‘The man has a blood lust. Look how eager he was to join in the hunt for Boio. Nothing would have pleased him more than to be able to spear the man to death like a wild boar.’
‘The lord Philippe is an ogre.’
‘Yet you say that his wife was pining for him?’
‘She was complaining about being neglected,’ said Golde, ‘but that is not the same thing. The lady Marguerite also told us that she missed her husband when he was not there yet found him very disagreeable when he was.’
‘And what about you, my love?’
‘Me?’
‘Did you feel neglected as well?’ he said, kissing her on the cheek.
‘I bore it with more patience.’
‘Patience brings its own reward.’
‘That is what I was hoping.’
‘I am here to prove it.’
He grinned broadly and pulled her into a warm embrace but it was short-lived. There was a tap on the door. Ralph got up to admit Gervase to the room. Fresh from his visit to Roundshill, he had little to tell and was more eager to hear their news. Golde repeated what she had learned from the lady Marguerite and Ralph told his friend about his visit to the forest. It was time to make plans.
‘We must ride to Coventry at once with this new intelligence,’
said Ralph. ‘And I have some pertinent questions to put to the lord Philippe.’
‘Put them alone,’ said Gervase. ‘I have other business.’
‘With whom?’
‘Thorkell of Warwick.’
‘Tell him what we suspect about his reeve.’
‘I will, Ralph, but he will also want to hear what has happened to Boio. The man may have sanctuary but I am sure that the lord Henry is beating at the abbey gate. Thorkell may well decide to go to Coventry himself to make certain that right of sanctuary is not violated.’
‘Will you come with him?’
‘No,’ said Gervase. ‘I must go back to Roundshill.’
‘But you told us that Asmoth would not say anything.’
‘She would not say anything to me but someone else might coax the truth out of her. Asmoth knows the blacksmith better than anyone. They talked at great length yesterday. What he told her may well help to save him if only she would realise it,’ said Gervase, ‘but she does not trust me enough. I frightened her.’
‘Is there any point in going back to her again?’ said Ralph.
‘That depends on you.’
‘Me?’
‘I need to ask a favour of you.’
‘It is granted before it is asked,’ said Ralph expansively.
‘Whatever I have is yours, Gervase. You know that. Just name it.’Gervase smiled and turned to look at Golde.
‘How would you like to take a ride into the country?’ he said.
Henry Beaumont always preferred action over restraint but even he found Philippe Trouville’s advice too wild to consider. It took him a long time to calm his guest down and to acquaint him with the dictates of reason. Trouville seemed to enjoy violence for its own sake. In his febrile mind, the gate of an abbey was no different from any of the castle gates in Normandy which he had stormed in younger days when enemies had been foolish enough to defy him. Henry had no doubt that his companion would set fire to the abbey sooner than let Boio escape his clutches.
‘This is my dispute and not yours,’ Henry said.
‘I am only trying to help, my lord.’
‘I know and I appreciate that help but it must be kept within the bounds of the law. Take the prisoner by force and the consequences would be horrendous.’
‘I care nothing for consequences,’ said Trouville.
‘Do you not fear excommunication?’
‘No, my lord.’
‘That is the least we would suffer,’ said Henry. ‘Bishop Robert and the abbot would run squealing to Canterbury and we would have the whole Church coming down on our necks. I have met Archbishop Lanfranc. He is not a man to offend.’
‘Neither am I,’ muttered Trouville.
‘You are too intemperate.’
‘I find that it gets results.’
Henry was beginning to doubt the wisdom of allowing Trouville to become involved in the pursuit of the fugitive. When the latter had made the offer to ride to Coventry the previous night in order to maintain a watch on the abbey, his host had been very grateful but that gratitude was now tinged with regret. Philippe Trouville was too accustomed to being in command himself to accept orders easily. He did not so much offer counsel as thrust it forcibly at Henry. In seeking to uphold the law, the man did not seem to feel the need to act wholly within it.
‘Send to Brinklow Castle, my lord,’ said Trouville. ‘Your brother, the sheriff, may well have returned home by now. Send to him.’
‘Why?’
‘Summon additional men from your brother.’
‘We have enough to put a ring of steel around the abbey.’
‘Faced with a whole army, the bishop might capitulate. Come, we are both well versed in the arts of siege warfare. The best way to bring an enemy to his knees is to frighten him with a display of strength. If they see that they have the Count of Meulan and the constable of Warwick Castle to deal with, the bishop and the abbot may come to their senses.’
‘My brother will not be called,’ said Henry firmly.
‘Why not?’
‘Because he and I are of the same mind.’
‘You would let this monkish rabble defy you?’
‘I will bide my time. My brother would do likewise.’
‘Do not let the abbey win this battle, my lord.’
‘It is not a battle. Merely a set of negotiations.’
‘Then negotiate from strength.’
‘The Church has moral right on its side.’
‘You have swords and lances.’
Henry was firm. ‘They will not be used.’
‘Then try a more cunning way,’ said Trouville, determined not to balk. ‘Ask for private conference with the bishop. Gain us admission to the abbey, just you and me. Engage the bishop in parley. While you and he debate, I will slip away and find where they have hidden Boio, then I will spirit him out of the building before they can stop me.’ He bared his teeth in a wolfish grin.
‘What do you think of my plan?’
‘I reject it out of hand.’
‘But why, my lord?’
Trouville’s annoyance was increased tenfold by a loud burst of laughter. His own men-at-arms seemed to be mocking him. He drew his sword and swung round to chastise them, only to realise that they were not laughing at him at all.
‘Look, my lord,’ said one of them, pointing. ‘A performing bear.’
Ursa and the dwarf were back in the marketplace.
It was a long ride to Thorkell’s manor house but Golde was glad to get away from the castle and from the uncomfortable friendship of the lady Marguerite. Four of Ralph’s men-at-arms accompanied her and Gervase while the remainder rode off to Coventry with their master. Gervase was hoping that Golde might find a way to draw confidences out of Asmoth but her value was shown as soon as they arrived at the house and met Thorkell of Warwick.
Hearing that she was the daughter of a dispossessed thegn, the old man treated her with immediate respect and invited both Golde and Gervase into his home.
The visitors went into the hall of the building, a room of generous proportions with a suspended floor made of thick oaken planks. A fire was crackling in the middle of the hall and smoke rose up towards the hole in the apex of the pitched roof. The whole house exuded a sense of wealth and Saxon tradition. Golde felt immediately at home. Thorkell waved them to seats but remained standing himself.
‘Why have you come?’ he asked.
‘To bring you news of Boio,’ said Gervase.
‘He has been captured?’
‘No, my lord.’
‘Thank God for that!’ said the other.
‘He went to the abbey and sought sanctuary. I thought that you would be glad to know that.’
‘I am, Master Bret. You have my thanks.’
‘There is more news that you should hear.’
Gervase told him about the evidence which Ralph extracted from Warin the Forester and how Grimketel’s crucial testimony against the blacksmith had been false. Thorkell was fascinated, taking particular pleasure from the news that Adam Reynard had been unmasked as a man who incited others to poach deer on his behalf. At a stroke, one of his rivals in the property dispute had been removed.