Here Be Dragons - 1 by Sharon Penman (best ebook reader android TXT) 📗

did not want her. There was something shameful in her birth, so much so that her uncle had looked upon her with loathing."Joanna?" Lady Helweisa was standing by the window seat, smiling at her. "I do have wondrous news, child. You are to go to Normandy, to go to your lord father."Joanna's breath stopped. She could only stare up at the woman, too stricken for speech, for more than a whispered, "Please, no . . ." that none heard, or would have heeded.JOANNA'S fear of her father was soon eclipsed by the utter misery of her journey. Perched precariously behind Simon's saddle, she slowly overcame her panicked conviction that each dip in the road would jar loose her hold onSimon's belt, send her sprawling into the dirt, to be trampled by the horses of Simon's escort. But the jouncing soon raised blisters and welts upon her thighs and buttocks. As Simon was under orders to make haste, some days they covered thirty miles, and Joanna's muscles would be so cramped and sore that she could barely crawl into bed at night. Bed was generally no more than a scratchy woolen blanket, and on those nights when they could find no monastery or inn to take them in, they bedded down in the fields, Joanna huddling against Si-

mon in a futile search for warmth, for it was October now and the nights were chill.The days blurred, one into the next. They would be on the road at dawn, moving south through ghostly hamlets and silent villages, for plague and famine were abroad in the land. Simon's men kept swords loose in their scabbards, for all knew that in troubled times the roads abounded with highwaymen and brigands.Joanna's anxieties were more immediate; too shy to ask Simon to stop when she needed to relieve herself, she suffered agonies of discomfort, and once, the ultimate humiliation, as urine trickled down her legs, stained her skirt. Her world was taking on more and more the aspects of a terrifying dream, one that offered no escape.They reached London on the tenth day. Joanna had not thought there could be so many people in all of Christendom. The streets were never still. Heavy carts rumbled by; men led overladen pack animals; women rode sidesaddle and in horse litters; the activity never seemed to cease. Nor did the noise. She was glad when, after a night passed in a seedy Cheapside inn, Simon led her toward the wharves.The docks were crowded with vessels, large galleys manned by oarsmen, smaller esneques rigged with canvas sails. It was one of these that was to convey them across the Channel, and Joanna found herself squeezed into a dark, foul-smelling canvas tent already overflowing with pilgrims, merchants, and mercenaries. Joanna had never even seen the sea, and she became seasick almost at once. Most of the passengers were experiencing the same distress, and the fetid, airless tent soon became unbearable for all entombed within.It took several days to navigate the River Thames and turn south into theChannel. They reached the Seine estuary on the third day, began the slow passage upriver toward Rouen, not dropping anchor in the harbor until dusk on the following day. It was dark by the time they disembarked. Joanna had long since passed the limits of her endurance. She stumbled after Simon in a daze, clutching his hand as if it were her only lifeline. When he dragged her into a riverside alehouse, she simply sat down on the floor at his feet. Snatches of his conversation drifted to her. ". . . in Rouen for the wedding of his sisterJoanna, the Queen of Sicily, to the Count of Toulouse . . . bringing his baseborn daughter ..." Joanna at once was surrounded by strangers, suddenly the center of attention. She heard someone say, "He is at Le Vieille, at the castle." That was the last thing she remembered. There on the dirt floor of the tavern, she fell into an exhausted sleep.When she awakened, she found herself in a large, torchlit chamber, again encircled by strangers. The smoke from the hearth stung her eyes,

89ne rubbed them with the back of her hand, tried to focus on her surroundings."I suppose we must take your word that there is a child hidden underneath all that grime. Has she ever, in all her life, had a bath?"The voice was scornful, belonged to the most beautiful woman Joanna had ever seen, fair-skinned and flaxen-haired, a flesh-and-blood embodiment of ideal womanhood, as extolled in Clemence's bedtime chansons. But this bewitching creature was looking at her with such distaste that Joanna flushed, pressed back against Simon, who seemed no less flustered. He stammered something about the hardships of the road, and the woman laughed."I daresay you never even noticed how she looked. God knows, you're filthy enough yourself!"Joanna did not like this woman, not at all. "My mama gave me baths," she said, and was bewildered when those around her laughed.But then the door was opening, and two enormous dogs were rushing at her, barking furiously. They towered above Joanna; when one lunged at her, hot breath brushing her face, her nerves gave way and she began to scream, could not stop even after someone had lifted her to safety.Joanna's screams soon gave way to choked sobs. Her rescuer let her cry, having silenced the dogs with a one-word command. His tunic seemed wondrously soft to her, fragrant with orris root. She rubbed her cheek against it, felt his hand moving on her hair."Do you not like dogs, lass?" he asked, stirring an immediate, indignant denial."I love dogs! But they were so big ..." Peering down from his arms, she saw that the dogs were not quite so monstrous after all, were merely large, friendly wolfhounds. "I love dogs," she repeated. "But my mama would never let me have one."He laughed, and touched his finger to a smudge on her nose. "Well, you are a surprise package, if a rather bedraggled