Michael, JECKS - The Tournament of Blood

‘Do you believe him?’ Coroner Roger repeated.

‘Against my better judgement,’ Baldwin said slowly, ‘I rather think I do.’

There was a general move towards the hall for the feast, and as the three men joined the throng, Baldwin saw Odo and Andrew hurry in through the gate together. Seeing Baldwin, the herald joined them.

After introducing Coroner Roger, who had never met Odo, Baldwin asked, ‘Odo, were you at Exeter for the court?’

‘What court?’

Sir Roger smiled at Baldwin. ‘He wasn’t there. I’d have seen him.’

‘Why do you want to know?’ Odo asked.

‘First, where were you last night?’

‘Me? Here. As herald I am expected to sing and play for the guests. Then I went to my tent. My King Herald, Mark Tyler, wishes me to stay in the camp and ensure that there is no ribaldry. In truth, I think he wants me to learn how uncomfortable being a herald can be, in case I seek to take his job!’

‘What of you, Andrew?’ Baldwin asked.

‘I walked a little. I do not sleep well,’ Andrew said coldly.

‘You were alone?’

‘Of course. And now please excuse me. I have to serve my master.’

Baldwin watched him as he walked away. Then; ‘Odo, tell me, what do you know of Sir Edmund?’

‘Of Gloucester? A good, strong man, if unlucky in his loyalties and love. He had been going to marry Lady Helen, before she wed Sir Walter Basset of Cornwall. Then he lost all when Sir John captured him at a tourney. With nothing in his pocket, he fled over the sea and earned himself a new fortune.’

‘What of Sir John?’

‘Ah. He and his son are curious folk,’ Odo told him. ‘Sir John is no longer a wealthy man. He has lost much through murrain and the famine. He seeks to weld his estates to those of Lady Alice, from what she tells me. I fear that although she is his ward, she may seek to evade Squire William’s advances.’

Baldwin understood him. ‘So often a ward will not wish to wed the boy she knew as a brother,’ he said. ‘What of other knights?’

Odo murmured about the other men who were attending the tournament while they all found seats at tables. Then he had to leave them. ‘Please ask for me if you need anything more, sir, but I must go now. I have to prepare music to aid your palate.’

Sir Roger stared balefully after him as he walked away. ‘Is that man always so cocksure?’

‘Who cares? At least he has given us some information to work with,’ Baldwin said. ‘And now we must see if we can talk to this Alice, the woman who was with Geoffrey when he saw Wymond and another man.’ He looked along the table. ‘I suppose that is her, seated between Sir John and Squire William.’

Baldwin was able to speak to Lady Alice before too long. After the meal, Squire William walked over to join a group of other squires, and Sir John soon rose from his place to seek the privy.

When both were gone, Baldwin went to Alice’s side. ‘My Lady, could I speak with you for a moment?’

She was a pretty child, he thought, with large and lustrous eyes, a most appealing and kindly expression, and an aura of calmness that was more mature than seemed quite natural for her years.

‘Of course, sir.’

‘My name is Sir Baldwin.’

‘And you wish to ask me about the night that Wymond died. My husband told me you would want to talk to me.’

‘You have spoken to him?’

‘There’s no need to look so surprised, Sir Baldwin. He passes messages to me through the good herald Odo, and I reply.’

‘Then you know that I wish to find the murderer of Wymond. Geoffrey told me that you saw Wymond out near the lances.’

‘Yes. And there was a man near him, but he was behind Wymond and not distinct,’ she said.

‘You didn’t recognise him?’

‘No. I was concentrating on my husband,’ she said simply.

‘Of course. Tell me, how did you come to be a ward of Sir John?’

She sighed. ‘There was a tournament at Exeter, and my mother and brother went to watch my father’s battle as I understand it – you see, I was a tiny toddler at the time. There was a terrible accident and my father fell, struck down by accident. I am told he was popular, as some of these knights can be, and the crowds moved to the front of the stand to shout their anger at the man who had killed him. The stands were not sound enough, and the movement of the people led to the stand collapsing. My mother and baby brother were crushed.’

‘I am sorry.’

‘I have never known any different, Sir Baldwin,’ she said with a spark of defiance. ‘I have grown from childhood knowing no parents.’

‘So Sir John was your uncle, or perhaps–’

‘He is nothing !’ Her eyes flashed with rage and she was silent. Then she lifted her head proudly. ‘You do not understand, Sir Baldwin. That man, Sir John, was the knight who killed my father Sir Godwin. It was his blow that took away my father and my mother and their baby boy. I had no other family and he offered to protect me until I grew to maturity. Yet all the time I think he had his eyes fixed greedily upon my inheritance. He sought to win all that my father had left me.’

‘It would be an act of gross cynicism.’

‘It is. He hated my father – things he has said prove that. He insists that I should marry his son, and that way he will keep my family’s inheritance tied to his own. Well, I decided many years ago that I would never agree – and then I met Geoffrey. I love him. That is why we married.’

‘Sir John knows nothing of this?’

‘Nor his son. We shall declare our marriage here, as soon as Geoffrey has been knighted and before all the knights and their ladies. Sir John may try to contest the legality of the wedding, but he would find it difficult to separate us if Lord Hugh gives us his blessing.’

Baldwin nodded, considering. He had known that Alice was Sir Godwin’s daughter, but only now did her appalling position occur to him in all its horror. However, the investigation was more important than his feelings of sympathy for the girl. Right now Baldwin was confused about one point. He knew that Sir John owed money to Benjamin. If the banker had demanded his money back, Sir John could have decided to kill him – but if Wymond’s death was connected with Benjamin’s in some way, the implication was that Sir John must also have had a motive to kill the carpenter.

‘Tell me,’ he asked Alice, ‘do you know whether Sir John had any reason to dislike Wymond?’

She looked at him very directly. ‘The carpenter helped build a stage for Sir John some six years ago. It collapsed when Sir Walter forced Sir Richard Prouse against it, and Sir John blamed Wymond because the carpenter had used shoddy wood. He was making profit from my guardian by taking money to use the best materials, then buying cheap rubbish and pocketing the difference.’

‘Did Sir John have a grudge against Benjamin as well as Wymond?’

‘Oh yes. He owed him an enormous sum. And that little man, Hal – he hated him as well. He hated the lot of them. Called them every name under the sun.’

‘Sir John told me you could confirm that he came back to your tent last night and that he could not thus have murdered Wymond.’

She looked at him in surprise. ‘He came in and saw that I was well, but that was late, after I had returned from seeing Geoffrey. As a matter of fact, he woke me when he came in.’

Her face was full of innocence, but Baldwin didn’t know whether he could believe her or not. Her evidence suggested that Sir John had had enough time to commit a murder. But Baldwin had no idea when Wymond had died. Then a thought struck him. ‘You say that you saw a man with Wymond – could it have been Sir John?’

She considered. ‘Perhaps. But if it had been him, surely I would have realised?’ she added fairly.