King's man oc-3

by Angus Donald

  One of the ox-drivers had been killed, too. Some escaping knight, overcome by frustration at his defeat or just plain bloodlust, had hacked into the back of the man’s head as he was passing the wagons, and now the poor driver lay dead at the feet of his draught animals, his brains softly leaking from his cracked skull into the green grass.

  ‘Greetings, young Alan,’ said Little John. ‘Did you enjoy my little trick?’ He gestured with a vast hand at the mound of dead and dying horses in the centre of the clearing, now being picked over by outlaw archers looking for valuable weapons, armour, silver bridles, expensive horse knick-knacks and, as always, food and drink.

  ‘It was astounding,’ I said. And I meant it. ‘But where on earth did you get the steel chain?’

  ‘I made it,’ said Little John, with undeniable pride in his voice. ‘God’s great pimpled buttocks, did you think it fell from the sky or was given to us by the fairies?’

  ‘But-’ I said, and stopped.

  ‘Forgive me, Alan. I was forgetting,’ said Little John. ‘You’ve been away from us for a while. I learnt the blacksmith’s trade in London. Just by happenstance, you might say. I needed to be near the Temple Church — Robin’s idea, of course — and there was a blacksmith’s right opposite the place. So, for a goodly fee, and no questions asked, I became a rather elderly apprentice for a few days. I learnt a thing or two, as well.’

  My mind went back to a figure I had glimpsed on the day of Robin’s trial. A tall blond man with an eye patch who seemed to have absolutely no interest in a large force of mounted soldiers appearing right on his doorstep.

  ‘So it was you who arranged Robin’s escape?’

  Little John laughed. ‘My master at the smithy was asked to provide the Templar’s gaoler with the locks and chains to shackle Robin. And I arranged with the blacksmith to have the honour of undertaking the task.’

  I snorted at this. The thought of Little John as a biddable blacksmith’s apprentice was almost too comical to believe.

  ‘I locked up Robin in the presence of the gaoler, but — would you believe it? — I botched the job: loose pin in the locking mechanism. Well, I was so ashamed of my shoddy work that I thought it would be better to take Robin and myself away from there as soon as possible. Once Robin was loose, we only had to kill a couple of Templar sergeants, climb a wall, and ride like Hell for Sherwood. The whole thing went as smoothly as shit passing through a goose.’

  The big man was laughing now, and I joined him. I was very pleased to see Little John again: I had missed his rough good humour, appalling impiety, and his unique attitude to life, viewing the world as such an easy place in which to live. As we laughed, Robin came over to me.

  ‘It’s time you were going, Alan. So, I’m afraid, you need to decide — where do you want it?’

  ‘What?’ I said, stupidly.

  ‘Your story when you get back to Nottingham is that you were wounded in the fight — knocked out, perhaps — and when you came to, you were the only man left alive. Does that sound plausible?’

  ‘Oh, ah, I suppose so…’

  Robin looked over at Little John, and gave a tiny nod.

  And I ducked.

  A fist like a granite boulder whistled over my head, its massive flight ruffling my blond hair, and I turned to look at Little John in alarm.

  ‘Stand still, Alan. It’s got to look authentic,’ said John, frowning. ‘Unless you’d rather have a flesh wound?’

  ‘We could always do that,’ said Robin, drawing his sword. My lord was enjoying this — the steel-eyed bastard.

  ‘All right, all right.’ I braced my feet, clamped my mouth shut and closed my eyes.

  Are you ready?’ said John.

  ‘Yes — just get on with it,’ I said through gritted teeth.

  The blow, when it came, was like a whack in the face from a well-swung mallet. I was knocked up and backwards, and landed with a winding thump on the horse-churned grass of the clearing. A moment’s deep blackness, then bright-red sparks shooting through my skull. When I opened my eyes, Robin was standing over me, his face full of concern.

  I sat up groggily, and spat out a fragment of tooth. I could feel blood running down either side of my mouth from my smashed nose. I saw that my hands were trembling as I gently felt my squashed hooter. By the wiggle at the bridge, I knew it was broken.

