Michael Jecks - The Outlaws of Ennor

‘I can find one — my husband has a small boat — but I don’t know where I can get one tonight,’ she said reluctantly.

‘Well, we can do nothing about it tonight, then,’ Baldwin said. ‘And, I for one am glad. My immersion has had an impact upon my ability to concentrate. I think that a walk to your home will be about as much as I can cope with.’

It was true. His feet were leaden, and his bones ached with exhaustion, as though he had aged at least ten years in the last few days. It was ironic, he thought to himself as they set off back along a little track that followed the line of the sand, then up and across a peninsula before heading southwards to Tedia’s house, that only three or four days ago he had felt so filled with energy. His journey to the south had given him a new lease of life, just because he had gone back to the lands where he had lived when he was much younger. It had made him remember things he had thought were buried for ever. Such as the women on the island of Cyprus, when he was learning his vocation. There had been such beautiful women there, slim, dark-haired girls who were keen to amuse or entertain the Templar novices. Baldwin had learned much of life while he had been there, in the unrestricted environment. Perhaps that was partly why he loved the feel of this island, too, he thought. Because he had such happy memories of that other island: Cyprus.

Then a burst of honesty made him stare at the ground. This was no affection for a lump of rock in the sea. It was the sense of pleasure which an older man felt on seeing a young, beautiful woman who was not only attainable, but deliberately available. He shot a look at Tedia, and was disconcerted to see that she was simultaneously glancing at him. Both looked away.

When they reached her house, Baldwin was about to suggest that he should remain somewhere else, when she motioned him inside, and he found that his feet took him within. He sat near the hearth, and watched while she collected a bound bundle of dried kelp and set it on the top of the old ashes. She placed a few pieces of kindling about it, then blew gently. Some tiny coals sparked. Amid the dust which she caused to fly, there were chips of orange. Soon a wisp of smoke arose. Then another, and in a moment there was a flickering as a tiny flame rose.

She ignored him. It was impossible to let her feelings show. This man, this stranger knight, had shown her more interest and compassion today than most had shown her in all her life. It was so unfair that poor Isok couldn’t do his duty to her. He was a good man, she knew. It was just that he was terribly affected by this damned weakness of his. She had no option other than to leave him, with the Church’s consent, and find another man who would give her the children she craved.

As soon as she had heard from Luke that it was possible to divorce, she had set her heart on Robert, but now he was gone, and all she knew was that, without him, her life could have little meaning. There were so few men about here who could woo her. Only this one man fascinated her, this knight.

He was a curious fellow. Calm yet easily embarrassed, from the blush she had seen so often when he looked her way; he was plainly intelligent, and had money too. He was not one of those poor, mercenary knights whose entire income and ability to earn was lost with his lord in some skirmish or other. No, he was well-endowed, from the look of him and to hear him. He had no sword or expensive jewellery, but he had the sort of manners and courtesy which spoke of his position. That showed more than anything that he was an important man.

Poor Isok. She had loved him, but without apparent proof of his own love for her, that was nothing. Gradually her love had diminished, until it had dwindled to so small a flame that it had died in the faintest whistle of the wind: the tiny gust caused by Robert’s interest. His amusement in her company had reignited her passion; and now he was dead. Two men whom she had wanted, desired, loved. Both lost to her.

Her eyes rose and studied Baldwin as she collected herbs and fish for her pottage. He was a good man, a kind man, she felt. He was older, certainly, she accepted as she saw his eyelids drooping, but that was no bad thing necessarily. He would be married, of course. Every worthwhile man was married, as she knew too well. No, she must accept her fate. She’d end up a wizened old maid here on St Nicholas, and that was that.

Poor Robert! She rubbed at her eyes, clearing the tears. He had shown a keen interest in her, and she hadn’t been able to give herself to him as she’d wished. That was all. The poor man! Dying like that, on his way to see her.

Isok had never shown himself to be so jealous that he’d try to murder a potential lover. If anything, she’d have said that he was the sort of man to accept his fate. But no one could truly know what went on in a man’s head when he was suffering like Isok. Perhaps he thought that it was revenge for betrayal. No, if it was that, he’d kill her. No, this must be a punishment, killing Robert so that Isok could keep his wife. Unless it was Luke who had killed Robert. Luke was certainly a curious fellow. She wasn’t sure that she could trust him.

She suddenly realised that the room was much darker, and she went to the door, staring out.

‘What is it, Tedia?’

She smiled, but didn’t turn. ‘My husband, Sir Baldwin. He should have been home by now. It’s growing dark and he’s usually back by this time.’

‘You fear for him?’

‘In some ways,’ she answered, still not facing him, but leaning against her doorway and staring out into the darkening night. ‘I have known him many years.’

‘Tell me about him.’

She sighed, but not unhappily as she recalled their wooing. ‘He was a good man. Always considerate, always caring. I felt like a queen when I was with him. Other men I’d known, they wanted my body, but with Isok, he seemed more interested in me because he liked me. It made him more appealing to me, I suppose. I never thought he wouldn’t be able to make me his wife.’

‘How did he marry you?’

‘I was happy with him,’ she said, returning to the room and pouring a large mazer of ale for Baldwin. Passing it to him, she said, ‘He made me laugh. What more does a woman need? So I told him I wanted him, “to have and to hold from this day, for fairer, for grimmer, from this day onwards”, and he said, “Tedia, I take you as my woman, and will want no other woman for as long as I live”. I felt so happy that day. I’d never thought I’d get the man I wanted, but he gave himself to me. It was so lovely.’

Her eyes watered again at the memory. ‘It was a beautiful day, and rather than take me as I had expected, to consummate the marriage immediately, instead I was delighted to hear him say that he wanted a priest to hear our vows. He insisted that we see William at St Mary’s, because William had been at St Elidius for many years, and Isok respected him greatly. Isok had to go to sea for a day, but when he returned, he said, he would marry me in full view of witnesses and William.

‘So two days later, Isok and I rowed over to Ennor, our little craft surrounded by a flotilla of small boats, with all the men making lewd gestures to me, while their wives howled with laughter and made bawdy comments to Isok.’

The general atmosphere of hilarity had been increased by the sudden appearance of some tuns of wine. Several had been delivered already to the port on Ennor, for the Lord of the Manor, but the rest were stored safely for the good of the community of St Nicholas — apart from the monks who, it was felt, needed no more wine.

‘William was wonderful.’

Speaking with his slightly catarrhal accent, William stood before them like an avenging angel, threatening them with hellfire if they were to fail. He silenced the crowds without a word, just an intimidating glower, and they were quietened in a moment. Afterwards, when he had bound their hands with his alb and pronounced that they be man and wife, he had grimly stared at the crowds as though daring them to make a sound until he had finished, and when the people erupted in joyful celebration, he had only then allowed a smile of satisfaction to pass over his lips.