King's Bishop

Eighteen

Rain tapped on the casement window above Thoresby’s writing-desk. For once he was glad not to be at his leaking palace at Bishopthorpe; last summer’s heavy rains and this winter’s snows had found all the weak spots in the roof and worried at them. Pray God the roof was fixed when he returned. With Archer busy chasing corpses and runaway captains he had little time for his duties as steward. Before Archer had left for Fountains he had given orders for workmen to fix the roof, but who was ensuring that the orders were carried out? Thoresby thought it wise to include a reminder in his letter to Owen.

He frowned over the papers spread out before him — letters he had dictated to Michaelo: one to Archdeacon Jehannes and one to Captain Archer, in Michaelo’s beautiful, steady hand. The quality of Michaelo’s work reflected well on Thoresby, in looks if not in content; he was not so pleased by the content, which was his fault, not Michaelo’s. These letters would be carried by a messenger accompanying the King’s retainers who would ride north today. To York. To arrest Ned Townley for the murder of Don Ambrose.

Thoresby found the arrest absurd. It was plain that there was no proof of Townley’s guilt; however, though Jehannes had expressed his uncertainty to the King, Abbot Richard of Rievaulx had argued persuasively for the man’s arrest. And the King, preferring an arrest over uncertainty, had been pleased. Townley was expendable; the morale of the King’s retainers was more important. Thoresby’s letters explained this to Jehannes and Archer, urged them not to despair, but to continue questioning the judgement; he promised them he would delay a decision about Townley’s fate as long as possible. Admittedly, he had little hope of saving Townley, but nothing was impossible. Thoresby sighed, pressed the ridge of his nose, considered how to phrase his addition to Archer’s letter so that he would not appear to be more concerned by the state of the roof at Bishopthorpe than by Ned Townley’s arrest.

But perhaps Archer would welcome the opportunity to think of something other than Townley. In writing to Thoresby, Archer had told of finding Ned Townley up on the moors, as well as the corpses of two of the men left behind to search for Townley and Don Ambrose. To Thoresby it looked worse and worse for Archer’s friend.

Except when one examined the supposed motive. Blaming Don Ambrose for keeping the news of Mary’s death from him, killing Henry and Gervase to silence them. Only a very frightened man would be so foolish as to murder someone who had been known to fear him. And who could believe that Townley had been so addle-brained by the time Archer had arrived that he had willingly led him to the bodies he had disposed of so poorly? And what of the other men in the search party? Where had they been when Townley was murdering their comrades? Thoresby did not believe Ned was guilty. But he agreed with Archer — it was difficult to explain Townley’s behaviour.

What of the other two left behind to search? Bardolph falling to his knees before Jehannes — what was that about? And where was Crofter?

Archer had sent a trustworthy messenger, Walter of Coventry, in haste to Windsor with instructions to learn what he might of Sir William of Wyndesore and the Duke of Clarence, under whom the two men still unaccounted for had served in Ireland. Thoresby had admitted to Archer in the letter that he knew little of Wyndesore, but intended to learn more. As for the Duke of Clarence, he was unlikely to have anything to do with such a subtle business.

Sunlight reflected off the letters beneath his hands. Thoresby had wasted so much time debating whether to add a note to Archer’s letter about the repairs at Bishopthorpe that the rain had stopped. This was nonsense. Why not simply tell Walter to remind Archer of the work? It would give Thoresby an opportunity to speak with Walter, find out whether he had heard anything of Bardolph in York, or knew either of the Austin friars. As a messenger, Walter would hear more than most people.

Thoresby chuckled as he gathered the letters. He began to enjoy this sleuthing; perhaps he ought to assist Archer more often. That would put another thorn in Archer’s already heavy crown.

The rain had turned the lower ward of the castle into a sea of mud. Thoresby had not foreseen that. He regretted his excursion, particularly after leaving Walter’s quarters none the wiser. But he was rewarded in other coin. As he hurried north-east across the yard from the guards’ lodgings, his boots sucking disgustingly, he heard someone clumsily hurrying after him. He turned. It was Gilbert, Mistress Perrers’s servant.

