by S. D. Sykes
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, when our kiss finally ended. ‘I should have believed you.’
‘It’s no matter,’ she whispered. ‘I’m not angry with you, Oswald. Now, please,’ she said, a little more insistently. ‘Untie my wrists and ankles. Quickly. Before Peter wakes up.’
I rose to my feet slowly, careful not to make any noise, before I pulled out my sword to cut at the rope about her ankles. When I had succeeded in freeing her feet, I helped her to stand, finding that she was stiff and lame after two days of being bound. She was unsteady and she soon lost her balance – falling with enough movement to wake Peter.
He sat up and peered across the room. ‘Oswald?’ he said, scrambling to his feet when he saw that I’d freed Maud. ‘By corpus’ bones! What have you done now?’
I was about to answer, when we heard a noise from outside – the sound of hooves approaching the cottage at a canter. I instinctively stopped to listen, giving Peter the opportunity to grab Maud – placing his hand over her mouth while my attention was elsewhere. Though she squealed for my help, I found myself frozen to the spot.
Whoever it was outside, they circled the cottage once and then came to a halt nearby. A few moments of silence followed, before we heard footsteps, loud and confident as they strode towards the door.
Brother Peter glared at me, urging me not to make a sound and give our presence away, but I ignored his warning. Raising my short sword, I crept over to the door and then flung it open to find a familiar face standing at the threshold. The shock of this meeting was mutual.
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, dropping my sword a little.
My brother ignored my question. ‘Oswald,’ he said brightly. ‘So this is where you’ve been hiding, is it? I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Ever since you disappeared from Somershill.’
‘How did you know that I was here?’ I felt a sudden rush of blood – beating inside my ear like a baton against a drum.
Again he ignored the question, as a quizzical look crossed his handsome face. His long brown lashes blinked over his almond-shaped eyes. His full lips curled into an arrogant smile. The sun caught the end of his ears as they poked out from his hair. ‘We’ve all been very worried about you,’ he said, trying to look over my shoulder into the gloom of the cottage, alerted by the sound of Maud’s muffled whining. ‘Have you got a woman in there?’
‘No.’
‘What’s that noise then?’
‘There’s nobody here,’ I insisted, though this was impossible to deny when Maud managed to break free of Peter’s muzzling hand and scream out loud. Hearing this, William pushed past me and strode into the cottage. I followed him inside to find that Peter now had Maud in a neck hold – the tip of his dagger digging into her throat.
‘What’s going on?’ said William, as his eyes met Maud’s. I couldn’t help but see the look that passed between them. It only lasted for the briefest of moments, but I will never forget its intensity. I knew then that William was the man we’d been waiting for.
‘Do something, William,’ Maud gasped, looking at my brother with wild, terrified eyes. ‘Help me.’
My brother drew his own short sword from its scabbard then pointed it at Peter. ‘Let her go.’
Peter shook his head and pressed the dagger a little harder into Maud’s neck, causing her to scream again. ‘We know what happens in this place,’ he told William. ‘We know that this whore brings women here for you.’
William laughed. ‘What nonsense is this?’
‘You didn’t come here to find Oswald,’ said Peter. ‘You came here to rape and kill.’
‘Have you been drinking again, Brother Peter?’ William turned to me. ‘Make this man see some sense, will you? Before I’m thoroughly insulted.’
The thumping inside my ears had turned to a sharp ringing. I felt dazed and nauseous. ‘I found the bodies, William,’ I said, my voice a weak mumble.
‘What was that?’ he said. ‘Speak up, Little Brother.’
I took a deep breath. ‘I said that I found the bodies, William. I know it’s you.’
William only made a short pretence at bafflement, before he dropped the act – striding over to push his face into mine. ‘Is that right?’ he said.
Peter shouted across the room. ‘Take care, Oswald,’ he warned. ‘He’s dangerous.’
‘I know it’s you,’ I whispered, taking a step backwards and feeling the vomit rise in my throat. ‘I know what you’ve done.’
