by Angus Donald
We spent a sleepless night. After the feast was over, back at our guest house, the abbots sat up till dawn writing many letters to the great men — and women — of England and Normandy, while Hanno and I packed our possessions, cleaned our swords and armour and prepared to carry these precious missives on the long journey home.
We were to leave the abbots and their monks with King Richard and retrace our steps to The Crow, which would carry us down the Main and the Rhine, all the way back to the North Sea and across it to England. The letters we would carry were of vital importance; in effect we were being entrusted with King Richard’s lifeline, for these letters were his only link to his supporters in England. Undoubtedly Prince John’s assassins would stop at nothing in their efforts to prevent the letters from reaching their destination. Still, I was confident that, with Hanno at my side and a yard of steel in my hand, we would be more than a match for them. There would be no shameful running away this time, I told myself.
Bidding a fond farewell to the abbots by the barbican gate at the north-western corner of Ochsenfurt, Hanno and I shouldered our back-sacks and were soon trudging down the road beside the Main towards the Tuckelhausen wharf where we had left The Crow two days earlier. I have to admit that I was exhausted after two sleepless nights and the dramatic events that had occurred since we moored at the rickety monastery wharf. But I was buoyed by our success. What a tale I would have to tell Perkin! We had completed our mission; we had found the King and made his life a little safer and his person a little more comfortable — for the moment. Soon all Europe would know of his whereabouts; he had been brought out into the light, and the risk of murky, dishonourable, hole-and-corner dealings between his enemies was diminished. Despite my tiredness I was happy; warmed by the glow of our victory and looking forward to telling Perkin all about my adventures, singing with the King and fighting the two assassins — no doubt he would be suitably impressed — and then I would curl up in the stern cabin under a blanket and sleep the sleep of the just while Adam and he crewed the big black sailing barge downstream towards home.
It was Hanno’s sharp eye that noticed it first: a wisp of grey smoke against a grey cloudy sky, just a tendril. When he drew my attention to it, I muttered something about a local peasant’s campfire, my mind split between happy thoughts of returning home and the need, given my exhausted state, to concentrate on putting one foot ahead of the other. But as we approached, the wisp of smoke thickened, fattened and grew darker until we both knew we were looking at a disaster. Hanno and I broke into a run at the same time, sprinting up the road towards the wharf as fast as we could under the weight of the heavy back-sacks. The column of smoke turned black and evil, twisting up into the sky like a fat snake, dark as sin and speckled with bright flecks of orange sparks that danced upward in the roiling stream.
We rounded a bend and blundered straight into the scene of a catastrophe: The Crow was blazing from stern to bow, its cargo of hardwood timber the perfect fodder for a holocaust. The heat from the flames was ferocious, and we could not approach closer than a dozen yards to the burning craft. But I could make out the body of a man through the smoke and flames, pierced many times, lying in a pool of sizzling blood at the prow of the barge, his blond hair frizzling, curling and blackening in the heat, and I could smell the pork-like stench of his roasting flesh. It was Adam. His face was turned towards me and his blue seafarer’s eyes stared into nothingness. I crossed myself and began to mutter the Ave Maria over and over to myself under my breath — for Adam’s dead body was not the worst sight that polluted our gaze on that cursed morning: on the wooden jetty, before the roaring boat, was a far worse sight.
Through the eddies of choking smoke, I could see the arms, legs and torso of a young man, and a yard or so away was his head: a snub-nosed, red-haired head. It had not been severed by a blade; from the neck protruded strands of tissue, ligament, veins, and a sharp dagger spike of white broken bone, while the skin of the neck was stretched and floppy. Perkin’s head had been ripped off by immensely powerful hands, much as one might decapitate a chicken. I felt the gorge rise in my throat, but fought back the urge to vomit. Rage consumed me: I was in no doubt as to who had done this.
Hanno, who had been questing around the beaten ground beyond the gusting veil of smoke, soon confirmed my opinion. ‘It is them,’ he said simply. And he indicated two sets of footprints: one set long and thin, the other huge and round, like the paw print of an enormous beast.
