The Outlaws of Ennor

Chapter Thirty-One

Tedia heard the men calling for David and Isok, and when she saw the two men marching towards the priory with David, she ran to Mariota and explained what had happened.

‘Best be going to the priory, maid. See what they’re saying about your man,’ Mariota said grimly. She stood, heaving up her massive bust and shaking her shoulders to settle her breasts. ‘Come on. I’ll support you.’

‘Thank you,’ Tedia said thankfully. ‘I don’t dare on my own.’

‘Since you rattled that knight, you mean?’ the older woman asked, and cackled at the sight of Tedia’s confusion. ‘Thought you’d kept it secret? I think we all know. He’s a good catch, if you can net him. Mind yourself, though. He looks like one who could bite back.’

Her words made Tedia smile to herself as they hurried after David. They reached the priory just as the reeve was disappearing into the hall. Although the larger abbeys and priories on the mainland would refuse to admit women beyond the visitor’s chambers at the gatehouse, on a small island such rules were not considered necessary. The new gatekeeper waved them through, and Tedia went to stand at the back of the hall to watch.

The Prior sat at his table, while on either side of him sat the two knights; her man Baldwin at Cryspyn’s right hand. Nearby was the Bailiff, who looked as though he had partaken too liberally of the Prior’s hospitality. Next to him was William, looking very pale-faced.

Baldwin stood as David came before them. He caught sight of Tedia, and she saw his expression lighten. A short while later, the Sergeant Thomas arrived, angrily snatching his elbow from the hand of the man who had fetched him, a brawny sailor from Ennor, who smiled lazily and crossed his arms at the door as though threatening Thomas to try to escape. He saw Tedia, and winked.

It warmed her, that wink. With the colour rising to her cheeks, she listened to Baldwin questioning the men.

‘We have doubts as to whether Luke was murdered by the pirates or someone else on this island. The good Prior has instructed me to investigate the Brother’s death, just as you, Thomas, instructed the Bailiff here to enquire about the homicide of Robert. That is why you two are here. Where is Isok?’

‘I don’t know,’ David said gruffly. ‘His boat’s gone. Perhaps he’s fishing.’

‘Perhaps he is.’ Baldwin scowled. If the man had run off, there was little they could do to capture him. He shrugged. ‘Thomas — we know that you saw Luke. What actually passed between you?’

‘I told you. He demanded a passage from the islands.’

‘And you refused him?’

‘Of course.’

‘But you said he offered you a bribe?’

‘He offered me some money, yes.’

‘How much?’

‘He held out a purse. I didn’t look. I didn’t need to; I merely refused.’

‘He threatened you, didn’t he?’

Thomas held his gaze angrily. ‘He knew about my ship, yes, and he said that if I didn’t take him, he’d see to it that Ranulph found out.’

‘Where was all this?’

‘On the headland at Penn Trathen. Where, before you point it out, the man’s body was found.’

‘Why should we point it out?’

‘Because that bastard saw me there,’ Thomas said, pointing at William.

‘Is this true?’ Baldwin demanded.

‘I was there and saw him, yes. I had been up at my flock,’ William admitted. ‘When the rain started, I thought I’d get off home, but then I saw the two men. They were exchanging angry words, and I went to see them; I exhorted them to cool their tempers. It worked. Then I left them.’

Thomas nodded, smiling thinly. ‘So you have another suspect,’ he sneered.

Baldwin was closely observing William. ‘Mere proximity doesn’t make a man a suspect.’

‘Why should I have killed Robert?’ William demanded hotly. ‘I had known him for years.’

‘And you always hated him for his arrogance and greed. That was the basis of your complaints to me, was it not?’ Thomas asked nastily. ‘Perhaps you decided that it was high time you paid him back for his treatment of your pet islanders, eh?’

Baldwin was looking at David. ‘What about you? You told us you were at your boat. Who saw you there? You already mentioned that you saw Luke that night. You told me that when you were at the beach with Tedia and me.’

‘I did see him. He was off towards the sea.’

‘Yet Thomas says he saw Luke before the storm, is that right?’ Baldwin asked.

