The Midnight Man

by Paul Doherty

  ‘Magister,’ Stephen whispered, ‘the hour is very late. I am exhausted.’

  ‘Gentlemen,’ Sir William Higden stood next to both corpses, ‘surely we have finished here? I will take care of the cadavers. The hour of compline is long gone. These matters must wait for the morrow.’

  Beauchamp and Anselm agreed. The royal clerk led the two Carmelites out of the shabby alehouse. Cutwolf and the others were waiting outside, torches held high. ‘Come,’ Sir Miles smiled through the dark, ‘we will see you safely to White Friars.’

  They moved off deep into the dark, the glow of torch on naked steel keeping the busy shadows at bay. The clink and clatter of weapons, the tramp of booted, spurred feet, stilled all other noise. Beauchamp walked in silence then came between Stephen and Anselm. ‘You do realize what was wrong with our search?’ he asked.

  ‘We didn’t find anything,’ Anselm murmured. ‘We should have done. More curious still, Bardolph and Adele were parishioners yet never once in that shabby, mean house did I find a crucifix, a statue, a set of Ave beads or any other religious artefacts.’ Anselm pulled his cowl up against the night breeze. ‘In fact, I suspect that someone went through that house before us and removed certain items.’

  ‘What?’ Beauchamp asked.

  ‘Oh, anything associated with magic and the black rites,’ Anselm replied. ‘I suspect Adele, perhaps even Bardolph, were members of a coven.’

  ‘The Midnight Man’s?’

  ‘Very possible,’ Anselm replied.

  Stephen quickly crossed himself against a thought. Was it sinful, malevolent or the truth? Was the Midnight Man someone very close to them?

  Words Amongst the Pilgrims

  The physician rose and walked to the canopied hearth where he warmed his hands, rubbing them slowly, staring into the jagged flames. His fellow pilgrims sat in silence for a while before busying themselves. A few hastened out to the latrines and closet chambers. Minehost of The Tabard asked for some platters of dried meat, bread and fruit ‘to ward off’ as he put it, ‘the demons growling in their stomachs’. The food was served, the jugs refilled.

  Chaucer watched the physician, who had turned slightly and was now peering over his shoulder. Chaucer followed his gaze. The physician was staring at the Wife of Bath, now recovered from her former state of quiet surprise. She raised her goblet in response to the physician’s stare. Chaucer rose and walked over to the far wall as if interested in the painted cloth, describing in rough brushwork the great epic of Roland and Oliver. He waited. The physician left, walking into the garden, the Wife of Bath soon after. Chaucer, allowing curiosity to reign over courtesy, quietly followed. The buttery yard was empty. Chaucer walked across to the lattice screen over which wild roses sprouted from a thick green bush. Soft-footed as a cat, he stopped short of the flower bed: in the faint light he could see the brittle twigs which would snap under his boots. The physician and the Wife of Bath were sitting on a turf seat on the other side of the rose-covered fence. Straining his ears, Chaucer heard snatches of their hushed conversation. ‘Do souls still hover?’ The Wife of Bath’s question trailed clearer than the whispered reply of the physician. ‘Sometimes,’ Chaucer heard, ‘they sweep in,’ but the rest was hidden by the screech of a night bird deep in the garden. Chaucer heard the phrases ‘grisly murder’ and ‘that hideous burning’. A sound made him turn. The summoner stood in the doorway to the tavern. Chaucer walked over. In the pool of light the summoner’s face appeared leaner, more purposeful than the usual vacuous, slobbery-lipped look, nose red as a rose, skin scabby as a leper’s.

  ‘Good evening, Master Chaucer. What do you think of our physician’s tale? Truth? Fable?’

  ‘Do you know, master summoner? I suspect some of the characters of this miracle play do live and breathe and are not so far from us.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Summoner, what is your name? Do not reply, we are legion because we are so many. I suspect your demons thrive at the bottom of a deep-bowled wine goblet.’

  ‘True, true,’ the summoner glanced over Chaucer’s shoulder, ‘but now our physician returns.’

  ‘Your name, friend?’

  ‘Why, Master Chaucer, I am Bardolph, come again,’ and, laughing softly to himself, the summoner went back into the taproom.

  ‘Master Chaucer?’ The physician, the Wife of Bath trailing behind him, strode through the darkness. ‘Master Chaucer,’ he repeated, ‘you are curious whether this is fable or fact?’ He grabbed Chaucer by the elbow. ‘Believe me,’ he whispered hoarsely, ‘the dead do speak to the living, as my tale will prove.’

