The Tournament of Blood (44 page)

‘Do not fuss. I shall be perfectly well, if a little sore,’ Baldwin smiled. Then he said thoughtfully: ‘Look at the wounds on Hal and Wymond – and, from what you’ve
said, Benjamin too. All were beaten severely with some sort of blunt instrument. And now we have William
stabbed
. It is a different approach. Then again, a club is definitely a man’s
weapon, whereas a small knife could be a woman’s – perhaps striking in defence rather than in any desire to kill.’

‘You seriously expect us to think that a young woman like Lady Alice could commit murder upon a fellow like William?’ Coroner Roger scoffed. ‘His throat was cut.’

Baldwin reached over to pour himself a cup of wine. He said nothing for a moment or two. Then, ‘Margaret, what do you think?’

‘If I was her, and my lover had been slaughtered in the field, I would be near to insane, knowing that the man who had killed him was now determined to claim me for his wife and claim my
family’s lands for his own. Yes, I could easily kill someone who did that.’

Simon spoke quietly. ‘And how much more hatred would she feel, knowing that her guardian killed her own father in the tilt-yard?’

‘Yes,’ Baldwin said. ‘I have the unpleasant conviction that she would be capable of it. And, so far as we know, she may have had the opportunity to do it, too.’

‘What of the others, though – the men beaten to death?’ Coroner Roger wanted to know. ‘I am more concerned about three rather than resolving one.’

‘A fair comment,’ Baldwin said, rising. Instantly he winced and had to reach out to the wall to steady himself. He waved off offers of support. ‘I am fine. Just very sore.
Come, shall we seek the girl?’

Margaret was left on her own as the three walked slowly, in deference to Baldwin’s wounds, out to the castle’s court. All knew that the ward of Sir John should be at the chapel with
the bodies of her guardian and his son, but when they entered, bowing and kneeling, crossing themselves, and making their way to the altar, they saw that the two hearses covering Sir William and
his father were attended only by a poor man. Lady Alice had not been there, he whispered.

Baldwin led the way to the encampment. At Sir John’s tent they found a man packing clothing. ‘Where is your lady?’ Baldwin asked.

‘Alice? She’s not ours. She’s gone to help Geoffrey’s men.’

‘She won’t come back here, she says,’ a maid somewhat breathlessly assured them.

‘You are?’ Coroner Roger enquired.

‘Helewisia. I was her maid, but now my master’s dead – well . . . I don’t know who is my master now. I’m going back with Sir John’s body.’

‘Why don’t you stay with your lady?’ Baldwin asked. ‘Surely
she
is the one to whom you owe your loyalty?’

Helewisia smiled knowingly. ‘I don’t think she’d want me with her. I was only ever the servant of her guardian. Sir John never trusted her too much. That was why he had me
installed with her. Not that it did him much good,’ she added sadly. ‘She fooled us all.’

‘In what way?’ Baldwin said.

‘She got herself married to Geoffrey, for a start.’

‘Did you ever hear her talk about Hal and Wymond?’

‘Occasionally. She hated them.’

Baldwin shot Simon a look. ‘Why?’

‘Because she blamed them for the death of her mother and baby brother. They were in a stand which collapsed while they watched a fight – and the fight was between Sir John and her
father, Sir Godwin. She blamed them and cursed them. Regularly.’

‘Where is she now?’ Coroner Roger demanded.

‘Up at Geoffrey’s tent, if she hasn’t already left.’

‘That foolish gossip couldn’t find her own arse with both hands,’ Coroner Roger said coarsely as he hurried along the tents. ‘It’s obvious this
wench has nursed a hatred of these men for years – and took her chance for revenge when the whole lot were together.’

Baldwin said nothing. His mind was moving along a different course. ‘What of Benjamin?’

‘What of him? She was probably in Exeter with Sir John and killed him there.’

‘Did his wounds look like the sort to be inflicted by a woman?’

‘He was struck a number of times by a cudgel or something.’

‘Swung with force?’

‘Yes.’

Baldwin nodded. They were at the tent now, a plain and simple campaigning pavilion. Outside was a pair of carts, on to which boxes and barrels were being loaded. Soon Lady Alice appeared in the
doorway.

‘Gentlemen – you wish to speak to me?’