I pictured the two assassins as I had first set eyes on them by the light of Ralph Murdac’s fire, and found I was almost crying with fury at what they had done to my friends. My sword was in my hand and I felt an almost overpowering urge to kill, to hack and maim — to bring my blade against these two monsters in the name of justice.
‘They are not long gone,’ said Hanno. He was looking at me with searching, furious eyes. ‘We must catch them. Come, Alan, I can track them. They are not so far ahead of us. Come, let us go after them now.’
And I wanted nothing more than to do just that. God above knows how much it would have pleased me to strip off my back-sack, toss it down, and run these foul, misshapen creatures to earth so that I could hack them into gobbets. What I did next was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life.
‘No, Hanno,’ I said. And I found I was breathing hard, almost panting. ‘No,’ I said again through gritted teeth. ‘We must see that these letters are delivered. If we were to catch them — as I earnestly pray to God and all the saints that I may do some day — one of us might be injured and that would lessen our chances of successfully carrying these precious messages back to England.’
Hanno looked at me, dumbfounded. Then he slowly nodded his round shaven head. ‘It is your duty, no?’
‘Yes,’ I sighed. ‘It is my duty. But I swear now, before you, my friend, that I shall have vengeance on these creatures before I see Heaven. I swear it on the name of the Virgin, and I call upon St Michael, the warrior’s saint, to witness my vow. You have heard me, they have heard me, and now we must get away from here as swiftly as we are able. We need a boat. Any kind of boat will do.’
For the second time in a matter of days, I was running from an encounter with these two murderous bastards. In the name of duty to my King, I was sacrificing my personal honour. But I felt slightly better for my vow of vengeance; not entirely comfortable, but calmer. There would be a reckoning one day: I was certain of it. And on that day I would carve them both into bloody lumps.
But in the meantime what we needed, what I prayed for, was a boat
…
And it seemed that God had been listening to my prayers, for within the hour — while I knelt by Perkin, straightening his dead limbs and placing his poor head as close to his neck as possible, my eyes burning from the smoke and barely able to breathe — Hanno reported that not ten yards from the smoke- and blood-stained jetty he had found a craft hidden in the reeds: a battered skiff just big enough to hold two heavily laden men.
‘It must belong to the white monk who tends this wharf,’ said Hanno. My friend’s words prompted another question: Where was the surly Premonstratensian canon?
We found him soon after, seated behind the hut that he used for shelter, an extra mouth gaping below his chin: his throat had been cut from ear to ear. I gazed at the man’s body, the front of his white habit sodden and scarlet with his blood, and a terrible weariness came over me. I had seen so much death, too much. Would there ever be an end to Man’s evil? Why did God allow his servants to be slaughtered like this by men who were clearly spawned by the Devil? I could find no answers. All I could do was repeat my vow to St Michael that I would take red vengeance for these foul acts before too long.
Leaving the dead where they lay, trusting that the monks of Tuckelhausen would bury them and say a Mass for their souls, Hanno and I clambered into the skiff. Setting our leather back-sacks in the middle of the vessel, and taking up two paddles that we found in the bilges, we set off downstrea
m, rowing slowly and steadily, and letting the slow current do most of the work.
I passed the remainder of that day in a stupor, head wearily nodding on my breast as my muscles automatically worked the paddle, though my cracked ribs sent pain stabbing down my left side with each stroke. But with God’s help, and Hanno’s unflagging work, we reached Wurzburg that same evening. And while I was staggering with pain and exhaustion, Hanno arranged for us to occupy palliasses in the almshouse of the cathedral. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the thin, damp straw mattress.
