Michael Jecks - The Prophecy of Death

‘The herald.’

‘The man clad in a herald’s tabard, yes. But what intrigues me about the whole matter is, who could have benefited from the theft of the oil? At first, I was happy to think that it was yet another scheme planned by Despenser himself, but that is clearly wrong, unless he is trying to confuse us entirely, because why should he ask us to look into it if he was himself responsible?’

‘He may just be over-confident in his arrogance,’ Simon said bitterly.

‘I do not think so, Simon,’ Baldwin said. ‘I think that he has some healthy respect for our abilities as discoverers of unexpected secrets. No, I think we need to look elsewhere for motives.’

‘Then who could have had a motive?’

‘There is still the possibility that the affair was caused by a thief who knew the oil’s value, and sought to use it to demand money from the King. However, I do not incline to it. No, I think it’s more likely that it was someone who wanted to take it from the King to upset him.’

‘Sir Roger Mortimer, then? He would surely be glad to do anything which would anger the King. They have such a loathing for each other now, I would have thought that the oil’s disappearance would suit Mortimer very well.’

‘Very true. Especially if Despenser is correct and there is a fleet massing ready to invade the country. Unsettling the King just at this moment would be ideal.’

‘Who else?’

Baldwin shook his head. ‘There must be someone, but I cannot … would the Queen wish to so irritate the King that she could instruct her allies to take the oil? It is possible …’

‘But extremely unlikely. Would she appreciate the oil’s importance?’

‘Who would, Simon? I would not until a matter of a few weeks ago. I had heard of it; I vaguely recall someone telling me about it a long time ago, when it was first mentioned after the coronation, but that is all. I had thought that the King, like the barons, thought it was a fictitious oil.’

‘It was brought for his coronation, though? Why wasn’t it used?’ Simon asked.

‘No one truly believed in its provenance, I think. Nobody would have dared to withhold it otherwise. The barons would have wanted it to be used, and the King would have demanded it, naturally, if either had believed in it. The fact it went unused is proof enough that nobody thought it important. And that must mean no one believed in it.’

‘Was no one interested enough to seek to validate the story?’

‘I understand a friar sought to do just that a few years ago, but his attempt foundered. Even the Pope didn’t trust the story.’

‘So nobody believes in it. Apart from the King now.’

‘And possibly Despenser,’ Baldwin said.

‘You think he does?’

‘He certainly declares it.’

‘I wouldn’t take that as signifying anything,’ Simon said. ‘But Prior Eastry of Christ Church seems to believe in it too.’

‘The Prior of Christ Church? I wonder. I believe he understands the danger of the stuff. Now it’s been stolen from him it is more important to him than ever. The fact that he allowed it to be stolen is proof, I think, that he didn’t value it terribly highly.’

‘The French King would want to remove it.’

‘Yes. He is another, with Mortimer, who could have a good motive to take it. And we know that he does have agents throughout England.’

‘Why do you think he’d want it? What would he do with it?’

‘Merely to deprive the King would be enough to make King Charles happy, I think. But then, perhaps, if he or another declared our King so feeble he couldn’t even protect his oil, perhaps the French King would offer it to any man who would overthrow King Edward?’

Simon shrugged. ‘So we have the French King and Mortimer.’

‘Yes,’ Baldwin said, but now his eyes held a faraway look in them.

‘You are wondering about another?’

‘I was merely reflecting on the great estates in the land,’ Baldwin said. ‘There are the barons, and many of them are extremely displeased with the way that the King submits to Despenser and allows the man great sway over the rule of the nation. Then there are the men of the Church, too. Some, like Walter, will support him, but his reign has been divisive. Many churchmen would be happy to see the King embarrassed.’

‘Even at the expense of the nation?’

‘This is all speculation,’ Baldwin sighed. ‘A man needs straw to make cob, but we have not even mud.’

‘No. But at least we have one consolation,’ Simon said. ‘We do know that the King has a number of enemies. All we need to do is question those who could have been about when the monk and the herald were killed, and perhaps that will lead us to a motive too.’

It had better, he added to himself. The idea that they may fail was tearing at his mind. For if they failed to find out who had taken the oil, and where it was now, he was sure that no matter what Baldwin said about the King, Despenser would return to persecuting Simon and his wife.

First Tuesday after Ascension Day 32

Westminster Palace

Joseph was intrigued by the two men when he walked into the room, intrigued and nervous.

It was rare enough for any man to be offered the aid of Despenser, but these two had managed just that. This morning he had heard that Sir Hugh le Despenser had given a writ to this Keeper of the King’s Peace and his companion, which gave them the right to question all the heralds and messengers urgently. That meant that they had considerable influence with Despenser, if not the King as well. And it meant that Joseph must be cautious. Any man close to Despenser was not a man who could be trusted. There was not a single King’s messenger or herald who didn’t know that.

But at least he felt he had some information he could give them which might help them.

‘You wanted to see me?’

‘Yes. You are a king’s messenger, and you were sent to Christ Church, which is where we met you, in those woods?’

‘I remember it,’ he said quietly. ‘The poor man.’

‘Was that pathway very well known to all the messengers and heralds?’

‘Well enough. When we pass along roads, we let others know if they have grown more dangerous recently, or if other trails have become safer and more swift. We have a duty to tell others if they can travel faster or more safely.’

‘And that path was thought safe?’

‘It was the last time I used it — which was that day when I met you on it. Now I use a different route.’

‘So any of the messengers would know that a herald would have taken that path?’ Simon said.

‘Yes. We’d all have known Richard would have been there.’

‘Richard?’ Baldwin asked.

Joseph looked at him in surprise. ‘He was Richard de Yatton. Didn’t you know? I heard you brought his necklace to Beaulieu.’

‘I did.’ Baldwin nodded. ‘I think it was the metal you saw gleaming in among the leaves. You remember? You said you saw something glinting there, and that was what led you to discover the body there. But no one saw fit to tell me whose it was.’

‘Oh, well, any man in the King’s service should have recognised that necklace. Poor devil. His own mother wouldn’t have recognised him as he lay there at the roadside. I certainly didn’t.’

‘Where was he going at the time?’

‘I heard he was on his way from Leeds Castle back to Beaulieu.’

‘He went to Leeds Castle straight from Beaulieu?’

‘I don’t know. I suppose so …’

‘How would he have reacted to a stranger on the road?’ Simon asked.

‘Suspiciously, but not with fear. We tend to reckon that a man on the road will be less likely to affect us than some other poor traveller. No outlaw wants to court the enmity of the King, after all. It would make no sense.’