Edward Marston - The Foxes of Warwick

Pulling her cloak around her, she closed her eyes in prayer, her words ascending to heaven like a thin but persistent wisp of smoke.

‘Do you know what else the lady Adela suggested to me?’ she asked.

‘No, my love.’

‘Are you not interested enough to listen?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then stop fidgeting like that.’

‘I am not fidgeting, Golde. I am just distracted.’

‘That is all too obvious,’ she chided.

‘Do not be harsh with me.’

‘Then do not provoke me so. I thought you would want to hear.’

‘I do, my love. But not now.’

‘The lady Adela and I talked for hours.’

‘And so will we,’ promised Ralph, ‘when the time is ripe.’

Golde was peeved. She had so much to tell her husband that she did not even know where to begin. When he joined her in the privacy of her apartment, however, he was no sooner through the door than he wanted to go back out of it. Golde grabbed him and shook him hard.

‘What is the matter with you, Ralph?’

‘I have just had an idea.’

‘So have I,’ she said with playful menace. ‘My idea is that I beat you black and blue until you consent to listen to me. This concerns the lord Philippe and his first wife.’

‘I am agog to hear it, Golde.’

‘Then why will you not stay still?’

‘Because there is a man in the dungeon who will stand trial for murder tomorrow,’ he said with quiet urgency. ‘We do not believe that he is guilty of the crime and wish to help him. I have just thought of a means by which we may do so. I am sorry, my love,’ he said, kissing her tenderly on the forehead, ‘but this takes precedence over any gossip you may have picked up. Bear with me a while. When I have spoken with Gervase I will return at once to listen to all you have to say. Will this content you?’

‘No,’ she said, ‘but I can see that I shall have to accept it.’

Ralph kissed her again before going off in search of Gervase.

The latter was leaving his chamber when his friend came down the steps. Ralph eased him back into the room.

‘I have just had a brilliant thought, Gervase!’

‘I’ll wager that it is the same one that struck me.’

‘Let me tell you mine first. We must have faith that this stranger with the donkey may be a valuable witness. At daybreak tomorrow, I will go in search of him.’ He beamed. ‘Did you think likewise?’

‘No, Ralph.’

‘Oh?’

‘My plan was to ride to Coventry myself while you remained at the shire hall to conduct the business of the day. Three commissioners are enough to dispatch the matter in hand, perplexing as it is. I will not be missed. Is it agreed?’

‘No, Gervase.’

‘Why not?’

‘If anyone goes it should be me.’

‘But you are our leader,’ said Gervase. ‘You are the one person who must not desert the tribunal.’

‘A lawyer’s mind is vital in the shire hall.’

‘Then I will bring it back from Coventry as fast as I can.’

‘You must stay. I will go in your stead. I am the finer horseman.’

‘The man we seek is a Saxon. I am fluent in his language.’

‘Golde will go with me as my interpreter.’

‘She would be missed at the castle and the lord Henry’s suspicions would be aroused. This must be done privily. Besides, Golde would slow you down on the journey. No, Ralph,’ he insisted, ‘this is work for me.’

‘For me. I had the notion first.’

‘Asmoth came to me with news about the man.’

They argued for several minutes before the issue was finally decided in Gervase’s favour. He would leave quietly at dawn with two of Ralph’s men as an escort and go in search of the man whose donkey had been shoed by the blacksmith.

‘Bring him back,’ said Ralph, ‘and the lord Henry will simply have to listen to his evidence.’

‘That is not the only reason to find him.’

‘What else?’

‘The man is a traveller,’ said Gervase, ‘with eyes sharpened by a life on the road. And we know that he was abroad at dawn on that day. If he skirted the Forest of Arden he might have seen something of value to us. Who knows? He may even have noticed Grimketel, off to check his snares among the trees.’

‘If that is what the wretch was actually doing!’

‘I have my doubts.’

‘And I. It seems too much of a coincidence that Grimketel should be approaching the spot where the body was found at the very moment when Boio was leaving it. Find this stranger in Coventry. Ask him exactly what he remembers of that morning.’

‘And where he spent the night before.’

‘It must have been close by.’

‘That is one of a dozen questions I have for him.’

‘Take a spare horse with you,’ advised Ralph. ‘Speed is of the essence here. He will not be able to hurry back to Warwick on a mangy donkey.’ He pursed his lips and breathed heavily through his nose. ‘I am sorry that I will not be making this journey but I wish you luck. We will just have to pray that the fellow is still in Coventry.’

‘He is, Ralph.’

‘How do you know?’

‘He has to earn money to feed himself and his beast. He will not do that on the open road, especially when it is scoured by winter. No, he is still in Coventry.’ He gave a wan smile. ‘He has to be. For Boio’s sake.’

Necessity brings together strange bedfellows. The old man was used to sharing his sleeping accommodation with his donkey but he had never before settled down for the night with a dwarf and a performing bear. All four of them were in a stable near the marketplace in Coventry. There was no light and the straw rustled noisily whenever they moved but they were warm, dry and safe.

The two men compared their takings.

‘We did well in Worcester,’ said the dwarf. ‘They liked us. We stayed there a week before they tired of our tricks. We will go back to Worcester in the summer, I fancy. You?’

‘There have been slim pickings for me, my friend.’

‘How much do you charge for your potions?’

‘Enough to keep the two of us alive and no more.’

‘You are cheating yourselves.’

‘My mission is to help others.’

‘So is mine,’ said the dwarf cheerfully. ‘We give people good entertainment. We warm them up on a cold day and send them home with something to tell their friends. A bear that turns somersaults. Ursa and I help them to enjoy themselves but we want a fair price in return.’

‘You had more than that today.’

‘Where?’

‘In the marketplace,’ said the old man. ‘I watched you as the bear danced and did tricks. People threw money into your cap.’

The dwarf was rueful. ‘It was thrown in but just as quickly taken out again by that fishmonger. Ursa went berserk. I could not control him. He broke that barrel of fish open and the man emptied my cap in payment. All our work went for nothing.’

‘That is what happens some days.’

‘I don’t know what came over Ursa.’

‘He wanted some fun.’

‘He will smell of fish for a week.’

Chewing a hunk of bread, the dwarf took a swig of water from a leather flask at his belt. He was a misshapen man with a grotesque face yet his voice was oddly melodious. The bear whined and his master took the remains of an apple from inside his tunic and fed it to him through his muzzle. Ursa chomped happily.

The donkey brayed in disapproval.

‘Tell me about this miracle,’ said the dwarf.

‘You will have to come and see it yourself.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Cure a young boy who is possessed by demons.’

‘How?’

‘With simple faith in the power of God.’

‘No sorcery involved?’

A throaty chuckle. ‘I do not reveal my secrets.’