‘Lady Alice, I suspect you to be the murderer of Benjamin Dudenay, Hal Sachevyll, Wymond Carpenter and Sir William of Crukerne,’ Coroner Roger rasped. ‘What have you to say to
that?’

She had paled and now she grasped at a tent-pole as she stared. ‘Me? But why should
I
do such a thing?’

‘To avenge your father, Sir Godwin,’ Sir Roger said. ‘We know he died at the hand of Sir John . . .’

‘Yes. That’s partly why I wouldn’t wed his son.’

‘And the stand in which your mother died was built by Hal and Wymond. You wanted revenge on them.’

‘No! I had nothing to do with them.’

‘And their banker, Benjamin Dudenay, took profit from their building work, so you killed him too.’

‘No! This is all quite mad!’

‘And finally, you stabbed Sir William. Probably because he was trying to force his favours upon you and you protected yourself ?’ Coroner Roger asked hopefully. He would be happy to
allow her an argument of self-defence in that case.

‘This is rubbish! Of course I didn’t! I wouldn’t know how to kill a man!’

Baldwin watched as Coroner Roger hectored her. Her hand was at her throat as if to fend off an attack, but her eyes were wide and alarmed. Every so often her gaze wandered over the men before
her, as if seeking a protector. Suddenly Baldwin was struck with her expression. It was that of a hunted beast. He realised that in a few short days she had lost not only her husband, whom she had
thought would be her protector, but also her legal guardian, no matter how much she distrusted him. She had no family, no one to whom she could turn.

‘Lady,’ he said. ‘Our apologies.’

‘What do you mean?’ the Coroner asked.

‘Look at her! To bludgeon a man to death – that is not the act of a well-bred lady such as Lady Alice here,’ Baldwin said.

‘What of a stabbing? She detested Sir William, she saw him out near the river, and she thrust her dagger in under his ribs.’

‘What would be the purpose?’ Baldwin said. ‘She knew that other men here had heard her husband tell them that he was married to her. Sir William could not demand her hand if
she was to refuse him. Even after Geoffrey’s death, she could have pleaded her widowhood and escaped him that way.

‘Then who committed these murders?’

‘There was one other person who lost his father in Exeter,’ Baldwin said slowly. ‘He watched his father die in front of him, at the hand of Sir John, and then he later suffered
from Hal and Wymond’s work. He fell through the wall of a stand during a fight. Then while he fought for his life, a man tried to help him, but that man was driven off by Sir John again. This
person was left badly disfigured and penniless. He hated and loathed the man who had done so much harm to himself and to his family.’

Coroner Roger gazed at him intently but said nothing. Simon was nodding his head thoughtfully.

Alice broke the silence. ‘Do you mean Sir Richard Prouse?’

‘Yes. Your half-brother, the knight who was so cruelly scarred after his battle with Sir Walter.’

‘Where did you hear he was Alice’s half-brother?’ Coroner Roger asked.

‘Simon told us that Sir Richard mentioned seeing his father die in the tilt. Then Alice said the same, but told us that her mother and brother also died there. Not that many knights die in
tournaments – especially those with the name of Godwin.’

‘And you think Richard could have killed all these fellows?’ Coroner Roger said wonderingly.

‘He has a bad leg,’ Baldwin said, ‘but that wouldn’t stop him swinging a heavy hammer.’

‘It would prevent him carrying a body as heavy as Wymond’s back from the far hill,’ Simon said sensibly. ‘I don’t see him being able to kill
and
bring the
bodies back.’ There was something else wrong, but he wasn’t sure what. ‘I don’t believe he is guilty.’

‘Perhaps you are right,’ Baldwin said. ‘But let us go and speak to him again.’

‘What of me?’ Alice said.

Roger glanced at her. ‘You are free, my Lady. I am sorry that I accused you in error, but you should not leave Oakhampton until these matters are resolved. I may need to speak to you
again!’

‘Thank you,’ she said, but her face still looked haunted as the men left her.

Sir Richard’s tent was a poor, green-stained linen thing that looked as though it had lasted longer than it should. Inside, Baldwin found the knight sipping at a large
cup of wine. He waved a jug expansively. ‘Sir Baldwin! Excellent! And Bailiff Puttock, please come in and celebrate with me. I am drinking your health, really, Sir Baldwin, so it is only fair
that you should be here to share in the wine.’

