and power personified. He served Matilda’s husband, Geoffrey, as the Count of Anjou because he was a cousin to Geoffrey. The House of de Nerra is kin to the Counts of Anjou. Your father was gifted to my father in a treaty with the Saxon house of Byington to secure an alliance and that is how he came to serve here at Selborne. You know that you are related to the king, Val. He is your father’s cousin and yours as well.”
Val knew that. “How do you think I have been in favor all of these years?” he asked. “Of course, my sword has played a larger role in that but I received opportunities many did not because of my relationship to the king. I am well aware of it, Mother. You are telling me nothing I do not already know.”
Margaretha took a step towards him, her eyes riveted to him. “So Henry believes that because you are his family, that he can send you out to attack his enemy in Canterbury?” She was becoming emotional, which was very rare for her. “I lost your father to Henry. Gavin went to France to help Henry protect some of his properties against the French king and he was killed for it. You were there, Val; you held your father as he died upon the field of battle.”
Val was becoming less and less patient with his mother. He didn’t want to relive that horrible day when his father, in the midst of trying to reclaim a very minor castle in France, was hit in the neck with an arrow. Val watched his father die and it was something he didn’t like to be reminded about.
“Aye, I was there,” he said.
“I will not lose my son to Henry as well!”
Val had to stop her before she became completely irrational about the situation. “Your husband was a knight and so is your son. You cannot dictate our duties, Mother. I am fulfilling anorder from the king just as my father was. And you know that Papa would agree with me.”
Margaretha stared at him a moment before backing down, perhaps realizing that she’d reached a dead end. Or perhaps she realized that what her son said was true. Whatever the case, she was shaken and frightened by Henry’s orders. She didn’t want to lose her son but she was positive that would happen. It was tearing her up inside.
“So I am to lose my other love,” she murmured, turning away. “You and your father have the same sense of honor, the same sense of suicide. You do not think of yourselves first.”
Val could hear the tears in her voice and was coming to feel badly for her. He knew that he was all she had left.
“Mother,” he said quietly. “What is our family motto?”
Margaretha closed her eyes, tears stinging. “Ante mortem animo.”
Val nodded. “Courage before Death,” he whispered. “I can promise you that I will show much courage before death can catch up to me. It may be tomorrow or it may be in thirty years. Who is to say? But I want you to know something… I have a great deal to live for. There is a woman at Eynsford that I very much wish to marry and I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that I live long enough to do that. I do not like these orders, either, but they are from the king and I have no choice. But mark my words… I shall return. I will do my duty and I shall return.”
Margaretha believed that he believed he would. Whether or not he did… only God knew. Before she could reply, men began entering the solar and she knew her time with her son was ended. She had said what she wished to say and now it was in God’s hands. Val’s sense of duty was stronger than most, no matter how terrible the orders.
Without another word, she left the chamber as Val began to speak to his men. She could hear her son’s soft baritone as he began to explain a mission that most sane men would run from.I am to arrest the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Sane or not, no man in England had the courage her son had. Valor’s character was his namesake.
And he would have that innate sense of courage until the very end.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Four days later
Canterbury
The West GateInn was empty at this time of day, at least empty of the men Val was looking for. De Morville, FitzUrse, le Breton, and de Tracy were nowhere to be found and a particularly solicitous barmaid could only say she’d seen them earlier, returning to their rooms and then emerging again swathed in cloaks.
Although the weather was cold, there was no snow on the ground and Val wondered why they had returned to the inn for their cloaks. Men bearing mail and heavy tunics were often quite warm in these temperatures, so it seemed odd to him. It was nearing late afternoon and, soon, Vespers would be upon them at the cathedral, which meant Becket would be there to perform the mass. Val couldn’t really think of anywhere else the four knights would have gone so he and his men quit the inn, mounted their horses, and tore off in the direction of the cathedral.
Being that they were in the days approaching the Epiphany, a day that was celebrated as the Three King’s feast, there weremore people gathering near the cathedral than normal. Clusters of pilgrims swathed in wool against the cool temperatures were drawn to the warmth and light emitting from the cathedral like a moth to the flame.
The city of Canterbury was walled but so was the cathedral, with a fairly large barrier that was built around it and then inside, a vast open bailey with a cloister and the massive cathedral in the middle of it. It was an extraordinarily impressive monument to England’s veneration of God and even though Val had been here before, he was still impressed with the size and architecture of the cathedral and even the surrounding city. Canterbury was a very cosmopolitan city.
The faithful were gravitating towards the entrance to the cathedral but Val paused at what was called Christ’s Gate, a massive gatehouse which had a statue of a dove representing the Holy Spirit. This was the main entry, and he plus eighteen heavily-armed men made quite a conspicuous sight. Not wanting to create a massive uproar by charging into the grounds and terrifying everyone, he turned to Kenan, the only knight that had accompanied him.
