Michael Jecks - King's Gold

And then the mood was broken. Agatha appeared in the doorway, and her eyes snapped from Jen to him, full of suspicion and doubt.

‘It is all right, Agatha. Jen came in to help me,’ Father Luke said.

Agatha nodded brusquely, but even as she turned to leave, Father Luke’s polite smile stiffened on his lips. Her expression — why so suspicious? And then he threw a glance at Jen, and saw that her eyes were wide with fear.

And suddenly Father Luke was filled with horror as he realised the truth.

Eve of Ascension

Berkeley Castle

Harry and Senchet had taken to sitting apart from Dolwyn. It had been cold down there in their gaol, but since Sir Baldwin had returned, they had been moved to this chamber in the main keep, which was considerably warmer and more pleasant.

Still, if anything, Harry thought that Dolwyn’s mood was deteriorating. The days of enforced inactivity, with nothing to break the monotony other than the two meals they were given — one of bread and pottage and one of oaten cakes with a little cheese — was giving him too much opportunity for introspection. He was not coping well.

Senchet yawned and scratched at an armpit where a flea or louse had bitten him the night before. ‘How much longer do we remain in here?’

‘Until the lord of the castle comes back and holds court,’ Harry said.

Ah. We wait only for his return. And if he dies?’

‘I suppose we have a court sooner, with professionals sitting in justice. It depends on the custom of the manor.’

Senchet shook his head and sighed. ‘And all because of the cart, and saving our friend here.’

‘I am sorry — all right? I wish I’d never taken the blasted cart,’ Dolwyn said bitterly.

‘Do not be downhearted,’ Senchet murmured. ‘You gave me a sight of a treasure chest larger than I have ever seen before. It was,’ he added, ‘a beautiful vision.’

‘I wish we’d just knocked you on the head and taken it,’ Harry said, only half-joking.

‘No, Harry,’ Senchet remonstrated. ‘You forget yourself. Our friend here saved us from tedium. Besides, if he had not appeared we might have starved. It was his food that kept us alive. Our next action would have been to waylay a traveller and steal from him, which would have led to us being in a gaol in any case.’

‘I wonder where that money is now?’ Harry said.

‘Ah, I expect the good Lord of Berkeley has it with him. He is no fool, after all. Would you trust your money to men such as those who are his guards here at the castle? No — nor I. The money will help pay for the goods and food he will need on his way, assuredly.’

Dolwyn groaned. ‘It hurts to think of all that coin going to a lord who already has so much.’

Harry shrugged. ‘That’s the way of things. There is nothing we can get our hands on that isn’t likely to be filched by some baron. That’s how they get their money, by stealing it from the likes of you and me.’

Dolwyn grunted. ‘I was hoping to be rich. And I would be, if it wasn’t for those prickles at Kenilworth. I could have got Sir Edward out, and then I’d have been rolling in gold for the rest of my life. I could have been made sergeant of a nice little manor somewhere — that would have suited me down to the ground. And instead I’m stuck in here, accused of murders I didn’t even do.’

Senchet looked at him. ‘Well, my friend, for my money, I don’t think it matters who did it or why. But unless someone else is found guilty, all three of us could suffer the punishment. And I do not like that idea one bit.’

Ascension Day

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.