The Bloodstained Throne (33 page)

‘Very well,’ said Donan. He tried to sound reluctant, but it was obvious he was relieved to have an excuse to back down.

Fingar turned to Geoffrey. ‘We accept your offer, and I swear, by all I hold holy, that I will take this Saxon gold and not trouble you or your friends again.’

His crew muttered similar oaths. Donan was made to repeat his, to ensure it was done properly. When they had finished, Geoffrey showed them the ropes running into the water, then stood aside as they drew them up. The first bundle appeared, and its coverings were eagerly pulled away. Geoffrey held his breath, aware that if he had guessed wrongly, the sailors would certainly turn on him, vows or no vows. But he need not have worried. Inside was an odd but substantial collection of cups, coins and jewellery. The pirates whooped and gasped, and Fingar was obliged to order them to silence.

‘I do not understand you,’ the captain said, watching Donan retrieve the second haul. ‘You could have had this for yourself.’

‘Roger will never part with what he took from you, and I do not want him killed.’

‘He is lucky to have a friend like you.’ Fingar sounded as though
he
would never have contemplated such an exchange.

‘Tell me,’ said Geoffrey, changing the subject, ‘did you and Donan come to the hospital when I was ill? I believe you did, but I would like to hear if from you.’

‘Yes – the moment Ulfrith left you unattended. But Donan did not. He was elsewhere.’

‘I imagined Donan?’ Geoffrey thought about the man’s thin face and how it had assumed the appearance of a rat and then a weasel.

Fingar shrugged. ‘You must have done. He was not there.’

‘Did any of your men find a heavy gold medallion?’ asked Geoffrey.

‘Kell did, in one of the chests, along with documents I recognized as Juhel’s. Apparently, Roger accused Juhel of poisoning you, and he left in a huff. One of your squires hid his belongings for spite – to annoy him.’

Geoffrey was confused. ‘Does Kell have this medallion?’

Fingar regarded him in wonder. ‘I am truly amazed you do not recall
that
part! Juhel came in and caught us. We outnumbered him, but he fought noisily and threatened to raise the alarm. We did not want that, and the medallion was left behind in the confusion of our escape. We had intended to ambush Roger, but Juhel made that impossible.’

‘Did you tell me you had eaten my dog?’

Fingar looked shocked. ‘Of course not! What sort of man do you think I am? I do not eat dog!’

Geoffrey saw Kell look decidedly furtive, and supposed that although Fingar had not taunted him, one of his men certainly had.

‘Juhel accused us of torturing you,’ Fingar went on. ‘But we did nothing of the kind. I am not so reckless as to harm a sick man in an abbey – especially one who has fays watching out for him.’

The bird whistled softly, and Geoffrey frowned, wishing it would go away. It unsettled the sailors, too, and they began to hurry. Soon, two more bundles had joined the first, both equally stuffed with treasure.

‘This is far more than Roger stole,’ said Fingar, regarding it professionally. ‘And he
did
take our whole box – do not believe him when he says otherwise. But this is a handsome night’s work. Would you like a share?’

Geoffrey shook his head. ‘Just take it as far away from here as you can.’

‘No problem there,’ said Fingar, indicating his men should gather their booty and leave. They hastened to obey. ‘Goodbye, Sir Geoffrey. We shall not meet again.’

He vaulted to the top of the wall like a monkey and raised his hand in salute. The marsh bird sang piercingly, making him jump in alarm, and then he was gone.

‘Thank you, Ulfrith,’ said Geoffrey, as the squire emerged from the shadows. ‘But you did not have to overdo it. Your eager bird almost gave us away.’

‘I was only trying to help,’ said Ulfrith. ‘So, what do we do now? Wait to see which of the lay-brothers comes to check this sunken treasure?’

‘We go to bed,’ replied Geoffrey. ‘And, at first light, we shall visit the King’s agent – who has been monitoring this business from the start.’

Ulfrith gaped at him. ‘The King has an agent watching? Who is it?’

‘Come with me tomorrow and you will find out.’

The hours of darkness passed slowly as Geoffrey considered the solutions he had uncovered. Some were so obvious he wondered he had not seen them before, whereas others were more complex and he was not surprised it had taken him so long to find answers. His thoughts were full of Godric, too, and his vainglorious lies. Eventually, the grey light of dawn began to fill the sky, and he slipped out of the hospital, Ulfrith at his side and his dog at his heels, both panting from the brisk pace he set.

