The Valley Beyond
A Daughter?s Bond
T. S. Nichols
Copyright © 2020 TS Nichols
All rights reserved
First Edition
Fulton Books, Inc.
Meadville, PA
Published by Fulton Books 2020
This book is a work of fiction set in late twelfth century Spain. The names of places used in the book are fictitious: Segoia, Donato, and Gustavo. The main character of the book, Doña Lucía, is a fictitious character, and was not in reality a member of the royal families of either England or Castile as portrayed in this publication. If there are any references to real people, places, and historical events, they are used for fictitious purposes only. If in the story, there are any similarities to real events, places, or actual people either alive or dead, this is to be considered a coincidence and not meant to be intentional.
ISBN 978-1-64654-008-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64654-009-9 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
To Maddy, Sydney, AJ, Sawyer, Jaycob, and Harmony.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my wife, Barbara, for her technical support and patience in the writing of this publication. It’s always good to have a second set of eyes to read your written work, and her eyes were the best in discovering certain errors that went previously unnoticed. Once again, thank you for all that you do.
Chapter I
Don Fernando looked over the battlefield where an intense struggle had just ensued on the flat desolate wind-blown plain in La Mancha. The hue of the straw-colored grass and rocks of the plain had turned bloodred as bodies of soldiers, Christian and Moor, lay strewn across the vast expanse. He saw the terrible carnage and asked himself a simple question: What future lay forth for a child born in violence and warfare? He thought of Lady Margaret, his wife, who was with child, and wondered if it would ever find love and happiness in such violent times and whether Castile and the rest of Spain would ever find permanent peace by vanquishing their enemy and settling its own differences.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a cry from a familiar voice. Don Fernando eyed carefully the rocky terrain and saw his friend Don Alfonso Coronado, the Conde of Gustavo, behind an area of brush, waving his hands in the air frantically with a cry of “Over here! Over here!” He was about thirty yards away through a line of low brush and thicket. Don Fernando rushed over to his friend, jumping over the bodies of the dead. To his dismay, he was surprised to see an injured Don José, an old knight, with a severe wound to his left side. Both Don Fernando and Don Alfonso Coronado brought their friend back to camp and placed him against a wooden wagon wheel while three Moorish warriors leaped over the wagon hitch, followed by three archers fast firing their crossbows. They killed one, while the other two galloped away unimpeded.
“Hold your fire!” shouted a voice. “Save your arrows for the next battle.” The battle was over, and the Christians had won. However, the soldiers in the field were confused as Don José was not on his white charger waving his sword in the air, which usually proclaimed victory and retreat from the battlefield.
Don José was considered a master knight since the time of King Alfonso VII. Now he was an old man, and his demeanor was that of a battle-worn warrior: old, tired, and cranky but always ready to come to the aid of Castile. His presence on the field of battle was sorely missed. One knight actually stopped in the middle of all the carnage and confusion, took off his barrel helmet, looked around, and cried out, “Is the battle over? If so, where is Don José?” Other knights and soldiers on the field asked the same question. Finally, the sound of a trumpeter broke through the confusion, as both sides retreated.
One soldier happened to notice their hero lying against a wagon wheel, as he passed by on his way back to his tent. He cried out, “Here is Don José! Over here!” Neither Don Fernando nor Don Alfonso Coronado had left his side and had called for a physician. Soldiers and knights gathered around in disbelief to see their old war hero so severely wounded.
Don Fernando tried to make Don José as comfortable as possible and removed