‘Your Grace.’ The young man was panting, his face a glistening red.

‘Benedicte, Gilbert. Surely you were not running to catch me? I do not walk so fast as that. Especially in such mud.’

Gilbert wiped his sweaty forehead with his right sleeve while nodding. ‘Master Walter said I had just missed you.’

‘Walter? Indeed, I was just there.’

Blinking to rid his eyes of sweat, Gilbert gave a little bow. ‘Aye, Your Grace. He said that I might catch you.’

‘You had business with Walter?’

Gilbert drew a sealed note from his purse, handed it to the Archbishop. ‘I was delivering a letter. As I am to you, if it please Your Grace.’

Thoresby glanced at the note. ‘Your mistress has been busy.’ He smiled at Gilbert, who was still red in the face, his hair damp along his temples. ‘Did you run from Walter’s lodging?’

‘Aye, Your Grace.’

‘Had your mistress ordered you to make haste?’

Head dropped, eyes looked aside. ‘No, Your Grace. I thought to save time.’

Thoresby would not ask for what. It was not Gilbert who interested him. ‘She is a good mistress?’ He tucked the note in his sleeve.

Gilbert watched the note disappear with a troubled expression. ‘If it please Your Grace, I am to await your reply.’

‘Ah.’ Thoresby withdrew the note and broke the seal. An invitation to meet at his convenience. In private. At Mistress Perrers’s house in the town. Intriguing. But no need to seem eager. ‘I might come just after vespers tomorrow evening. Would that suit your mistress, Gilbert?’

The young man had regained his composure and looked pleased with Thoresby’s reply. ‘I am certain that it would, Your Grace.’ He bowed, hurried away.

Thoresby watched Gilbert disappear in the direction of the town gate. So Alice wished to discuss something away from the prying eyes and ears of the court. That both cheered and chilled him.

Sunshine and a fresh breeze had lured Owen to the writing-table beneath the bedchamber window. He leaned against the table, at just the right height to catch the breeze on the back of his neck; Lucie kept the shutters closed during the night for fear of a draught on Gwenllian, and the air in the bedchamber never seemed fresh enough. Arms crossed, Owen waited for Lucie to finish fussing with the gown she had chosen to wear to the Archdeacon’s house. Now she spun round, waiting for an opinion.

Sweet Heaven, did she know how she looked? Owen stared at the white rounds of her swollen breasts that pushed up from the low, tight bodice.

Lucie tilted her head to one side. ‘Why such a frown?’

‘Do you mean to seduce Ned or talk to him?’

She glanced down the front of her dress and blushed. ‘I had wondered about it. The nursing has changed my figure. I mean to find cloth for an insert, but I have no time to do it this morning.’

Owen was uncertain what to say. As Lucie’s husband he would have preferred her either to delay the visit or to wear an old gown. As captain of the Archbishop’s retainers he could see it as a clever ploy: send a desirable woman to a rogue who has just lost his lady, have her coax the truth from him.

‘My alternatives are the gowns I wear in the garden and the shop,’ Lucie said. ‘Do you think one of them more suitable?’

That depended on whether he was acting as husband or captain. What was needed was a hint of her mood. ‘Your beauty might inspire Ned to tell the truth …’

Lucie’s chin came up, her blue eyes chilled. ‘You would use me so, husband?’

Ah. Now he knew the lie of the land. ‘I?’ He grinned, shook his head. ‘How little you know me to ask that question. Your husband would ask you to wear one of your old gowns, or delay.’

When Owen watched Lucie hurrying down Stonegate in her old gown, a pale shawl thrown over her shoulders, he knew himself for a fool. The gown was very like the one she had worn when he first saw her, and her hair was pulled up in a white kerchief as it had been that day, showing her long, delicate neck. He had won no victory. And the thought that Ned might reveal his heart to her was cold comfort.

