The Other Elizabeth *OLD VERSION*

XXXVII. Winter 1460

XXXVII

Winter 1460

Scales Hall, Norfolk, England

A most distressing event has occurred! My Anthony, my Anthony Wydeville, and his lady mother and the lord his father, have been captured!-and by none other than my own Yorkist kinsman, namely the young, gallant, Edward, Earl of March who winked at me at Ludlow, and his father's allies of Warwick and Salisbury. These were the men whom I saw fleeing to Calais for their lives after cowardly abandoning their army to the mercy of the Lancastrian one, and the cause I did champion. I shall never forget how I feared for my life as I stood amongst the screams, the smoke, horses neighing wildly, perforating the air, as they reared about me, and the incandescence spiralling about us, lighting up eyes with fear...

I am a sworn Yorkist, yet I am incensed that they have taken the Wydevilles hostage- the three of them were taken from Sandwich by this Sir John Dynham. What kind of gentleman must he be to attack with 500 men, and capture innocent folk, bunch them upon a ship, and sail them overseas? Will I indeed ever lay my eyes upon Anthony again? Is too, another husband- albeit this one speculative- to be lost to me? What will the Yorkists do to them? Why would they do this? Sir Richard was only there upon the King's orders to fortify Sandwich- he did no wrong! Will they release the family? Demand a ransom? God forbid it... execute them unlawfully, and for no meet reason? Keep them prisoners forever? How dare they do this to a lady, as well!

By the by, my Lady Mother reminds me of how My Lady Rivers is no ordinary Baroness- she is aunt to our King, and that is where my apprehension lies. Has she been taken for her relationship- for she married His Grace's late uncle, the Duke of Bedford, and is a descendant of prestigious Luxembourgian families. Her marrying for love and going from a Duchess to a Dame was the scandal of my mother's day. I never realised how close her affiliation with Lancaster was until now- and the fact the Yorkists may be holding them for it. What do they plan? But is it wise for me to marry into such a staunch Lancastrian family? Lady Rivers is another confidante of the Queen- and her niece by marriage. Would not she give Their Graces more guidance from their erroneous ways?

If Anthony survives... My charming young youth- indeed, 'tis hard not to think myself an old woman compared to his years- rode to the aid of his mother and father from the castle he was residing at nearby when he heard of their plight, only to be taken too. How noble, how dashing, how knightly- yet now he is gone. There is absolutely nothing I can do to help him- I do not even know where he is in Calais, and even if he is still alive or still held there. If I wrote to him, what would happen? Surely the King must intercede for their lives, his stalwart friends? I await each day for news, but nothing arrives. What if he is never released? We have a promise betwixt us, but must I seek someone else's hand? What must I do...?

I pace the rooms up and down, wracking my hands, shedding miniscule fragments of the squirrel fur of my mantle with my fists. Why would my fortune sink into an even more desperate quandary? How can Anthony- full of youthful promise- be executed for no lawful reason? He has to return safely. How could I bare it, if he died too? Am I to have no happiness? Shall this cousin's war tear apart all of our lives? I wonder when-if- the Duke of York and his allies will invade and what shall then occur. Another battle is of course most foreseeable, and the King is apparently preparing for their invasion.

If Henry had lived, mayhap he would have been proclaimed traitor himself in the list at Queen Margaret's Coventry parliament this past November, as one of those condemned of the land against the King whose ancestors usurped the throne from the rightful Yorkist claimants? We might have fled to Calais, and watched the Wydevilles enter as our prisoners. Oh, what fate is befalling them across the Channel? Is it possible that I- Elizabeth de Scales, from my obscure place, position, and Norfolk manor, could intercede and plead with my kinsman Edward, my own father's godson? Would he care for the feelings of his late cousins' widow, meddling in political matters, trying to intercede for the man who holds the key to her future? His own mother, the Duchess Cecily, after the rumpus at Ludlow, is held under house arrest by her own Lancastrian sister, and with the poor children.