The Templar's Penance

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was two days after leaving Óbidos that Baldwin at last rode up into the town of Tomar, feeling bone-weary and filthy after riding or walking throughout the hours of daylight.

Óbidos had been useful. It took him little time to find a horse, although he regretted buying this one in particular, and while it was being saddled, he had bought two loaves and a little dried meat, which had tided him over the journey. A friendly priest had given him a blessing for his journey and rough directions, and Baldwin had covered several miles before nightfall.

His horse was, however, a skittish, evil-minded nag, a pony which had been broken-winded, and whose nostrils had been slit with a knife for several inches to improve its breathing, an operation which had not improved its temper in the least.

So far as Baldwin was concerned, the thing deserved to be killed for dogmeat. Especially when they arrived. Out of kindness, before going to the fortress, Baldwin rode to the river, the Rio Nabao, to let the beast drink. There was a ford here, and he rode halfway over to let the animal cool down, but once there the froward beast began dancing, and he was forced to cling on for dear life.

In some ways he couldn’t blame it. Sitting in the saddle in the middle of the river, Baldwin looked up at the great square lines of the walls and the central block tower, wondering whether he would be recognised, whether he could be arrested. Perhaps the horse had merely picked up a little of his own nervousness. There was something particularly unsettling about this place, a great fortress in which once he would have been welcomed with open arms by all the warriors living within, but where now, with the destruction of his own Order and its replacement by the Order of Christ, he was unsure how he might be greeted. All he could be sure of was that if there were a priest in the place, the man would want Baldwin arrested.

There was a tavern at the riverside, and he bound his horse to a post, then sat outside with a jug of wine and some bread, dipping the bread in olive oil, and eating shavings of strong-flavoured, dried ham. The wine was delicious, just as he remembered it – pale, cool and thirst-quenching. When he had finished his meal, he felt invigorated and ready for the horse again.

Baldwin could see its eyes rolling wildly as he approached. He had to spend time calming the thing before he could release it, and even then he had to mount it in one smooth movement before it could make its protests felt.

Soon he was walking it up the roadway towards the fortress. The town’s streets were all narrow, but bright under the high sun. There were few clouds, and the breeze, although welcome, was still hot. Baldwin knew full well that his friend Simon would have found this atmosphere all but unbearable, judging by the way he had responded to the warmth of Compostela, but for Baldwin this was marvellous. He could feel the heat seeping into his body, and he felt as though, having absorbed this warmth for the last few days, he had stored up a resource of heat that could keep him through any number of cold, snowy, wind-swept Devonshire winters.

He looked up at the hill. From here, the castle was only visible as a massy square tower up on the right, with a wall that reached around the top of the hill, following a concave sweep. Baldwin’s mood darkened. It felt almost as though he was slowly approaching his own doom, and that on top of this hill, he would find himself accused and held as a renegade Templar, a man to be treated as a heretic, to be arrested, tortured, and burned to death. And all, perhaps, for a pointless mission.

With that thought, he stopped and dismounted, wondering why he had thought that coming here might solve anything. This castle was no longer a Templar site, it was a fortress for a new Order, and nothing to do with him. If there were people here who felt pious, it would be their duty to arrest Baldwin and hold him until the authorities could deal with him. He had travelled here remembering his old Order as though he could return to his youth, or recover some of the happiness he had known as a young man – as though mere proximity to a Templar site could ease his soul and undo some of the foul injustices of the last decade. Yet how could it? This place was nothing more than a series of blocks of stone. It had no soul, no life. All it was was a place in which men lived and worked. It was no better nor worse than the men who lived in it.

And looking up at it from the bottom of the hill, Baldwin suddenly wondered how pious and good the men of the new Order were. This castle was intimidating, a place built to protect those who lived inside, and to threaten those who lived without. Yet Baldwin had sworn to question the Portuguese. He had given his word to Munio when Munio gave him money to come here; he would not return without attempting to honour that vow. With a sigh, he led the horse up the pathway.

