Michael Jecks - The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover

‘So you were in charge of the prisoners there?’

‘Sort of.’

Simon snapped, ‘What does that mean? You were or you weren’t.’

‘I was mostly responsible for one prisoner.’

‘Ah,’ said Baldwin. ‘And here, I think, we come to the point, don’t we?’

‘He was intensely jealous of me. I think that’s what started to send him mad,’ Arnaud said reflectively. ‘But it wasn’t hisfault. You can’t imagine what it was like there in that castle over the cliffs, stuck there for month after month, and nevera chance of being freed. For me, it wasn’t so bad. I am used to such jobs in the King’s service, but for men like Jean itwas much more difficult.’

‘Why?’

‘I was allowed to wander, but the other guards were there for a set time, and weren’t supposed to consort with the townspeopleor anything. But they were men, just like you or me, and they had the need of companionship. Women.’

‘You didn’t?’

Arnaud looked away. Then he suddenly closed his eyes and his shoulders began to shake a little. ‘I didn’t feel the need to leave the castle.’

‘What do you mean?’ Baldwin asked.

‘I fell in love,’ Arnaud said simply. ‘She was so beautiful, so brave and soft-mannered, it was hardly surprising. She alwaysspoke to me kindly. You know? No one has ever spoken to me like that before,’ he added quietly, staring into his cup. Aftera moment’s reflection, he up-ended it and drained it defiantly. ‘Yes. I fell in love with the King’s wife.’

‘Christ’s ballocks,’ Simon breathed. ‘You mean to say you …’

‘She loved me too. Ach, I couldn’t do much for her. When all’s said and done, she was used to living with silks and decentbeds. What could I do to provide that sort of thing? No, but at least I could make her life a little more comfortable. I foundher some sheepskins, some warmer slippers, and an undershift to ease the pain of her rough sackcloth. Oh, and a warm woollencap to cover her poor head. They’d shorn her of all her hair before she was brought to the prison.’

Simon shook his head. The idea of this fellow pawing at the poor woman was revolting. Simon remembered Montfaucon, with allthe corpses lined up on that hideous gibbet, and this man up there among the rotting faces, cutting one down to make roomfor a fresh hanging. It made him feel sick.

‘And she was grateful to you,’ Baldwin said.

‘I suppose so. Although, maybe it was something else. She was always very polite, very respectful, but all the other men justtook the rise out of her. They joked about her, you know, offensively.’

‘All of them? You were the only man there who was kind to her, then?’ Simon asked sarcastically.

‘Simon!’ Baldwin hissed. Then, ‘What of Jean?’

‘He wasn’t like the rest. I think he said once he’d lost a wife. Maybe that made it easier for him to be nice to her. What would she see in him, though, any more’n she’d see somethingin me? That was why he got jealous.’

‘Why?’

‘Because her and me, we got close. Used to go there to the cell door and talk to her. She told me all about her life in castlesand palaces and that, and I told her a bit about me.’

‘Like, “men I have killed”? “Women I have tortured”? “Children I’ve slaughtered”?’ Simon demanded sharply.

Arnaud looked over at him. ‘You want to know about the people I’ve killed? I’ve killed many. Very many. But where would thelaw be without the punishments? If you don’t have men like me, you don’t have the law, and without the law the world is mad.You need me and my kind, master. You think you’re so much better than me? You’re happy enough to see people sent to the gallows,aren’t you? But you just don’t want to do that last little job, do you? Actually kill them. You want to know someone’s doneit for you. I suppose it’s like meat. You’re happy for a butcher to kill a steer, but you don’t want to do it yourself, norskin it and gut it. You’re happy to know that a murderer has been captured, glad to see he’s been punished. I dare say youlike going to watch him dance his last on the King’s evergreen tree, eh? But you hate me because I do it and save you andothers the effort. I wouldn’t like to think you’d be upset by having to put the rope round the man’s neck. That would be nasty , wouldn’t it?’

‘You kill for a living. I am happy to know that the law is upheld and punishments are carried out, but there’s a differencebetween that and enjoying the job.’

‘You think I like what I do?’ Arnaud stared at him, long and hard. ‘Yes. You think I’m a monster because I end lives. Butat least I do what I may to ease their ends. I don’t leave men to suffer without need.’

‘Enough! We are talking about the Château Gaillard,’ Baldwin said. ‘This man Jean — what more can you tell us about him? What happened between you and him? Why did he try to attackyou?’

‘Jealousy. He saw how well I was getting on with my Lady Blanche, and he wanted to have time with her too. But then the orderscame.’

‘What orders?’ Baldwin asked, eyes narrowed.

Arnaud shook his head, staring down at the table. Baldwin beckoned the innkeeper, and soon a fresh pot of ale was placed ontheir table. ‘The King wanted a divorce. At any cost. So he asked that she be proved to have been an adulterer.’

Simon shrugged. ‘Why ask you? There must have been others he could turn to who were used to spying, surely.’

Baldwin glanced at him with a face blanched in horror. ‘Don’t you understand, Simon? The King ordered his wife to be rapedso that they could show her adultery in gaol. Whether she had been forced or not, the fact that she had had intercourse woulddemonstrate that she was no longer chaste and perfect. She could not be queen. Her marriage to the King would have to be annulled.’

‘I couldn’t let it happen to her, sir. I couldn’t . I love her. So … I told her what had been suggested, and she was glad to … to let me. And some months later, therewas proof.’

‘She was delivered of a child?’

‘Our little boy. Yes. He was a lovely little thing, sir. Beautiful, and sweet.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘He died. Youngsters often do.’

Simon looked away. He had lost his own son to a fever. It still hurt to think of it.

‘I had heard that Lady Blanche had taken the veil,’ Baldwin agreed. ‘But what of that man Jean?’

‘He wanted her. He was mad with jealousy, sir. When he heard that Blanche was with child, he went berserk. And then, later, Blanche was taken away from us all. Ah, God, that wasa terrible day. I was driven mad myself. I love her, sir. The idea that she was going was bad, but to know that I’d never be able to see her again, that she’d take up theveil at a nunnery, that was just … I could hardly bear it. And Jean was worse. He wanted her. So did some of the others.Berengar worse than most.’

‘Berengar?’

‘One of the other guards. He’d been there since the Queen first arrived. A week or two after she’d gone, he suddenly wentinsane. He started shouting that there were evil ones all about him, and drew a knife. Well, we were all handy with our weapons,like any man, but when you see a fellow start dribbling and foaming, and then he begins to lay about him with a long blade,well, it’s enough to make you stand back and be cautious, you know? So we all stood back, like I say, and our oldest, le Vieux,went to try to calm him down.’

‘Le Vieux? The Old Man?’

‘Never knew his real name. He was always called that. Anyway, he went in, and was struck down by a knock on his head. Felllike a poleaxed bull. Thump, straight down. And Berengar got the rest of us in a corner and started to stab at us all. Hekilled three, I think, before running off. I went after him to try to get him — he only scratched my arm here and here.’ Hepulled up his right sleeve to show two long scars, each four or five inches long, both of them badly healed with thick, uglystitch marks where the flesh had been pulled together. ‘But he got nearly as far as the town. Luckily, he saw some men ina field, and tried to kill them too, and I caught up with him and put him on the ground and cut his throat. Had to do it.At least I was trained in how to do it and end his misery before anyone else was harmed,’ he said, staring hard at Simon.