Figure of Hate Read online

  Gwyn, brought up on the cliffs of Cornwall, was fascinated by the speed at which the tide flowed in and covered the miles of mud and stones. Squeezed by the funnel shape of the estuary, the mass of the Western Ocean seethed in as fast as a man could walk. A Polruan fisherman in his youth, Gwyn looked with interest at the tiny boat that was coming towards them, with a ragged sail and four men at long oars keeping it straight in the turbulent water. '

  They were leaving their horses in Aust, in the care of the two soldiers until they returned, as new mounts would be found for them in Chepstow. John had left Odin in the farrier's stables in Exeter, for a large and ponderous warhorse was hardly suitable for long, fast journeys. Instead, he had hired a strong mare for the ride to Aust.

  Nesta, enveloped in a Welsh plaid blanket as a cloak, stood close_against Gwyn for sheIter from the wind, which was constant and penetrating along this dead flat shore, only a couple of feet above the high-water mark. Away to their right, the ground rose into a cliff of banded red rock at a bottleneck in the estuary, but here there was no place for a boat to land. The miserable village of Aust owed its existence to the ferry, though all it consisted of was a few huts and two dismal inns for travellers waiting for tide and weather.

  The landlady of the Bush still only half believed that she was here, going home for more than a week to her beloved family. When John had turned up at the Bush the day after Thomas's celebration, to say that she was going with him to Gwent, she had supposed it was some ill-considered joke. Yet he was adamant, and all her feeble protests about having no one to run the inn had been overruled by him in a peremptory fashion. He explained that he was sending Matilda to France and that such a chance would never come again - so her capitulation was not difficult to achieve. After a day or two of frenzied preparation, she left the Bush in the confident hands of Edwin and her two maids and, spurning the offer of a side saddle, borrowed a pair of boy's breeches and rode off astride the horse that John had hired for her.

  Now, as the small boat clawed the last few yards into the muddy creek below them, she looked again at the river and the land beyond and thought of the last time she had seen them. Then, she had been coming with her husband Meredydd to start a new life in Devon. Even that had been at least partly due to John de Wolfe, as he had extolled the opportunities of Exeter to his archer comrade and had even helped find a vacant tavern for them, when both men gave up campaigning. Now Meredydd was long dead and John had taken his place - but Nesta still loved them both.

  Her reverie was ended by the arrival of the little craft, small enough to fit into the taproom of the Bush. Minutes later, they were adrift on the choppy waters, aiming diagonally upstream to take advantage of the last of the flood tide to get into the centre of the estuary. Nesta feIt that they would end up in Gloucester, but as soon as the short period of slack water arrived, the ship-master - a leather-faced man without a single tooth in his head - dropped the tattered sail and hauled the steering oar about, and the men started to row directly across the stream, until the ebb tide began carrying them back down, close to the other bank.

  'We'll not be long now, cariad,' said John comfortingly. He was afraid that his mistress would be sea sick, as Gabriel was looking decidedly green in the face from the slight pitching and rolling of the flat-bottomed craft. But Nesta was enjoying every moment and hugged his. arm as they sat close together on the planks that served as seats in the stern of the boat.

  John watched as they approached a little island set near the mouth of the Wye, the river that came down here to join the Severn, after its long journey from the mountains of central Wales. Now that they had the Wye to contend with, the four oarsmen began to earn their wages, and though the master hoisted the sail again to catch the southerly wind, most of their progress was due to muscle power. '

  As they crawled past the flat banks towards Chepstow, a mile upriver, John had time to think over the events of the past few days. Though not a vain man, he feIt that it had been a stroke of genius for him to think of moving the characters in his life around, like pieces on a chessboard. After that night at the Bush, when he had had his first tentative thoughts oftaking Nesta with him to Wales, he had spent a day in a flurry of diplomatic manoeuvring. Although Matilda had readily jumped at the idea of visiting her family, he had to track down de Charterai and beseech him to chaperone his wife to Normandy.

  After two days of hectic preparation, he accompanied Matilda to Topsham, she riding side-saddle on a palfrey and Lucille walking behind. A sumpter horse was piled with her luggage for at least a month's stay with her distant cousins near St-Lô, which was convenient for Reginald de Charterai, as it was on the route from Barfleur to Fougéres. What her relatives would say when she turned up on their doorstep, John preferred not to think about. And for the return journey, she would have to find some escort to the port herself, as Reginald was returning to England within a few weeks, to fight again at Salisbury.

  With a sigh of contentment, John sat in the boat with his arm around Nesta and thanked God most sincerely that all these machinations were now behind him. The fact that Matilda might eventually find out that he had been with his mistress while she was away was a possibility - but that was well into the future, as they would be back in Exeter long before his wife returned home.

  On the smoother waters of the Wye, Gabriel's nausea abated and he gazed about him with interest. After a mile or two the banks began rising steeply, and as the ferry rounded a bend the little town came into view, clinging to the slope above the river where a rocky gorge began to appear. Above the town, which had a wooden stockade around it, was the castle, one of the first stone fortresses built after the Conquest. A massive oblong tower stood on the top of the ridge, a deep ditch between it and the town. On the other side, an almost sheer cliff dropped into the river, making the stone and timber walls of a bailey necessary only on the south and west sides.

