Chapter 12

The latest escapade of the forest dwellers that was focused on opposing the rule of the tyrant King John and making a complete fool of the Sheriff caused dissention in the Sheriff’s castle between the faction that fully supported the usurper King and the relatively few knights and ladies that still swore allegiance to the true King Richard. The confirmation of his death had not yet reached the court and even the most steadfast supporters of his cause would soon return to their respective manors and become reclusive in order to survive in a land that no longer supported values of moral character or common decency.

Many of those loyal Barons would become victims of King John’s deception and lose all of the lands and possessions and in many cases, the lives of their entire families.

Rowena had seen all of this chaos heading their way and had made an attempt to put her relatives and her farm workers in an isolated encampment away from the contrivances of the Sheriff and his hired minions. His forces were often supplemented by the mercenaries of King John whose command of the English language was pathetically lacking and added to their inability to identify with the common folk of the realm. She certainly didn’t pity the burly musclebound knot-heads with their macho ways and firm belief that females should be humped and not heard. Of course, they could have their way with the female segment of the other than royal population, but when they accosted a true Lady of good name and standing, the rumors abounded about their disgusting mannerisms in disrespecting her dignity.

When she heard of the Lady Elaine of Cornwall being made a feminine toy of a detachment of the mercenaries, she took a contingent of her archers and made haste to her castle to offer her services to right the wrong done to her dignity and honor.

She found her old friend Elaine still in shock and sitting listlessly in her own self-pity for her shaming by the boisterous group of miscreants. She had already made her case known to the Sheriff and he had hemmed and hawed and eventually told her that there was not “sufficient evidence” to support her claim of complete innocence in the incident. This further pushed her

into a semi-confused shell of remorse and guilt that ate at her conscience like rats in the basement weakening the foundation of her mental stability.

Rowena did her best to bring her back up out of the doldrums of her despair but the damage done in the incident was compounded by the cavalier attitude of the Sheriff’s deputy that did his best to shift the blame to poor Lady Elaine in an attempt to give cover to King John’s highly valued mercenary forces. She sensed it might be too late to bring Lady Elaine back from the precipice of loss of sanity but she felt much better for having at least made the effort for her old friend.

The acceleration of the “goon-squads” of foreign tax collectors had taken place without the average citizen being fully aware of the subtle change in administration. Now, it seemed, like the changes were part of the country’s fabric and would be difficult to shrug off to bring things back to the way they were before the ascension of King John to his pretender’s chair. The tired knights returning from the Holy Land had their belly filled with violence and they, to a man, desired only peace and quiet in a restful environment. The petty political in-fighting of royalty and government was not their cup of tea and they did their best to stay away from the fray whenever possible.

In the void of citizen’s righteous indignation and the “absent without leave” attitude of the Barons and other combat-trained Crusaders, the minions of King John oppressed the common people with increasing levels of taxation and social outrages.

Rowena returned to the forest camp with mixed feelings. She knew she would be able to survive and even protect her “people” in the isolated spot. What bothered her was the fact that the oppression of the people was fast coming to a boiling point and it would not be long before the pot would explode with bloody consequences and ruined lives. She made a visit to her familiar convent to receive some advice on the best course of action and found that her work was well known by the Bishop of Canterbury and that he was in the process of writing some “formal” words of a written contract between the Monarchy and the Common People that would withstand the sands of time and become a standard for proper governance for future generations. She was completely in accord with this grand scheme and prepared several items of contentious frictions that should be included in the overall document. The mother superior informed her that the unhappy Barons had already decided to band together in opposition to the overreaches of the King and that they considered it their duty and not disloyal in any way since he had already broken the contract with the people by seizing the throne without endorsement.

She made a long-delayed novena to pray for the salvation of the country and was shriven of her sins by an elderly priest that was fortunately hard of hearing and did not comprehend the seriousness of her sinful lifestyle. She felt a bit guilty at taking advantage of his infirmity but ascribed it to the “will of God” and accepted her penance with a spirit of renewal and willingness to walk a new path in service to God’s work and his divine plan for humanity.