  Little John came over to me, leading Ghost.

  ‘Can you sit a horse?’ asked Robin, helping me to my unsteady feet.

  ‘Course he can,’ said Little John, handing me the reins. ‘Christ’s crusted bum-crack, the boy’s no weakling. And I only gave him a gentle tap. He’ll be fine.’

  My head spinning, my face dripping gore, I climbed wearily up on to Ghost’s back.

  ‘I’ll pay you back for that one day,’ I mumbled to John, before nodding painfully at Robin and guiding Ghost out of the clearing and back on to the road to Nottingham.

  It took me half a day to ride back to the castle: my head was splitting, my mouth and nose throbbing with pain. I amused myself on the ride back by thinking of ways I could revenge myself on Little John — nothing dreadful, I mused, but it’d be good to get my own back on the big lug.

  It was dusk when I rode through the wooden gates of the outer bailey and up the rough road to the stone walls of the castle. I did not bother to wash before reporting to Sir Ralph that catastrophe had occurred to his Tickhill silver convoy. I figured that a bloody visage might speak volumes in my defence. And so, with the skin on my face cracked with dried blood, and my nose and mouth swollen and still smarting badly, I entered the great hall in the middle bailey to make my dolorous report in person to the Constable of Nottingham Castle.

  Murdac was not alone: while I had been away Prince John had returned to his strongest English fortress, and as I walked over to his throne, I felt an air of something not quite right stir the hairs on the back of my neck.

  I bowed to the Prince, and nodded at Sir Ralph Murdac, who as usual was standing hunch-shouldered close beside his master. On the other side of the royal chair was a third man: Sir Aymeric de St Maur, the Templar knight. Interesting, I thought to myself — the Templars are siding openly with Prince John. And then I pushed the thought aside and began my report on the robbery of the silver wagon train by the notorious outlaw Robin Hood and my fictional role in its heroic but unsuccessful defence.

  The three men listened to me in silence and I was just finishing my tale, describing how I came back to consciousness to discover the wagons were gone and I was surrounded by the mounds of dead, when Prince John interrupted me: ‘You really are quite a good liar, for a steaming pile of low-born pig shit.’ He sounded as if he genuinely meant it.

  ‘A liar, sire? I hope not…’ I said, trying to look confused, but with my belly dissolving.

  ‘Be silent,’ said the Prince. ‘I have heard enough of your dissembling. Guards, bind him.’

  Half a dozen men fell upon me and removed my sword, misericorde, and my mail coat. My hands were roughly tied behind my back. I did not resist: the only way out of this was to keep my head.

  ‘Sire, might I be permitted to know the meaning of this? Is it some playful jest? A game, perhaps?’ I asked with as much humility as I could muster.

  ‘You know very well what is happening,’ Sir Ralph Murdac answered for the Prince and smiled nastily at me. ‘We have known for some weeks now that you, through your German servant, have been supplying information to the outlaw Robert of Locksley. Did you think we were completely stupid? You have forsaken your oath of loyalty to your Prince; you are forsworn, and a traitor. You have betrayed us and will suffer the penalty that is your due.’

  If Sir Ralph was visibly enjoying himself, Prince John seemed merely bored. ‘You have fulfilled your function here,’ he croaked. ‘Once we were sure that you were still labouring on Locksley’s behalf, we hoped to use you to trap the man. If you knew that a great shipment of silver, weakly guarded, was coming here from Tickhill, you would be bound to inform
your master. And he would be bound to try to steal it. We arranged for a force of knights to trap him in the very act of the robbery — but it seems they failed to defeat Locksley’s rabble. I am at a loss to explain why — we sent sixty brave knights to intercept him. Perhaps your master really does consort with the Devil — if such an unlikely creature really exists.’

  At this, Sir Aymeric de St Maur gave Prince John a sharp look. But the Templar said nothing.

  Prince John continued in his harsh voice: ‘Your usefulness is over, Dale. Too many of my men have died at Locksley’s hand, and I will lose no more. It is time for you to pay for your crimes — and his. So I have arranged a match tomorrow afternoon, a public wrestling match: you will fight my champion to the death — as a little “amusement” for the loyal men of Nottingham. Tomorrow you will face Milo in the list; no weapons, no rules — man to man. And you will die.’

