‘I don’t think so. I can write to his mother and ask her, if you like.’
‘Yes, why don’t you. After all, here we are with a daughter who will one day be in need of a husband. And there, just across our border, is an apparently brilliant young Duke of Normandy who will soon be in need of a wife. Might it not make sense to join the two needs in a single marriage?’
‘How clever you are, my lord,’ said Adela, who had come to precisely the same conclusion a few hours earlier. ‘I think it would indeed make a great deal of sense. I can’t imagine why I didn’t think of it myself.’
13
Falaise, Normandy
It took more than a week to march down through Flanders and Normandy to Falaise. William used the time to quiz Herluin about every detail of the castle’s architecture and defences. He could not have had a better adviser, for Herluin had been in the castle when Duke Richard went there to tame his rebellious brother, and had helped Robert prepare for the siege they both knew was coming and fought alongside him for four long, hungry months. Now he and William took the rough idea that William had described to Countess Adela and went over it time and time again, trying to think of every possible eventuality, anything that might go wrong, until they had refined it into a detailed plan that stood some chance of success.
Anyone who lacked William’s absolute faith in his own ability to achieve his ends might have considered that the odds were against him. For one thing, he had first to persuade both Ralph de Gacé and Thurstan the Dane to do precisely what he wanted, the moment he asked. He decided that this task would only be half as difficult if he simply ignored Ralph and any objections he might have.
‘He won’t like that,’ Herluin said.
‘Maybe,’ said William, ‘but he’s going to have to get used to it. That’s why I’m doing all this.’
So it was that having arrived at Ralph’s tent, which stood amidst the stinking mire of human excrement, rotting food and filthy men that any besieger’s encampment very rapidly became, William only gave him the most cursory of greetings before walking straight back out again.
‘Hey! Where are you going?’ Ralph shouted, before adding, ‘Your Grace.’
‘To see my grandparents,’ William replied.
On the way from Bruges, he had ordered one of the Flemish soldiers, who had once been apprenticed to his father, a master tailor, to make a fine white flag of truce. Now he handed Herluin his sword, took the flag and rode alone through the Norman lines and up the path that twisted back and forth along the side of the bluff on which the castle stood, up to the main gate.
There he called out, ‘I am William, Duke of Normandy. I wish to speak to Thurstan the Dane.’
Men on both sides of the castle walls stood and watched as William sat quite still and apparently untroubled by the fact that he was in easy range of any bowman who might decide to defy his white flag and fire an arrow into his heart.
‘The lad’s got guts, I’ll say that for him,’ one Norman militiaman said to his mate.
‘Or he’s too stupid to know what he’s doing.’
‘The way he rode his horse up there, cool as you like, I reckon he knows exactly what he’s doing.’
‘So what is he doing, then?’
‘Ah, yeah, well, you got me there. I haven’t got a fucking clue.’
A short while passed, and then Thurstan appeared behind the gatehouse battlements.
‘Here I am,’ he called down. ‘What do you want, boy?’
William ignored the insult. ‘I want you to bring my grandparents, Fulbert the Steward and his wife Doda, through the gates, so that I may see them and be reassured that they have been well treated. I give you my word of honour that you will not be harmed.’
‘And why should I do that?’
‘Because you are my vassal and have sworn a solemn oath to obey me. Or do your vows mean nothing to you? Is your word no more valuable than your piss?’
‘Do not provoke me, Duke, or one of my archers may forget that flag you hold in your hand.’
‘Do not defy me, Viscount. Not if you wish me to show mercy when all this is over.’
Thurstan the Dane was now struck by the same realisation as Adela of Flanders: that William was not bluffing or blustering, but meant precisely what he said.
‘What if I do come down? How do I know you won’t trick me?’ he asked.
‘I am alone. I am unarmed. What could I possibly do?’ William suddenly sounded much more like a boy again.
