Michael Jecks - The Tolls of Death

Even now, after so many years, he could recall the horror he felt as the enormity of the disaster hit him. His father was in there, so was his mother, Avice, his brothers, his beloved sister … and the family home was an inferno. Flames thrust up through the thatch like daggers of gold and crimson; thick, greasy smoke coiled and spread high overhead like a cloud belched from Hell.

Richer stood back, appalled, and then cried once for his mother. He was about to dart forwards, when strong hands grabbed him. It was Iwan, the smith, who held him back, tears streaming from his eyes. ‘You’d never make it, lad. No. You can’t go.’

He had tried, he’d clenched a fist and swung it, but Iwan was faster, and caught the fist in his palm. He gripped his fingers tight, in a hand that used a three-pound hammer for hour after hour every day, and there was nothing Richer could do. He wept as he watched his home burn; he continued weeping as the roof caved in with an almighty gust of hot air like the Devil’s exhalation; he wept as the walls fell in, as the sparks were flung higher, as the timbers glowed pale in the night air, and he continued weeping long after.

They found the bodies three days later. It took that long for the fires to cool sufficiently. His parents’ skulls were easily discernible, although those of his brothers were difficult to find. His sister was reduced to two hipbones and her jaw. All other sign of her had been crushed or burned away. It was only a few days afterwards that the first of his migraines had begun.

‘Master, we met last night at the castle.’

The strong voice brought him back to the present with a jerk. He squinted up. ‘Who is that?’

‘I am Sir Baldwin of Furnshill. This is the Coroner, Sir Jules of Fowey, and my companion Simon Puttock.’

‘Sir Knight, I have a dreadful ache in my skull — it is hard to see anyone or anything today.’

‘Friend, I know others who suffer from the same sick headaches. You have my sympathy. Tell me, do you know this area well? You said you were born here, but have been away many years.’

‘I can recall it all tolerably well. I’ve been back a few weeks now.’

‘You knew this Athelina?’ Jules asked.

‘She was my first love,’ Richer said sadly. ‘But I left this place fifteen years ago, and only returned this summer.’

‘You were a free man?’ Baldwin said.

‘No. But I lived free in Exeter and then London, and I’ve returned a free man.’

Baldwin nodded. That was the law. If a peasant could run away and find himself a job for a year and a day, he was considered free from then on. ‘You were a man-at-arms?’

‘Yes. I have fought with the King’s host.’

‘Under whose banner?’

‘My lord Sir Henry of Cardinham’s. He took me on when I told him who I was.’

Simon frowned in surprise. ‘It’s not usual for a lord to take on his own runaway peasant as a man-at-arms, is it?’

‘Perhaps not all lords would have done so, but Sir Henry is a fair man. He took me, and now I live in the castle.’

‘This woman Athelina — do you know of anyone who had cause to wish her harm?’ Baldwin asked.

‘Why do you ask that?’

‘We believe that her suicide may have been faked. It’s possible that she was murdered, and her children too,’ Baldwin explained.

Richer squeezed his eyes tight shut as another wave of pain forced its way through his head. ‘That’s impossible. No one could have held so much hatred for her!’

‘Yet you have not known her for fifteen years,’ Baldwin pointed out. ‘A woman can change a great deal in that time. She gained children, she wedded and lost a husband. Perhaps she won an enemy.’

‘I refuse to believe it.’ Richer’s voice was hoarse. ‘She was a kind girl, generous-hearted and warm. No one could have wished to kill her. I still find it hard to believe that she is dead, let alone murdered. Dear God — who could do such a thing?’

‘I am afraid there is no doubt,’ Baldwin said gently. ‘There were marks upon her neck which show that she was murdered.’ He stopped because the man-at-arms before him suddenly dropped his head into both hands.

Richer pressed hard with his palms against his temples. Athelina murdered ! It was impossible! She had done no harm to anyone in all her life … He had doubted from the first moment that she could have killed her children, though. It simply didn’t ring true. A despair terrible enough to kill herself was possible, but not to kill those whom she adored the most. Never.

‘I knew her well. I wanted to marry her, but there was a fire at my parents’ home and my family was burned to death. I left soon after. When I returned here after many years of wandering, it was like becoming young again just to see her smile at me. She was my first love, and I don’t think I ever lost my adoration for her.’

Baldwin smiled understandingly. ‘It can be difficult to meet again with an old lover. Sometimes they can wish to renew a former relationship.’

‘She didn’t,’ Richer said sadly, but then he stared up at the serious-faced knight. ‘You mean, did I want to jump upon her at once and she refused me, so I killed her! If you believe that, you are a cretin, Sir Knight.’

‘Not many men speak thus to a knight,’ Sir Jules growled, his face hardening.

‘I doubt whether you accuse many men of murder and rape in the same breath,’ Richer replied equally harshly. ‘If you don’t wish to make enemies, you should pick your words more cautiously.’

‘We are investigating a murder,’ Baldwin said.

‘Leave it to the Coroner. It’s his job.’

‘It is the job of all to seek justice,’ Baldwin stated flatly, a hand touching the Coroner’s arm. Gradually Sir Jules allowed his temper to cool.

‘Then seek justice for me ! I’ve lost my parents, my siblings, and now my love! You tell me you seek justice — who will seek justice for them, eh?’

‘I am sorry about your loss,’ Baldwin said more softly. ‘But my priority has to be this woman and her children. She was a widow, I hear?’

‘Yes. Her husband Hob was a good man. I used to know him.’

‘Did he leave her much money?’

‘What! Do you now accuse me …’

‘I accuse you of nothing, but a thief could break in to steal from her and commit murder if she discovered him. Calm yourself, Richer.’

‘I apologise. My head … Very well. She was left nothing, so far as I know. He died a good while ago, so she told me.’

‘How long?’

‘She’d been widowed more than nine years.’

‘And since then?’ Simon asked. ‘It’s a long time for a woman to be alone. How did she survive?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps she had a lover — I didn’t ask. You heard that Serlo demanded more money for rent, and I know that worried her. I offered to help, but she said another should pay. Maybe that’s what she meant — a lover.’

‘Did anyone try to stop him demanding more?’

‘I was attempting to. You know of his behaviour with the tolls? I told him to leave Athelina alone, or I’d bring the matter of the tolls to Nicholas’s attention.’

‘He tried to charge me for crossing his bridge,’ Baldwin agreed. ‘I persuaded him against the idea.’

‘So did I. I think he was trying to get money together to pay for his fines. He owes a lot of money for his apprentice’s death.’ Richer was still a moment, and then he raised his head, his face white. ‘My Christ in Heaven! Do you think that he would have dared to kill her to get back at me? He has always hated me.’

Baldwin studied the ravaged features before him, and slowly shook his head. ‘No. I think that whoever the murderer was, he killed her for his own motives. If he was attempting to implicate you for some reason, he would have made your guilt obvious. This crime was concealed.’