A Friar's bloodfeud

Chapter Twelve

Baldwin woke to find the morning overcast and grim. He rose quietly, leaving his wife in the small bed, and pulled a linen shirt over his nakedness as protection against the cold.

The inn was a pleasing house, with one large communal room for travellers, and this smaller chamber up some stairs to keep it farther away from the damp floor. It had the disadvantage that smoke from the fire would rise into it, but there was the huge advantage, so far as Baldwin was concerned, that there was no space for Emma. She had slept downstairs with the others in the communal room.

Downstairs, Baldwin asked a maid for some fresh water to drink, because when he had lived as a warrior monk he had chosen a frugal life. The expression on her face told him that this was forlorn hope, though, and he sighed and reluctantly asked for a weak ale — and a word with her master.

The owner was soon with him: a smiling, friendly man with the large build of a Devon farmer and a round, cheerful face. ‘Just back from the pasture,’ he commented, wiping his hands on his towel. ‘It’s thirsty work, too. How can I serve you, master?’

Baldwin motioned towards his barrel. ‘Would you join me in a drink?’

‘I’d be glad to.’

‘Your name?’

‘Jankin, sir. From Exbourne. I took over this place when my wife’s father died, and have lived here ever since. It’s a good vill.’

‘I am known as Sir Baldwin, I am Keeper of the King’s Peace, and I have been called here because of the murders.’

Jankin’s face grew blank. ‘It was a terrible thing, sir. All of them dead like that. But what makes you say it was murder?’

‘It was what I was told — that the family was murdered.’

‘I don’t know where that came from, sir,’ Jankin said. ‘Here everyone said it was an accident.’

There was a stolid certainty about his tone, but Baldwin saw something else in his eyes: a blankness, as though there was more to the story.

‘When did it happen?’ Baldwin asked, toying with a coin.

‘There’s no need for that, sir. You’re paying here already. Put your money away. Let’s see. I think it was about five days ago now. He used to live only a short way up from here, just round the corner of the hill, maybe a quarter-mile off. Him and his wife and their boy. Lovely family, they were …’ Jankin’s expression altered subtly. ‘Well, the woman and the little boy were. The man, Hugh, he was a little more — reserved, you might say.’

Baldwin smiled. ‘You mean he was a taciturn old devil?’

‘You could put it like that,’ Jankin agreed happily. ‘God forbid that I should speak ill of a dead man,’ he added, hastily making a rudimentary sign of the cross. ‘Still, he was an old-fashioned moorman as far as I could see. A fair man, good with his hands, and if he gave his word he’d stick to it.’

‘Has the coroner been to hold his inquest?’

Jankin studied his ale. ‘A coroner did come up here.’

‘That’s not quite what I asked.’

‘He did come and hold an inquest.’

There was a reservation there as well, Baldwin noticed, but rather than make an enemy of the man he changed the subject. ‘Who found them?’

Jankin shook his head. ‘That’s the terrible thing, master. They were killed one day, but no one realised until the next morning. A passing labourer came and raised the alarm, but by then it was too late to help any of them. All were dead.’

‘So this fire happened in the middle of the night?’

‘I suppose so. A dreadful accident.’

‘Unless it was an attack from a fighting force. And it must have been quite a force to subdue Hugh,’ Baldwin mused. ‘If I knew him, he wouldn’t succumb to any man easily — most especially if the attacker threatened his woman.’

‘I think you’re right there,’ Jankin agreed. ‘You knew him, then?’

‘Yes,’ Baldwin said absently. ‘But nobody heard men passing by here? Did they come from the other direction?’

‘Master, it was agreed that it was an accident. A tallow taper, perhaps, which fell on their floor rushes. I doubt we’ll ever know precisely,’ Jankin said, and looked down again.

‘If there had been an attack, you would have heard men passing by?’ Baldwin pressed.

Jankin pulled a doubtful grimace. ‘We had a lot of men in here that day, for it was a little celebration. It was the feast of St Matthias the Apostle, and because we have a fellow in the vill who was named for the saint, we always have a party here. The folk here like to celebrate, and it ended late.’

‘So if there had been a party of men …?’

‘No one would have heard. Not if it was a squadron of the king’s knights with all their squires and archers.’

‘You say it ended late?’

‘Well after the sun was down — but at this time of year there’s so little daylight, almost everything is done in darkness, isn’t it?’

‘Especially murder,’ Baldwin muttered.

‘I am afraid so. There’s nothing a murderer likes so much as darkness to cover his deeds.’

‘Why should someone attack and kill Hugh, though? He was scarcely a powerful, dangerous man, was he?’

‘No,’ Jankin admitted. ‘Perhaps that was why it was thought to be an accident.’

‘Could you imagine men at arms attacking him?’

Jankin was perplexed, and again Baldwin saw he avoided his eye. ‘I have thought about that myself.’

‘Do you think someone could have desired his woman and she rejected his advances?’