When Matthew opened the Archdeacon’s door, Lucie was glad of her choice of gown. He was tongue-tied and blushing. How much worse would he have been had she worn the other dress? Matthew hurried off to fetch Ned. Ann, the Archdeacon’s serving girl, peeked in to ask whether Lucie wished for some refreshment. Lucie asked for water. She paced the parlour as she waited for Ned, listening for footsteps descending. When she heard them, she hurried to the foot of the stairs.

But only Matthew appeared, looking frightened.

‘Will Ned not see me?’ Lucie asked.

‘Mistress Wilton, I-’ Matthew swallowed, glanced back up the stairs. ‘The Captain’s gone, Mistress.’ He began to back up the stairs, his eyes wide, unblinking. ‘The window. He must have- Oh, Mistress Wilton, what have I done?’

Lucie closed her eyes for a moment, ordering herself to question the puppyish man gently, else he might bolt out of the same window from which she guessed Ned had escaped. But it was hard. So hard. Because with Ned gone … Damn him. How could he do this? How could he so betray the trust Jehannes had shown? And Owen. Sweet Mary in Heaven. Damn. Now Owen, home just a day, would go riding off after Ned and she would be alone again. Was she never to have her husband to herself?

Her stillness must have worried Matthew, for he hurried back down the stairs. ‘Mistress Wilton? Are you faint?’

Holy Mary, Mother of God, give me the patience to get through this day. Lucie opened her eyes. ‘No, Matthew, I am fine. Take me to the Captain’s chamber. Show me what you found.’

There was little to see. Jehannes had trusted Ned even so far as to give him a room with a window that faced away from the street, so he might drop out of it with little chance of being seen. Just beyond the overhanging second storey grew a sturdy fruit tree. At St Clement’s Nunnery Lucie had become adept at using trees to escape. Even now she quickly concluded that if one climbed out and stood on the window sill, clutching the edge of the roof above, then — with a prayer and a promise never to do it again — pushed off and reached out for the branch just below, one might use the tree for a reasonably quiet escape. Had Archdeacon Jehannes truly thought Ned would resist the temptation and stay put to be taken back to Windsor shackled?

‘He had no guard?’ Lucie asked Matthew.

He blushed, dropped his head. ‘I was to guard him.’

‘Then it happened when you came to answer the door? Hurry. We might — ’

Matthew was shaking his head. ‘Most like it happened as soon as I left him, which was hours ago. He told me he had not slept during the night but felt at last he might. He must have the window shuttered. But I needed light; I was oiling my boots. He asked me was it likely he would go anywhere in his sleep. So why didn’t I take the boots and go elsewhere, he would sleep until midday.’ Matthew’s eyes were sad, not angry. ‘He was cruel to use me so.’

‘Perhaps a little. But you were foolish as well, Matthew. Did you believe he would do nothing to save himself from the humiliation of being taken a prisoner to Windsor?’

‘Mistress Wilton?’ Ann was in the doorway, holding a cup of water.

Lucie had forgotten Ann. Now she glanced out the window, back to the serving girl. Even had Ned managed a smooth leap to the branch, someone down in the kitchen might well have heard him, and would surely have seen him once he reached the ground. ‘How long ago did the Captain escape, Ann?’

The young woman quickly dropped her head, peered up through her lashes. ‘Mistress?’

‘With what did Captain Townley buy your silence?’

The bit of cheek and neck visible to Lucie reddened. Ann was a tall, gangly young woman, awkward in this meek role. ‘What do you mean, mistress?’

Lucie walked over to Ann, took the cup of water out of her hands, lifted the sturdy chin until the nervous eyes met hers for an instance before flicking away. ‘Captain Townley has climbed down out of his window and disappeared, Ann. I doubt you have the kitchen door closed today. You must have seen him.’

‘I was busy, mistress. Getting your water.’