For two days I slept, waking only occasionally to answer the calls of nature and to eat a little soup that Hanno brought to my palliasse. I was exhausted, worn thin in soul and body by the harrowing fall of events. And my ribs were hurting worse than ever. But while I was idle, Hanno was not. On the morning of the third day, he introduced me to a badly scarred, grinning rascal named Dolph who, for the princely sum of five shillings, was willing to take us in his trading galley all the way to Utrecht. It was an extortionate price for such a voyage, but I had the money — Queen Eleanor was paying, after all — and while the man looked to me like a pirate, Hanno, it seemed, trusted the fellow. I never did discover whether Dolph was truly a river pirate, but I did find that he was a man of his word. While I slept for most of the journey, nursing my aching ribs, Dolph took us quietly and efficiently down the rivers Main and Rhine, and seven days later, with a cheery nod and a hand clasp, he deposited Hanno and myself together with our precious back-sacks at the docks in Utrecht.
Three days later, I was standing in my salt-stained clothes in a private chamber of Westminster Palace, face to face with my King’s venerable mother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Chapter Eleven
The Queen looked as lovely as ever, dressed in a burgundy gown with pearls at her throat, and her auburn hair caught up in a golden net. But looking closer, I could see that her fine features were a little worn with care, and for the first time I could begin to see her true age in the lines on her still beautiful face. Her reception of me was far warmer than at our last meeting, and she rose from her high-backed chair to greet me, ordering a servant to bring wine and asking after my health in a most considerate manner.
I handed over the letters which were addressed to her — I had dispatched Hanno to deliver the rest — and stood patiently while she read them, sipping from a silver-chased wooden cup of wine and admiring the gold-embroidered tapestries on the walls of the chamber. The Queen was not alone, of course. Walter de Coutances, the Archbishop of Rouen and the Queen’s most loyal counsellor, was in attendance, too. He seemed barely able to restrain his impatience while she read through the letters, almost snatching them from her fingers the moment she had finished reading them and devouring the contents the way a starving man wolfs down a plate of food.
‘You have done very well, Alan,’ said the Queen with a smile. ‘And I am most grateful to you. We all are. Your service shall not be forgotten when this business is over.’
I was muttering something about not seeking any reward, that the honour of serving my King was ample reward in itself, when the archbishop rudely interrupted me.
‘It seems that Boxley and Robertsbridge have the situation in hand. They say they will stick like glue to the King until we can arrange the ransom,’ he said to the Queen, ignoring me completely. ‘But it is going to be expensive, very expensive…’
‘The Church in England must be made to play its part in raising the money,’ said the Queen, fixing the archbishop with a meaningful look. ‘I am thinking we must appropriate the gold and silver plate from every parish church in the land. And Boxley suggests that we take some of the Cistercians’ wool crop, too — that will be worth a pretty penny.’
‘Yes, that might be possible,’ said Coutances. ‘And the nobility must pay its share, too, but I fear that will not be enough.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘Some of the burden will have to fall on the common people. I’d urge a general tax of one quarter the value of all moveable property. We will need to collect the silver — there will be a vast quantity of it — at a central point. Here in the crypt in the Abbey, perhaps, or in London at St Paul’s…’
Suddenly reminded of my presence, the Archbishop frowned at me. ‘Perhaps, my lady, we might discuss this in private…’ And he inclined his head in my direction.
‘Alan, will you excuse us, please?’ she said to me with a lovely smile.
Making my bow, I withdrew, leaving the old man and the Queen to their deliberations.
I had no desire to linger in Westminster. I had a horror of running into Marie-Anne, who I had heard had not followed Robin into the woodland exile of an outlaw, but had remained under the protection of Queen Eleanor in the safety and comfort of her court. After my betrayal of her beloved husband at the inquisition in Temple Church, I knew I could not face the accusatory look in her eyes should we meet.
I was happy, though, to be reunited with my grey gelding Ghost, who had put on an alarming amount of weight in the palace stables while I had been in Germany, and who had completely recovered from his bruised hoof. He was happy to see me, neighing and nodding with pleasure, when I brought him a special feed of warm mash that evening, and I took my time over brushing his coat, vowing that I would take him out for a long gallop the next day.
While I was fussing over my animal friend — I believe I was braiding his tail like a besotted stable hand — I heard a familiar voice calling me by name and wishing me God’s peace, and turned to find myself facing a slim, fit-looking man of medium height, with cropped, iron-grey hair and muddy green eyes.
