Love Beyond Time by Flora Speer Read Free Book Online Page A

Hild-egarde isn’t much
larger and she has borne several male children, so perhaps this
girl will, too. All right, Savarec, if you will promise to come to
my aid with fighting men if I should need them, and swear never to
fight in any battle against me, then I will take your girl and get
my heir on her.”
    “I have promised Danise the choice shall be
hers,” Savarec said.
    “A foolish thing to do,” Autichar told him.
“Women don’t know what they want until a man shows them.”
    “Nor can I make promises to you that might
interfere with my first loyalty to Charles,” Savarec went on. “Any
agreement of mutual aid between us must be subject to Charles’s
approval first.”
    “Well spoken, my friend.” Charles, his uncle
and his companions now joined the group around his queen. He
towered above them all, his pale gold hair glinting in the May
sunshine, his blue wool cloak carelessly draped across his broad
shoulders. Autichar had to look upward more than a foot to meet
Charles’s eyes.
    One of Charles’s feet , Danise told
herself with some amusement, for the size of the royal extremities
had been used to determine the new official measurement of a foot .
    “Autichar,” Charles said in a deceptively
quiet voice, “I do not think I can approve of your suit for
Danise’s hand. You are too fond of my cousin, Duke Tassilo of
Bavaria. Your insistence that Savarec ought never to fight against
you makes me wonder what you and my cousin are planning.”
    There was an uneasy silence when Charles
stopped speaking. Years before, while Charles’s father, Pepin, was
still alive and king of the Franks, there had been a war in
Aquitaine. Duke Tassilo had taken his troops there to fight for
Pepin, as he was obliged to do, having pledged his loyalty to
Pepin. But before the battle was joined, Tassilo deliberately
quarreled with Pepin and then took his men and departed the field.
This herisliz , this act of treachery and desertion, was the
most serious crime a Frankish noble could commit. It was punishable
by death, though for family reasons neither Pepin nor, later, his
son Charles, demanded that ultimate penalty of Tassilo. As a result
of Tassilo’s actions in Aquitaine, relations between the Frankish
kings and their cousin the Duke of Bavaria had been strained for
years.
    “Last summer Tassilo sent troops for your
Spanish campaign,” Autichar reminded Charles.
    “Only a small contingent,” Charles replied,
smiling a little. “And Tassilo himself did not join me. Perhaps he
feared I would have him arrested.”
    “Are you accusing Tassilo and me of plotting
against you?” demanded Autichar.
    “Certainly not,” Charles said. “Not without
clear evidence. However, you and Tassilo are not only related to
each other by marriage, you are also close friends. And now I find
you trying to subvert Savarec’s primary allegiance to me.”
    “You heard him,” said Autichar. “Savarec
wouldn’t agree to defend me should I become his son-in-law.”
Turning to Savarec, Autichar added, “Savarec, I formally withdraw
my request for your daughter’s hand in marriage. Nor will I remain
where my loyalty and my honesty are in question. I will take my men
and leave Duren for Bavaria this very day.”
    “God speed you on your way,” Charles said,
the smile still playing about his lips. He watched as Autichar
stalked away. “You and that small army you brought to Duren,”
Charles added thoughtfully.
    “Do you think that was entirely wise?” asked
Savarec. “He will go home to Bavaria and tell Duke Tassilo what you
have said.”
    “Which was my intent,” Charles informed him.
“Let Autichar remind my cousin Tassilo that I have not forgotten
what he once did to my father. There will be a reckoning between
us. Perhaps not for years, but it will come. I foresee Tassilo
ending his days in a secure, well-guarded monastery.”
    “Meanwhile,” Sister Gertrude said, “Danise is
rid of at least one unwelcome