‘You find the costs of knighthood burdensome?’ a strange voice intervened.
Baldwin peered ahead. This end of the hallway was darker – the sconces had not been lit yet. The voice had come from the shadows near the door, and he was sure he recognised it.
There was a chuckle, and Lord Hugh de Courtenay walked from the shadows. ‘Don’t look so upset, Sir Baldwin. I was sitting there, mulling over the sad news when I heard your voice. You know how it is, when you are sitting in the shade and looking at people who are well-lit – one assumes that if one can see, one must inevitably be seen. And my mind was far away.’
‘I suppose you were thinking of our dead friend,’ Baldwin said quickly. Behind Lord Hugh were two hard-looking men with swords at their waists and suspicion in their eyes.
‘Sir Gilbert, you mean? Yes. It seems so long since I last met with him. He was with the Templars then, you know.’
Baldwin smiled thinly. ‘We heard he was trying to see you, my Lord.’
‘Me? I wonder why.’
‘Perhaps he had a message?’
Lord Hugh said nothing, sitting on a bench.
Simon found him an interesting man. The bailiff had seen Lord de Courtenay many times over the years, for Simon’s father had been a steward to Lord Hugh’s father, working on the de Courtenay estates. The present lord was older than Simon’s thirty-four years; casting his mind back, Simon couldn’t remember the age of the man, but from the look of him he couldn’t be younger than forty, a strong-looking fellow with broad shoulders and thickening belly. The de Courtenays were not the wealthiest family in Devon, but Simon knew that this man had influence beyond that of wealthier men.
Baldwin surveyed the lord for a few moments. ‘Did you see Sir Gilbert?’
‘How could I if he died on his way here?’
‘We heard that he left his servant before he died. Perhaps he came here?’
‘Perhaps,’ Lord Hugh shrugged agreeably.
Baldwin sat at another bench. ‘You have long been a thorn in the King’s side, my Lord. You were with Bishop Stapledon when the Ordainers curbed the King’s power back – oh, more than ten years ago. And then you helped Thomas of Lancaster to seek out Piers Gaveston, the King’s friend.’
‘That was difficult,’ Lord Hugh said. ‘But Gaveston had been lawfully exiled and insisted on returning. Lord Thomas saw to his execution.’
‘Are you for Lord Thomas?’
‘Me, Sir Baldwin? I am not entirely for anyone, as you would put it. I am not like others, bound by their oaths to one grouping or another. Everybody is tied to one master or another,’ he smiled. ‘I acknowledge only the King.’
‘Yet now the King fears losing another favourite . . .’
Lord Hugh made a small gesture of indifference. ‘I think you’ll find that the King has already lost his latest favourite. The Despenser family is exiled, if my information is correct.’
There was a snigger from one of the squires and Baldwin saw Lord Hugh’s expression harden. He did not like his servants to listen to his conversations, let alone show amusement. However he said nothing, merely waved a hand and both guards reluctantly moved out of earshot.
He continued more quietly. ‘Sir Baldwin, in a town like Tiverton some people will have allied themselves with men for whom I feel little affinity. Some will owe duties to other men. Even Coroner Harlewin owes his position to Thomas of Lancaster. How many others owe service to the Lords of the Marches or to the Despensers?’
Baldwin held his gaze. ‘Were you expecting Sir Gilbert or another messenger?’
‘I am expecting, as you put it, messengers from all sides.’
‘From which do you think Sir Gilbert would have come?’
‘He could have come from the King to demand my loyalty, or the Marcher Lords asking for my help, or the Despensers to beg for my assistance. Maybe even Thomas of Lancaster threatening me, should I help any of the others. Which do you think he would have come from?’
Baldwin was quiet a moment. ‘Most likely Despenser. The Lords of the Marches have taken their armies to London and have all the help they need; Earl Thomas is not with them and has little need of your assistance, nor would he fear your enmity. But Despenser, he would want any help, any support he could win. He knows he is to be thrown from the kingdom.’
‘He has been,’ Lord Hugh said smilingly. ‘But, tell me. Which of all these great men would you advise me to support?’
Before Baldwin could answer this difficult question, he was interrupted.
