“We… we were scared. The abbot had been worried for days. He was sure that we’d be attacked. He never said why, but he was sure of it. He seemed to feel that we were always close to being attacked.” Simon nodded – that certainly matched his own observations. “Then these two men came up from behind and scattered us all. They wore helms, we couldn’t see their faces. Their swords were out and they went straight to the abbot… they knew what they wanted… One took the abbot’s bridle, and he… The abbot had all of the money on his horse… We thought they’d go then, take the packs and go, let the abbot down and leave us alone, but, but they didn’t… they took the abbot’s reins and took him with them… They went off into the woods by the side of the road with him. We couldn’t do anything about it… We… we started to follow, we ran after them, but then we realised that if they saw us they might kill the abbot to get away… They shouted at us… they said they’d kill the abbot if we followed… We… they said they had others in the woods… They said they’d kill us as well if we didn’t leave… We had to leave them and come back… We tried to find somewhere to rest, but there wasn’t anywhere… we had to sleep on the road. We tried to get back to Copplestone, but it was too far…”
Gently Simon touched his shoulder until the young monk subsided. “Did they have any marks on their helms?”
“No… no, I don’t think so.”
“How about their tunics? Any signs on them?”
“No, nothing.”
“So there was nothing to identify them?”
“No.”
“What about their horses – what colour were they?”
“They were both brown. But one was a great big horse, like a knight’s. The other was smaller.”
“Were there any marks on their clothes? Anything to show they were knights?”
“No, no, I don’t think so,” said the young monk, frowning in concentration. “But it all happened so fast…”
“So they simply rode up and took the abbot?” said Simon musingly, his brow puckered as he peered at the young monk in incomprehension, trying to make sense of the situation. “Did the abbot say anything?”
“No, sir, he was completely silent -I think he was scared,” said the monk simply.
Simon frowned at him for a moment, then, his face serious, he stood. “Stephen, we’ll need to go and look for the abbot. I’ll go on ahead and see what I can find. You must raise the posse and follow me when you can. We’ll have to try to rescue him.” He turned back to the young monk. “Would you come with me to show me where it all happened? Can you ride?”
It was only as the monk gazed back at him with the fearful eyes of a petrified rabbit that the bailiff suddenly realised the full impact of the news. The abbot was taken! The abbot of an important and wealthy Cistercian monastery, almost certainly a high-born man! He must be found, and quickly – before he could be harmed.
But who would hold an abbot hostage?
Chapter Eleven
Greenfield had a massive old grey horse that he used for pulling his cart, that Simon secretly felt should have been killed years before as an act of kindness, but he was grateful enough that the monk could borrow it when they left the farmhouse.
Tanner, now he knew that a man, and an abbot at that, had been taken hostage, moved swiftly to his horse and was soon riding away to rouse his men. Simon and the monk had to wait for a while for the old horse to be saddled, the bailiff fretting at the delay, but soon it too was ready and they made their way quickly down from the old farm to the road. Once there they turned their heads to the sun and set off at a quick lope.
“What’s your name? I forgot to ask back there.”
“It’s David, bailiff.”
“Fine. Keep your eyes open, then, David. I want to know as soon as we are getting close to the place where the abbot was taken yesterday. Alright?”
The monk nodded, the fear still plain on his face. Of what may have happened to the abbot, Simon wondered, or of what may happen to us? Grimly he reached down and made sure that his sword was still at his waist. The feel of the hilt comforted him a little, but he was still wary and felt nervous himself about what they might find.
They had covered more than seven miles from Copplestone when the young monk reined in his horse and slowed to a trot, falling back. Simon, noticing him out of the corner of his eye, slowed as well and let the monk ride up slowly and overtake him. He could see that the young man had a fixed frown of concentration on his face, and seemed to be glaring at the trees all round as he trotted forward. He stopped and waited for Simon to catch up.
“I remember this bit,” he said, pointing up at an ash tree that had been blasted by lightning. “I noticed that just a few minutes before it happened.”
Simon nodded and dropped lightly from his horse. The highway here was a wide track through the woods. Although the king’s order many years before had commanded that all roads should be cleared for yards on both sides to help stop outlaws from making ambushes, many like this one had not yet had the undergrowth cut down. The tall trees on either side seemed to enhance the sense of their solitude, as if reminding them how far they were from a hamlet or even a house, and the noises of their horses’ hoofs and harnesses were deadened this deep in among them, heightening their feeling of isolation.
He tossed his reins to the monk and walked forward slowly, the monk following on his horse, as he carefully examined the hard-packed earth of the road. Occasionally he paused to study the ground in more detail, but the spoor of the monks and their attackers was too mixed in with the marks of other travellers, and the rain from the previous night had been heavy enough to wash away most of the signs. He shrugged. Maybe a hunter could follow what happened here, but he knew he could not. He continued on, the monk trailing slowly after him, his eyes flitting from the bailiff to the trees in his apprehension.
Simon was concentrating so hard on the road that he was startled by the sudden cry from behind.
Spinning round, he ran back to the monk, part-drawing his sword from its sheath in his fright. “What is it?” he hissed.
Pointing in among the trees that lined the road, his eyes glittering, the monk turned to face him. “It was here,” he said simply.
Sighing in his relief, the bailiff followed his finger. He could see that the ground was heavily disturbed at the verge on the north side of the road. Reseating his sword in its scabbard, he walked up to the fringe of the trees and peered into the darkness. Warily he subjected the woods to a minute study, his eyes going from tree to tree, until, at last content that no one was watching, he dropped to a crouch and looked at the ground. It was obvious that three horses had passed through. He could see the tracks clearly in the dirt between the trees – the rains from the night before had not washed the marks away. Simon frowned and peered into the darkness again, wondering what to do. It would be sensible to wait here for the posse to arrive, but that could be a long time. Tanner would have to visit twenty farmsteads and hamlets to call up all the men in the hundred, so by the time they arrived it would be dark. He made a decision and stood up.
“David, I want you to wait here. The posse will be along soon enough, and you’ll be safe here. When they get here, tell them to follow me if I’m not back. I’m going into the woods to see if I can find where these tracks lead to.”
The monk gripped his reins tightly in his fear and looked from the bailiff to the trees all round. When he spoke it was with a voice hushed by his concern and trepidation, as if the trees nearby were hiding the abbot’s abductors. “But… but, what if they come back? I can’t face them again… And what if they see you? They might…”