“He will be.”
“I have a larger favour to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Toki lies in the shadow of the castle where he was killed,” she said. “Every time I look up at it, I think of the agonies of his death. He will never sleep easily here.”
“We have no choice in the matter.”
“I want his bones to lie beside our own church.”
“But that is impossible,” said Brunn in consternation. “Toki cannot be exhumed. That would need the permission of Archbishop Thomas himself. Do not ask what is beyond my power to give you, Inga.”
“There has to be a way.”
“Believe me, there is not.”
Inga looked sadly in the direction of the grave. Toki belonged near her.
But huge obstacles had to be negotiated first and Gervase Bret was the only person who could help her to do that. She squeezed Brunn’s arm.
“I must away. Say nothing of this to Mother.”
“It would break her heart. I implore you not to leave!”
“The decision is made.”
“Consider again!” pleaded Brunn. “Olaf Evil Child is an outlaw. He and his band live in the trees like wild animals. They will show no respect to a woman, Inga. You may be …”
“Look to Mother. That is all I ask.”
He shook with trepidation. “God go with you!”
“I am not afraid. We will soon return to York.”
“You may be gone for days. Olaf Evil Child could be anywhere in the county. However will you find him?”
“We will not,” she said. “He will find us.”
Ralph Delchard chafed at the bit of his task. While Gervase Bret rode off in search of an outlaw, Ralph was left to work covertly in York.
Their roles were reversed. He felt that the quiet and inconspicuous Gervase could more easily glide into the shadows where Tanchelm of Ghent had gone, while he himself would be more suited to an adven-turesome encounter with Olaf Evil Child. Recrimination was point-less. The duties had been assigned and Ralph set about his at once.
“Come and join us!” invited Aubrey Maminot.
“I will stay on this side of the bars.”
“Romulus and Remus will not hurt you.”
“They will not get the chance.”
“You are perfectly safe while Ludovico and I are in here. Step inside, Ralph. Be a lion yourself.”
It was feeding time. The castellan and the keeper of the beasts were inside the cage with the animals. Romulus and Remus did not even look up when Ralph came down to watch them. They were too busy devouring their fresh meat with growling relish. Aubrey patted each one of them before strolling over to his visitor.
“I have never known you to shirk a challenge.”
“Your lions already have a meal.”
Aubrey chuckled. “Do you hear that, Ludovico.”
Hands on hips, the Italian turned to appraise Ralph.
“My lord Ralph is a stranger,” he said. “They would not like that. He is better where he is. Romulus and Remus would only be unsettled.”
“They were highly unsettled this morning,” noted Ralph. “When you tried to get them back into their cage.”
“That was most unusual,” said Aubrey.
“Yes,” added Ludovico. “They have been punished for it. They were like naughty children. They will not misbehave again. I will see to that.”
He crouched beside Romulus and stroked his mane.
“Look at them,” said Aubrey. “My twin sentinels. The other castle has a huge moat to defend it, built at enormous expense. I have Romulus and Remus. They are my moat.”
“They do not stop intruders from getting into the castle,” reminded Ralph. “You would have to give them the run of the courtyard to ensure that.”
“They are here to protect the keep.”
“Is that why you brought them to England?”
“It is part of the reason.”
“You said that they were a gift.”
“Yes, Ralph. In Rome.”
“What took you there?”
“I was visiting friends. Seeing the city.”
“Were the cubs born in captivity?”
“They were,” said Aubrey. “Their mother was brought to Rome from Africa. A fierce animal. She did not like it when we took her cubs away. Ludovico still has the scars.”
The Italian scowled. It was not a memory he cared to have discussed. Aubrey let himself out of the cage to stand beside Ralph. The murder inquiry was now his priority.
“My lord sheriff arrives in York this afternoon.”
“I would speak with him.”
“We will do so together, Ralph. I wish to lodge a strong complaint against his deputy. The fellow was not pursuing the killer with sufficient zeal. I had to take him to task about it this morning.”
“What if the murderer has already fled the city?”
“Search parties have gone out from my own garrison. I mean to find this villain, whatever the cost. A man who strikes at an honoured guest of mine strikes also at me. I have taken further steps to appre-hend him….”
Aubrey explained in detail how many of his own soldiers had been committed to the hunt and what their precise duties were. Ralph was only half listening. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that he had not noticed at first. The floor of the cage was strewn with rushes but they had been flicked about by the prowling occupants and bare patches had been exposed. One such patch intrigued Ralph.
The edge of a trapdoor was visible.
It was only when they left the city that they realized how fearsome a task they had set themselves. Plans had been easy to make within the encircling safety of York but they no longer had its high walls and its garrisons to protect them. Gervase Bret and Inga were two lonely travellers who were hostages to fortune. Impelled by hope and sustained by faith, they rode north.
“When were they sighted?” he asked.
“Yesterday.”
“In the Forest of Galtres?”
“That was the rumour.”
“How reliable is it?”
“I do not know.”
“So we may be heading in the wrong direction?”
“Olaf Evil Child will have scouts all around the city. We must pray that one of them sees us and takes us to him.”
They rode a couple of miles at a rising trot. Those who passed them on their way to York travelled in groups for safety and shot them surprised glances. Gervase was armed with sword and dagger, but one man would be no match for a band of robbers, and Inga carried no weapon. The further they went from the city, the more reckless their venture seemed. They tried to keep up their spirits with conversation.
“How did you learn to speak our language?” he said.
“Brunn the Priest taught me.”
“But you have a readier command of the tongue.”
“He showed me how to read and write,” she explained. “The rest I picked up from my lord Nigel and his men. They haunted our land while my father was alive. I have a good ear. Whenever they came, I picked up something new.”
“What made you take an interest in the first place?”
“My father.”
“Did not Thorbrand wish you to learn Danish instead?”
“No, Master Bret. He feared that you had come to stay. We had to fight the Normans with their own weapons.”
“I am not a Norman,” he reminded her.
“You serve a Norman king.”
“That makes no difference.”
“It does to me. You sit in judgement on my people.”
“I am not doing that now, Inga.”
“No,” she said. “And you do not have soldiers to give your voice authority now. You are a brave man.”
“I need to see Olaf Evil Child.”
“Why?”
“For the same reason as you. To ask after a friend.”
“Pray heaven that we find Olaf.”
Gervase looked ahead. “I think that we may have done just that, Inga. Keep riding and be of good heart.”
Trees and bushes fringed the track and he had caught a glimpse of movement off to the right. Inga saw nothing but she heard the whinny of a horse behind the foliage. Resisting the impulse to flee, they trotted calmly on with hearts beating and palms moist. Gervase felt a stab of guilt at having brought her with him but it was far too late to amend that mistake now.