‘My Lord, I am glad you have managed to speak to Sir Baldwin. It was a shame that he was not present during the meal, but I am sure he will be able to eat with you soon,’ Sir Peregrine said, striding in.
Baldwin saw a fleeting annoyance pass over Lord Hugh’s face, but for his own part he felt only relief.
Chapter Fifteen
Sir Peregrine watched Sir Baldwin narrowly. He could kick himself for spending so long with Felicity, but at least he felt some kind of release. She had soothed him, cradling him in her arms for a while, stroking his back and murmuring gently as he wept. Afterwards the guilt of not having been with Emily when she died returned, but he had enjoyed a moment of peace with the whore.
As soon as he had got back to the castle Toker told him that Lord de Courtenay was in the hall. It was the last thing he needed, his lord talking to an ally of Bishop Stapledon and being swayed into believing that the banishment of the Despensers was illegal, which was why he had marched straight in, giving Baldwin a suspicious look, wondering what the knight had discussed with Lord Hugh; he only prayed that Baldwin hadn’t persuaded Lord Hugh to side with the King as Bishop Stapledon no doubt wanted.
‘How are you, my Lord?’ he asked. With relief he saw that one of the guards with Lord Hugh was Owen, one of his own men. He would be able to find out what had been said.
Sitting, he glanced at Baldwin again. He was convinced the knight was an emissary from the Bishop of Exeter, Walter Stapledon, and Stapledon wanted the King to be allowed to invite the Despensers back; however he saw no shiftiness in Baldwin’s eye.
‘We were talking about the dead knight,’ Lord Hugh said.
Sir Peregrine forced a smile to his face. ‘Really?’
‘It does seem odd to me, you know, Peregrine,’ Lord Hugh continued. He leaned back contemplatively and stared up at the window with a slight frown. ‘This man was a Templar knight, someone trained with all forms of weaponry. He was out with a massive dog, I understand, and yet one single cut-throat managed to steal his knife and kill both him and his dog. Doesn’t that strike you as curious? I would have thought it was more the work of another trained fighter.’
‘I doubt another knight would have attacked him,’ Sir Peregrine said, but Baldwin saw how his face looked quite grey.
‘Very curious,’ Lord Hugh murmured. ‘A warrior like him allowing his knife to be stolen.’
‘It must have been the felon,’ Sir Peregrine asserted.
‘Stabbed in the dark,’ Baldwin mused, frowning.
‘What of it?’ Sir Peregrine demanded. ‘It’s how an outlaw would strike, isn’t it?’
‘Perhaps. But if another man struck him down, perhaps the felon merely arranged the corpse neatly and took his purse. Since the knight wouldn’t need the money again, an honourable man could do that.’
‘Oh, really!’ Sir Peregrine sneered.
‘It could be one explanation. It is easier to believe that another trained man-at-arms of whatever rank killed him rather than a weakly abjurer.’
‘I hope you don’t mean to suggest . . .’
Baldwin smiled. ‘What could I mean, Sir Peregrine?’
The bannaret stood coldly, plainly angry. His eyes held Baldwin’s with a glittering intensity.
Simon wanted to interrupt them but daren’t. If he was not careful, he could insult one or the other and precipitate a duel.
It was Lord Hugh who relaxed the tension. ‘Come, Sir Peregrine, there’s no need for
weapons to be drawn. Sir Baldwin meant you no insult.’
‘Certainly not, Sir Peregrine,’ Baldwin said guilelessly. ‘I was thinking aloud, no more.’
‘I apologise, then. I am becoming peppery. It must be this sad death. Sir Baldwin, Master Bailiff, would you walk with me in the yard while we await our evening meal?’
‘Naturally,’ Baldwin said, allowing the tension to leave him. The three took their leave of the lord and walked down the stairs to the yard. Baldwin had to flex his fingers to ease the clenching where he had bunched his fists, but more than Sir Peregrine’s sudden temper, Baldwin was fascinated by the reason behind his apparent loss of control.
William Small the sailor sat drinking ale. His guard had been removed when the Coroner decided he had no case to answer and now he sat alone, back against the ladder which led up to the walkway along the walls. Behind him was the doorway to the storeroom from which he had fetched his drink.
