Conquest 03 - Knights of the Hawk

by James Aitcheson

‘It’s me, Gode,’ I said, and managed a smile, though it wasn’t nearly as broad as the grin upon Nothmund’s face.

  ‘It’s been too long, lord,’ he said as he reached up to clasp first my hand, then those of Serlo and Pons. He glanced in the direction of Godric and Eithne, who rode behind us, but if he was curious at all about them, he said nothing. Indeed he couldn’t stop smiling. ‘We thought you would be coming, but we didn’t know when exactly it would be.’

  At once I tensed. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, we didn’t know for certain, but we reckoned you must be on your way here when they said—’

  ‘Who?’ I asked. ‘Who said?’

  ‘They did, lord,’ he replied. ‘The ones who came a few days ago, asking for you. When Galfrid told them that you had been gone these past three months, they said to keep a lookout for you, and that they would return soon.’

  It was as I’d feared. News had travelled before us. Robert’s messengers must have overtaken us on the road, or else taken a different route across the kingdom.

  ‘Did they say what they wanted?’ I asked, though I could readily guess.

  ‘If they did, lord, we never heard it,’ Gode put in. ‘Fierce men, they were, and unpleasant, too, lacking in all manners or Christian grace. Lord knows they put the fear into poor Galfrid.’

  I could think of only one reason those men might have come looking for me, and that was to drag me back to Heia.

  ‘They didn’t say when they would be back?’ I asked.

  Nothmund shook his head. ‘They asked Galfrid if they might stay here until you returned from campaign, but he refused and eventually they were forced to go away.’

  That suggested they weren’t any of Robert’s men, for if they had been then they wouldn’t have needed even to ask. Perhaps he had sent word to the local shire-reeve or else to Roger de Montgommeri, the newly appointed Earl of Scrobbesburh, and he in turn had sent his own oathmen to pay me a visit. That would explain how they had been able to arrive before us. A lone messenger could make the journey across the kingdom far more quickly than a tired and bedraggled band of five, especially if he could change steeds and obtain provisions at friendly castles and manors along the way.

  ‘Who were they, lord?’ Gode asked. ‘Were they friends of yours, do you suppose?’

  ‘No,’ I answered. ‘Not friends.’

  They might have been at one time, but now I wasn’t so sure. I gave my thanks to Nothmund and Gode and then we left them, continuing on our way past the thicket where the pigs foraged, until the village and the church and my hall upon the mound, overlooking the river-crossing, came into sight. The Welsh had completely done for this place, as they had for many estates this side of the great dyke, when they brought their great raiding-army into England around this time last year. In some places one could still make out the fire-blackened outlines where cottages and sheds had once stood. It had taken the full year to recover from that devastation, though the manor was still not as prosperous as once it had been. Even now as we approached I could see men bending withies into wattle for walls, thatching fresh roofs on recently erected cottages, sawing timbers for the new church that was being raised on the foundation stones of the old. But there were also folk working the fields, tilling the earth with oxen and plough, sowing seed, keeping watch over the flocks of sheep, carrying pails of water from the stream to the kitchens across the yard from the hall. For the first time in many months, life in Earnford seemed to be almost restored to what it had been before. Not quite, for I hadn’t forgotten how many families had lost their lives to the Welsh attack. Their loss was still keenly felt.

  One of the younger lads, Brunic by name, saw us approaching along the rutted track and scurried away to fetch the steward, Galfrid, who was busy overseeing the construction of a new fish-weir a little way upstream. As soon as the lad pointed us out to him, though, he left the men to their work and strode over to meet us. He had never been a cheery sort; he was certainly not happy now.

  ‘I see you’re back, then,’ he said. ‘Not a day too soon, if you ask me. I thought you’d abandoned us altogether.’

  ‘It’s good to see you, too, Galfrid,’ I said.

  ‘Now that you’re here, perhaps you can explain why I’ve had strangers knocking at our gates, demanding to see you, and threatening our folk with violence if you don’t show yourself.’

