Child of the Phoenix

loyal servants. He would release the sheets after the last man and go back to a sodden boozy sleep. The jug of wine on the table was still full, and he had been promised it all.

The shadow had come round to the window. Ion climbed on to the inner sill and looked down. It took some manoeuvring, but at last he managed to kneel backwards on the sill and shuffled back, his hands firmly gripped on the sheets knotted around the stone mullion. He vanished from view, letting himself down hand over hand, his legs braced against the wall. In two agonising, endless minutes he reached the ground. He grinned up from the darkness and Gruffydd saw the pale blur of the man’s upturned face. Then Ion ran for the deeper shadows.

‘Me next.’ Gruffydd’s heart was pounding very fast.

‘Good luck, my friend. God speed.’ Emrys clapped him on the shoulder.

‘Good luck, father.’ Owain grinned at him and shook his hand, then he gave him a hug. ‘See you down there.’

They watched in breathless silence as Gruffydd hauled himself into the deep embrasure and edged his way towards the window, feet first. The gap was narrow and he felt it catch his hips. He wriggled hard, sweat breaking out all over him. Why had he let himself get so fat? He pushed again. Sweet Christ! He couldn’t do it. He would not fit. ‘Push!’ he gasped. ‘Push me.’

Emrys braced his hands against his prince’s shoulders and pushed hard, but Gruffydd did not budge. Desperately he wriggled back inside, his face covered in sweat, heavy with disappointment. Then Owain grabbed his arm. ‘Upstairs, on to the roof! The door isn’t locked, I’ve been up there! We can put the rope around the battlements.’ Already he was scrabbling with the knots which had pulled tight under Ion’s weight.

Gruffydd’s mouth was dry with fear and anger. He watched as Emrys pulled up the long rope of sheets, wondering what Ion was thinking as he stared up at the window. ‘Come on, man,’ Emrys urged, ‘we’ll have you down there in no time!’

‘Wait! Another sheet,’ Owain cried. ‘The rope won’t be long enough from the battlements.’

Gruffydd took a deep breath. ‘Lucky you remembered that, boy,’ he said with false joviality, slapping his son on the back.

The rooftop was silent, the leads ice-cold. Above London the night was frosted with a myriad stars. All three gazed upwards, then Emrys took the rope and began to knot it around one of the great stone merlons. He worked fast, his fingers tying the sheet again and again until he was sure the rope was secure. Then he leaned out through the embrasure. Christ, but it was high! He studied the shadows of the inner ward, listening intently, then at last he let the coils of the makeshift rope fall into the darkness. He made a thumbs-up sign to Gruffydd.

From somewhere in the dark Gruffydd heard the deep barking roar of a lion from the menagerie. It was a lonely, primeval sound and he shuddered. He climbed on to the embrasure and peered over, then he turned his back to the void and began to edge backwards on his knees, his hands gripping the knotted sheets. He could see nothing behind him, and he had no way of knowing if any of the guards were standing in the courtyard waiting for him. He had to trust to luck. He wriggled a little further, feeling his legs dangling disconcertingly into space, and he tried not to think of the drop as he pushed grimly on. The stones at the sides of the embrasure caught at him, grazing his hips. He wriggled harder.

And then he was through. His centre of gravity moved sharply outwards and for a moment he was hanging by his elbows. He closed his grip more firmly on the sheets and pushed himself over the edge. There was a sharp tearing sound and his heart stopped beating, but the sheets held and slowly hand over hand he began to edge his way down. The tendons in his shoulders cracked and the joints in his hands ached. Sharp sweat dripped into his eyes. There was another slight give in the makeshift rope and again his heart jumped frantically! Sweet Christ, he had nearly let go in fright.

Above him in the darkness the reef knot joining the second and third sheet strained and looped, and the ends began to pull free.

Not far, now, not far. Doggedly he let himself down, hand over hand. He saw the great bulk of the keep above him against the stars, the black spaces which were the windows like gaping mouths in the white-washed stone. He could not see the rope, but he felt it slip again and the sweat on his shoulders sheened over with ice.

Sweet Jesus, hold on. Please let it hold on. He was trying to hurry now, fumbling with his legs, but his muscles were weak and his whole body was screaming with protest at his weight.

When the sheets parted, he was still thirty feet from the ground.

V

GRACECHURCH STREET

Eleyne watched with increasing impatience as the grooms and servants loaded the last boxes into the wagons. It had taken all night to make the preparations, to pack, to load the wagons and saddle the horses. She had stifled the urge to jump on a horse and gallop northwards alone, to feel the wind sweeping her hair back from her face, the pull and thrust of the horse’s powerful leg muscles beneath her, carrying her on, but she waited. She stood as Rhonwen pinned her cloak around her shoulders and watched as Tam Lin was led towards her, his neck proudly arched, his caparison fluttering in the cold March wind. Now that they were setting off, she was afraid.

Hal Longshaft, her steward, stepped forward. ‘We’re ready, my lady.’ He was smiling. The whole household had caught her excitement.

‘Thank you, Hal.’ She took the horse’s rein.

She was already mounted when the troop of royal horsemen swept around the corner and down the narrow street, their hooves loud above the low rumble of early morning traffic.

The riders wheeled into the gates which had been opened wide for the departure of Eleyne’s household. The officer in charge dragged his horse to a rearing halt before her and saluted with a drawn sword.

‘Lady Chester. I have a warrant for your arrest!’

Eleyne stared at him in horror. ‘By whose order?’ she demanded numbly. She had gone cold all over. She was very conscious of Hal Longshaft and Rhonwen standing protectively near her. Tam Lin scraped impatiently at the ground with a foreleg and shook his head. Hal put his hand on the horse’s bridle and gentled him.

‘By order of the king.’

‘And what am I charged with?’

‘With aiding and abetting the attempted escape of a prisoner from his grace’s fortress of the Tower.’ The man stepped forward.

‘Gruffydd?’ She whispered his name under her breath.

If he heard the name he gave no sign. ‘You are to accompany me now to the Tower, my lady. Command your servants to return to the house. You will not be leaving London today.’

Stunned, she turned to her steward. ‘You must see to it, Hal,’ she said quietly.

‘Yes, my lady.’

‘My ladies will accompany me,’ she said to the officer, keeping her voice as firm as she could. She gestured to Rhonwen and Nesta to mount and then she kicked Tam Lin forward. To keep up with her, the man had to leap for his horse.

As they rode through the walls into the inner ward of the Tower there were knots of people everywhere, whispering: soldiers, servants and townspeople. Eleyne felt their eyes watching her, sensed they were whispering about her and suddenly she was filled with dread.

King Henry was waiting in the royal apartments in the White Tower.

‘So!’ He swung to face her as soon as she appeared. ‘Are you satisfied now? You always were a trouble-maker! I should have known you wouldn’t change! I should have remembered your capacity for creating mayhem.’ He swung round the table towards her in a swirl of scarlet and gold, and his attendants cringed back against the walls. ‘Well, madam, you have meddled for the last time!’ He thrust his head forward in a characteristic gesture of fury. ‘I listened to Alexander of Scotland when he begged me to allow you to live alone; I kept your husband by me at his request and kept him out of your way as he asked. But no more!’

Eleyne stared at him, trying to come to terms with what he was saying, but Henry swept on. ‘That is over! I am