Wednesday, 14 April 2010
No Sanctuary!
In a tale of intrigue, treachery, adventure and romance, great nobles play for a kingdom and their powerful ambitions control the destinies of young knights like the Yorkist Robert Claverdon and Mark Seymour of Lancaster.
Women prove to be as strong and resourceful as men in a man's world. Soldiers, priests and peasants all have their part to play in a story which begins with intrigue and ends with murder.
Despite the perils into which he has been plunged, Robert Claverdon still manages to become involved with two women. One is the young peasant girl Wena, who tends him after he has been wounded during the Battle of Tewkesbury; the other is the lady Anne Seymour, sister of Mark.
He is much attracted to both of them. How will he resolve his dilemma?
However, it is the shrewd and somewhat enigmatic Richard of Gloucester, who will ultimately decide his fate.
EXTRACTS:
'It was late on a cold April afternoon. A sudden, sharp breeze rippled across a small field near the market town of Barnet. Many men lay upon that field, stiff in the coldness of death. The year was 1471 and a great battle had been fought. Cut down by the indiscriminate scythe of Nature's cull, once sprightly youths now lay alongside the grizzled veterans of several campaigns. For them all quarrels were now over. Enemies no longer, they reposed now in a new eternal comradeship.
Robert Claverdon led his horse carefully and reverently among the fallen figures, pausing only to wave away small groups of scavenging peasants that fed on the corpses.These carrion followed armies and scented death and profit like the wheeling crows above. It was a gloomy day for such work, but it well suited their grisly purpose.'
'"Sir, what means this? You would not take these men from the arms of Mother Church, from whom they have claimed sanctuary. That is blasphemy!" The abbot was not abashed at the fact it was to the king that he now spoke. He knew that the game was finished and that the best he could hope for was to mitigate in some way the fate of those captured here in his church. To do more would bring the walls crashing about his ears. The queen, he decided would have to manage as best she could.
Slowly the king looked at the abbot as he would any intruder upon his thoughts. "There is no sanctuary for traitors"'
'"Are you cold, Master Robert?" Wena pulled at the covering.
"No, I am very comfortable, Wena. " In fact Robert was finding himself growing warmer, but not so much due to the covering as to the proximity of this young girl. He had a sudden, wild temptation to hold her a pull her close to him, but he held back, afraid of her reaction.
"I am cold. That is why I came close to you. You don't mind, do you, Robert?" Wena asked the question in an innocent manner, yet, at the same time, her tone conveyed something more.
"No," he replied, " I like you being close to me." To emphasize the point, Robert plucked up courage and pulled her even closer.
For a while, neither of them spoke and the silence was loud. Wena was the first to break it.
"Do you really think me to fair?"
"Yes, I do," Robert whispered hoarsely.'
'That he was attracted to this tall, elegant and very beautiful woman was true, but dare he reveal so much to her? " I had already thought that we were friends," he said gently.
"Will your travels ever bring you to Fairfield?"
"I should very much like to think so." As soon as he had said it, he wished he hadn't, for it sounded like a betrayal of Wena. Yet he could not help himself.
"I am glad, Robert, for I too should like to think so."
Robert took a step towards then hesitated. Anne Seymour held out her hand and, instinctively, Robert took it and pressed it to his lips. Their eyes met and both knew that to meet again was inevitable.'
Women prove to be as strong and resourceful as men in a man's world. Soldiers, priests and peasants all have their part to play in a story which begins with intrigue and ends with murder.
Despite the perils into which he has been plunged, Robert Claverdon still manages to become involved with two women. One is the young peasant girl Wena, who tends him after he has been wounded during the Battle of Tewkesbury; the other is the lady Anne Seymour, sister of Mark.
He is much attracted to both of them. How will he resolve his dilemma?
However, it is the shrewd and somewhat enigmatic Richard of Gloucester, who will ultimately decide his fate.
EXTRACTS:
'It was late on a cold April afternoon. A sudden, sharp breeze rippled across a small field near the market town of Barnet. Many men lay upon that field, stiff in the coldness of death. The year was 1471 and a great battle had been fought. Cut down by the indiscriminate scythe of Nature's cull, once sprightly youths now lay alongside the grizzled veterans of several campaigns. For them all quarrels were now over. Enemies no longer, they reposed now in a new eternal comradeship.
Robert Claverdon led his horse carefully and reverently among the fallen figures, pausing only to wave away small groups of scavenging peasants that fed on the corpses.These carrion followed armies and scented death and profit like the wheeling crows above. It was a gloomy day for such work, but it well suited their grisly purpose.'
'"Sir, what means this? You would not take these men from the arms of Mother Church, from whom they have claimed sanctuary. That is blasphemy!" The abbot was not abashed at the fact it was to the king that he now spoke. He knew that the game was finished and that the best he could hope for was to mitigate in some way the fate of those captured here in his church. To do more would bring the walls crashing about his ears. The queen, he decided would have to manage as best she could.
Slowly the king looked at the abbot as he would any intruder upon his thoughts. "There is no sanctuary for traitors"'
'"Are you cold, Master Robert?" Wena pulled at the covering.
"No, I am very comfortable, Wena. " In fact Robert was finding himself growing warmer, but not so much due to the covering as to the proximity of this young girl. He had a sudden, wild temptation to hold her a pull her close to him, but he held back, afraid of her reaction.
"I am cold. That is why I came close to you. You don't mind, do you, Robert?" Wena asked the question in an innocent manner, yet, at the same time, her tone conveyed something more.
"No," he replied, " I like you being close to me." To emphasize the point, Robert plucked up courage and pulled her even closer.
For a while, neither of them spoke and the silence was loud. Wena was the first to break it.
"Do you really think me to fair?"
"Yes, I do," Robert whispered hoarsely.'
'That he was attracted to this tall, elegant and very beautiful woman was true, but dare he reveal so much to her? " I had already thought that we were friends," he said gently.
"Will your travels ever bring you to Fairfield?"
"I should very much like to think so." As soon as he had said it, he wished he hadn't, for it sounded like a betrayal of Wena. Yet he could not help himself.
"I am glad, Robert, for I too should like to think so."
Robert took a step towards then hesitated. Anne Seymour held out her hand and, instinctively, Robert took it and pressed it to his lips. Their eyes met and both knew that to meet again was inevitable.'
White Rose
The House of York is in the ascendant - but for how long?
Troubles continue to haunt the land and Robert Claverdon, a Yorkist knight, is once again drawn into the dangerous world of intrigue and conspiracy.
Treachery and murder dog his steps in service to the White Rose. Will he survive to pursue his own dreams? Yet even his dreams pose questions he would rather avoid, for both the peasant lass, Wena, and Anne Seymour have been much in his thoughts while up north serving Duke Richard.
A chance to see them again is presented to Robert Claverdon, when he is summoned by the duke to take command of a punitive force to root out a band of renegades which has been ravaging the countryside around Fairfield - Anne Seymour's home. Yet all he will meet is tragedy.
Troubles continue to haunt the land and Robert Claverdon, a Yorkist knight, is once again drawn into the dangerous world of intrigue and conspiracy.
Treachery and murder dog his steps in service to the White Rose. Will he survive to pursue his own dreams? Yet even his dreams pose questions he would rather avoid, for both the peasant lass, Wena, and Anne Seymour have been much in his thoughts while up north serving Duke Richard.
A chance to see them again is presented to Robert Claverdon, when he is summoned by the duke to take command of a punitive force to root out a band of renegades which has been ravaging the countryside around Fairfield - Anne Seymour's home. Yet all he will meet is tragedy.
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