Besieged and Betrothed

‘Wait until he wakes up.’

‘What?’ He frowned. ‘Why?’

A look of pain crossed the Constable’s face. ‘Just wait. It won’t be long, it never is now. Then you’ll understand.’

Wait! Lothar took a deep breath, tempted to tell Ulf exactly what he could do with that suggestion. The last thing he wanted to do was wait! He’d waited too long already, delayed his departure too many times. He’d almost left that morning, had only come back because he’d wanted to make peace with Lady Juliana. Now part of him wished that he’d left when he had the chance. This time he was well and truly trapped. No matter what he’d just told Ulf, he couldn’t leave now. The thought of abandoning Lady Juliana with Sir Guian had been bad enough, but William, too? Not just his friend, but his sick friend? How could he possibly leave now?

A fit of coughing drew him to the bed.

‘William?’ He leaned over, alarmed to see the vacant expression on the face looking up at him.

‘Who are you?’ The voice was frail and wavering, nothing at all like the one he remembered.

‘It’s Lothar. From the Empress’s court.’

‘The Empress?’ William’s green eyes, so strikingly like his daughter’s, darted wildly around the room as if he were searching for someone. ‘Where’s Ana?’

Ana? He felt a faint stirring of unease. He’d never heard William call his daughter by the short version of her name before.

‘Lady Juliana’s resting.’

‘Not her—my wife! Tell her to come to me.’ William closed his eyelids briefly, before opening them again with a fresh look of confusion. ‘Who are you?’

‘Lothar.’ He tried again. ‘I’ve been sent by the Empress.’

‘Who?’

‘Empress Matilda.’

‘But she’s a child! I thought she was in Francia. Why is she sending me a message?’

‘He means the King, my lord,’ Ulf interrupted hastily. ‘King Henry.’

‘Ah.’ William looked relieved. ‘Then what does the King want with me?’

‘He sends his greetings, my lord, and Sergeant Lothar here. Do you remember him?’

The old man’s face wrinkled in concentration. ‘There’s something familiar, but I don’t know the name.’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Lothar took a discreet step backwards. He had the feeling his presence was only making William more distressed. ‘We’ll talk later. You ought to rest now.’

‘I can’t. It hurts.’

‘My lady gives him some medicine for the pain.’ Ulf lowered his voice. ‘Will you allow it?’

‘Yes.’ This time he didn’t hesitate. ‘Do it.’

He didn’t stay to watch, moving away from the bed with a fresh sense of despair, as if he’d lost his old friend all over again. The last time he’d seen William had been just over a year ago. Now that he thought of it, there had been something odd about his behaviour then, as if he was missing some of his usual alertness, but he’d put it down to the strains of war.

‘Is he always like this?’ He waited for Ulf to join him in the doorway.

‘No. Sometimes he’s aware of everything, though that doesn’t happen often now. It’s not just his mind either. There’s some kind of sickness.’

‘Did he ride out to fight Stephen like this?’

‘Aye.’ Ulf shook his head regretfully. ‘Six months ago he still seemed to know what he was doing, but he was worse than we realised. My lady didn’t want him to go, but she couldn’t naysay him either. We’d no idea that he intended to charge off all on his own. It happened so fast that I couldn’t stop him. That’s why he was knocked down and captured. Lady Juliana blames herself.’

‘If he was captured, then how did he get back here?’