While Angels Slept (45 page)

Tevin was beyond
words at the moment. He was so thankful on behalf of his sister and of Myles
that he was nearly weak with it. All he could do was wrap his arms around
Cantia and thank God for his own blessings. He had been given so many that it
was difficult to count them all. He knew, without a doubt, that he was the most
fortunate man alive.

Tevin, Talus,
Tarran and Tristen went to the Welsh marches after all to assist Henry I of
England in his quest to unite England and Wales. Although the battles, for the
most part, were not successful, all four survived and the three young men, sons
of the great Earl of East Anglia, went on to fight for Henry for many years
while their father retired to Thunderbey Castle to live out the remainder of
his life with his wife by his side.

Three years
after the birth of Christopher, David de Lohr was born to Myles and Val.
Christopher and David grew up to serve Richard the Lion Heart in The Levant,
and eventually became two of the more powerful noblemen in the High Middle
Ages.  Christopher was granted the title Earl of Hereford and Worcester by King
Richard, while David was eventually granted the title Earl of Canterbury when
he married the heiress. Both men were strong supporters of the crown and major
players in the annals of history.

Beautiful
Eleanor Britton du Reims married the Earl of Newark, Geoffrey Hage, at
seventeen years of age and gave birth to the first of four sons, Kieran, the
very next year. Kieran Hage went on to become one of the more powerful knights
in the arsenal of King Richard, serving in The Levant with his cousins
Christopher and David de Lohr. He also ended up marrying a rather strange Irish
heiress and returned to her homeland with her, forsaking the family honor and
relinquishing the title of Earl of Newark to his younger brother, Sean. At
least, that was how the Hage family recorded the event, but some scholars
disputed that finding.

Finally, Huntington
Penden became a powerful warlord in his own right as Steward of Rochester
Castle and his own son, Brac, assumed the title upon the passing of his
father.  Arabel du Reims eventually became Mother Superior at Yaxley Nene Abbey
in Leicestershire, devoting her life to the contemplation of heaven versus
Walhalla and trying to find her answers within the word of God. She was
relentless in her search for the truth and developed a reputation within the
ecclesiastical community as a whip-smart scholar, a fair superior, and a strict
task master.

When she finally
discovered the verity to the great question that had driven her most of her
life, her mother, indeed, was waiting for her.

She had her
answer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

While Angels Slept
is a novel that was six years in
the making.  It was also a novel that took on a mind of its own and essentially
wrote itself.  What a wild adventure!

Tevin and Cantia are the ancestors of several other Le Veque
characters, as noted at the end of the epilogue. Their daughter, Eleanor, is
the mother of the great Kieran Hage, hero of
The Crusader
and
Kingdom
Come
.  Tevin’s sister, Val, is the mother of two of Le Veque’s greatest and
prolific characters, Christopher and David de Lohr, central characters in
Spectre
of the Sword, Archangel, Dark Steel
, and
The Lion Heart
to name a
few. They pretty much pop up everywhere. The tough part is knowing that
Christopher and David’s parents die when the boys are young, but Le Veque
chooses not to write about that part. It is left to the reader’s imagination.
Oh, and in case you are wondering about Arabel’s affliction, she was born with
Spina Bifida, and Louisa died from tuberculosis.

Before everyone goes crazy with the fact that Valhalla, or
Walhalla, is from Norse mythology and not German mythology, think again.  Read
about the intermingling of Norse, Germanic and European mythology and learn
some interesting facts.  It would seem that folks like to borrow each other’s
gods and heavens, and just change the name a little. It makes for interesting
reading.

Kathryn is the author of 29 published novels.  She lives in
La Verne, California, with her children, dog Mr. Peabody, and two cats, Isis
and Livingston.  Visit her website at
www.kathrynleveque.com
.