It was not something which had ever occurred to him before, but now the strange illogicality of his presence in the châteauseemed important. Just as important, perhaps, as the reason for Arnaud’s sudden attack. That, its very irrationality, seemedparticularly curious. He had never demonstrated murderous inclinations towards the guards before then. Yes, he was a cruel,vindictive, bestial man, but he had not shown any sign of wishing to harm his companions at the castle. Why should he havesuddenly gone berserk just after their prisoner had left the place?
Then there was also the stranger who had been in the room when le Vieux had suddenly attacked him. That man, who had drawnhis own sword against Jean, even though they’d never met before. He looked like a noble. Who was he?
‘Come on, Ricard. It can’t be all that bad,’ Janin said.
‘You don’t reckon? How much do you want to die?’
Adam grinned, and Philip snorted. Philip said, ‘There’s nothing so bad we can’t-’
‘That man, the one you saw today with bloody Jack? The man in London, who killed the glover and his wife? That one? You knowwho he is?’ Their bafflement gave his sarcasm a sharpened edge. He was almost satisfied to see how they shook their heads.‘The King’s brother. The Earl of Kent. That’s who. Edmund of Kent. So all this time we’ve been trying to upset and removethe man who’s been put here by the King’s brother.’
Janin leaned back on his stool and puffed out his cheeks.
They were in their own little chamber in the castle’s outbuildings, a draughty room with stone walls on two sides, partitionedwith wattle and daub on the other two. The plaster had cracked and fallen away to show the withies in many places, a delightfulaspect which gave Charlie plenty of scope to exercise his skills at demolition. He was there now, prying away pieces of plasterand telling himself a story about it as he went, while water seeped in from the courtyard about his feet. Still, at leastthe musicians had a place of their own where they could sit and talk in peace. Not that there was any comfort in that justnow.
Adam was pale. ‘So he’s the King’s own man, this Jack?’
Janin gave a harsh bark of laughter. ‘Oh, no, Adam. Not necessarily. The King hates his own wife, and his brothers are notclose allies of his, any more than his cousin was.’
‘Cousin?’
Ricard shot him a look. Even a lad like Adam should have known that much, damn his heart! ‘His bleeding cousin, yes. EarlThomas of Lancaster, the man who raised an army against the King and was captured and hanged for his pains! Hardly the actionof a close relative.’
‘Even so, that’s a cousin, not a brother …’
‘Half-brother,’ Philip said shortly. ‘Different mother from the King. And the King doesn’t trust him since the French invadedGuyenne. The Earl was in charge there. He was responsible for the duchy and it was him signed the truce they’re trying torenegotiate now.’
‘So he’s not the flavour of sweetness to the King just now,’ Ricard noted with grim satisfaction. ‘That’s marvellous. He’sbitterness incarnate to the King, and it’s his man you two tried to jump.’
‘We weren’t to know,’ Adam protested weakly.
‘You should have bloody guessed! Now what we’ve got is a little problem, boys. Is this Earl Edmund working to the King’s advantagehere, or his own?’
‘Surely he’ll be here with the King’s approval,’ Janin said thoughtfully.
‘Maybe so,’ Ricard agreed. He picked up his citole and strummed pensively.
Philip said, ‘But what does that mean to us? So what? He’s possibly the King’s enemy, so we only have to tell the King’s menand we’re all right.’ He stood as though to make for the door.
‘What it means is, we may have made an enemy of Jack, which makes his master think we’re his enemies too,’ Ricard said scathingly.‘And that is not a position which gives me any great comfort.’
‘Did you speak with the Queen or her clerk?’ Janin asked.
‘No. No time. I was jumped by Jack and this other man before I saw de Bouden.’
‘Then the first thing you should do is tell the Queen all about the Earl, Jack, and the other man,’ Janin said with certainty.‘That way, at least our own lady knows we’re on her side. If anyone tries to lie about us and say we were acting for anyonelater, we can show we’ve told the Queen about this. We did what servants should.’
‘Right,’ Ricard said, his heart plummeting. He saw again Jack’s face, heard the cold voice from de Bouden’s chamber, saw the Queenentering … ‘Wait! She knows the man in de Bouden’s room. De Bouden brought her there, and Jack was outside with de Boudento guard while she was inside.’
‘Was it the Earl in there?’ Philip asked.
‘No. He was in the buttery when I went there. It was someone else.’
Philip nodded, scowling. ‘Well, you should tell her anyway. And see if you can learn who the man in the chamber was. It couldbe worthwhile knowing that.’
‘Why?’ Ricard asked.
‘Why?’ He looked nonplussed for a moment or two. ‘If the Queen’s having funny little meetings with someone, don’t you thinkit’d be worth knowing? I mean, we’re the Queen’s Men, aren’t we? If she’s having negotiations on the side with someone, itcould be dangerous.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Janin demanded. ‘It’s nothing to us who she sees.’
‘Oh no? Think on this, Jan. If she’s seeing someone and the King himself knows nothing about it, is he going to torture herto find out about it? No. But he may well torture someone else.’
‘If we don’t know-’ Adam began.
‘We’ll still be tortured. They don’t stop because you say you know nothing,’ Philip spat. ‘Don’t you know anything? Look,if Despenser thinks there’s something to be found out from you, he’ll have the skin cut from your body, the bones broken,the nails ripped away, and he won’t stop until you do tell him something. Saying you know nothing just means he’ll carry on.Torture isn’t about finding out someone’s got nothing to tell — it’s about making them tell anything. Everything. If she’s seeing someone, I’d prefer to be able to tell the King, Despenser or whoever, exactly who it was, how long she saw him, and whether they met once or plenty. She’s the Queen. She can’t just go into a room and meet with men alone.’
Ricard looked towards Janin. Both shook their heads in disgust, but there was little either felt he could say. For Ricard’spart, he merely wished he was away from here. The only consolation was that when little Charlie had seen the Earl, it hadmade not the slightest impact on him. Either he was so young he had not recognised the man who had killed his parents, ormaybe he’d forgotten him. It seemed odd to Ricard that the little fellow could have forgotten the man who had so scared himat the time, but perhaps it was natural. The lad was very young, after all. Maybe he didn’t think like an adult.
At least it meant the boy wasn’t upset and screaming just now, Ricard thought, just in time to see Adam’s recorder being usedto prise away another chunk of plaster.
‘Oi! Charlie, no!’
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Cromwell saw Baldwin and Simon in the main hall when they were all seated for their evening meal. He passed by their mess on his wayto the top table, where he took a seat not far from the Queen, his eyes on Baldwin as he sat.
‘He is hoping for some good news, I think,’ Simon said.
‘He can continue to hope, then,’ Baldwin said. ‘We have learned nothing of any use today.’
‘We know he was there,’ Simon said quietly.
Baldwin nodded. Mortimer was never far from his thoughts just now. ‘Yes. And he denied the attack. Which may mean nothing,of course. The man had good reason to defend himself against Paul. The fellow was after a bounty, after all. He would havestabbed first and asked questions later, wouldn’t he? Mortimer would have been within his rights to remove such a threat.’