Five hours later, his new plan was in action and the weather seemed to be on his side, being neither too hot which made for uncomfortable riding as it was still deemed too dangerous for them to ride without basic armour on. Or cold and wet which was just as bad. Glancing round at the men riding in the leading phalanx, he smiled, all of them were his men, and people he trusted and knew answered to him, not his mother. Lord Stanley was in the next group back, guarded on either side by two men who had orders to cut him down if he tried to either escape or make any attempt to get at Richard. Richard was just where he wanted him to be, his arms encircling Henry’s waist, his head resting against his back, just between his shoulder blades. Smiling to himself, Henry looked across at his closest friend Charles; the man had strict orders to keep at eye on Richard, to make sure that he was alright, that the ride wasn’t too much for him in his current state.

Returning his look, Charles moved closer and quietly told him that Richard was currently dozing, something he’d been doing for most of the ride. The physician had told Henry that he was likely to do so as it was the human body’s way of letting itself recover from shock and injury, although his ability to sleep in the saddle proved how good his horsemanship was. Nodding his thanks, Henry thought back on the meeting that morning that had led to this.

By the time their food had been delivered, Richard had made his own way out of the garderobe, and had tried to get back into the bed, but had ended up bent over it, gasping in pain. Seeing this, Henry removed his robe and wrapped it around Richard, once more not wanting either his servants or advisors to see him naked. Then he carefully settled Richard in the chair that had been brought in especially for him. Then he’d quickly got dressed, his fingers doing up his belt just as everything arrived, servants laying food out on the table and serving weak ale to all present, including Richard.

Once all was ready, Henry dismissed them, walking over to stand before the fire before he started to question his advisors on how soon they could start out for London. He needed to be there so he could take over control from his mother; he dreaded to think just what things she would be setting in motion in his name. If he wanted the people to accept him as their King he needed to show himself to be a fair man, but he knew his mother was the kind of woman who bore grudges and was likely to be imprisoning people who had looked at her in the wrong way in the past. At first his advisors had been nervous to talk openly, all of them glancing across at Richard, unsure about talking in front of the ex King, but he had insisted that they did so. If Richard became his consort like he hoped he would they would be expected to discuss everything in front of him. Actually he hoped that Richard’s experience of Kingship would help him become a great King.

They reached the castle where they would be staying the night just before sunset, Richard now riding behind Charles as Henry’s advisors were worried what people might think if they saw not only the two Kings, but the two Kings on the same horse. With Richard behind one of his men people might not even realise just who he was, they might just think that swathed in his long cloak that he was one of the men’s wife or mistress. Dismounting, Henry wanted to go and help Richard down from the saddle but he knew that that would make people want to know who the mysterious person was, and he couldn’t risk someone pulling back the hood of Richard’s cloak, it was the only thing that hid him from public view. So while he stood there and accepted the grovelling and flattery, Charles discreetly escorted Richard inside and up to the chamber that had been reserved for Henry, servants watching with great interest. Within the hour rumours were spread that the cloaked person was the Kings mistress.
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hhanon

December 2011

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