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for his advice. We should ensure that the outlying garrisons all have full musters and that we have spies out to tell us if Geoffrey is preparing an army.’
    ‘Yes, yes, will you give those orders?’ she says. ‘Where would I be without your good sense?’
    I nod and go to seek out the steward.
     
    But Geoffrey and Agnes did not come that summer. Geoffrey had other military business in the North where he was intent on extending his power towards Saintonge. My uncle Guillaume mouldered somewhere in a black dungeon behind the towering Roman walls of Angers, that was if they hadn’t already murdered him. I thought of him often and sadly. He would not manage captivity well and I doubted that he was being kept in good conditions. Whilst Geoffrey has been brought up by Fulk in the harsh Roman way – seriousness, modesty, plainness – Guillaume was a man who had luxuriated in rich food andbeautiful things. In truth, I was not certain which way the wind would blow with my father and brother. The La Marches had been allies with the Anjou family, successfully waging war against the Aquitaines, until my step-grandfather had murdered my real grandfather. It was possible that my father would side with Anjou, but on the other hand he would not be happy to see Aquitaine in the hands of Agnes and Geoffrey, who had such strong inclinations and connections with the northern Capetian king.
    For three summers Eustachie ruled in her husband’s stead, no news came of Uncle Guillaume, and I grew taller and taller and thought of Raingarde doing the same. The time of famine has passed and the harvests these last few years have been especially celebrated when the people remember their deliverance from that earlier devastation. Last year Geoffrey’s father, Fulk, went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, perhaps, I thought, seeking forgiveness for what he had done to poor Elisabeth, and, I added tartly in my head, I hope he doesn’t get it. Fulk had left Anjou in his son’s command, giving us all the more reason for disquiet at what Agnes might push Geoffrey to do about Aquitaine; but again, Geoffrey’s military exploits were focussed in the North, towards Normandy and not towards us in the South. Perhaps he refuses to comply with his horrid wife’s wishes, but I knew that this was just a delay, that sooner or later, Geoffrey and Agnes would come for Aquitaine.
     
    A messenger is hurrying into the hall, running down the aisle towards us, scattering the jongleurs unceremoniously to either side. Eustachie holds up her hand for a halt in the music. Clearly the messenger brings important news and I recognise him as one of the spies that Roland, our steward, had sent to keep watch on Geoffrey. The messenger kneels and Eustachie waves him, Roland and me, back into the curtained chamber to hear the news in private. I can already see from the messenger’s face that this is good rather than bad news.
    ‘Is my husband released?’ Eustachie asks.
    ‘No Lady, but Count Fulk has returned from pilgrimage and was mightily displeased with his son’s rule,’ the messenger says,his gasping breaths evidence of his hurry to get here. Eustachie nods and the messenger continues.
    ‘He required Lord Geoffrey to relinquish rule back to him, and Geoffrey refused and revolted against his father.’
    We all gasp at that. Geoffrey’s nickname is ‘The Hammer’ because he is undefeated on the battlefield, but his father is also an unrelenting warrior, basing his tactics on the Romans, brandishing Flavius Vegetius Renatus’ manual of war, De Re Militari. To rise against his father was a rash move on Geoffrey’s part and I frown, longing to ask if he is dead. I don’t want him to be dead, even though he is our enemy now.
    ‘Count Fulk has prevailed and defeated his son,’ the messenger announces and we see, from the glee on the messenger’s face, that there is more news to come. ‘Count Fulk subjected his son to the Roman ritual of trampling the