‘Tell me of his thinking.’
‘He wishes first, sire, to know the size of the enemy we must face.’
‘Not great,’ Pandulf replied, his eyes suddenly bright with optimism, until he realised with all the activity of repair going on, such a response did not make sense. ‘Large, enough to besiege this place, but, with Rainulf at my side, I think one we can defeat.’
‘It is the emperor?’ Drogo asked.
‘Yes. False words have been placed in his ear. Lies have been told. I am sure when he sees the truth we will have nothing to fear.’
‘You have sent an embassy?’
Pandulf looked at William and, if it was only his eyes that seemed to want to kill him, that was enough. ‘Not yet.’
‘Good,’ William replied.
‘What?’
William smiled at Pandulf’s confused expression. ‘Rainulf is of the opinion that Conrad should be approached jointly, that you and he should present yourselves to the emperor together.’
‘To do what?’
‘To set right what lies he has been told, to seek to deflect him from coming any further south.’
‘What makes Rainulf think he will listen?’
‘Sire, he will listen if you are penitent.’ That was not an emotion pleasing to Pandulf, and try as he might he could not disguise it. ‘Whatever rights you think you hold, sire, you must give up the lands of the Abbey of Montecassino.’
His reply was almost like a man with a wound. ‘Give them up?’
‘That must be what has made him act as he has. No imperial host comes south of Rome without purpose.’
‘Give them up?’ he said again.
‘As well as Abbot Theodore. I assume he is still alive?’
‘I do not know.’
That was very like Pandulf: once someone was put in his dungeons, he had no interest in them at all.
‘Then, sire, I would suggest we need to find out. I think also the Archbishop of Capua should be freed to return to his Episcopal Palace. You must do something to appease the wrath of the emperor, so he will listen, and that would also placate your citizenry.’
It took the Wolf a while, as being placatory was not in his nature, but eventually he acceded.
‘Let us hope Abbot Theodore is up to a journey.’ Pandulf was nodding, but that stopped as William added his next notion, making it sound as though it had just occurred. ‘Perhaps Rainulf is wrong, perhaps it would be better if you accompanied the Abbot Theodore, took him to Conrad as a gesture of peace.’
William could almost see his mind working: there was no way Pandulf was going to put himself in the hands of Conrad, with Rainulf or the abbot at his side, given he knew what he had done and how it was perceived. He would be searching for an alternative, which was what William wanted.
‘My mind is troubled, William.’
‘How so, sire?’
The Wolf began to move around, his arms being used to emphasise his thinking as he posed a stream of rhetorical questions. ‘Regarding what we do not know. Do we have knowledge of the lies Conrad has been fed? No. Do we know the size of his host? No. Do we have any notion of what he intends? No. Of what will satisfy him? No. These things need to be known before I can even think of an embassy. I’m sure Rainulf would say the same.’
‘Would such knowledge alter what you will do, sire?’ asked Drogo, William being grateful his brother had intervened; he was getting sick of doing all the asking.
‘Oh, yes,’ Pandulf said, his voice silky. ‘If we knew how large was his army, we could plan how to confront it, Rainulf and I. If we knew Conrad’s intentions, we would have some notion of how to deflect him. I think it would be better to know these things before Rainulf and I even think of discussing terms.’
‘Terms?’
‘Certain offers will have to be made.’
‘You speak of things of which I know nothing, sire.’
‘I have it,’ cried Pandulf. ‘Conrad, because of these falsehoods laid against me, would be a hard man to deal with directly. He must be brought to think on them first, to see that there are untruths. And, might I say, it would be to the advantage of Rainulf and me to be invited under truce to commune with him. To just arrive, before he has had an opportunity to ponder, might see us seized and given no chance to plead for the justice we deserve.’
Pandulf turned to face them, beaming like a man from whom a great burden has been lifted.
‘The solution is to send emissaries first, to find out that which we need to know and also to extract a safe conduct. And who could be better placed to undertake this than you?’
‘What would I take?’
‘Take?’
‘Sire,’ William said, with a glum expression. ‘No emissary can just turn up with nothing.’
That wiped the smile off Pandulf’s face. ‘No.’
‘There must be some kind of offer, one that Conrad will find so persuasive he will accede to your request.’
‘The abbot?’
‘A sick and undernourished man, as he must be, despite your care, may not impress the emperor or his advisors.’
Pandulf suddenly lost his temper. ‘This is all that little swine Guaimar’s doing, him and his whore of a sister. She’s probably had Conrad inside her shift while she whispers lies about me in his ears. I should have strung the viper up, and once I was done with her, stuck her in a nunnery. Or maybe I should have just thrown her to my Normans…
With some effort he recovered himself; the brothers could see him fighting to control his breathing and when he spoke, the reason for the sudden outburst was obvious.
‘We must bribe Conrad to go away,’ he said, in a voice now flat. He waited for a response, but neither William nor Drogo obliged. ‘I have gold, let him have that and perhaps he will leave me in peace.’
‘How much gold?’ asked Drogo.
It was a telling indication of Pandulf’s character and rapacity that he could answer the question without hesitation. ‘I could give him three hundred pounds in weight.’ He looked keenly at the brothers. ‘For my title and my freedom.’
‘A telling offer,’ said Drogo; in fact it was a fortune.
The Wolf was looking at William. ‘Will you agree to carry this offer to Conrad?’
‘You will, of course, free your prisoners?’ asked William.
‘Of course,’ the Wolf insisted, then obviously, the thought of handing over so much gold made him change his tack. ‘But, you must not just make this offer of my gold unless you see it as necessary. Find out first what we need to know, see if we can contest with this imperial fool. Do not just say I will gift him my riches, and should you feel you must, add that there will a contribution from Rainulf too.’
That got them another suspicious look. ‘I am sure Rainulf would not fail me and the revenues of Aversa are splendid, not to mention all that I have given him.’
‘Never,’ Drogo replied, with deep sincerity. ‘He is your friend and you are his liege lord.’
‘Good. When will you go?’
William said, ‘As soon as our mounts are rested, but…’
Pandulf did not like that. ‘But?’
‘I fear we must have, sire, some token of your esteem, perhaps some part of what it is you are prepared to offer, to gift the emperor immediately, so that he will accept our bona fides. He does not know us and, besides that, he will be surrounded by his court. We may have to pay a bribe just to gain a hearing.’
Pandulf thought on that for some time, but it made sense: two strange knights just turning up with nothing would not be acceptable. ‘I will arrange for you to take enough with you to impress both him and any others you need to bribe.’
‘We must see to our own needs before we go,’ Drogo insisted, ‘and I think we should find out if the abbot is fit to travel, and the archbishop still of this world. The emperor is bound to ask after his welfare.’
‘Do you need someone to escort you to the dungeons?’
‘No, sire,’ said Drogo, ‘we know the way.’
The abbot was shrunk in his body, but he had the stoicism of his calling; the Archbishop of Capua had fared better, given the man attending the oubliettes was easily bribed by the local clergy, but he was weak. When William asked after Osmond de Vertin that got a raised eyebrow.