  It was hardly the greeting I’d been hoping for, given how long we’d been gone, although in the circumstances I wasn’t wholly surprised. Were I in Galfrid’s place, no doubt I’d be asking the same questions. He was responsible not just for managing my household, but also, in my absence, defending the manor against the marauders who from time to time came across the dyke from Wales. I’d first met him the previous year, after his lord had been killed and the manor where he had been steward put to the torch by Welsh raiders, which gave us more than one thing in common. He’d joined me on the campaign in the north that autumn, and afterwards I’d accepted his oath and installed him at Earnford, where I was in need of a man of his qualities, my old steward having absconded some months previously, taking with him a large portion of my silver and one of the finest stallions from my stables.

  He was perhaps a little too fond of the sound of his own voice, but that was the worst that could be said about Galfrid. A more than competent swordsman, he was also a lot sharper of mind than at first people often took him for, and loyal besides, which was the most important thing.

  ‘They threatened the village folk?’ I asked him. Nothmund and Gode hadn’t mentioned that.

  ‘They reckoned you were hiding away in the hall, although why they thought that, I have no idea. I told them you were away with the king’s army, but they didn’t believe me. They demanded I let them in so that they could search the place, swearing they would run me through and leave my corpse for the crows if I didn’t. When I continued to refuse, though, they changed their minds, saying instead that they would be back in a few days’ time, with more men. They told me that if you didn’t willingly give yourself up then, they would set fire to the hall and all the cottages.’

  ‘When was this?’

  ‘Three days ago, lord.’

  ‘How many of them were there?’

  ‘Half a dozen,’ he replied. ‘All of them armed and ready for a fight. I had some of the village lads for support, but even so, it was something close to a miracle that they went away as readily as they did.’

  Whoever these men were, they had clearly hoped that intimidation would be enough to get them what they wanted. Even if Earl Roger was the one who sent them, as I half suspected, he wouldn’t have wanted them to shed blood on lands that didn’t belong to him, especially if that blood happened to be French. That, rather than the miracle Galfrid suggested, was probably why they had baulked at the thought of carrying out their threats, and why they had, in the end, gone away. Nevertheless, I wanted to be sure.

  ‘Were any of Robert’s knights among them? Did they come bearing the black-and-gold banner?’

  ‘I think I’d have noticed if they had,’ he said. ‘Why would Robert’s men be wanting you, anyway? The last I heard, you were with him fighting the rebels in the Fens.’

  ‘I was,’ I said, and gave a weary sigh as I hesitated, trying to work out how I was to explain everything that had happened.

  He eyed Eithne and Godric. ‘Who are they? You’re not bringing in waifs and orphans, are you? The harvest was barely large enough to fill our storehouses. We’ll struggle to keep ourselves fed through the winter as it is without another two hungry young mouths eating our bread and guzzling our ale.’

  ‘Peace, Galfrid,’ I assured him. ‘I’ll give you all my news in time, just as soon as we’ve stabled our horses and had something to eat. We’ve been on the road for ten days and we’re famished.’

  ‘Tancred!’

  I turned to find Erchembald, the priest, hustling towards us, raising the hem of his robe so that it didn’t trail in the mud. He was stoutl
y built but not fat, with hair that was greying at the temples and a youthful face that belied his years, of which he reckoned he had nearly forty behind him. I slid down from the saddle and embraced him.

  ‘God be praised that you’re here at last, and unharmed too,’ he said. ‘We feared some ill fate might have befallen you, or was about to. Did Galfrid tell you—?’

  ‘He did,’ I said.

  ‘What does it all mean?’ he asked, his brow furrowed. ‘What business did those knights have with you, and what’s happened to you? You look like someone dragged you backwards through a briar patch. Where have you been?’

  I felt the weight of their questioning gazes resting upon me, and realised that this could not wait. They deserved answers, and I was the only one who could give them.

  I took a deep breath, and then slowly, starting from the very beginning, I told them everything.

