~Anne~

"Come on!" Edward yelled over his shoulder as he, his brothers, Eleanor and the Yorkist knights rode through the night, the foot soldiers on their tails, running in the darkness in their efforts to reach Tewksbury.

"The French bitch has taken shelter at Gobes Hall with the Neville traitor" George remarked but Eleanor shook her head at him.
"The Lady Anne is no traitor" she retorted sharply "shes a fourteen year old girl who was forced into a marriage by her traitor of a father!"

"Amen to that!" Richard murmured, nodding at his wife "we must find a way to rescue her tomorrow....we cannot leave her in the hands of the Bad Queen"

Pulling her hood more securely over her head to defend herself from the wind that whipped around the Yorkist forces as they trekked across the country, Eleanor could hardly bear to think what was befalling Warwick's daughter. Anne was alone, according to messengers, abandoned by her own mother, left with the Bad Queen and Edward of Lancaster whom the Duchess was sure had not proved any sort of loving husband.

"I agree" she called over the winds "and I will be the one to fetch her. She and Margaret will be hiding together, it won't be hard to find her!"
"That's madness!" Richard cried "I'm not letting you near a battlefield let alone into the hands of Margaret of Anjou!" George gave a shout of laughter.

"I think it's a little late for that, Dickon!" He said with a shake of his head "Eleanor will be close to the battlefield weather you like it or not! Why else do you think Ned decided to bring her? So she could watch from the sidelines?"

"Thank you, George!" Eleanor cried as she looked at Richard "perhaps now my husband will listen?"
"Because George decided to put in a word, sweetheart?" He retorted sternly "Absolutely not! I will not have you harmed!"
"The only way I would be harmed was if you decided to seek me out during the battle because of your constant worrying!" His wife returned with a confidant smile "besides, it is for Edward to decide!"

"Ah, so I don't even have control over my own wife!" Richard exclaimed, after which George began to laugh again.
"When did you ever, Dickon?" He asked, grinning at his sister in law.

꧁꧂

Tewksbury, that night....

Eleanor quickly grasped a shawl, wrapping it around her shoulders as the King was announced and she dipped down into a curtsy only for Edward to wave a hand in dismissal.

"You needn't curtsy to me" he told her with a smile before he perched on the edge of her bed, clasping his hands together "now is not a time for formalities and Dickon will be here any minute which means I have little time to ask what I need of you"

His sister in law frowned a little at him, sitting slowly and searching his face.
"What is it, Edward?" She asked "is something wrong? Is this about Anne?"
"No" he answered quietly "though your care for an enemy does show you to be as good as I thought! It is....well, it is to do with, you family.... what they can do...."

"What we can do?" She began before an alarmed look suddenly came over her face. Was he about to accuse her of witchcraft? Surely not! Elizabeth would never let anything like that happen.

Catching her expression, Edward quickly took Eleanor's hands into his own large ones.
"Do not panic!" He chuckled "I have not come here to lock you away, ma petite boule de feu! No, I have come to ask for your help!"

"My help?" She questioned unsteadily, watching his features carefully as they remained illuminated in the candlelight "....with what? I cannot fight in battle....but how could my family gifts....be of use?"

Edward hesitated slightly, taking a deep breath as he absentmindedly squeezed Eleanor's hands, looking to the floor.
"It is my understanding from Elizabeth....that you possess a certain gift....as does she....one that protected the forces at Barnet....is she correct?"

The Duchess nodded, biting the inside of her cheek as her nerves rose "well....I wanted to ask if you would use your gifts for the coming battle too....Lancaster has but one true legitimate heir....Edward...."

"And you need to be rid of him" Eleanor whispered, causing Edward to nod, secretly glad that he did not have to pass the sentence of a cursed death upon a seventeen year old boy out loud.

Edmund had been seventeen at Wakefield.

"Will you help?" He murmured "I hope you do know that I don't ask this lightly....I would not want you to do something you wouldn't want to"
"No" the Duchess interrupted "I know by now what is needed to win a war....I know what is needed for a secure throne. And while it may be hard. This. This, I believe is needed. So I will help"

The pair looked up as Richard entered the tent, a small smile on his face as he observed them.
"I trust all is well?" He asked as Edward rose to greet him, patting him fondly on the shoulder before ruffling his hair as he had always done.

"It is" the King answered, visibly more at ease than he had been "and now I shall leave you two in peace" he left and Richard looked to his wife, smiling as she kissed him.

"What did my brother want?" He asked as she climbed under the covers of their bed and watched as he undressed before joining her. As it was becoming her habit, she instantly snuggled into him, laying her head on his chest before she answered.

"To ask for my help" she replied "with Anne.... she is to be put into my charge until we get back to London" Richard 'hm'd in reply and kissed the top of her head, lifting one of her hands and watched as their fingers intertwined.

"And you do not mind? I wouldn't think you would be a champion of her but I'm glad you seem to be, I've always been fond of Anne"

"I do not know her" Eleanor sighed "but she was always the only one who did not look upon my family with complete disdain...."
"While Warwick and his wife did" Richard finished, making the Duchess nod.
"Yes, that was one of the reasons why I hit her but her daughter Isabel has always proved to be just, if not more, insufferable than her mother!"

