To Murder a King

by Griff Hosker

  The journey home was the shortest of journeys. I had my five horses and they were laden. Henry and Peter had done well but my rewards were so great that I almost feared that I might be attacked by brigands. When I reached the Earl, I would have more coin coming my way from the proceeds of the last ransoms and treasure from the campaign. I was rich and I felt empty. I had let King Richard down and yet I knew not what I could have done to change things. It was the Earl of Oxford who was the problem. He had changed Richard from the boy I had trained. I knew that when he returned King Richard would fall under his sway once more. As I neared my home I wondered about travelling to Wales and instead of returning to Henry Bolingbroke of killing the Earl. It would make an enemy of the King but it might save him and save England. It would mean the end of my life as I knew it but was it the right thing to do?

  I had been away long enough to see a change in my son. He was less chubby and his running was more confident. He hurled himself down the track which led to my hall. I saw my wife and daughter waiting by the door. I dismounted to sweep him up into my arms.

  “I have missed you!”

  “And I you, son! You have grown!” I lifted him and put him in the saddle. I retained the reins.

  “Is all this the treasure you took?”

  “Aye, son it is.”

  “And you won!”

  I put the deaths from my mind. Soldiers had to do that or risk madness. You buried your dead and hid their bodies in the dark recesses of your mind. You prayed that their spirits would not come to haunt you. “Aye, we won.” And yet in the winning there was no victory for me. I would have a brief interlude at home and then I would have to obey the orders of my King and make an unlikely alliance with Henry Bolingbroke. I would be deserting my son and my family, again.

  My son looked down at me. He saw my scarred face. “Did you kill the man who scarred you?”

  “Aye son, I did.” He nodded as though that satisfied him.

  My wife was genuinely pleased to see me. As a servant held the reins of my horse she threw her arms around me and kissed me hard. She said, huskily, “I have missed you!”

  As she stepped back I laughed, “Is this the way for the wife of a gentleman to behave before the servants.”

  She giggled, coquettishly, “I care not for…” she suddenly saw my new scar, “what has happened?”

  “I was doing my duty. I am a soldier.” One of my wife’s women had been holding Alice and I took her from the servant. “And have you missed your father?” In answer she burst into tears and began wailing.

  My wife laughed and took her, “Do not terrify her husband. Our son may not mind the scar but this little one barely knows you. Hush, hush sweetheart. It is just your father.” The wound I had received felt as nothing compared with my rejection by my daughter. It was as though someone had used a ballock dagger to disembowel me. “Come let us go inside and I will quieten her. John fetch in the master’s baggage.”

  I turned to pick Tom from the saddle. At least my son was not afraid of me. Was I a monster?

  My wife had fed our children herself. Unlike the ladies of knights and other gentlemen she did not use a wet nurse. Alice began to calm as she sucked at her mother’s breast. My wife smiled. “From the baggage you have brought you have done well!”

  I was desperate to show my family that my absence had been necessary. I grinned and took out the purse of gold from Sir Robert. “One hundred pounds from Sir Robert!” John had brought in the chests. I took the small one and emptied it on the table. Coins tumbled out. Two gold pieces fell to the floor and Tom raced after them. He found them and raised them triumphantly. “I also have other treasures in the chests which may appeal more to you. There are spices from Spain, cloth and pots. We were successful.”

  Her eyes widened, “You are the best of husbands! Why I think that there is none save Sir Robert within fifty miles who has as much coin as we do! We could buy the village!”

  I laughed. Tom held up the two coins, “And with these I could buy a horse and armour!” Alice’s tears were forgotten and I briefly basked in the affection of my family.

  Later that evening, when the children were abed and we had eaten I sat by the fire with Eleanor and told her all. She was my wife and she deserved to know what her husband had been doing. When I told her of the attempt on the King’s life she made the sign of the cross, “To kill a king is a mortal sin!”

