The Princess Who Rode on a Mule Read Online Free PDF Page B

corpse, dropped to the dust; how tightly locked its tiny
eyes, as though they had ne’er known light.
    She
took a deep breath, shook her head to clear it, then lifted her chin. “Father!”
she cried out. “Let us drink to the health of all at Court, for we are in
peril!”
    “Health
to all!” proclaimed the King, raising his glass.
    “Health
to all!” repeated the throng.
    “Father,”
said Hadley. “We are at risk of plague, of that I am sure. When I was out
riding—”
    “Nay,”
scowled the King. “We have drunk to all, and there’s an end of it.”
    Hadley
swallowed, then spoke again. “I beseech you to grant me audience, Sire.”
    “Daughter,
you may tell a merry tale if it be not a long one, but let us have no talk of
‘plague.’”
    “Well,
then, it shall be merry.…When I was riding, I met a trader who had journeyed
all the way from Wilgefortis, and he had seen much…” Hadley stopped, not
knowing how to proceed.
    “I’
faith, I know this tale! It hath a wench and a donkey!” laughed a courtier, who
was giddy with mead.
    “A
mule, more like,” murmured another.
    “Clodpate,”
muttered the King.
     Joan
caught Hadley’s eye and smiled.
    “This
trader,” said Hadley. “Vowed he had seen more dead and dying than he could
tell, though I shall not say ‘plague.’”
    The
King’s face reddened.
    “—But,”
said Ingrid. “There came a physician from Cockaigne and cured them all.”
    “Aye…”
said Hadley hesitantly.
    “I
would hear the end o’ the tale, since it is not ‘plague,’” said Princess Joan.
    The
King turned to her with an angry look.
    “There
is little more to tell,” said Hadley. “Only…‘tis curious how some villages were
grievously afflicted, but their neighbors spared. The village of…Heath was not
touched at all, the trader said, though all the folk in…Greetham were laid low.
He said, moreover, that all were spared in Basingham, where the water is so
pure. Yet here, of a surety, many peasants are infected, and methinks it may
come to us. I would we were in Basingham.”
    “There
is naught of plague here!” said the King. “The peasants leave their work for
despite and treachery!”
    “Aye, Father,” said
Ingrid, smiling sweetly. “And if the graveyards fill up, why the physicians
from Cockaigne may empty them again.”
    ~~~~
    Hadley had planted
her seed well. Within two days, the King decided that all at Court should
remove to Basingham, to avoid the “great pestilence.” The King’s counselors,
who were timorous men, avowed that his Majesty was in the right, though
privately they held that there was no plague. “This trader hath much deceived
the Princess,” they whispered one to another. “Yet, powerful forces conspire
against his Majesty, and our lives are in some danger. Sire hath sent for his
soldiers, and if they return posthaste, all might yet be well. But for the
nonce, ‘tis wise to retreat from Court.”
    Lord
Vardis, alone, opposed the King’s order, but he was yet confined to his bed and
could do little to forestall it. He sent his servants forth to hinder all
preparations made for departure, but the men in scarlet were themselves
hindered by the frequent presence of Princess Hadley. She was so small and
quiet that even when they thought themselves alone, they oft found that she was
nearby. She inquired hourly about the health of “my Lord,” and the two men
laughed behind their hands at her devotion to a prospective bridegroom who,
they knew, cared nothing for her.
    Hadley’s demeanor
was calm, but her mind was sorely troubled. She prayed that Lord Vardis be
conveyed to Basingham before his knights arrived, for his army might then be
like to a headless tiger. She prayed that no man’s blood be shed in combat, and
that no woman fall spoil to a victorious army. She prayed for the safety of her
mother and sisters. And she prayed for herself…that she might live to see
another Spring.
    ~~~~
    It was
the eve of departure. A