Devil's Acre (20 page)

I decided to take the shroud
back with me to the prior’s lodge and confront Samson with it convinced he must know what was going on. But when I got there I found the place in uproar with servants rushing about packing everything up. At the heart of the tumult was Samson barking out his orders.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked as I walked in.

‘We’re leaving.’

I stepped aside for a man carrying Samson’s vestments.
‘This is a bit sudden isn’t it?’

‘I’ve discussed it with Maynus
,’ said Samson. ‘There’s nothing more we can do here. Our continued presence is becoming an embarrassment. And Lord William wants us gone. We’ve outstayed our welcome. It’s best for all that we go as soon as possible.’

‘But father, how can we leave when Ralf’s body is still missing?’

He stopped. ‘Oh, haven’t you heard? It’s been found.’

I nearly fell forward
. ‘Ralf’s body has been found? Where? When?’

Samson gestured
to Maynus to answer while he continued packing.

‘Brother Lambert found it,’ said the prior clearing his throat. ‘As to where...’ He gave one of his
exaggerated Gallic shrugs.

‘I can guess. In the old chapel.’

Samson stopped what he was doing. ‘What do you know about the old chapel?’

I recounted what the grave-digger
and Tomelinus had told me - without mentioning names.

‘I thought we agreed you were not to leave the priory grounds?’

‘The chapel is in the priory grounds - just.’

Samson
shook his head disconsolately at me. ‘This vagrant - I take it he’s your friend Tomelinus again?’

‘Possibly
,’ I conceded.

‘
And you say he
heard
the body being deposited? How exactly does one
hear
a body?’

‘He heard them struggling with
it.’

‘
I see. And when these monks had left, he crept out of his hidey-hole, this charlatan gong-scourer who tricks people with magic stones in soup and frogs in boxes, to discover the body lying there?’

‘Not exactly.
’

‘Oh?
Why not?’

‘It had gone.’

Samson snorted. ‘How convenient. I doubt the body was ever in the old chapel.’

‘T
his was found there.’ I held up the shroud letting it unfold dramatically to the floor.

Samson fingered the material.
‘Very nice. It looks valuable. I expect your charlatan friend stole it. Still, it will come in handy when we leave.’

It took me a moment to follow what he was saying. ‘You mean you want us to move the body -
again
?’

Samson held out his hands.
‘Well he can’t stay here, can he? Not after what’s happened.’

I pursed my lips.
‘Where is it now?’

Samson indicated Maynus again.

‘We thought it best to place them in the priory church before the high altar,’ said the prior, ‘where they can come to little harm - and where they can do little harm.’

‘
They? We’re taking both
bodies? Jane and Ralf?’

‘It’s what they would have wanted,’ said Samson. ‘Don’t worry. The prior has offered us the loan of a cart. We won’t have to struggle with mules
this time.’

‘This is
madness!’

‘
Not at all, it makes perfect sense. We’re removing ourselves and the cause of the distress at one and the same time. I don’t know why you’re making such a fuss, Walter. You were right all along. Ralf should never have been brought in the first place. And I don’t blame you entirely for Jane’s death -’

‘Blame
me
for her death?’

‘Of course. If you hadn’t been messing around with the grave and got
the poor woman fired up she might still be alive. So now we will return with them both and leave the poor folk of Acre to get on with their lives. Maynus is going to hold a public service in the priory church this afternoon. As soon as that’s over we will be off.’

‘
You mean us to travel today?’

‘No point in delaying. I’m sure everyone will be glad to see the back of us.’

Too fast, it was all happening too fast again. I felt I was being catapulted along as I was before. This time I was going to make a stand.

‘No father.’

‘What?’

‘We are not leaving today - at least,
I’m not.’

Samson’s eyes narrowed. ‘Must I remind you yet again of your oath of obedience?’

I was beyond oaths. All I knew was that I couldn’t go along with this. I was quite determined. He must have seen it in my face. I was digging in my heels. It was up to him to make the next move. For a moment no-one said anything while the servants got on quietly with their work tiptoeing around us.

Maynus coughed lightly from his corner. ‘Maybe
Frère
Walter
is right, Sam. It’s getting late. The weather looks...inclement to say the least. There is no sense in risking life and limb for the sake of a few more hours. It will take a while to drag out our old wagon and make it properly road-worthy in any case. Let us all get a good night’s sleep. God willing in the morning we will wake refreshed with clearer heads - and a whole day to get to Thetford.’ He beamed at each of us in turn.

Samson
continued to glare at me but eventually he nodded. ‘Very well,’ he said slowly. ‘But we leave tomorrow morning at first light. Agreed?’

Of course I understand
now fully why he was so anxious for us to leave that day and had I known the whole truth I might even have agreed with him. He really had only himself to blame. But what neither of us could have known was that those few extra hours would have consequences far beyond our petty little squabble - and very nearly cost us both our lives.

