The contest was cruelly uneven but nobody intervened. Aubrey ordered his men to hold off and they, in turn, stopped Ralph’s own soldiers from coming to his aid. Ralph’s escorts were forced to watch with revulsion as their lord struggled to stay alive. It was only a matter of time before his strength waned and the lions overpowered him.
Aubrey Maminot was in his element, urging the beasts to tear their quarry to pieces and looking for the chance to assist them in some way. As Ralph backed towards him, the castellan jumped forward and pushed him off balance. A shout of horror went up as Ralph lost his balance and rolled helplessly down the mound to the ditch at the bottom. The torch was knocked from his hand and he was left with only a sword to defend himself.
Remus was nonplussed for a moment but Romulus went in pursuit of his prey. Running down the hill, he sprang into the air with paws outstretched. Ragnar’s spear hit him hard in the side and knocked all the life out of him. Ralph dodged out of the way as the lion’s body thudded down beside him. Up on the wall, Ragnar Longfoot was cut down by half a dozen of Aubrey’s men but he went happily to his death. He had avenged Toki and proved his courage.
Remus went straight to his brother. Bleeding profusely and growling his last, Romulus was twitching about on the ground, the spear still buried deep inside him. Ralph backed gingerly away but he did not get far. Remus came at him again, lashing out with his paws and searching for a moment to pounce. The sword was an inadequate defence and Ralph could do no more than poke it in the lion’s face as he kept on the retreat. When he lost his footing again, he tumbled over.
Aubrey yelled in triumph, Remus moved in and the crowd shrieked with terror. It was then that another figure joined in the contest.
Bursting through the door of the cage, Gervase Bret came slithering down the mound with a lighted torch in each hand, waving the flames in circles and shouting at the top of his voice to attract attention.
Remus was distracted long enough for Ralph to get to his feet and to take one of the torches from Gervase as the latter came down to him.
The lion was perplexed. Fire, noise and the dying moans of Romulus confused him. Aubrey was enraged. He came skidding down the incline himself to take control.
“Kill them, Remus!” he ordered. “Kill, kill!”
With the fiercest roar yet, the lion sprang in the air and flattened Aubrey with his impetus. Claws cut through his tunic and the angry mouth closed over his face. The women at the windows turned away as the creature mauled his master. Ralph and Gervase did what they could to draw the lion away but their efforts were in vain.
Some of the garrison opened the gate in the fence and poured through to rescue their master, poking at Remus with sword and spear. The animal rounded on them angrily, howling with pain as the weapons dug into him. Scattering the soldiers, he loped out through the gate and across the courtyard, setting off hysteria in the stables and the chicken coops. It was Olaf Evil Child who had the solution. Riding into the courtyard with a fisherman’s net in his hand, he flung it over Remus with great accuracy and the animal was completely enmeshed.
Before the beast could fight his way out of his prison, soldiers hacked him to death.
Ralph was wounded but alive. Gervase was breathless but unhurt.
Lying on the grass, Aubrey Maminot was a bleeding remnant of high treason.
The lions of the North would kill no more.
EPILOGUE
Brunn the priest officiated at the ceremony. The exhumation of Toki’s body was carried out in the drizzle of an early morning. Two gravediggers worked sedulously with their spades while the priest and his impromptu congregation looked on. Supported by her mother, Inga was dry-eyed but deeply moved. Toki’s bones would be translated to the tiny churchyard near their home. Her beloved would lie at rest beside his friend Ragnar Longfoot.
The knot of onlookers included Aubrey Bret and Ralph Delchard.
Behind them stood Canon Hubert and Philip the Chaplain. They watched in silence as the rough wooden coffin was lifted out of the earth and carried across to a cart, then draped with a cloth. It would have a slow and respectful journey to its new resting place.
The horse plodded and the cart moved off. Chanting a prayer, Brunn fell in behind it with Inga and Sunnifa. When the tiny procession was out of earshot, Ralph turned to Gervase.
“However did they get permission to move him?”
“It was not easy,” said Gervase.
“Only the relics of a saint are translated like that. I never met this Toki, but it does not sound to me as if he had the makings of a saint.”
“He is a martyr in Inga’s eyes.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“We owe it all to Canon Hubert’s kind intercession,” explained Gervase. “He spoke in person to Archbishop Thomas and laid the case before him. When the chaplain buried him, Toki was a nameless victim of Romulus and Remus. Hubert argued that a second ceremony would really be a first proper burial and therefore permissible.”
“And the archbishop acceded to the request?”
“Not at first, Ralph.”
“Why not?”
“He believed that it would set a dangerous precedent.”
“Did he need more persuasion?”
“Much more. But he softened towards the notion when Hubert told him of our decision to leave the confiscated treasure of my lord Aubrey at the minster until the King decides what shall be done with it.”
Ralph chuckled. “Good old Hubert! Putting Aubrey’s illgotten wealth to a Christian purpose.”
“Do I hear my name being taken in vain?” said Hubert.
“On the contrary,” said Ralph. “We are praising you.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
“You should have been a diplomat.”
“I am.”
There was work awaiting them at the shire hall. The three of them took their leave of Philip the Chaplain and walked away from the shadow of the castle.
“What news of Brother Francis?” asked Gervase.
Canon Hubert smiled. “He is sorely troubled.”
“Expelled from the Order?”
“No, Master Bret. Kept within it to be punished.”
“He committed no real crime,” said Gervase. “All he did was eavesdrop on our conversations and report them back to my lord Aubrey.”
“That was crime enough,” decided Ralph.
“Yes,” said Hubert, “and he has confessed it in the most abject way.
Brother Francis did not realise to what foul use the information he supplied was being put. He was mortified.” His cheeks dimpled again.
“Father Abbot assured me that his mortification would continue for some time.”
“Is he to listen to your sermons, then?” joked Ralph.
“No, my lord. He is to be given responsibility for the latrines at the abbey. A lowly duty but one that will teach him to serve his brothers with all humility.”
“We shall miss his elegant hand.”
“It is being put to a more basic purpose,” said Hubert. “Besides, we have Brother Simon to fulfil our needs.”
“The four of us are together again,” noted Gervase.
“Yes,” said Ralph, surprising himself with his enthusiasm. “I am quite looking forward to it. Canon Hubert and I seem to have reached an understanding at last.”
Hubert allowed himself a rare excursion into humour.
“I will strive to educate you further, my lord.”
It was a paradox. In interrupting their work, the murder of Tanchelm of Ghent actually shortened their stay in York. The chest beneath the empty cage at the castle was found to contain charters and leases that had a direct bearing on the disputes under review. Armed with a fund of documentary material, the tribunal was able to pronounce judgement at a fairly brisk rate.