Michael Jecks - The Outlaws of Ennor

His voice was very positive on that score, Baldwin noted, and told himself that he would have to consider William’s allegations in a more careful light. ‘Then who were you following? The Brother here? Or me?’

‘No one! I just saw you all here, and, and …’

‘And thought that we might be getting up to no good, eh?’ Hamadus grated. ‘I ought to call my dog back.’

‘ No! ’ Walerand cried, and made an effort to get up. That hound was a beast fresh from Hell! The thing had appeared from nowhere, and before he knew what was happening, it had slammed into him, just as he was about to listen at the open window. His legs collapsed, his feet slipping on the pebbles as he went, and he was bleating in fear as he wondered what the monster was which had knocked him to the ground; his fearful wonderings were soon to be answered. As he lay on his back, before he could rise to his elbows preparatory to climbing back onto his feet, there was a low rumbling snarl, and then a massive weight hit his breast.

Stunned and now winded, Walerand could only gaze in horror at the jaws that opened just below his chin. He was held in place by the monster’s weight, and when he attempted to move a hand to grasp his dagger, the lips drew back and the fangs moved perceptibly nearer his throat, the rumbling snarl echoing in the hound’s ribcage … and Walerand let his hand fall back.

Now, the mere thought of the dog returning to him was enough to make him try to clamber to his feet. Before he could, Uther, who looked upon him as a threat to his master, growled warningly, and Walerand’s hand whipped to his dagger. Baldwin kicked his hand away, reached down and snatched the weapon before Walerand could try to regain it, and held it.

‘That’s my dagger!’

‘You don’t need a weapon among friends, Friend,’ Baldwin said calmly as he turned the knife in the dimming twilight. As far as he could see, the blade was clean. Although it was only six inches long, the blade had only one edge. Baldwin recalled the body and shook his head. To his knowledge the knife which killed Robert must have had two edges.

Not that it let Walerand off the hook necessarily. He could have a second knife.

Walerand sank back on his elbows as Baldwin leaned down, smiling pleasantly in a manner that scared Walerand somehow more than the hound. ‘And you are among friends, aren’t you? Now, friends don’t spy on each other, so you weren’t spying, were you? No. You were just interested in us. Tell me, who was so interested in us that he sent you to find out what we discussed?’

‘I don’t know what you mean. I just wondered-’

‘I know what you wondered,’ William said. ‘You wanted to know what the Keeper and I were doing here with Ham, weren’t you?’

‘I just came down here to see whether this was where you’d gone.’

His sulky voice irritated Baldwin. ‘I think he needs to meet your hound again, Hamadus.’

‘No! No, I’ll tell you. I was told to come here by Ranulph. He wanted to know where you were going, what you were doing. That’s all.’

‘And why should he send a child like you when all he had to do was ask me?’ Baldwin wondered aloud.

‘You haven’t presented yourself to him, have you? He doesn’t like strangers on his island when they don’t ask permission to be here. Why should he trust a man who comes here like a draw-latch in the night?’

‘You call me a draw-latch?’ Baldwin asked silkily, leaning closer. ‘I am worse than a draw-latch, boy ; I am a King’s Officer. I can arrest felons no matter where they are. Do you understand me? I can come here and deal with people like you.’

‘I’ve done nothing.’

‘That I doubt. Where were you on the night of the storm? The night that Robert was killed?’

‘I was in the castle. I’m no fool, I wasn’t going to stay out in that weather.’

‘Someone else was out of the castle, though. Who was it?’

As the hound rumbled deep in his throat, Walerand said hastily, ‘The castle’s Sergeant — he was out. But I don’t know what he was doing.’

‘Luke too is dead. Did Sergeant Thomas hate the priest on the island as well?’

‘I …’

Hamadus hissed and his dog began to growl, his head dropping lower again as though preparing to pounce.

Walerand spoke quickly. ‘Luke had learned about Thomas’s ship and demanded a ride to Cornwall the next time his ship sailed.’

‘What ship?’ Baldwin asked with a frown. It seemed too coincidental, if William was right: Thomas had murdered Robert because the gather-reeve had threatened to talk of his business. Now Walerand alleged that Luke died because he tried a similar blackmail.

‘The Faucon Dieu , the ship in the harbour.’

Baldwin glanced at William, who was now nodding with satisfaction. ‘Sir Baldwin, I wanted you to hear that from Ham here, but Walerand is a more informed expert, isn’t he? That was what I was telling you: Thomas is involved in stealing the customs for himself. He arranges for his own cargoes to be brought here, then pays himself the customs, without a penny going to Ranulph or the earldom.’

‘He does better than that, doesn’t he?’ Hamadus cackled at Walerand. ‘He steals parts of cargoes which Ranulph himself owns.’

‘I know nothing about that.’

‘Oh yes, you do,’ Hamadus said, facing Baldwin. ‘Thomas takes part of the cargoes like yours off the Anne , and puts them in his own little storehouse. Then, when his ship arrives, he puts the bits and pieces onto his own ship and smuggles it to the mainland. It all lines his purse.’

‘So he had to kill Robert to prevent him from reporting this to Ranulph?’ Baldwin asked. He assumed this was William’s belief, but wanted Hamadus to confirm it.

‘That’s what I think, yes.’

‘And what of this sword which was found nearby?’

‘I expect he just thought that was a gift. He used it and threw it away.’

Baldwin nodded, but he was unconvinced. He was suddenly aware of a hunted feeling, as though someone was cautiously making their way towards him in order to accuse him. The loss of his sword was itself suspicious: it was extraordinary, too, that it should turn up near a corpse on a different island. Had someone found him and stolen his sword? They had not used the sword to kill Robert, which was peculiar, but the fact that the sword was there, near his body, was incriminating. Especially since the sword had that emblem on the blade: the mark of the Templars.

There was no point in holding on to Walerand, so Baldwin told him to go.

‘What of my knife? I want it back!’ the youth said truculently.

‘You have no need of a weapon,’ Baldwin said smoothly. ‘And if you do, you can ask your master for a new one.’

‘I want it back!’

Hamadus muttered a low instruction and his dog stalked forward. Immediately Walerand blenched and bolted.

As he scurried off, Baldwin wondered again why Ranulph had bothered to send a spy after him and had not merely sent for him to respond to his questions. It would have been faster, and easier. And it was his man, Thomas, who had been out on the night of the storm. He had been in the same area as Robert.

Baldwin sighed. There were too many problems and not enough solutions.

Now he had another problem. He made it clear to William that he wished to leave, and before long the two men were walking along the roadway which led north from Hamadus’s house to the top of the island.

‘William, I should not have allowed that fellow to go before I had joined Isok. The way he will tell the story is bound to reflect badly upon us — me in particular. If they have any sense, they will see to it that Isok’s boat is prevented from sailing until they are sure that I am not on it.’