The sky was light, the clouds tinged with a vivid salmon pink as the sun followed its course down to the horizon, far out of sight from here, hidden as it was by the curtain wall of the castle. With its passing the yard was thrown into shade and the night chill was overtaking the place although the cobbles and stonework still gave off a little warmth.
It was ending a good day after all. He had feared that he might be attached to appear at the next court, having to pay more money in fines, but somehow he had escaped. It looked as though he was free. Everyone assumed that poor Sir Gilbert had been killed by the felon, and that suited William; it meant he need not be held for long here.
His belongings were all in the tack-room at the side of the stables, and as he sat near the hall, he noticed a man loitering nearby, in the doorway. For some reason William found himself studying him. It was a man-at-arms, a smartly turned-out fellow, who leaned as if casually against the door-jamb, but William was convinced that there was a watchful set to his shoulders. William had been a soldier, he could recognise the attitude of another who was on the scrounge.
William settled back with a smirk, certain that someone was inside the room rummaging through his things and those of the good, dead, Sir Gilbert. They were welcome, he thought. They’d find nothing in all his stuff. William had already been through the lot, looking for the money. It wasn’t there.
It must have been that day when the knight left him and went on alone, returning late reeking of wine. He had taken the bags with him, because William had searched through the camp after he’d gone and there was nothing there. But Sir Gilbert didn’t bring it back with him: it was all gone when the knight was found dead.
What the hell! Some you win, some you lose. William rested his head against the ladder. The beer felt good in his belly, he was fed and he was as contented as a man could be. Although he loved the sea in all her moods, he was happy to be living safely on land for a while.
There were footsteps nearby, but he ignored them, closing his eyes. He didn’t want to chat; he wanted a good sleep and an early start. Hardly had he begun to doze, however, when he heard a low, rumbling growl. The man outside the tack-room had also heard the noise and was standing fearfully, staring at Aylmer. Seeing such a large man worried by the dog made William grin to himself.
Then the humour was wiped from his face as he recognised the man: the scene from the street outside the tavern in London came back to him and he was suddenly struck with a quick fear. That man had been pinned to the wall by Aylmer before.
He was about to call out when a blade rested on his throat, a blade that felt as sharp as a razor, as cold as only polished steel could be, and a voice hissed in his ear. ‘If you call that sodding hound, you’ll die.’
‘Perhaps it was fortunate,’ Sir Peregrine continued when the three were once more outside, ‘that Sir Gilbert died, if he was a messenger.’
‘Fortunate?’ Baldwin enquired casually. The callousness of the bannaret’s attitude shocked him, but he wanted to discover all he could from the man. ‘Ho, Aylmer! Leave that man alone.’
He watched smiling as the great dog padded gently away from Perkin, trotting to Baldwin’s side. Baldwin tickled his ears while they spoke.
Sir Peregrine eyed the dog warily. ‘At least as an excommunicate he wasn’t anyone to be mourned. And the felon dying with him was more or less a proof of God’s justice. Others deserve more grief, don’t you think?’
‘If he was a messenger, couldn’t he have carried a message from the King?’
‘I would doubt it, Sir Baldwin. The King has his own men – why should he use a renegade Templar?’
Baldwin gave a brittle smile. ‘I suppose not.’
‘But of course Despenser would have wanted to bring Lord de Courtenay to his camp if possible.’
‘You think so?’
Sir Peregrine shot him a look. ‘There’s no need to try to sound disinterested, Sir Baldwin. You and Bailiff Puttock here are friends of Walter Stapledon. He’s mentioned you both in my presence and a friend of the good bishop’s will know his views, won’t he?’
‘He rarely conceals them,’ admitted Baldwin.
‘ “Trenchant”, I have heard them described. I think he became disgusted with court politics earlier this year, and I can’t blame him, but that doesn’t mean he’s right now.’
‘You mean he is wrong to declare the banishment of the Despensers to be illegal?’ Baldwin wanted to know.
