Michael Jecks - The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover

He ground his teeth as he thought how close he had come to killing Arnaud. And then those interfering fools had got in hisway and stopped him from succeeding. The damned sons of-

No. There was no point in getting bitter about them. They saw a man who was about to commit a murder and stopped him. That wasall. Ach, but the roaring voice had cut through his bowels like a dagger of ice. He’d felt as though he would die with theshock of it. He’d stood there with his knife in his hand, and hesitated just long enough for the cursed Arnaud to slip aside,and then he’d been forced to flee himself, before those two men could catch up with him. One against a rat like Arnaud wasone thing; to stand against Arnaud and two men-at-arms was quite another.

Looking up, he saw that the sky was darkening. Soon dusk would fall, and another day would be over, and his quest for revengeagainst Arnaud would be deferred for another day.

It was the only thing that lent spice to his life, now, this search for Arnaud. The man deserved to be killed for what hehad done. Poisoning the minds of men like le Vieux against him … it was so unjust ! He’d never done anything to Arnaud that he knew of. He’d hated the man — but most who served as executioner were detested.That was hardly to mark him out. What had led Arnaud to seek to hurt him? Presumably just the fact that he had seen the attackon Berengar and knew what Arnaud had done to the other members of the guard at Château Gaillard. Slaying them all, all buthimself and le Vieux.

And that was the interesting thing: why did Arnaud do that? At the time, Jean had assumed that it was his evil soul demandingblood. But if that were so, what had stopped him killing? There were those who could kill without passion, perhaps, but if a man lost his reason and killed like thatfor no purpose, he could no longer be considered human. He was no better than a dog with the rage . A creature which must be destroyed, because there was nothing else to do with it.

But then a strange, niggling thought began to insidiously work its way into his mind.

What if there had been some motive other than madness which directed Arnaud to kill all the men of the guard?

No. That was impossible. He was just mad, and killed without reason.

Yet there was that strange detail: le Vieux had survived. The two of them had known each other before Jean had met eitherof them, that much was obvious. They had been prone to talk to each other, and the way that they reacted to each other whenthey first rescued Jean from gaol had shown a kind of mutual regard. If anything, it had shown that le Vieux was the moresenior in rank as well as age.

Le Vieux. A man with all the signs of military service, and Arnaud the executioner. Both taking men like him, like Berengar,like Pons, rescuing them from long terms in gaol and giving them all a chance at a new life, serving the Comte de Foix atChâteau Gaillard. The Comte, Jean’s old master. And yet the château was surely no part of the Comte’s territory? It was farfrom his own compté . So why was de Foix arranging for the guards up there?

It was not something which had ever occurred to him before, but now the strange illogicality of his presence in the châteauseemed important. Just as important, perhaps, as the reason for Arnaud’s sudden attack. That, its very irrationality, seemedparticularly curious. He had never demonstrated murderous inclinations towards the guards before then. Yes, he was a cruel,vindictive, bestial man, but he had not shown any sign of wishing to harm his companions at the castle. Why should he havesuddenly gone berserk just after their prisoner had left the place?

Then there was also the stranger who had been in the room when le Vieux had suddenly attacked him. That man, who had drawnhis own sword against Jean, even though they’d never met before. He looked like a noble. Who was he?

‘Come on, Ricard. It can’t be all that bad,’ Janin said.

‘You don’t reckon? How much do you want to die?’

Adam grinned, and Philip snorted. Philip said, ‘There’s nothing so bad we can’t-’

‘That man, the one you saw today with bloody Jack? The man in London, who killed the glover and his wife? That one? You knowwho he is?’ Their bafflement gave his sarcasm a sharpened edge. He was almost satisfied to see how they shook their heads.‘The King’s brother. The Earl of Kent. That’s who. Edmund of Kent. So all this time we’ve been trying to upset and removethe man who’s been put here by the King’s brother.’

Janin leaned back on his stool and puffed out his cheeks.

They were in their own little chamber in the castle’s outbuildings, a draughty room with stone walls on two sides, partitionedwith wattle and daub on the other two. The plaster had cracked and fallen away to show the withies in many places, a delightfulaspect which gave Charlie plenty of scope to exercise his skills at demolition. He was there now, prying away pieces of plasterand telling himself a story about it as he went, while water seeped in from the courtyard about his feet. Still, at leastthe musicians had a place of their own where they could sit and talk in peace. Not that there was any comfort in that justnow.

Adam was pale. ‘So he’s the King’s own man, this Jack?’

Janin gave a harsh bark of laughter. ‘Oh, no, Adam. Not necessarily. The King hates his own wife, and his brothers are notclose allies of his, any more than his cousin was.’

‘Cousin?’

Ricard shot him a look. Even a lad like Adam should have known that much, damn his heart! ‘His bleeding cousin, yes. EarlThomas of Lancaster, the man who raised an army against the King and was captured and hanged for his pains! Hardly the actionof a close relative.’

‘Even so, that’s a cousin, not a brother …’

‘Half-brother,’ Philip said shortly. ‘Different mother from the King. And the King doesn’t trust him since the French invadedGuyenne. The Earl was in charge there. He was responsible for the duchy and it was him signed the truce they’re trying torenegotiate now.’

‘So he’s not the flavour of sweetness to the King just now,’ Ricard noted with grim satisfaction. ‘That’s marvellous. He’sbitterness incarnate to the King, and it’s his man you two tried to jump.’

‘We weren’t to know,’ Adam protested weakly.

‘You should have bloody guessed! Now what we’ve got is a little problem, boys. Is this Earl Edmund working to the King’s advantagehere, or his own?’

‘Surely he’ll be here with the King’s approval,’ Janin said thoughtfully.

‘Maybe so,’ Ricard agreed. He picked up his citole and strummed pensively.

Philip said, ‘But what does that mean to us? So what? He’s possibly the King’s enemy, so we only have to tell the King’s menand we’re all right.’ He stood as though to make for the door.

‘What it means is, we may have made an enemy of Jack, which makes his master think we’re his enemies too,’ Ricard said scathingly.‘And that is not a position which gives me any great comfort.’

‘Did you speak with the Queen or her clerk?’ Janin asked.

‘No. No time. I was jumped by Jack and this other man before I saw de Bouden.’

‘Then the first thing you should do is tell the Queen all about the Earl, Jack, and the other man,’ Janin said with certainty.‘That way, at least our own lady knows we’re on her side. If anyone tries to lie about us and say we were acting for anyonelater, we can show we’ve told the Queen about this. We did what servants should.’

‘Right,’ Ricard said, his heart plummeting. He saw again Jack’s face, heard the cold voice from de Bouden’s chamber, saw the Queenentering … ‘Wait! She knows the man in de Bouden’s room. De Bouden brought her there, and Jack was outside with de Boudento guard while she was inside.’