‘Christ’s ballocks,’ Simon breathed. ‘You mean to say you …’
‘She loved me too. Ach, I couldn’t do much for her. When all’s said and done, she was used to living with silks and decentbeds. What could I do to provide that sort of thing? No, but at least I could make her life a little more comfortable. I foundher some sheepskins, some warmer slippers, and an undershift to ease the pain of her rough sackcloth. Oh, and a warm woollencap to cover her poor head. They’d shorn her of all her hair before she was brought to the prison.’
Simon shook his head. The idea of this fellow pawing at the poor woman was revolting. Simon remembered Montfaucon, with allthe corpses lined up on that hideous gibbet, and this man up there among the rotting faces, cutting one down to make roomfor a fresh hanging. It made him feel sick.
‘And she was grateful to you,’ Baldwin said.
‘I suppose so. Although, maybe it was something else. She was always very polite, very respectful, but all the other men justtook the rise out of her. They joked about her, you know, offensively.’
‘All of them? You were the only man there who was kind to her, then?’ Simon asked sarcastically.
‘Simon!’ Baldwin hissed. Then, ‘What of Jean?’
‘He wasn’t like the rest. I think he said once he’d lost a wife. Maybe that made it easier for him to be nice to her. What would she see in him, though, any more’n she’d see somethingin me? That was why he got jealous.’
‘Why?’
‘Because her and me, we got close. Used to go there to the cell door and talk to her. She told me all about her life in castlesand palaces and that, and I told her a bit about me.’
‘Like, “men I have killed”? “Women I have tortured”? “Children I’ve slaughtered”?’ Simon demanded sharply.
Arnaud looked over at him. ‘You want to know about the people I’ve killed? I’ve killed many. Very many. But where would thelaw be without the punishments? If you don’t have men like me, you don’t have the law, and without the law the world is mad.You need me and my kind, master. You think you’re so much better than me? You’re happy enough to see people sent to the gallows,aren’t you? But you just don’t want to do that last little job, do you? Actually kill them. You want to know someone’s doneit for you. I suppose it’s like meat. You’re happy for a butcher to kill a steer, but you don’t want to do it yourself, norskin it and gut it. You’re happy to know that a murderer has been captured, glad to see he’s been punished. I dare say youlike going to watch him dance his last on the King’s evergreen tree, eh? But you hate me because I do it and save you andothers the effort. I wouldn’t like to think you’d be upset by having to put the rope round the man’s neck. That would be nasty, wouldn’t it?’
‘You kill for a living. I am happy to know that the law is upheld and punishments are carried out, but there’s a differencebetween that and enjoying the job.’
‘You think I like what I do?’ Arnaud stared at him, long and hard. ‘Yes. You think I’m a monster because I end lives. Butat least I do what I may to ease their ends. I don’t leave men to suffer without need.’
‘Enough! We are talking about the Château Gaillard,’ Baldwin said. ‘This man Jean — what more can you tell us about him? What happened between you and him? Why did he try to attackyou?’
‘Jealousy. He saw how well I was getting on with my Lady Blanche, and he wanted to have time with her too. But then the orderscame.’
‘What orders?’ Baldwin asked, eyes narrowed.
Arnaud shook his head, staring down at the table. Baldwin beckoned the innkeeper, and soon a fresh pot of ale was placed ontheir table. ‘The King wanted a divorce. At any cost. So he asked that she be proved to have been an adulterer.’
Simon shrugged. ‘Why ask you? There must have been others he could turn to who were used to spying, surely.’
Baldwin glanced at him with a face blanched in horror. ‘Don’t you understand, Simon? The King ordered his wife to be rapedso that they could show her adultery in gaol. Whether she had been forced or not, the fact that she had had intercourse woulddemonstrate that she was no longer chaste and perfect. She could not be queen. Her marriage to the King would have to be annulled.’
‘I couldn’t let it happen to her, sir. I couldn’t. I love her. So … I told her what had been suggested, and she was glad to … to let me. And some months later, therewas proof.’
‘She was delivered of a child?’
‘Our little boy. Yes. He was a lovely little thing, sir. Beautiful, and sweet.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘He died. Youngsters often do.’
Simon looked away. He had lost his own son to a fever. It still hurt to think of it.
‘I had heard that Lady Blanche had taken the veil,’ Baldwin agreed. ‘But what of that man Jean?’
‘He wanted her. He was mad with jealousy, sir. When he heard that Blanche was with child, he went berserk. And then, later, Blanche was taken away from us all. Ah, God, that wasa terrible day. I was driven mad myself. I love her, sir. The idea that she was going was bad, but to know that I’d never be able to see her again, that she’d take up theveil at a nunnery, that was just … I could hardly bear it. And Jean was worse. He wanted her. So did some of the others.Berengar worse than most.’
‘Berengar?’
‘One of the other guards. He’d been there since the Queen first arrived. A week or two after she’d gone, he suddenly wentinsane. He started shouting that there were evil ones all about him, and drew a knife. Well, we were all handy with our weapons,like any man, but when you see a fellow start dribbling and foaming, and then he begins to lay about him with a long blade,well, it’s enough to make you stand back and be cautious, you know? So we all stood back, like I say, and our oldest, le Vieux,went to try to calm him down.’
‘Le Vieux? The Old Man?’
‘Never knew his real name. He was always called that. Anyway, he went in, and was struck down by a knock on his head. Felllike a poleaxed bull. Thump, straight down. And Berengar got the rest of us in a corner and started to stab at us all. Hekilled three, I think, before running off. I went after him to try to get him — he only scratched my arm here and here.’ Hepulled up his right sleeve to show two long scars, each four or five inches long, both of them badly healed with thick, uglystitch marks where the flesh had been pulled together. ‘But he got nearly as far as the town. Luckily, he saw some men ina field, and tried to kill them too, and I caught up with him and put him on the ground and cut his throat. Had to do it.At least I was trained in how to do it and end his misery before anyone else was harmed,’ he said, staring hard at Simon.
‘And Jean?’
‘He wasn’t in the guard room at that time. When I got back, he’d gone. I think he saw the bodies and just bolted in terror.There’s not every man who can cope with a slaughterhouse like that. Luckily I found le Vieux and pulled him out. He was allright after a while, and I was able to get him to a physician and have him seen to. And my own wounds, too. The man I sawwas more used to healing calves, though, I reckon,’ he said with a rueful grimace before pulling his sleeve back down overthe wounds.
‘Why would Jean hunt you down here?’
‘He had attacked and murdered le Vieux at Poissy already.’
‘I thought so. I saw him there with le Vieux.’
Arnaud shrugged. ‘I think he is still jealous of me with Blanche. Don’t know why he did that to le Vieux.’
‘And the other man, Robert de Chatillon. Why would he attack him?’
‘Well, Robert de Chatillon was the Comte de Foix’s man, and he hired us all to go to the château. Perhaps he blamed him forsetting us all there? Or blamed him for allowing the lady to be molested.’
‘But you stopped her from being attacked,’ Simon said. ‘Or so you say.’
Arnaud looked a little shifty. ‘I stopped the others from raping her.’
‘It was only you did that, then?’ Simon noted. He curled his lip. Now he was sure of the facts: the woman had been forcedto lie with this man. He raped her alone. Better that, perhaps, than a gang-rape by some number of guards, but for a womanborn noble it would be an indignity close to horror. It would be a wonder if her mind hadn’t been broken. And her heart.