The abbot gazed around at his sorely beaten troops, as if seeing them for the first time. "This is all we have left?"
"Every last one," replied Gysburne.
"Where are the rest?"
"Either dead or dying-and I'm not joining them. Not like this. Not today."
"The marshal is right, Abbot," conceded Captain Aloin at last. "Make the best bargain you can, and we'll go back to the king and raise a force large enough to vanquish these bandits for once and all. We were beaten today, but the war is not over. We live to fight again."
Bran, having permitted them to speak freely, signalled Alan to bring the discussion to an end. "Enough!" he called. "What is it to be? Lord Bran says you must give your answer now."
Abbot Hugo drew himself up to full height. He lifted his head, some of the old defiance returning. "I agree to nothing," he announced, "until you accept our conditions."
"What conditions?" Bran asked, when Alan informed him of the abbot's reply. "Perhaps you will accept the same conditions you offered those farm families this morning?"
The abbot's lip curled into a silent snarl.
"I thought not," continued Bran, speaking through Alan. "Here are the conditions I offer: you are to depart now, taking nothing with you but the clothes on your back."
This reply occasioned a long and impassioned plea from the abbot.
"What did he say?" Bran asked.
"The coward is afraid you mean to slaughter them all the moment their backs are turned. He wants safe conduct to the border of Elfael."
"Tell him he can have that, and gladly," agreed Bran. "Also, tell him that as long as he abides by the terms of surrender, no one will be killed."
When this was relayed to the abbot, the cleric made another impassioned speech.
"Now what does he want?" said Bran, losing his patience.
"He says he needs time to gather his things-his papers and such," said Alan.
"I wouldn't trust him further than I could spit," muttered Tuck. "Look at him-the old devil. He probably means to empty the treasury before he goes."
"I know I would," added Scarlet.
"Do not let them out of your sight," said Iwan. "There's no telling what he might get up to."
"They have to leave now," insisted Siarles. "With nothing but the clothes on their backs."
Bran lifted the reins and urged his mount a few steps closer. "Hear me, Abbot. That you live to draw breath when so many who served you are dead this day is insult to heaven above and God's creatures below. You will go now, taking only what you have hidden in your robes. Your men are to lay down their arms now. When that is done, you will all be escorted from Elfael-never to return on pain of death."
"What about the wounded?" said Gysburne. "They cannot travel."
Bran held a quick consultation with Tuck and Iwan, and Alan relayed the decision. "They will continue to be cared for by the monks of the abbey until they are well enough to leave." He pointed to the sheriff, who sat slumped in the saddle with his head down, miserable in defeat. "When the last is fit to travel, all will be sent along with the monks in the care of the sheriff. To ensure that this agreement is upheld, de Glanville will remain a hostage until that time. His life is forfeit if you fail to honour your part."
"You mean to kill them all anyway as soon as we're gone," said Gysburne.
As Alan relayed the marshal's words, Bran gazed at his adversary with an expression so hard it might have been carved of stone. "Tell him," he replied, "that if I meant to kill them, they would be dead already."
"How do we know you'll keep your word?" demanded Aloin when the translator finished.
"You will all die here and now if the surrender is not agreed," said Alan. "My lord Bran says that if his word is not acceptable, then you are free to take your wounded with you now."
The abbot did not like this last proviso, and made to dispute it, but Bran would not relent. In the end, Gysburne sealed the bargain by turning the sword in his hand and throwing it down in the dirt halfway between himself and Bran.
"God in heaven be praised!" said Tuck. "I do believe they're going to surrender. You've done it, Bran. You beautiful man, you've done it!"
"Steady on, Friar," replied Bran. "This is not finished yet by a long throw. We are dancing on a knife edge here; pray we don't yet slip." He cast his gaze around the square. "I greatly fear a fall now would prove fatal."
"All of you," said Iwan, pointing to the sword on the ground.
One by one, the soldiers added their weapons to the marshal's; Captain Aloin was the last to disarm.
"What now?" said Siarles.
"Gather round, everyone," said Bran, and explained how they were to shepherd the Ffreinc through the forest. "We'll see them to the Vale of Wye and release them at the border of the March. Then, they are on their own."
"It will be dark soon," Tuck pointed out.
"Then we had best get started," Bran replied. "All saints and angels bear witness, on my life they will not spend another night in my realm."
CHAPTER 30
Castle Neufmarche
Four long days on the road brought the weary abbot and his footsore company-six soldiers, three monks, and two dejected commanders-to the busy market town of Hereford, the principal seat of Baron Neufmarche. Very possibly, the baron may have been the closest thing to an ally that Abbot Hugo possessed just then. Exhausted, begrimed from his journey, and aching from sleeping in rude beds appropriated from settlements alongside the road, Hugo lifted his sweaty face to the solid stone walls of the castle on the hill above the town and felt what it must be like for weary pilgrims to behold the promised land.
Here, at last, he would be given a welcome worthy of his rank. Moreover, if he sharpened his appeal with hints of clerical patronage-offers of perpetual prayer and special indulgences excusing the baron from certain past sins-Hugo imagined he might enlist the baron's aid to help him recover his abbey and reclaim Elfael from the hands of that blasted King Raven and his troop of outlaws. "Captain Aloin," he called, climbing down from a swaybacked horse-the only one they had been able to commandeer from the first Norman town they had come to after leaving the March. "You and your men will rest and wait for us in the town. Go to the monastery and get some food and drink-my monks will take you there."
"Where are you going, Abbot?"
"Marshal Guy and I will go to the baron and see if he is of a mood to receive us. If all goes well, I will send for you as soon as suitable arrangements can be made."
The captain, who had risked life and limb in the abbot's service, and whose troops bore the brunt of the failure to roust King Raven from his roost, was not best pleased to be shut out of the proceedings now. But Aloin was too tired to argue, so agreed-if only that he might find a cool place to sit down that much sooner. He waved the marshal and abbot away, ordered his men to go with the monks and fetch food and drink from the abbey and bring some back for him; and then, sitting himself down in the shade of the stone archway leading into the town square, he pulled off his boots and closed his eyes. Before he drifted off to sleep, it occurred to him that this was likely the last he would see of the abbot. This caused him fleeting concern. Yet, close on this first thought was another: if he never saw that grasping, arrogant, conniving churchman again… well, all things considered, that was fine too.
Meanwhile, Bernard Neufmarche, Lord of Hereford and Gloucester, was sitting in his private courtyard gazing up at the sky for no other reason than that he thought a shadow had passed over him and he felt a sudden chill. He glanced up to see if an errant cloud had obscured the sun for a moment, but there were no clouds, and the sun shone as brightly as ever. The baron was not a man for omens or portents, but it did seem to him that lately-at least, ever since his lady wife had become smitten with all things Welsh-he often had odd feelings and sudden urges to do things he had never done before, such as sit quietly alone with his thoughts in his pleasant courtyard. Moreover, he often entertained the notion that strange forces were swirling around him, moving him towards destinations and destinies unknown.