Thomas nodded and William said, ‘It was some little while before the main storm struck, but the wind was building. I think that was why Luke was desperate to get back, before the waters could grow too violent.’

‘Yet you hated the gather-reeve too, didn’t you?’ Baldwin said to David.

‘Who didn’t? He was a murderous bastard.’

‘So the tales say,’ Baldwin agreed.

‘No!’ Simon said. He drank some more wine and narrowed his eyes, staring at Thomas. ‘Ranulph told me you started spreading stories again about him, how he’d killed a man happily. You started the rumours to make the people quiescent when the next demands for money came.’

‘Tell us the story,’ Baldwin commanded.

‘There is little enough to tell.’ Thomas shrugged. ‘He was a runaway from a vill because he’d killed a man, and I found him in a tavern in Dartmouth. That night, I saw him stab a man in the side and the neck, oh, must have been sixteen, seventeen times, and all because this fellow was feeling up some woman Robert found attractive. He was always getting into trouble with women. The point was, he was petrified. I could see it in his face: he was smiling, you know? A big grin of terror on his face. I told everyone he was a berserker to scare them and make him safer, but in truth he was no fighter.’

Baldwin could see a nodding head, and was not surprised to see that it was Sir Charles. Returning to Thomas, he said, ‘This story of his enjoying killing was well enough known on the islands?’

‘Yes. He was a wanted man for the murder of Jack of Carkill.’

Simon frowned. There was something about that name that was familiar … No. The thought was gone.

Baldwin was speaking to David again. ‘So who else could have been out there that night?’

‘Isok, I suppose. He walked to Mariota’s house once his wife rejected him again.’

‘What did he do then?’

‘He stayed there, I suppose.’

Baldwin looked at Tedia, then Mariota. ‘Did he remain in your house all the night?’

‘I expect so.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I went straight to Tedia, to comfort her.’

Baldwin gave a quick frown. ‘So it is possible that he too was out and about.’

Tedia shook her head. Her man wouldn’t have done something like this. What was Baldwin doing, trying to remove him? There was no need now, her marriage was over. Anyway, Isok had denied killing Robert.

‘So we have this: a man or woman found me, left me to die but stole my sword, and took it down to Ennor. There they left it by the body of Robert as though to put the blame for the murder on me.’

‘Unless it was you,’ David said smoothly with a cynical lift of his brow. ‘Perhaps you did kill him, and only came to this island to throw all of us off your path.’

‘Half-dead, I doubt any man would have considered trying to find a treacherous path in the darkness,’ Baldwin said shortly. ‘No stranger could manage it. It would have to be local man, one who had time.’

He couldn’t help himself. His gaze went back to William, to the man whose feet had unerringly led them both here only the day before.

It was late in the afternoon when all the people had left the hall. Many were singing drunkenly, so great was the relief at the dual saving, both from the pirates, and from the men of Ennor.

Baldwin stood at the priory’s gate and stared out. Far in the distance he could see the island of Ennor, a strangely calm scene now, apparently. With the fighting over, the place wore a suspiciously quiet aspect, like an enemy concealing its strength in woods. There should have been a lowering appearance to such a dangerous location.

‘Sir Baldwin?’

It was the voice he wanted to hear; the one he most feared. She stood as though nervous, a rug thrown over her shoulders, hiding the bright green tunic beneath. ‘Are you staying here in the priory tonight?’

He gave her a gentle smile. ‘I think I should. How would the Prior treat you in future if he were to guess that you and I committed adultery? You are married, and so am I.’

‘But he couldn’t be concerned on my account,’ she said, going to his side and leaning against him. ‘I am divorced.’

‘Has your husband returned from his fishing yet?’

‘You fear talking? Can we not even talk like lovers?’ she asked sadly.

‘We are not lovers, Tedia. We enjoyed a moment in time, but it was because of your sadness and vulnerability, and my weakness and vulnerability. Both of us needed companionship, and we were lucky enough to find some comfort in each other.’

‘I thought you loved me.’

‘I did. For a moment. But I am still married. I cannot change that.’

‘He won’t return.’

‘Who?’

‘My husband. He sailed away to die. He guessed the truth about you and me. He thought I’d been unfaithful with Robert, too. Well, that’s not his fault. I would have been, had I the chance.’