  Part Three

  Chapter Fifteen

  All is not well here at Westbury. The peril from Osric has grown and looms much nearer — he now has a confederate! I saw my bailiff meet his accomplice in secret in the back of one of the disused stables at the edge of the courtyard, the night before last. As I peered through a chink in the wooden slats of the wall, I saw Osric by the light of his lantern, greeting and conversing with a soberly dressed man in a neat black skullcap — but one look at his evil face, brown, creased and warty, and I knew that he meant no good. He is dark of eye, dark of dress, dark of heart — bent and stooped and old, almost as old as I am. The two conspirators talked for a long while, but in tones too low for my worn-out ears to hear. The dark man seemed to be angry about something. Osric soothed him and it seemed that their disagreement was soon resolved, for the stranger passed Osric a small clay pot, sealed with wax, and received a couple of silver coins in return — whatever was in the pot must command a high price. By his dress and demeanour, I guessed that this dark man was an apothecary and that the clay pot contained some sort of poison.

  Black rage at Osric’s perfidy boiled then in my gut and yet I did not challenge my bailiff openly, as I did the last time. He would no doubt have found some seemingly plausible reason for his secret meeting after nightfall with a purveyor of poisons, although what that might be, I cannot imagine. Instead, I went to Marie and told her what I had seen of her husband’s conspiracies. It was an even graver mistake.

  ‘You are a stupid old fool!’ Marie said, when I awoke her that same night with my tale of Osric’s sinister business with the apothecary in the stables. She had already taken to her bed, but I wanted her to see with her own eyes their plotting. ‘To even think, to even entertain the notion that Osric means you harm — it is ridiculous, absurd even. He respects you, and wishes you nothing but health and prosperity. Has he not shown it with his work here at Westbury? He has made this little manor a great success. Go to bed, you silly old dotard, be grateful for Osric’s hard work, and put these idiotic thoughts from you.’

  She is clearly in league with him: I see that now. I was a fool to reveal my suspicions to her. Osric and her, newly married, greedy, ambitious, impatient: of course, they both wish me dead. With me gone, they can do with the manor as they will. Perhaps Osric will install one of his tall sons as the lord. I fear for little Alan, my heir: who will protect him? Not I. I am an old man now, how can I stand against the combined cunning of Osric and Marie? I feel my doom approaching.

  And there is worse to relate. This very night, not an hour ago, as I worked on this parchment with scant thought of the danger that surrounds me, I drained the last drops from a wooden mug of ale and discovered a white powdery residue in the bottom of the mug. The poisoners have struck! The contents of the clay pot have found their way into my belly and there is toiling, moiling through my guts to achieve my destruction. I feel Death’s bony hand upon my shoulder. I made myself vomit, of course, as soon as I saw the white residue. I spewed in my chamber pot until I could bring up no more. But I can feel the poison working in my body: I am growing sleepy, so very careworn and tired. But I must not sleep, I must go on and finish this tale before the cursed white powder drags me down into the grave.

  I have barricaded the door against them, and routed out an old sword from my chest, which now leans unsheathed against the lectern that I stand at and write upon. If they try to break into my chamber tonight I will defend myself, and perhaps kill one or both of them. But I do not wish their deaths as they wish mine; I merely pray they will leave me in peace for one last night. If I am to finish this tale before I am called to God, I must endeavour to write on as quickly as I am able…

  There is a great comfort to be found in prayer, particularly when you are certain that you will shortly be face to face with your Creator. And I prayed that night in Nottingham Castle as I have never prayed before. I did not fear death, but I did not want to perish. I did not want my earthly life to be ended by Milo, that monstrous half-human being, for the amusement of Prince John, Ralph Murdac and all the other castle knights that I had come to despise. And if the measure of a man is how he faces up to his Fate, I fear I did not measure well. I prayed, I prayed again and then I prayed some more.

