The Templar's Penance

Chapter Twenty

Simon came to feeling groggy and lethargic, and stared at an unfamiliar ceiling. For some reason it was very dark, and he thought at first that he must have woken during the night, but then he saw the light in thin streams that reached across the floor. There were shutters here which were covering the window.

For a moment, he wondered where he was. He had woken expecting to see the rough thatch of his own home at Lydford, and he reached out an arm for his wife, but his hand encountered emptiness at the same time as he realised that the ceiling was not his own. The beams weren’t pale logs split into planks, but appeared to be blackened poles, all unsplit. That was odd, but when he turned his head to stare at where Meg should have lain, he saw that he was not lying on his own bed. This bed was too small for sharing, and that was no doubt why the woman was sitting on a chair. But this was terrible. As he lay and mused over this mystery, his overriding concern was that Meg might learn he had been here, sleeping in this woman’s bed. Who was she? She certainly looked very attractive, with her dark skin and black hair, but he could remember nothing about arriving here. It was very peculiar.

He moved to sit up, and as soon as he lifted his head from the mattress, he felt the nausea and weakness washing over him. With a groan he sank back and, hearing him, the woman awoke and walked to him, putting a cool hand upon his forehead.

‘Am I in heaven, or are the angels visiting the earth?’ he asked hoarsely.

‘You look much better,’ she said. He could see marks of exhaustion under her eyes. ‘Your high temperature is gone.’

‘I have been in a fever?’

‘For two days. I think it was the sun. It has been very hot here for a little while, and your friend told me that you were not used to it. You need to drink more.’

Simon was sure that he remembered her, but his mind seemed unable to focus. Then: ‘You’re Munio’s wife!’ he blurted out at last.

‘Of course,’ she said mildly, taking a cool cloth to his brow and wiping it. ‘I am Margarita.’

She brought over a pot of wine that had been diluted by water and held his head up to it. He drank greedily, and could feel the chill drink washing down his throat and into his belly. It felt wonderful, but it served to remind him just how weakened he was. ‘Where is Baldwin?’

‘He is out, but he will be back before long,’ she said, and her smile was gentle, but exhausted.

‘You have been looking after me for long?’ She was very beautiful, he thought. In the absence of his wife, Meg, he was fortunate to be nursed by such a kindly woman.

‘All the time that your friend was not here, I was,’ she nodded. ‘You were very unwell.’

‘I was fortunate to have so capable a nurse,’ he said with an attempt at gallantry, but in reality he was thinking of his own wife, struck by a pang of homesickness. He missed her and he wanted to return to her, away from this strange country with the people who spoke their odd language.

She laughed. ‘I think you are well enough now,’ she said, and left him with an order to call if he wanted more to drink.

As she was leaving, she heard him murmur, ‘God bless her, and keep my lovely Meg safe for me. I love her.’

Inside, as Simon relaxed, the investigation came back to him slowly, and he recalled the conversation at the tavern. They had captured Domingo, he recalled. The man had run at him, and it was all Simon could do to defend himself, he was so weak. That much came back to him – but if he had been lying here in a fever for two days, surely Baldwin must have discovered the meaning behind the girl’s murder. Perhaps he had also learned why the old beggar had died.

Baldwin arrived back much later in the afternoon. Simon heard his voice calling loudly, and then there were running steps and the door was thrown open as he strode inside. ‘It is true, then? You are all right again?’

‘I’m fine,’ Simon grunted peevishly. Not only had Baldwin left the door wide open, with windows in the passage behind him, but although Simon wouldn’t admit it, he had been dozing, and Baldwin’s sudden eruption into his room had made him leap from sleep to wakefulness in a moment. It was not good for his humour.

‘Good. Then you will be all right for the journey.’

Simon felt his belly lurch. ‘Journey? What journey?’

‘We sail for Portugal in the morning,’ Baldwin said with a flash of white teeth. Then he gave a bellow of laughter that made Simon wince. ‘Christ’s Blood, but it’ll be good to see the place again!’

