Michael Jecks - A Friar's bloodfeud

‘Thank you, Sir Odo,’ Simon muttered. He felt more than a little out of his depth in this discussion. Sir Odo was a plain-speaking man, and a bluff, honest character, but in Simon’s experience so were almost all leaders of warriors. They tended to have that skill of speaking to a man as though he were an equal, no matter what the actual difference in position. It was that which led men to trust them and follow them into battle.

‘You’ve been praised often enough by our lord,’ Odo said. ‘So you see, Sir Baldwin, I feel no concern when I speak openly in front of you, and I do want to see if there’s anything we can do to resolve matters here.’

They were at the inn’s door, and they walked inside. There was one table on the right that was inhabited by two young men discussing the attractions of a maid, but when the two knights stood before them, and Edgar jerked his thumb, they soon took the hint and vacated their seats.

‘So, Sir Odo,’ Baldwin said when they were all seated with great earthenware cups filled with wine before them. ‘Tell me more.’

The most part of Sir Odo’s story told them little that was new. Sir Geoffrey was an acquisitive soul and sought to take over Sir Odo’s lands ‘on this side of the river — at first, anyway. No doubt he’ll want the whole of Fishleigh as soon as he can get his hands on it.’ If he could take Lady Lucy’s lands as well, he would have a great swathe of land east and north of Sir Odo, which would make it all the easier to subdue any possible revolts, and incidentally make it easier to swallow up any other manors he desired … ‘all in the name of his master, of course,’ Sir Odo said drily, and tipped his head back to finish his wine.

Baldwin poured him more. ‘So I can understand why he should have killed Lady Lucy, if you are right. She was a barrier to his advance.’

‘There are stories that she was tortured?’

Baldwin nodded.

‘I dare say he tried to make her hand him her lands. When he failed, he killed her. A savage, brutal man.’

‘Clearly. What of the land between here and the river? Madam Isabel and Malkin feel it is theirs and yet you hold it.’

‘I do.’ Odo grimaced for some little while, then tilted his head and nodded. ‘It was theirs, and when they lost it, Sir Geoffrey had it along with his other lands. I bought it from him. Ach! I’m not proud to take advantage of the situation, but I have a duty to Lord de Courtenay. That land creates a buffer between Monkleigh and Fishleigh. I thought it made sound sense to purchase it, and Sir Geoffrey was keen enough to take my money. Now I realise he put my money straight into his own purse. He intends to win back the land for his own master.’

‘I can understand that,’ Simon said, ‘and I can see how he might have sought to remove Lady Lucy. I suppose Ailward could have possibly tried to win back his lands in the future, so Sir Geoffrey had him killed: but I can see no reason why he should have killed Hugh.’

‘Hugh?’ Sir Odo asked, perplexed.

‘My friend’s servant, who used to live a little way up here,’ Baldwin said.

‘Ah, yes. I heard of that. The fire?’

‘That was what the coroner said,’ Simon said without conviction.

‘Sir Edward?’ Sir Odo gave a humourless laugh. ‘Oh, yes. He’d agree to whatever Sir Geoffrey suggested to him. They are close, those two. But then, both serve the same lord.’

‘Despenser?’ Baldwin confirmed.

‘Yes. And the coroner knows where his loyalties lie.’

‘Why would he seek to remove Hugh?’ Baldwin asked with a frown.

‘If I’m right and he wants all my lands this side of the river, the first thing he’d do would be to launch raids on the outlying farms and properties. Well, on the same night he attacked my man Robert Crokers, and then your man up here. Didn’t kill Robert, but then he probably thought that a man who was so high in my household would be too much of a provocation to me. It would force me to react. So he took your man instead. He left a message for me at Robert’s, and killed someone else to show he wasn’t scared. Both parcels of land are close to his estates.’

‘So it would be easy for him to get an armed force to them without being seen,’ Baldwin noted.

‘Of course. I’ve been on edge ever since,’ Odo said, drinking more wine and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘I’ve a chain of men with horses at different places between all the outlying farms, just in case of another attack.’

‘That was how you arrived today?’ Simon asked. ‘I wondered where you had sprung from.’

‘A messenger arrived to tell me that Sir Geoffrey set off from his hall earlier this evening. At first I was convinced he’d gone to ruin poor Robert’s house again, but there was no sign of his men there. So I thought to myself that he must have been heading this way instead, and we lashed our brutes to get here as quickly as we could. Just in time, too, from the look of it!’

‘It was in very good time,’ Baldwin said, but there was no warmth in his tone.

Hugh sat back on his heels. ‘Want to know what you meant.’

‘I can’t even remember seeing you there.’

He didn’t believe the man. ‘I was hedging. You told me to look after her. That night, she died.’

Humphrey’s face suddenly paled. ‘ Pater Noster, Domine …’

‘You can say one thing for him,’ John said idly, lifting a rabbit leg and dropping it into the pot with the others. ‘He’s certainly had training. He knows all the right words.’

‘Of course I do,’ Humphrey spat. ‘What do you think I am? An impostor?’

His bluster didn’t upset John. ‘Yes.’

Humphrey gaped. His work had been faultless, surely. It was impossible that anyone could have spotted his deceit.

‘You see,’ John said, ‘your error was in assuming that all parish priests are dullards. They aren’t. In particular, Matthew at Iddesleigh is a very good and conscientious priest. He knows his Latin, he serves his flock as well as he might, he works his lands alongside the peasants, and he knows the church and the politics of the bishop’s court. Perhaps if you had known more about that, he wouldn’t have noticed you. But you didn’t, so he did.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘You knew too much, but your Latin was very rusty. It still is, I think. You can recite it, but it’s not your strength. Your congregation wouldn’t notice the difference. Tell me, did Isaac?’

‘This is nonsense!’

‘Perhaps he did and didn’t want to embarrass you. I have no doubt he would have prayed hard for your miserable, devious, lying soul. But there we are. It was as plain as the buckle on your belt there that you weren’t trained for the priesthood. No, I agreed with Matthew as soon as I saw you.’

‘Agreed with what?’

‘That you were a friar or a monk. And you’ve run away.’

Simon watched Sir Odo mount his horse. ‘Thank God we’ve met him,’ he said. ‘At least we know we have a strong ally.’

Baldwin nodded, but his mind was not entirely with Simon. The bailiff recognised the look in his eyes. It was that slight distraction that meant that Baldwin was already beginning to see through the immediate problems to the core of the matter.

‘Well, Baldwin?’ he asked.

Baldwin knew his friend well enough now not to mind when he broke in upon his thoughts. ‘Sir Odo is clearly anxious about Sir Geoffrey, and from what we’ve seen, so should he be.’

‘It was a stroke of good fortune for us that he is,’ Edgar commented.

Simon glanced at him. ‘Because his men were there in good time?’

Edgar nodded. His face was set to the south and west. ‘That’s the way he came, wasn’t it? I wonder where the messenger was stationed. The lad must have been a fleet rider to be able to get to Sir Odo and rouse him in time for Odo to ride out to his man’s lands before coming here. We were not so slow ourselves in riding here from the chapel, were we?’