“Is that you, Gervase?” he shouted.
“Yes. Tell them to open up.”
“What have you got with you?”
“Another gift from Olaf Evil Child.”
“Gift?”
“Yes,” said Gervase. “Our horses.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gervase Bret had much to recount but Ralph Delchard listened without interruption. He winced when he heard of the ambush, and his jaw dropped when the death of Nigel Arbarbonel was reported in detail. Ralph’s own day in York seemed dull and unproductive when compared to the adventures with Olaf Evil Child. Relieved to welcome his friend back unharmed, he was now feeling a distinct envy of him.
“You should have taken me with you!” he insisted.
“I would never have got near Olaf if I had.”
“Do not speak so fondly of the man.”
“He helped us, Ralph.”
“To curry favour.”
“Olaf Evil Child is wrongly maligned.”
“Stop apologising for him, Gervase. It annoys me. Have you so soon forgotten? The villain stole our horses.”
“No, Ralph. He only borrowed them.”
“I will only borrow his head when I meet him!”
When the sumpter-horses were stabled, the men had gone straight to Gervase’s apartment in the keep to exchange news. Ralph was delighted that he would not have to explain his friend’s absence to Aubrey Maminot and to account for the fact that he had allowed him to leave the city so unprotected. Envy soon turned to affection and Ralph reached out to embrace Gervase.
“By all, it is good to see you again!”
“It is good to be back inside four walls,” said Gervase as they parted.
“But what have you learned today?”
“That I never wish to get that close to fish again.”
“Fish?”
“Yes,” said Ralph with a grimace. “I traced Tanchelm’s footsteps to the harbour. Anyone in York could have picked up my scent when I left. Canon Hubert certainly did.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“At the minster. I engaged his services.”
154
Gervase was astounded. “You told him?”
“I did not need to. He has sharper wits than I gave him credit for, Gervase. He does not know what Tanchelm’s main reason for coming to Yorkshire was, but he is certain that it was not to settle property disputes.”
“What did he actually say?”
“Very little. Hubert can be discreet.”
“And you employed him?”
“He offered to help. I set him onto Brother Francis.”
“Why?”
“A number of things puzzled me about the fellow,” said Ralph. “Do you recall a tussle with Nigel Arbarbonel in which he always seemed to hold the whip hand over us?”
“It was almost as if he was primed in advance.”
“He was-by Brother Francis.”
“Our scribe? But he seemed such a helpful man.”
“So did Tanchelm of Ghent.”
“Are you sure of this?” said Gervase, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Brother Francis had no access to our papers.”
“He listened. We forgot he was there.”
“Only because we trusted him implicitly.”
“That was our fatal error,” said Ralph. “Hubert sounded him out earlier and missed Vespers in order to bring me his opinion. Our genial monk was another spy.”
“Working for my lord Nigel?”
“Indirectly. Everything came through another source.”
“And who was that?”
“It grieves me to say this, Gervase, and I am still not entirely convinced myself but … the man appears to be Aubrey Maminot.”
“Does he even know Brother Francis?”
“They are friends.”
“I cannot imagine him going anywhere near a monk.”
“Francis did not always wear the cowl. He served as a soldier under Aubrey’s command. Old loyalties remain. He is a useful source of gossip and information.”
“But he was assigned to us through the good offices of the archbishop himself.”
“Aubrey has great influence in York. My guess is that he arranged for Brother Francis to sit with us when he heard that we were in need of a scribe. Who would not trust a monk? I must confess that he took me in.”
“Canon Hubert has done well to expose him.”
“He has, Gervase. When I taxed Aubrey himself about our merry monk, he explained away their friendship in terms of the abbey. He told me that Brother Francis had once borne arms, but he made no mention of having served with him. Is that not strange? It was Hubert who dug out the truth.”
Gervase was alarmed. “Everything we have said in the privacy of our deliberations has come back here?”
“So it would seem.”
“And then?”
“It was passed on to Nigel Arbarbonel.”
“No wonder he was able to frustrate our purpose,” said Gervase.
“Well, he will not do so again.”
Ralph gave a grudging nod. “That is one thing I have to thank Olaf Evil Child for. He has rid us of my lord Nigel. What I still would like to know is why Aubrey was so thick with that smooth-voiced popinjay.
What was there between them that made my good friend, as I thought him, betray us?”
“Something that my lord Nigel said may help us there.”
“Oh?”
“When he thought he would best Olaf in combat, he talked as if he were about to slay an animal. He said that my lord Aubrey would pay well for Olaf’s pelt.”
Ralph weighed the significance of the remark. It hurt him deeply to think that his host might have been working covertly against them and he was still hoping that he might have been mistaken. But the evidence was now overwhelming.
“Golde was our other ally,” he said.
“Ally?”
“Hubert delivered Brother Francis. She served up the cook. What better person to talk to about the guests at this castle than the man who has to feed them? Golde put me on to him by accident. I spent a fruitful hour in the kitchen.”
“What did the cook say?”
“All sorts of things, Gervase. Mostly complaints. Aubrey has a habit of waking him up to prepare midnight feasts for guests who have just arrived.” He raised an eyebrow. “What sort of men only travel by night?
The cook gave me dates and times and one other fact of note.”
“Let me tell you what it is,” said Gervase, anticipating him. “My lord Tanchelm also spoke with him.”
“Yes.”
“So his attention, too, was directed to this castle. He found out what we are only just beginning to learn. And they killed him for it.”
There was a roar from below as Romulus and Remus were given a measure of freedom for the night. They ran down the mound, then padded around the ditch at the bottom, baring their teeth in snarls of warning. Gervase crossed to the window to look down but the darkness hid them. He thought of the mutilated body he had seen in the morgue.
“Do you know why Toki came here?”
“That intruder?”
“Yes,” said Gervase. “He and Ragnar Longfoot climbed into the castle that night. Only men with a powerful reason would take such a huge risk. Inga found out why they came here.”
“To kill Aubrey?”
“No. To steal something. Ragnar spoke of charters and of treasure.
Toki was convinced that there was some kind of hoard at the castle and that it was vital to find it. So he came like a thief in the night.”
“And found Romulus and Remus instead.”
“Yes, Ralph.”
As if hearing their names, the lions roared in protest and raced around the ditch in search of prey. Gervase was still at the window as the noise reverberated. It set off a thought that had not occurred to him before.
“You say the cook talked of midnight feasts?”
“For late arrivals at the castle.”
“How did they get in?”
“What?”
“The lions patrol the ditch every night,” reminded Gervase. “When they are released, nobody can enter or leave the keep. If travellers came into the castle so late, how did they get in here in order to be fed by the cook?”