lurked among the fun and frivolities scheduled for the day.
Trenches, recently erected wooden picket fences, and lines of determined pikemen kept
the commoners at a respectful distance from the tents and horse lines of the nobles and
knights—numbering some seven thousand if all their retainers were counted. The tents, with
their gaily flapping pennants, flags and ribbons, stretched over almost fifteen acres of
meadowland. Horse lines divided the grouped tents of households and loyalties—double lines of
snorting, stamping, rolling-eyed destriers, kicking at their grooms as one means of tempering
their impatience for the battles ahead.
Almost precisely between the tent city of the nobles and their retainers and the thronging
horde of onlookers and merchants lay the tourneying field. It covered almost four acres: the
green-grassed tourney field itself, flanked on two sides by the three-storey timber stands for the
wives and families of nobles; and spaces for the common crowd at either end and in a narrow,
fenced area directly before the stands. Pennants and ribbons fluttered here as they did among the
tents, while jugglers, sword dancers and musicians with lutes, harps and bagpipes wandered up
and down the jousting lanes of the tourney field, entertaining the gathering crowds until the fun
and bloodshed should get under way in earnest.
By midday the spectators had gathered tight about the timber stands which were packed
with the families of the combatants. Jingling and clanking from the tents and horse lines
suggested that both men and beasts were readying themselves for the fray, and a murmuring rose from the crowds.
Just as the restlessness edged towards the potentially uncontrollable, a shout went up, and
the crowds roared as one (even if most had no idea what was going on). Two columns of richly
attired and liveried horsemen rode onto the field, an escort for a horse litter of unparalleled
magnificence.
―The queen!‖ the shout went up. ―The queen! Hurrah for Mary, sweet Mary!‖
Neville, riding his skittering stallion close to Mary‘s litter, leaned down and grabbed a
handful of the rich silky stuff that made up the hangings.
―With your permission, madam,‖ he said.
―Of course, my lord,‖ Mary‘s voice said. ―I would show them my gratefulness.‖
Neville grasped the hanging more tightly, then lifted it and threw the material across the
top of the litter, nodding to his squire, Robert Courtenay, who rode as escort on the other side, to
do the same. Within moments both men had exposed Mary and her waiting women inside the
litter to the full view of the crowds, and the roar rose to a thunder as Mary leaned forward and
waved to the gathered people, smiling sweetly. She looked thin and pale, but her thinness and
pallor was counterbalanced by her patent merriness and joy at the reception of the commons.
The thunder, if possible, grew louder, and people waved hats and scarves above their
heads, acknowledging their queen.
But within the litter, Margaret saw how Mary‘s hand trembled, and how her lips pressed
too tightly together.
―Madam,‖ she murmured, leaning close, ―do not tire yourself.‖
Mary continued waving. ―I cannot disappoint them,‖ she said. ―A little ache here and
there is a small enough price.‖
Margaret‘s eyes narrowed. Mary was suffering more than a ―little ache here and there‖.
When Margaret had aided Mary in her morning ablutions, and helped her to dress, she‘d noted
with concern how the queen had winced and, on several occasions, bit her lip to keep from
crying out. And when she‘d brought Mary her bowl of bread sops, Mary had hardly been able to
swallow more than five mouthfuls.
If nothing else, Mary was likely to faint from hunger, if not her pain, within ten minutes.
Carefully, and as surreptitiously as she could, Margaret moved close enough to Mary to
pack in some more supporting cushions about her back and hips.
―I do thank you,‖ Mary whispered as she continued to smile and wave, and the sheer
gratefulness in her tone brought tears to Margaret‘s eyes.
―When we are settled in the stand,‖ Margaret said quietly, ―I shall give you a few drops
of Doctor Culpeper‘s liquor which I have in my waist pouch. It will deaden some of the pain.‖
Margaret saw that Mary was about to object, and hastened on: ―You shall be of no use to
anyone if you cry out and faint from pain and weakness, my lady. A few drops will ease the pain,
but allow you to remain alert.‖
To Margaret‘s relief, Mary nodded slightly, and Margaret looked to see Thomas
watching, and she inclined her head and watched the relief spread over his face as well.