  The Physician’s Tale

  Part Four

  ‘Questions.’ Anselm tapped the table in Sir William Higden’s chancery chamber. ‘We will deal with this as we would a problem in the halls of Oxford. Put forward certain questions to be addressed. Sir William, Curate Almaric is taking notes for you. Stephen will do the same for myself and Sir Miles. Gentlemen,’ Anselm pointed to Simon the sexton and Gascelyn, ‘you may listen and,’ he shrugged, ‘and add anything we may have overlooked.’

  ‘Is this really necessary?’ Sir William looked peevish after what appeared to be a poor night’s sleep. The powerful merchant knight’s face was shaven and gleaming with oil, but the dark rings under his eyes betrayed the fact that he had drunk too deeply of the claret he apparently loved. While Anselm made soothing noises, Stephen glanced around the luxurious chamber. He was particularly fascinated by the brilliantly hued tapestries of blue, red, green, silver and gold depicting the legends of King Arthur, be it the Knights of the Round Table or Galahad’s pursuit of the Holy Grail. Stephen recalled how his own father had taken him to the great Abbey of Glastonbury where Arthur and Guinevere were supposed to lie buried, their tomb being discovered during the reign of the present King’s grandfather. Were those happy days? Stephen wondered. The past seemed so distant, so strange, as if he was recalling someone else’s life. His time with Anselm had so changed him . . .

  ‘We should begin,’ Beauchamp insisted. The royal clerk, elegant as ever in a dark green cotehardie over a white cambric shirt and black hose, pointed to the green-ringed hour candle in the centre of the table. ‘Soon the Angelus will ring.’

  ‘I was only wondering,’ Sir William protested, ‘why a second exorcism cannot take place? I mean . . .’ He wandered off into a litany of speculation. Stephen picked up a quill pen and sharpened it. He felt refreshed and eager for the day. Anselm and he had risen early, celebrated a dawn Mass then broken their fast. Afterwards Anselm, without explanation, had instructed Stephen to pack his panniers with a change of clothes and all he might need for a long stay away from White Friars. The exorcist had refused to elaborate but had promised the novice he would like the surprise.

  ‘Questions.’ Anselm’s voice cracked like a whip, making everyone sit up and concentrate. ‘First question: Saint Michael’s Church is undoubtedly haunted as well as plagued by malevolent spirits, yes? Second question.’ Stephen was now busy writing, using the cipher Anselm had taught him, very similar to that employed in the royal chancery. ‘Second question,’ Anselm repeated. ‘Who are they and why are they acting like this?’

  ‘Puddlicot?’ Beauchamp broke in.

  ‘Third question.’ Anselm nodded at the royal clerk in a moment of realization. ‘Why is Saint Michael’s haunted by the ghost of Richard Puddlicot? True, this was his parish church. He took sanctuary here but, despite this, was dragged out. He now protests at the outrage while he also haunts the crypt of Westminster Abbey. The poor soul is lost in his own tormented past. Fourth question,’ Anselm tapped the table, ‘we now tread on firmer ground. At the last All Souls the Midnight Man and his coven celebrated their black rites here at Saint Michael’s. Perhaps they did the same at Westminster? At first we considered the choice of Saint Michael’s to be random – now we are not so sure. This brings us to our fifth question: was the purpose of the Midnight Man’s satanic celebration to search for Puddlicot’s buried treasure? If so, how
did they know about it? Sixth question: did they find some of the treasure? Undoubtedly so! The Cross of Neath and Queen Eleanor’s dagger but how, where and when? Question seven.’ Anselm paused to take a sip of water. ‘Was Rishanger a member of the Midnight Man’s coven? How did he seize such treasure? Who killed him and his Mistress Beatrice? Question eight, Bardolph’s death: was he driven to the top of that tower – was he possessed, forced to commit suicide? Question nine: Adele, Bardolph’s wife, a member of this parish – yes, Parson Smollat?’

  The priest, pale-faced with anxiety, nodded in agreement.

  ‘Why was she murdered in her shabby alehouse which possesses not one religious artefact? Oh, by the way, Parson Smollat, did you bring your book of the dead as I asked?’

  The parson lifted a sack from where he had placed it, close to his feet, and drew out the leather-bound ledger. ‘What do you want with it?’ Smollat’s voice quavered.

  ‘In a while,’ Anselm replied. ‘Sir Miles, your men are ready?’

  ‘Of course!’

  ‘What is this, Anselm?’ Sir William asserted himself. ‘You ask questions but surely you are here to provide the answer to why Saint Michael’s is haunted.’