Silence fell as Thurstan considered his position, then he spoke again. ‘Your grandparents have been well treated. I shall bring them down to you and then you will know that I am a man of my word. I swear to you now that no harm will befall Fulbert or Doda through any action of mine or my men’s. And I will promise you something else as well, William, Duke of Normandy. You will never, ever set foot in this castle, not as long as I have breath in my body.’
That show of defiance brought a ragged cheer from Thurstan’s men, ranged along the battlements. Their leader disappeared, and a short while later, the castle gates creaked open a fraction and a man with thinning grey hair and his equally silver-haired wife walked out, followed by Thurstan, who was mounted on his favourite warhorse. He paused near the gate, evidently not wishing to be any more exposed to possible attack than was absolutely necessary, while Fulbert and Doda walked on until they were standing a few steps from William’s horse.
‘There,’ Thurstan called out. ‘You’ve seen them. They’re alive. I kept my word. Now I’m taking them back in.’
William’s voice took on a more plaintive, boyish note as he replied, ‘Please, Viscount Thurstan, may I have a few words with them? I may never have another chance. I mean, look how old they are. They might not survive a long siege.’
‘Don’t you worry about us, Will, we can manage!’ Fulbert said.
William cursed under his breath. If his grandfather carried on like that, his plan to retake the castle would be over before it had even begun.
‘That’s very brave of you, Grandpa,’ he said. ‘But God will call you and Grandma when He sees fit, and I may not have the chance to talk with you before then.’ He looked over towards Thurstan, ‘Please, my lord, just a few minutes . . . We need to be on good terms when this is over, you and me. And I will always look on you with favour if you show me kindness now.’
‘Ha! Why should I care about your favour?’ Thurstan was feeling confident. He’d managed the situation well. No one could say that he had been cruel or unreasonable. But he’d not let himself be fooled by William. ‘The way things are going in Normandy, you’ll be dead before these old codgers.’
‘In that case we really do need to talk, so they can say goodbye to me.’
Thurstan laughed. ‘You’ve got a nerve, Duke, I’ll give you that. Very well, you can have your talk. But be quick about it. And don’t even think of whispering any plots in their ears. Whatever you’ve got to say, I want to hear it.’
William dismounted and walked across to Fulbert and Doda. He embraced them both and said, ‘Mother sends her love. I was with her just recently, and she told me all about the first time she came here, the night Papa asked her to come and see him.’
‘Oh, what a happy night that was,’ Fulbert said.
‘Really? That wasn’t what she told me. She said you were furious when she said she was going to ride right in through the main gate, where everyone could see her.’
‘Well, yes, I was a bit cross, I suppose.’
‘Don’t listen to a word he says, Will,’ Doda piped up, sensing that her grandson wasn’t pleased with what her husband was saying, even if she did not know why. ‘He was a lot more than a bit cross. He was raging.’
‘That’s right,’ William said, ‘and Papa must have been surprised, too, because he’d told her to sneak in,
you know, in secret. Because of course he thought it would be better for her the other way, not doing it how she did. You know, for her reputation and stuff.’
‘Oh yes, that’s right, he said she should come in by—’ Fulbert began, and now Doda saw what William was driving at, and slapped her husband hard on the back so that the rest of his sentence was drowned by splutters and gasps for breath.
‘There you go, my dearest!’ she said. ‘Poor old boy, he gets these coughing fits sometimes. But you’re quite right, Will, I know exactly what you mean.’
‘Is it really true that Mama and Papa only met that morning?’ William went on, doing everything he could to sound as little like a conniving duke and as much like an innocent boy as possible. ‘Did he really ask her to come here that very same night?’
‘Oh yes. He didn’t hang around, your father. He knew what he wanted.’
William nodded. ‘I’m a bit like that, I think. If I see something I want, I don’t like to wait. So if I was like Papa, and I’d seen a girl – I mean, I haven’t seen a girl I want—’
‘Then you’re a late developer!’ someone shouted from the gatehouse.
