Michael Jecks - The Outlaws of Ennor

‘I have to thank you for your hospitality,’ Simon said, bowing to Ranulph. ‘I haven’t eaten or drunk so well in many a week. Foreign food is not good to an Englishman’s belly.’

It was true enough. He’d been laid up twice with a bad gut ache while he was in Spain. The second bout had threatened to kill him, and he still felt that it was a sign of God’s kindness that he had been brought back from the brink.

‘I am keen to support shipwrecked mariners,’ Ranulph said.

‘Your generosity is welcome,’ Simon said, impressed by the aura of power that surrounded the man. Ranulph wore his responsibilities lightly. Now he was in his own chamber, he sprawled in his large chair like a man who was entirely relaxed, although Simon couldn’t help but notice the weapons which lay within reach. There were two daggers on the table near his hand, a sword at his belt, and leaning against the wall was a polearm with a curved blade like a billhook.

‘I would be grateful if you could see to the release of my friends,’ Simon said.

‘Are they the two who tried to attack me?’ Ranulph growled.

‘That was surely a misunderstanding.’

‘I dislike misunderstandings which almost cost me my head,’ Ranulph said. ‘So I think I’ll keep them until I am sure that they fully comprehend their places here.’

Simon opened his mouth to speak, but Thomas interrupted him.

‘Don’t worry, Bailiff. For our part, we intend Sir Charles to be released. There’s no point in keeping him locked away. He’s no threat to us, is he?’

‘How soon before he’s freed?’

Ranulph gave him a slow, steady look. ‘You can trust me to decide on when I allow prisoners to be released, Bailiff, in my own manor.’

‘I asked the good Bailiff to enquire about Robert’s death, since he has had some experience of such work,’ Thomas said. ‘Perhaps he should let us know how his investigations are progressing.’

‘I haven’t had much time to speak to anyone,’ Simon said.

‘There are not many people up at that part of the island to speak to ,’ Ranulph said, taking a fresh mazerful of wine from his steward. ‘And those who live there aren’t necessarily going to help an official, eh, Tom?’

The Sergeant smiled in acknowledgement. ‘True. Many of these islanders are less than cooperative when they meet men from La Val.’

Simon chose to say nothing about the men of the castle of La Val. He had only experience of Walerand, and he sincerely hoped that Walerand was not an example of the sort of man who was routinely hired by Ranulph. He said, ‘I questioned a few men, but could learn nothing from them.’

‘Perhaps I should have them rounded up and persuaded to talk,’ Ranulph said ruminatively. ‘My boys like the chance of using their fists. They can be right persuasive. And any man who has a daughter might decide to open his trap when his daughter is being raped in front of him.’

Simon was about to smile politely, thinking that this was some kind of tasteless sally, but his face froze as he realised that Ranulph was serious.

The Lord of the Manor appeared to notice his sudden stillness. ‘You shocked, Bailiff? You don’t treat a felon that way where you come from? Well, we do. If we find felons, we take them out at low tide to a rock in the sea to the west, with a couple of loaves and some fresh water. And we leave them there. There’s no need for chains or anything, because if they’re found back on the islands, they’re taken straight back, and if they don’t make it here — hah! — there’s little chance of them swimming to another shore! We’re miles from anywhere out here.’

Thomas smiled serenely. ‘I don’t think the Bailiff understands, sir.’

‘No?’ Ranulph swung his leg from the arm of his chair suddenly, and in an instant he had snatched up one of the daggers from the table. It flashed in the light, and then thudded heavily into the wood of the door. An instant later, the second followed it.

Simon did not blink, but he glanced at the two daggers. They had struck the door at a man’s breast height, and where they stood, he saw many other chips and marks where they had hit before.

‘I don’t practise with these every day for my amusement, Bailiff,’ Ranulph said, getting to his feet and retrieving the knives. He hefted one in his hand, eyeing Simon. ‘I won this place in the last year of the old King’s reign, in thirteen hundred and six. The castle’s crenellated now; I managed to get permission from our new King back in the eighth year of his reign, thirteen hundred and fifteen.’ He peered at Simon to see whether the Bailiff understood the significance of this. ‘He has banned all tournaments, he’s restricted castles throughout his realm, he won’t allow his barons to fart without asking him first, but he let me crenellate. You know why? Because Cornwall is the easiest place for an invasion to start. If someone wanted to invade our country, they’d land in Cornwall. And where would a man start from to get to Cornwall? It would be easy for him to start right here, wouldn’t it?’

Simon nodded, but without conviction. Such strategic matters were for others to consider, rather than him.

‘I have twelve men-at-arms here. Twelve to guard the islands from invasion. It’s not enough. I also have to keep a watch on the people here. These men are my officers, Bailiff, just as you are an officer to, so I hear, the Abbot of Tavistock?’

Simon nodded again, this time more warily. Ranulph was hinting at something, as though the fact that he knew of Simon’s position gave Ranulph power over him.

‘We have some hundred and fifty, maybe two hundred men living here since the famine. That’s all. But they are all strong enough and ugly enough to want to rule their own lives. And we let them much of the time, because it doesn’t hurt us, and it keeps them busy. If they have a fight amongst themselves, so much the better. While they hate their neighbours, they can’t be plotting the ruination of my castle and the murder of my men.’

‘Perhaps if your men were to treat them better, you’d have less need to protect yourself.’

Ranulph gave him a long look, then flicked a dagger up into the air and flung it. The second was in the air before the first slammed into the door. ‘You think so? If I had some feeble milksops here, how long do you think they’d last? The people on these islands are living close to starvation most of the year. The only way they can survive is by occasionally catching a ship and stealing the cargo. That’s the sort of men that my lads have to deal with. You think you can treat pirates with kindness? You reckon appealing to their better nature will win them over?’ His voice dripped with sarcasm. ‘What you need is a strong arm, Bailiff, a strong arm and the mailed gauntlet. That’s the only treatment the islanders understand.’

‘I got the impression from William that-’

‘You mean William from St Mary’s? Christ’s armpits! You explain, Thomas.’

‘You see, Bailiff, the priest used to be on St Elidius. There he got to know the pirates quite well. I think they look on him as some sort of mascot — it is said that he blesses the children but specifically excludes their right hands, so that if they feel the need, they may murder with their right hands any who get in their way, and their hands are only blessed when they die. They have it all thought out. William is in league with them, and the only reason he’s here on Ennor is so that he can spy on us, to the benefit of his friends.’

‘You mean to suggest that he’s a pirate and murderer? I can’t believe that!’ Simon scoffed.

Ranulph continued, ‘It’s true. That’s why we’re so careful what happens here.’

Thomas was concerned now. Simon was growing truculent. As Bailiff to Abbot Robert of Tavistock, he could be a sore embarrassment if he didn’t swallow the story Thomas had concocted; his smiling scepticism at the stories about William, which Ranulph and Thomas knew to be true, was proof enough that he was unsound. Perhaps the Bailiff shouldn’t be allowed to make his way to the mainland again … Without him, the Abbot wouldn’t get to hear about an attack on St Nicholas until it was too late, and Ranulph and Thomas’s stories had already been spread widely from the Earl of Cornwall to the King. That was their only protection. Thomas would try anything to have his revenge on the bastards who’d sunk or stolen his ship.