‘Philippa really did murder Edith,’ he said, bracing himself for trouble. ‘There is no question.’

‘I know,’ said Ulfrith softly. ‘I followed her after you tackled her yesterday, and eavesdropped on her confession to Brother Wardard. He urged her to give herself up, but she told him she was free of sin now she had made her act of contrition. She is
evil
, Sir Geoffrey.’

‘No, just misguided,’ said Geoffrey. ‘But I am sorry you had to learn—’

‘I almost killed you in order to get her,’ interrupted the squire. ‘I did not mean to, but that does not make it right. I should have thrown my potion away when I saw what was happening, and I am sorry . . . To make amends, I vow never to fall in love again. It is too dangerous and painful.’

‘Do not make promises you will not keep. There will be other women – better than Philippa.’

‘But love hurts,’ moaned Ulfrith.

‘I know,’ said Geoffrey softly. ‘Believe me.’

‘I suppose you are in love with Lady Hilde.’ Ulfrith shot Geoffrey a puzzled glance, as if he could not imagine why, but wisely changed the subject. ‘Where are we going?’

‘I owe Juhel an apology.’

As they approached the hut, Juhel was sitting outside in the semi-darkness, watching his chicken scratch in the grass. Geoffrey’s dog promptly slunk away. Juhel stood as they approached, and Geoffrey noticed he held a long hunting knife.

‘Delilah likes to be up early,’ Juhel said, smiling a cautious welcome.

‘Have you been here all night?’ asked Geoffrey.

Juhel laughed. ‘What a curious question! Of course. I woke a few moments ago, when Delilah clucked to say she wanted to be let out.’

‘Your boots say otherwise. They are covered in wet mud. Have you been watching Magnus?’

‘Why would I do that?’ Juhel’s expression became far less friendly.

‘Because those are your orders. King Henry is too cautious to allow pretenders to his throne to wander freely around his domain. He would set intelligencers to watch them – to follow them from Ireland and to report on them here.’

‘And you think I am one of these agents? I am flattered!’

‘The story about Paisnel being a spy for Bellême was a lie, designed to lead me astray – which it did, of course. However, it does not make sense. Why would Paisnel travel from Dublin to Ribe, if he was to carry information about England’s defences to Bellême?’

‘Poor Sir Geoffrey,’ said Juhel, gentle and solicitous. ‘Your wits are still awry from—’

‘You are an excellent agent – as shown by the fact that no one has guessed who you are – but Paisnel was not. He gave himself away almost immediately, and you argued about it on the ship – you were seen quarrelling by most of the passengers and some of the crew. You were friends, but his amateur carelessness was endangering your mission.’

‘You give me too much credit,’ said Juhel, shaking his head. ‘I am just a simple parchmenter.’

‘You even declined to leave the sinking ship before Magnus. You watched him go overboard and only then jumped yourself. But a current dragged you away and it was some time before you found him again. And you have been monitoring him ever since, including at Werlinges, when Roger and I could have done with your help.’

‘I am no fighter. I would have been in the way.’

‘Not so. Bale witnessed your talent with knives, and you fought off Fingar’s men single-handed. You also demonstrated a soldier’s reactions in the stable at Pevenesel, and there is your skill at picking locks – an odd talent for a merchant. And you know virtually nothing about parchment. I saw you fold letters when they were damp – they will rot – and Breme overcharged you. If you were a real parchmenter, you would know a fair price.’

‘This is arrant nonsense—’

‘Breme said you wrote him a letter of introduction to a Winchester clerk, but I imagine it was actually a report to the King. So Henry will have two: one from you and one from me, both delivered by Breme.’

‘Yes, you told me you had sent one.’

‘You were pleased,’ said Geoffrey. ‘Now I know why: we are on the same side.’

Juhel sighed. ‘Damn you, Geoffrey! I thought I had been careful. I even let you accuse me of murdering Paisnel and poisoning you in order to conceal my true work.’

‘For which I owe you an apology.
You
did not kill Paisnel – Magnus did.’

Juhel stared at him. ‘Yes – but how did you guess?’

