D. Wilson - The Traitor’s Mark

‘It was soon after cock crow, Master; not fully light. It was time to change the guards. We assembled here in the yard. I went with Andrew to the south gate. I was taking over there and he was supposed to be patrolling Long Wood. When we came to the cottage where Adie and the children were, I stopped to check with John Thatcher, the man I had set to do the night watch. I found him on the floor lying in a pool of blood.’

‘God in heaven! Was he …’

‘Dead? No, Master, praise be, but he’d taken a bad blow to the bead. We’ve got him abed now and the physician from Ightham has been in to bandage him up.’

‘And Adie and the children?’

‘Gone, Master – all save the baby, who was crying as though he would burst open. This was fixed to the door.’ He handed me a scrap of paper. Its scrawled message was brief: ‘THE GIRL AND THE BEARNS FOR THE PAINTER LONDON BRIDGE THREE DAYS’.

The words were like a blow to the stomach. ‘Curse me for an idiot! This is Black Harry’s work. I should have been here. How did the rogues get past our guards?’

‘’Twas cleverly done, Master. Devil knows how they got into the grounds. What I think is that they had a good look round under cover of darkness. When they saw John guarding the cottage they must have realised that was where our visitors were staying. The doctor said John hadn’t lost much blood, so he couldn’t have been lying there long before we found him – perhaps half an hour. Long enough to bind and gag young Adie and the children or terrify them into silence then leave the same way as they came. We found evidence that horses had been tethered in a thicket close to the east gate. I sent out search parties along all the roads leading from here … but … nothing.’

‘They would have gone cross country. A group of horsemen carrying children would have been too conspicuous riding through villages and hamlets.’

‘We have had one report. Some woodmen clearing storm damage on the Tonbridge road near Mereworth saw them travelling along forest tracks.’

‘Going east then.’

‘Yes.’

‘I wonder …’

‘Master?’

‘Where are they heading for? They’ll have to hide somewhere, and soon. They must know where to go; where to find someone who will shelter them. Who is it?’

‘Impossible to say, Master. We could search the country for weeks and never find them.’

‘You’re right, of course. Oh, how stupid, stupid, stupid I’ve been! This was the one thing I wanted to prevent happening.’

‘So what’s to be done, Master?’ Walt looked to me for a decision, and several others stood nearby waiting to hear my answer.

What was I to say? I was too stunned by what had happened to give my people the lead they expected of me but I had to do something. With a confidence I certainly did not feel, I gave my orders. ‘I’ll write letters to the magistrates and all the gentry. Get together whatever men you can spare and have them ready to ride all over the shire. If we alert as many landowners as possible we should be able to discover where this gang is hiding.’

I went to my chamber and called for ink and paper. I had scrawled no more than three messages when the door burst open. Lizzie marched in with Ned Longbourne a few paces behind her.

‘You cackbrained clotpole! What have you done?’ She stood before me, hands on hips, dark eyes flashing. ‘You get this old man to bring me here for “safety” and what do I find as soon as I arrive, my children taken by a gang of cutthroats. I’ll never see them again.’

Ned stepped forward. ‘It seems the baby is safe and in good hands,’ he ventured diffidently.

‘Close your maw, you old fool!’ Lizzie raged. ‘I’m thinking of my little Annie. She’ll be frightened to death – if she isn’t already dead.’ She turned away and paced the room. ‘There are three witless gulls here. You two haven’t a brain to share between you and I’ve been lunatic enough to listen to you.’

I stood up and took a step away from the table. ‘It’s good that you’re here, Lizzie …’

‘Don’t you soft-talk me!’ She raised her hands, fingers outstretched like claws and lurched forward.

What she would have done if Ned had not stepped between us I know not. He took hold of her arms and guided her to a chair. ‘You are right,’ he said. ‘We’ve all been foolish. But now we share the same grief and anger. What we must do is channel our feelings, pool our folly and see if we cannot, between us, find a few grains of wisdom. Thomas, can you tell us exactly what has happened? We have had only garbled accounts from the servants.’

He settled on a stool beside Lizzie while I outlined the sequence of events from my departure the previous day to my arrival home again.

Ned looked puzzled. ‘Why do these desperate men think you know where Master Holbein is hiding?’

‘It must be because they know I’m looking after his children. Their safety is my only concern. I’m just writing letters to all the main landlords,’ I concluded. ‘I mean to alert the whole shire. That way we should hear news of these villains.’

Lizzie glared at me across the table. ‘More folly!’ she shouted. ‘What’s the first thing they’ll do when they know they’re being tracked?’

Ned and I exchanged glances. We both knew Lizzie was right. To be sure of avoiding capture the murderers would not hesitate to get rid of their hostages.

‘What else can we do?’ I asked.

Lizzie answered promptly. ‘Give them this man they’re looking for.’

Ned shook his head. ‘But we don’t know where he is, Lizzie.’

‘Then try harder.’ Lizzie stood up, tight-lipped. ‘I’m going to take my baby.’

For some moments after she had gone Ned and I stared at each other in helpless silence. ‘So the children are doomed whether we act or whether we do nothing,’ I said at last.

Ned nodded. ‘We are in what the mystics call the dark forest of fear. Yet, what makes our case worse is that we are not the only ones lost in it.’

‘Your meaning?’

‘Well, for sure Black Harry (and it must be him we seek) lives in dread of the hangman. Adie and the children must be suffering from we know not what terrors. Poor Bart and this Master Johannes you tell me about are frightened into hiding.’

‘Aye, and it stops not there.’ I told Ned of my meetings with Cranmer and Marbeck. ‘All these things must be connected. For example, I believe I may know why this raid was made today.’

‘Tell me.’

I wandered to the window and gazed out across an overgrown patch of lawn where water had gathered in the depressions. ‘I have been very careful not to mention the name “Black Harry” to anyone I do not trust completely, because I do not know who might be among his patrons. Yesterday afternoon I’m fairly sure someone overheard me speak the name.’ In my mind I saw again the figure of Edward Thwaites emerging from the shadows in Moyle’s hall. ‘That same person is a sworn enemy of the archbishop. Later he pressed me – very hard – to stay the night with him.’

‘To keep you away from Hemmings?’

‘I think so.’

‘Because he knew the children were here?’

‘I think he must have overheard that, too.’

‘Even if you are right about this fellow ’tis not information you can use. Lizzie’s judgement is sound: we dare not let Black Harry and his associates think we’re on his trail. You see what I mean about us all blundering around in the same darkness. Not only do we need to find our own way out; we have to avoid bumping into each other.’

‘Mary and all the angels, what a mess! I suppose Lizzie is right. We must find Master Holbein.’Tis the only way.’

‘How, if he will not be found?’