|
|
|
|
|
|
white. Adam had lost his color again and his eyes were black pools in his chalky face. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Tell me!" Joanna insisted. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"It was like nothing I have ever seen." The words spewed out as if Adam could no longer hold them in. "Where we stopped, the world burned. Nothing and no one was spared. I do not think a hundred women and babes came out of Berwick alive, not to speak of menI think not one. He let the French dogs loose upon his enemies. God knows, our men-at-arms are not gentle, butbut they do not spit the babes on their pikes and roast them while the mother is held down where she can see and hear it and be raped. The woman's convulsions lend a spice one of them told me. I killed him." Adam blinked and swallowed. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"But surely," Joanna quavered, "you could control your own menyou did not need to permit" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Oh, no." Adam sighed, sipping the wine again, "that was not our part. We were used to prevent the mad dogs from running completely amok. John is not crazed." He swallowed again. "I almost wish he were, but he is not. Those who were faithful to him and who offered large enough bribes were spared. It was our partGeoffrey's and mine and a few other men with their own troopsto keep the routiers off those who yielded." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Then there is no shame to you," Joanna urged. "Why are you so heavy of heart?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adam looked at her with a touch of bewilderment. "Iyou know, it is a strange thing. At first I was sick, but then, except for a special thing now and again, I grew accustomed. It was not until we rode away from all that, when I saw the land green and the new lambs leaping and the colts and calves all legs, that I" His eyes widened. "When did you say mama would come?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Soon," Joanna soothed, "soon. Come with me now and let Edwina take off your armor and bathe you." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Edwina?" Adam's voice dropped back to its normal depth and he grinned. "How many little bastards does that one have now?" |
|
|
|
|
|