It was only a dirt track, and Baldwin could see through the trees as they thinned, taking in the view of the lush green lands on all sides. The ground was hilly, but not in the same way as Devon, where it was impossible to see much more than the next two hills from another. Here, it was possible to see for many miles, to far-off hills coloured blue with the distance, each plainly visible in the rolling countryside because none was of any great height. It also made the sky seem much broader, like the skies Baldwin had known as a youngster, when he had spent time in the islands of the Mediterranean. There too the sky had appeared larger, bluer, and more wonderful. In England, it was ever grey, he considered.

He could feel his heart begin to beat faster as he wound upwards, and suddenly found that on his right was a great mound of rock, on top of which was a wall, the first part of the castle’s outer defences. Each block was massive; daunting in its size. It made Baldwin wonder how men could have moved, shaped and installed such huge lumps of stone.

But pondering on such things was merely a ploy to delay his arrival. He turned his horse resolutely to the front. To reach the entrance, he must walk about the base of this wall of rock to a final flat wall, in which was a large arched gateway. With hesitant feet, he undertook this journey, and then stopped.

It was rather anticlimactic to see that the gate was wide open and that men stood laughing and lounging in the sun.

Afonso clattered along the roadway. There, downriver, was the great castle, and he burned with excitement at the thought of actually arriving there at last.

‘It is a good location for a fort,’ Sir Charles said. ‘Astonishing place. Good height. Difficult for anyone to scale that hillside. Plentiful water at the foot, which should mean that there is enough to fill a well, and the countryside here looks marvellously fertile. The peasants must be well-ruled. They don’t seem so lazy as English ones.’

There was a sniff from Paul. ‘Perhaps they are happier with their lot,’ he commented.

‘Paul is sometimes prone to such cheerful comments,’ Sir Charles said to Afonso. ‘He agrees with me, by and large.’

Afonso nodded, but he was only half-listening. For the most part, his mind was focused on the castle and his reception there. He had longed for the day when he would reach this place, having achieved his goal, and yet now there was that strange feeling of relief. Both relief and joy at success; balanced with the recognition that he had not in truth achieved all he could.

That old man, Matthew. His face kept returning to Afonso, that last expression of happiness – at his death. That curious acceptance.

No matter. Afonso had done his duty, and now that he was done, he had one last act to perform – and that must be done here at the Castle of Tomar. He wondered how Charles would react when he heard what Afonso intended.

As Afonso knew, this was the place where the Templars had managed their affairs in Portugal. It was the centre and hub of their Portuguese operations. The place where a man who had sought to harm them would go.

Baldwin waited at the gate while a cheerful-looking lay Brother was sent to ask what they should do with the stranger at the door. Before many minutes had passed, a tall man strode around the side of the gate, and stood eyeing Baldwin closely, but without rudeness. He had the manner of one who was delighted to see that he must welcome an equal, but he was also convinced and confident in his power.

It was not only the set of his shoulders and the way that his hand rested on the hilt of the large sword that hung at his hip; Baldwin thought that the power resided in the slightly hawkish set of his face and the dark and intelligent eyes, perhaps also in his white tunic with the red cross, so reminiscent of the Templars’ own uniform. It made Baldwin’s heart feel as though it had missed a beat for a moment.

When he started to speak, welcoming Baldwin, the man’s voice was deep and sonorous, and although his Latin was slightly archaic, it was nonetheless easily comprehensible, and that was a relief after the last days of trying to make himself understood to a succession of ill-educated, or not educated at all, priests between Óbidos and Tomar.

‘You look like a man who has travelled far, my friend.’

‘I have travelled from Santiago de Compostela in the last week and a day,’ Baldwin agreed. ‘I am called Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, from England.’

‘You have come a long way to see us here. But I should be reluctant to interrogate you without offering you a little wine. I am called Frey João, the claveiro. Please come with me.’

