Michael JECKS - The Templar's Penance

Domingo was Joana’s cousin! Baldwin felt a tingling of excitement in his belly. ‘I see. So she showed you all this money?’

‘And I told her to take it straight back to her lady. I’d have nothing to do with stolen money,’ Ramón said, but to Baldwin’s consternation, a tear began to run down his cheek. ‘And that, Sir Baldwin, is the cause of my guilt. For I killed her, as surely as though I beat her about the head.’

‘What do you mean?’ Baldwin demanded.

‘I left her there. I shouted that I wanted nothing to do with a common draw-latch, and that if she wished to marry me, it had to be as an honest woman. I told her to take the money back to her lady and quit her post. Then, I said, I would marry her. But on her way back, someone who must have heard us shouting, captured her, killed her, and stole all the money. If I had been kinder, if I had ridden back with her, instead of angrily riding off and leaving her alone, she might still be alive today.’

‘That was Domingo, perhaps? He could have killed her for the money?’

‘Perhaps. From his reputation, he would not have thought anything of murder for thirty libras . But I did not see him there.’

‘Did you see anyone?’

‘Don Ruy was there. I saw him after I had spoken to Joana and refused to accept her money. I was not in a good temper. I was thinking that I should leave her alone. If she could be so faithless to her own mistress, was she really the sort of woman who would make a good wife to a Knight of Santiago?’

‘Don Ruy, you say? Where was he?’

‘At the ford where the women wash their clothes. I saw him there. I remember it, because he was exchanging foul comments with a whoring beggar, and both were laughing at their lewdness. I thought it was disgraceful that a knight should be so crude. Don Ruy thought nothing of it. I dare say he took her for a tumble afterwards.’

Later, when Ramón had left them, Baldwin and João sat for some time in silence.

To João, it seemed as though Baldwin was at a loss for words, and he thought it better to leave him to mull over all he had heard without interruption. It was necessary sometimes, he knew, to have time to order one’s thoughts.

Baldwin at last broke the silence. ‘I think your Frey Ramón will make a good Brother.’

‘We have need of faithful brethren,’ João said. ‘You were persuaded by his evidence?’

‘I was,’ Baldwin said heavily. ‘Which carries the double pain for me of a wasted journey and the knowledge that I could have remained in Compostela seeking the real murderer there. I have no idea who was responsible. There is still this rape, murder and theft.’

‘Perhaps a means of finding the murderer will come to you when you return to the town.’

‘I can pray.’

‘I shall pray for you.’

‘I wonder … It would mean much to me to be able to pray in your oratory to ask for guidance. Would it be possible …?’

‘No, not with the Brothers, of course. But you could join in a service in the chapel with the lay Brothers.’

‘I should be very grateful. It would ease my mind.’

‘Yes,’ João said, and then, although he was not sure why, he said, ‘Would you prefer to pray with me here, alone?’

Baldwin looked at him, and nodded. ‘I would be very glad.’

It was afternoon when he and the claveiro left the chapel and wandered down from the little cloister around the church.

‘My heart is full,’ Baldwin said simply. ‘I feel renewed.’

‘I am pleased for you,’ João said. He looked at Baldwin. ‘You speak Latin very well, my friend.’

‘I was fortunate to be educated.’

‘And you say the paternoster fluently.’

‘My brain has always been retentive,’ Baldwin said defensively.

‘Many men are fortunate to have good minds,’ João said comfortably. ‘Especially those who have lived in places like this for a while.’

Baldwin could not meet his gaze. There was a terrible silence between them. It was a gulf into which all noise was swallowed, as though if either were to speak, it could only result in death and disaster. Baldwin waited. He was convinced that João would call for men to capture him, that he was going to be thrown into a gaol and held. His worst fears were about to come true.

Then João idly kicked a stone from the path. ‘I think,’ he said quietly, ‘that those who served here were not evil: they were heroes and martyrs. If they had been evil, do you not think that the demons they had summoned would have frequented these places? No, if the Templars were guilty of anything, it was of arrogance. And who, living in a place like this, wouldn’t be prone to that sin?’

Baldwin was unable to speak. They had reached the level area before the circular church. A young child was running past, and Baldwin watched him speed over the ground, laughing as another boy chased him. ‘I am sure you are right, claveiro ,’ he said huskily.

‘I believe so. I find it painful to think of all the violence inflicted on men whose only crime was trying to obey God.’

They had reached a small gate in a wall, and João motioned to it. ‘I wondered … it is a pleasing little area. I must leave you, but if you wish, you may enter and rest for a while.’

‘What is it?’ Baldwin asked.

‘A graveyard.’ João looked about him sadly. ‘It is where the monks who used to live here were buried. Wait here, and meditate quietly. Leave your sword sheathed, and you might learn something useful.’

Afonso climbed up the roadway with Sir Charles. The English knight stood at the gateway peering out over the view, while Afonso entered the castle’s gates and walked into the courtyard.

The place was enormously loud, with men shouting at each other, the beating of hammers and chisels, bellows making the flames roar, and over all the sonorous tolling of the massive bell in the church. Afonso gazed at it with wonder. It was nothing like a church as he knew it. Instead, it looked like a citadel, a castle’s keep. It was a tower that dwarfed every other tower in Tomar.

The place he wanted to go was near the church, and he entered it quietly by the small gate. Immediately, the noise died to a background hubbub, and he found himself in a small cloister with a pleasing area of lawn. There were no seats apart from some stone-carved benches, and he walked to one and sat, staring at the grass.

There was another man in there with him, he saw, a man in a white tunic, and at first he wondered if it might be a Knight of Christ, but then he thought that they must all be in the church for a service, for the bell had ceased its clanging invitation.

Afonso was not worried. He bent his head and clasped his hands and began to pray as he had been shown by his father all those years ago. At once he felt the calmness return and envelop him. All the frustrations and worries of the last ten years began to disappear. It was as though he was able to tell his father what had happened, as if he could talk to his father properly again. Not that it was possible, of course. He had died many years ago. But simply confiding in him would, he hoped, make his father’s soul happy.

When he was done, he sat back. After a few minutes, he heard footsteps approaching. A man sat on a bench nearby.

Baldwin cleared his throat. ‘I came here to try to find you.’

‘You have succeeded.’

‘May I speak to you?’

‘Not here.’

Afonso stood, and without a backward glance, walked from the cloister out to the courtyard, Baldwin following. As soon as Afonso opened the gate and stepped out, there was a shrill cry, and the little boy whom Baldwin had seen before, ran past, clipped Afonso’s leg, and fell headlong. For a moment, there was no noise from him, but then he began to shriek with pain and surprise.