  I nodded, “To die in battle is one thing but to be stabbed in your bed is quite another.”

  “You liked the Queen?”

  “As would you, my love. They are desperate for children but God has not granted them any yet.”

  She frowned, “That is not natural. You are sure that the Queen wishes to have children?”

  “Of course. I am convinced.”

  “Then there is another explanation. The women who work in the inns as doxies and whores do not want children. There are draughts they can take which stop babies being born. I do not know what they are but I know they exist. Old Gammer Gurton who lived in Buxford was a woman who made potions. She was a horrible old woman with no teeth and breath like a pig’s behind. Once, when I went for a potion for my mother she told me of such potions. I was terrified and thought that she meant to frighten me with stories of things untrue. My mother confirmed what she said. Someone may be secretly giving the Queen a draught. From what you have told me there are people who wish this line of kings to die out. You said she has ladies in waiting?”

  “There are ten of them.”

  “Then any one of them could easily give the draught to the Queen. Even now it might be too late. The draughts, even when they are no longer taken, can change nature. The Queen may now be barren.”

  I was appalled. This was like the murder of an unborn child and went against God and nature. The name of Robert de Vere sprang into my head. This had all the hallmarks of one of his plots. When next I saw the King, I would have to discover whence came the Queen’s ladies. Even now it might be too late.

  Eleanor snuggled into me, “And you go away soon?”

  “The King will need the help of Henry Bolingbroke. He is in Monmouth and I must go there.”

  “Surely you can spend a few days here in your home.” I looked down and smiled. She giggled, “I take no draughts and we now have enough coin for a houseful of children.”

  I kissed her on the top of her head, “But my scar!”

  “It will be dark and it is not your scar that I will see.”

  In the end I spent five days with my family. They were five wonderful days. The nights were passionate and the days filled with laughing children. I was content.

  “You will need a servant when you travel west. You are a gentleman now and we can afford one.”

  “Aye but I need one that can handle himself and I can trust.”

  “How about John son of Jack? He helped you train Master Henry last year. He enjoyed the work and I think he is less than happy to be a farmer. Perhaps he needs to travel away and then he will realise that he can work the land.”

  “A good suggestion, wife.”

  “And I will have you more tunics and surcoats made. We have enough females who can sew and I can buy the cloth at Stratford market.”

  Tom piped up, “And you can make one me, mother!”

  Eleanor laughed, “Listen to the cockerel! Just because he no longer trips over his own feet he thinks he is grown up!” She picked him up and hugged him, “It is a good job you are so adorable. Aye, I will make you one if only to make you enjoy church!”

  My wife was clever. Tom had to be dragged to church and wearing his father’s livery might just make it a more pleasurable experience. Church had rarely been an option for me as I tramped Aquitaine and Spain behind my father. Even now I felt uncomfortable in church. Father Abelard seemed to understand me. In the end we were delayed by almost a week by a sudden violent storm which flew in from the south west. Trees were brought down and rivers flooded. Even had I wanted to leave my farm I cou
ld not have done so. By the time the storm had passed and we had cleared the damage it was All Saints Day. John and I took a sumpter for I was unsure of the accommodation we might find on the road. The storm had been so powerful that it might have struck other parts of the realm.

  The roads were in a terrible state. The one hundred miles took three days. Had John not been such a good rider then it would have taken us longer but he was a natural horseman and got the best from his palfrey. The hard journey helped to make us close. He was just a little younger than Henry but he knew more of the world than did Henry. He was the son of a tenant farmer. Henry had been the cosseted grandson of indulgent grandparents. John’s hands had laboured. He had the chest of an archer for he had practised at the butts with his father. He had had run ins with other youths. He knew how to use his fists. Most importantly he knew what he wanted from life and it was not the life of a farmer.

