‘A small cohort?’
‘By then, Jack, we were all skilled archers, master bowmen; we could bring down any bird on the wing or put a shaft through the narrowest window. Experts in the use of yew, ash, the hempen string, the goose-quill arrow.’ He wagged a finger in mock anger. ‘Some took an oath never to use a crossbow; I still can’t. I’m not too sure whether this is true of my former comrades.’
‘Your duties?’
‘To attend upon the Prince day or night, in peace and war, to be his sworn men and so we were, mounted archers who moved around the battlefield. You’ve seen the likes of us, Jack. Imagine loosing an arrow with every breath. In battle the Prince assigned us a special duty. We were to seek out the enemy commanders, having first learnt their heraldry and livery. A knight, especially the French, is invariably helmeted and visored.’
‘The heat must have been suffocating,’ Cranston added quietly. ‘Especially with the sun strong in the full fury of battle. They’d open their visors to breathe, to catch some coolness.’
‘Aye, Jack,’ Vox Populi leaned forward, eyes gleaming, ‘and we’d be waiting. We would have an arrow notched, two of us, ringed and protected by men-at-arms. One shaft,’ he held a hand up, ‘to the commander’s face, down he’d fall. You know what happened next: his banner carrier, the standard bearer, would raise his visor in alarm. .’
‘And he would receive the second shaft?’ Cranston nodded. ‘Both commander and standard bearer brought down in a few heart beats. Disarray amongst the enemy would be intense?’
‘And because of that, the Prince loved us, we could do no wrong.’
‘Including ransacking an abbey and the theft of the sacred bloodstone the Passio Christi?’
‘Oh yes, I know about the Passio Christi being held by Kilverby. You do realize he financed the Wyvern Company with loans to the Black Prince? Oh, yes! Kilverby made a handsome profit. The loans carried no interest but Kilverby took a share in the plunder. Little wonder,’ the prisoner scoffed, ‘in his final years Kilverby turned to God.’
‘The Passio Christi?’
‘I was not there, Cranston, when it happened.’ The Vox Populi moved, manacles clinking. ‘I swear that! After Poitiers, noble prisoners were being taken for ransom. The poor French men-at-arms fled to Poitiers town for protection but they closed the gates against them. They were all massacred. I took part in that, God forgive me. My companions, the seven who found lodgings at St Fulcher’s, went on their own campaign of pillage and looting. We later heard the story how they supposedly found a cart full of treasure close to St Calliste Abbey and seized it as the spoils of war.’ He shook his head. ‘What a find! A beautiful bloodstone, precious items, manuscripts, plates, cups and ewers. Of course I don’t believe that. Those seven pillagers probably scaled the abbey walls whilst the shaven pates, who’d learnt about the slaughter at Poitiers, were hiding in their wine cellars. The Wyverns roamed that abbey like Renard would a hen coop. I am sure they quietly pillaged the abbey church, found a cart, loaded their plunder on it and the rest you know. Who could contradict master bowmen, patronized by no less a person than the King’s son?’ Vox Populi paused to finish his wine. Cranston emptied his own goblet into the prisoner’s, who thanked him with his eyes. ‘Naturally the French objected. The Abbot of St Calliste rode out with bell, book and candle to protest but the Prince was not moved. The abbot cursed the perpetrators but that was war Jack, who cares?’ He paused. ‘You’ve met Richer? His uncle was the abbot.’
Cranston cradled his empty goblet, very pleased he had come here.
‘And afterwards, what happened to you?’
‘I tell you Jack, from the moment the Passio Christi was taken, those seven became inseparable comrades, a lock within a lock. I remained an outsider, a stranger. A year later whilst on campaign, we surprised a French camp. I was eager for plunder. I cried, “Havoc, havoc!”.’ He raised a hand to touch where his ear had been. ‘You know the rules of war, Cranston. To cry havoc is to proclaim the enemy is defeated so we can turn to plunder. I shouldn’t have done it. The fight was not yet over. The Black Prince said that any other man would have been hanged; instead I lost my left ear, was branded and turned out of the company.’ The prisoner’s voice turned bitter. ‘My comrades gave me little help or comfort. I was in France, wounded, a beggar bereft of everything, and then a miracle occurred. French peasants found me cowering in a ditch. I expected to be hanged or have my throat cut. In fact, they proved to be true Christians, good Samaritans. They tended, fed and clothed me. They healed my wounds in more ways than one, those earthworms, the poorest of the poor! I began to reflect on the kindness of such people to an enemy. I cursed the Black Prince and all his coven. I journeyed back to England. I took refuge in Glastonbury before moving to St Peter’s at Gloucester where I dwelt as a hermit. I forsook the path of war; instead I railed against the rich and the powerful.’ He paused. ‘I became a preacher as powerful as Jack Straw or John Ball. I moved from village to village preaching that our day would come. I moved into London. The Upright Men, the leaders of the Great Community of the Realm, invited me into their company. By all the angels don’t ask me about All Hallows, the Community or the Upright Men. We always met disguised in deserted copses, clearings or ruins as old as the Romans. We’d sit hooded and visored and never named.’ He breathed in deeply. ‘I heard of my old comrades lodging like lords at St Fulcher’s. I sheltered secretly in some rat’s lair near Dowgate. I sent those two rogues Mulligrub and Snapskull out to St Fulcher’s with a plea for help but my old comrades never replied.’ He coughed. ‘Then one night, around All Souls, I was taken by the sheriff’s men during an affray in Poultry.’ He rattled his chains. ‘So, am I free, Jack, or will you play the Judas? Have you come to cry all hail when you really mean all harm?’
Cranston got to his feet, knocking over the stool.
‘Oh, by the way,’ Vox Populi squinted up at him, ‘one last thing. The Great Community have marked you down for death.’
‘Like so many others in my long life.’
‘I know you, Jack. You’ll fight, and you’ll survive, but your monk. .?’
‘Friar, and he’s not mine.’
‘Athelstan, on him,’ Vox Populi whispered, ‘sentence has not yet been passed.
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘Everyone is buying protection, Jack. Kilverby did and so has Abbot Walter. Have you ever wondered why he gave the Wyverns such comfortable lodgings?’
‘He had to, the Crown insisted.’
‘I’ve never yet met a monk who didn’t try to wriggle out of an agreement. No, Jack, Abbot Walter was only too pleased to have master bowmen in the abbey just in case the Upright Men decided not to be so upright. Can you imagine Jack, seven master archers, their bows strung, arrows notched, loosing showers of barbed shafts at any intruders?’ Vox Populi lowered his head. ‘Well then, there were six. Now there are four, that’s better than nothing. Who knows, Jack, the deaths of my comrades Hanep and Hyde could be the work of the Upright Men, removing the guard dogs before they attack.’
Cranston picked up the stool and sat down. ‘Who else would murder them? Some old blood feud?’
‘Well, I doubt if the abbot would kill his own watch dogs. The Frenchman Richer? Does he have the skill? Perhaps his infernal Grace the Regent wants the Passio Christi so badly he killed Kilverby and now he wants to annihilate the Wyverns. Who knows what in this vale of tears?’
‘Would they turn on each other?’
‘Hardly likely. Wenlock is a cripple, captured by the French. They sheared off his archer fingers. He and Mahant, according to you, were in London when Hanep was killed and still out of the abbey when Hyde was slaughtered. I used my last coins to send a message to them. I don’t know if they came to meet me. Look at me,’ he gestured around the cell, ‘a crust of bread would have been a gift from heaven.’ Vox Populi stared wistfully into his empty wine cup. ‘Now, Sir Jack, your promise?’