‘But he died.’

‘And in his stead I thought I’d won you.’

‘Who could have killed him?’

‘Many could have’ Tedia said. In her mind’s eye she saw Mariota walking in, laughing at the wind and sea, drenched after travelling through the storm. At the time she had thought that the water was a proof of how bad the storm was, but now she wondered.

‘What are you thinking?’

‘Nothing.’

‘I believe you told me a story once,’ Baldwin said, ‘of an old woman from Bechiek who found a man’s body and cut the fingers from his hand to take his rings.’

‘What of it?’

‘Perhaps Mariota is formed from the same mould.’

‘No! She is a good woman.’

‘Perhaps she is, after her own lights. I merely wonder about her treatment of a corpse. Would she despoil it? Me?’

Tedia could not answer. There was only one response. Mariota was a true island woman. The sea took her husband, but provided her with all she owned. Mariota spent hours each week studying the shorelines, seeking whatever the sea might have brought her. A man with a sword on his hip would be a perfect prize.

They said no more, but Baldwin walked through the gate and glanced back at her enquiringly. Wordlessly, she followed after him.

Mariota was indoors at her fireside, kneading a heavy-looking dough. At her side was an ancient quern, and Baldwin looked at it pointedly.

‘You want to say something?’

‘The quern.’

‘Yes, old knight. It’s illegal. So what? So is almost anything an old woman tries to do,’ she cackled. ‘I ought to take my flour to the priory’s mill, but they charge so much. The miller is nothing more than a thief. Nothing more than that, the devil take him.’

‘Perhaps the devil would prefer a woman’s soul. Especially that of a woman who robs the dead and sometimes leaves a man for dead, just to take his belongings. I wondered why, when we were here before, you said that you had mended my clothes because you “owed” it to me, or something like that.’

‘You did have a goodly purse and a sword like that one could be worth a few pounds,’ she said amiably. She finished her kneading and set the loaf at the fireside on a prepared, hot stone.

Watching her, Baldwin found it hard to hate her. He should, he knew. This woman had willingly left him to die, but she was not ashamed. That alone surprised him. ‘I had anticipated some form of words to indicate regret,’ he said stiffly.

‘Ah well, I am truly contrite, Sir Knight. In fact, I went straight to the church to apologise, as soon as I learned you were alive. It was a bit of a shock, that. I hadn’t realised beforehand.’

‘You took my sword and were carrying it over to Ennor, then?’

‘Yes. Hamadus often takes little trinkets from me, things I find on the beaches. He sells them to people at the castle, sometimes to the ship that comes from the mainland once a week. He earns enough from that to pay me a goodly sum.’

‘Tell me what you saw.’

She met his gaze sadly. ‘I suppose I have to. I crossed the water after finding you and the sword. The purse, I fear, I took too. The way isn’t that hard when you’ve grown up with it all your life.

‘It was not until I got to Penn Trathen that I realised I was in trouble. That damned fool Robert was there, and he laughed to see my startled face. I said, “What are you doing hiding here?” and he said, “Preparing to deflower that wench of Isok’s.” I’m sorry, Tedia,’ she added. ‘But he wasn’t worth your time, that one. He was just after the inside of your thighs …’

‘What then?’ Baldwin rumbled as Tedia bent her head. He was frowning intently as she spoke. ‘Did you stab him to stop him?’

‘Rot his soul, no! I’m no murderer. I gave him a sharp word, but he didn’t care. He just carried on pulling off his boots. Someone,’ she said, with a sidelong glance at Tedia, ‘had told him about the path between the islands. Anyway, while he was going on, I heard shouting. I went back into the grasses to hide, and soon I saw Thomas, that Sergeant, coming. He was bellowing, calling out for someone, like he’d been arguing with someone, and they’d fought, and he was chasing after the fellow in rage. His sword was out, and he stood at the water’s edge. Robert asked him what he was doing, and “Who in God’s name is that?” Thomas yells, spinning round. I thought he would kill Robert, but no, he just curses him some and storms off.