‘But if I did,’ William ploughed on, ‘I’d think, why wait? Why not do it tonight?’
‘I wouldn’t go telling your granny something like that,’ Thurstan said. ‘The poor old woman might die of shock, isn’t that right, madam?’
‘Don’t you worry, Viscount, I’ve had two boys of my own, there’s nothing I haven’t heard. Anyway, William, I know just what you’re trying to say, even if nobody else does. Come here and give your old granny a hug.’
William hung back a second, then went across and let his grandmother hug him, not having to feign his embarrassment as soldiers on both sides laughed, made exaggerated ‘Aaahhh . . .’ sounds or simply shouted abuse. But as she took him in her arms, Doda, knowing that William’s taller body hid her from Thurstan’s view, whispered, ‘I understand. Midnight. Just knock.’
Then she pushed him away and glared at the soldiers all around, and waved her fist at them as she shouted, ‘You should be ashamed of yourselves. What would your own mothers and grandmothers think, seeing you mocking a boy just for giving his old gran a nice hug and a kiss, eh?’
Someone shouted, ‘That’s right, Gran, you tell ’em!’ and then another wag added, ‘Oi, Grandad, can’t you control your missus?’ and that set off another wave of shouts, cheers and jeers so that it hardly seemed like a siege at all and more like a town square on market day.
William went almost unnoticed as he slipped back to the besiegers’ lines. Behind him, Thurstan the Dane led Fulbert and Doda back into the castle, surrounded by an iron wall of his men’s shields, and the gates slammed shut behind them.
William dismounted, handed his horse to a groom and went straight to de Gacé, who was standing with a small knot of his senior officers, all of whom had the common characteristic of being his most devoted hangers-on. William felt a shiver down his spine as he saw Odo the Fat looming in the background. There was something about the man. He wasn’t frightening exactly, but it made William’s skin crawl just to look at him.
‘Well I hope you’re satisfied, Your Grace,’ de Gacé said. ‘I must ask you not to take action on your own again like that. With respect, this is not an arm-wrestling bout against a gypsy strongman. This is war. And you are not ready to make decisions without my approval.’
‘With respect, de Gacé, I am the Duke of Normandy. My decisions are my business and my commands will be obeyed. I want a strong force of men assembled at midnight tonight, ready to storm the main gate of the castle. But do it discreetly. I do not want the sentries on the walls thinking that anything special is going on.’
De Gacé rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide his impatience.
‘May I ask why you are issuing this order?’
‘Because shortly after midnight, the gates will swing open and the castle will be ours for the taking.’
‘And this will suddenly happen, will it, after we’ve been here a month with not the faintest sign of a victory?’
‘Yes,’ said William.
‘How, exactly?’
‘I cannot tell you. It’s a secret. But the gates will open, you have my word on it.’
Behind William, one of de Gacé’s henchmen whispered to another, ‘And we’re supposed to believe this child who’s never shed a drop of another man’s blood . . .’ But his voice carried further than he intended, right to William’s ears.
William spun round, drawing his sword as he went. Its point was at the man’s throat before he had a chance to lay a hand on the hilt of his own blade.
‘One more word, and the very first blood I shed will be yours.’
The issuing of a threat is a risky business. Too many men offer hostages to fortune by making promises they cannot or will not keep. Other men sense it and defy them, and once a threat has been faced down, the one who made it is lost.
But there was no defiance now, for there was something about William that told every man there that he was completely serious. Young, inexperienced and callow though he might be, still he carried an air of genuine menace.
The man held up both hands in front of him beseechingly. ‘I’m . . . I’m very sorry, Your Grace. I meant no offence, I swear.’
William looked him in the eye, lowered his blade and turned back to de Gacé. ‘Be ready at midnight. You give me your men, I’ll give you the castle.’
De Gacé laughed. ‘That sounds like a rare bargain.’
‘So I have your word you will be there?’
‘Of course, Your Grace. You have given an order. What can I do but obey it?’
