Well, he was about to lose his throne, or so it seemed. Reason enough to drink.
Excerpt…
England, autumn, 1326
Close up, the king was seen to be tall and spare, with blue eyes and thinning fair hair, and looked oddly familiar to Jaufre, although he couldn’t think why. His gaze was a little vague, and Jaufre wondered if he were shortsighted. He had deep pouches beneath those eyes, due to worry or drink or both. Probably more of the latter, Jaufre thought, as the royal nose was a little swollen and red-veined. Well, he was about to lose his throne, or so it seemed. Reason enough to drink.
“You have his majesty’s permission to sit in his presence,” Wilmot said, and retired to lean his shoulders against an ill-executed tapestry depicting Vincent at work with his pickaxe digging the Bristol Channel while his brother Goram slept in his chair.
he king condescended to address them directly. “Yes, indeed, sit and play something…” He hesitated. “Play something lively for us.”
Johanna struck the opening chords without consulting her fellow minstrels but they had all known what their first song would be from the moment the king had spoken.
O wandering clerks
You learn the arts
Medicine and magic
O wandering clerks
Nowhere learn Manners or morals
O wandering clerks!
After a summer of command performances,
they had learned to meld their voices together into a mellifluous whole in which the lyrics were clear and understandable to the farthest ear, accompanied by music that intensified the rich emotion they brought to each song. They had learned to stay in a chord that suited their collective reach. They had learned that they had a gift for comedy, as manifested now. Even the king was chuckling when they came to the last line, and before the last note died away Johanna launched into the drinking song they had sung at L’Arête, and again in Glynnow, the one Tregloyne had so enjoyed the night they landed in England.
When I see wine into the clear glass slip
How I long to be matched with it;
My heart sings gay at the thought of it:
This song wants drink!
I thirst for a sup; come circle the cup:
This song wants drink!
The king laughed outright at the end of the song and thumped the table with his tankard. They followed this with half a dozen more songs, and by then the tension that had been so clearly felt on their arrival had as clearly eased.
Dana sez–
Immediately after which, Alaric misbehaves, in a way guaranteed to infuriate Jaufre and Johanna and putting them all in danger. Those Templars, you had to watch them every minute.
