William left them standing there and went out of the arched doorway, immediately aware of his brother Robert leaning against the wall. ‘Have you been listening?’
‘I have,’ Robert replied. ‘You said I have much to learn, so I am doing that.’
‘And?’
‘What you said in there, as regards Aversa, might not hold for ever.’
‘Not much does hold for ever in this part of the world, Robert. If you wish to learn, learn that!’
‘I have no idea how to style you,’ said Henry, as William gave him half a bow. ‘I am not yet minded to greet you with the title Prince Guaimar granted to you.’
There were many courteous ways this emperor could have greeted him. In choosing those words he had deliberately sought to diminish William, and not being prepared to accept that, his response was brusque.
‘Then we share a dilemma, sire. Given what you have said, my suzerain is not you, it is the Duke of Normandy.’
That had the emperor looking at those around him, his own courtiers, all military men by their bearing, as well as the armed Swabian guards present, with raised eyebrows, as if he was shocked. ‘Conrad told me, when he returned to Germany many years ago, you de Hautevilles were a proud lot. Too proud perhaps.’
‘No more so, I suspect, than was he. I think it necessary in a warrior to be that.’
There was a definite prod in that: Conrad Augustus had proved himself in battle; this Henry was yet to do so and William knew by the emperor’s piqued expression he had struck home.
‘The question is, William de Hauteville, is what am I to do about you?’
‘Are you asking me to advise you?’
‘No!’
‘Then I am at a loss to know how to respond.’
Henry waved an arm towards his Swabian guards. ‘You get above yourself. I am the elected head of the Holy Roman Empire and I am unaccustomed to being so addressed by a mere mercenary.’
‘Something more than that now, I think.’
‘You are nothing, William de Hauteville, so much so that one word from me and these men who guard my honour will cut you down.’
That really got under William’s skin, and his reply was a hiss. ‘If they do you will never see Germany again.’
The emperor’s response was a bark. ‘You threaten me?’ When William gave him that knowing, superior smile it was just as effective on him. ‘Do not smirk in my presence. Do you not know to whom you speak?’
‘As of this moment, you are a young man who is not even beginning to achieve that which you set out to do, which is to get me to beg on my own behalf, and that of my family, that the titles we have been given should be confirmed. You wish me to plead. If any of these men who advise you have the courage to voice the truth, they will tell you I have no need to do so.’
‘And if I declare you an enemy?’
‘That is your right, yet I have taken nothing from you. Everything I have was once the property of Byzantium. I can, however, give you Apulia, by acknowledging you as my imperial suzerain.’
‘And Guaimar of Salerno, what of him?’
‘He is already your vassal, do with him what you will.’
‘Am I to take it you will not support him?’
‘You could have asked me that at the start of this conversation, so now I will answer the questions you should have posed, the ones which concern you, to which I would have responded with the truth.’
‘I think I must judge whether someone is being truthful.’
‘Then take it as you will. I owe Guaimar nothing, even if I am wed to his sister, and I will not pledge the men I lead to any enterprise you fear he may have in mind. I will not, either, combine with Rainulf Drengot and the lances he leads on any imperial fief.’
‘Easily said, and just as easily denied.’
‘Then listen to this. Neither will I stand aside, and nor will my family, if he is threatened. It is not for the love of Rainulf but because I will not see my fellow Normans put to the sword, and I have good grounds to feel they would treat me likewise. Understand that if you threaten one of us you threaten us all. Now that you know my mind, you may make up your own, and I will await whatever your pleasure is.’
William spun round and walked out, without bowing, leaving behind him a buzz of angry talk, not least from an emperor screaming that he would ‘not be treated in such a manner’.
‘That’s no way to address an emperor,’ said Drogo, quietly, once William had apprised his brothers of the results of his discussion. By the expressions on most faces, they agreed with him.
‘I think those he looks to for advice told him one thing, and I enlightened him.’
Mauger responded to that. ‘Which is all very well if he believed you.’
‘It makes no difference if he did or not,’ boomed Robert, in a carrying voice that had his siblings gesturing to him for hush, given that, gathered in the open-arched and stone-walled antechamber, they could be overheard if they spoke too loud. Robert’s response was a dismissive glare. ‘Unless he is prepared to fight for his pride, he must swallow what you give him.’
‘You know nothing,’ Drogo growled.
‘I know power when I see it,’ Robert replied, ‘just as I can smell spoken shit.’
‘Your nose is too close to your arse,’ barked Drogo, who had come to actively dislike this bumptious younger brother.
‘The emperor is far from weak,’ Geoffrey insisted.
Robert scoffed at the same time as he glared at Drogo. ‘He is also far from Apulia and unless he is prepared to come to that place with an army-’
William interrupted. ‘Which he could do if we gave him cause.’
‘Bearding him might do that.’
Looking at Humphrey, who had voiced that concern, William was wondering if his gloomy brother might have a point. He had not intended to rile Henry, but he had found his imperious manner hard to stomach. Yet he was the elected emperor, and entitled to respect. Was that a sign of hubris? Was he becoming too used to authority to be guarded in his tone?
That thought evaporated as he realised the company he was in: his brothers would defer to him when they thought he was right, they did not fear, and never had feared, to tell each other they were wrong. As for Henry, if he wanted respect he should show some instead of talking to him like a lackey.
‘Are we in any danger here?’ asked Robert. ‘The emperor’s Swabians hold the castle gates.’
That was possible, though unlikely. If Henry wanted to, he could stage a sudden arrest and throw them into the dungeons of this very place, which William knew, having visited them when it belonged to Pandulf, to be deep. It was the kind of ruse the Wolf would have employed and he did seem to have, as Guaimar had implied, the emperor’s ear.
‘I thought I was the suspicious one,’ Humphrey scoffed.
William was less certain and he knew the imperial escort outnumbered his own, large as it was: they also had more in numbers than Rainulf and he combined.
‘Best be safe. Robert, go to the apartments of Rainulf and speak to his nephew, not him. Raise the possibility and tell them to be on their guard, and that we will stand with them if they are threatened. Mauger, go to the quarters where our men are billeted and tell them to sleep in their mail, with their swords at the ready.’
It was a restless night for them all, and at first light it was necessary for William to test his reactions when he first heard Berengara retching; having been raised in a home where the birth of a child was an annual event, he needed no telling what the sound portended. He also knew, much as the sound pleased him, there were many ways of getting rid of an unwanted pregnancy and he recalled her threats; she would have to be closely guarded from now on.
Around him the castle of Capua was stirring, the smell of fresh baking from the kitchens permeating the chambers, and since nothing had happened in the hours of darkness he stripped off his mail and upper clothing,