He walked at a swift pace, taking Baldwin around the mass of the huge tower on the right, a continuation of the mound of rock which Baldwin had followed to the gate. They were in a cleared area between two gates, a perfect defensive killing ground, Baldwin noted. Then, suddenly, they were in the open. Stables, kitchens and stores were set out, leaning against the castle’s walls, while men hurried about their duties. Wagons and carts rumbled and squeaked, and smoke rose from braziers, some heating bolts of metal for smiths, while others were more prosaically being used to cook fish.

‘Welcome, Sir Baldwin, to Tomar. The castle-convent of the new Order of the Knights of Christ.’

Simon was drenched in sweat. His face was suffused and his nose bled profusely, and although Margarita washed him carefully, when her husband entered the room quietly and stood at the foot of Simon’s bed, he could smell that odd odour. ‘How is he?’

‘No better,’ she sighed, standing and stretching. She had been at Simon’s side for much of the night. ‘It is no surprise. After falling into that sewer, I can only wonder that it has taken so many days for him to succumb.’

‘He seemed so hale and fit yesterday,’ Munio observed.

She nodded, but there was no need to say anything. Simon’s eyes were open, and bloodshot, and he had a rash over his belly, chest and back, but he was not awake. Instead he appeared to have a form of muttering delirium.

‘I hate to have him here like this without even a friend to sit with him,’ Margarita added.

‘With you by his side, he is fortunate enough, Wife,’ Munio said gruffly.

‘It is not the same as having his own wife here,’ she said tiredly, pushing the hair away from her face. ‘And he is so weak already after that first attack. He is not ready for this.’

‘All we can do is try to build him up,’ Munio said comfortingly. ‘There is nowhere better for him than here. Do you want more wine for him?’

‘Yes. I think he will need more. And I should get some sleep, too.’

‘Do, and I shall arrange for someone to take over here,’ Munio said.

His wife nodded and took his proffered hand, but as she rose to her feet, Simon gave a low moan, and his head began to move from side to side, his hands clutching at the bedclothes. With a patient look at her husband, she sighed and sat down at Simon’s side once more. She had nursed enough people, including two sons who had not survived to five years old, to know that the next few days would be the most crucial for Simon. If he was to live, he must get through the next week.

Baldwin followed João through a small doorway near the vast cylinder of the church. It gave out onto a cloister, in which white-clothed monks and novices were working at their desks. Walking silently around them, the claveiro turned left through a doorway, and into a small office, in which a pair of clerks sat bickering over their work.

‘If you cannot be silent, leave us,’ João said calmly, and the two men bent their heads to their work again. He gave a thin smile, clearly unamused by the clerks’ behaviour, and then waved Baldwin through to a larger room which was empty but for a table and some chairs.

‘Please, come and be seated,’ the claveiro said, motioning towards a chair, and sat himself nearby. He made no effort to go to the other side of the table, but then Baldwin could feel the strength of his character. This was not a man who needed little props to enhance his authority. He sat easily, his hands upon his thighs, the picture of comfort and relaxation. ‘Now! My gatekeeper told me that you were asking for me. You had an especial request?’

Baldwin, now he had arrived here at this place, was in two minds as to how to broach the subject. João was obviously a man with immense power and influence, and Baldwin felt like a mere rural peasant in his presence. He had not wielded the same power when he was a Templar, for then he was a mere knight whose most important commandment was that of ‘obedience’. Although today he was a Keeper of the King’s Peace, he still felt the almost superstitious awe which he had felt before for men of such importance, men who were senior in a great religious Order.

‘My lord, I am here on a difficult mission,’ he said at last when the silence was growing too oppressive. ‘I have come, as I said, straight from Compostela. While I was there, a young woman was murdered. I helped the Pesquisidor to investigate the case.’

Gradually, taking care to tell João only the relevant facts, Baldwin recounted all that had happened – the killing of Domingo, the suspicions, the reason why people wondered whether Ramón could have appropriated the money.

João nodded, but his face grew grim. ‘And you ask whether this man might have murdered his own fiancée, then stolen the money and fled? It is a great deal to absorb. It would also be ridiculous for him to do so, surely? If he was to run all the way here, what would be the point? He could not possibly keep all the money while he was here, in my castle. No, a man coming here to join the Order must first take the vows. Chastity, obedience and poverty! Why should a man come here, knowing that?’