  'William the Marshal fell in for a nice little place when he married,' commented Gwyn, staring up at the castle as they headed for a landing stage below the town. The elder brother of the Bishop of Exeter had been given Isabel de Clare as wife by Richard the Lionheart, soon after he came to the throne in 1189. Isabel was the heir to vast estates, so at a stroke the marshal became Lord of Striguil and Pembroke.

  Sentries placed at lookout points along the river had reported their imminent arrival at the castle, and by the time they reached the quay-side several soldiers and a groom had brought horses down to meet them.

  After they landed, Nesta and John had to part, as the coroner thought it unwise to arrive at the castle with his mistress in tow,

  'You know what you have to do, Gwyn?' he demanded.

  The blue eyes of the amiable Cornishman twinkled in amusement.

  'Don't you fret, Crowner!' he said reassuringly. 'I'll look after her like she was my own baby. I'll deliver her to her mother's door inside a couple of hours and be back here with you before you know it.'

  Nesta came from near Trelech, a small village a few miles north of Chepstow on the hilly ground towards Monmouth. It was well within the Marcher lordship of Striguil, but, as in other parts of South Wales, the less fertile areas were left by the Norman rulers to the Welsh, as long as they paid some taxes and caused no trouble. John had long ago learned that her father was dead, but her mother, two brothers and a sister lived there as free tenants virtually outside the Norman feudal system. They survived mainly by herding sheep, though a couple of acres of ground around their dwelling provided enough to live on in the way of vegetables, milk, pigs and pouItry.

  Nesta climbed up behind Gwyn on the back of his borrowed mare and rather tearfully said goodbye to John, who promised to come to Trelech to collect her. 'Our embassy to the west should not take more than about eight days, so as soon as I am freed from my duty, I'll come with Gwyn to collect you and meet your family.'

  John watched her ride off sedately with his officer, taking the road westward around the town until they struck off into the wooded
countryside. He had little fear for their safety, as both spoke Welsh and Nesta was now almost on her home ground - to say nothing of Gwyn's brawny arms, his broadsword and ball-mace. When they were out of sight, he turned back to where Gabriel was patiently waiting. .

  'Right, Sergeant! Let's climb this damned hill to the castle and see what's in store for us.'

  Chapter Twelve

  In which Crowner John returns to Sampford Peverel

  Being back in Exeter again was something of an anticlimax for de Wolfe, but there was so much pending business that he had little time for soul-searching - an activity he rarely indulged in at any time.

  With Matilda still away the house was peaceful, and he hoped it would be at least a few more weeks before she landed again at Topsham. Soon he would ride down there and ask his shipowner friends when they expected their various vessels to return from the Contentin part of Normandy, which was the most likely region of embarkation from St-Lô. It even crossed his mind to go down to Dawlish to see Thorgils the Boatman, who ferried to Normandy most of the wool exports from his partnership with Hugh de Relaga.

  He soon thought better of that, however, as his conscience was telling him that it was only an excuse to see Thorgil's wife Hilda, who intermittently had been John's mistress for many years. Now that his love for Nesta had deepened so much, even the temptation to visit the lovely blonde had to be ruthlessly suppressed.

  Meanwhile, he basked in the quiet of the house, with only Mary and Brutus for company. On the first morning, his coroner colleague from the north of the county called by, as he had personal business in the city - like John, he was a retired knight who had ploughed his campaign winnings into a commercial venture, though he dealt in leather rather than wool. He reported a few cases that he had dealt with for de Wolfe and his clerk sent Thomas a copy of his rolls with details for presentation to the King's justices when they eventually arrived for an eyre.

  After he left, John called upon Henry de Furnellis and had the inevitable cup of wine with him, while he related his doings in Wales.

  'It was something of an anti-climax,' he confessed. 'William the Marshal was a pleasant enough riding companion and the archdeacon was as garrulous and amusing as ever. But the journey was nothing but hard riding for a few days, with not a vestige of trouble to liven it up.'

  'I thought there were plenty of wild Welshmen in those parts, eager to ambush any Norman within bowshot!' said the sheriff.

  'The Lord Rhys had sent one of his many sons with a dozen men to escort us, once we left our settled lands in the south. Gwyn was sorely disappointed at not having any excuse for a fight.'

  'What success did the mission have?' Henry liked to keep abreast of what was going on in the complex politics· of Winchester, London and Rouen. The coroner took a mouthful of wine before answering.

  'I honestly don't know. William Marshal kept everything very close to his chest, but Gerald de Barri looked very glum after a whole day closeted with Rhys ap Gruffydd.'

  'The King and the Justiciar will have to get up very early in the morning to outwit the Lord Rhys, , Henry observed sagely. 'He was a thorn in old King Henry's side, until. they came to an agreement. As soon as Henry died, he went rampaging through South Wales and the Lionheart did very little to stop him.'

  John nodded, and privately he doubted whether William the Marshal's expedition would achieve much in the way of curbing the territorial ambitions of the old Welsh prince. More likely, his unruly sons would eventually be his downfall, not English troops.

