Richard had no idea which rumors were true, if any. Although he was one of Henry’s trusted battlefield lieutenants, he was not consulted about the details of political negotiations. Philip, however, seemed to know what was going on. He would not say where he was getting his information, but Aliena recalled that he had a brother, who had visited Kingsbridge now and again, and who had worked for Robert of Gloucester and the Empress Maud: now perhaps he worked for Duke Henry.

Philip reported that the negotiators were close to agreement. The deal was that Stephen would continue as king until he died, but Henry would be his successor. This made Aliena anxious. Stephen could live for another ten years. What would happen in the interim? Stephen’s earls would surely not be deposed while he continued to rule. So how would Henry’s supporters-such as Richard-gain their rewards? Would they be expected to wait?

Philip learned the answer late one afternoon, when they had all been in Winchester a week. He sent a novice messenger to bring Aliena and Richard to him. As they walked through the busy streets to the cathedral close, Richard was full of savage eagerness, but Aliena was possessed by trepidation.

Philip was waiting for them in the graveyard, and they talked among the tombstones as the sun went down. “They’ve reached agreement,” Philip said without preamble. “But it’s a bit of a muddle.”

Aliena could not bear the tension. “Will Richard be earl?” she said urgently.

Philip rocked his hand from side to side in the gesture that meant maybe yes, maybe no. “It’s complicated. They’ve made a compromise. Lands that have been taken away by usurpers shall be restored to the people who owned them in the time of old King Henry.”

“That’s all I need!” Richard said immediately. “My father was earl in King Henry’s time.”

“Shut up, Richard,” Aliena snapped. She turned to Philip. “So what’s the complication?”

Philip said: “There’s nothing in the agreement that says Stephen has to enforce it. There probably won’t be any changes until he dies and Henry becomes king.”

Richard was crestfallen. “But that cancels it out!”

“Not quite,” Philip said. “It means that you are the rightful earl.”

“But I have to live as an outlaw until Stephen dies-while that animal William occupies my castle,” Richard said angrily.

“Not so loud,” Philip protested as a priest walked by. “All this is still secret.”

Aliena was seething. “I don’t accept this,” she said. “I’m not prepared to wait for Stephen to die. I’ve been waiting seventeen years and I’ve had enough.”

Philip said: “But what can you do?”

Aliena addressed Richard. “Most of the country acclaims you as the rightful earl. Stephen and Henry have now acknowledged that you are the rightful earl. You should seize the castle and rule as the rightful earl.”

“I can’t seize the castle. William is sure to have left it guarded.”

“You’ve got an army, haven’t you?” she said, becoming carried away by the force of her own anger and frustration. “You’ve got the right to the castle and you’ve got the power to take it.”

Richard shook his head. “In fifteen years of civil war, do you know how many times I’ve seen a castle taken by frontal attack? None.” As always, he seemed to gain authority and maturity as soon as he began to talk about military matters. “It almost never happens. A town, sometimes, but not a castle. They may surrender after a siege, or be relieved by reinforcements; and I’ve seen them taken through cowardice or trickery or treachery; but not by main force.”

Aliena was still not ready to accept this. It seemed to her a counsel of despair. She could not resign herself to more years of waiting and hoping. She said: “So what would happen if you took your army to William’s castle?”

“They would raise the drawbridge and close the gates before we could get inside. We would camp outside. Then William would come to the rescue with his army and attack our camp. But even if we beat him off, we still wouldn’t have the castle. Castles are hard to attack and easy to defend-that’s the point of them.”

As he spoke, the seed of an idea was germinating in Aliena’s agitated mind. “Cowardice, trickery or treachery,” she said.

“What?”

“You’ve seen castles taken by cowardice, trickery or treachery.”

“Oh. Yes.”

“Which did William use, when he took the castle from us, all those years ago?”

Philip interrupted: “Times were different. The country had had peace, under the old King Henry, for thirty-five years. William took your father by surprise.”

Richard said: “He used trickery. He got inside the castle surreptitiously, with a few men, before the alarm was raised. But Prior Philip is right: you couldn’t get away with that nowadays. People are much more wary.”

“I could get in,” Aliena said confidently, although as she spoke the words her heart raced with fear.

“Of course you could-you’re a woman,” Richard said. “But you couldn’t do anything once you were inside. That’s how come they’d let you in. You’re harmless.”

“Don’t be so damned arrogant,” she flared. “I’ve killed to protect you, and that’s more than you’ve ever done for me, you ungrateful pig, so don’t you dare call me harmless.”

“All right, you’re not harmless,” he said angrily. “What would you do, once inside the castle?”

Aliena’s anger evaporated. What would I do? she thought fearfully. To hell with it, I’ve got at least as much courage and resourcefulness as that pig William. “What did William do?”

“Kept the drawbridge down and the gate open long enough for the main attacking force to get inside.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” Aliena said with her heart in her mouth.

“But how?” Richard said skeptically.

Aliena remembered giving comfort to a fourteen-year-old girl who was frightened of a storm. “The countess owes me a favor,” she said. “And she hates her husband.”

They rode through the night, Aliena and Richard and fifty of his best men, and reached the vicinity of Earlscastle at dawn. They halted in the forest across the fields from the castle. Aliena dismounted, took off her cloak of Flanders wool and her soft leather boots, and put on a coarse peasant blanket and a pair of clogs. One of the men handed her a basket of fresh eggs packed in straw, which she slung over her arm.

Richard looked her up and down and said: “Perfect. A peasant girl bringing produce for the castle kitchen.”

Aliena swallowed hard. Yesterday she had been full of fire and boldness, but now that she was about to carry out her plan she was scared.

Richard kissed her cheek. He said: “When I hear the bell, I’ll say the Paternoster slowly once, then the advance party will start out. All you have to do is lull the guards into a false sense of security, so that ten of my men can get across the fields and into the castle without causing alarm.”

Aliena nodded. “Just make sure the main group doesn’t break cover until the advance party-is across the drawbridge.”

He smiled. “I’ll be leading the main group. Don’t worry. Good luck.”

“You too.”

She walked away.

She emerged from the woodland and set out across the open fields toward the castle she had left on that awful day sixteen years ago. Seeing the place again, she had a vivid, terrifying memory of that other morning, the air damp after the storm, and the two horses charging out of the gate across the rain-sodden fields; Richard on the war-horse and she on the smaller mount, both mortally afraid. She had been denying what had happened, deliberately forgetting, chanting to herself in time with the horse’s hoofbeats: “I can’t remember I can’t remember I can’t I can’t I can’t.” It had worked: for a long time afterward she had been unable to recall the rape, remembering that something terrible had happened but never recollecting the details. Not until she fell in love with Jack had it come back to her; and then the memory had so terrified her that she had been unable to respond to his love. Thank God he had been so patient. That was how she knew his love was strong; because he had put up with so much and still loved her.