‘No more so, I suspect, than was he. I think it necessary in a warrior to be that.’
There was a definite prod in that: Conrad Augustus had proved himself in battle; this Henry was yet to do so and William knew by the emperor’s piqued expression he had struck home.
‘The question is, William de Hauteville, is what am I to do about you?’
‘Are you asking me to advise you?’
‘No!’
‘Then I am at a loss to know how to respond.’
Henry waved an arm towards his Swabian guards. ‘You get above yourself. I am the elected head of the Holy Roman Empire and I am unaccustomed to being so addressed by a mere mercenary.’
‘Something more than that now, I think.’
‘You are nothing, William de Hauteville, so much so that one word from me and these men who guard my honour will cut you down.’
That really got under William’s skin, and his reply was a hiss. ‘If they do you will never see Germany again.’
The emperor’s response was a bark. ‘You threaten me?’ When William gave him that knowing, superior smile it was just as effective on him. ‘Do not smirk in my presence. Do you not know to whom you speak?’
‘As of this moment, you are a young man who is not even beginning to achieve that which you set out to do, which is to get me to beg on my own behalf, and that of my family, that the titles we have been given should be confirmed. You wish me to plead. If any of these men who advise you have the courage to voice the truth, they will tell you I have no need to do so.’
‘And if I declare you an enemy?’
‘That is your right, yet I have taken nothing from you. Everything I have was once the property of Byzantium. I can, however, give you Apulia, by acknowledging you as my imperial suzerain.’
‘And Guaimar of Salerno, what of him?’
‘He is already your vassal, do with him what you will.’
‘Am I to take it you will not support him?’
‘You could have asked me that at the start of this conversation, so now I will answer the questions you should have posed, the ones which concern you, to which I would have responded with the truth.’
‘I think I must judge whether someone is being truthful.’
‘Then take it as you will. I owe Guaimar nothing, even if I am wed to his sister, and I will not pledge the men I lead to any enterprise you fear he may have in mind. I will not, either, combine with Rainulf Drengot and the lances he leads on any imperial fief.’
‘Easily said, and just as easily denied.’
‘Then listen to this. Neither will I stand aside, and nor will my family, if he is threatened. It is not for the love of Rainulf but because I will not see my fellow Normans put to the sword, and I have good grounds to feel they would treat me likewise. Understand that if you threaten one of us you threaten us all. Now that you know my mind, you may make up your own, and I will await whatever your pleasure is.’
William spun round and walked out, without bowing, leaving behind him a buzz of angry talk, not least from an emperor screaming that he would ‘not be treated in such a manner’.
‘That’s no way to address an emperor,’ said Drogo, quietly, once William had apprised his brothers of the results of his discussion. By the expressions on most faces, they agreed with him.
‘I think those he looks to for advice told him one thing, and I enlightened him.’
Mauger responded to that. ‘Which is all very well if he believed you.’
‘It makes no difference if he did or not,’ boomed Robert, in a carrying voice that had his siblings gesturing to him for hush, given that, gathered in the open-arched and stone-walled antechamber, they could be overheard if they spoke too loud. Robert’s response was a dismissive glare. ‘Unless he is prepared to fight for his pride, he must swallow what you give him.’
‘You know nothing,’ Drogo growled.
‘I know power when I see it,’ Robert replied, ‘just as I can smell spoken shit.’
‘Your nose is too close to your arse,’ barked Drogo, who had come to actively dislike this bumptious younger brother.
‘The emperor is far from weak,’ Geoffrey insisted.
Robert scoffed at the same time as he glared at Drogo. ‘He is also far from Apulia and unless he is prepared to come to that place with an army-’
William interrupted. ‘Which he could do if we gave him cause.’
‘Bearding him might do that.’
Looking at Humphrey, who had voiced that concern, William was wondering if his gloomy brother might have a point. He had not intended to rile Henry, but he had found his imperious manner hard to stomach. Yet he was the elected emperor, and entitled to respect. Was that a sign of hubris? Was he becoming too used to authority to be guarded in his tone?
That thought evaporated as he realised the company he was in: his brothers would defer to him when they thought he was right, they did not fear, and never had feared, to tell each other they were wrong. As for Henry, if he wanted respect he should show some instead of talking to him like a lackey.
‘Are we in any danger here?’ asked Robert. ‘The emperor’s Swabians hold the castle gates.’
That was possible, though unlikely. If Henry wanted to, he could stage a sudden arrest and throw them into the dungeons of this very place, which William knew, having visited them when it belonged to Pandulf, to be deep. It was the kind of ruse the Wolf would have employed and he did seem to have, as Guaimar had implied, the emperor’s ear.
‘I thought I was the suspicious one,’ Humphrey scoffed.
William was less certain and he knew the imperial escort outnumbered his own, large as it was: they also had more in numbers than Rainulf and he combined.
‘Best be safe. Robert, go to the apartments of Rainulf and speak to his nephew, not him. Raise the possibility and tell them to be on their guard, and that we will stand with them if they are threatened. Mauger, go to the quarters where our men are billeted and tell them to sleep in their mail, with their swords at the ready.’
It was a restless night for them all, and at first light it was necessary for William to test his reactions when he first heard Berengara retching; having been raised in a home where the birth of a child was an annual event, he needed no telling what the sound portended. He also knew, much as the sound pleased him, there were many ways of getting rid of an unwanted pregnancy and he recalled her threats; she would have to be closely guarded from now on.
Around him the castle of Capua was stirring, the smell of fresh baking from the kitchens permeating the chambers, and since nothing had happened in the hours of darkness he stripped off his mail and upper clothing, then dipped his hands in the chilly waters of the bowl of water to wash his face. The scuffling sound of feet had him turning quickly, but not speedily enough, and although he managed to deflect the assassin’s knife away from the centre of his body, it entered the flesh of his side.
He knew he had shouted, knew he had hold of the hooded man trying to kill him, but he could see the eyes and make out the intention: that knife had been pulled out to inflict another stab and he, being stripped, was near defenceless. The sword flying through the air was no more than a flash of steel, but the bellow that accompanied it was more than that. The blade hit the man before him, and even if it did not penetrate, it was enough to distract him from the blow he was trying to deliver, enough to allow William to gain some space between them.
It was Robert who followed that sword blade, grabbing William’s assailant in his great big hands and twisting and lifting him at the same time, so the sound of the snapping neck was as clearly audible as the snapping of a dry twig. William by that time had doubled over his wound, his hand over it, but his eyes seeing the blood seeping through his fingers. Suddenly the chamber was full of people, all his brothers and more beside, and as he lifted his head to one side he saw his wife standing holding the curtain that concealed her bed, and the concerned look on her face mystified him, not least because of all the people in this castle who might want to kill him, she could be one.