‘I was all for hurrying to Hamadus’s house, but before I could, Luke appeared. He was fearful, and well he might have been. Robert saw him. “Hello, Luke,” he says. “Don’t worry, Tom’s gone now.” “Which way did he go?” Luke says, and Robert says, all cheery, “Back to the castle. Whatever did you say to upset him?”

‘Luke was all fretful, I could see. He says, “That madman Thomas tried to kill me! I only wanted a favour, and he tried to kill me! He would have, if he’d caught me!”

‘“Why? What did you say to him?” asks Robert.

‘“I told him I knew all about his scams with the merchant ships,” says Luke.’

‘“Everyone knows about that, though,” Robert says.

‘“Yes, but I told him I’d tell Ranulph about it.”

‘Then there was a rustling, and Luke thought it must be Thomas come back. He took to his heels. There was a little boat down the beach, and he ran to it, hopped in, and was off like the coward he was.’

‘And then,’ Baldwin prompted, ‘the real murderer appeared.’

‘Then William appeared.’

‘I do not believe it,’ Baldwin said sadly. ‘He appeared such a sympathetic fellow.’

Mariota looked at him sternly. ‘It is better for all if you stop and listen without jumping to conclusions. William appeared, spoke a few words with Robert, all perfectly polite, and then left after staring after Luke for some while. Robert by now had his boots off, and had set them about his neck. He went down to the water’s side, and as he stood there, entering the water with some nervousness, I heard another man. He gave a gasp, and I heard him say, “No!” like he was in pain, and then he ran forward. Robert heard him, and turned. He walked back up the sand to talk, never knowing he was talking to his murderer.’

‘Enough suspense! Who was it?’

‘He is always so courteous, isn’t he, the Prior? He waved Robert on in front of him, and then stabbed him, once, very quickly, like it was distasteful to him to be so close to the corpse. Then he threw the man down and watched while he died. As soon as Robert was dead, Cryspyn lifted his skirts and set off after Luke. And that was that.’

‘Cryspyn!’

‘I waited a while, wondering what to do, and then William came back. He almost tripped over Robert’s body, and swore to himself, but when he looked out to sea, he could see who was there. There was no hiding Cryspyn’s figure. So, William looks down again and sort of sighs. Then he walked off home. Me, I daren’t be found with something like your sword, so I threw it a ways into the sands, and then sat down and waited. I couldn’t go straight to Tedia’s, in case Cryspyn saw me. I didn’t want that. No, I sat and bided my time, and when he was over on St Nicholas, I went off as sharp as I could. Back home.’

‘I thank you for your time,’ Baldwin said, coldly angry. When Mariota looked up at him, he turned on his heel. She repelled him: this was a reaction against her words. Cryspyn had not seemed an evil man — the tale of his crime before being sent here was damning, certainly, but Baldwin felt sure that he must have served out a penance, and subsequently he had reached the status of Prior. That meant that Abbot Robert of Tavistock and Bishop Walter both trusted him enough. Yet now Mariota’s words had damned the man.

It was with a heavy heart that Baldwin made for the door, and only after he had left the building did he hear Mariota calling out sharply. Turning, he saw Tedia’s face in the doorway.

‘I …’ she faltered, glancing over her shoulder.

‘Tedia!’ Mariota called again, and this time there was more harshness in her tone.

Baldwin recognised that tone: it was the same as that which a handler might use, calling to his dog when the beast was about to launch himself after forbidden prey. There was command, but also pleading in the voice, as though Mariota was certain that Tedia would be lost forever unless she returned. Baldwin gave her a grin, and there was a lessening of tension in her face, but there was no time for more. Baldwin had to get back to the priory. With a wrench, he left her there and made his way back to speak to the Prior.

And although he didn’t glance back, he knew that she was there, waiting in the doorway, neither a part of Mariota’s tribe nor Baldwin’s. Stuck in a strange middle ground, unsure where she would finish. Hopeful that Baldwin could represent a new beginning for her, except Baldwin knew that he couldn’t. Tedia must find a new man.

His wife Jeanne was waiting for him, and just now Baldwin felt he had never missed her so much as he did this moment, lurching his way back up the lane towards the Priory where he must confront Cryspyn.