  ‘As yet I cannot do that properly. I do not know what lies at the root of all this. I have one more question, or perhaps two. So, question ten: Bardolph the gravedigger. He desperately searched for his lady love, Edith Swan-neck. He found a necklace he had given her lying in Saint Michael’s cemetery. What happened to Edith, and what are these rumours about other young women disappearing?’

  The chamber fell silent. Stephen stopped writing. Abruptly he raised his head. He was sure, certain, that he heard faint chanting.

  ‘So what do you suggest, exorcist?’ Sir Miles sat, hands clasped, half-concealing his face. ‘I must also give answers to those in authority.’

  Anselm snapped his fingers at Parson Smollat. ‘My friend, I want you to give us the names of the last four people buried before the thirty-first of October last year and, when we are ready, take us into the cemetery where, I hope, with the help of your men, Sir Miles, to open their graves.’

  ‘Why?’ Smollat stuttered, ‘For God’s sake, that is sacrilege!’

  ‘Not if we are searching for the truth.’

  ‘Anselm!’ Sir William’s face tensed with anger. ‘Why this, why now?’

  ‘Because, Sir William, I am trying to answer my own questions. Listen now.’

  ‘I beg your pardon,’ Almaric interrupted, ‘you said you might have two other questions. Do you have a second?’

  ‘Yes, you did,’ Gascelyn confirmed.

  ‘Oh, that,’ Anselm smiled icily, ‘is linked to my final proposition. Bardolph, unlike us, God forgive him, discovered something. I am sure it was to his great profit but, more than that, I cannot say.’

  ‘So what now?’ Sir Miles asked. ‘Anselm, don’t you have any firm conclusions?’

  ‘Oh, I have propositions, hypotheses. Let me explain. I believe the Midnight Man, whoever he is, discovered the secret of Puddlicot’s treasure. How and when I don’t know.’ Anselm breathed in. ‘I believe he and his coven discovered two items from that lost hoard. How, when and why? Again, I do not know. I believe Rishanger was a member of his coven. He stole those items and tried to flee – he and his mistress were both killed. Rishanger fled because he realized that the Midnight Man had not only failed to establish the whereabouts of the rest of the treasure through the practice of the black arts but had summoned up much more malignant forces. In doing so, the Midnight Man had attracted the attention of both Court and Church. I also suggest that perhaps Bardolph – certainly his wife, Adele – was part of the Midnight Man’s coven.’ Anselm shook his head at the cries of protest from Parson Smollat and Almaric.

  ‘I confess, I am not too sure about Bardolph but I would suggest Adele definitely was. She was silenced because of what Bardolph may have discovered or may have told her.’

  ‘Which is what?’ Parson Smollat queried.

  ‘In truth, I don’t know, parson. Do you? Didn’t Bardolph go to you to be shrived? Did he confess? Can you tell us anything outside the seal of confession?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Parson Smollat sighed, licking his lips. ‘Bardolph talked of his love for Edith Swan-neck. He asked if I knew of any other young maidens who had disappeared.’ Smollat’s voice faltered. Stephen stared at him. He had met the parson a number of times over the past few days and the priest was certainly changing, becoming more nervous and agitated. A troubled spirit, Stephen concluded, but was he wicked, malicious? Parson Smollat certainly seemed to be losing his confidence by the day, his anxiety clearly expressed in his unshaven face, unkempt robes and dirty fingernails, which constantly scrabbled over the table top.

  ‘What do you want?’ Smollat bleated. ‘Brother, what do we do now?’

  ‘Sir Miles.’ Anselm gestured at the royal clerk. ‘I want your men to open the graves of the last four people buried in Saint Michael’s Cemetery before the Feast of All Souls last.’ Anselm rose to his feet. ‘Parson Smollat, Sir William, I suggest you supervise this. Sir Miles, once your henchmen have reached the coffins or shroud cloths of the dead, they are to seek us out at The Unicorn in Eel-Pie Lane or elsewhere.’

  Stephen hid his confusion and surprise as Anselm prepared to leave. Sir Miles summoned Cutwolf and the others into the chamber, giving them strict orders on what to do. Parson Smollat was now feverishly consulting the book of the dead, Simon the sexton peering over his shoulder, watched by a very taciturn Sir William. Gascelyn and Almaric had already adjourned to one of the spacious window embrasures, quietly discussing what the exorcist had suggested.