‘Chicken scratches. They appeared on Magnus’s face the day after Paisnel disappeared. Delilah liked Paisnel – perhaps she tried to defend him. Poor Paisnel probably gave himself away, and Magnus dealt with him ruthlessly – just as he dealt ruthlessly with his own servant, Simon. You threw Paisnel’s body overboard to make sure your own identity was not exposed.’

Juhel sighed unhappily. ‘Magnus caught Paisnel going through his bag. He died in my arms – or I thought he did. I dropped his body into the sea because I could not have Magnus accused of the crime. And any fool would have been able to link a fatal wound in Paisnel to the fact that Magnus was suddenly minus a knife – he lobbed it overboard after the murder, in a panic.’

Geoffrey was puzzled. ‘Why did you want him to evade justice?’

‘Because my orders were to learn who was helping him and how far the sedition had spread. I could not have done that if Fingar had ordered him hanged.’

‘Are you surprised by the scale of the preparations?’

Juhel shook his head. ‘Fortunately, these would-be rebels are supremely incompetent. Gyrth bungled stealing Roger’s gold and let himself be dispatched by a squire, and the troops and supplies they gather at night are hardly discreet.’

‘But what happened at Werlinges? I know Gyrth and other Saxons killed the villagers.’

‘That was another mistake on their part. They remembered that Werlinges had collaborated with the Normans after Hastinges. Gyrth offered the village a chance to make amends by giving him everything they owned. But some of the booty went missing, so Gyrth and his men killed the entire settlement, to show what happens to traitors. He was a fool – the incident will attract attention that will threaten his cause.’

‘It was stolen by that “shepherd”, I suppose?’

‘Almost certainly – a greedy Saxon betraying his own people. And despite the evidence you found that suggested Ulf was innocent of the actual killing, he would certainly have been involved, perhaps by giving orders. It is good that Bale killed him, because he was irredeemably wicked. It is hard to believe he was Harold’s twin.’

‘Did Magnus fight him? Is that how he came by the cut on his arm?’

‘Yes – in the church. I was on the brink of dashing in to rescue him, but he managed to escape on his own.’

‘Later, I saw Magnus throw a bundle down the well. Did it contain evidence of the rebellion? And was it
those
documents you were drying when I burst in on you?’

‘Some words are still legible. It is a list of men and troops promised. He has the original, but I do not blame him for not wanting duplicate copies floating around.’

‘And your “Danish” letters were cipher – coded messages to the King. Paisnel wrote some, and you composed others. You took them before you . . . after he died.’

‘Before I condemned him to drown, you mean,’ said Juhel bitterly. ‘I took a medallion, too – the one that belonged to Magnus, which Paisnel ripped from him as he was murdered.’

‘Why take the medallion?’

‘Because it was evidence that
he
murdered Paisnel – to be kept safe and produced later, when he will pay for what he did. Of course, he knows it will incriminate him, which is why he never made a fuss about losing it.’

‘And the ring Bale took from Vitalis’s corpse? It seems that was Magnus’s, too.’

‘Yes. Ring and medallion were on the same cord around Magnus’s neck, which snapped during the struggle. I could not find the ring in the dark, and Vitalis must have happened across it the following morning. Magnus must have been appalled when he saw it on Vitalis’s finger, but he could hardly demand it back, lest subsequent questions led to accusations of murder.’

Geoffrey was thoughtful. ‘Was the letter you wrote for Edith’s father an account of all this?’

‘Yes, and it would have been intercepted as soon as she had entrusted it to a messenger,’ said Juhel, nodding. ‘But since it was not sent, I sincerely hope Breme does not fail. Magnus is ready to act, and you and I cannot stop him alone.’

‘I plan to leave La Batailge tonight, to take word to the King.’

Juhel smiled. ‘It is refreshing to meet a loyal man. You repeatedly refuse Magnus’s offers, and I know what you did with the treasure last night.’

‘You do?’ asked Geoffrey uneasily.

‘It solved several problems – the most immediate of which is getting rid of the distraction Fingar represented. And it has deprived the Saxons of funds in a way that is permanent.’ Juhel rubbed his chin. ‘Of course, the King will not be pleased. He would have wanted it for himself.’

Geoffrey was sure he was right and suspected it would see him in trouble. To take his mind off it, he thought about what Galfridus had said when they had discussed the dangers of harbouring rebels in the abbey.