  Eighteen

  I BEGAN WITH the king’s siege of the Isle and our assault upon Elyg. At the same time we trudged up the slope towards the new hall, which had been built in the place of the one the Welsh had torched. Somehow it felt safer to talk about everything there than in the open, and besides my throat was parched and I felt as if I hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a month. We had spent the last few days on the road eating nothing but hard bread and stale cheese, and my stomach had been paining me since dawn at the thought of the hot food that would greet our arrival. While stable-hands came to see to our mounts and Galfrid sent to the kitchens for ale and sausage and some of that day’s bread, I related how we had come to meet first Godric and then, after our victory over the rebels, Eithne as well, followed by the story of Guibert’s killing and our flight from Heia. Once in a while Serlo or Pons or Godric would add something that had slipped my mind, but their interruptions aside, everyone was content to listen while I spoke.

  After I’d finished, silence lingered. Neither the priest nor the steward seemed to know quite what to say. They sat at the round table that stood in the middle of the chamber, while I paced up and down the length of the hall, from the door to the dais and back again. My legs were aching from our travels, but at the same time my mind was burning with a thousand thoughts, and I could not keep still. So much in Earnford seemed to have changed in the few months I’d been away, or perhaps it was I who had changed. I had become an outlaw, a stranger in my own hall. This place that for so long had been my home was now a place of danger.

  ‘What will happen now?’ Erchembald asked after some time. ‘What does this mean for you, and for us?’

  ‘Robert wants to bring me to justice. That’s why those men came the other day, and that’s why they’ll be back for me before too long.’

  ‘Because you killed a man?’ Galfrid asked, and gave a grunt that I took for a sign of his disbelief. ‘You slay a dozen, twenty, a hundred and the poets praise you, but you slay one more and for that Robert wants your head?’

  ‘This is hardly the same thing,’ Erchembald pointed out.

  He was right, too. ‘I killed a fellow Frenchman, and in my lord’s own hall. A man who was guilty of nothing, whose only crime was that he was drunk and not in possession of his wits.’

  ‘You said that he attacked you,’ Galfrid said. ‘Doesn’t that count for anything?’

  So I had thought, too. Clearly I was wrong.

  ‘I have enemies,’ I said bitterly. ‘Enemies who, for different reasons, wish to see me brought low, who would poison the bond between myself and Lord Robert, who would take joy in my suffering.’

  ‘What reasons?’ Father Erchembald asked.

  ‘Jealousy,’ I answered. ‘Spite. Because of things I’ve done in the past.’

  ‘And Robert didn’t defend you?’

  ‘He tried.’ I saw that now, at least. ‘By allowing me to walk away from there, he did what little he could.’

  ‘Anything more, and he might have started a revolt,’ Serlo added.

  ‘I can see that,’ Galfrid said. ‘What I don’t understand is why he would let you go, only to change his mind days later?’

  I shrugged. ‘Maybe Elise and some of the other barons who were there that night prevailed upon him to do so. I don’t know.’

  I was guessing, admittedly, but what other explanation could there be? Obviously Wace and Eudo’s attempts to assuage his anger had been in vain.

  That was when another thought crept into my mind. Robert had only just inherited his father’s barony, and all the responsibilities that came with it. His new vassals were looking for him to assert himself and to set an example that would prove he was every bit as strong a lord as the elder Malet had been. If he lost their confidence now, he might rue it for years to come. If men became disaffected and wavered in their loyalty, then the elaborate web of oaths and alliances that his father had carefully woven over so many years could quickly collapse. The legacy that he had tried to leave to his son would be ruined before Robert had the opportunity to build upon it.

  And suddenly I understood. If he surrendered me to my fate, then he still had a good chance of winning back the respect he needed. So long as his reputation was maintained, he didn’t care what happened to me.

  I felt sick. After all that we had undergone together, after all the trials we had endured in recent years, after all the occasions on which I’d saved his life and pulled him from the fray, after all the leagues I’d travelled in his service, venturing the length and breadth of the kingdom, after all the times I’d accepted tasks on his behalf that he was too craven to undertake himself, how could he turn his back on me? Did none of that count for anything? Were it not for me, he would be dead several times over by now. How could he contemplate giving me up to my enemies?

