Alys Clare - The Rose of the World

‘We know that Olivier de Brionne took Rosamund from the track leading to this house,’ she said, ‘and carried her on his horse off towards the hunting lodge on the Ashdown Forest, spending the night on a rise above the river. As they were preparing to leave the next morning, they spotted a horseman approaching and Olivier ordered Rosamund to hide in the trees. He knew the horseman — it was his brother, Hugh, who had contrived the plot to seek favour with the king by taking Rosamund to him.’

She could tell from Josse’s expression that he had something to say but, true to his word, he did not speak.

‘I don’t know what Hugh wanted with Olivier, but the matter was urgent, for Rosamund said that he was in a hurry and yelling out to Olivier even as he rode towards him. Perhaps Olivier should already have been at the hunting lodge, and Hugh was anxious in case something was wrong. Whatever it was, the brothers had angry words, and then, according to Rosamund, Hugh rode off again, with Olivier still shouting after him.’

She paused. This was where fact ended and conjecture began. There was nothing to be gained by waiting, so she plunged on. ‘Josse, Olivier talks to people who aren’t there. Rosamund told me; it frightened her. What if it happened like this? Hugh and Olivier fought, and it was Olivier who left the marks of his fists on Hugh’s face. In the course of the fight, Hugh stumbled and fell over backwards, striking his head and receiving the blow that killed him. Olivier, horrified, realized what he had done, but couldn’t accept it. Perhaps acting on instinct, for I don’t suppose he was capable just then of thinking rationally, he slapped Hugh’s horse hard on the rump, cried out really loudly and frightened it into bolting. To Rosamund, hiding under the trees and unable to see what was happening, it would have sounded as if Hugh had ridden away. I don’t think it ever occurred to her that he never left the place, or that Olivier killed him only a matter of a few paces away from where she crouched. Then, once Olivier had hidden the body and made sure the horse was no longer in sight, he went to fetch her and together they rode off on his horse.’

She stopped. She tried to judge from Josse’s expression whether or not he agreed with her version of events.

‘If you’re right,’ he said slowly, ‘then what became of Hugh’s horse?’

‘According to Abbess Caliste, a rather fine horse has just turned up at the abbey.’

After a moment he said, ‘There’s one way to find out if you’re right.’

Her heart leapt. ‘What is it?’

He stood up. ‘I’ll ride over and have a look at Olivier’s hands.’

Josse made the return journey to Hawkenlye more swiftly than Helewise had walked it, choosing to take his horse and keep to the main tracks. The distance was longer, but the going faster. Leaving Alfred at the gates, he sent word to the abbess to tell her what he was doing and hurried to the infirmary.

On hearing his request, Sister Liese shook her head and said simply, ‘But Olivier has gone.’ She indicated the two recesses where Olivier and the king had been treated. ‘They have all gone, back to one of the king’s London residences. His apartments in the Tower, I believe they said.’

Josse felt bitterly disappointed. But there was still one slim chance of finding out what he needed to know: ‘Did you treat him yourself, Sister?’

‘Yes, to begin with,’ she said, ‘and then I was called away to more pressing cases and I handed his care to one of my nuns.’ She gazed out along the infirmary. ‘Sister Bridget took over.’

‘Will you describe his wounds for us?’ Josse asked.

Sister Liese looked doubtful.

‘Please, Sister!’ he urged. ‘It is very important.’

‘Very well. He had a deep cut over his ribs, beneath his right arm, and a long cut down his left forearm, extending on to the wrist and the back of the hand.’

‘Aye, I recall now that his left hand was heavily bandaged,’ Josse muttered. ‘Did you notice anything else, Sister Liese?’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘I am trying to visualize him… Yes, there was extensive bruising to one of his hands. I remember asking the herbalist for a burdock poultice, and I did fear that a bone might have been broken, although in fact he had use of the hand and so that was unlikely.’

‘Do you remember which hand?’ Josse asked.

‘The right,’ she said instantly. ‘I could not have put a poultice on his left hand, for the cut in it had been bandaged.’

Josse visualized the dead man. ‘The damage to Hugh’s face was on the left side,’ he said quietly. ‘Where a right-handed man would have hit him.’

At Acquin, Ninian was beginning to relax and enjoy himself. He had settled very happily with the family. Josse’s brothers and their wives were avid for every last little detail of life in the House in the Woods, and in the evenings, when work was done for the day and the family relaxed together, they all plied him with endless questions.

‘How I should love to see him again,’ Yves sighed one evening, wiping away tears of laughter after Ninian had excelled himself in describing Josse’s attempts at herding the household’s small flock of sheep off Meggie’s herbs and back into the sheep fold. One ewe, which Josse claimed was unique among the creatures of the earth in having been born without a brain, had frustrated him so severely that he had tried to pick her up by the back legs and drag her, upon which she had kicked him soundly in the groin. ‘England is not so far away,’ Yves went on sadly, ‘yet the years pass, the days are so full and it is easier to sit here and reminisce than to get up and set out on a visit.’

‘Josse would say the same,’ Ninian replied. He had warmed to Yves and did not think it was fair for him to take all the blame on himself. ‘Besides, there are four brothers here, and Josse is only one. It’s up to him, really, to come to you.’

Suddenly, he experienced one of the strange moments which happened occasionally, when he saw something that was going to happen. He had learned not to worry about them; it was, he had decided, probably a gift inherited from his mother. He had also learned to trust them.

What he saw, as he sat across the fire from Yves, was a perfectly clear image of Josse sitting beside his brother.

He decided not to tell Yves. If he was right — and he knew he was — then the visit would come as a lovely surprise.

Yves insisted that Ninian be shown all over the Acquin lands. On several successive mornings, they saddled up their horses and, sometimes accompanied by one of the other brothers, sometimes just the two of them, they would set off on a long morning ride.

On the fourth day of Ninian’s stay, he was riding back towards the house with Yves and Patrice and looking forward to the meal which would be waiting for them. Patrice was pointing down to the little river that ran through the valley, telling him where the best spots to fish for a trout or a perch could be found, when they heard voices on the road ahead. They were not far from Acquin and, up a narrow path that led up to the right, a group of alders grew around a pond. The voices came from under the trees.

Somebody was weeping, loudly and uncontrollably.

Yves spurred on his horse, Ninian and Patrice in his wake. They dismounted at the end of the path, tethered their horses and ran up the gentle slope to the huddle of people.

They were all local people; Ninian recognized quite a few of the faces. Seeing Yves approach, most of them stood back and some bowed their heads to their lord. As a gap opened up and the pond became visible, Ninian, just behind Yves, saw what was causing the commotion.

A body lay on the edge of the water. It was that of a man, clad in down at heel boots, darned hose and a jerkin that seemed to be made out of sacking. His dirty hair was pale blond. A woman was crouched over him, patting at his face, weeping, crying out a name: ‘Stephan! Oh, Stephan!’