Paul Doherty - Prince of Darkness

'And then,' Corbett interrupted smoothly, 'she allowed the royal whore to come and stay in your midst?'

'Yes.'

'But did you like her?' Ranulf persisted. 'I mean, the Lady Eleanor?'

Dame Catherine pursed her lips. 'We left her alone. She was haughty, distant The only people she spoke to were the Lady Prioress and Dame Agatha.

Corbett nodded and clapped Ranulf on the shoulders. 'In which case, Sister, there is no further need for you to accompany us. You may tell Lady Amelia where we are going for our walk and that we will return shortly.'

They stood and watched the nun spin on her heel and waddle off with as much dignity as she could muster.

'Strange,' Corbett mused. 'I really do wonder where the Lady Prioress thought we were going.'

They continued their walk, rousing the surly porter from where he crouched at the edge of the track, chewing a piece of fresh grass.

'What did Dame Catherine want?' he demanded. 'You didn't tell her about the collar?'

'She came to wish us a safe journey,' Ranulf replied sarcastically. 'And, no, we did not tell her about the dog collar. Or,' he added mischievously, 'the gems you stole from it!'

They must have walked for about another ten minutes and could glimpse the blue wood-smoke rising above the trees from Godstowe village when suddenly the porter stopped, turned left, and led them along a narrow beaten trackway into the forest. Ranulf shivered. He always felt uncomfortable amongst this dark silent wood, the strange shadows, the bursts of sudden sunlight and constant chatter and rustle of unseen birds and animals.

'I'd prefer a darkened alleyway in Southwark,' he muttered

'Each to his own,' Corbett replied.

They followed the porter along the serpentine path, then suddenly they were through the trees and into a glade ringed by clumps of trees, silent except for the gurgle of a small brook as it splashed down some rocks which thrust up out of the ground like the finger of a buried giant.

'Be careful,' the porter murmured. He pointed to the near side of the small brook where the grass seemed darker, longer, and lush. 'Watch!' he insisted, and picking up a fallen bough, threw it into the midst of this dark greenness. Ranulf swallowed nervously as the bough hit the ground. There was a sucking noise, a small pool of water formed, and the branch sank without trace. 'A marsh,' the porter explained. 'There are a number in the forest.' He grinned with a display of broken teeth. 'Only fools would wander in here.'

'Where were the bodies found?'

'Well,' the fellow scratched his head, 'from what I gather, they had been rolled into the marsh but hadn't sunk. Two lovers from the village, looking for a quiet spot, found them and sent for help. We pulled them out.'

'How were they?'

'Well, that's the mystery,' the porter replied. I heard about their discovery and hurried down from the priory. I was there when the bailiffs arrived. The bodies were naked as they were born, not a scrap of clothing, jewellery or any possessions. Yet their faces…' The man shook his head. 'A mottled black and white, their throats cut from ear to ear.'

'And no one claimed the bodies?' 'No.'

'And you expected no such visitors to the priory?' 'No.'

'Then how did you find the dog?'

The porter moved restlessly from one foot to another. 'Well, I was truly puzzled, so two days later I came back. I know the forest well. I thought there might be something worth finding.' He pointed over to the ring of trees. 'There, under the bracken, I glimpsed the dog. At first I thought it was a dead rabbit. I went over to look and knew it was a lap dog.'

'You didn't kill it?' Ranulf snapped.

'God be my witness, sir, I didn't!' The porter licked his lips nervously. 'The corpses must have been in the marsh for days, even weeks. The dog must have run away and, being such a pampered animal, crawled back and pined to death for its mistress. I took the collar off, removed the stones, put the rest in the sack and took it to the gibbet The rest you know.' He glared again at Ranulf and looked down at his boots.

'Are there outlaws here?' Corbett asked.

The porter made a face. 'No, Master Clerk. That's what puzzled me and the other villagers. Oh, there's a few wild lads who do some poaching. But tell me,' he asked, defiantly repeating taproom gossip, 'what outlaw worth his brain would hide in a forest with a royal palace at one end and a priory full of powerful ladies at the other? Not to mention the village and the other farms. There are deeper woods than this for a wolfshead to hide in.'

Corbett stared round the eerie, silent glade. 'If only the leaves of these trees,' he murmured, 'could turn to tongues, what story would they tell?'

Ranulf just shivered.

'A place to rest,' Corbett muttered. 'But perhaps not a place to die.'

I don't know,' Ranulf replied, his face growing paler. 'I once knew a sailor, an old man from Gravesend. He said that on one of his voyages, he passed a floating island thronged with demonic blacksmiths who forged and hammered the evil souls of assassins!' Ranulf shook his head. 'I think this place is more suited for that than any island.' He stared at Corbett. I don't like it, Master. It stinks of death!'

'Then, Master Porter,' Corbett announced, 'it's best we leave.'

They walked back to the forest track where Corbett dismissed the porter. Then he and a calmer Ranulf sat on a log at the edge of the trees.

'What do we have here?' Corbett murmured as soon as the porter was out of earshot. 'Two travellers, ambushed and murdered in a forest glade – was it by outlaws?' He shook his head. 'The porter is right and Dame Catherine's explanation feckless. No outlaw would lurk so near a royal palace or so close to a powerful priory.'

Ranulf belched noisily. 'I'd agree with that,' he added apologetically. 'Nor would any outlaw strip the corpses so carefully: jewellery and silver maybe, perhaps the horses and their harnesses, but not to the extent the porter described. Nor,' he concluded, 'would any outlaw try to hide the bodies. He would take his ill-gotten gains and flee.'

Corbett nibbed his chin. 'And so the mystery deepens. Why kill them, Ranulf? Why not just demand their valuables and scamper off? It's almost as if,' he paused, 'the murderer wanted to disguise who his victims were. He takes their belongings, their horses, then tips their naked corpses into a marsh, except they don't sink properly.' He chewed his lip. 'There are other riddles. These two travellers were apparently strangers in the area, yet how did they know about this forest path leading to a glade with the water to refresh themselves? And who would be strong enough to overcome a young man as well as a, presumably, fairly robust young damsel?'

'What are you saying, Master?'

'Well, the only conclusion is that they were lured to their deaths. They were taken to that glade to be murdered. And yet,' Corbett laughed abruptly, 'did they just offer their throats to the murderer?' He turned. 'Do you make any sense of it, Ranulf?'

'No, Master, I don't. I have the same questions. Who were they? Where were they going? Not to the priory, they weren't expected there.' Ranulf blew out noisily. 'And, as you say, Master, how were they lured to their deaths and why so meekly give up their lives?'

Corbett rose and brushed the moss from his clothes. 'A riddle within a riddle,' he murmured. 'But I can tell you this, Ranulf, even though I haven't a shred of evidence, I believe the deaths of those two young people have something to do with the murder of Lady Eleanor Belmont.'

Ranulf sat staring down at the ground.

'Master?'

'Yes, Ranulf?'

'Both Dame Catherine and the porter mentioned these two corpses being found in the wood which ties between the priory and the palace. Could the murderer have been from either of these?'