‘If a man did that, he’d have carried her off like …’

‘Yes?’

Jankin gazed back at him. ‘I do not want trouble, master. You are a rich and strong man, with men to guard you, I dare say. Me? I’m a farmer who scrapes a living, and I have some money come in from running this place. My wife brews a few gallons of ale a week and I sell it for ready cash. We don’t make a huge profit, but we stagger on. I don’t want to be murdered for talking too much.’

‘Friend Jankin, you are helping me to understand what has been happening here, and I swear to you now that if any man comes to threaten you, he will have to answer to me directly. I will have men set here to guard you if need be. However, for now, anything you tell me I shall keep entirely to myself until I can assess how you can be protected.’

‘Master, that’s no security! How long could you have a force remain here to look after me and my wife? Five days? Six? A fortnight? What of the wealthy men who live here and would like to destroy me as they’d squash a fly that sat on their bread at mealtime? They’ll still be here in a year, in five years, and they can take their time with me.’

‘If they are so well known to you, they’ll be known to others too,’ Baldwin said reasonably. ‘Any man could tell me of them. Now you said that they’d have carried Constance off, as they did someone else. Who?’

‘There was a young woman at Meeth,’ Jankin said. He began slowly, his reluctance only gradually overcome by his natural hatred of injustice. ‘Lady Lucy, she was. A pretty little thing.’

‘You say she “was”. Is she dead, then?’

‘She may be. About two weeks ago, just before we had the local ball games, she went missing. She’d been out to Hatherleigh, I believe, to market, but at some point on her return she was taken. Her servant, a man called Peter, was murdered and left by the roadside. The coroner went and saw him ten days ago, but apart from imposing the usual fines on everyone, there was nothing to be done.’

‘Was there no sign of the woman at all?’

‘Nothing. She simply disappeared.’

‘Husband? Father? Who went to seek for her?’

‘She’s a widow, and the manor was her husband’s. Her father is dead, I think, but he lived north somewhere, a long ways off. On the marches, I think. There was no one here to protect her. Only her servants, and, as I say, the man with her was killed.’

‘And what is the opinion of the people here in the vill?’

Jankin looked up at him with a set jaw. He paused, looking deep into Baldwin’s eyes as though gauging whether he could trust this tall, dark-haired man. Then his eyes dropped away to his hands, and he toyed with a splinter of wood.

‘You really want to know what I think, sir?’ he said in a low voice. ‘I think it was the Despensers’ man. He took her.’

Adcock had seen this man in the distance, but never from close to before.

‘I’m Pagan,’ he said when Adcock asked, and spat into the road.

‘Where do you live?’

‘Is that a joke?’

Adcock was startled by the man’s ferocious response. ‘Friend, I know very little about this place still. I know few people and …’

‘Then you should know that I am the steward to Lady Isabel, who was lady of this manor until your master evicted her, stealing her estates, her home and her life. Now she has nothing.’

‘Her husband?’

‘Was killed in the last wars, God remember him, and because he was honourable and stayed true to his lord, your lord saw to it that his widow lost all.’

Adcock looked away. The older man’s eyes were unwavering, and in them there was only bile and hatred. It made Adcock feel worse than insignificant to be treated in this way. ‘Well, I am sorry to hear that. I had no hand in it, though. I’m just the steward here.’

‘Aye. And you know who you replace? Her son. It was her son who died, so don’t think that you’ll win her favour if you tell her you’re the man sent to fill his boots!’

‘Sweet Jesus!’ Adcock murmured to himself as he walked away. ‘Save me from old servants like him! I only wanted to be friendly.’

But wanting to make friends was difficult. The peasants did not trust him. All looked on him as a spy in Sir Geoffrey’s pay, and none would drink with him or talk for long, except about matters that affected the manor. As he continued on his way, when he glanced over his shoulder, he saw the man Pagan in the distance, still staring at him with those narrow, malevolent eyes as though accusing him of stealing another man’s position. It was hardly fair to suspect Adcock of plotting to take his predecessor’s place when Ailward had died days before Adcock had been called here, in God’s name!

He was almost at the bog, swamped with feelings of melancholy, when he saw the rider in the distance.

Whoever it was, the man was riding fast, and Adcock peered with interest at the approaching figure, forgetting his own woes for a moment.

The fellow rode hard, like a man with a terrible mission, but when he saw Adcock standing by the roadside he made for him and reined in hard, making his rounsey skip and slither on the icy surface.

‘Friend, I am seeking Iddesleigh — can you tell me where I may find it?’

‘Of course — keep on this road, and you’ll soon be there. It can only be a mile or two distant. You are looking for a friend?’

‘I am looking for my servant’s killer! Someone has murdered him, so I’ve heard!’ Simon spat. ‘You know of the murder?’

‘You were the master of Ailward?’ Adcock said. ‘I am here in his place, and …’

‘Who? No, I’m here because of Hugh. Hugh Shepherd or Hugh Drewsteignton, he may have been called. Someone has told me that he was killed along with his woman and child.’

