30 - King's Gold (49 page)

Ascension Day
⁶⁵

Berkeley Castle

Benedetto saw his brother at the other side of the yard and hurried over to see him, his bodyguards about him. ‘Matteo, I must talk to you.’

‘No. Keep away from me,’ Matteo pleaded, and retreated a few paces. Alured was nearby, and now he interposed himself, his hand on his long knife.

‘Matteo, please. You haven’t spoken to me for days, little brother.’

‘You tried to kill me! You had your assassin Jevan stab me, and then you killed him. I know it all.’

Benedetto gaped. ‘How can you say these things? You
know
I wouldn’t hurt you! I am your own flesh and blood – I could no more harm you than cut off my own arm.’

‘I don’t trust you!’

Alured was keeping his eyes on Benedetto and his men, and the moment Benedetto tried to step forward, Alured’s knife was out. Two henchmen pulled out their own weapons, and one made a feint at Alured, but he had learned how to fight in the back alleys near the Thames, and he easily blocked the blade with his own, twisting his wrist to hold it. Then leaning forward, he slammed his forehead into the other man’s nose. He screamed and fell back, his nose exploding with blood, and Alured kept hold of his knife, flicking it into the air and catching it in his left hand. Quickly, he stepped back and watched Benedetto’s other men warily.

‘Enough!’ Sir Richard roared. He had been at the hall’s steps, and had seen the fight.

But Benedetto’s second guard was unwilling to give up. He tried to stab Alured’s hip. There was a flash of steel, and Alured knocked his sword to the ground. He stood on the point and held out his long knife to the henchman’s neck. The man froze.

While Alured’s attention was on him, the man on the ground caught hold of Alured’s ankle. Giving it a sharp jerk, he saw Alured crash to the ground with an expression of delight on his bloody face. He was on his feet in a moment, and kicked Alured twice in the head.

Alured thought the first must break his neck. It felt like a kick from a destrier, and he could feel the muscle at the side of his skull, behind his ear, rip. Before he could react to it, a second kick caught his cheek.

As the man pulled his leg back to kick one last time, Sir Richard shoved his boot between the man’s legs and lifted his knee, hard.

‘
I SAID,
’ Sir Richard bellowed, as the man collapsed, eyes bulging,
‘
ENOUGH
!’

Willersey

He stood at the altar with the pride that he felt on this day every year. Ascension Day, the day that Our Lord was taken up to Heaven to sit at God’s right hand. It was one of the principal feasts in the Christian calendar, and in Luke’s simple mind, one of the most important. He loved the culmination of Christ’s story, with the picture in his mind of the Christ rising to Heaven over the heads of the eleven disciples as they watched, awestruck and reverential.

But today there was another feeling as he celebrated the Mass and prayed to God. A certainty that in his little church was a murderer.

Jen had said nothing. When he questioned her, she had simply stared at him with those wide, terrified eyes of hers, the fear plain on her face. She knew something. It was there in the way she became calm in the church while alone with Father Luke, but trembled when her mother came into view.

She was there now, he knew, behind him. Jen would be standing like a little sapling, swaying slightly, not glancing once at her mother beside her.

It made his heart want to burst. Perhaps his first inclination had been correct when he looked upon Jen a week ago and wondered whether the child might wish to enter a convent. Father Luke was not entirely certain how to go about this, but surely nuns had a need of lay–sisters to perform menial tasks. Perhaps Jen could be introduced in such a manner as to let her gradually become accustomed to the regime and see if she had a vocation.

The ceremony ended, he turned and gave his parishioners the blessing, and the words almost stuck in his throat. The look Agatha was giving him was one of pure poison. Her husband had been an irritation and annoyance, after all. Perhaps she looked upon Luke too as a blockage in the path to her happiness and would seek to destroy him next.

As the congregation filed out of the church, he hurried to ensure that he was safely amongst others. But it was not only his own safety which he must protect, it was that of Jen as well. Were the woman to try to harm the girl, Luke would never forgive himself. He licked dry lips as he went into the sunlight with the other men. They were looking forward to the feast, laughing and joking about the food and drink waiting for them at the reeve’s house, and he was swept along with them.