William didn’t bother to answer this accusation. Instead he grabbed me, twisting my head into a stranglehold, with his elbow looped beneath my chin. I could hear my brother’s breathing. Fast and heavy, as he pushed the tip of his sword into my back, finding a gap between my ribs. Even though I was still holding a weapon, there was nothing I could do to defend myself. William could have killed me with a single jab.
William shouted across the room to Peter. ‘Let Maud go.’
‘Or what?’ replied Peter. ‘You would kill your own brother? To save this whore?’
William twisted the sword between my ribs, piercing the surface of my skin. I couldn’t help but flinch, which was more than enough cause for Peter to surrender Maud. He would never take any risks with my life. ‘She’s yours,’ he said, hurling Maud across the room. ‘Have her.’
William released me in return and I was able to scramble to Peter, whereupon the old monk grasped me in an intense hug. I soon realised that the purpose of Peter’s embrace went beyond affection, however. When I broke away from his clasp, I turned around to see that Maud was planting desperate kisses onto William’s lips.
Peter sighed. ‘I’m so sorry, Oswald,’ he whispered. ‘I tried to tell you.’
As they parted, Maud threw me a victorious glance and suddenly I felt overwhelmed with a ferocious hatred for the woman. My hand tightened on my sword and I went to attack. ‘Not yet,’ said Peter, holding me back.
William pulled at Maud. ‘Come on,’ he said, heading for the door. ‘Let’s go.’
Maud didn’t move. ‘No,’ she said. ‘We can’t leave them.’
William thought about this for a moment. ‘They can’t do us any harm, Maud.’
‘But they know everything.’
‘So what?’ replied William. ‘Who would believe their story?’
Once again my brother tried to leave the cottage, but once again Maud refused to move. ‘I’m not so sure,’ she said. ‘They could cause trouble for us, William. I think we need to…’ She dropped her voice to a whisper, though the nature of her proposal was obvious.
Peter stiffened. ‘There are two of us, William,’ he said coolly. ‘You would find it difficult to kill a pair of men. Especially as we’re armed.’ Peter brandished his dagger and tipped my elbow, encouraging me to do the same with my own weapon. I tried to keep my sword steady, but my hand trembled like a reed in the wind.
William only laughed at this show of strength. ‘What? Am I supposed to be afraid of you? Is that it?’
‘It’s two against one,’ said Peter.
This caused William to laugh again. ‘Yes. But you’re an old drunk.’ He said, before pointing at me. ‘And what is Oswald? A milksop, raised by monks.’
‘At least I’m not a rapist and a murderer,’ I replied.
This riposte instantly killed his amusement. ‘You should have kept your nose out of my business, Little Brother,’ he growled, as a thin ray of sunlight crept through a gap in the roof and fell upon the bridge of his nose. His eyes were kept in shadow – hidden in their black sockets.
‘Agnes was your daughter,’ I said. ‘A fourteen-year-old girl.’
‘It’s your fault that girl is dead,’ he said, taking another step forward, and finally revealing his eyes to the light. They were wolf’s eyes. Cold and predatory. ‘You chased her into a river.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘I only made a mistake, William. I was a fool.’ I paused. ‘But you… You raped and killed your own flesh and blood.’
We gazed at
one another in silence for a long while, but I knew that my insolence would not go unpunished. Within a moment he had launched himself across the room with the intention of killing me – and he would have suceeded, had Peter not thrown himself between us, pushing William aside.
My brother retaliated immediately, slashing at Peter’s arm and inflicting a wound that drew blood. As Peter recoiled, William returned his attentions to me. I tried to defend myself, of course – but I was hardly a match for a man of William’s strength and savagery. He soon had me pinned against the wall, about to strike the lethal blow, when Peter came to my salvation once again. Lunging forward in wild desperation, he managed to stab my brother in the thigh, plunging his dagger deep into the flesh.
William screamed out in agony, dropping his sword onto the floor – before he limped away to the other side of the room, where Maud scooped him up in her arms. While she comforted William, Brother Peter quickly grabbed William’s weapon from the floor and called upon me to raise my sword again. Our plan was to pounce upon William while he was injured, but we should have known better. It would be much harder to defeat my brother than this.
