The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [198]
“I have already taken the cross,” said Richard.
“I know that well. We will go together. The King of France shall be told, and if he will agree to this truce we will make our preparations.”
Richard knew, of course, that his father would never go to the Holy Land. He was too old and ill; moreover he would never leave his own dominions. What he wanted was to evade war with France, for which he had no heart.
He sent envoys to the French camp. Richard regarded him with skepticism.
“How could I go on a crusade?” demanded Henry. “How could I leave my kingdom? How could I trust the King of France?”
“You are repenting your rash suggestion already,” said Richard.
“You were once friendly with the King of France. You could perhaps arrange a truce. That is what we need. We do not want to go to war. We could come to terms and these you could arrange.”
Richard said he would go to the King of France.
Philip Augustus received him with the utmost pleasure. I pictured it all clearly. Richard standing bare-headed before him, taking his sword and handing it to him, then kneeling before him, Philip Augustus perhaps reaching out a hand to caress his beautiful red-gold curls, for the King of France made no secret of his delight in the presence of his enemy’s elder son.
“I come on behalf of my father,” Richard said. “He wants a truce.”
“That he might go on a crusade?”
“He cannot go on a crusade. He is too old and sick and would never leave his dominions.”
“If we fought now, I should certainly win,” said the King.
“My father has never been defeated in battle.”
“He knows he will be this time. It is why he asks for a truce. For you, I will consider a truce, but only for you, because if you fight with your father you will be defeated, and I know that would humiliate you, my friend. I do it for you, but there will be terms.”
“What are these terms?”
“First, that the King of England leave his son with me while we discuss them.”
“Would you make me a hostage?”
“Nay, only an honored guest. It is because I want you near me that I will agree to this truce. If you leave me now . . . which you will not be prevented from doing, I shall go into battle and defeat the old lion this time. I will beat him so soundly that he will not be able to fight again.”
Richard knew this was possible, so he agreed to remain with the French while terms were discussed.
Philip Augustus was overjoyed to have Richard with him. There was never a question of his being treated like a hostage. He was the most honored of guests. The King would have him sit beside him at table; he insisted that they eat from the same plate. He told Richard that the greatest honor a King could bestow on a guest was to ask him to share his bed. The friendship was as it had been before—one of passionate attachment.
They talked together; they would have long discussions in bed. Richard told the King of his vow to go on a crusade.
“We will go together,” declared Philip Augustus. “I, too, will take the vow.”
They talked of preparations for this shared adventure, but Philip Augustus’s main object was to warn Richard against his father, for he was sure Henry was planning to take Richard’s inheritance from him. Richard did not see how he could do so. He was the eldest son now, the legitimate heir to the throne of England and the dukedom of Normandy.
“Perhaps one day you will discover,” said Philip Augustus.
Henry would of course hear rumors of the relationship between the two young men, and it must have given him cause for alarm.
Richard was being royally entertained by the King of France, who seemed in no hurry to proceed. He was quite content with things as they were as long as Richard stayed with him.
Henry would not have been able to understand the relationship between Philip Augustus and Richard. It was alien to anything he himself could experience. He wrote to Philip Augustus saying that he believed the main difference between them