‘God’s feet!’
‘No — your feet! Keep them on the floor and the oars in the water,’ Sir Charles said unsympathetically.
It had taken them an age to cover so short a distance. At least they were now here, safe and well. They landed the boat, and set off to find the priory. There was no need to ask anyone, Sir Charles knew, because even a small priory was an obvious building. Surely they would soon come across the place. They walked around the eastern edge of the island, and then carried on up the northern shores, but there was no sign of it.
‘Damn it, do you think Simon was having fun with us?’ Sir Charles demanded. ‘We shall climb to a higher point and see if we can seen it from there.’
They did so, and found themselves on a long ridge. The island had a spine of higher land which ran almost east-west, and from this the land dropped away shallowly to the south, towards Ennor.
‘There is no sign of a priory,’ Paul noted glumly.
‘No! I shall look forward to having words with that Bailiff when next we meet.’
‘There looks to be a number of people over there, though,’ Paul noted, pointing.
‘I wonder what they are doing?’
Paul shrugged. While Sir Charles stood staring at the group of men and women gathering near the beach, he sat on a nearby rock and picked up a stone or two, throwing them at another larger pebble a short distance away. Picking up another few stones, he threw them harder. One bounced back, almost hitting his face, but he ducked aside quickly, and bent to pick it up from where it fell behind him. It was as he took hold of it that he saw the ship.
‘Christ’s ballocks!’
Isok went into the house with Mariota comfortingly holding his hand.
He knew what he was supposed to do, and he set his jaw as he entered. Inside was Brosia, sitting at a table with an amused look on her face. Mariota unrolled a palliasse and beckoned to him, and when he went to her, she gently removed his belt, then untied the laces which held up his hosen and slipped them down his legs. She stood and pulled his tunic from him, so that he was left with only his shirt on.
There was nothing he could do but submit. Lying down, he closed his eyes, and tried to think of nothing. It didn’t help. If his wife couldn’t make his tarse work, he was sure these two women couldn’t. No matter how hard they tried.
Simon stood out of the way as the rest of the men piled aboard the ship. He was anxious, lest there should be the discovery of his plot the previous night, some form of accusation that he had been guilty of releasing Sir Charles, but no one seemed remotely interested in him. Hamo wandered onto the ship innocently enough, and soon concealed himself behind Simon, and then, while more men were gathering ready to join the ship, Simon reached behind him and patted Hamo’s shoulder.
So long as Sir Charles had reached the place, all was well. He should go straight to the priory and warn the Prior, and then all these men would achieve nothing. They would land, but find the island protected. Soon, after a negotiation, the men of Ennor would inevitably decide to leave, and when they did, Simon and Hamo would refuse, claiming sanctuary with the Prior and remaining on the island, safe.
As the deck began to move, the sail dropping and rippling in the wind with a dry clattering, he felt a nervous anticipation growing in him. With luck, he would soon be able to leave this fearsome group of men and return to normal life with the Abbot of Tavistock’s own brethren. That was his most fervent wish. Now all he had to hope was that the Prior was prepared to receive them all, including Hamo. The boy must find sanctuary there.
The sea was flat calm, and the ship set off to the west of the island, rounding the little hump of land that looked so much like a separate island connected to Ennor itself by accident. Then they were tacking slowly, almost against the wind, heading for the eastern edge of St Nicholas Isle and the harbour.
‘It’ll be all right,’ Simon muttered to Hamo, for he could feel the boy shaking from fear. ‘Don’t worry. Just wait until we’ve all jumped from the ship, then follow us a short way until you can hide. Then go to the Priory. It can’t be hard to find.’
Strange, he mused, how the lad could appear so strong and self-reliant on occasions, so childlike on others. It must just be because he was so young, surely not yet eleven summers old. No wonder he was petrified at being in among so many violent men. The last ship he’d been on hadn’t given cause for confidence, after all.
Hamo’s terror made Simon want to turn and hug the lad, just as he would have comforted his own son, but today he daren’t. The master or Ranulph could realise that Hamo was there, and Simon had no desire to see that. Instead he stood stolidly, hoping that the lad was shielded by his body.
Thomas had already briefed them. There was to be a meeting of the vill’s men up on the north-eastern shore. Thomas and his band of men would run into the harbour, and then hurry to the meeting, attacking as soon as they could.
‘So, Bailiff! Are you looking forward to the chance of destroying the men who almost killed you and drove you into the storm that brought you here?’
It was Ranulph. He stood nearby, a broad smile on his face, both hands set in his belt, rolling with the sea like a sailor.
‘Yes. If I find the pirates, I should enjoy attacking them.’
‘You speak so carefully, Bailiff. Yet I believe you are a fighter. You are like so many of my men here. You enjoy fighting. Even my last gather-reeve liked a scrap. That was why he was here. Thomas carefully sought him out, of course. A man with a reputation as a killer is less likely to be killed.’
‘His reputation was striking.’
‘He murdered a man in cold blood. Thomas told people of his crime to protect him — and he told how Robert enjoyed killing. That was the main thing, you see. He actually enjoyed inflicting pain on people. It was why he was so safe as a collector.’
‘It didn’t work very well then, did it? He was murdered.’
‘He lasted a while. His mistake, as it is for so many, was to trust a woman. The bitch probably sold him to her friends.’
‘Why? Would he have been carrying money on him?’
‘No! But scum like them think that killing one rent collector will stop any others going after them. They don’t understand men like you and me, Bailiff. They think that there is no law other than what they want to obey. They don’t agree to pay the King’s due, they don’t accept the laws of ownership, and they certainly don’t hesitate to commit murder. These folks are pirates, nothing more. And the women are as bad as the men! They will kill half-drowned sailors just to steal a ring. Don’t show them any mercy.’
‘I still don’t understand why they should have attacked the gather-reeve on that particular night. They could have killed him at any time.’
‘They didn’t dare attack in broad daylight. Whoever killed him was a coward — but I shall find the man.’
‘But you aren’t imposing a new tax on your peasants, are you, and you didn’t hear of Robert extorting extra money from islanders, did you? Can you think of any reason why he should be killed now?’
‘No. It was a spur of the moment thing, I expect. Someone saw him and decided to take revenge for the taxes he collected last year.’
‘I see,’ Simon said thoughtfully. ‘But your taxes have risen?’
‘Of course. The famine years hurt us, and recently we’ve had only a few wrecks to help support the islands.’
‘I recall Thomas saying that the peasants were growing restive.’
‘Yes. Thomas started spreading tales about the violence of our men-at-arms just to remind them how they might be treated, were they to become more fractious.’