‘Keep away from me,’ he snarled, pulling the bloodied dagger from his thigh as we approached. ‘Or I’ll kill you both.’ We retreated immediately, knowing that there is little more dangerous than an injured animal.
Maud pressed a rag against the bleeding wound on William’s leg, but he responded by pushing her away. ‘Get off me,’ he snarled, turning on her with no warning. ‘I don’t want your help.’
‘But—’
He didn’t let Maud finish the sentence. ‘You stupid whore,’ he said, his face twisting with pain as he rubbed at his bleeding leg. ‘This is all your fault.’
Maud stiffened at his words, before another emotion took hold. It was an expression that I’d never seen on her face before. In that instant, I saw that she was afraid of my brother.
William continued. ‘You brought them here,’ he hissed at Maud. ‘You led them to me.’
She creased her brow into a frown, and I could see that she was both frightened and bewildered by my brother’s sudden turn. ‘I didn’t mean to do it, William,’ she said. ‘I swear it.’
‘Of course you didn’t mean it,’ he said through clenched teeth, as he continued to wince in pain. ‘Just like you didn’t mean to bring me my own daughter. Just like you didn’t mean to let her escape before we killed her.’
Maud attempted to stroke William’s arm. It was pathetic and desperate to watch. ‘I swear to you, William,’ she said again. ‘I had no idea that Agnes was your daughter. I always thought that she was Ned Wheeler’s child. I would never have brought her to you if I’d known.’ Her stroking became a frantic pawing, which William only tolerated until Maud tried to kiss him again. At this point he struck her cheek with the back of his hand – delivering a cracking blow, so loud it reverberated about the cottage.
Maud fell to the floor, clutching her hands to her face. ‘I’m so sorry, William,’ she sobbed. ‘I only want to please you. You know that.’
As William stood over her and glowered, I felt an unexpected pang of sympathy for Maud, despite everything. I felt the urge to go to her aid, but Peter held me back. ‘It’s too late, Oswald,’ he whispered. ‘You can’t help her now.’
William continued, his words to Maud delivered with contempt. ‘I think you did know about Agnes,’ he said. ‘I think you brought her to me on purpose.’
‘No,’ she whimpered. ‘That’s not true.’
‘That’s just the sort of trick you like to play on me, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘Always trying to provoke me. Always trying to gain the advantage.’
Maud threw herself at William’s feet. ‘No, no. That’s not right, William,’ she said. ‘That’s not true. Not a word of it.’
‘They’re lying to you, William. Can’t you see?’ she said, suddenly pointing at Peter and me. ‘Agnes Wheeler wasn’t your daughter,’ she said. ‘How could she be a de Lacy? You could never have fathered a village runt like that. She was a nothing. A nobody!’
William thought for a moment. This argument obviously appealed to him. Sensing the opportunity to redeem herself, Maud stumbled to her feet. ‘We mustn’t believe their lies, William,’ she said. ‘They’re trying to cause you pain with this story about Agnes. They’re trying to divide us.’ When William didn’t rebuff her immediately, she began to stroke his arm again. ‘Don’t let them do this to us, William,’ she whispered. ‘We always promised that nothing could come between us. That we are the same soul, only in two bodies.’ Maud lifted her hand to his cheeks. ‘We love each other, William,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t let them part us.’
As William stared into Maud’s face, Peter nudged me. Now was our chance. We advanced across the room again, only to find that we had caught William’s eye immediately. He looked over Maud’s shoulder and fixed me with his gaze – the same look that I’d seen too often as a child. His eyes were glinting with malicious pleasure as he turned to kiss Maud. As I saw their lips meet, I felt a painful stab at my heart, but this was nothing compared to the horror I then experienced. Within a flash my brother had plunged Peter’s dagger into the side of Maud’s neck – his movement fast and accurate, like the practised blow of a slaughterer.
Maud clasped her hands to the wound and screamed in shock and pain – the blood immediately pumping through her fingers and flooding her gown with its surging flow. ‘William?’ she rasped, her face twisted in disbelief. ‘Why? Why would you do this? I don’t understand.’
