Hoodsman: Queens and Widows

by Smith, Skye

  Jokum sobbed. "You are asking me to kill the daughter of the man who saved us all after the Great Harrowing. And with her, three hoodsmen, one of them a wolfshead.” He moved towards his lord with a look of pleading on his face, as if to mean "don't ask me to do this."

  Dag rushed between his father and his lord. "Dad,” he said as he drew a long and wickedly sharp fish filleting knife. "There is nothing for it. They must be killed.” He looked over at the carters, and then at his lord, and his father, and then stared at Lucy. Then he spun on his heel and the knife flashed in the sunlight as it easily, oh so easily sliced through the neck of his lord.

  The other armoured men looked at their lord as he dropped to the ground spurting blood from his throat, and stood frozen in shock for just a few eyeblinks of time, and then they joined in the fate of their lord. Jokum spat on the body of his lord, and hissed the words, "Stupid vicious fucker. Go to hell."

  "So should we throw them in the charcoal pit?” asked Dag.

  "Naw, Stupid wanker even got that wrong. Charcoal is expensive. The gleaners rake the pit to get every bit of it to sell, and they would have found the bones. Best to slice open their guts so they don't bloat and then press them down in the bog yonder. The armour will take them to the bottom and keep them there."

  The men jumped to the task of slicing them open, almost eagerly, but Dag yelled at them to do the grisly chore over by the bog where Lucy wouldn't be able to watch. Meanwhile Jokum cut his prisoners free and undid Raynar's gag.

  "So now what?” Jokum asked Raynar.

  "That's up to you,” he replied to the elder. "How will you explain a missing lord and three of his men-at-arms."

  "I can't,” said Jokum thoughtfully, "but you lot can.” He moved a bit so that he could speak to all four of his prisoners. "When you tell the tale of this robbery, tell it with a different ending. The lord was frightened by your tax collector badge, so he ransomed your lives. You paid them well to let you go, and then they rode off with their loot. We'll tell the same story to your escort when they come looking for their share."

  "But your lord wouldn't just disappear,” Lucy pointed out. "He has lands, income, your village."

  "Believe me lass,” said Jokum, "he had some dangerous partners in this, and if he had double crossed them to gain a fortune in shillings that he can spend anywhere, well, of course he would disappear. Disappear and cheat the rest of us out of our share."

  "Aye,” laughed Dag, "and the bugger's last order to us was to see you safely to Bourne, and all the while he was scarpering with our share of the ransom. Sorry for the bad language, your grace."

  Lucy began to laugh. Was it in relief that this nightmare was over, or was it because she had grown up on the docks of Spalding, and had been raised by sea captains, and knew more bad language in five languages than these farmers could ever imagine.

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  The Hoodsman - Queens and Widows by Skye Smith

  Chapter 30 - Safely back to Westminster in December 1103

  "And they guarded you and the cart and the silver all the way to Bourne?” asked the Bishop of Lincoln. He stared thoughtfully at Raynar and Lucy on the other side of the table, and then watched the queen's face to gauge her mood.

  "As they were ordered to by that fiend of a lord. No more, no less. I half expected to have my throat slit and I didn't sleep a wink,” replied Lucy.

  "So this robber baron,” asked Edith, "how much did he take for himself?"

  "A tenth,” replied Raynar. "A fortune. Two thousand shillings."

  "Then I still have eighteen thousand for the treasury,” Edith beamed.

  "Only until the heirs to Magnus come to ask for it back,” replied Raynar. "I claimed it in trust, out of respect to Magnus and the folk of Norway."

  "Well by that time we won't need it anymore,” said Edith as she flipped the silver coin she was holding over and over and stared at the likeness of King Magnus that was stamped onto it. "Though they will likely be given coins with Henry's likeness on them. Did you ever find out why Magnus had so many coins minted, and in Lincoln of all places?"

  Raynar stared at the Bishop and wondered if he should kill him or have Edith banish him. That decision could wait, but certainly he wanted him out of the palace and out of London as soon as possible. However, for now it would do no harm if he heard the story of the coins.

  "I was with Magnus in '98 over in Wales.” He decided not to tell them that he was killing Normans at the time. "The shopkeepers were all complaining to us that the Norman army had been spending light coins. Magnus ordered an inquest and found out that William Rufus was allowing the minters to use blends of silver rather than pure silver, and that every merchant and farmer in the kingdom was angry about it."

  "Yes, of course,” said Edith brightly, "one of Henry's first acts as king was to make honest men of the minters and have them replace light coins with full ones. Then he went after the bankers who had been taking a cut of everything that the crown spent. How many of them did he hang? So hated were those thieves of deception, that the folk turned the hanging of minters and bankers into festival days."

  "Aye, well business was bad in '98, very bad, and the merchants and market farmers would have followed any rebellion that promised them honest coin, so Magnus had these honest coins minted. His plan was to invade the Danelaw and then rally the folk of York to him, by offering to swap them good coins for bad. It was a good plan, and would have worked, except he was too busy in Ireland in '98 and '99, and then Henry came to power and made the coins honest again."

