Paul Doherty: The poisoned chalice

The magician turned, stared at the cat and said something in a strange language. The cat immediately rose, padding like a shadow across the floor, and jumped into its master's lap. He played for a few seconds with the animal's jewelled collar then turned his eyes on me. I shivered for they were soulless, clear as ice.

'The matter of the king,' Agrippa announced, and I remembered a previous conversation with him on the wild heathlands of Leicester, how he had described Henry as the Great Dark Prince, the Mouldwarp. He was now using his powers to remind me of that as if the matter he was about to broach was more important than any spy. Undoubtedly, our journey to France was linked to the growing darkness in our king's twisted soul.

'Our noble king,' Agrippa continued, 'in his youth, went to Paris and visited the Chateau de Maubisson. He became friendly with a most learned old priest in the village, Abbe Gerard. Indeed, the abbe was his confessor. Henry gave him a book and now wants it back but the Abbe Gerard is dead, probably also murdered. On the Wednesday after Falconer was killed, the good priest was found floating in his own carp pond, no mark of violence on his body. His house had been searched and the book was missing.'

'What is this book?'

Agrippa grinned. 'A copy of Augustine's work On Chastity:

'Do you think,' Benjamin asked, 'the Luciferi have this book? Why is it so important?'

'No, we think the Luciferi did not find it. The good abbe probably hid it.' Agrippa made a face. 'As for its importance? We do not wish to explain that.'

'And while we are gone?' my master asked. 'What about the manor, my school in Ipswich?'

'All will be well. A steward will manage the manor and My Lord Cardinal has been only too pleased to appoint a schoolmaster so your noble establishment can continue. Now,' Agrippa stirred, 'Master Shallot, Sir Robert, I pray you excuse us. My Lord Cardinal wishes words alone with his nephew.'

Clinton smiled, rose and he and Venner slipped silently out of the room. I would have followed but Benjamin held my wrist fast.

'Master Shallot!' Agrippa repeated. 'I have asked you to leave!'

'Roger is my friend,' Benjamin answered. ‘I trust him with my life.'

' "Master Shallot is my friend!" ' Wolsey mimicked spitefully. 'My good nephew, if you wish to protect Master Shallot, the less he knows the better.' He looked round. 'This is my palace but the king is here and God knows who listens in!'

Benjamin looked at me, his dark eyes troubled. I gently prised my wrist free.

'Master,' I said softly, 'it's best if I go.'

(Quite the diplomat, you think? Oh, no, old Shallot was getting frightened. If knowledge was to be imparted that might threaten me, then it was time to show a clean pair of heels and, perhaps, indulge in some honest lechery.)

My master did not demur and I slipped quietly out of the chamber. I tried to eavesdrop but the door was too thick. So I wandered round the corridors of Hampton Court. Now this was not as magnificent then as it is today. The Great Hall had yet to be built, as had the tennis court and tilt yard. Of course, if you go there now, you can look at the great clock built by those two witches Kratzer and Oursian. You see, when Wolsey fell from power and died in Leicester Abbey, crushing my hand and whispering, 'If I had served my God as well as I served my king, he would not leave me to die like this,' Agrippa transferred his allegiance to Henry and brought those two witches over to build a special clock. It's an astronomical device based on a twenty-four-hour pattern which tells the time of day, the position of the moon, the constellations of the zodiac. You must go and see it. It's a work of art!

Nevertheless, even in my green and salad days (Master Shakespeare has asked to borrow this phrase), Hampton Court was a diamond of a residence. Wainscoted walls. New hangings replaced every week by yeomen and grooms of the wardrobe. Silk coverings on the beds. Massive cupboards which covered an entire wall, all stuffed with silver and gold plate. Fresh water was brought in through leaden pipes built by Italian craftsmen, there were even privies, and underground streams cleaned the sewers. I wandered down to the kitchens where Wolsey's chefs were busy creating subtleties, strange confectionery creations: towers and castles of sugar ready to launch their assault on valiant teeth. The French master chef, dressed in his long bespattered apron, stood by his post chopping, slicing, stirring and mixing with a vigour which drenched him in sweat whilst he swore at his apprentices for this or that. Indeed, with the great roaring fires it looked like hell and the chef, Satan, attended by an army of demons labouring over turning spits and shining platters, interlarding the dripping, roasting lambs and piglets with their own globules of sweat.

I walked up this way and down that. Now I knew the king was in residence because his gold and leopard standards had been planted all around the entrance. By chance, I found myself in the royal apartments, a long, polished gallery where the freshly waxed wood winked in the sunlight and the walls shimmered with the exquisite tapestries hung there. I thought the king was hunting with his greyhounds or Flemish falconers. There were no guards about so I tip-toed along the gallery. My ear was caught by the sweet sounds of love-making: delicious 'Oohs' and 'Ahs', interspersed with the grunts and deep groans of a voice I recognised as the king's.

Well, as you know, I am as curious as the devil. I edged along the wall and peered quickly through a half-open door. The small chamber inside was brilliant with differing hues. I saw white wool carpets on the gleaming floor and also glimpsed clothing of the costliest taffeta, lace and cambric, but my eyes were drawn to the great silk-draped four-poster bed. All I could see were a pair of white legs wrapped round a creaking great torso and the royal arse going up and down like a pair of bellows whilst the 'Oohs' and 'Ahs' were chorused by Henry's groans of lustful delight. I wondered who the young girl was, acting the doe for Henry's buck, but I decided not to wait and see and promptly fled. Nevertheless, my excitement was aroused and, when Benjamin left the cardinal's chamber, he glared at my flushed face suspiciously.

'What have you been up to, Roger?'

'Nothing, master, just a little sightseeing. And what did dear Uncle wish to impart?'

Benjamin grinned and linked his arm through mine. 'Matters of state, Roger, matters of state.' He stopped, his face long and serious. 'A dance is about to begin,' he murmured as if speaking to himself. 'The musicians in the gallery are about to put flute to lips and fingers to lyre.' He breathed out heavily. 'A sinister dance, Roger.'

I shivered and wondered if it was time for old Shallot to disappear or go ill with ague, but I remembered my promise. I was Benjamin's man and I was committed, whatever happened. It sounds so brave, doesn't it? If I'd known what was about to happen I would have fled like the wind. (My chaplain squirms on his little bum. He liked my description of royal love-making but that's nothing to what we had to face: murder; secret assassins; blood-thirsty rebels; the gleaming tusks of a wild boar; and that deadly chase in the maze at the Tour de Nesle. And yet these are as naught compared to the sheer wickedness of the Luciferi and the treachery of the masters we served.)

We spent the next day lolling round Hampton Court. Wolsey's clerks drew up the necessary letters of accreditation, warrants and bills for the exchequer. Grooms and ostlers furnished us with horses for our journey. That evening we attended a royal banquet in the magnificent setting of Wolsey's hall. There were so many wax candles you would think it was daylight and the flames dazzled the gold and silver plate stacked high in the ornately carved cupboards. The carpets on the floor were silk, the hangings on the walls fresh from the looms of Flanders, and the air was thick with the smell of red roses arranged in precious vases round the room. The table on the dais where King Henry would sit was overhung with a gorgeous cloth of state.