The Chapel of Bones: (Knights Templar 18)

by Michael Jecks

  He offered up a prayer of his own for the spirit of Saul. Matthew was a conscientious canon, and it was his task to pray for the souls of all those living or dead.

  Service over, he walked through to the frater and sat with his bowl of pottage and hunk of bread. While the voice of the reader droned over all, he stared down at his food.

  The rock had gone so quickly, he had hardly registered its progress. He’d noticed Thomas’s distraction, of course, and had tried to see what the mason was staring at so intently, but he’d had to lean over to peer around Thomas, and couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. And then the rock fell, and it didn’t seem so important any more.

  That noise would forever reverberate in his ears, like the machines of hell preparing for the final battle between good and evil; and he was sure he’d heard a short scream, like that of a petrified quarry before the fox’s jaws clamped and life was extinguished. Only a few moments before, Matthew had seen Saul hard at work below, happily shaping a block and gauging whether it would slot into its neighbour. The next moment, he was dead.

  Matthew sighed. There was a slight twinge in his shoulder, but that was normal. Whenever the weather began to change, that old pain came back to pester him.

  ‘Matthew?’

  ‘Treasurer. Please, take a seat.’

  Stephen nodded and took his place beside Matthew on the bench. ‘Is it your shoulder?’

  Matthew nodded. He had gained this wound on the night that the Chaunter, Walter de Lecchelade, had been assassinated. Matthew was a member of his familia, living under Walter’s roof, and he had been struck down by the murderous devils who killed his master. Fortunately, he was unconscious from early on in the fight. Others hadn’t been so lucky. In fact, only he and one other survived the defence of their master: Matthew with a broken head that took months to mend, and Nicholas, a man marked with hideous wounds to remind him of the honourable attempt to protect Chaunter Walter.

  ‘It is always bad when the weather changes,’ he said simply.

  ‘If you wish, I can arrange for a period of retreat. Perhaps you should go and build up your strength – visit one of our possessions and rest for a while? Colebrook has a pleasing church and there is a large Seyney House there.’

  ‘It is kind of you, Treasurer, but I shall be fine. My work keeps me occupied, and that is sufficient for me.’

  He could feel the Treasurer’s eyes upon him, and heard the gentleness in Stephen’s voice as he said, ‘God bless you, Matthew. You must be cautious, though. You mustn’t ruin yourself in the cause.’

  Matthew smiled. ‘But the cause is just: to build God’s greatest House here in Exeter – that is enough for any man, surely? I would be pleased if I could only see the work ended in my lifetime.’

  Stephen nodded, but his face was marked with a little sadness. ‘Ah, I should like that too – but I fear we are too old to hope for it, Matthew. The building work was started more than forty years ago, and it’ll be another forty-odd before we are finished. You and I shall both be long in our graves by then.’

  ‘But at least we can go to our graves knowing what a legacy we have left,’ Matthew said.

  ‘That is true,’ Stephen said, but the clerk was surprised to see a furtive expression appear on his face.

  Matthew left him soon afterwards, going out into the cloisters, then returning to the building site. He walked to the smudge of blood on the ground near the wall and stared down at it, shaking his head slowly from side to side. They must find a new mason to replace Saul, he told himself with a frown. There was another twinge in his shoulder, and he instinctively glanced back at the Charnel Chapel, the spot where he had gained the wound.

  The sun passed behind a cloud, and as the Close plunged into greyness, Matthew’s attention was transfixed by the grim mausoleum and he felt a flood of revulsion at the sight. That place was terrible – a remembrance of an abomination. Thank God there had been no more serious rifts among the members of the Chapter since then. Pray to God there never would be.

  In the High Street, Nicholas found himself standing near one of the larger gates to the Cathedral Close. He eased his roll and bag from his shoulder and glanced about him hopefully. When he had lived here before, it was the main entrance into the Cathedral’s precinct, because it was so wide and gave straight on to the western doors. A man could wander along this street unsuspecting, and then suddenly find himself in the main Cathedral yard, with that broad expanse of turf leading to the magnificent edifice.