Chapter
23

IN DEADLY PERSUIT

Word
of the service spread quickly in a town anxious for answers, and well before the appointed hour the nave of the priory church was packed with townsfolk coughing, shuffling and snuffling nervously. I had expected the Warennes to send a representative flunky just to keep an eye on their interests. What I hadn’t anticipated was for them all to turn up in force. Lord William led the way with all three sisters escorted this time by their husbands.

And what a curious
bunch they were: Maud’s husband, Henri d’Estouteville, a decade her junior and something of a dandy. Isabel’s Gilbert de l’Aigle, considerably older than Isabel and looking every bit the old campaigner. Finally Adela’s cuckolded husband William Fitz William seemed barely out of the nursery. Standing dutifully to one side and looking as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth was young Richard. I glared at him across the width of the nave but if he noticed he gave no indication. Nicholas was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t surprise me. Given his propensity to embarrass I doubted whether he was often seen in public. No sign either of the countess who presumably remained in the castle with the bed-ridden earl.

Taking c
entre stage in this little drama and lying on trestle tables in front of the altar were its two chief players: Jane, whose thawed-out remains had been cleaned up and wrapped in a plain linen shroud, and next to her the newly-recovered body of Ralf enveloped once again in Sister Angelina’s beautifully embroidered shroud. You could be forgiven for thinking they might at any moment sit up and take a bow. Given Ralf’s recent history I was slightly nervous that he might do just that. Nearby and overseeing all with inscrutable passivity sat Brother Lambert. I should dearly have liked to know what was going on behind those impenetrable grey eyes of his.

When all was ready the service began. As this was Maynus’s church it was only fitting he should lead. Prayers for the dead were followed by a spoken mass at the climax of which the forearm of Saint Philip the Apostle was ceremoniously brought from its reliquary and shown to the people. The effect was profound. Many knelt, others crossed themselves while some wept tears of joy. All surged forward to be a little nearer the sacred relic and to breathe in the vapours of its power - it’s not often the town’s holy protector is so conspicuously exposed to public scrutiny.

Once the saint had been
settled on the altar top Maynus sat down. Now Abbot Samson rose to address the assembly beginning with a blessing:

‘I offer my own prayers for the souls of these two
departed people. May God bless them and cause his face to shine upon them.’

We all joined in with the Ame
n.

W
e waited to hear the great man speak, the air crackling with anticipation of what he might say. I was hoping I might at last hear what all this was about.

He
surveyed the sea of faces before him, then began:

‘My children. You know why we are gathered here today. The tragic events of the past few days have filled me with heart-felt regret. I am conscious that they have come about since our arrival in
Acre...’

Behind him came a gruff “hear hear”
from Lady Isabel’s husband, Sir Gilbert de l’Aigle.

‘...which is why I intend to put matters right and relieve you of this troublesome burden.’

‘How?’ Another voice, this time from the back of the nave.

Samson acknowledged it. ‘I will tell you. As you can see the cause of your anguish has been recovered.’ He indicated Ralf’s remains. ‘The creature is now subdued and we intend to remove it entirely from your midst
and ourselves along with it. After today you will have no more to fear from the Revenant and no further discomfort from us.’

‘How do we know the creature won’t return?’

Samson had clearly been anticipating this question: ‘I assure you, my friend, the creature’s powers have been neutralized and it is now harmless, by the grace of God and Saint Philip. But to be certain we will take other precautions. When we leave Acre we intend to do so by a circuitous route.’

This was news to me and caused a good deal of muttering among the assemblage.

‘What good will that do?’ came another voice. There were murmurings of agreement among the crowd.

‘It will confuse the creature so that even if it does recover its former strength it won’t know which way is the right way to return.’

‘So it may be let loose in the fields?’

‘I assure that will not happen,’ Samson insisted.
‘We go this very day, and in so doing we thank you for your forbearance and hope that when next we return it will be in happier times. I leave you with the blessings of Saint Philip and Saint Edmund both of whom I know will watch over you.’

That was it. He had finished. I must say I was disappointed but I could see why he
would want to keep his address as short as possible. The questions coming from the people were rousing feelings which might spill over if he’d gone on any longer. As he sat back down I saw the perspiration on his forehead.

‘Precautions father?’
I whispered.

‘Have faith brother,’
he whispered back.

Now Lord William got to his feet and as he did so the congregation instantly hushed.
Like Samson he swept his eye round the assembled ranks of townsfolk but I got the impression it was more of a warning glance than a conciliatory one:

‘I thank the lord abbot for his reassuring words,’ he began softly. ‘We can only hope that with his departure life will return to normal. But
I cannot forget that a week ago we were a contented, happy town. Now women hide in doorways and children are afraid to play in the street. Meanwhile the crops wither in the fields and cows go un-milked in the pastures.’

It was all a great exaggeration, of course. Few children would be playing out in the kind of weather we’d been having lately, nor were there any crops in the fields at this time of the year to wither. But he had a point: normal life had been disrupted for which we were largely to blame.