‘I’m not the other half of your soul, Maud,’ he said calmly, before he grabbed his lover by the upper arms and threw her into our path.
As my brother limped out of the hut, Peter rushed to Maud’s aid, trying to stem the wound at her throat with the cloth of his habit. But I couldn’t move. I just couldn’t get my feet to obey the instruction.
Peter looked up at me. ‘Go after him, Oswald,’ he shouted, nodding towards the door. ‘Don’t let your brother get away.’
I finally came to my senses and ran outside in pursuit of William, only to find that he had already mounted his horse and retreated to a vantage point within the trees. William held one hand to the wound on his leg, and was leaning forward to rest against his horse’s neck. I could see that he was still in great pain.
I raced towards him, my hatred and rage now surging. ‘You’re a monster,’ I shouted. ‘You’ll hang for this.’
He managed to kick at his horse with his good leg and moved beyond my reach. ‘Just go back to your monastery, Little Brother,’ he called out from a safe distance. ‘And keep your mouth shut.’
‘No, I won’t keep quiet,’ I responded. ‘You’ll pay for what you’ve done. I’ll make sure of that!’
‘But who will believe you, Oswald?’ He laughed. ‘Who will care about a few dead women from a little village? Their lives mean nothing. To nobody.’ With those words, he kicked at his horse’s flanks again and disappeared into the trees.
I sank to the ground, dropping my head between my knees and sobbing into the soil, as Brother Peter joined me with the news that Maud was dead. He had the good sense to leave me alone for a moment, before he placed a hand softly on my shoulder.
‘Come on, Oswald,’ he whispered. ‘We should leave, before William comes back.’
I looked up into Peter’s face. My vision was blurred with tears. ‘But what about Maud?’ I said. ‘And those other bodies? Shouldn’t we bury them?’
‘No, Oswald,’ he replied. ‘We need to think of ourselves now.’ He pushed the hair from my face. ‘The dead can take care of themselves.’
Chapter Thirty-four
Somershill, November 1370
Mother cupped her hands to her face and stared. ‘Is this true, Oswald?’ she whispered. ‘William really did those things? ‘Those terrible things.’
I nodded and took her hand. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me about this before?’ she whispered. ‘When
you first came home from the monastery?’
‘It was too difficult, Mother. Father, William and Richard had only just died of plague.’
‘Did you think I wouldn’t believe you?’ she said, now close to tears. ‘Was that it?’
I shrugged, not knowing how to answer – and so we sat in silence until she spoke again. Her voice now thin and hoarse.
‘This doesn’t come as a complete shock to me, Oswald,’ she whispered. ‘Not really.’ She beckoned for me to draw nearer. ‘There was always a trace of evil in William. I could see it from the moment he was born. But this… I never suspected this.’ She took my hand and squeezed it in her own. ‘I should have taken the whip to him when he was young, Oswald. I should have beaten this cruelty out of him.’
‘This is not your fault,’ I said. ‘It’s nobody’s fault. William made himself into this monster. Nobody could have stopped him.’
Mother gave a slow, melancholic shake of her head. ‘I never understood him, Oswald. You should know that. Though I grew him in my own womb, and fed him at my own table.’ She coughed, struggling again to keep back her tears. ‘But I never thought that I’d raised a demon.’ She waved at the cup beside her bed. ‘Just give me a drink,’ she said. ‘And not from that boiled meadow grass. I’m a human, not a horse. I want wine. Decent wine.’
I refreshed her cup from the decanter of Malmsey that had been placed in the room for my benefit, gently lifting the wine to her lips and letting her take a number of sips, until the wine left a red moustache on her top lip.
The Malmsey was soothing, but it also exhausted her, and I thought she might close her eyes again and try to sleep. But she knew, as well as I did, that this story was not yet over. She forced her eyes to stay open as she slowly patted her breast, tapping at the letter that still remained, as ever, in its place of safety.
‘Well, Oswald,’ she said. ‘Thank you for your honesty. This was not a story that I wanted to hear. But it was right for me to know it, before I die.’ She pulled out the letter and waved it, under my nose. ‘But you still haven’t explained this.’