by Griff Hosker
"Feed him ground up charcoal and water. It will make him vomit. Mayhap we might yet save him."
As the priests left I took out my dagger and held it to the doctor's throat. "Who sent you? What were you doing here?"
His resignation had become calm. "You cannot make me talk and you will not kill me. You are too honourable. When the castle falls I will return to my master."
I lowered my dagger to his groin and I smiled what people had called the smile of the wolf, "Who says I will not kill you? I have killed in cold blood before now or I could order your execution. You have tried to murder the Constable." I was aware that Henry was watching, fearfully. He was as afraid of me now as was the doctor whose eyes showed that he believed I would hurt him.
The doctor said, "Then kill me and you will learn nothing."
My right hand suddenly flicked up as I slashed into his upper leg. Blood spurted and he screamed. "Take him to the dungeon and chain him. I will talk to him when I have finished my investigation There is more to this than just the murder of the Constable."
"But the Constable might live!"
I faced the Empress, "He might but I doubt it. This man was placed here before the enemy began the siege. His attempt on the Constable was opportunist. He had another purpose. I will discover it."
I wiped the blood from my dagger. I had nicked his leg but the wound would serve to make him fear me. "Come, Henry, Gilles. I need your young eyes."
"Would you kill him?"
"Of course, Henry. I would not enjoy it but if it was necessary then I would. There are other ways to get what you want. I will let him stew for a while. When you are King remember that there will be many who wish to hurt you. Be on your guard."
When we reached the tower Richard was sleeping. I woke him. "Sorry lord, I had not slept for half a day and I was tired...."
"I am not here to criticise you. Let us go out of the gate."
One of his men unbarred the gate and we stepped out. I saw the swampy ground was covered in blue flowers. The doctor was an opportunist. "Where did you put the caltrops?"
Richard waved his hand around. "All over there." He looked down. "They are gone! What has happened to them?"
"I fear the doctor has thrown them in the river. We will lay more. Come with me. I want the three of you to look for anything which looks unnatural."
"Like what?"
"If I knew that Gilles then I would tell you."
We walked down to the stream. The ground was swampy. Richard sank up to his knees at one point. "This is hopeless, lord. We know not what we look for."
"You should have looked over here. The ground is much firmer. These stones are like stepping stones and they are all white." I pointed to the ground on which I stood.
Gilles saw it as soon as I did. We raced over to Henry. There was a path had been laid from the water directly to the gate. It was not straight but curved around. "This is what the doctor was doing. He was laying a path. They will try to do as Stephen did at the river. They will cross here but at night and attack the gate. Your tower will be attacked. Richard have your men move the stones and put them where we can use them on the men who will attack you. Henry, go and get more caltrops from the smith. We have found this treachery just in time!"
It took some time to clear the stones and to lay the caltrops. We were filthy when we had finished. "Gilles I want you and four extra men here with Richard."
"Will the enemy come here?"
"The stepping stones suggest that they might. However they may have watched this spit of land and they will have seen us clear them. That might deter them. The doctor did not know about your caltrops until he went out seeking the flowers and laying the stones. I suspect he found them the hard way. It explains why he went out at night. The white stones would stand out more in the dark and he could see them easier after he had laid them. Get yourselves cleaned up. Henry, I will meet you by the smithy."
I went to the stables and washed off the worst of the mud from my boots. Returning to the house of healing I saw a huddle of bodies around the Constable. I went to them and they parted as I arrived. There was a pool of white flecked black vomit in a large bowl and the Constable was awake. The Empress said, "He has not spoken yet but his eyes are open and he breathes. Father Abelard gave him watered beer."
I took her arm, "Come with me, we must talk." I led her outside where I explained what I had found.
"So the doctor is a spy."
"You doubted it?"
"He is a doctor."
"Had you lived in the east then you would know that the two are not incompatible. I will let him rot for a couple of days before I question him. Although I think I know who sent him?"
"Who? Stephen?"
I shook my head, "Stephen is many things but a murderer is not one. The doctor is Flemish. I think he came at the behest of William of Ypres. The Queen is also Flemish. It makes sense. I have the ground near to the tower watched. If they do attack there then it will be at night. I am hoping that those outside await a signal from the doctor. However my fear is that he has accomplices. I would have one of your ladies tend the Constable and trust no one save your ladies."
"Is the crown worth this?"
"Your father thought so and your grandfather went to great lengths to secure it. I would say aye."
I found Henry at the blacksmith's. "We need arrow heads making. Young Henry here will bring you the broken heads and bolts. You can use those to melt down and re-use."
"They will not be as good as freshly forged ones."
"We have to use what we have."
Dick and his archers had sorted the arrows out. There was a pile of broken and damaged ones. Henry collected them and took them away. I told Dick what we had discovered. He pointed to the two counter castles. "I think this work is to distract us. Should I go to the Tower and wait there?"
"No. I have given Gilles and four more men at arms that responsibility. With two of them to command they can keep a good watch. If they do come then they must swim the moat. The ground is boggy and it will take them time to cross to the wall. They cannot be hidden. The castle is not so big that you cannot be summoned quickly. We watch."