  'What about this mess at Sampford Peverel?' demanded the sheriff, his big nose getting more ruddy as he poured a third cup of wine for them both.

  John shrugged. 'I've not had time yet to see if there's anything new from there, but at least there are no reports in the guardroom of any more mayhem from that manor.'

  The lower chamber in the gatehouse was where messages were left for the coroner by reeves and bailiffs from out of the city. There had been a few reports of deaths, but nothing from Sampford. Gwyn was out now, seeking more information about the new incidents, but until he returned later in the day, there was nothing John could do about them. When he went back to his garret above the portcullis chamber, he found Thomas sitting at the trestle table, copying yet more rolls to provide duplicates for the courts. Looking over his shoulder was Eustace de Relaga, who had begun his trial apprenticeship that morning and was following the quill with breathless attention, as if Thomas were penning Holy Writ. His pink cheeks, still with only adolescent down upon them, looked as if they had been freshly scrubbed and his fair hair curled over his neck and forehead like a girl's. Though not nearly as flamboyant in dress as his uncle Hugh, he wore a bright blue tunic under a surcoat of green serge and shoes with fashionably curled, pointed toes. The contrast between his attire and the threadbare black cassock of John's clerk was heightened by their expressions. The young man was eager and enthusiastic, but Thomas de Peyne looked annoyed, his thin lips clamped together as if to prevent him saying something out of place, as the youth prattled on about almost every word that the clerk was putting on the parchment.

  As soon as Eustace saw the coroner, he bobbed his head deferentially and retreated backward across the room, as if in awe of this tall, dark man who hovered over his clerk.

  'Learning the trade already, Eustace?' asked John, trying be jovial. He was never at ease with children and young people - to him they seemed a different breed of mankind.

  The portreeve's nephew began babbling his thanks and protestations of unfailing dedication to his work, which seemed to deepen the grim look on Thomas's features. When the flow had stopped, the clerk asked his master whether he could have a private word, and John sent Eustace off to the hall with a recommendation that he get something to eat and drink.

  'This is his first day, Crowner, but already he's driving me mad!' blurted out Thomas, as soon as Eustace 's footsteps had vanished down the stairs. 'He wants to know every little thing - and he tries to correct my Latin and my penmanship!'

  De Wolfe groaned under his breath. He had seen this coming the moment Hugh de Relaga introduced the idea in the Bush, on the night of Thomas's celebration.

  'He's young and keen, Thomas, you must make allowances for his age.'

  'If he'd just sit and watch, it would be fine,' retorted the clerk. 'But he feels obliged to comment about everything. He gives me an inquisition about the why and when and how of every detail of our work. I'll never get my tasks finished at this rate!'

  John suspected that there was more to this pleading than mere irritation and he sought to reassure Thomas.

  'He's not here to displace you, you know. He's just a big child, wanting to learn so that he can make his way in the world. Don't think for a moment that the portreeve and I have some dark scheme up our sleeves to get rid of you.'

  Somewhat mollified, the clerk fiddled with his goose quill as he stared at the table.

  'I'll not leave you, Crowner. I said that in the Bush and I meant it. I wish to be taken back into the Church more than anything in the world, but ordained clerics can perform many tasks, other than becoming some stagnant parish priest or an obscure prebendary in some distant vill.'

  John patted Thomas's humped shoulder awkwardly. 'I know, lad, and I appreciate it. Let's see what happens after you've been to Winchester. Maybe your uncle can find you some appointment which will still let you assist me, for I don't know how I would manage without you.'

  Thomas glowed inside at this rare praise from his austere master and sighed his acceptance of the irritating Eustace.

  'I'll just have to put up with him, sir. Perhaps he will quieten down after the first flush of enthusiasm passes off.' ....

  'Get him to copy some of these rolls, why don't you?' suggested John, waving a hand at the yellowed tubes of parchment on the table. 'We need duplicates for the commissioners, who are due next month. Give Eustace some of the drudgery - it may cool him down and will give you a chance to see what sort of job he makes of
it.'

  Rather than be present when Eustace returned for a rapprochement with Thomas, the coroner stomped back down the stairs and walked back to Martin's Lane for an early dinner. The bells of the cathedral and the many city churches had not yet pealed out for noon, but he was hungry and knew that Mary would soon have something ready to eat whatever time he appeared. He thought of going down to the Bush for a meal, but decided that Nesta would be in a flurry today, picking up the threads of her business after a fortnight's absence.

  He sat in solitary state in the cavernous hall, birds twittering high in the rafters above him. The fire was lit, but Mary had put only a few logs across the iron dogs, as the weather was still dry and had turned mild, the autumn trying to make up for the atrocious weather of the spring and summer. John poured himself a drink and reflected that his stock of wine had recovered since Matilda had been away. She must have been going at the drink in quite a heavy fashion these past few months, since the trouble with her brother. This brought his thoughts around to Richard de Revelle and he tried to make out what interest his brother-in-law might have in the Peverel family. He knew that he wanted part of their land, but was this sufficient cause for his interference there?