Michael Jecks - King's Gold

‘And I too,’ Harry said.

Dolwyn shook his head. ‘I have my master already. I will go to him.’

‘Your master is the Bardi?’ Baldwin asked.

‘Yes. Matteo Bardi,’ Dolwyn said.

‘He is still here. His other servant is injured,’ Simon said.

‘All the more reason for me to go to him.’

Berkeley Castle

Matteo heard the tap at his door and jerked nervously. Since Alured’s beating, he had been a very unwilling guest here. Having no servant to protect him from the assaults of his brother and his men made him scared even to leave his room. He remained here, afraid that at any time a fellow paid for by Benedetto could come through and kill him. There were so many men in this castle motivated solely by money.

‘Who is it?’ he demanded, gripping his sword’s hilt as he moved to the side of the door.

‘Me — Dolwyn.’

He felt that word, that voice, like a hammer-blow in his belly. Benedetto could have bribed the gaoler to release Dolwyn, perhaps so he could come here and kill him?

To have reached Matteo’s door here in the keep, he must have been released with the approval of the steward of the castle.

He pulled at the bolts with a feverish enthusiasm now his mind was made up, and as the last slid back, he took a pace back into the room.

Dolwyn walked in with a quick look about him. He looked terrible. His clothing was filthy, his hair straggly and verminous, and his skin had a grave-like pallor. ‘Apparently they have decided I’m innocent,’ he said. ‘The carter was killed by his wife. For tonight, at least, I am safe.’

‘I am glad you are free,’ Matteo said. ‘I was worried.’

‘Yes. I am sure you were,’ Dolwyn said. ‘Especially since Alured is injured.’

‘They nearly killed him, because he was protecting me! It was not his fault: he was only doing his job. And for that they tried to kick him to death!’

‘They won’t while I’m here,’ Dolwyn said. ‘But I hope you can afford my services. I will want good money now. This place is too dangerous.’

Matteo nodded abstractedly. ‘Of course. Shall we leave this castle, then?’

‘Master, we’re safer behind these walls than out there in the open.’

Matteo nodded, but his mind was already back on the former King. If Edward were to be freed, with the help of Matteo, and he recovered his throne, Matteo would become the most valuable ally he had. With the wealth of the Bardis, anything would be possible.

For the first time in days, the Florentine felt more positive about the future.

Alured was sleeping again; he spent a lot of time sleeping. It left Hugh with time to muse, and he didn’t mind that. But he was growing fretful at being stuck in here.

When the door opened and Dolwyn peered round it, Hugh grasped his cudgel and snapped, ‘What do you want?’

‘I’ve been released,’ Dolwyn said curtly, and explained about Agatha’s confession. ‘I wanted to see how Alured was doing.’

‘He’s all right,’ Hugh said, still suspicious. He had learned early on in life never to trust strangers.

‘Glad to hear it. I think he’s a good man.’

‘Is it true you killed your wife?’ Hugh asked baldly.

‘There was a fire, but I wasn’t the cause. It was an accident,’ Dolwyn said.

Hugh nodded. The sadness in Dolwyn’s tone spoke to his own bereavement. He considered a moment, then said gruffly, ‘You want a pot of ale?’

Tuesday after Ascension Day

Berkeley Castle

Baldwin stood at the wall.

All around was the noise of masons and labourers at work: the creaking of hempen rope straining, and timbers complaining as the men on the treadwheel winched the heavy sections of rock up high overhead to the walls. The area they were repairing was where Sir Jevan had been found.

The chamber in which the body had lain was for storage. There were two piles of masonry which had been precut, and were awaiting insertion into the hole in the wall. This comprised part of the actual curtain wall of the castle, and looking through it, Baldwin could see all the way to south and east.

‘So, you found him in here?’ he asked.

Dolwyn was standing behind him with Harry and Senchet. ‘Yes. He was lying between those two piles of rock. You can see his blood still.’

Baldwin turned back from the hole in the wall. ‘Why did none of the masons come?’

Simon could answer that. ‘They did — but not until all were awake and ready. They were too scared to come alone. Someone said that the Devil was up here, apparently, and that put off the rest.’

‘So the killer presumably hurried away through them all,’ Baldwin said. ‘He must be a cool character, to kill and then escape while the garrison was on its way to capture him.’

‘Or insane,’ Simon said.

‘Such is not the behaviour of a madman,’ Baldwin muttered. He stared down at the piles of dressed stone, but then he knelt. The pile of dressed rocks to the left of where the body had lain had a curious formation. ‘There is space in here for a man to hide,’ Baldwin said, peering over the top. ‘The killer could have concealed himself here, after the body was found. Perhaps he felt no need to run down the stairs or along the passageways, Simon.’

‘And perhaps he flew, like Hugh said,’ Simon smiled.

‘Eh?’

‘Hugh was prepared to listen to the rumours of a Devil flying past.’

‘Who spoke of that?’ Baldwin asked.

‘A mason.’

Baldwin nodded. It was a sad place to die, he thought. Alone, in the dark, attacked by an unseen assailant. ‘Why was he here?’

‘We wondered that too,’ Simon said. ‘It is not on the way to a garderobe or urinal.’

Baldwin looked about him. He crossed the floor to the door in the northernmost wall. This led into a passageway that ran straight to the keep. He stared at that in silence, thinking for a long moment. ‘And that is where many others slept?’

‘Yes. The Bardis were there, and Alured.’

‘Let us meet this mason who spoke of the Devil,’ Baldwin said.

Masons’ Yard, Berkeley Castle

‘Who was it?’ Baldwin demanded as they reached the encampment below the tower.

Simon sent Hugh to find the man, and before too long he was back with a grey-haired fellow in his middle years. He had a square, sunburned face, and hands that looked as powerful as the rocks he had spent his life breaking and shaping. Although his eyes were blue and clear, there was an unfocused look about them as he smiled a little blankly at the men ranged about him. ‘You wanted me?’

‘I hear you said that there was a Devil came to kill the knight in the chamber up there,’ Baldwin said.

‘No. It was a Devil took his soul away with him,’ the man said.

‘Why did you think that?’

‘Who else would have been there with him in the middle of the night?’

‘You saw nothing, though?’ Baldwin said. His patience with the overly superstitious was never extensive.

‘I saw him, yes.’

‘What?’ Baldwin said.

Simon peered at him. ‘Are you sure? Where?’

‘Up there,’ the man said, pointing to the roof of the passage that led from the chamber to the keep.

‘You didn’t tell me this before,’ Simon said irritably.

‘That’s because you didn’t ask me. You asked me if I’d heard the noise, and if so, what I thought it was. I told you I thought it was the Devil, but you didn’t ask if I saw Him.’

‘But you did?’

‘Something like. A figure was bounding along up there with a thick, raggedy cloak about him. That’s what I think I saw.’