Three days later and the attack had still to materialize. However I was urgently summoned to the house of healing. Margaret sat with the Constable's head cradled in her hands. She gave the slightest shake of her head as I knelt. The Constable opened red rimmed eyes. He gave me a wan smile, "It seems all your efforts to save me, lord, were in vain. Father Abelard has heard my confession and I am ready to meet my maker. Will it be purgatory or heaven do you think?"
"You have been a good man and the Empress has prayed for you. You will go to heaven. But have hope you might live. You speak and your eyes are open. Where there is life there is hope."
He shook his head. "There was blood in my water and I can feel life leaving me. Already my feet grow cold. I had to speak with you." His fingers grasped my hand. "I have lived in this castle for most of my life. Things look black but when there is white there is hope. Watch for the ice!" His fingers released their grip and his eyes glazed over. He was dead. I had never seen anyone die as suddenly. It was as though he had clung on to life to give me the message but I did not understand it.
Margaret folded his hands across his chest and made the sign of the cross. We rose. "What did he mean, lord, 'where there is white there is hope'? I did not understand it."
"Nor did I but I will think on it. Mention it to no one. He told us when there was just we two there."
"The Empress?"
"No one. I want no false hope. And now I need to have a word with a murderer."
She grasped my hand in hers and her eyes pleaded with me, "Lord do not blacken your hands with his murder. He is not worth it."
"I know he is not but he will be punished. Ask the Empress to join me in his cell." I smiled, "I will not murder him."
I went to the kitchens and found a stale loaf and a jug of small beer. The prisoner had been fed o
nly water and he was weak. I went to the dungeon. One of the two guards said, "He stirs little."
"Then perhaps he is ready to speak."
I entered and the doctor opened his eyes. "My wound is infected!"
"But it stopped bleeding."
He nodded, "You have skill with a knife. I had thought you intended to take my manhood but the dagger just opened my flesh. You are clever but I will not speak. You cannot make me!"
"I did not ask you to. Here is bread and beer."
He took them greedily. He broke a piece of bread off and soaked it in the beer. I watched him savour each mouthful. He clung to life. He was trapped with no chance of escape and yet he did not choose death.
He had finished half of it when the door behind me opened and the Empress, her two ladies and Henry appeared.
The doctor drank some beer, "So what is this? Are you here to gloat."
The Empress said coldly, "The Constable is dead. You are a murderer!"
He shrugged, "And that is supposed to make me talk? I will say nothing. Kill me if you must but I will not talk."
It was my turn to smile. "No, Doctor, I do not want you to talk. I want you to listen. You were sent here by William of Ypres." I just came out with the words and took him by surprise yet I saw in his eyes that it was true. Then he hid his thoughts again and his eyes became cold, hard stones. "Your task was not to murder the Constable. You saw an opportunity and took it. That is why you had to collect the flowers to make the poison. You did not bring it with you. Your task was to prepare a path for the men who will attack across the boggy ground close to the stream. Your use of white stones collected from inside the castle was clever. It began when first you arrived. Then you saw the caltrops my men had laid and you removed them."
His face tried to remain neutral but I saw that I had hit home. Hatred filled them.
"The only thing I do not now is the signal you will give that you have succeeded. There may be none. It matters not. We know the plan and we will be ready."
"You know nothing. There is no help coming and your food will run out soon. It will soon be November and the cold will kill as the hunger bites. When your vigilance drops then the castle will fall and you, Warlord of the North, will die! You are an enemy of the Church. There will be no ransom for you. There will be a trial and then you will be executed. The Champion of the Empress will die like a criminal!"
The three women and Henry were more shocked than I was. This was not Stephen's doing but Queen Matilda and William of Ypres. I saw now the complicated plot which had been hatched. The Church, the Queen and Prince Henry of Scotland had all been complicit. It actually made me feel better that I had the truth of it.
"Then your trial is here and now, Doctor. Do you confess that you murdered the Constable." He hesitated. "Would you die unshriven?"
He saw his predicament, "I confess I murdered the Constable."
"Then I sentence you to death. These six people are witness to the confession and the trial." I turned and the two guards along with the Empress and her women all nodded. Henry just stared. "Have a priest come to hear his confession and I will send word."
"Aye lord."
As we walked into the light the Empress said, "What did he mean, 'enemy of the church'?"
"Henry of Blois conspired with the Queen and Prince Henry to have me excommunicated for attacking Carlisle. It did not worry me and I am happy now that I know all."
Henry said, "But how do you know all? He told us nothing."
"I put the pieces together and his last words confirmed it. Now we send a message to William of Ypres. Perhaps it may forestall an attack on the Tower."
The Empress nodded, "We will see to the Constable's body. He should be buried with honour."
"Aye for he deserved that. He was loyal."
We buried the Constable at dusk. I slept in St. George's Tower but no attack came that night. The doctor was shriven in his cell and the next morning I had him brought to the barbican. With his hands tied behind him he had to be helped up the steps. He was still weak. Dick had a rope already suspended from the roof.
