'There is no doubt that the stigma of outlawry has been lifted from you all, as there will be no going back on the word of the king's chief minister. But as to Hempston Arundell, we have to wait for Waher's verdict, though knowing him as I do, I doubt there will be any lack of sympathy for you.'
'So what does that mean as far as we are concerned?' asked Robert Hereward.
'I need Sir Nicholas back in Exeter straightaway, as he must appear before the sheriff, who may wish formally to remove this curse of being an outlaw — and as soon as de Ralegh arrives next week, he will want to see Sir Nicholas.'
'And the rest of us?' demanded Martin Wimund.
'As I said, you are entitled to leave this place as free men. The problem is that Henry de la Pomeroy and Richard de Revelle still occupy the manor they stole from you and will not take kindly to your turning up there before official decisions have been made.'
'So where can we go?' pleaded Philip Girard. 'Most of our band came from Hempston. Our homes are there, and our families.'
John looked across at Gwyn, now dimly visible in the twilight of the unlit hovel. 'No doubt you will all be required as witnesses when Walter de Ralegh begins his enquiry next week, so I do not see any objection to you being housed in Rougemont for that short period. Do you think that is possible, Gwyn?'
His officer bobbed his head over a pot of cider. 'The garrison is small these days, so there's plenty of room.
I'll ask Gabriel, and if he thinks it's practicable, we must get permission from Ralph Morin, the castle constable.' De Wolfe turned back to Nicholas, who looked haunted, as if he feared this was a dream or a cruel joke, and that he would soon wake to find that he was still an outlaw.
'I suggest that you return with us to Exeter in the morning', John said. 'No doubt that kind cousin of your wife will accommodate you in her house. The men must, I'm afraid, stay here for a day or so until we send for them to come down to Rougemont. It would be too risky for them to return to Hempston until the threat of Westminster is held over those bastards down there.' He suggested that Nicholas go over to the other hut and explain the position to the other half of the band, while he was away, Martin Wimund, the former reeve of Hempston, told John of the attack on Challacombe and the routing of Pomeroy's force up at Grimspound.
'They killed poor Gunilda, a defenceless woman,' growled Girard. 'We found her body, and buried it, when we went back to look at the wreckage of our homes after they fired them.'
'She may have fallen and cracked her skull,' said Hereward. 'But there were bruises on her, and however she came to die, those swine were responsible.' Nicholas came stooping back into the shed and posed another question: 'We defeated twice our number up at Grimspound,' he said. 'Our archers saved us, but killed two of their men in the battle. Will we be indicted for murder over that?'
John de Wolfe, sticking scrupulously to the law as he saw it, scratched his stubble as he deliberated on this.
'An inquest must be held eventually and I am the coroner for the south of the county. I will hear the evidence, but this was virtually an act of war. You were attacked without provocation by a much larger force, whose members undoubtedly wished to kill you all, so you had no option but to act in self-defence by whatever means you could. That sounds like a good reason to call the deaths justifiable homicide. But we must put the matter to an inquest jury when the time comes.'
The more formal part of the discussion over, the men fell to animated talk about the future and the prospect of seeing their families once again. They trooped out into the open and mixed with their fellows from the other hut. A few who were not from Hempston, but who had drifted into the outlaw band later, wondered what was to become of them, but Nicholas promised that they would be welcome in his manor when it was restored to him. 'We have stuck together in good times and mostly bad, so I'll not see you thrown out to fend for yourselves, good men that you are.'
It was almost dark, but the excited men felt in no mood to sleep, so another hour or more passed before they divided themselves between the two huts and curled up on their crude beds, wrapped in every garment they possessed, but still half-freezing in spite of the glowing wood on the central firepits.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Nicholas returned to the bosom of his family in Raden Lane with great rejoicing, his wife being overjoyed to have him free of the furtive constraints that had required him to skulk into the city in disguise. One of her first tasks was to take him to buy some decent clothes and boots, in place of the worn and dirty raiment he had had on the moor. Her cousin generously gave them both money and two good-quality cloaks that had belonged to her late husband. De Arundell walked with his wife through the crowded streets in a state of nervous awe, hardly able to believe that at any moment he would not feel the heavy hand of arrest on his shoulder.
'We owe everything to Sir John de Wolfe,' said Joan as they walked back towards her cousin s house, the old servant Maurice walking behind them, carrying their purchases from the Serge Market and several shops in High Street.
'Indeed we do, but be cautious, sweet wife,' answered Nicholas. 'Our troubles are not yet over, for we have to see what comes from the deliberations of Walter de Ralegh next week — and to be sure that King Richard has confirmed the Justiciar's promises. I doubt those swine down in the west will give in without a fight.'
'You fought them once and won, husband,' protested Joan loyally.
'I will meet any man in a contest of arms — but those bastards Pomeroy and de Revelle have influential friends and are expert in manipulating the law to their advantage.'
Joan refused to allow her husband's caution to dampen her joy at having him back, and when they returned again to Raden Lane she was able to share her delight with her friend Matilda de Wolfe. The coroner's wife had heard from her husband that Nicholas had returned with him from the moor, and she had hastened to Gillian le Bret's dwelling to offer her felicitations. She was eager to cast her eyes on de Arundell's romantic figure, as he had been by turns a knight, a manor lord, a Crusader, and then a hunted outlaw.
Nicholas welcomed her graciously as the woman who was the wife of his saviour John de Wolfe, as well as someone who had befriended Joan in spite of being the sister of one of the villains. Matilda was instantly charmed by this handsome man, and her resolve to side with John against her brother's cupidity was strengthened on the spot.
'Lady Matilda has been very kind to me, Nicholas,' declared Joan, as they settled around the hearth in Gillian's hall. Over pastries and wine, they discussed the future, and Matilda, a different woman when away from her husband, was encouraging about the outcome.
'My husband, the king's coroner, is very influential,' she affirmed grandly. 'He is acquainted with many powerful people — and indeed the king himself is by no means unaware of his worth, for John was a member of his personal guard when Richard returned from the Holy Land.'
She avoided mentioning that her husband had been unable to prevent the monarch from being captured in Vienna on that ill-fated journey.
'It's not the worth of your John that worries me, good lady,' responded Nicholas. 'But that other John, Count of Mortain, who may well use his considerable influence to confound the good that your husband has already achieved.'
Gillian le Bret broke in reassuringly. 'Sir Walter de Ralegh is originally a local man, albeit one who has risen high in the chambers of power,' she said. 'He knows the politics of the West Country very well and is a strong character, faithful to King Richard. He is unlikely to be intimidated by the barons and bishops who are beholden to Prince John's ambitions.'