He went up to his apartment in reflective mood. There were times when his military training was a severe handicap. Attack and defence were his only natural options. Both were ineffective against someone like Archdeacon Idwal. The only way to keep such a man at bay was to use methods as cunning and devious as his own. Ralph had to devise a new strategy.
He was still puzzling over what it might be when he opened the door of his chamber. All thought of Idwal vanished in an instant.
Standing before him was the one person who could cleanse his mind of its accumulated worries and fire him with real pleasure.
It was Golde. She was wearing a pale blue gown over a chemise of white linen. She had taken off her wimple to reveal fair hair which was curled at the front and coiled at the back. She was smiling invitingly at him.
‘Golde!’ he exclaimed.
‘I have been waiting for you.’
‘You were not supposed to arrive until tomorrow.’
‘We made good time on the road.’
‘When did you get to Chester?’
‘Above an hour ago.’
‘You have been in the castle all that time?’
‘I asked to be shown to your apartment.’
‘Why did you not send for me?’
‘I wanted to surprise you, Ralph,’ she said, moving towards him. ‘Have I managed to do that?’
‘Oh, yes!’
‘Are you pleased to see me?’
No more words were needed. Ralph enfolded her in his arms and kissed away the long absence. Chester was a barren place without her. She had made the effort to reach the city a day earlier than planned in order to rejoin her husband. Ralph was thrilled. The unexpected pleasure of being with his wife once more was so overwhelming that he even began to look more kindly upon Idwal. Perhaps the Welshman did, after all, deserve some small credit for uniting them. It was, at least, one thing which could be said in his favour.
Canon Hubert believed in the value of meticulous preparation.
Disputes over the ownership of property could be extremely complicated and the bitterness generated by the contesting parties sometimes threatened to cloud the issues at stake. To avoid confusion or distraction, it was imperative to master the underlying facts of each case well in advance. That was the procedure which Hubert always followed. Having spent some hours studying the major dispute which would come before him on the morrow, therefore, he was understandably peeved to learn that judgement in that particular instance would have to be postponed.
Annoyed at the waste of his valuable time, he immediately set off to the castle to complain to Ralph Delchard, but the latter was too happily engaged in a domestic reunion to answer his summons. Hubert was never easily deflected from his purpose.
He took his protest instead to Gervase Bret.
‘Come in, Canon Hubert.’
‘Thank you.’
‘I did not think to see you at the castle again.’
‘Nor I to return here. It is not a place I would choose to visit unless I was compelled to do so.’
‘You are here under compulsion?’
‘Yes, Gervase.’
‘Why?’
‘I am moved to register a serious complaint.’
‘Take a seat and tell me all.’
Hubert lowered himself on to the large stool which stood against one wall. It was a small chamber, high up in the keep, and the canon’s presence made it seem much smaller. Gervase leaned against the wall beside the window. In the light of the candles, Hubert’s rubicund face seemed to be glowing.
‘Well?’ said Gervase.
‘A message was sent to me by the lord Ralph,’ said the other.
‘The case involving Raoul Lambert has unaccountably been dropped from our proceedings tomorrow. The postponement has caused me gross inconvenience.’
‘It was unavoidable.’
‘Why?’
‘Were you given no reason for the change of plan?’
‘None, Gervase. I have come in search of it.’
‘Then the first thing you must know is that Raoul Lambert will never be able to advance his claim to the holdings in question.
He was killed in the Forest of Delamere this morning during a hunting trip.’
Hubert was startled. ‘Killed?’ he gasped.
‘His body lies in the mortuary.’
‘A hunting accident?’
‘No. He was murdered.’
‘Saints preserve us!’
Gervase gave him a brief account of what had happened and Hubert saw that he had no real cause for protest. Death had brutally rearranged their schedule for them. What now exercised his mind were the dark motives which might lie behind that death.
‘It was an attempt to assassinate Earl Hugh himself?’
‘That is how it appears, Canon Hubert.’
‘This is frightful intelligence.’
‘It has caused great upset.’
‘If the earl is not safe, then we are all at risk,’ said the other with sudden alarm. ‘To think that I walked through the streets alone this evening! I will not stir abroad without an armed guard in future.’
‘You are in no danger.’
‘I am, Gervase. So are you. So are we all.’
‘Stay calm.’
‘How can I when the whole city may be under threat?’
‘That is highly unlikely.’
‘Earl Hugh was all but assassinated this morning.’
‘It does not mean that we will all have our throats cut in our beds tonight,’ said Gervase reasonably. ‘A murderer who chooses to strike in the forest is unlikely to search for a second victim in a city which is so well guarded as this one. Besides, there may yet be another explanation. Suppose, for instance, that this Raoul Lambert was the intended target of the attack?’
‘Is that possible?’
‘We should certainly consider it.’
‘Indeed, we should,’ agreed the canon as curiosity slowly dispelled his apprehension. ‘Raoul Lambert may have had enemies about whom we do not even know. And I would hazard a guess that Welshmen would be numbered among them.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because I have spent a long time perusing the documents relating to this dispute. The Church claims that Raoul Lambert appropriated land within the Forest of Delamere which was formerly part of its own estates. Without wishing to prejudge the case, I must say that the balance of evidence favours the Church.
However,’ continued Hubert, ransacking his memory, ‘Raoul Lambert had additional holdings. Outliers on the Welsh border.
Each one of his berewics is somewhat larger now than it was when the land was first granted to him.’
‘What would you wish me to infer?’
‘Nothing, Gervase. I trade in facts, not inferences. Draw what conclusions you may. Raoul Lambert was killed by a Welsh arrow.
He held property which spills over the Welsh border at three or four points. In my opinion, he has no legal right to portions of his outliers.’
‘So he could be a legitimate target for attack.’
‘Yes,’ confirmed Hubert. ‘All Norman soldiers are, in a sense, legitimate targets to the Welsh but this man may have a special interest for them.’ He ran a pensive hand across his chin. ‘There is another singularity which I observed.’
‘What is that?’
‘How did he come to have such extensive holdings?’
‘Earl Hugh favoured him.’
‘But why, Gervase? Raoul Lambert is a huntsman. He is not a leading baron in this county.’
‘Earl Hugh places great value on hunting.’
‘His other huntsmen have not been so generously treated. What sets this Raoul Lambert apart from the others? Why has he been permitted to enlarge his holdings by what appears to be a series of unjust seizures? What dread offence has he caused his Welsh neighbours, so that thoughts of murder may be prompted? And have there been any earlier attacks upon him?’
‘Searching questions, Canon Hubert.’
‘They demand answers.’
‘We will not get them from the earl himself.’
‘Why not?’
‘His mind is already made up,’ said Gervase. ‘He was the object of the assassination. That is his firm belief. And he may well be right. Earl Hugh was there. He felt that arrow whistle past him.