  ‘Tancred?’ the priest asked, and I realised he’d been speaking without my being aware of what he was saying. ‘What do we do now?’

  ‘I can’t stay here,’ I said. ‘That much is certain. They’ll come for me again sooner rather than later, and when they do I need to be far away from here. If Robert’s men catch up with me, I’ll have no choice but to go with them and stand trial, and suffer the penalty, whatever that might be.’

  ‘You don’t know that,’ Erchembald said. ‘Perhaps all Robert desires is to be reconciled.’

  I cast him a wry glance. He was a good friend and meant well, I knew, but he was fooling himself if he truly believed that. If I went back to Heia, there could be only one outcome.

  ‘If they find me guilty, which they will,’ I said, ‘the very least I can expect is that I’ll be condemned to exile, in which case I’ll find myself in the same situation as I am now. But what if it’s decided that banishment isn’t sufficient penalty?’

  ‘Your life will not be forfeit,’ the priest said. ‘You can be sure of that much. The law does not allow it.’

  ‘If I surrender myself to the mercy of my enemies, there’s no telling what might happen. Even if they allow me to keep my head, they might still demand my sword-hand, and that’s if they’re feeling generous. So you see that I have no choice. I have to go.’

  ‘Where?’ the priest asked.

  That part I’d worked out. Indeed my mind had almost been made up even before I became embroiled in this storm, before what happened with Guibert, before that fateful night had even begun. Now that I had nowhere else to go, no lord to obey, no oath to discharge, no wars to fight, I was free to do as I wished, to go in pursuit of my own desires, my own ambitions. To venture across the sea.

  ‘It’s better if you don’t know,’ I said. ‘That way if Robert’s men come asking, you can profess ignorance. Pretend I was never here.’

  Erchembald was shaking his head. ‘There must be a way of settling this. A way that satisfies everyone concerned.’

  He had always, as long as I’d known him, provided a voice of reason, and many were the times I’d relied on his counsel in the past. But he was hoping beyond hope for a way to untie this knot that I found myself entangled in.

  ‘If you have some idea in mind, I’ll gladly hear
it,’ I said. ‘Otherwise it’s better if I don’t linger here any longer than I have to. Those men could return tomorrow, or even tonight for all any of us know.’

  ‘You have our protection here for as long as you need it,’ Galfrid said. ‘No one from beyond the manor need know that you’re here.’

  ‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘I’d rather face exile than be reduced to cowering in my own hall.’

  ‘Stay this night, at least,’ Erchembald urged.

  I was about to refuse, to tell him that all we needed were fresh horses and provisions for the journey and we would be on our way again before dusk, when I glanced at the road-weary faces of Serlo and Pons, Eithne and Godric. They had followed me this far, across marsh and moor, hills and hollows, and were prepared to follow me even into exile, beyond King Guillaume’s realm entirely, across the grey and stormy seas to parts unknown. They needed food and rest, as I did. I owed them that much, and if I could not grant it then I was a poor lord indeed.

  ‘One night,’ I agreed. ‘But tomorrow, we go.’

  ‘I’ll post Odgar, Ceawlin and a couple of the other lads on watch along each of the tracks leading to the manor,’ Galfrid said. ‘If they spot anyone coming, they’ll come running straightaway to give us warning.’

  I smiled in thanks, at the same time wishing that there was some way I could repay the loyalty and kindness they had shown me. For all too soon I would be forced to leave this place behind me, and I had no way of knowing when or even if I would return.

  Galfrid was as good as his word, and better. I didn’t think anyone would try to come by dark, when the paths through the woods could prove treacherous to those who didn’t know them well, but he sent those lads nevertheless, and bade a handful of the older ones sleep that night in the hall as added protection for us. He armed them with spears and knives so that if it came to a fight they could defend themselves, though thankfully it never came to that. This business was entirely of my own making, this quarrel with Robert mine and mine alone. While I was grateful to have others on my side, I didn’t want to see anyone else killed or hurt because of it.