  Today, though, he wasn’t here to marvel, but to see whether he could win some alms. In the Cathedral there was a Clerk of Bread who supervised the production and distribution of the loaves for the canons, vicars, annuellars, choristers and workmen, but all his food would be long gone by now and the clerk probably dozing after his hectic morning. Up at midnight for Matins, then the other services, and as soon as they were done, he must rush to his ovens and begin breadmaking for the new day. As soon as the loaves were baked and had cooled a little, they’d be sent to all those who had a right to them; by lunchtime, most of them would already be consumed. He’d be dead on his feet by noon. If only Nicholas had arrived here earlier, he might have been able to plead a loaf, but not now.

  At least here, though, in the Fissand Gate he would be able to beg a little from the passers-by. Perhaps someone would give him a coin.

  There was a sour-looking old clerk at the gate chatting to a one-legged beggar with a twisted face. The beggar set his head to one side. ‘Friend friar, please join us here.’

  Nicholas hobbled to their side, slumping on the stool offered by the clerk. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Pleasure,’ the porter grunted unemotionally. He snorted, hawked and spat, then muttered about the weather being cold before disappearing into his little room.

  ‘Don’t mind him,’ said the old beggar.

  ‘A man who gives me a stool can be as grim-faced as he wishes. Anyway, his presence detracts from our prettiness, friend,’ Nicholas muttered with a chuckle.

  ‘Ha ha! You speak the truth there! He’s always a miserable-looking sod. Still, he’s spent time as a soldier in the King’s host before he came here, so he appreciates bold fighters like me. I daresay he’s readying a brazier to warm us both even now. Friend, I am called John Coppe. The porter there, he’s Janekyn Beyvyn.’

  ‘I am Friar Nicholas. How did you win your injuries? You say you were a fighter?’

  ‘Pirates. Used to be a sailor, and the bastards caught me and my ship. A big, brawny bugger with an axe took off my leg and then swung at my face.’ Coppe shrugged. ‘But I’m alive, and apart from the looks some women give me, life’s not so bad. What of you?’

  Nicholas’s gaze passed down towards the Cathedral Close. ‘Many years ago, I was attacked in there and left for dead.’

  The porter had returned, and he set a brazier before them. Returning to his shed, he brought out a pot filled with spiced wine, and set it on top. Passing them cups, he ladled wine into each. ‘You were hurt in here?’

  ‘Yes. I was with some companions when our master was attacked, and I won these wounds.’

  ‘You were with the Chaunter?’ the porter exclaimed.

  ‘Aye. My name is Nicholas. I think I was the only man to survive that attack.’

  John Coppe looked up at him, then over at the porter. ‘I’ve never heard of this before, Jan. How long ago was this?’

  ‘Before my time,’ Janekyn said with a sniff. He held out his hands to the brazier.

  ‘You are a local man, then?’ Nicholas asked.

  ‘Yes. So’s Coppe here.’

  ‘I understand, good Porter. I’ll go and find another place to sit,’ Nicholas said, and rose.

  ‘No, Friar Nicholas, wait,’ Coppe said. He looked from one to the other with dismay. ‘What’s the matter with you two?’

  Nicholas glanced at the porter. ‘You tell him, Master Janekyn.’

  He shouldered his pack again and set off away from the Fissand Gate and
off up the road towards the High Street. There at the top he stopped. He reached into his pack and brought out his wooden bowl, holding it out to passers-by. When he had some coins, he bought a little loaf from a baker’s in Cook Row, then slowly continued on his way towards the old Friary.

  Henry reached home in a muck sweat. He thrust the door wide, and then slammed it shut, resting against it while he stood panting, close to puking, his eyes squeezed tight shut.

  That can’t have been Nicholas! Sweet Jesus, but he had left Exeter so long ago … and yet could there be two men in the kingdom with that fearful wound slashing down the side of his face and destroying the eye? It was unlikely. Good Christ! To think that the man was here. It was terrible!