  On the second day, as we headed for Tewkesbury, he opened up a little to me, “Had you not asked me to help work with Master Henry, sir, I might have ended my life as a farmer. I think I would have been unhappy. My father worries about the crops which do not ripen, the frosts which come early, the storms which come from nowhere.” As if to illustrate his point he waved an arm at the fallen trees which lay next to the road. “Then I saw you and realised that I could have a life which was not on the land. My elder brother Jack enjoys the farm. He can take over from my father. I would be a soldier.”

  I shook my head, “John, the life has more worries than those of a farmer. You worry that you will not be paid. You often have to search for food or boil leather belts and baldrics to ease hunger pains. You risk being abandoned by a lord. You fret over the animal you ride in case it goes lame. There are worries when you are a soldier.”

  He smiled, happily, “I know, Captain. There are other reasons I would follow in your footsteps. When I held the shield for Master Henry to charge and when I sparred with him with the wooden swords I knew that I had more skill than he did. He is a noble! He will be a knight but I knew that unskilled as I was I could best him. You were an ordinary soldier and yet you became a gentleman and rub shoulders with a king! My father can never do that. If Sir Robert calls the muster my father will be called and he will stand with the other archers but there will be no reward for him. I would follow you, Captain. I would take my chances there.”

  He seemed to have thought it all through, “When we return from Monmouth we will talk again and I will speak with your father. It will be his decision; not yours and certainly not mine. I will not come between a father and his son.”

  We spoke over the next two days and nights about my life as a soldier. He was genuinely interested. I gave him a version of my life but kept secret those parts which were precious to me. I gave him the story that others knew. I told him of my time with King Richard and with the Free Companies. I told him of the recent campaign in Galicia.

  When I had finished he smiled, “See, Captain Will, you have proved my point. You say the campaign was badly planned and organised and yet you came back with riches! I would follow you and take my chances.”

  Monmouth Castle was a magnificent structure. It rose from the river and dominated the land. A town wall had been recently added so that the castle, a favourite of Henry Bolingbroke, would be very hard to take. I could see why the Earl had left his family here when he went to Galicia. Even if the Welsh rose they did not have the siege engineers to destroy such a magnificent castle.

  We reached the town in the late afternoon. As we passed an inn I spied some of my men as they emerged. “Captain Will!” It was Roger of Chester and some of my men at arms.

  “How are the men, Roger?”

  “Desperate to return to your service, Captain.” There was a message beneath his words but I knew this was a public place.

  I dismounted and led my horse, Jack. “Come we will walk to the castle. I take it the Earl is within?”

  “Aye Captain. He dotes on his new son, Henry.”

  Then there was an heir should Richard die childless. Henry had been convinced there would be one. Did this change things? Would my message for Henry Bolingbroke to come to the aid of King Richard fall on deaf ears? The sound of our hooves covered the sound of our voices and so I said, “Come Roger, what is amiss?”

  “The Earl is a good man, Captain, but we are treated as mercenaries. His knights and captains command us as though we are servants. Captain, we are your men and you treat us well. The men grow unhappy.”

  I nodded, “And I have been tardy. Yet you are paid and the contract lasts but a little while longer, does it not?”

  “It does but we hoped that you might find more work for us.”

  An idea began to form in my mind. I could serve my men and serve my King. As we were escorted by my men we were not stopped at the gate. I sent John and our horses with Roger of Chester while I went to speak to the Earl. Geoffrey, his page, smiled when he saw me, “His lordship will be pleased to see you, lord. I will tell him you are here. If you wait without.”

  I did not have to wait too long. The doors opened and Henry Bolingbroke stood grinning, “Master William! I have a son! Henry of Monmouth is a healthy boy! It is good news is it not?”

  I nodded, “It is lord, congratulations. I also have news.”

  He frowned, “Do not bring a rain shower here, William. The storms of the last month hurt us badly enough as it is.”

  “I come from the King.”

  He sighed, “Come. There is an antechamber where we can speak in private. Richard, guard the door.” Once inside with his squire watching the door he poured two goblets of wine. “You are a good fellow but your sense of duty can be tiresome.” He gestured to the seat and I sat. “On with your tale!”