The acclaim of the crowds only grew louder when the litter drew to a halt before the
grandstand at the head of the field. Thomas Neville jumped down from his horse, and bowed
before Mary in the litter. She nodded, and he leaned forward and gathered her into his arms,
gently adjusting her weight so that he did not jolt her.
―There are ten thousand men here today who would give their lives for you,‖ he
whispered.
―I do not deserve their—‖
―You deserve the reverence of the sun and that of the moon as well, my lady,‖ he said.
―That of ten thousand men is the very least of what you are owed.‖
And with that he strode to the stand, climbing the stairs to the royal box and resting his
queen gently onto the pile of cushions waiting there for her.
Margaret and the three other accompanying ladies moved to their places behind and
about Mary as Neville bowed deeply one more time and took his leave with a smile.
At the bottom of the stand he spoke softly and urgently to Courtenay, his eyes jerking
over the crowd as he spoke. ―Robert, I do not like the feel of this day. Bolingbroke was a damned
fool to organise this tournament in the first instance, let alone when rumours of Richard are
feeding more fires than all the chopped wood in England.‖
Courtenay nodded, his own gaze wandering over the crowd. The majority of kings in the
past hundred years had banned tournaments, not only because the violence of the tourney field
tended to get out of control and spill into the crowds, but because very few kings liked being
surrounded with the private armies of the nobles.
Times like these, ambitious nobles tended to get ideas.
―At the least,‖ Courtenay replied, ―Hotspur is not here.‖
Neville grunted. Hotspur, once the close friend of both Neville and Bolingbroke, was still
lurking in the north, ―attending‖, as he communicated to Bolingbroke in the occasional letter, to
the Scots.
He had yet to offer his allegiance to Bolingbroke, and Neville did not think he ever
would; not with Hotspur‘s ambitions, and not with the army he could raise in the north whenever
he needed. If Bolingbroke ever wanted to leave England to fight for France, he was going to
have to ―attend‖ to Hotspur first.
―If Hotspur and his army had been here, Bolingbroke would most certainly never have
consented to the tournament,‖ Neville said, then managed a tight grin. ―Damn Hotspur. Why is
he never here when we need him?‖
A movement to the side caught both men‘s eyes. Men with horns had moved into ranks
either side of the field.
―Bolingbroke is about to arrive,‖ Neville said. ―Robert, I would be better to spend my
time moving among the combatants than here. At least for the time being. Will you—‖
―No need to voice the command, my lord. I will guard Mary, the lady Margaret and the
other ladies with my life.‖
―Good. I will send a company of men to assist you. Robert—‖
―With my life, my lord!‖
Neville nodded, clapped a hand briefly on Courtenay‘s shoulder, then melted into the
crowds behind them.
Bolingbroke arrived in much greater splendour than his wife, but to no less acclaim. He
cantered onto the field atop a great, white dancing stallion caparisoned in crimson and emerald
green silks and tassels. Atop Bolingbroke‘s brow rested a glinting golden crown, resplendent
with gems, and about his shoulders hung a purple velvet cloak, trimmed with ermine. His tunic
and leggings were all of cloth of gold, richly embroidered and thickly crusted with pearls and
silver threads. His face was confident and joyous, and he stood in the stirrups, waving to the
crowd, and shouting to them his well-wishes and his love for them.
It was fine theatre.
At the head of the field Bolingbroke reined in his stallion, sinking back into the saddle.
He raised his glorious face, staring directly at Mary. As she nodded, he smiled, and bowed in the
saddle to her, making humble obeisance to his wife.
The crowd adored it.
―He should have been an actor on the stage,‖ Mary whispered to Margaret.
―He would not dare not to love you,‖ Margaret replied. ―Not here. Not now.‖
Mary gave a very small nod, then smiled the greater at her husband, now rising from his