Adcock felt a sharp pain in his breast. ‘When was this?’ he gasped.

‘I don’t know! You say the vill is up there?’

‘Yes, just stay on the road and you’ll soon be there.’

‘My thanks. Godspeed!’

Adcock stood staring after him as the man shouted at his mount, spurring it to a gallop again, and with sparks flying from the shoes the beast leaped away like a bullet from a sling.

There was a dreadful sense of conviction in his breast. He remembered the coroner’s visit three days ago, and Sir Geoffrey’s insistence that Adcock should invite the man to lunch at the hall before going on. There had been mention then of deaths at Iddesleigh, but Adcock knew no one up there and had paid little attention as they spoke of a family murdered in the next village. It had meant nothing to him at the time.

But now he had seen the pain that those deaths had caused. A man, his woman and his child, all dead. And who could have committed such a crime?

Adcock knew too well which band of men in this area was most likely to carry out an attack of that kind.

Friar John, too, was fully aware that there were dangerous men in the area.

He sat and poked at his fire, feeling curiously disconsolate. He had come here hoping to find some sort of sanctuary for a little while, and instead here he was, hiding in a rude shelter, a more than half-ruined cottage, with a man who had been near to death for the last few days.

The fellow lay on a thin blanket, his eyes wide and staring. His face was fixed into a glower of such malevolence that several times when John caught a glimpse of it, he had been tempted to cross himself: the man looked so much like a demon. Even now, as the flickering flames caught his features, John had to shudder. There was something in his eyes that spoke of a mind driven to lunacy, and as the light caught them, the reflection almost looked as though the fire was in his soul. It made John think that the poor fellow was already living in a hell of his own, and the idea was fearfully compelling.

He knew little enough about him. When he picked him up from the ruins of the house, the man had been unable to speak. He’d merely sat, his head in his hands, rocking slowly back and forth and moaning to himself. John had pulled him away from the wreckage of the building, uttering kind, soft words to calm him, and then settling him on the ground with a few blankets he’d found hanging from a branch. The woman must have washed them and left them hanging to dry. And all the while the flames began to take hold in the house.

‘Wait there, I’ll fetch help.’

‘No! No! No one else!’

‘Man, you need a room to sleep in and some help. I can’t do much for you. I don’t have the knowledge.’

‘No one. I must keep away, somewhere safe … can’t go to vill. Must stay away …’ His voice trailed away while he stared about him with wide, anxious eyes. ‘They killed her, my Constance! Raped her and killed her! Where’s my boy? Where’s Hugh …’

John shook his head. Inside the doorway he had seen the child tossed into a corner. ‘Let me fetch the watch. There must be someone even in …’

‘No. No one.’

‘Man, that’s foolish. I have to fetch a priest, maybe, or a leech. You aren’t well. I’m sure you need a bleeding.’

That was when the injured man had reached up and grabbed his robe with a fist that shook as though the fellow had the ague. ‘No one! They’ll kill me too!’

‘Who will? Who did this?’

But the man had used his grip on John’s robe to pull himself up, and he had no energy, seemingly, to speak further. Instead all his will and energy was devoted to hobbling along on John’s arm towards the lane, where he stooped and picked up a billhook and an axe. He thrust both into his broad leather belt, then stumbled and all but collapsed. John helped him up.

There had been few times in his life when he had seen a man so badly in need of aid. From his crabbed gait it was clear that he was in pain from a number of wounds, although mercifully there appeared to be little blood. What there was seemed to be on his back, but the man wouldn’t allow John to look at it. ‘Later. Got to get away from here.’

His right leg was giving him trouble, but he still half hopped, half staggered along, clinging on to John with the desperation of a man, so John thought at the time, who was petrified with fear for his life. That was the only reason why John had helped him, really, and why he’d agreed not to call for the hue and cry or the local bailiff. He reasoned that if the man was so shocked and scared, it would be cruel to force him to go to speak to the law officers. Better, perhaps, to take him somewhere where he might recover himself. John himself could speak to the officers later, when this man was settled.

‘Can’t stay Iddesleigh.’

It wasn’t a statement that invited debate. John could understand why, of course. If the man thought that his attackers were from that vill, he’d be unlikely to trust to folks there to look after him. ‘What of Monkleigh?’

‘No! Can’t … can’t stay near here. I’ve got to get away.’

‘Man, you are not going to travel far with that leg,’ John said reasonably.

‘Hugh.’

‘What?’

‘My name: it’s Hugh.’ The man turned and looked at him, and although it wasn’t quite madness, there was a terrible purpose in his eyes now which shone through them even here in the darkness. ‘I’ll travel as far as I need, Friar.’

‘I don’t blame you. I’d want to run away too, but …’

Hugh turned and gave him a stare from feverish, maddened eyes. ‘I’m not running away. I need to get better so I can find them.’