When he a look over his shoulder, he saw that Agatha’s eyes were fixed steadfastly upon him, and he suddenly felt entirely helpless. He had no idea how to protect himself or Jen.

Berkeley Castle

‘How are you?’ Baldwin asked as Alured’s eyes opened.

He looked a mess. The castle’s healer had come to see him, but beyond washing the worst of the dirt from his cheek and covering it with a pad smeared in honey, the fellow did not seem to think there was much he need do.

‘I’ve had worse,’ Alured said weakly, trying to smile. His head was pounding, his neck twisted, and his cheek as raw as a burn. ‘You should see the other man.’

‘I have done,’ Sir Richard said loudly. ‘He will remain in the gaol until I am ready to release him. That will be a long time.’

‘Is there anything you need?’ Baldwin asked.

‘Only sleep, I think. But I thank you. Could you arrange for someone to protect Matteo while I am unwell?’

‘You believe him in danger?’ Baldwin said.

‘Matteo
firmly believes Benedetto tried to kill him. I thought it was an irrational fancy, but now I’m less sure. If Matteo is right, Benedetto may succeed. Please, don’t let him.’

‘We will do all we can,’ Baldwin promised. ‘Now rest. My servant will guard your master. However, we need to protect you as well, I think.’

‘Hugh can stay here for now,’ Simon suggested. ‘He will be adequate against the henchmen of a banker.’

The three men left Alured in his chamber.

‘Benedetto must be held until this matter is resolved,’ Baldwin said. ‘Lord Berkeley would not be happy, were he to learn such a fight took place in his castle. He will be angry enough to hear of Sir Jevan’s death.’

‘We cannot keep the banker indefinitely,’ Sir Richard protested.

‘They won’t want him until the Scottish campaign is over,’ Baldwin said with certainty. ‘He can wait until then at least. He should be glad we aren’t placing him in the gaol for his men’s behaviour tonight.’

Willersey

Father Luke sat at the table beside the reeve and ate, although his appetite was flown.

All he had ever wanted to do was protect the souls of his parish. He had no ambition to become a bishop; for him the greatest pleasure in life was to help to save the eternal sparks of life that existed in the people here. They were an amiable group: kindly, generous, happy. They misbehaved occasionally, but there was no rancour in it. He loved them.

He felt as though Agatha had betrayed him.

She was there at the farther end of the hall, sitting with her girl at her side, eating with gusto, as though there was nothing on her conscience. She had not confessed, and that meant that her soul was in mortal danger. If she were to fall into a well tonight, and die unshriven, she would go straight to Hell, without any possibility of redemption. He must not fail her! And yet if she refused to confess, what could he do?

He remained at the table as others drank themselves silly. There were games afterwards: two youths throwing knives at a target on the wall; three men gambling in a corner; one enterprising woman attempting to ply her trade with some of the unmarried men, while wives watched with tart disapproval and Luke with unseeing eyes.

Rising, he made his way from the room. Outside it was dark, and he looked for the moon. It was a large, silvery shape behind clouds, but there was enough light to show him the way to St Peter’s. Inside the church, he used flint and tinder to ignite a scrap or two from which he could light a candle.

‘You guessed, didn’t you?’ came a voice from behind him.

His heart pounded painfully. ‘I did, yes, Agatha. I should have realised sooner, I suppose, but I was always an innocent, as you once told me.’

‘You don’t have to tell anyone.’

That stung. He flung himself around. ‘Do you think that is in my mind, woman? Do you think I care about broadcasting your guilt? My fear is for
you
, for you and Jen. If you do nothing, you will burn in Hell.’

‘Huh! What do I care of Hell? You tell these stories to make men and women behave, but when have the demons come and taken away a man from the vill? You know of men who have killed, and do they receive punishment? Those men who went with you to Kenilworth, did they get their judgement?’

‘It is not punishment here on earth, Agatha – don’t you see that? After all this time, surely you realise that God is watching you all the while. No matter what you do, He is up there,’ Father Luke said, pointing with a finger. ‘Even now, He is up there, looking down upon you and hoping to save you. But you have committed a grievous crime.’

