Dagobert climbed the sentry tower in that corner of the wall and Alienor could barely see him scanning the road far below.He climbed down and repeated his pacing time and again, the trail in the snow showing that he consistently reached the same spot.His expression was evidence enough that he did not find what he sought.She tended to Thierry, certain that she would learn more of Dagobert’s concern later, and, indeed, she had only to wait until the midday meal.
“’Tis the solstice on the morrow,” he announced at the board.
Iolande’s quick nod told Alienor that the older woman was not surprised.“Our Yule meal will be sparse, indeed.”Her tone was filled with the pessimism that had seemed to grow of late within the keep.
Eustache looked down the table at Dagobert and Alienor watched her husband’s lips thin to a taut line.What had gone amiss?He glanced up in that moment and must have noticed her curiosity, for he smiled and slipped one arm around her waist.He made a face at Thierry who chortled back at him.
“Alienor has already brought us the greatest gift this year,” he asserted gallantly, then lifted the boy from Alienor’s arms.He settled him into the crook of one arm and tickled his feet.Alienor smiled at her son’s delight, feeling the knot of tension pass.She could not help but note that Dagobert’s smile did not reach his eyes.
When he rose to pace the perimeter of the walls as had become his habit in the evening, Alienor passed Thierry to Iolande.She hurried in her husband’s wake, determined to know what was wrong.
“Stay warm,” he said when he saw her.
She shook her head, gathering herpelissontighter about herself.“I would know what disturbs you so.Of what import is the equinox?”
He regarded her silently for a moment.Finally, he sighed and smiled, offering his hand.They stepped over the threshold and crossed the bailey, leaving prints in the freshly fallen snow.They walked without speaking for a few minutes.Alienor tipped her head back, watching a few snowflakes meander down to them out of the indigo of the night sky.
“Aid was promised me by Yule,” Dagobert confessed softly.
Alienor looked to him in surprise.“From whence?”
He looked as if he dreaded her response.“Toulouse.”
“Toulouse?From Raimon de Toulouse?”
Dagobert nodded.“Aye, the same.”
“You put your trust in the man who so readily betrayed us?”
Dagobert shook his head.“Nay, Alienor, I put only my hope in his promise, for there was no other source of hope.”He pulled her into a hug in the middle of the bailey, tipping his head back in turn to look at the distant stars.“I always feared that ’twould be thus, but the others found encouragement in the prospect of assistance.And hope can give a man strength, even when all appears lost.”
“Could Raimon have been delayed?”she asked.“Or trapped behind the outer gate?”
“Possibly,” he acknowledged.“But my heart says nay.Either way, it does not matter so long as the barbican is held, for he could not reach us by the road.”
Alienor leaned her cheek against his chest and breathed deeply of Dagobert’s scent, finding his mere presence soothing.“What do we do?”she finally whispered, the way his arms tightened around her proof that he had anticipated her question.
“We may have to abandon Montsalvat,” he admitted.
Alienor could not begin to guess what just the thought cost him.This keep was Dagobert’s home and, though life in the fortress was not easy, she could understand his affection for the place.There was something marvelous about Montsalvat’s perch atop its mountain.It was high above the doings of other men as if it aspired to dwell in the heavens themselves.The air was always clean and crisp, and both the raging of the elements and cycle of the seasons seemed more closely bound to their lives.
“When?”she asked, and felt him shake his head.
“I do not know.”His tone was bleak and Alienor hugged him more tightly, wanting to do something to make this leave-taking easier for her spouse.
“Thierry should take his name at Bema,” she said.
Dagobert drew back to look down at her.“’Tis three months away, and they will be long ones with so little food.”
Alienor nodded with determination.“Aye, but I would see him take his name in your ancestral home before we leave.It would be right.”She looked up at him, watching the emotions war in his eyes before he touched one finger tentatively to her cheek.Even though he vowed to have laid aside his quest, she knew this ceremony would be important to him.
“It would mean much to me,” he said unsteadily, then shook his head as he whispered.“I do not know where we shall go, Alienor.I fear...”
Alienor reached up to silence him with a fingertip.She knew his concerns well enough.He feared that they would be hunted no matter how far they journeyed.He feared there would be no safe haven for them.He feared that he had failed her as well as his father.
But Alienor did not believe that.
She was resolved that they must celebrate this one ceremony before they departed into uncertainty, for Alienor had learned the full import of the formal naming their son.’Twas when Thierry took his name that he would be anointed the next of the line of kings.He would have to be a full knight to take the pledge to continue the fight as Dagobert had, but ’twas at his naming that the family would acknowledge him as the heir apparent.’Twas only fitting that the ceremony take place at Montsalvat, where similar ceremonies had taken place throughout the centuries.The vernal equinox, signifying the rebirth of the sun, was only three months away, and there could not be a more apt time.