Ann was not a practised liar. She’d forgotten to feign surprise about the escape. ‘Do you think me such a fool as to believe you would be so busy pouring water you would not notice a handsome soldier dropping down out of a tree into your kitchen garden?’

Ann snorted in the effort to stifle a laugh. She shook her head. ‘No, mistress.’ She eyed Matthew, dropped her head.

A kiss, Lucie guessed. She saw no need to embarrass the young woman. ‘Never mind, Ann. Just tell me how long ago, and what you noted him wearing, carrying, anything.’

‘By the minster clock, an hour past, Mistress Wilton.’ Ann screwed up her face. ‘I shall lose my job.’

Lucie sighed impatiently. She had no time to comfort the silly woman. ‘If I tell him you have been helpful I doubt the Archdeacon will throw you out for one mistake. But you must help me.’

‘He wore the King’s colours. Took his pack. Oh, he was bleeding badly, Mistress. He should have come to you.’

‘Bleeding badly?’

Ann nodded. ‘A branch caught his leg, opened it up on the inside. He jumped anyway, went running, did not stop to see how bad he was. He’s very strong, Captain Townley is.’

Perhaps not strong enough to ride. Or run quickly. Lucie ordered Matthew to run to the Archbishop’s retainers to tell them to alert the bailiffs and the gatekeepers to hold Ned if he tried to come through and to look out for an injured man.

She did not stay to witness Jehannes’s reception of the news.

Bess Merchet, her starched cap and pressed ribbons riding high as she swept a new chambermaid down the hall to a lesson in dish-washing, stopped in the kitchen doorway at the sight of her pretty neighbour hurrying past the gate looking grief-stricken. Bess rushed out, arms outspread, and gathered a startled Lucie to her. ‘My dear, what is it? Not my godchild, I pray?’

Lucie tried to shake her head, but she was held too snugly against Bess’s fleshy shoulder. ‘Gwenllian is well. It’s Ned. He has run away from the Archdeacon.’

Bess tsked. ‘Well a day, ‘tis not such a bad thing then. Owen will ride forth and find him, quick as can be. You know your man.’

Lucie did indeed. ‘That is the trouble. Owen will be off again today, searching for Ned.’

With a quizzical sound Bess held Lucie away from her until she could see her face, then shook her head. ‘And that’s as must be, Lucie Wilton. How could you think else? How could you go on loving that rogue if he deserted his friend?’ Gripping Lucie’s arm, Bess led her to the tavern kitchen.

Lucie sank down on a bench inside the doorway. ‘Ned has no honour.’

Bess shrugged, pointed the maid towards the tub of soaking dishes on a shelf just outside the door. ‘Show me what you can do with that,’ she said, waited until the young woman pushed up her sleeves and set to it, then returned to Lucie. ‘Honour is oft a deadly virtue; sense is what keeps a man alive. Ned has the sense to know he’s a pawn and unimportant to the likes of the Archbishop and the King. They are anxious for someone to punish. It matters naught to them whether they accuse the right man.’

‘Ned knows Owen will come after him.’

‘Mayhap ’tis what he hopes. He and Owen might make short work of finding the true culprits.’ Bess crossed her arms and frowned at Lucie’s silence. ‘Am I right, Lucie Wilton?’

Lucie raised her eyes to Bess’s, shrugged. ‘Of course you are right, Bess, but I’m no happier for it.’

Bess sat down next to Lucie. ‘You told me you’d come to accept Owen’s work for the Archbishop. So why this pouting?’

Why indeed? Why this hot pain in the pit of her stomach? Was it still the dream of the burning village? ‘Before Owen left for the abbeys, I had a nightmare.’ She told Bess of the dream, the angry people shouting for Owen’s and Ned’s blood.

Bess crossed herself. ‘Such a dream is more curse than blessing.’

Lucie nodded. ‘Only afterwards will I know how the dream was to be interpreted. But it is there in the back of my mind. I cannot forget it.’

