Constance shook her head and gave a half-smile, hoping her sister could not read the shock in her expression. She sat back, her mind whirling and filled with memories of occasions she had put behind her. Unconsciously she raised a hand to her lips, then realised what she had done, lowered it quickly and looked at the boy on the ground.
Aelric. Brunwulf’s youngest son.
To call him a boy was unjust. He was young and couldn’t yet be described as a full-grown man, but he was older than Constance by a year or two. He did not resemble his father at all. His tangled hair was reddish-blond and flopped across angular cheeks that were barely graced with a downy beard. Whereas Brunwulf was burly, Aelric had long limbs that he had not grown to fit completely.
As long as she had lived in Hamestan he had been there as Lord De Coudray’s ward, though everyone knew ward was another word for prisoner, lodged within the manor grounds as a guarantee of his father’s obedience. And now his father had broken that peace in the worst way possible and the boy would suffer. He had vanished from Hamestan after the uprising had been quashed and Constance had hoped he would have been long gone.
One of the soldiers twisted an arm up behind the boy’s back to what looked like breaking point. He seized hold of him by the hair and wrenched his head back, causing the boy to let out a string of expletives, only some of which Constance knew.
‘Why are you here?’ Robert demanded. ‘I thought you had fled to save your neck.’
‘I came to save my father,’ the boy shouted. He winced and gave a gasp of pain through gritted teeth as the soldier twisted his arm higher.
‘You’re too late for that,’ Robert said coldly.
‘Then I will avenge his death and those of my brothers,’ Aelric snarled.
Constance glanced at the men swinging from the ropes and their father waiting in chains. Brunwulf stood, shoulders tense and expression stricken. Robert left the dais and walked to where the boy knelt in the mud. When he reached Aelric he leaned over, putting his face close to the boy’s.
‘And how do you propose to do that, Aelric, son of Brunwulf?’ Robert asked. His voice had taken on the cold, mocking tone that Constance had come to dread.
Aelric’s blue eyes bored into Robert, staring down the man twenty years his senior.
‘By killing you.’
Robert was silent. The crowd hushed in frozen expectation. Constance gripped Jeanne’s hand, waiting for Robert’s response. For him to strike the boy or run him through. Instead he did something unexpected, yet far crueller.
He laughed.
Aelric’s face reddened.
Robert waved a dismissive hand and turned away.
‘Hang him with his father.’
The soldiers seized hold of Aelric, who cried out and struggled as they dragged him towards his father. Constance’s stomach twisted as if someone had taken a stick and wound it through her guts, coiling it tight.
‘Please don’t!’
The words left her mouth before she could stop herself. She realised she had pushed herself to her feet.
‘What do you think you’re doing, girl?’ Robert rounded on Constance, his face knotted with fury far greater than he had shown to the condemned men or the boy. The blood in her veins turned to ice, but she could feel her face flushing. The eyes of everyone in the square were on her.
‘Set him free,’ Constance said.
‘Why should I do that?’ Robert demanded incredulously.
‘He’s so young,’ she said softly.
‘Should I wait until he’s older? I’m sure we can find a gaol for him until he’s managed to grow hair on his chest,’ Robert scoffed.
Aelric looked up and his eyes met Constance’s. The sick feeling returned.
‘He helped me once,’ Constance said, aware of the heat rising to her cheeks. ‘When my horse lost a shoe last winter.’
It had been a cold January day. Her horse slipped in the mud as she rode along the gritstone ridge. The half-familiar boy working in the fields under guard had left his position to take hold of the bridle. Speaking calm, unfamiliar words—to the animal or her she wasn’t sure—he’d held the animal still while she remounted. She’d thanked him, nervously trying out the Saxon tongue. He’d grinned at her attempt, but kindly, before returning to his companions. They had looked at her with the contempt she’d come to expect, but he glanced back and nodded before walking away.
She told her brother-in-law only part of that. Not that they had met again. Times met and deeds done that she must not think of for fear Robert would read the emotions on her face.
‘And because of that I should pardon his attempt to murder me today?’ Robert asked.
Vomit rose again in Constance’s throat. She had been nauseous for days with the anxiety of what today would bring. What attempt had it been really? Aelric could never have succeeded. Robert had been in no danger and he knew it.
‘Not my boy,’ Brunwulf begged.
‘Your boy was safe while you obeyed me,’ Robert mused. ‘Why should he live now?’
‘He took no part in the uprising. I saw to it he knew nothing of what we planned.’
Murmurs of agreement fluttered across the square. Brunwulf dropped to his knees in supplication.
‘If you spare him, I will swear loyalty to your King here and now. You can tell William you secured my allegiance before my death.’
Robert was going to refuse. Constance could tell from the set of his jaw. The thought of Aelric’s death was unbearable to her. Shaking Jeanne’s hand from her arm, she dropped to her knees, ignoring the stiffness in her ankle.
‘You’ve shown them you can be fierce. Now show them you can be merciful,’ she pleaded. ‘There has been so much death today.’
The murmurs grew louder and angrier. Robert’s face was scarlet with fury.
‘Very well,’ he snapped. ‘He lives.’
Aelric was hauled to the foot of the gallows. The bodies were cut down and Brunwulf was dragged forward. Though his chains weighed him down he climbed the ladder unaided and stared straight ahead as the noose was passed over his head. He gave his oath of loyalty as he had promised. He cast a look at his son that spoke of so much affection that tears welled in Constance’s eyes. Then he went, face serene, to his death.
Many watching wept, Constance among them. Aelric remained dry eyed.
‘And now to deal with you. I said you’d live. I made no other promises,’ Robert said to Aelric. He turned to the guards. ‘Secure him to the scaffold. Ten lashes.’
Aelric was bound, hands high, to the frame where his father’s body hung. Constance turned to Jeanne in horror, but her sister’s eyes were blank.
‘Be silent,’ Jeanne hissed, ‘unless you want Robert to suspect the boy means more than you claim.’
The tunic was cut away, leaving Aelric’s back exposed. As the first blow struck his scream of pain tore through the marketplace. He was ready for the second and made no sound, but by the sixth his cries with each blow came as weak, throaty sobs. Constance bunched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. Only later would she notice the half-moons of blood she had raised to the surface. When the tenth stroke was done Robert strolled to where his captive sagged.
‘I have no need to keep you here any longer. Tomorrow you’ll be sent to Chester where Earl Gerbod can find a use for you in the fields or salt works.’
Robert drew a dagger, grabbed hold of Aelric’s left ear, twisting his head back.
‘I’ll