  I told him of the attempt on the King’s life, the ultimatum from the Duke of Gloucester and the plea from the King.

  When I had finished he nodded, “You were right to come so quickly. I like not this curbing of the King’s powers. It smacks to me of my uncle being vindictive. He will never be King nor will his son. My son, Henry of Monmouth, puts his son even further from the crown. I am pleased that you were able to prevent the murder of my cousin. I know people think I would take the crown from Richard but I would not. I believe in here,” he tapped his heart, “that one day either me or my son shall be king. I am young and I am healthy. I have time. You may tell Richard that I will not fight him but the same does not hold true for Robert de Vere.”

  “The King sets great store by his friend, lord.”

  “And he is mistaken! We both know that. Would you fight alongside Oxford?”

  “No, lord, he is an evil man and he has some sort of power over the King.”

  “Then we have an accord. When the weather improves, after Christmas, I will go to London. I have been away from these lords for too long. Gloucester, Arundel and Mowbray gain power at the expense of the crown.” He looked at me. “You are my liegeman but I would have you swear an oath.”

  I hesitated, “Lord know that I am loyal to the King. I will never do anything which might lose him the crown.”

  “And I would not ask you for such an oath. I would have you swear an oath to keep what I say secret, even from the King. He is, at best, naïve and at worst, well perhaps he has an ailment hidden deep within.”

  “Then do not tell me anything, lord, and then I have no need for an oath.”

  “But I need an oath for if you do not know what I am to tell you then we might come to blows at some point and I would not wish that.”

  I looked into his eyes and I made a decision. It was one of the most important ones I ever made. I trusted Henry. I believed that he would not harm Richard. I nodded, “Then I so swear.”

  “Good. I will pretend that I am in agreement with these lords who seek to undermine Richard but know you that I am not. I seek to find out their plans. If I can stop them I will and if not then I will go to Richard and side with him. Does that conflict with your oath to Richard?”

&nbs
p; “If you mean it then no, lord.”

  He frowned, “You are an uncompromising fellow. That will have to do.” He took my arms and we clasped. We had fought together. There was a bond of blood between us. “How long do you stay?”

  “A day or two only, lord. The King wishes to go upon a gyration around the country to seek support. I would loan him my men for he has perilous few guards.”

  Henry looked disappointed, “I had thought to keep them about me for they are good fellows.”

  I did not say that they wished to be gone. “When the King has finished his tour then they will be available.”

  He shrugged, “There will be no need for warriors for a while. It is just that their presence helped to improve my own sergeants and archers. No matter.” As we left the chamber he said, “I would be wary when you leave Monmouth, William, for the Earl of Oxford is north of here in Powys raising men. I do not trust his motives. Thanks to my cousin giving him Ireland, the man is rich. He sees himself as King of Ireland. He is a dangerous man and I have heard that he hates you. He seeks your death. Beware him.”

  “Thank you lord and I will.”

  “Now let us go and see my wife and my most handsome son! When he is of an age I would have you make him a warrior. The lessons I learned from you live with me still.”

  Lady Mary was a lovely lady and I could tell that she would be a devoted mother. Unlike many ladies she seemed happy to nurse her child. The babe was simply that, a babe. He did not cry overmuch and I am not certain he even opened his eyes in my presence but I said all the right things and pleased the doting parents.

  In the end I stayed three days. Part of that was the influx of visitors who came to see the Earl’s son. Some were friends, others were not. They appeared not to notice me and I blended into the background. The Earl was true to his word and gave my men their full pay for the six months. They were happy. He also mentioned to me, again, the knighthood he had promised. “When next I am in London I will dub you and find you a manor. I am Earl of Derby as well as Northampton. I would do this for you. The service you have done for me deserves reward.” I did not get overly excited for I did not wish to be disappointed when it did not materialize.