It was Sir Nicholas de Scras, an old friend and well-liked comrade from the Holy Land, who had tended me when I was sick with fever in Acre. But while his face was wonderfully familiar, there was one thing about Sir Nicholas that was different: his surcoat. When I had known him in Outremer, Sir Nicholas had been a Hospitaller, a member of a religious knightly order similar to the Templars, but concerned with healing the sick as well as fighting the infidel. Their surcoat was an austere black with a small white cross on the breast. The man who stood before me in the stable was sporting a dark-blue garment with three golden scallop shells on the front around a representation of a dolphin.
‘Sir Nicholas,’ I almost shouted, clasping his hand warmly. ‘I am so pleased to see you! But what brings you to England? Have the Hospitallers abandoned the Holy Land to the heathen Saracens?’
‘They have not, and God willing they never shall,’ my old friend said, smiling back at me. ‘No, it is I who have abandoned the Hospitallers.’
‘How so?’ I asked, amazed.
‘It is a sad tale,’ he said, his eyes crinkling with sudden unhappiness, ‘and one that would be better told over a cup of wine. Will you join me? I know of a tavern that will suit our needs admirably. It is not far.’
And so I found myself once again at the table in the Blue Boar tavern where I had caroused with Bernard six weeks previously, sharing a flagon of the same green Rhenish wine with my old friend Sir Nicholas.
After some gossip about the Queen’s court at Westminster, I urged Sir Nicholas to tell me how he had come to leave the Hospitallers. And so he began: ‘I would not have left, had it not been for the death of my elder brother Anthony. He died in the autumn — fell from his horse; he cracked his pate, breathed his last three days later. It was a silly, pointless death, and not worthy of a fine man. But he is with God now, and so beyond the cares of this world.
‘His poor wife, Mary, is left with two small sons. The eldest, William, will inherit our lands in Sussex, but he is a child, barely able to walk let alone administer an estate or defend his property during the coming years of blood and violence. And so, when news reached me of Anthony’s death, I was left with a stark choice: return home to England to protect my brother’s family or remain faithful to my Order.’
Sir Nicholas took a gulp of wine. It was clear that he was still not entirely reconciled with the choice he’d made.
�
�For seven days and nights, I prayed. I spent a week on my knees in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Under the truce with Saladin last year, after King Richard departed Outremer, we Christians were permitted to visit the holy sites unmolested. So for a long week I asked God for guidance. Should I go home to defend my family’s lands or remain with the Hospitallers? And through Heavenly Grace I was granted a sign.
‘The silence of that holy place was suddenly broken by two boys, a Christian and a Muslim, who ran into the church shrieking and laughing at some game of their devising. In that moment, I knew that God was sending me a message. Those two happy children were not much older than my nephews, and, though they were of different faiths, born of enemies, during the truce when they were allowed to mingle, the boys had managed to find a fresh, innocent joy in each other’s company. I knew then that God meant for me to make my own peace with the Saracens, leave the Holy Land and return to protect my brother’s boys.’
He wiped away the suspicion of a tear, and I admit I felt like shedding a few myself, moved as I was by his tale.
‘I went to see the Grand Master the next day to tell him of my decision, and of his mercy and doubtless because the truce meant that he had a lesser need for experienced fighting men, he agreed to release me from my vows. So, here I am, back in England for good. Tomorrow I must travel onwards to Sussex to take up my sword on behalf of my family. But I must tell you, Alan, it was not easy to turn my back on the Order. Even though I believe that God directed my actions, I cannot help but feel that, in some way, I have behaved shamefully.’
He fell silent, and for a few moments I said nothing. I could only wonder at the strength it must have taken for him to break his sacred vows, to give up his calling for the sake of two small boys who were not even his own. Once again Robin leapt into my mind; I recalled his sacrifice on behalf of another small boy who was not his son. There was something of Robin in Sir Nicholas, I mused: a ruthless fighting man, doubtless a fearsome killer of men, but with a streak of compassion, too, and a fierce sense of family duty.