In the large bed at the inn there was little privacy. The owner of the establishment was enormously proud of his massive mattress and the great wooden structure that supported it, and usually Parceval would not have been fussy about sharing, but when what he wanted was to cradle and cuddle Doña Stefanía, he needed a bed with rather fewer witnesses than the six pilgrims who shared it with him.

The room that he had rented in preference was ruinously expensive, but as Parceval reflected, he could afford it now. He had won by his speculations and now he was floating on a tide of success. As he knew, death could meet a man at any time, and it was sensible to enjoy the good things while you could, before a knife or runaway horse put an end to your earthly worries.

In here, the warmth from their two bodies was all but unbearable, the general temperature was already so high. They had the shutters drawn, and reflected light was thrown up on the ceiling from the pool of water that stood outside, dancing and swirling in yellow-gold ripples. It was soporific to watch as he lay back, Doña Stefanía beside him.

She wasn’t asleep. Her gentle breathing was not as shallow as when she dozed – he had seen her when she was exhausted, truly exhausted. Yet the memory of sex with her was not enough to make him grin. There was nothing really for either of them to smile about, he knew. His own story was miserable enough, a story of horror and shame, one which only a saint could forgive, and yet he had been granted no relief. There was nothing for him but death.

The Prioress was little better. There was something that was holding her here, although she wouldn’t talk about it. He couldn’t make it out. If she’d wanted to, she could have thrown herself on the mercy of the Bishop. That must surely be better than sleeping with Parceval and the damage this could do to her immortal soul – not to mention the ruination of her career here on earth. Yet instead of asking for help, or even leaving town and heading back to her convent, which wasn’t that far away – only a few leagues – she stayed here, gazing at the beggars and thieves about the place, making it her business to talk to the whores and sluts as though she was thinking of taking up their cause before God. As though a stale who plied her trade in the Cathedral yard could hope to receive God’s sympathy!

Not many men could make it to Compostela when the whole of the van Coye family was determined to skin them alive. He had been lucky at times, certainly, but generally he’d been clever and one step ahead. That was why he was here, and not lying dismembered in a ditch somewhere on the way.

Doña Stefanía was suspicious, he could tell. She looked at him just a little bit warily, as though wondering whether he had in fact killed her maid and gone off with the money. Well, why shouldn’t she wonder? He would too in her position. She already knew he was a dangerous man, that he had killed before and was here because of that fact. There was no secret about it.

He felt rather than heard her movement as she stretched out a hand, and he sniffed and cleared his throat. Instantly the hand withdrew. They deserved each other, he thought bleakly; she was only there because she wanted his money, and he was there because he wanted her body and the fleeting forgetfulness it provided. She detested him, in all probability, and he didn’t trust her an inch.

‘Are you asleep?’ he asked gently.

‘Mmm.’

‘Odd, that man putting up such a fight – the one who attacked our band of pilgrims.’

She grunted, but he was sure that she was listening carefully.

‘He was the leader – I told you that, didn’t I? And yet he was no coward, apparently. He tried to take the Englishman with him. Failed, though. He got killed but the Englishman lives.’

Yes, he was lucky to have reached Compostela. Van Coye’s family had tried to have him murdered, no doubt about that. Bloody bastards! Van Coye had deserved his end. He was ever an argumentative arse, was Hellin van Coye. From the first day he arrived at Ypres to the day he died at Parceval’s hand, he had been a bastard. Big, strong, and proud of his power, Hellin used to bully all about him into submission. He’d push anyone, just to see them retreat. Mastery over others, that was the thing.

Well, one day he picked on a man who wouldn’t back down. Hellin saw him in a tavern, and when he saw the girl with him, he was smitten, by all accounts. The youth was not half Hellin’s age, but that didn’t worry van Coye. If a man was smaller, younger, weaker and less experienced, so much the better.

