Michael Jecks - The Outlaws of Ennor

‘That is wonderful! I have to see him at once!’

‘No, you don’t,’ William said forcefully, and stood in front of the knight. ‘No, Sir Baldwin, you mustn’t. I’ll send a messenger to him and ask him to come here to meet you.’

‘I should go at once! He will fear that I am dead, and I should put his mind to rest.’

‘No. If you go there, you run the risk of being kept in captivity. There was another knight on the same ship as you, a man called Charles?’

‘Yes. He was a companion on my way here,’ Baldwin said.

‘He is held prisoner, and I have heard that the Lord of the Manor may decide to have him tried as a felon for drawing a sword on him,’ William explained, and told the story of how Sir Charles had sought to protect the ship. ‘So you see, it could be dangerous for you to go to the castle. Better that I should persuade Simon to come here to meet you.’

‘Friend, I don’t intend to draw a sword on the good Lord of the Manor,’ Baldwin said humorously.

‘Friend, you don’t have a sword to draw,’ William responded.

‘So what problem could I have?’ Baldwin asked, confused.

‘Only this: rumours fly about a small town like La Val. I have heard that a sword was found next to the body of a tax-gatherer after the storm, and it may have been used to run him through. But this sword was an odd one, Sir Knight. It had a short blade, like a knight’s riding sword, a bright blue blade, and there was an inscription on it, I’m told.’

Baldwin smiled, but he could feel his blood moving more slowly about his veins. ‘Well?’

‘Sir, the inscription was a Templar cross, I am told. A sign of evil and the devil.’

‘What does that have to do with me?’

‘I may be a mere priest to a vill of brutes and fools, sir, I may spend most of my days in my fields labouring like my flock, and perhaps I have a little of the slow mind of a local man, but I was educated once, and I can add and subtract. And my addition tells me that the appearance of a knight with no sword at the same time as a body, stabbed with a strange and unique sword found near the body could add up to a knight who met a man and killed him, and then discarded his weapon. If I can add up the matter to that, what could not the Lord of the Manor make?’

‘I see.’

‘And worse, if the Lord of the Manor could show that the man he had captured and killed for the murder of his own gather-reeve, if Ranulph could show that this man had been a Templar Knight, he would be acquitted of homicide, because he would have executed an outlaw. Even if he killed this knight’s friends, he could argue a close case that he had thought them all Templars or he had thought them all heretics with the Templar.’

‘He would hardly think of …’

‘Sir Baldwin, he is holding Sir Charles and is likely to have him executed for drawing a sword on him; if other survivors of the ship die, it means he can take all the goods from it, as well as the ship itself, and keep them. Do you seriously believe that he wouldn’t consider such a course?’ William leaned closer, his face an anxious frown. ‘Believe me, I know this man! He would tweak the nose of the devil if he thought that there was money in it for him!’

Baldwin sat back and stared unseeingly at the wall. He lifted his pot automatically. ‘I never met a man that night. I was almost drowned. The woman, Tedia, found me, and she saved my life. She could swear to my ill health. I was in no fit state to kill anyone.’

William gave a snort. ‘Her evidence wouldn’t do much more than guarantee your death, Sir Knight. The Lord, in his great wisdom, has decided to view all the islanders of St Nicholas as felons or potential felons. If she was to go to the Lord’s court and swear that you were innocent, he would probably insist on your execution before the day was out.’

‘This is ridiculous!’

‘Of course it is! And it would be alarming if it were not easy to see why Thomas would like to see you convicted.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘It will become clear when I introduce you to my friend,’ William said.

‘I dislike the idea of sitting here and not letting my friend know that I am alive.’

‘I don’t like it myself. I shall see to it that he is advised of your presence here, and I can ensure that he goes to visit you on St Nicholas. That would be safer.’

‘Then I shall take your advice,’ Baldwin said reluctantly. He hated the thought that Simon could be anxious for him, or believe him dead, as was more likely, but he liked the priest, and if William was to be believed, this would be the safest option.

He tried to put thoughts of Simon from his mind. ‘Now, tell me what you can about this dead man.’

Cryspyn felt happier about the idea of walking unarmed into a lion’s den than sitting here with these two, but he knew that it must be done.

‘I suppose you know what I am about to ask.’

Brosia gave a sidelong glance at Mariota, wondering whether someone had denounced her for flirting with Luke. If anyone would dare, it would be Mariota. The slack-titted draggle-tail had jealousy enough for a vill of lepers staring at a King’s feast; she had no man and was resentful of any attractive woman. Obviously, she hated Brosia, just as Tedia did, because Brosia was better-looking and won the hearts of many men in the area. Luckily David never found out. He wouldn’t be happy to learn that he had been cuckolded.

She was about to open her mouth to deny whatever Mariota had said, when the older woman spoke.

‘Prior, I’m not up to the task. Ask Brosia here, by all means, but I am too old and ugly to do what you want. Why should a man like Isok want me to service him?’

‘I don’t know what a man like him would want,’ Cryspyn said gallantly, ‘because I am chaste, as I should be, but I am sure that a man with fire in his veins would be honoured to have you try to help him.’

Brosia cried out, ‘What, you want us to make him large with semen for his wife?’ She couldn’t believe her ears. ‘ Me? I’m a married woman, Prior!’

‘I can’t think of a better woman to attempt this. Consider, Brosia, I must have honest women to help with this task. I have been ordered by the Bishop himself to see to it. He suggested three women — can either of you think of a third to help?’

Brosia bridled. ‘This is silly! How can you expect me to try to rouse him when his own wife cannot!’

‘That, I think, is the point,’ Cryspyn said drily. ‘And I have heard much about some successes on the part of certain women in this manor. Perhaps they were overblown.’

Mariota was studying Brosia with delight. ‘Perhaps you fear you aren’t capable of such an onerous task?’

‘I can …’ Brosia stopped, flustered, with a wary look at the Prior. ‘I am sure I can make a man rise as easily as any other woman, but why I should do this for him, I don’t know.’

Cryspyn said shortly, ‘Because the Bishop has ordered it, woman, and you are one of his flock. I desire you …’ he flushed as he heard his own double entendre and continued swiftly, stammering slightly, ‘to test Isok and report back to me. You both know what is needed.’

Baldwin finished his cup and set it down. ‘Very well, let us take a closer look at this body of yours.’

‘I should have thought that the Prior would want the corpse to be returned to his island for burial,’ William said, leading the way down the middle of the church.

‘There can be little doubt of that,’ Baldwin observed.

‘You think so? Cryspyn can be very straitlaced. He hates priests who fail in their oaths. He’s been here so long, I think he has come to look upon the priory as his own personal manor. Any man who threatens the stability of his manor can expect harsh treatment at his hands.’