‘I have an arrow for you as well,’ she warned, pulling back the bowstring. ‘Stand back.’
‘You cannot kill us all,’ he said easily.
She stole a glance around her and saw that she was now ringed by archers. There was no escape. Bow still ready, she fell back on cold defiance.
‘I am proud of what I did,’ she boasted. ‘Raoul Lambert deserved to die. It was my duty to cut him down.’
‘Why?’
‘He abducted my father. We never saw him alive again.’
‘Are you sure that Raoul Lambert was responsible?’
‘Quite sure,’ she said. ‘There were others. Many others. That is what he did. Killed to order. Why else would Earl Hugh have so much time for him? Raoul Lambert was his executioner.’
Gervase walked slowly towards her then made a sudden grab for her bow but she was too quick. Eluding his hand, she ran up the steps to the battlements and stood with her back to them.
Guards closed in from both sides and Gervase went up the steps after her. He tried to reason with her.
‘Give yourself up,’ he advised. ‘You have no chance.’
‘I’ll never surrender.’
‘You won’t get out of here alive.’
‘I won’t need to.’
She discharged her last arrow high into the air and Gervase looked up to follow its flight. When he turned back to Eiluned, she had disappeared from sight, having flung herself violently from the battlements to avoid arrest. Gervase looked down to see the broken body on the ground below, oozing blood and twisted into an unnatural shape.
Ralph joined him to gaze down at the hideous sight.
‘Two captured and one dead,’ he said. ‘One more left.’
‘Who is that?’ asked Gervase.
‘Their confederate. They must have had somebody inside the castle to tell them exactly where Gruffydd was being kept and how best they could gain entry. It was the same man who sent them word about the hunting parties, and was always listening outside my door to see what he could pick up. I set four guards to watch the postern gate and arrest him as soon as he had let the conspirators in.’
‘Who is he, Ralph?’
‘See for yourself.’
There was a shriek of protest as Durand was dragged across the bailey and taken down into the dungeons. The dwarf unleashed a torrent of abuse at Ralph but the latter only smiled benignly.
‘I had guessed his identity even before he gave us the proof of his treachery just now. It was Golde who put me on to him,’ said Ralph airily. ‘She told me that I should never trust a man who allows bad beer to be served.’
Epilogue
A single week effected the most profound changes in Chester.
Restored to the shire hall, the commissioners sat in judgement on a stream of cases and managed to put right some glaring anomalies missed by their predecessors. Land formerly in the possession of Raoul Lambert was either returned to its original holders or their heirs, or distributed between other tenants with claims against him.
Ralph Delchard was at his most effective, Gervase Bret was a penetrating examiner of evasive witnesses, Canon Hubert was pleased that the Church was able to recover so much land which had been seized unjustly from it and Brother Simon was happy to be engaged in the work which had brought him to Chester in the first place. The four of them worked well as a team and they left the city in no doubt that the King’s writ ran as far as Cheshire.
After losing Raoul Lambert and being duped so effectively by the Welsh, Earl Hugh was strangely subdued and Brother Gerold’s influence over him gradually increased again. The conscience which had smitten him intermittently in the past no longer seemed quite so incompatible with his behaviour. Though the banquets continued unabated and the hunting expeditions resumed, the earl nevertheless seemed to have mellowed slightly. He was even observed talking to his wife on one occasion.
Eiluned was given a Christian burial by Gerold but her accomplices were imprisoned in the dungeons along with Durand and the man they had tried to rescue. At Ralph’s suggestion, Gruffydd ap Cynan was treated with the respect due to his position and allowed regular exercise and edible food. The Prince of Gwynedd still languished in captivity but there was a definite improvement in his lot.
At the end of another satisfying day, the commissioners were entitled to congratulate themselves. Canon Hubert led the way.
‘We were in supreme form today,’ he boasted.
‘You always are,’ said Brother Simon.
‘Thank you.’
‘Hubert is right,’ said Ralph. ‘It was our most productive session so far. The more cases we study, the more clearly does Lambert’s villainy emerge. He stole land from everyone.’
‘With the help of a certain friend in an exalted position,’
reminded Gervase discreetly. ‘That is how he got away with it.’
‘Property was his payment,’ said Ralph.
‘Yes, Eiluned was right about him. He was the earl’s executioner. Whenever someone had to be removed to satisfy a whim or pay off a grudge, Raoul Lambert was called in. He knew the earl better than anyone.’
‘That is why he had to be bribed into silence.’
‘Yes, Ralph.’
‘And why Hugh was so shocked by his death. He leaned so heavily on Lambert when he was alive. A man like that could not easily be replaced.’
Brother Simon stifled a yawn then shocked them all. ‘I miss Archdeacon Idwal,’ he admitted.
‘Saints preserve us!’ exclaimed Hubert.
‘That is like saying you miss a disfiguring disease,’ said Ralph.
‘Idwal was a menace.’
‘There was no real harm in him,’ said Simon.
‘That is where you are wrong,’ chimed in Hubert. ‘I was on hand to prevent him from committing a serious crime that would have left the cathedral without its most treasured relic. As it is, the Gospel of St Chad has been rescued and Idwal has gone home to Wales with his tail between his legs.’
Simon was wistful. ‘I still miss him.’
‘Why?’ demanded Hubert.
‘He enlivened the city.’
‘Wildfire would do that.’
‘And cause less damage,’ added Ralph.
‘I agree with Brother Simon,’ said Gervase. ‘Idwal brightened up our day. As long as you did not stand downwind of him, he could be a charming companion. And he did persuade Gruffydd ap Cynon to urge peace on his followers.’
‘The Welsh are a bizarre race,’ opined Hubert. ‘None more so than Idwal. What kind of man imagines that he can get away with a crime against a cathedral? I simply would not condone it.’
The four men packed up their satchels and made for the door.
Hubert remembered an invitation he had been asked to pass on.
‘One moment, my lord.’
‘Yes, Hubert?’
‘You and your dear wife are cordially invited to dine at the bishop’s palace tomorrow, if you are free.’
‘We should be delighted to, Hubert,’ said Ralph with gratitude.
‘When the festivities are over.’
‘Festivities?’
‘Golde and I have to go down to the river first.’
‘Why?’
‘To see punishment being meted out.’
‘To whom?’ asked Simon.
‘The brewer who supplied that disgusting beer to the castle.
Golde reported him in order to save others from the fate that she suffered. He was ordered to pay a fine of four shillings.’
Gervase baulked. ‘As much as that?’
‘The brewer took the same view and refused to pay.’
‘What will happen to him?’
‘He has been sentenced to the cucking stool.’
‘Serves him right,’ said Hubert.
Simon was more sympathetic. ‘You mean that he will be strapped in and ducked under the water?’
‘Yes,’ said Ralph, ‘and I hope that he swallows a mouthful every time he goes under.’
‘Why, my lord?’
‘Because then he will know what his beer tastes like!’
Brother Simon emitted his first laugh of the year.