Parceval was very drunk when Hellin began his assault. Well, they all were. There must have been seven or so customers left in the inn by the time Hellin noticed the boy arrive. The lad walked with his girl to a dark corner in the tavern – a stupid error. He was away from the door, and must pass by Hellin again to escape the place. Not that Parceval knew this at the time. He was outside, spewing again. He’d already been forced to go out and puke once to make space for more ale, and now he was feeling the onset of the next bout. His skin felt too tight, his face was hot, his body clammy, but he felt marginally better and was rising to return when he heard the noise inside.

It was strange how some men lost all control when they were drunk. Hellin was one such. Whenever he had too much to drink, he wanted to fight, and tonight was no exception. Apparently he made a great game of laughing at the couple, jeering and making stupid comments about the man. He’d a fair group of his friends about him, and they kept on and on until the couple rose to leave, the maid hiding her face beneath a veil. Then Hellin stood and blocked their path. The tavern was only a small place, and there was nowhere else for escape. The youth pushed the girl behind him, and Hellin held out his hands innocently, the brutish features – Christ Jesus, how Parceval hated that face! – expressing apology, as though he suddenly realised that he had gone too far and wished to apologise, but when the boy trusted him, Hellin van Coye drew him to his breast, snatched the boy’s own knife and plunged it into the side of his neck, thrusting down with all the force at his command. The lad fell without a murmur, probably dead before he reached the ground, and then it was that Hellin took the girl.

He was nothing if not democratic though, Hellin van Coye. When he had enjoyed his game with her, he held her thrashing form for his friends. He wouldn’t have wanted them to miss out on the fun.

Many wouldn’t believe the story afterwards. Ypres had been such a lovely little town, but things had changed, perhaps forever, when the famine struck and swathes of the population were struck down. In one month in 1316, a tenth part of the city’s people had died from hunger. After those days, the murder of one young man and the rape and subsequent suicide of his woman was of little note. There were many more things for the folk to concern themselves over, such as would there be any food on the table that night?

Parceval had coped very well with things. Until that hideous night, he had been a cheerful fellow, always the first with the offer of an ale or wine when the taverns were open, always the first to open his wallet, the first to see the humour in a youngster’s shame or embarrassment. It all changed that night, though, because of Hellin.

For Parceval, that scene haunted his dreams. Drunk, confused, he returned to see the boy dead on the floor. The girl was discarded at his side, eyes screwed shut, her wimple and veil gone, her dress torn apart, her skirts clutched to her in the hope that she might cover herself.

He could do nothing. His horror rose, choking him, searing his soul, and as he reached towards her, Hellin and another grabbed him and pulled him from that hellish room.

The lot of them callously left her shrieking to herself in the middle of the floor, covered with vomit and her lover’s blood. The men walked down an alley, two trying to support Parceval, but they had only gone a short distance when Hellin bethought himself that it would be amusing to pick on someone else. He did that sometimes; he was as unpredictable as the thunder. This time it was Parceval’s turn.

Hellin turned on Parceval and accused him of not taking his chance with the girl. That, he said, was disloyal. Or was it because Parceval had no ballocks? Here was Hellin, providing them with a pleasant chicken to stuff, and the least Parceval could do was show willing and pile in. All this was said with that customary glowering mien with the twisted lip, that meant it was either a joke, or that Hellin was working himself up to a killing frenzy.

Parceval had said nothing at the time. He was recalling that face – that pure, white, terrified face. It was appalling. He felt his stomach react, and he emptied his ale over the roadside to the hilarity of the companions, but then he lurched away, and while his ‘friends’ spoke and laughed, he sought a trough and washed his face and hands.

That poor girl had screamed as though her soul was being torn from her with pincers of steel. She had screamed as though the entire legions of heaven were powerless to help her, as though there was nothing, nothing in this world that could ever rebuild the life that was shattered that night. When the men had all left her, she had taken up the knife that had ended her man’s life, and slit her own throat, rather than suffer any more. What could life have been to her after that night?

