Michael Jecks - The Outlaws of Ennor

David was about to respond angrily when Baldwin saw Tedia start. ‘I saw him!’ she whispered, and a hand went to her mouth as she realised what she had said.

‘What do you mean?’ David said quickly. His temper was still up — partly because of Baldwin’s suggestion, but mostly because he hated to think that the priest could have tried to get inside Tedia’s skirts. David had seen how Luke watched his own wife. Not that it was all the lad’s fault, he thought sourly, shooting Brosia a quick look. She would have led him on if she could have, which was why David had ensured so far as he was able, that she never had an opportunity.

‘The night Robert was murdered, I saw Luke running back over the flats.’

Baldwin was unsure what she meant. ‘Robert’s body was found on the next island, Ennor, was he not? Do you mean you saw this Luke running back from a boat?’

‘Yes,’ David said hurriedly. ‘There are some boats out on the flats. You saw him running back from there, Tedia?’

She saw his look and understood what he meant. ‘Yes. He was hurrying. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, because I was waiting for Robert, but what if …’ A hand went to her mouth at the thought that she might have witnessed the escape of the man who had killed her lover.

‘It means nothing,’ Baldwin said. ‘The most important thing is, not to tell people. Otherwise, this Brother Luke might be caught and hanged on the spot. The worst crime in the world must be the hanging of a priest without a fair trial.’

‘We all know what a “fair trial” means for a priest,’ David said scathingly. ‘It means a boat to England and a day in the Bishop’s court, before he’s sent away to serve a penance. And what was he doing here in the first place, eh? Serving penance for some crime committed elsewhere! What if we’re just sending a criminal away to kill another?’

‘There’s not even the faintest hint that he would have a reason to kill the tax-man,’ Baldwin said, but his voice was losing its force. He was in truth very tired.

‘You say so? I think you’ve already heard the reason, Sir Knight! Jealousy. It will eat at a man, won’t it? And here you have a fellow who lusted after all the women in the vill, and then spoke to one whom he thought he could have as his own little “priest’s mare”, this lovely little wench here. Except he learned from gossips that she was already settled with Robert, and so the priest took a knife to Robert’s throat.’

‘He had his throat cut?’ Baldwin asked.

‘I don’t know,’ David shrugged. ‘But this priest must have been the killer. He ran out there, killed the man and came back.’

‘Where he was seen by Tedia,’ Baldwin murmured. It made some sense. ‘And if not, it was surely Tedia’s husband.’

‘Unlikely, I should think,’ David said. ‘Isok is a sad, embittered man, but no murderer.’

There was a note of conviction in his voice which surprised Baldwin, but then he reflected that men living close together on an island must have an intimate knowledge of each other. The inability to escape unwelcome company must lead to men either learning to control their tempers, or to lose their tempers ever more swiftly and violently. There was little alternative.

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Then we must speak to this priest and learn what he has to say for himself.’ Aye, and to the husband of Tedia, too, he told himself with a sidelong look at her. Isok was still one of the most obvious suspects, although he was beginning to think that David came a close second.

However, the conversations with them would have to be conducted more cautiously; Baldwin had no wish to see Tedia hurt any more.

Isok dropped the heavy stone at the end of the rope and watched as the cable unrolled itself through the v-shaped notch it had worn in the upper edge of the boat’s hull. At least here he was himself. On the seas which he had known since his childhood, he felt at peace. The troubles of the island seemed to fade a little. He was alone, and alone he was able to cope. No one could hurt him here.

He was well enough, he supposed. There was only this lassitude that seemed odd. It was out of place for him. Beforehand he had always been an energetic man. Now, nothing touched him. At least when he first married, while they were trying, he and Tedia, to consummate their vows, there had been the pride of ownership. He had the woman whom all the men in the vill desired, partly because of her bright eye and quick humour, partly because the lithe and supple body which lay beneath that tunic was so tempting, but also because she was apparently so eager for lovemaking. Others had enjoyed her body, of course, but that was of no concern to Isok. He, after all, had won her heart.

So he believed. Now he sighed. The cable was stopped, and the boat began to swing about. Here he knew that the fishing was usually good. The first end of the line had been fixed to a point on the beach, and he had rowed out here, paying out the long net, and now he must row back to shore. Once there he could pull in the net and see what catch he had won.

It was more usual to do this with another man. One would row while the other paid out the net, and then both hauled on it. It was certainly efficient fishing that way, but Isok had grown sick of hearing men whispering behind his back. If he came out here with another man, he knew he must be observed the whole time, as though he was a curious form of cod which was washed up to be studied in the shallows.

‘I am no fish!’ he growled to himself.

Even now he was convinced that someone was watching him, although here, up at the northern tip of St Theona, there were fewer people. No matter. Damn any man who wanted to stare at him. Isok had suffered enough. For a while now, he would be idle. His net was set, and he could pull it in at any time. He was happy to just sit here in his boat and listen to the waves kissing the strakes.

If he could have had his time again, he’d still have married her. There was no disgust or hatred for her in his heart. He was extremely fond of her. Tedia was so pretty, no man could think of disliking her. A divorce would be hurtful and embarrassing, but he knew that he must go through with it, if only for her sake. He loved her enough to want her to have another husband, if he could make her happy. If he, Isok, was not man enough to bed her, it was not his right, he felt, to keep her from another man who could.

He had tried everything, as had she, but nothing seemed to make his damned prickle work. Even now, staring down at his loins, he couldn’t begin to understand why. It was terrible that he should be so punished. Somehow he must have greatly offended God to have been inflicted with this.

The Prior had spoken to him and explained what would happen. When the Bishop heard the details of the case, he would write to the Prior and ask that he arrange for a suitable test to be made. That meant that certain ‘wise women’ in the vill would be asked to see whether they could make his prickle work. If they could put it in semen, the divorce would fail because it was simply a lack of success on Tedia’s part, and she would be exhorted to redouble her efforts; but if they failed, the wise women would have to give a report to the Prior, and he would have to recommend that the marriage be dissolved. There was no justice in leaving Tedia bound to a man who was clearly, according to God’s apparent will, not suited to that particular wife.

Cryspyn had been kind about it. He had spoken gently, as though to a child, explaining that if God saw fit to deny them the ability to consummate their marriage, He must not be challenged. The Prior’s face was filled with sympathy, and he had offered to listen if Isok had anything he wished to discuss, but what was there for Isok to say?