  The guards had taken me to the lowest part of the great tower, in the cold stone heart of Nottingham Castle, cut my bonds, and thrown me into a storeroom half-filled with sacks of grain. It was completely dark in there, and silent too, but for the occasional scurry of a rat — but to be honest it was not uncomfortable. When I had finished praying, I laid my body down on two large full sacks of barley and thought about how I had ended up here.

  I remembered Robin’s face when he told me what he wanted me to do, in Westminster, the day before the inquisition at Temple Church. His silver eyes were blazing with intensity and he said: ‘I know this will be very hard for you, Alan, and dangerous, too, and I would not ask it if it were not of the utmost importance — but we must have a man inside Prince John’s camp.’

  I asked him why we could not merely bribe some servant. And he shook his head sadly. ‘We need a fighting man. I need to know how many men will be with each tax-gathering party, and their strength, their weapons and morale. It needs an experienced soldier. And, don’t forget, you will have Hanno with you for company. He will run all the messages to me, and for safety’s sake you and I will have no contact after this ridiculous inquisition until your time with Prince John is over.’

  ‘But, Robin,’ I protested weakly, ‘the world will think me a man of no loyalty, a cur who turned traitor on his lord…’

  ‘It is necessary, I’m afraid, Alan. Everyone must think that. If they do not believe that you have genuinely betrayed me at this inquisition, Prince John will never take you into his service. You and I will know the truth — that you serve me still. And be honest with me: you did not like my playing the bloodthirsty part of Cernunnos; as I remember it, you were quite angry with me at the time. All I am asking you to do is to tell the truth to the inquisition when they ask it of you. You can do that, can’t you?’

  ‘But what about you, Robin? What about your life?’ I said. ‘If the Templars find you guilty at the inquisition tomorrow your life will not be worth a rotten turnip.’

  ‘I have made arrangements. Do not concern yourself about that. Now, will you do me — and our good King Richard — this great service?’

  I sighed: ‘Yes, sir.’ I could summon little enthusiasm for his plan: betrayal, ignominy, the very real chance of a felon’s death on the gallows. Still I said yes. I could never refuse Robin, no matter how unpleasant or difficult or dishonourable the task he proposed to me.

  ‘You know that I will not forget this? That I will be for ever in your debt?’ He gripped me by both shoulders.

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Good man!’ he said, and he slapped me on the back and left me to my preparations for an immediate departure to Germany after the Templar trial.

  And so for six long months I had been acting my part as Prince John’s man and feeding information to Robin through the good offices
of Hanno — where was he? I wondered. I had dispatched my wily German friend the day before yesterday to pass on the news of the great silver wagon train to my master and I had not seen him since. Had Prince John’s men taken him? Was his corpse at this moment twisting in the wind on the town gibbet?

  I had not intended to accompany the wagon train of silver. All those months ago Robin and I had agreed that, to try to avoid doubt falling on me, he would not rob tax-gathering parties of which I was a member. I had only joined the force of knights guarding it at the last moment, on the specific orders of Ralph Murdac: clearly their suspicions of me had finally come to a head. I felt my throbbing nose and ran my tongue over the chipped tooth. There had been no need, it occurred to me then, for that brutal knock from Little John. I could have stayed with Robin and saved my own life. Right now I could be riding Ghost through the cool clean spaces of Sherwood, free and clear, beside Robin and Little John and all my friends — rather than lying here, with the Devil beating his drums inside my head, waiting to be ripped apart by that grotesque monster Milo.

  I realized that I was pitying myself and stopped abruptly. I was not dead, not yet. I got up from my barley sacks and began to make an examination of the storeroom. It was small, perhaps four paces by five and seven foot high. The door was a solid one made of thick elm boards, bolted securely from the outside. I pressed my ear to the door and heard — nothing. I wasted a few moments banging on the door and shouting for a gaoler but got no response: it must be the early part of the night, I reckoned, about eight of the clock. Either the guards were asleep or eating, or no one had bothered to post them. There was nowhere I could go, deep as I was in the bowels of the great tower, no chance of escape, so perhaps there was no need to detail guards to watch a locked door all night.