"Isabel simply followed her fathers instruction" Richard said sadly, his mood immediately depleted at the talk of Warwick.
"Forgive me" Eleanor murmured as she brushed her lips against her husband's "I should not not have brought him up in our talk"

"Don't be sorry" Richard chuckled in reply, returning her kiss ardently "I was the one who mentioned him.... but we have much to be happy for. After tomorrow Ned will be secure on his throne again and we shall truly be able to begin our life together"

Eleanor smiled and leant over her husband to blow out the candle that flickered by their bed, placing them both in darkness.
"That is something you hope for?" She queried, pulling up the covers around them.
"Do you not?" He teased, wrapping an arm around her waist "we can go to every castle we own"

"We?" She repeated, smiling into the night as Richard affectionately nuzzled into her neck.
"Yes we" he confirmed "all I have is yours, sweetheart, and besides I need you to choose where we are to raise our children. I prefer Middleham over any place I've ever set foot in but if you like Pontefract or Sudeley or...."

"Our children, Richard?" Eleanor giggled "my my you have been busy thinking"
"And trying!" He added only to sense his wife suddenly tense a little "what is it?" He asked quickly, sitting up "have I said something, sweetheart?"

The Duchess shook her head a little, reaching up to caress the Duke's cheek.
"No" she answered softly "only with the mention of our children....I just thought of Jacquetta....she was so small....so perfect....she was ours"

Richard nodded and lay back down again, once more gathering Eleanor into his arms.
"I miss her too" he whispered "but she will always be in our hearts, my darling"
"She will" the Duchess replied with a nod.

꧁꧂

Eleanor took deep breaths as she tightly pulled at the chords at the back of her dress, securing the heavy velvet and wool in place. Picking up her sword belt she slid her dagger into its sheath before her sword, running her fingers along the leather while she turned her eyes to the armour that lay on the covers.

"Help me with this" she commanded, glancing briefly at the young page that was shuffling around the Gloucester's tent who immediately looked up in alarm.

"With your armour, your grace?" He murmured, picking up one of the gauntlets as Eleanor nodded "b-but I thought you promised the Duke you would stay here"

Holding up a hand for silence, she raised an eyebrow and sighed. What the boy said was true, she had promised her husband that morning (after his constant fussing) that she would not step foot on the battlefield.

'But....' her mind began, she had known that she wouldn't keep that promise and, what was more, George and Edward both knew she wouldn't keep it either. The King had sought her out that morning asking if she truly meant what she had said about fetching Anne Neville and she had instantly agreed.

She had decided firmly that she would not leave that girl in the hands of the bad Queen any longer that was necessary.

Around an hour ago the Yorkists had set out for battle but it was yet to start, the two sides were still taking position, the weary Lancastrians scrambling into theirs. She still had time, she decided, and so looked back to the page again.

"And I am your Duchess, you will do as I command" she said lightly, signalling to the armour on the bed again and smiling as the boy began to do as she asked (at last!).

Once he was done, she sent him away with a wave of her hand and sat down at the dressing table which had been hastily arranged for her the previous night, demanding that she was not to be disturbed.

Richard had questioned her when he found out she had ordered servants to bring it with them on their campaign for he knew her to not be a particularly vain woman (not as the Queen was) but she had offered no other explanation apart from 'that is none of your business, sweetheart'.

But, in fact, if she had told him the truth he would have found that it had been Elizabeth who had sent the vanity, not Eleanor. At first, the Duchess had been rather confused by its presence but it had not taken her long to figure out it was to be used for magic. And she now knew what magic that was to be.

A curse to kill a Prince.

Taking the candle she had kept lit once the sun had risen, she placed it in front of the mirror and gently blew on the hot flame until it finally became extinguished, leaving only a few burning embers on the wick which fuelled the smoke that began to rise into the air.

It formed a twirling trail that danced before her eyes until she closed them, holding up a hand to the floating spiral of clouded grey.

"Mother Melusina, I your daughter call to you now in the hopes that you shall hear my plea....strike down the Prince of Lancaster that stands upon the field today. Edward Plantagenet, the Prince who wears no crown nor shall he ever do so....strike him down on Tewksbury field and extinguish the line of Lancaster for good...."

"Your grace"
Eleanor shot up from the stool she was perched on, her mind whirling back to the present as she knocked the candle to the floor and watched with alarm as the young page entered her tent again while the sound of battle suddenly filled her ears "I almost forgot to give you these, forgive me" he said, handing her her gauntlets, not seeming to notice her alarmed demeanour as he fled before he could be reprimanded.

Raising her eyebrows as he left, Eleanor silently congratulated herself on the successful (or so she thought) mask of her emotions before she slipped on her gauntlets and secured her sword belt around her waist, laying a hand on the hilt of her protector.

In truth it had only truly occurred to her then that she had never wielded a sword in her life, not properly, not with the aim to injure or kill as she may have to to that day.

After all, it could prove to be no easy feat reaching Queen Margaret and Anne Neville and what would she do if Lancaster proved victorious? She would almost certainly captured, most likely executed, no chance of ransom as the sister of the Woodville Queen.

Walking out into the blistering sun that had chosen that May day to appear, she raised a hand to her eyes and felt a smile touch her lips as her destrier was brought to her, also donning his battle armour.

Taking the reins from the page, she gave him a nod as she swung herself gracefully into the saddle and took a deep breath to steady herself. Looking towards the battlefield, she could see smoke rising from the trees, where the cannons had been placed and fired.

Nudging her steed into a gallop, she turned him away from the fight and toward the main road, taking one last look at the camp and her tent before she disappeared into the trees, her heart hammering in her ears. There was no turning back now.