‘That is a part of the proof,’ Baldwin said. ‘If he did come here, without money, then that perhaps is the best proof of his innocence. Unless his guilt took him over, and because of that he decided to live the rest of his life in penance. But when I set off from Compostela, I did not know if he would come here and take the vows.’

‘Is there more I should know about this man?’

‘I do not think so. Not this particular man,’ Baldwin said.

‘Then there is another?’

Baldwin could not meet his astute eyes. ‘Yes. There was another man – a fellow who killed a beggar, a mere feeble, washed-out beggar. Yet this man stabbed him to death. I do not know of any reason why he should have done so, other than a simple desire to kill. Others have told me that this man is a mercenary, with no allegiance to a lord.’

‘And you want his head?’ João asked, his eyes narrowing.

‘If it is possible I should like to ask him why he killed this man,’ Baldwin said.

‘Why? Was this man a companion or friend?’

‘He had been a companion once,’ Baldwin said a little stiffly. He was unused to responding to such personal questions. ‘But my interest is in what caused the killer to strike. The man he killed was of no earthly danger to him, and a man who can do that is a danger to all, like a rabid dog.’

João moved. A hand rose from his lap and went to his chin. It rested there a moment, his forefinger tapping thoughtfully against his lips. ‘So you say you are here to question a man who may be one of my freiles, that you wish to ask him about a woman’s death, but you are more emotional about another man who is nothing to do with him or me. You seem driven by powerful emotions, my friend.’

‘I … I seek justice, that is all.’

‘All? I thought that justice was in the hands of the Lord,’ João mocked gently.

‘Justice is also my work,’ Baldwin said simply.

‘Then you are a unique man. This fellow you seek – what makes you think he might have come this way?’

‘A chance comment overheard by another.’

‘And on that mere chance you came all the way here? Perhaps he died on the way. It is many hundreds of miles from Compostela.’

‘He was not alone. He had an English knight as companion, and a squire.’

‘So he may arrive here safely.’ João gazed out of the window pensively. ‘A Portuguese man with an English knight. It should not be too difficult to find such a pair.’

‘Your country is a large enough land,’ Baldwin said drily.

‘True,’ João said, and stood, all evidence of dreaminess gone. ‘Return here at noon tomorrow, Dom Baldwin. I shall consider your request and give you an answer then.’

‘I thank you,’ Baldwin said.

João clapped his hands, and one of the two clerics poked his head around the doorway. ‘Sir?’

‘Take Dom Baldwin to the gate.’

There was nothing more. Baldwin bowed to the still faintly smiling João, and trailed back out into the sunshine. He walked over the courtyard and through the double gates. Only when he was outside the castle did he feel he could take a breath of fresh air. Until then, tension had gripped his chest like a band of iron.

‘Tomorrow,’ he murmured as he mounted his horse. ‘And if I learn nothing then, why, I shall return to Compostela.’

He had spent the last days willing the time to pass until he could get here, and now he had arrived, he found that all he wanted was to be away again.

That night, Munio put his head around the chamber door to ask his wife if she needed anything. By now, Simon’s illness had changed in character. Munio could almost hear the sick man’s muscles grating and working against each other. It seemed as though the fever had turned the sick man’s body to stone, with every bone, every tendon and ligament made as stiff and brittle as flint. His jaws grated tooth against tooth, his fists were clenched, and over all, there was the springing of sweat at his brow and beneath his armpits. Munio had only rarely seen a man who looked so unwell and who yet survived without harm.

‘Margarita?’ he whispered again.

‘Leave us,’ she whispered back, reaching forward with a cloth to cleanse and cool Simon’s brow. ‘I shall let you know when he recovers.’

If, Munio thought as he softly shut the door and returned to his chamber. He lay back on his bed, put his arms behind his head, and prayed that Simon would get well. It would be terrible to think that their guest could die without the comfort even of an old friend.