  Once they had made their farewells and walked out into the street, Anselm and Beauchamp strode ahead, deep in conversation, with Stephen hurrying behind. The lane was busy, thronged with crowds, so Stephen was pleased to be by himself. He could also reflect on why they were going to The Unicorn and desperately hoped to catch a glimpse of the fair Alice. He only exchanged a few pleasantries with one of Beauchamp’s henchmen, Holyinnocent, who had been chosen to escort them to the tavern. The day was certainly busy. The constant chatter, tramping of feet and crashing wheels of the high-sided carts were a constant din. Hucksters, peddlers, apprentice boys and tinkers screamed and shouted for business, desperate to catch the eye or grasp a cloak to sell some trinket, pot, pan, knife or piece of cloth. Strange sights appeared and merged into the moving crowd. A babbling half-wit rolled a barrel into the street then upended it to stand on; once ready he proclaimed to the puffed up, ribbon-bedecked gallants who gathered around to poke fun at him that he was the Prophet Jonah come again. Beadles and market marshals strode pompously with their wands, ready to wrap the back and legs of those trading without licence. Funeral processions merged with guild solemnities in a bobbing confusion of lighted candles, swinging thurifers as well as different chants and prayers. Anselm and Beauchamp strode on through this noisy bustle. Now and again Holyinnocent would recognize a friend and exchange good-natured banter. Occasionally they had to stand aside for malefactors, all dirty and bedraggled, being marched down to the pillories, stocks and thews. A bawd and her pimp followed tied to the tail of a cart while a fat, sweaty-faced beadle lashed their naked backs and bottoms with a rod, splashing himself and passers-by with specks of blood.

  Stephen was aware of the world closing in around him, a stark contrast to the simplicity and serenity of the cloister. Cartwheels squeaked, bawds shrieked, porters grumbled. ‘The Children of this World’, as Anselm called them, swarmed either side in filthy rags or sumptuously embroidered silver brocaded clothes, shuffling and shouldering each other, jostling and jeering, haggling and hustling. They reached The Unicorn, a pleasant-fronted tavern standing in its own courtyard, which stretched up to the main door. Stables and outhouses flanked two sides. The tavern itself was a lofty, three-storey mansion of black timbers and pink plaster on a stone base. Stephen was surprised they did not enter. Instead, Holyinnocent was told to take
the baggage in and rejoin them. As soon as he did, Anselm winked at Stephen and declared they had other places to visit. ‘Minehost has your baggage,’ Holyinnocent whispered to Stephen as he rejoined them. ‘And we are off to Newgate.’

  They took the broad alleyway leading up to the formidable prison built into the ruins of the old city wall. A grim, slimy-walled lane with every second house a tavern under its creaking, battered sign. The Sanctuary of Dead Man’s Place: this was the haunt of thieves who stared out through chinks and gaps in doors and shutters. They recognized Beauchamp’s insignia and let them pass through. A hunting horn wailed a warning while a hoarse whisper, ‘King’s Man’, ran before them up the long, dark tunnel. The message kept the bullies with their swords and staves, as well as their harridans armed with spits and broomsticks, from sallying forth. They left the alleyway and entered the great, fleshing market, which flourished in the shadow of the huge sombre towers of Newgate, a place swimming in blood. The carcasses of poultry and livestock were being swiftly slaughtered, hacked and then hung from hooks above the stalls. A shambles of blood, stinking guts, entrails and boiling salt. Red-spattered butchers and their boys roared for business while beggars, dogs, cats and kites fought for the juicy scraps.

  Beauchamp, escorted by Holyinnocent, elbowed and thrust his way forward. They gained entrance through a narrow iron door into the prison proper, a true vision of hell: a warren of evil-smelling passageways where the reek and stench poisoned the nostrils and stifled the throat. They passed open chambers where key-clanking janitors guarded what they scornfully called ‘human vermin’ – prisoners with long filthy beards and straggling wild hair, all swathed in dirty rags. The keeper who led them into the stygian darkness screamed at everyone to step aside, only to be answered by raucous shouts and curses. They went down some steps lit by flaring torches. The smell grew more rank and unbearable. The walls glistened with snail slime. Spiders big as bumble bees spun their webs to span niches and corners. They reached a circular cavern called Limbo. In the centre rose a huge stone called Black Dog with a squat tallow candle burning on top. Holyinnocent pointed to the heavy doors which faced them, whispering how these were the condemned cells. While the keeper unlocked one of the cell doors, Holyinnocent explained how many a condemned felon had dashed his brains out against Black Dog rather than take the ride in the death-cart.