Parceval had washed himself and felt the drunkenness fall away as he thought of her. Then, while his companions sat or sprawled in the roadway, he walked up to Hellin and stabbed him in the back of the neck, shoving the knife in and up with all his might, clinging on to his blade as the great meaty hands reached up and over to haul him away, ignoring the punches and slaps from his ‘friends’.

‘Friends’! These were the men who had raped his daughter. He had no friends.

‘Why do you want to go there?’

‘It is only right that a man should seek a murderer, surely?’

Simon eyed him doubtfully. Baldwin was suspiciously enthusiastic for someone who was talking about scouring a country for a fugitive. ‘Come on. This is not only about some dead servant girl, is it? I can understand your wanting to speak to Ramón, but you were all afire to seek out Matthew’s murderer. Why are you now so keen to leave here and go to Portugal?’

Baldwin’s smile dropped a little. ‘Is it that obvious?’

‘It is,’ Simon yawned.

‘In the first place, as you say, I want to question Ramón; in the second, it seems that the man who killed Matthew was with a small band, and he’s in Portugal too. We have heard that he was seeking a path to Tomar when he left here.’

‘That makes more sense,’ Simon said. There was a terrible lethargy stealing over him again. ‘So you want to catch him too.’

‘It is not only that,’ Baldwin said and stared out through the open window. ‘It is hard to explain, Simon. When I was in the Order, I was a young man. For the first time in my life, I had a purpose. Before that, I was idling my way through life, enjoying it as I could, but always knowing that my older brother would inherit the manor. At last, when I went to Acre and witnessed a magnificent city brought down and destroyed by the Moors, I realised that I had a purpose. At that time, I thought there was no more honourable thing that a man could do, other than join an Order and defend pilgrims by fighting as many Moors as he could. And then the city fell and I was injured and saved by the Templars.

‘I suppose if I had been saved on a Hospitaller ship, I might have joined the Knights Hospitaller instead, in which case you and I would never have met, because I would still be in my Order. But I wasn’t. I was saved by the Templars, and because I owed them my life, I gave my life to the Order. My happiest memories of all are of the Order, of warm sea breezes, of the scent of orange blossom, of fresh lemons, of …’

Baldwin fell silent. In his memory there were so many different scenes. Rocky coasts, sun-baked hills, lush olive groves, vineyards, slim, dark-skinned women with black hair that gleamed in the bright light. It was more than a series of unrelated memories; it was his life.

‘You want to go and see it again?’

‘I was in Portugal for a while. It has happy memories for me, but it also has the great fort of Tomar.’

‘So what?’ Simon yawned. It felt as though his entire body had been pummelled by a gang of miners with their hammers, and he winced.

‘If this Ramón was heading for the Order of Christ, Tomar would be the first place he would go to. It is where I shall find him.’

‘And the killer of Matthew.’

Baldwin’s smile hardened. ‘His killer also seems to have headed in that direction. I think I shall find him there as well.’

‘How long would it take to get there?’

‘I am told that on horseback, a man travelling at his ease could do the journey in fifteen days without any strain, or perhaps as few as eleven if he was prepared to make his mount suffer.’

‘I’ve been here for two days. You’d have to travel swiftly to catch them.’

‘I have an easier method. We shall take a ship and sail there.’

Simon caught a yawn. ‘If you think so,’ he said unenthusiastically.

‘You’ll be fine, Simon. It’s only a short ride to the port, and then we take a ship down the coast. Travelling night and day, not worrying about a horse’s stamina, we can get there speedily.’

‘I’m sure,’ Simon said, but now the exhaustion was overtaking him again.

‘When we are there …’ Baldwin began, but before he could complete his sentence, Margarita appeared in the doorway behind him. Baldwin turned and gave her a shamefaced smile. ‘I see I am not allowed to overtire you. Rest, Simon, and I shall speak to you again later.’

Simon nodded, and although he tried to give the woman a cross look, because he would have liked to know what Baldwin had been about to say, he failed. His eyelids were too heavy, and he needed to close them, just for a few moments.

Before Margarita could silently close the door, he was already snoring.