‘I understand. And yet Owen must go after Ned. You know that.’

Lucie sighed. ‘I know. But first Owen must find him. Ned’s injured, Bess. He may be hiding in the city, unable to move too far. Who might hide him here?’

Bess frowned. ‘Where to begin? He broke several hearts when he was here last. But the one he returned to when he arrived here last month was Matilda. Her father runs the stables near Micklegate.’

A nurse and then a horse. Perfect. ‘Can you send your groom for her?’

Bess nodded sharply. ‘By the time you’ve delivered the bad news to Owen, Simon will have her in your kitchen.’

With a grateful hug, Lucie hurried home.

Owen pounded the shop counter with his fist. His face was tight with anger, the scar on his left cheek standing out lividly. ‘And if you had not injured yourself, you would be out of the city by now, eh?’

Ned looked taken aback. ‘I would not! I told you! I have a plan. A way to lure the bastards out of hiding. I need your help.’

‘So you jump out of the Archdeacon’s window? Would it not have been easier on your leg to ask to speak to me? For God’s sake, Ned, Lucie went to talk to you this morning. She would have listened.’

‘The Archdeacon is a coward. He would not allow me the freedom I need.’

‘Ah. We’re to set you free to lure Bardolph and Crofter, is that it?’

‘Yes.’ Ned winced at Owen’s glare. ‘That’s an unforgiving eye you have there, my friend.’

‘Are we still friends?’ Owen asked quietly.

‘God help me. When you take that tone …’ Ned and Owen both looked up as Lucie entered the shop.

‘Sweet Jesu!’ she hurried over to Ned. ‘I am so relieved. I thought’ — she glanced at Owen, saw his expression — ‘Ah, so did you. Well, no matter.’ She turned back to Ned. ‘The serving girl told me you were injured. Let me see.’ Lucie took a small knife from the counter, knelt down, slit open the blood-soaked legging. ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God …’

‘He does not deserve your ministrations, Lucie,’ Owen said. ‘He means to convince us to set him free.’

Lucie glanced up at Ned. ‘You will go nowhere with this leg.’

‘Not soon, I know. I’ve been a fool. But I have a plan to catch the bas- the men who mean to see me hanged. The men who murdered my Mary.’

Owen groaned. ‘You’ll not win me over by tugging at my wife’s heart.’

Lucie closed her eyes, shouted, ‘Peace! We shall talk about it after we have seen to this wound. These wounds. You’ve opened an old one, too.’

‘Aye.’

‘A knife wound?’

‘Don Ambrose. We fought the night he disappeared.’

Lucie rose. ‘I must fetch some warm water and a cloth to clean the wounds.’ She began to step aside to avoid Owen in his pacing trajectory, but he grabbed her shoulder. ‘Husband …’

‘While you two politely discuss wounds, the Archdeacon’s household must be in turmoil. Eh, wife? Or did you say naught when you found his room empty?’

Oh dear.’ The blue eyes widened as they met Owen’s eye. ‘Oh sweet heaven, a turmoil indeed. I sent Matthew to alert your men. They will have the gatekeepers and bailiffs watching for Ned by now.’

Owen let her go and kicked a stool, sending it clattering against the counter. ‘You sent that mewling Matthew to give orders to my men? He’ll tell Ralph and his men. When they find Ned here they’ll hang him.’

‘For pity’s sake, Owen. Do you always abuse the messenger? It was not I who let Ned slip out the window. It was not I who agreed to have Matthew guard him! And I did just what you would do, did I not? Alerted the city and gatekeepers?’

‘I pray you,’ Ned cried, struggling to stand, ‘I will not be the cause of discord between you. I’ll leave.’

As quickly as Owen’s anger had flared up, it died. ‘Sit down, Ned.’ Ned sat. Owen righted the stool by the counter and sank down on it, elbows on knees, forehead in hands. ‘I have a mind to wash my hands of this matter, Lucie. Jehannes has made a mess of it, first sending Ned out without warning of Don Ambrose’s request, then trusting him to stay put in his house with only Matthew to guard him. ’Tis Jehannes’s affair now. Let him answer to the Archbishop and the King.’