William looked at him. He didn’t like or trust Donkey-Head, as he still thought of him, but the man had given his word, in front of witnesses. How could he go back on it?
‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Just make sure you’re there.’
With that, he walked away. His tent had already been erected, and he went straight to it. When he got there, he turned to Herluin. ‘Have any of your men done any poaching?’
Herluin looked puzzled for a moment, then he smiled. ‘I should think so. Wherever there’s good hunting country, there’ll be men stealing the game. But none of them’ll admit to it. Poaching’s a hanging offence.’
‘Tell your men from me that I’m declaring an amnesty. I need the three best poachers you’ve got. There’ll be ten silver pennies for any of them that do their duty. And their families get the money if they die doing it.’
‘That’s a fine reward,’ Herluin said.
‘They’ll earn it.’
Herluin nodded. He paused for a moment, wondering whether he should share the words that were in his mind, then said, ‘Listen, William, I watched your father become a man right before my eyes. And looking at you now, it’s just the same. I bet he’s up there right now, looking down and saying, “That’s my boy!”’
William didn’t know what to say. He found himself blinking fast and biting his lip to stop himself from crying. Herluin saw it, and patted him on the shoulder. ‘Don’t you worry, I’ll go and get you three fine rascals. And then you can tell me what we’re going to do with them.’
By the time Herluin returned to the tent, William had pulled himself together. Sure enough, his stepfather had found three thoroughly disreputable-looking individuals. They were all wiry, tough and tanned as brown as William’s boot leather, with the darting eyes of those who were constantly on the lookout for prey to hunt, and human predators who might be hunting them.
‘Right, what’s your name?’ William asked, addressing the biggest of the trio, and looking him right in the eye, for he was just as tall.
‘Martin,’ the man answered.
‘You address the duke as “Your Grace”,’ Herluin said.
‘Oh, ye
ah, right . . . My name’s Martin, Yer Grace.’
‘So, Martin, I made a promise to my lord of de Gacé that I would give him the castle.’
‘Yeah, I had heard that . . . Yer Grace. Some of the lads was talking about it.’
‘News travels fast in an army encampment,’ Herluin said.
‘Clearly,’ William said. ‘Well, I meant it. I’m going to get that castle, but I need you three men, and you, Count Herluin, to help me do it.’ He looked at Herluin. ‘Do you think you would still know your way around the castle?’
‘I should think so, if it hasn’t been changed too much.’
‘And you know how to get to the postern gate?’
‘Well, I’m not as nimble as I was when your father and I fought Duke Richard here, and my eyesight isn’t what it was then either, especially at night. But even so, yes, I can get you there. Or I could, anyway, if there weren’t lookouts up on the battlements.’
‘Well, that’s why I asked you to get me three fine poachers. Gentlemen, the postern gate is at the rear of the castle keep. There is, or at least was, a narrow track running around the foot of the wall from the postern to the path that leads down from the main gate. As soon as it gets dark, I want you three to go out there and work out the best way to get on to that path and along to the gate without being spotted.’
‘Just to make it trickier,’ added Herluin, with the calm, studious air of a teacher gently pointing out the flaws in one of his favourite pupils’ argument, ‘the gate is sited where the bluff is steepest, pretty much a sheer rock face, in fact. The whole point is that you can’t get to it unless you go along the path, right under the nose of anyone up on the battlements.’
‘Well, we have to get to it by midnight,’ said William. ‘My grandmother’s expecting me, and I don’t want to keep her waiting.’
14
The moon was almost full, but thick cloud had covered it for most of the night. The darkness had hidden the three poachers as they led William round the face of the bluff upon which Falaise Castle stood to the foot of the precipice beneath the postern gate. William’s heart sank as he looked up at the rock face that rose almost vertically, pitch black and featureless, like an extension of the castle wall above it.
The Leopards of Normandy: Duke: Leopards of Normandy 2 Page 30