Free Knight's Honor by Roberta Gellis

himself—you understand?"
    "I understand well, Roger, thank you for the warning. But should I not approach him now to prove my good intentions?"
    "No. Join him when you are needed and make your bargain. He will hold to that much, but if you think that anything will influence Henry beyond that bargain, you are mistaken.   I know that one. Be you friend or foe, he will ever be a king first. I tell you that if I did not care for the well-doing of the land as a whole more than for my personal profit I would have none of him. There is more to be had out of Stephen. As a man I love Henry, and he me, I believe, but he would see me hanged or in hell for that matter, for a breach of his command as quickly as he would so treat his most ardent enemy."
    "But, Roger—" Elizabeth interjected.
    "Do not 'but, Roger' me," he said with sudden bitterness, turning on her. "He will bring us peace—peace to marry, and breed, and die. Do you think, Elizabeth, that I look forward with pleasure to rising from my wedding bed to make war, to knowing that even if you conceive a child of me it is like as not that I will lie cold in the field before I ever see it? As long as Stephen is our king, every man's hand will be set against every other's for a word of insult or a strip of land.”
    Chester bit his lip and drew breath to speak, but Hereford went on passionately.
    “Who is there to judge between the barons? Who can say them nay? I am no coward. I do not mind fighting for my right and my king or to protect my lands, but I wish to accomplish something. I do not wish to lay down my arms one night to have to pick them up in the morning to fight the same battle over again. I wish to be able to swear a clean oath with a clear mind, not to think of disgusting artifices to avoid doing my duty. It is my duty to fight for the king of this country, not to make rebellion against him. Do you think I am not sick inside when I think of what lies before me, and sicker when I remember what lies in the past."
    He shook free of the hold Chester had taken on him.
    "Let me be.” His voice choked. “Let me go and wash the filth from me, if I can. I can talk no more."

CHAPTER 3

    THREE DAYS HAD PASSED LAZILY. IT HAD BEGUN TO SNOW THE NIGHT Hereford had arrived, and, although Chester and his son-by-law-to-be had hunted the next day the sport was poor and dangerous. William Beauchamp's mount had fallen in a hidden hollow, throwing his rider and breaking his own foreleg. After Chester had put the poor horse out of his pain, they had followed and killed the stag they had wounded. Beyond they all agreed it was too dangerous to continue and returned to the relative warmth of the keep. Confined within, the gentlemen had idled away their days playing chess and gambling or drinking hot spiced wine and listening to Elizabeth sing and play the lute.
    The marriage contract had been signed, Elizabeth joining the discussion and arguing various points with such heat and success that the clerics who were writing the document and witnessing it had often stared at both men involved with blank amazement. Since Hereford and Chester seemed to take her behavior as a matter of course, as often deferring to her opinion as contesting it, they had made no comment, but when the contract was signed, the Bishop of Chester had read her a long sermon on her unmaidenly and unmannerly conduct. Whether this had an effect, which was unlikely as the bishop had been lecturing Elizabeth with no visible result for years, or some other matter preyed on her mind, neither Hereford nor Chester could decide. In any case, Elizabeth was very subdued and peace descended upon the house.
    Midmorning of the fourth day brought a half-frozen courier, the perspiration of exhaustion nearly congealed on his face, with letters sent on from Hereford Castle. Roger opened the bag and first extracted the note in the chaplain’s hand from Hereford’s mother. Laughing as he read, he passed it on to Chester, remarking that