Lucie frowned, shook her head slightly, brought a finger to her lips, then smiled at a customer coming through the doorway. ‘Have a care,’ she whispered, ‘Mistress Tarrington would love to spread word of our arguing in the shop. And of Ned’s presence. I shall take him into the kitchen before she has a good look.’ Lucie nodded to the woman and helped Ned hobble out. ‘See to her.’

Owen rose and beamed at the gossip. ‘How is Will’s leg today, Mistress Tarrington?’

‘Middling. Can you give him naught stronger for the pain?’ The man had been savaged by a wild boar. Master Saurian had recommended amputation at the knee, but Will Tarrington wanted first to try prayer and time. ‘’Tis the thrashing about that’s stopping his healing,’ his wife said. ‘If you gave him something stronger, he might rest and recover.’ She was a tiny woman with a rasping voice and the beady eyes of a ferret.

Lucie had already given poor Will a salve that was often used to numb a patient before surgery. Owen could do no better for him without endangering his life. ‘My wife has given him her strongest physick for pain, Mistress Tarrington.’

‘I wish to God Master Wilton were alive, he would have helped my Will.’

Owen bit his tongue and waited for Mistress Tarrington to continue.

But the woman surprised him. Tears welled in her beady eyes, her pointy nose reddened. ‘He’ll lose the leg, won’t he?’

Owen wished Lucie were here. He was not good at handling such things. ‘I pray that he does not.’

‘What shall we do without him working at St Clement’s mill?’

‘There’s many a man lost a leg in battle and found ways to move about. And what about yourself? Do you have something to calm you and help you sleep?’

The woman shook her head. ‘Not I, Captain Archer. I must be alert to his cries, mustn’t I?’

‘But a soothing tisane might help calm you and allow you to rest when he’s asleep.’ Owen turned, lifted a jar from the shelf behind him. ‘Balm, mint, and just a touch of valerian root. A pinch heated in a cup of water, strained, and sipped slowly. It will not induce a deep sleep, just soothe you. You must get some rest else you won’t be strong enough to help your husband.’

Mistress Tarrington dropped her head, patted her nose and eyes with her sleeve. ‘God bless you,’ she whispered.

When she had gone, Owen stood a moment, thinking about the frightened woman. Had he snapped at her, he would not have heard what she feared. He slipped back to the kitchen. Lucie looked up from Ned’s leg with anxious eyes. ‘Mistress Tarrington went away content,’ Owen said. He nodded towards Ned. ‘Has he described his intent?’

‘A little. You must listen to him, Owen.’

‘What do you take me for? Of course I shall listen.’

The kitchen door flew open. Ned began to duck, then recognised Bess Merchet.

‘The hussy claims she’s not seen-’ Bess stopped as she recognised Ned. ‘So you’ve set us a merry chase for naught?’

Owen and Ned exchanged puzzled looks.

‘I asked Bess who might help Ned escape,’ Lucie said. ‘She sent Simon to the stables near Micklegate.’

‘Ah.’ Ned nodded. ‘Matilda. I hope you did not mention me in her father’s hearing?’

‘I am sure I do not know.’ Bess stood, arms akimbo, watching Ned with the stern expression she used on her serving girls.

‘Poor Matilda. She’ll not thank me.’

Bess shook her head. ‘Such girls. I’ve had my fill of woolly-brained girls.’

‘Your new kitchen maid displeases?’ Lucie asked.

Bess snorted. ‘Displeases? A dog has more sense.’ She nodded towards Ned, her caps ribbons trembling. ‘And you’ve no sense, neither. What is Captain Archer to say to the Archdeacon?’

What indeed? ‘Some of Tom’s ale might help us sit down and discuss this civilly, Bess,’ Owen suggested. It promised to be a long afternoon.