Sir Peregrine made a gesture of irritation. ‘Of course he is! The bastards had to go. Look at them! Greedy, vain, never satisfied, the pair of them. Always looking out for more advantage.’
‘Yet if they were wrongly exiled . . .?’
‘The pair are a danger to the realm. If they stayed in power, putting whoever they wanted into every official position, stealing any lands they fancied, throwing honest men into prison on their whim – aye, and poisoning the King’s ear with stories about other men – the country would soon have gone to war.’
‘They had to go, then?’
‘It was inevitable.’
‘And what now?’ Baldwin asked quietly.
‘We must ensure that the Despensers never return. That would be a disaster.’
‘I see.’
‘No, Sir Baldwin, I don’t think you do.’ Sir Peregrine halted. They were at the well and Sir Peregrine sat on the low wall that surrounded it, gazing up at Baldwin with the air of a teacher instructing a wayward pupil. ‘If Hugh Despenser, the young one, comes back to England, there will be war. It may be Lancaster who precipitates it, it may be the Marcher Lords, it may even be the King himself – I don’t know – but if the Despensers come back, there will inevitably be civil war.
‘If the Despensers win that war, the whole realm will become subject to Hugh and then no man will be safe. Can you imagine the country under his boot? He steals what he wants. Power is the only authority he understands. That is why we have to support the Marcher Lords and Earl Thomas of Lancaster.’
‘If the King himself supports the Despensers, my choice is made,’ Baldwin said steadily.
‘Sir Baldwin, I beg you to consider whether it is better that the King should be supported by a council of wise advisers, with decisions agreed by all for the fair government of the land, or that the King should be led by the nose by an avaricious devil like Despenser!’
Baldwin smiled. ‘Is it better that a man should forget his oaths of loyalty to his King or abide by them?’
‘In this case we should be upholding the King’s power and authority, protecting him from advisers who would destroy the peace of his realm. By defending him against the evil advice of the Despensers, we should—’
‘Yes, I understand the drift of your argument. I shall have to consider your words.’
‘And you, Bailiff – what would you do?’
‘Me?’ Simon asked with surprise. ‘I have no idea. After all, I am no knight.’
‘Ah, but you could be! There are fines for those who can afford to take up their knighthood and who do not. Perhaps you ought to
be a knight.’
‘If I were a knight, I would obey the man to whom I owed allegiance,’ Simon said. ‘To do otherwise would be to earn the title “Traitor”.’
Sir Peregrine smiled thinly. ‘Is that what the Despensers have led us to already? A man who wishes to save the realm is now to be termed a traitor to his King?’
Baldwin met his gaze. ‘Someone who has given his oath to his King would certainly be a traitor if he went over to another man.’
Sir Peregrine appeared irritated by his coolness. ‘I hope you aren’t implying that I have broken my vow?’
‘Certainly not.’
Sir Peregrine’s face did not reflect satisfaction with Baldwin’s response. ‘Do you think I killed Sir Gilbert then? That was what you implied in the hall.’
‘I implied nothing, Sir Peregrine,’ Baldwin said soothingly. ‘I was speculating on what could have happened, nothing more.’
‘You can stop speculating about me at once!’ Sir Peregrine said, colouring. He realised straightaway that he had over-reacted but couldn’t stop himself. He had lost the sense of ease and calmness which lying with Felicity had given him and the knowledge that Emily was dead was a rasp across his sore nerves. He tapped his foot, avoiding Baldwin’s eye. ‘What’s that blasted dog doing?’
Aylmer had crossed to the door to the tack-room and now stood growling. Baldwin shrugged. ‘Maybe he’s hungry.’
‘Well, if it keeps up this row, it’ll get his fill – of steel,’ Sir Peregrine said impatiently, fingering his sword hilt. Then he turned on his heel and stormed off to the stairs that led to the gatehouse.
Baldwin slowly walked over to the hound. The animal seemed nervous, not angry. He put out his hand to pat Aylmer’s head. ‘What is troubling you, old friend?’ He opened the door and Aylmer walked in stiffly, full of menace, crossing the room to a door at the far end, which he sniffed at carefully. Then he went to Sir Gilbert’s pile of clothes.
The Traitor of St. Giles Page 15