  He was shaky on his legs. Forcing himself upright, he stumbled along the passage and into his hall. He wasn’t proud that his first feeling was one of relief that his wife was not in the room already, and when his bottler appeared, making sure that this wasn’t some stranger from the street essaying a little investigation of a wealthy man’s house, he barked out for some wine, and forget watering it today. He had need of some sustenance.

  However, it was not the bottler who brought the wine, but his wife. She walked in with a set face, and when she spoke, she was decidedly shrewish.

  ‘So you want more, do you? From your breath and the look of you, I should have thought you’d had plenty, Husband! You look as though you might empty your stomach all over the reeds at any moment.’

  ‘Woman, be still for five seconds!’ Henry snapped. He was in no mood for a confrontation and yet, when he felt her gently pressing a cup into his hand again, he looked up and realised what he must do.

  ‘Mabilla, my love, there is something I have to tell you,’ he said, and as he started his tale, his voice broke at last, and for the first time in many years he wept; not for himself, but for all those men he had killed or helped to kill.

  If there was one man who was more responsible than most for Henry’s grief and pain, it was Peter, and yet the temporary Prior of St Nicholas knew no happiness himself. If he had been certain of Henry’s feelings of remorse and guilt, it would have helped him overcome his own sense of simmering rage at the injustice done to him.

  After the murder, Peter had returned to his room and sat on his bed. Even forty years later, he could remember that. He’d sat there for a long while, his body exhausted, two little scratches on an arm and his belly, but they really were just minor wounds. The Vicar of Heavitree had a worse wound – a knife-cut in his shoulder that could have been quite dangerous. He was advised to get it seen to at the earliest opportunity, when the others crowded around to take a look in the flickering light of a torch.

  It was astonishing how easy the attack had been. They had massed there in the gloom before midnight, men arriving in ones and twos. Peter had been at the bottom of what was now called the Fissand Gate, while the rest stood at the other entrances. Men were waiting at the Bear Gate, and more at the Erceneske Gate and St Petrock’s, just in case the man managed to escape the initial assault. To prevent their weakening, the Dean had seen to it that there were men among them to stiffen the feeblest resolve – the Vicar of Heavitree was at the Bear Gate, the Vicar of Ottery St Mary at the Erceneske, and William was with Peter at Fissand. They were all in their places soon after the bells tolled for the start of Matins, the blood thundering in their veins as they waited to execute this interloper, Chaunter Walter de Lecchelade.

  There were many different reasons for the men to be there. Some wanted the simplest reward: money. Others were looking to the future, when that fool Quivil was dead and John of Exeter, their Dean, naturally took the post. John was the obvious choice, after all. He was clever, witty, and a local man; he understood the people in his parishes, and he was bright enough not to try to enforce damn stupid rules that wouldn’t be accepted. Unlike Quivil, with his lunatic schemes.

  Peter shook his head. It was so long ago now, he couldn’t even remember the reasons that Quivil gave for wanting the Dean out of there. There must have been something – it can’t just have been the age-old complaint that he was holding several benefices in plurality. Not that it mattered. As far as Peter was concerned, although the Dean and Bishop were at loggerheads, it was clear to him that the Dean was in the right. While the Bishop refused to speak to John or even call him ‘Dean’, the Primate Archbishop Peccham scarcely spoke to the Bishop! Even when Quivil was elevated to the Bishopric, he refused to confer the rite of consecration, explaining that it was a mite inconvenient … that studied insult was never going to be forgotten or forgiven, but as far as Peter was concerned, the opinion of the Primate was all that mattered.

  He could remember thinking that as he stood there that night, William beside him with his teeth shining in the torchlight, fiddling excitedly with the blade of his sword. Rather than the cold and the damp and the fact that they were there to slaughter a man who had interposed himself between two powerful factions in the Cathedral, Peter’s mind was fixed upon the glorious future he would enjoy. As soon as John of Exeter realised that Peter had been there and put in his own blow, Peter would be able to count on the Dean’s support for any promotions. The Vicars were fine, they could get the money and power that they craved, but the Dean had the ability to reward his own friends more liberally in the Cathedral.

  And then there was the chink of light as the congregation threw open the great doors, and the Chaunter walked out, his black cloak and gown flapping about him like the wings of an enormous bat, his familia trailing along behind him; and then came the shout of warning that stopped them all in their tracks.