‘I’ve done nothing wrong. I put down a useless wastrel – the same as killing an injured dog. He meant nothing to me,’ Agatha declared.

‘I don’t believe you. You grow pale as you speak. Come, sit here with me now, on the floor, and let me hear your confession, I beg.’

‘All I wanted was a better life,’ she said, her voice choked. ‘My friend managed that with her husband. What was so special about her that she could have that, while I must struggle and scrape?’

‘We cannot tell what His purpose is, but be assured that her example was there to—’

‘
Alice
isn’t an example! She’s just luckier, that’s all. She wedded a man who became rich, and now she has servants and maids falling over themselves to do her bidding, while I stay here and work my hands to the bones, and then that useless doddypoll Ham went with you to the castle and came back with nothing.’

‘How did you know?’

‘I didn’t. It was the dog. The fool kept up his barking, and I wondered why, and then suddenly Ham was there. He walked in, said he wanted food and told me about the attack about how he’d not been paid –
again –
and that he might be chased. So he said he’d best disappear for a few days. And then he went. And I was in the house, looking round at the little things we had, the goose feather for cleaning, the bed rolls . . . so very little. I couldn’t bear it. Got in a red-hot rage. So I followed him. Just walked out and went up after him. When I got there, he was already asleep. So I took his hatchet from beneath the cart’s seat, and I hit him until he was still.’

She stood with an expression of confusion and dismay as she spoke, as though recounting a dream.

‘Kneel with me,’ Father Luke begged.

‘And the trouble was, Jen realised at once,’ Agatha said dully, not seeming to hear him. ‘When she saw the axe in his head the next day, she knew it was me. She’d been awake when Ham came home, and she heard me go after him. So she guessed what had happened. She won’t talk to me now. She is too scared. She thinks I’ll kill her. Perhaps I will.’

She glanced at Luke, and he gasped to see the torment in her eyes. He should have seen it before!

Without saying another word, Agatha strode from the church.

Luke murmured ‘
Oh!
’ but it was more a sob than an exclamation. He clambered to his feet and hurried after her. She must have gone to her house. He picked up the front of his robe and ran, hammering on her door. There was no answer, and he beat once again, and this time he heard a rattling crash, then a staccato tapping. He sobbed aloud. Then, bellowing and roaring for help, he tried to prise the door open with his bare hands, but there was nothing he could do. When some villagers finally arrived, it took a hefty beam to force the door wide where she had slipped the bar across it.

She was long dead by then. The leather thong about her throat was tied to a beam, and when she kicked away the stool on which she had stood, her feet had just reached the ground to make the tapping noise.

Luke helped them cut her down, and then gave her the
viaticum
while his tears fell unceasingly over her bulging face.

Monday after Ascension Day
⁶⁶

Berkeley Castle

Simon was walking about the walls and peering at the works when he saw the lone figure marching towards the castle. He was sure that he recognised the man . . . and soon realised it was Father Luke, the priest who had left only a few days ago.

Walking down the stairs, he passed John, who was chatting to a labourer while leaning against the tower’s wall. Both fell silent as he darted past, but he paid them no heed. Only later did he recall that incident and think to himself that he should have paid more attention to it.

‘Father!’ he called as he reached the courtyard. The priest was at the doors, halted by a pair of guards, and Simon had to convince them that the man was not a threat.

‘I had to come,’ Father Luke declared on seeing him. ‘I hope I am not too late.’

‘For what?’ Simon asked.

‘Dolwyn did not kill the poor fellow Ham from my vill. He is completely innocent. I have learned that it was his wife who murdered him.’

Before long they were sitting at a bench in the hall, Baldwin and Sir Richard with them, a large jug of wine on a table with mazers. Sir Richard had seen that the priest was exhausted, and had called for a large platter of meats to refresh him, but Father Luke eyed the enormous collation with dismay as he spoke.

‘It was not your fellow who killed Ham. I realised only a few days ago while with Ham’s daughter that she was petrified of her mother. It appears that Ham went to his house on the night he died. He had been a part of the abortive attack on Kenilworth Castle, and feared that he might be followed home, so dared not stay there. Something must have been said between them, I think, for when he returned to his cart outside the vill, his wife followed him. She it was who beat him to death.’