“I watched your joust this morning,” Lord Marcus said. “If they all go like that, you will be the champion.”
Zander slid onto a bench across the table from Lord Marcus. “It is early yet, and there are other knights who will be harder to defeat than the one this morning.”
“Your words are humble, but I wonder if your pride truly is. After all, none of the others are known as The Devil’s Blade.”
Zander smiled vaguely at the appellation, although he hated it. Nor had his own comrades in arms stuck it on him. An enemy army had.
Lord Marcus called a page and had another tumbler brought. Zander accepted that he would not be returning to his camp for a while. When a powerful lord demands your attendance, only a fool denied him some time.
They drank and discussed the other jousts, with Lord Marcus sharing his opinions on the skills he had thus far observed. Zander let him talk while taking his measure. Like Yves, Lord Marcus was perhaps forty years in age. Still strong in a wiry way, and tall, he possessed an amiable countenance but shrewd eyes, and his hair showed some gray.
A pause finally came, and Zander began to leave. Lord Marcus made a quelling gesture. Zander sat back down.
“You serve Jean Fitzwarryn, I’m told. Do you have land from him?”
“Some.” Not much, but he had not been a household knight long, and it was generous in that light. More importantly, he had the chance to buy more with spoils from war or tournaments like this.
“Are you betrothed?”
Zander shook his head but did not show his surprise. A negotiation had just begun. A most unexpected one.
“My daughter Matilda is here, with my wife and me. She is over there,” he tilted his head to the right. “My wife is with her.”
Zander recognized the two of them, but in truth it was the mother who drew the eyes of men more than the daughter, who appeared young and timid.
“She looks much as her mother did at that age,” Lord Marcus said, almost in reassurance. “I married a pretty girl, but soon had a beautiful wife.”
“I assume a pretty dowry came with your pretty bride.” Zander almost kicked himself for playing this game. He did not want that girl. His reaction was inexplicable, however, and he knew it.
A good marriage could make a man’s fortune and change his life. Knights had to be very practical in finding a wife.
“A handsome dowry, and friendships I would have never had otherwise. That is the goal, is it not?” Lord Marcus leaned in and spoke more bluntly. “My daughter comes with 150 hectares that include a strong keep and productive farms. There is good hunting land there too. And, of course, a purse for her household. It is not far from my manor, and her husband will be welcomed in my home. We are well situated in Essex, and many lords visit. Marshall stays whenever he comes our way.”
“With such a dowry, you will have your pick of husbands. Lords equal to you will offer for her. Earls. Barons, at least.”
“That is how it should be. I face two problems, however. She is the youngest of four daughters, and the alliances forged in those other marriages makes finding any additional alliance difficult. I must consider not only my own preferences but also those of the families now bound to me through those marriages. There are few matches that won’t offend someone.” He smiled ruefully. “The world becomes very small very fast when you have four daughters.”
“Since it happens that way with kings, I expect it also does with earls. What is the second problem?”
“My wife indulges her, and the girl thinks she should have a say in it. I blame it on all those foolish troubadour songs. Well, why make the child unhappy if it can be avoided? So long as I approve of the man, that is.”
“Of course.”
“As it happens, at the moment she seems to want you.”
Zander just let that sit on the board between them for a while. “You should explain to your wife what you have learned about my fortune,” he finally said. “She will change your daughter’s mind quickly.”
“I wonder. My daughter thinks you are beautiful. The eyes of an angel, she said.” He chuckled. “Of course, she did not see the fires of hell in them when you fought that joust this morning, but she will fast learn not to ignite those flames to her misfortune.”
Zander swallowed a rash inclination to discourage any further talk of this. Fate had just placed all he ever dreamed of achieving right in front of him. One word, one smile, and Lord Marcus would introduce him to his wife and daughter, and it would be done.
All because a child found him angelic.
Still, he did not want to grab this so fast. Not only because the week was still young, and who knew what else might find its way to him. He wanted to make sure Lord Marcus knew what he was getting in this contract.
“If you have learned about me, you know that I fought with King Henry in France, and later went with King Richard on Crusade.”
Lord Marcus heard what was being broached. “I am loyal, if that is your question. However—“
It was all the howevers abroad in the land that were the problem.
“Being of Breton blood, your lord, Jean Fitzwarryn, sees a future with Arthur as king. I am less certain. If something happens to Richard before that boy grows into a man, the lords will turn elsewhere if Richard has not sired a child. It is inevitable. Even Marshall will throw his influence to John. I want to see peaceful transitions.
