The Holding - Book 1 in The Medieval Knights Series

The Holding

Medieval Knights Series

Book One

by

Claudia Dain

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ISBN: 978-1-61417-093-8

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Copyright © 2001, 2011 by Claudia Welch. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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Thank You
.

To Patience, who cried over it;

To Natasha, who believed in it;

To Alicia, who printed it.

To each of you, my heartfelt thanks.

Chapter 1

England, Winter 1155

William le Brouillard, Greneforde's new lord, would not be pleased with his prize. That was Kendall's first thought upon beholding his overlord's lands. Kendall reined in and cast his eyes around him, letting his breath out slowly. Nineteen years of war had taken its toll on William's hard-won holding.

Fields that should have been cleared and turned were broken wastelands of scorched earth dotted with struggling seedlings of oak and hemlock. The forest was encroaching steadily on the cleared land; forest that had once been beaten back to the fringes and held there diligently by sweat-soaked effort was relentlessly advancing on what should have been Greneforde's prime food source. There would be no corn this winter. A wet gust of wind blew against his face, and his stomach rumbled in protest at the assault; it would be a hungry season.

Leading his squire on, Kendall was struck by the absence of huts. Where were the villeins? Was that why the land lay fallow? Was there no one left to work the land? His stomach rumbled again, this time in trepidation. He did not want to be the messenger who brought William the news that his holding was a name on the Domesday Book and nothing more.

As if to mock him, Greneforde appeared suddenly out of the gray gloom looking reassuringly solid. The battlements were sound and the roof intact; there was even rising smoke from within the enclosure. The curtain wall, although of wood, looked sturdy, and one tower had been constructed of stone. Kendall's stomach ceased its complaining: Greneforde Tower was sound, but what was a sound great tower with no food to sustain the inhabitants?

Just then a woman appeared on the battlements, a woman where there should have been only battle-ready men. Silently they studied each other. At this distance, he could not make out her features, and there was something in her manner that warned against riding any closer to the curtain. He could see that her hair was fair and that she held herself erect; her mantle went beyond ordinary to be indescribably plain. They watched each other as warily as prospective opponents, and he found himself unnerved by her silent regard. It was almost ghostly the way the tower had appeared out of the fog and she with it. His squire mumbled uncomfortably behind him, stirring him to action.

"I am from King Henry II of England, overlord of Aquitaine, Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Poitou, Guienne, and Gascony." Hearing no response, Kendall continued: "In light of Cathryn of Greneforde's orphaned state, the king has pledged her in marriage to William le Brouillard, who even now approaches to fulfill the king's command."