BooksBarbecue
Back Winter Pilgrims Save as PDF
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Book
  3. About the Author
  4. Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims
  5. Dedication
  6. Though the Lancastrian Claim comes from Edward III’s THIRD son, it relies on a) possession and b) that the crown can not pass through a woman – Philippa Mormer – so must fall to the next male in line. The Yorkist Claim relies on their descent from Edward III’s SECOND son, and says it can pass through Philippa. The Tudor Claim ignores the fact of passing through a woman – Lady Margaret Beaufort – or that John, Earl of Somerset, was born illegimate.
  7. Factions in the Wars of the Roses
  8. Prologue
  9. PART ONE
  10. 1
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. PART TWO
  15. 5
  16. 6
  17. 7
  18. 8
  19. 9
  20. 10
  21. 11
  22. 12
  23. 13
  24. PART THREE
  25. 14
  26. 15
  27. 16
  28. 17
  29. 18
  30. 19
  31. PART FOUR
  32. 20
  33. 21
  34. 22
  35. 23
  36. PART FIVE
  37. 24
  38. 25
  39. 26
  40. 27
  41. 28
  42. 29
  43. 30
  44. 31
  45. PART SIX
  46. 32
  47. 33
  48. PART SEVEN
  49. 34
  50. 35
  51. 36
  52. 37
  53. 38
  54. 39
  55. Acknowledgements

‘I was five, or thereabouts. It is snowing but I was not cold. Not then, anyway, and I have some letters the words of which I cannot read, of course, and a heavy purse, and whoever I am with – I think it is a man but I cannot be sure, and when I think of it now it cannot have been a man for they would never have let one into the priory – but whoever I am with, they make me give the letters and the purse to an old lady in black, who must have been the prioress before the Prioress. I recall her being kind. Or having a kind face.’

‘Then?’

‘Then, nothing. I remember the person I was with leaving and then the Life began.’

She does not want to tell him about all the punishments and the beatings and the humiliations and the coldness of the place. She does not want to tell him about the Prioress. Or Sister Joan.

‘The money must have been for your keep,’ he says. ‘Someone will still be paying it. Someone will be worrying about you.’

The idea that someone has been paying for her keep when all she ever did was work until her fingers bled makes her smile. The thought that there might be someone out there to care what happens to her though, that is beyond comprehension.

‘Someone worrying about me?’

For a moment she is at a loss for more words. Then a flush rises within her. Someone is paying for her keep, someone who knows who she was; someone is worrying about her. It is as if some previously dead part of her body is coming back to life, and she cannot stop the tears. She drops the wood again and turns so Thomas cannot see her crying.

‘Kit,’ he says. ‘Katherine.’

He takes a step down the dune towards her and tries to put his arms around her shoulders, but she flinches and stretches her hand to hold him away. Tears are spilling down her cheeks. She tries to rub them away and spreads soot on her face.

Unable to speak for a moment, she looks out to sea; then she turns back.

‘Thomas,’ she begins, ‘I have something I must tell you—’

But before she can say more, the alarm bell in the fort rings out.

12

IT WAS BRAMPTON John who saw the Duke of Somerset’s men first.

‘About three hundred archers,’ he tells the company. ‘Maybe more. And about two hundred billmen. Coming up the Boulogne road.’

‘Any horsemen?’ Walter asks. Brampton John tries to think.

‘Not so many as to make a difference,’ he says after a moment.