Princes of Ireland - Edward Rutherfurd [228]
One month after the defeat of the High King, Peter happened to be walking past the king’s hall when he saw Strongbow coming out. He bowed his head to the great man and smiled, but Strongbow didn’t seem to see him. He looked distracted, almost haggard. Peter wondered what the reason could possibly be. The next day, he heard that Strongbow had gone. He had taken a ship during the night. Where had he gone, Peter asked one of the commanders, who gave him a strange look. “To find King Henry, before it’s too late,” the man replied. “Strongbow’s in trouble.”
King Henry Plantagenet was the most dynamic ruler of his age. His genius for exploiting situations to his own advantage, his success in expanding his sprawling Plantagenet empire, his highly aggressive administration—all these made him feared. Henry also had one other, devastating ability. He moved with incredible speed. All medieval kings had peripatetic courts which moved about their domains. But the itineraries of Henry were dizzying. He would move to and fro across the English Channel several times in a season, seldom stopping anywhere for more than two or three days. He would race from one end of his empire to the other just when you least expected it. And anyone who imagined that this ruthless and mercurial monarch would tolerate one of his vassals setting up a rival power base anywhere within his empire would be in for a shock.
For some time Henry had been watching the progress of Strongbow in Ireland. While King Diarmait was alive, the English magnate remained effectively a mercenary, no matter what Diarmait might have promised. Hard on the heels of Diarmait’s death came news that Strongbow was trapped in Dublin. But now, suddenly, Strongbow had a kingdom in Leinster and obviously the possibility to conquer the whole island. It was both a threat and an opportunity.
“I did not give Strongbow permission to become a king,” he announced. He’d already had enough trouble from one subordinate after he’d made Becket Archbishop of Canterbury. “He is my vassal. If Ireland is his, then it is mine,” he judged. And soon the word reached Strongbow: “King Henry is not pleased. He is coming to Ireland himself.”
With the ending of the siege, Una received word of her father. It made her sad. The continual fretting over the loss of the strongbox, it seemed, was taking a toll on his health; and she knew he was not robust. The fact that she blamed herself for the business and that they were separated made her still more distressed. The message he sent had, once again, asked her to remain where she was. She considered disobeying and going to see him in Rouen, but the Palmer told her she should not. She did, however, send word that, depending how events turned out, it might be possible for him in a few months to return and that she and the Palmer would surely be able to help him make a start again. So she worked hard at the hospital and waited to see what would come.
One thing that pleased her was the change in Fionnuala. There’s no doubt, she thought, that visit from the priest did her good. In the days that followed, Fionnuala had looked so sad and thoughtful. A new quietness and seriousness seemed to have descended upon her. “You have changed, Fionnuala,” she once ventured with a gentle approbation, “and I was thinking it would be the long time you spent with the priest that was the cause.” And she was so glad when Fionnuala murmured, “That would be it.”
It was during this time that two new people came into her life. She had heard from Fionnuala that the two O’Byrnes were making a second visit and had been to see her father, but she had not somehow expected them to call in at the hospital. They did so, however, one morning and were conducted round by the Palmer, who showed great respect to Brendan O’Byrne and, it seemed to Una, slightly less to his cousin Ruairi. At the end of the visit, since it was time for Fionnuala to leave, the two O’Byrnes were going to accompany her when she turned to the Palmer and asked whether Una could be spared a little while