The doctor looked at the rope and nodded, "I had thought you would have hung, drawn and quartered me. This is a kindly death."
"The kindness is an accident." I pointed to the two platforms which were being built some way away. The enemy beavered like ants. "I wish your master to know that you are dead. I want him to know that his plot has failed."
I waited until Gilles arrived. He had a trumpet with him. As soon as he arrived I nodded and Dick put the noose around his neck. Rafe and Long Tom helped him to the battlements and secured him there. I would order his death. He would not take it himself.
"Gilles, sound the trumpet."
Gilles gave three sharp blasts on the instrument. They were strident and not in tune but they had the desired effect. Those working on the platforms stopped and looked. I allowed them to see the doctor and then I shouted loudly across the space, "So die all murderers!"
My men pushed him. The rope was just long enough to break his neck and yet not tear his head from his body. We all heard the snap. Then his body swung back and forth. I stepped on to the battlements. I took out my sword and shouted, "I will be looking for you, William of Ypres! This is not over!"
My words would not reach him but those close by would hear and repeat them. As I stepped back a flurry of bolts clattered into the battlements. They missed and the body swung as a symbol of my wrath.
Chapter 16
It was November by the time the counter castles were finished. It took a week for them to assemble and build the stone throwers. Watching and waiting proved wearier than fighting. Inside the castle the hunger and the tension were taking their toll of those not walking the walls. It seemed that the castle was inhabited with skeletons waiting to die. We awaited an attack on the sally port which did not come. We waited for stones to shower our walls and they did not fall. Waiting is an insidious disease. The new Constable, whom the Empress had appointed, was Roger de Villiers. He was an older knight and he held lands in Banbury. As Stephen now held Banbury he was happy to have the chance to fight back.
He came to see me one morning, "Lord we have had some minor fights in the warrior hall. One of the men was badly cut."
I nodded, "They want to fight and there is no enemy for them. We must begin to spread the men around and vary their duties. Have some sent to replace those in St. George's Tower and the barbican. I have my men in those two strongholds and they can contain such dissension. Use my name as a threat for the others."
He nodded, "Lord, the food is running out. I have spoken with the steward. Even with rationing we have but three or four weeks supplies left."
"I know. If you look for an easy answer, Roger, I cannot give one. I know no more than you. There is no relief column coming. The enemy outnumber us and when they begin to hurl their stones then the castle will be slowly destroyed."
"That is bleak."
"That is the truth and I will not hide it from any."
"We will not surrender?"
"It may come to that but things will have to be desperate for that to happen. If we surrender then Stephen has won for he will have the Empress and her son. We will have lost England and for you there will be no Banbury to return to. We fight and we do not surrender for there is no alternative."
Revelation filled his face, "And that is why we hang on. The future of England lies within these walls."
"And we do not give that up easily."
The first stones struck the walls that afternoon. They were stones sent to find the range. They hurled the first ones at the wall between the two square towers to the east of the gate tower. It was dark by the time they stopped and they had done little, apparent damage. I had the Constable dismantle some of the buildings inside the castle and have the timbers ready to shore up the walls. "Tomorrow they will use more stones and they will also attack from the second position. This is just the start."
That night I dined wit
h the Empress, her ladies and Henry. I say dined but the soup made from horses bones and offal did not sustain. "From tomorrow the assault will begin. If they had not made an obstruction in the moat then I would have sallied forth with my men and destroyed the war machines. That cannot be and we will have to endure the stones and the hunger."
"Will not my father and my uncle come?"
"Your father is still winning Normandy for you and your uncle.... I have no answer for that." I looked over to Maud and saw that she too was disturbed by the lack of support from the Earl of Gloucester.
"It may be that it is winter, my son."
Dick was a realist, "Winter has barely started. We have had rain and wind; that is all. There has been frost yet. If they wanted to relieve us then last month would have been the time to do so. No one is coming. When winter freezes men's bones then warriors will start to die."
I shook my head, "Dick is a little blunt but he is right. However our fighting ability has not been diminished and the walls stand. There is hope."
The next day the assault on the wall continued and the second group of stone throwers threw their stones at the barbican. They hit the walls and the roof but the barbican was strongly made. The greatest danger appeared to be from flying splinters when stones struck wood. Walter of Crewe had his cheek laid open by one such splinter.
"Have the men take cover. There is nothing to be gained from watching the stones as they fly. When the machines stop we assess and repair any damage. We both know, Dick, that it takes time to reduce walls unless you can mine beneath the walls. Here they cannot do that."
The first attack on the walls stopped just after noon. I suspected that the machines needed repair or they had run out of stones. The damage to the walls and the barbican was not great. One section of the wall to the east of us needed shoring with timbers. Had we had mortar we would have repaired them. I retired exhausted.
I was woken by Henry. "Lord, it is a messenger from Gilles. The Tower is under attack!"
"Fetch Dick."
I donned my helm and grabbed my sword. I followed the man at arms to the tower. "It was just a short time ago we thought we heard a splash. Master Gilles sent me as soon as he heard it. It may be nothing."
