‘So, Sir Baldwin, and Bailiff Simon le Puttock. I am glad to meet you both. You have provided some services to my dear sister.Please, would you accept wine?’ He moved from the middle of the hall to a large table, where he already had a large gobletof gold. In moments a servant had filled three more, and brought them to Artois and the friends. At a sign from Artois, Baldwinand Simon stood upright, and Baldwin cast a look over his shoulder. To his astonishment, the other men were all gone. Theywere alone in this room with the King of France and only a few servants. No one else.
‘Artois, have you discussed the matter with them?’ the King asked.
‘No, my liege. I obeyed you and told them nothing.’
‘I see. Good. Sir Baldwin, I am aware that you wish to speak to a delightful gentleman, Père Pierre Clergue. May I ask whythat is?’
‘I think you know, your highness,’ Baldwin said warily.
‘Perhaps I do. Could you tell me, though?’
Baldwin took a deeper draught of the wine than was, perhaps, sensible. He was unused to strong wines, and rarely drank muchof any alcoholic drink. Today, though, standing in front of the King, he felt the need of courage.
‘Your royal highness, the man Pierre Clergue was present at a house in London when a man and woman were slaughtered most hideously.They were, I think, French. A short while later another man was killed. He was murdered in the London ditch. Then, when we came here, we heard of the murder of the garrison of Château Gaillard, all but two or three men.A short while later, Comte Enguerrand de Foix was killed, then another man, who Robert de Chatillon told us was also a guardat the Château Gaillard. Now we hear that Robert is dead, and so are two others: an executioner called Arnaud, and a guard,also from the château, named Jean.’
‘So, from what you say, the good Père Pierre was present, perhaps, at a murder in London. Apart from that, he has nothingto do with anything you have mentioned?’
‘Except that Sir John de Sapy was asked by the same père to visit Robert de Chatillon, and found Robert dead. Immediately men assumed Sir John had murdered him, but he denies it,and I believe him.’
‘Ah, you mean you trust one of your countrymen more than some loud-mouthed Frenchman?’
‘No. I mean I trust my eyes and ears. Looking at Sir John de Sapy, I felt that he was not acting his horror. And he had noreason to kill de Chatillon.’
‘So you would take his word against that of the good père?’
Simon thought that the King looked relaxed. But then he grew a little nervous when he saw the man’s eyes. He smiled as hespoke, and yet there was a thick layer of ice in his blue eyes.
Baldwin’s voice was equally frigid. ‘My lord king, I accuse no one. I merely asked to meet him. That is all.’
It was not the words, perhaps, so much as the tone in which they were uttered that made the King’s expression harden. Artoismoved a little, although whether to remove himself from danger or to give himself space to defend his king, Simon wasn’t sure.
‘I see that your king’s friend was quite right about you, Sir Baldwin.’
‘Who? I beg your pardon, your highness, I do not understand.’
‘Sir Hugh le Despenser sent me a message about you. I was advised to look at your sword.’
‘It is here if you wish it,’ Baldwin said, but now with sadness.
Simon shot him a look. It sounded as though Baldwin was about to surrender his sword. ‘Baldwin, don’t you …’
And then he realised. On one side of the blade Baldwin had, in Simon’s view rashly, ordered a Templar cross to be engravedjust below the cross-guard. Despenser had seen it once, and now clearly he had sent a message to the King of France to showhim that this man had Templar sympathies. It was King Charles’s father who had commanded the arrest of the Order. His soncould scarcely do other than detain a man who displayed such a symbol.
‘No, Sir Baldwin — do you not know it would be the height of rudeness to unsheathe a sword in the presence of the French king?’Charles said lightly. And then he smiled. ‘I think you and I understand each other well enough.’
Baldwin was feeling light. He did not gape openly, but his hand remained on his hilt. ‘You do not wish to …’
‘No. Leave it where it is. I am a competent judge of people for myself. And I do not like this Hugh le Despenser. He is nomore honourable than any other robber pirate from the Cinq Ports, determined to line his own purse at the expense of anyoneelse. And yet you appear keen to investigate injustice, even when it may affect yourself. I think that is better. I wouldprefer you as a friend.’
‘Your highness,’ Baldwin stammered, and bowed again. He felt as though a blow from a feather could knock him over.
‘You may speak with Père Pierre … I shall consider your request. However, my affairs are my own. If he has oversteppedthe mark, I will be disappointed, but it is not a matter for you.
You have no powers to arrest him here in my realm, unless I give you the warrant for it. And I do not. So you may question him, butthat will be an end to the affair. Is that clear?’
Sir Charles woke again in a dark chamber. There were shutters drawn, because he could see chinks and slits of light from outside,and he was strapped to a bench, arms behind his back, ankles too, so that his whole body could be exposed, were they to riphis tunic and shirt open. Suddenly he had a memory of how Paul’s body had been cut from groin to breast, his entrails exposedto the air, and he felt a cold terror infect his bowels.
‘Ah. Awake? Glad to see it. So, you are Sir Charles of Lancaster, then? I have heard much about you.’
‘And I you, Mortimer.’
‘You are angry. I don’t know why. Unless it’s your man?’
‘I will have revenge for that!’
‘Sir Charles, let me remind you that you had ordered him to hack off my head and feed my body to the fishes in the Seine!I don’t think you could blame me if I’d decided to treat him in a similar fashion. However, more to the point, I didn’t. AndI don’t intend to kill you either.’
‘Then why have me trussed like this?’ Sir Charles spat. ‘You think I’ll be more amenable if you hold a knife to my belly?’
Mortimer looked at him blankly a moment. Then, ‘Oh! No, but we don’t have any chairs here. Strapping you there seemed saferfor us. However, you are unarmed. Wait!’
A pair of men threw open the shutters, and then walked to Sir Charles. In a moment or two he had been released, and he couldsit up, massaging his wrists and elbows. Looking over at Mortimer, standing comfortably a short distance away, he calculatedhow easily he could spring upon the man.
‘Yes,’ Mortimer said. ‘I didn’t bring you here at some trouble to myself just to kill you. You are the sort of man who could be very useful to me — once you get over your desire to seemy head on a spike in London.’
He paused, eyeing Sir Charles speculatively. ‘I am to leave here tomorrow, which is the reason for my urgency. You won’t beable to catch me where I am going, so do not bother to try. I swear to you on my wife’s life that I had nothing to do withyour man’s death. We caught him, and yes, we did beat him to learn why he was after me, but apart from that we did nothing.There seemed little point in antagonising the English delegation over him, and I do not wish to upset my host in this countryeither. No, I prefer to keep friends where I may. I do not have so many that I can afford to lose any more.’
‘Then what do you want with me?’ Sir Charles demanded.