‘Perhaps he knocked him on the head to take it? I don’t know. But he had the crucifix later and I took it from him.’
‘No. He wouldn’t have stolen from Pietro. He would have been fearful in case he woke the man. It would only have been taken when Pietro was dead.’
‘So?’
‘If you had taken it, you wouldn’t have thrown this away. It’s gold and enamel. Surely it’s worth a lot of money. You killed Pietro and then stole this for yourself, didn’t you? And Anselm saw you and took it away.’
‘He snatched it from me! I didn’t know the fool would come back. I’d made him go so that he’d be safe. I was trying to look after him, but he came back. Some sort of guilt or something. He wanted to see what he had caused to happen. And he saw me there with the others. I saw him too, the prick! All I was going to do was tell him to go back to where he was safe, but the fool wouldn’t. He told me I was cursed if I tried to take the crucifix from a dead monk. Damn his soul for a fool! I hit him when he threw it away, though.’
‘He was right,’ Mark said quietly. ‘Perhaps the crucifix itself is cursed.’
‘You think a lump of metal can be cursed, Brother? Then throw it away yourself. Come, though, you didn’t answer me. Will you help me? Half the money will be yours if you do.’
‘How would you get it?’
‘If you will help me, we can get it easily. Those fools won’t think to guard it well. They’ll take it back to Tavistock, I expect. In the middle of the night, you help me out of here, and we’ll find them, and then it’s just a little tap on their heads and we’ll have the chest without needing to kill anyone. It’ll make no difference to anyone, Brother. If you help me, you’ll have half and I’ll escape earlier, that’s all.’
‘You won’t escape from here.’
‘You think so? I’ll be out in a few days. This little vill won’t want to spend time holding me here for no money or purpose. No, I’ll soon be out, and when I am, the money would be useful. What do you say?’
‘I will leave this crucifix. I have no more use for it, I think,’ Mark said softly. He stepped forward and very carefully placed it on the altar cloth not far from Osbert. ‘It can stay here.’
Baldwin was bitter, but there was no point in growing angry. The law was the law, and while inside a church a man was answerable to the ecclesiastical courts, not the king’s. It would be dangerous to try to prise Osbert from the sanctuary cloth where he sat now.
‘I will not have him dragged away, and that is final,’ the priest was saying, wagging a finger under Sir Richard’s nose.
The coroner appeared to swell with anger, and if Simon and Baldwin had not been there to prevent him, he might have pushed past the priest to haul Osbert out.
Mark stood at Father James’s side. ‘The good father is quite right, Sir Richard. There is nothing to be done for some days, as you know. Unless this man commits some new crime in the church, he must be allowed to remain here, safe and well.’
‘What sort of crime?’ Sir Richard asked hopefully.
‘Stealing the cross or some plate,’ Father James said acerbically. ‘And only a fool would do such a thing.’
Mark nodded. He was feeling shaky, but he looked at Sir Baldwin, hoping he would understand. Mark had grown to respect the knight. ‘Oh! I left Brother Anselm’s crucifix on the altar. Father, would you go and fetch it for me? I feel unwell.’
‘Yes, my son. Of course.’
Baldwin was watching him closely as the priest strode off into the church again. ‘Brother? Are you well? You look quite pale.’
‘I am well, I think. But I hope-’
There came a cry from inside the church. ‘Brother? Are you sure you placed it here? I can see no sign of it.’
Baldwin’s expression hardened. ‘Simon, I think that the sanctuary-seeker may have stolen a small crucifix. Sir Richard? If he has stolen something from the Church, that means he is not eligible for the Church’s protection, does it not?’
‘I will fetch him out!’ Simon said, and was about to move when a hand took his arm.
‘No, Father, please. Don’t.’ Edith had been at the gate, and had heard much of the conversation. Now she hurried across the grass and gripped his elbow.
‘Edith?’ Simon put a hand out to her and smiled. ‘Are you all right now?’
She gave a weak smile in return, but the anxiety was still in her eyes. ‘That man, I saw him, Father. He was one from the castle, wasn’t he? I remember him.’
‘You’ll never have to worry about him again,’ Simon rasped, and was about to return to the church, but her hand caught him and held him back.
‘No! Please, Father, as you love me, don’t do it!’
‘What? After what he and his friends were going to do to you?’
‘They did nothing to me, though. Not yet. But if you go in there and kill him, they’ll have changed you, Father. I couldn’t bear that. Please, don’t go in.’
Simon was about to draw away, but Baldwin was still at his side, and the knight sighed. ‘Simon, I know that this may seem foolish, but I agree with her. There are good reasons for avenging your child, I know, and you will probably think me the worst of advisers, but the fact is, it will not help you to kill this man. Nor will it make the experience any better for your daughter.’
‘Father, if you kill him, it will make me feel responsible for his death, and I don’t want that. I saw you fight once before, you remember? Against Wattere. And yet if he had not tried to rescue me, I might not be here now.’
‘He tried to rescue you?’ Simon said.
‘He came to my room and gave me a knife, and then he created the fire to distract the others so that I could try to get free. It was the merest bad luck that Osbert came to find me and all but cut poor Wattere in half when he found him there.’
‘This is avenging others too, Edith,’ Simon said.
‘No, Father. It isn’t. And I wouldn’t have his blood on my conscience. Not now, of all times.’
She rested a hand on her belly as she spoke, and as he glanced at her uncomprehendingly, she gave him a weak smile.
‘Dear God, child! My little girl … You mean you’re …’
‘With child, yes.’
Simon grinned, then gaped, and then in swift succession a frown, a slightly gormless smile, and a pale, fretful expression passed over his features. ‘You must need to sit, Edith. Please, come with me, and we’ll find a chamber that is comfortable. You must tell me all about it.’
‘Really, Father? I would have thought you knew enough, with two children.’
‘I didn’t … Dear Mother of God, this is marvellous! Wait until we see your mother,’ Simon said as he led her across the grounds towards Agnes’s house.
Sir Richard grunted to himself. ‘So, what of this fellow, then?’
‘Leave him a while,’ Baldwin said. ‘There is no hurry.’
Mark heard something, and shot a look inside the church. The priest was hurrying out. ‘Preposterous! He says you gave him the crucifix, Brother Mark. Did you say that he could have it?’
‘Of course not! I merely left it there.’ Mark could not add the words ‘by accident’.
Sir Richard squared his shoulders. ‘In that case, Father James, I think he has broken the terms of his sanctuary. I have the right to bring him out immediately.’
‘I would beg that you leave him,’ Father James insisted. ‘I will not have blood spilled in my church. It is unnecessary.’
‘You mean you don’t want to have the church reconsecrated?’ Sir Richard chuckled. ‘We’ll bring him outside, never you fear, Father.’
‘That was not my meaning, as well you must know,’ the priest said angrily. ‘In Christ’s name, I merely seek to save a soul.’
‘You wish to save him, you tell him to come out here and agree to abjure the realm,’ Mark said quickly. ‘There is no need to kill him. Let him abjure.’
Reluctantly the coroner agreed to the compromise, and Osbert came out with a shuffling gait, as though appreciating that this truly was his last opportunity.
Sir Richard stared at him. ‘I don’t suppose that this will have the slightest impact on your conduct, man, but you have agreed to exile. You will abjure the realm, taking the route I give you, carrying a cross to demonstrate your penitence, wearing only the meanest of hair shirt and simple robes, and you will go by the fastest route to the nearest port, which is …’ He hesitated and stared at Baldwin.