  Maud laughed and reached out and squeezed the hand of her favourite father, "Oh Ray, why do I see your hand in that plan?"

  "Because it is subtle,” said Lucy. "It was built on solving problems, not solving symptoms.” She was glaring at the smirk on the Bishop's face. If she had been sitting closer to him she would have sliced open his throat with her knife, as Dag had sliced open the throat of his henchman.

  The Bishop noticed her glare and the hatred in this powerful woman's eyes and decided at that moment that it would be wise for him to return to Lincoln. "I must beg your leave, your highness. If there was wickedness done in my parishes, then I must go home and see that justice is done. This robber baron took a tenth you say. I will try to find it for you."

  Edith eagerly waved him away. She had seen the looks that Lucy and Raynar had been giving him, and she did not want blood shed on her carpets. She kept her silence until he was gone from her private audience chamber, and then she leaned forward towards Lucy and said, "Now tell me the real story."

  "The real story, my lovely,” replied Raynar, "is that jackal of a bishop set us up to be robbed and murdered and for some poor village folk to take the blame for it. I am going to write to Archbishop Anselm in Rome and tell him to accept the Gregorians concept of Investiture immediately and completely, and sign Henry's name to it."

  The queen laughed nervously, not sure whether he was jesting or not. She knew that he was not a Christian and she also knew his thoughts about Christian religious houses. He supported monks and monasteries who did good works in the community, and chose their own leaders and their own way. He wanted to destroy the priests and their churches and cathedrals, as they were as corrupt as the kings and barons who chose them and directed them.

  "Ray, be patient. It is no accident that Rome has chosen to bargain about investitures with Henry rather than with any of the other kings under the Pope. His Coronation Charter stopped some of the worst practices of the priests and their bishops, and was a ray of hope to the Gregorians. They will ensure that whatever is bargained with Henry will become the pattern for all other kingdoms.

  Please remember that my husband was trained for service in the church, as was I. Frankly, I think that Henry has already decided with the Gregorians, and is only holding out as a bargaining ploy to ensure the timing of it does not disrupt his other plans for this kingdom. Henry wants to be rid of his father's bishop-generals as much a
s you do, and as much as Rome does, but he must carefully choose the sequence of his battles so he can win them one at a time, instead of loosing them all at once."

  Raynar stared at his elegant Edith, now all grown up, and was so proud of her. She had begun her reign as a silly girl just out of the convent, in a rush to bed a man and have a child, and at the time was so impressed by pomp and finery. She was a very different person now. A formidable woman like her mother Margaret, and not just because she was learned. She knew the "why's” of things. The difference between learned and wise, was knowing the "why's".

  "So when do I get my other two thousand shillings?” Edith asked, getting back to business.

  "Never,” replied Raynar, "for they must never be entered on a treasury account. If the Bishop ever found out, the men who helped us would be slaughtered. I think it would be better to give them as a gift to the women of Aldergate and Queenhithe."

  Edith laughed out loud. "You mean parade through the streets throwing coins out like some Roman empress."

  "No, that would just give the coin to the alehouses. I have a better plan."

  "Of course you do,” said Maud. "I can't wait to hear it.” She looked over at her best friend Lucy, who was smirking. Lucy already knew. They must have concocted this better plan between them on the trip back to London.

  "A public bath house, and public latrines at Queenhithe, close to the docks,” he said with a grin.

  "Oh, well, I, err, well,” Edith tried to think of an appropriate response. Two thousand shillings was a fortune. "I thought you were going to say that we could use it to move the old royal palace at Kingbury and build it anew within the walls of New Windsor."

  "Your husband should be pulling down all the castle walls built over the past thirty years,” he replied, his smile gone. "This kingdom will never know true peace and prosperity until vicious buggers like that Bishop can no longer hide from the folk that they rule, behind the walls of their castles."

  There was an embarrassing silence, broken finally by Lucy. "Oh think of it Edith. The Queenhithe is a dirty smelly place because of the docks and ships and fishing boats, and the crews and dockworkers and market folk are dirty and smelly as well. What better gift to the women of the area than to build the men a place to clean up before they take their earnings to the women?"

  "Two thousand...” Edith began.

  "Aye, because we need to rebuild the water works to handle the load,” Raynar interrupted. "The ships captains will applaud you for it. They will be able to take on fresh water while they are at the dock, and that will save them an extra stop. And it's not just for bathing. Think of the washing women. They will be able to take the thick of the dirt out in the river, and then rinse the river water out with fresh water."

  "Besides,” added Lucy, "the men that work the docks have been on short hours since the August storm. This will give them all useful work over the winter, and put coins in their hands to give to their women."

  Edith looked around the table. It was obvious that the building of a palace at New Windsor would have to wait, yet again.

  THE END of Queens and Widows

  Look for more adventures in "Popes and Emperors"

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  The Hoodsman - Queens and Widows by Skye Smith Copyright 2010-13