Page 32 of King’s Knight

“Nay, I am well able to dress myself, Nelda.” Merewyn’s voice was full of the excitement welling up inside. “I plan to join the hunt so ’tis an archer’s clothing I will be wearing today.” Then with a smile, she added, “No laces.”

Nelda returned her a surprised look and then, bobbing her head, splashed water on her face, slipped her simple tunic over her undertunic and left the chamber.

It took Merewyn only moments to dress and plait her hair she was so anxious to take part. Grabbing her bow and arrows and her brown felt hat, she quickly descended the stairs and crossed the entry into the main chamber. The men were seated at the table and, as Nelda predicted, eating their morning gruel, bread and berries. Cups of ale dotted the table.

Alex looked up and scowled, his hand poised with a piece of bread in front of his open mouth. “Where do you think you are going dressed like that?”

Rory coughed and sputtered, his gruel flying out of his mouth.

Guy beamed at her. At least he was pleased.

Merewyn’s gaze quickly took in the two older knights. Both Earl Renaud and Sir Geoffroi bore amused expressions.

In a fit of temper, Alex threw his bread on the table.

“I want to join the hunt,” she calmly stated. “I have my bow and arrows and Ceinder can soon be saddled and ready.”

Pounding his fist on the table, making the cups jump, Alex bellowed, “Absolutely not!”

His father raised a brow and cocked his head toward his son.

“I think ’tis a grand idea,” said Guy.

“We know she can shoot well,” chimed in Rory, wiping his face with a cloth.

“And I have you to protect me,” she said to Alex, batting her eyelashes, “should I face a wild boar.”

Sir Geoffroi laughed. “Emma would be proud.”

From behind Merewyn, the voice of Lady Serena brought the discussion to an abrupt close. “Let her go with you,” she said to her son. “Ren and Geoff will look after her. And Rory has the right of it. Merewyn can shoot well. You have witnessed her skill yourself. It might prove entertaining to see her outshoot the Norman king’s men.”

Alex turned to his father as if seeking support, but Talisand’s lord remained silent in the face of his wife’s approval.

“I like it not,” said Alex, “but I can see I am outnumbered.”

In a typical hunt, the men raced their horses after the hounds and, when they had cornered a deer, dropped to the ground to render the killing blow. But she could shoot from her pony, which gave her an advantage. Merewyn could hardly wait to see how she fared against the king and his barons.

Lady Serena draped her arm around Merewyn’s shoulders. Having the support of the Lady of Talisand meant much. Alex might not like it, but Merewyn would go with them.

“I will wear my cap,” she said to Alex holding up the brown felt, “so everyone will think me your page.”

Alex let out a huff. “Indeed, that is just what I feared.”

* * *

Alex held his breath as they approached Windsor Forest, hoping no one would remark on Merewyn’s presence. Perchance he could keep her hidden among the others as they hunted in the thousands of acres set aside for the king.

Already, a group of more than a dozen men had gathered for the hunt, waiting beneath the tall beech trees that stood guard at the entrance to the dense woods.

Like his father before him, William Rufus was an avid hunter. Alex had hunted many times with him in the New Forest that the Conqueror had created southwest of London at the expense of nearly two score villages. It was close enough to Westminster for the king to spend a day away from court pursuing the beasts of the chase, the hart—the red deer stag he loved—and the wild boar. But most often, the king hunted in Windsor Forest because it was closer to London.

Only the king and his friends were permitted to hunt in the royal forests. Harsher than his father, William Rufus showed no mercy to anyone caught hunting without his permission. A man found taking one of the deer would be sentenced to death. To shoot at a deer would lose a man his hands and disturbing a deer would cost a man his eyes.

Alex considered the penalties cruel. The nobles complained about them and the poor cried foul, but the king remained unmoved, caring little about the ill will his harsh punishments brought him. The church also loathed the harsh forest laws and frowned on hunting for sport, but William Rufus gave little thought to the clerics’ protests.

Alex and his father had discussed the forest laws, glad no royal forest had been declared a part of Talisand’s lands.

His mother was quick to tell him the Anglo-Saxon kings had allowed the people to hunt freely. She argued it was beneath a king to care so little for his people and so much for his own pleasure that he would maim and kill those who hunted merely to feed their families.