  The Chaunter never stood a chance. Even though that damned idiot Vincent ran down to him, shouting that he was walking into a trap, it was too late. The boy was struck down almost instantly by Nick, one of the Chaunter’s men, thinking he was one of the assassins.

  He might as well have been. As soon as the novice had fallen, the rest of them piled over the muddy grass, weapons ready, and bellowing their war cries. All apart from William. He simply smiled as he rushed onwards, eager to be in at the beginning. William always enjoyed the feel of a sword in his hands, and the idea of hacking at another man was appealing to him. All Peter could remember of William was a kind of high-pitched manic giggle as he stabbed at the men before him.

  The one who’d killed the novice, he went down fairly quickly. Then a second was killed by Henry. The latter was still riven with guilt over that, the fool. What he had to complain about, Peter didn’t know. He wasn’t even arrested.

  Yes, Peter could remember every part of that night: the tension while they waited, the raw thrill of hurtling over the mud, and later the strange emptiness as he stood with the others, staring down at the bodies. There were no apparent survivors at that stage. Peter himself certainly didn’t realise that two of the men were still alive. Not that it would have changed anything. William might have executed them on the spot for sheer devilry, perhaps, but that was all. The two left alive couldn’t identify any of the attackers, not that that mattered. All knew exactly who had been there, including the Bishop.

  Which was why two years later Peter was taken and held in the Bishop’s gaol: a terrible punishment. His livings were stripped away and he was left destitute, until he could join the monastery.

  If he now wielded the power of a Prior, it was no more than he deserved. He had carried out the wishes of his Dean and of his Primate. The only man who disagreed with the action taken was Quivil!

  Thomas wasn’t drunk. Not quite. After the morning’s events, he didn’t think he could be completely drunk, no matter that he wanted to forget all that which had passed. The sight of that poor, lovely woman lying in a faint was so sad that he could have thrown himself on the ground with guilt. Her sorrow and despair were all his doing.

  If only he hadn’t seen that figure, he thought – but he had. The ghost of the man he had once called friend, and whom he had then severely wounded.

  The sun was bright, and warm enoug
h to dry the ground. Only the mud in the roadways was still moist, kept so by the horses, oxen, cattle and dogs that trampled through the filth and straw. Tonight the rakers would come along again and cart off the worst of it, most to be taken to the fields and spread for fertiliser. The streets were not clean, and yet Thomas had seen worse. He dawdled along. The tavern where he had stopped after seeing Sara and leaving the wineskin at her hut was a short way up from the road leading to her section of the city. It was time for him to return to the Cathedral, except he didn’t want to. It would remind him of the man whom he had killed by accident today. As though in reminder of his guilt, his palms started to tingle and sparkle with fresh pain.

  And seeing Saul crushed beneath that rock made Thomas think of Vicar Matthew. It was enough to slow his steps. When he had first arrived back here, he had thought that his beard, long hair and age would make him all but unrecognisable. Surely most of those whom he’d known in the Cathedral would have died long ago. When he first realised that the Vicar in charge of throwing down the old walls was Matthew, he had been tempted to bolt – and yet Matthew showed no sign of having recognised him. Curbing his desire to fly had been difficult, but then Thomas started to feel a little more settled. If even Matt didn’t realise who he was, surely he was as safe here as anywhere in the realm.

  Still, he didn’t want to go back to the Cathedral and see Matthew just now. The Vicar would stare at him if not accusingly then somewhat pityingly, and Thomas wasn’t ready to suffer that. He carried on to Carfoix, the great crossroads where the main east-west and north-south streets all met. There were a great many people there: men and women, horses, dogs and cattle, all vying for space while tranters added to the din, shouting their wares. Thomas took one long look at them all, and headed south.

  He hadn’t been here since his return. Well, there wasn’t much point in coming here. He had no need to travel, and the Southern Gate was only useful for those who had to go down towards the coast. All the things that Thomas was likely to need were already available at the Cathedral. He didn’t need to even look this way usually.