Almodis by Tracey Warr Read Free Book Online Page B

twin sisters sadly parted is excellent fodder for poetry.’
    ‘Forgive me, my Lady,’ Dia says, putting aside her tablet and stylus and standing to give me a formal curtsey. ‘I am remiss. Iam honoured to meet you. Count Ramon has told me about your great learning and love of poetry.’
    I blush at that. ‘Great learning seems some flattery, Count,’ I say to Ramon, ‘but yes, love of books and poetry I will admit to. So I am pleased to meet you, Dia. You are the first female troubadour I have met!’
    ‘We female troubadours are called trobairitz , my Lady. I am from Andalucia where there are many trobairitz and troubadours.’
    ‘Will you let us hear some of your work?’
    Dia places the harp on her lap. It is a golden boat-shaped instrument with a long handle bending back towards the body of the harp like a crook. She begins her razo, her introductory summary of the songs she will sing. ‘Troubadour means finder and inventor,’ she says in a melodious voice, strumming the harp. ‘How much I have found and how much I have invented I must leave you to decide.’
    It greatly pleases me
    When people say that it’s unseemly
    For a lady to approach a man she likes
    And hold him deep in conversation
    And whoever says that isn’t very bright …’
    I raise my eyebrows.
    ‘She’s warming up,’ Ramon says.
    Dia clears her throat and sings a beautiful lay about my Aunt Emma kidnapped by Vikings, and than another about my grandmother Adalmode.
    ‘Are all your songs of women?’ I ask her.
    ‘Many are,’ says Dia. ‘I have songs about Brunhilde; Hildegarde, wife of Charlemagne; and the Empress Judith.’
    I am delighted with Dia’s songs and with Dia herself. Ramon looks pleased with the encounter. ‘Fetch my book, Bernadette,’ I order. Bernadette opens a chest and draws out the heavy book wrapped in sacking. She carries it over to a small table underneath the light from a window slit and unwraps it. We step up to the table to look at the Adhémar de Chabannes book together. The thick wooden boards of its cover are decorated with silver plateand encrusted with coloured jewels. I turn the pages slowly and carefully.
    After a while Dia exchanges a glance with Ramon and asks, ‘May I sing you one more story of a great lady?’
    ‘Yes please do.’
    We resume our seats and Dia sings about Ramon’s grandmother , Ermessende of Carcassonne. She is acknowledged by all men of Catalonia and Occitania as a strong and just ruler, laying the foundations for the might of Barcelona today.
    ‘I have a rotulus , a scroll of my poems I would like to present to you as a gift if it pleases you, Lady Almodis,’ says Dia.
    I say that I will be more than pleased to receive such a gift.
    ‘Perhaps your maid could accompany me to my chamber and bring it back to you as I must take my leave now? The Count of Toulouse has asked me to sing at the feast today.’
    ‘Yes, go with Mistress Dia, Bernadette. I am grateful for your gift and for your songs.’
    Bernadette rises to follow Dia out of the room, but hesitates on the threshold when she sees that Ramon has not risen from his seat. She looks questioningly at me.
    ‘Don’t dither Bernadette!’ I say firmly. ‘You will lose Mistress Dia and then lose your way in the maze of passageways.’
     
    Now Raingarde’s maid, Carlotta, is sitting in the corner of our chamber with a worried face, twisting her hands around and around in her apron, as I have just announced to my sister that I have a tremendous secret to tell her. Carlotta is just a simple country girl. Bernadette on the other hand is perched on the bed with us, hanging on our every word. Bernadette had left me alone with Count Ramon for half an hour or so whilst she went to fetch the scroll of poems from Dia.
    ‘You should have asked father or Audebert to be here, Almodis ,’ Raingarde is telling me. ‘You shouldn’t receive strangers alone like that.’
    I carry on with my story. ‘He is that tall, young,