He held up his hand for silence. ‘However, we cannot allow such matters to dominate our thoughts. There is another monster looming, one that will pose an even greater threat not just to us here in Acre but to the entire realm of England. I speak of course of that deceitful viper, King Philip of France!’

At the mention of Philip’s name there was some hissing
and murmuring. One or two of the French monks began to look a little uncomfortable.

William
now began to pace across the width of the aisle. ‘Even as I speak the tyrant’s forces are massing on our borders. But you need not tremble my friends for I bring you good tidings. Within a few days my brother knights here assembled and I are to depart for Normandy to join a great host summoned thence by our sovereign lord the king and together we will smash the enemy,’ which he demonstrated by smashing one fist into the other. ‘So let us leave behind our trivial concerns and make ready for the fight. In the name of the king!’ and he punched his fist into the air.

Now I could see why Lord William’s three brothers-in-law were here for
while he was speaking they had risen to their feet and surrounded him in a show of military unity. The aging Gilbert de l’Aigle glowered around the congregation, took out his sword which he had concealed beneath his tunic and waved it aloft, to the consternation of Prior Maynus.

‘What do we say, lads? Hoorah for Lord William and down with King Pup!’

This got the expected response:

‘Hoorah for Lord William!’

‘To France!’

‘For King John!’

There followed a spontaneous outburst of applause.

I must admit Lord William’s words did lift the spirits. Even I was swept along and very nearly applauded
too. After so many days of gloom and uncertainty it was good to have an enemy we could see at last. Ralf and the Revenant were all but forgotten. Many of the young men of the town wanted to volunteer on the spot. They crowded around the clerk who had miraculously appeared with a scroll and a quill to take names. Gilbert de l’Aigle beamed and strutted up and down the line thumping boys on the back as they made their mark:

‘
That’s the spirit! Good man! Brave fellow! Well done!’

I, too, received
an invitation but it was from the Lady Adela. She was holding something out to me: a purse of money.

‘
It’s for you, brother. In compensation for your puppy.’

‘Thank you, my lady. But really there is no need.’

‘Then gift the money yourself in alms.’ She lowered her voice. ‘You haven’t forgotten your promise have you?’

Actually, with all that had gone on over the past two days, I had
forgotten it.

‘I will do my best, my lady.’

She nodded. ‘And now I have another message for you - from my mother, the countess. She wishes to see you.’

I looked
round to see where Samson was but he was locked in conversation with Lord William. He surely would not give me permission.

I turned back to Adela.
‘When?’

‘Now.’

To my disappointment there was no sign this time of Simone. Instead I was escorted by the same steward who had waited on the countess in the falconry - and not to the falconry this time but into the main edifice of the castle. No ceremony either, only the briefest of body-searches to make sure I wasn’t concealing a weapon and then up to the lobby on the first floor where the countess was waiting for me. She seemed nervous, not at all the self-assured matriarch I’d met on my first visit. My physician’s impulse was to ask what the problem was for there surely was one.
I came to the conclusion that she simply had too much on her mind: her husband’s illness, the disquiet in the town, and of course her son’s impending departure to war in France, for despite the discord between her and Lord William no mother can relish the prospect of a son going into battle.

‘Thank you for coming, Brother Walter.’

I bowed. ‘Always a pleasure my lady.’

‘I doubt that. You don’t yet know why you’re here.’

She began pacing the floor. She was clearly in some considerable mental turmoil. After a moment she seemed to recover enough to continue:

‘Master Walter, I won’t
mince my words. You suspect the abbot of misdeeds and me of colluding in them.’

I must admit her boldness shocked me. ‘My lady, I assure you -’ I began but she
waved me silent:

‘
None of your politing, this is not the time. I have brought you here to tell you you are to drop your suspicions and obey the abbot without argument.’

I bridled at that. For a week I had been biting my tongue and keeping my thoughts to myself but I could do so no longer.
It poured out of me like bile from a sponge:

‘
My lady, you wish me to speak plain. Very well, I will: I do indeed suspect the abbot of unspeakable crimes and you of some collaboration in them. I have tried not to believe it, to make excuses, to find alternative explanations. But as the days have progressed I have become more and more convinced that my suspicions are correct. Most recently they have been corroborated, partially at least, by others who will remain nameless but whose word I have no reason to disbelieve. These are matters for higher authorities than me. The only thing that has stopped me acting on them is my knowledge of the man. But that may change once we have returned to Suffolk.’

She listened to my
bold little speech in silence. By the time I finished I was breathless. For a moment she said nothing but just looked at me blankly. I flatter myself that the great lady had never been spoken to in quite such bald terms before. Now I was about to find out if I would live to tell of it.

For a moment she said nothing
as though devouring my words. When she did speak it was almost a whisper:

‘
Now hear me, monk. Ever since you got here you have been asking questions, why you are here, why your learning has not been required. I can tell you now that the moment is fast approaching when your skills will indeed be put to the test. But the abbot fears that when that moment arrives your suspicions of him may cause you to hesitate which is why you must - damn!’