Baldwin felt a slight tremor as of the early onset of nausea but he swallowed it. The pall of the battle of the previous day had not left him yet. The death of Sir John gave him no satisfaction,
for in some ways it seemed unnecessary – but then he had to remind himself that it was
entirely
necessary. Sir John had challenged Simon and called Baldwin to fight. Baldwin had to
kill him. It was God’s will.

He took the proffered cup and sipped as Sir Richard held his own aloft.

‘Here’s to the bold Sir Baldwin, who defeated Sir John, the killer of my father.’ He drank deeply and with gusto. ‘Sir Baldwin, thank you for finally avenging my father
– something I couldn’t do myself.’

‘Are you sure you couldn’t?’ Baldwin said.

Sir Richard smiled uncomprehendingly. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Did you murder Hal and Wymond and Benjamin as well as Sir William?’ Coroner Roger barked.

‘Me?’ There was surprise on the ruined face, but Baldwin was sure that there was a faint amused smile as well. ‘How could I have done that?’

Baldwin reached forward and topped up his cup. There was silence as he filled it. Then he set the jug down again. ‘This is ridiculous. We have three dead because of their part in building
stands. Another man has died – Sir William – and
his
father perished because he tested himself in battle before God. How many more will die in this tourney?’

‘Are you accusing me?’ Sir Richard said.

‘Do you have an alibi for any of the evenings when these men died?’ Coroner Roger asked.

‘Of course I do. I was here.’

‘Who was with you? Who will confirm that?’

‘Not many like to share their evenings with a cripple who looks like this,’ Sir Richard said sadly. He stood and limped towards a wine barrel. Setting the jug on the floor, he turned
the tap. His right hand remained in his belt.

Simon looked at Baldwin, who caught his glance and nodded. ‘How could a man pick up a corpse with only one arm? And yet sometimes a man with one arm will be as strong as another with
two.’

‘And how do I show you to be wrong?’ Sir Richard enquired. ‘If I demonstrate that I cannot even pick up a sack of grain, you will simply say that I was deliberately trying to
conceal my strength.’

Simon shook his head. ‘I am sorry to have troubled you, Sir Richard. We thought we had the perfect suspect, but you are not the right man.’

Sir Roger was about to protest that he was not so convinced, when the mournful bell began to toll in the castle.

‘What in God’s name?’ he burst out.

Baldwin stood, wine slopping unnoticed from his cup. ‘Good God, not another death!’ He stared miserably at Simon. ‘Will there never be an end to all this?’ He felt he
could endure no more.

Sir Roger was already out of the tent and haring up the well-trodden track to the castle.

‘Who now?’ Simon said. He, too, had had more than enough.

‘Perhaps the murderer has murdered himself,’ Sir Richard said, settling himself comfortably on his chair. ‘But in the meantime, Sir Baldwin, I shall sit here in contemplation
and drink your health again. Godspeed!’

Two new corpses were already outside the chapel by the time Simon and Baldwin appeared. Margaret was in the doorway to the hall and Simon and Baldwin went to her side. When he
looked up, Simon saw Lord Hugh standing on the path that gave up to the keep. He appeared to be listening carefully.

‘Was your master the kind of man to commit suicide?’ Coroner Roger said to the first witness, Sir Walter’s bottler, beckoning a clerk to take notes.

‘No, sir. He would have rejected such a dishonourable way out. However, he had just learned about his wife.’

‘What of her?’

‘He believed she had taken a lover. That she was adulterous.’

‘Lady Helen?’ Coroner Roger said doubtfully, and looked at Simon.’

Simon stepped forward. ‘Yesterday, while I investigated the death of Sir William, I questioned a groom. He told me that Lady Helen had been walking with Sir Edmund. Sir Walter overheard
us. He may have jumped to the wrong conclusion.’

‘I see. Is Sir Edmund here?’ Coroner Roger asked the assembled jury.

‘I am here,’ said Sir Edmund. For once his manner was subdued. He looked to be in a state of shock.

‘What do you have to say about this?’ Coroner Roger demanded, waving at the two bodies on the ground before him.

‘I know nothing of it.’

‘Were you involved in adulterous congress with this man’s wife?’

‘No, I was not.’

‘You didn’t decide that if she wouldn’t allow you to seduce her, no other man would enjoy her? You didn’t kill her, and then slaughter her husband?’

‘No, I did not! As God is my witness, I would never have harmed a hair of her head. I loved her. I was engaged to be married to Lady Helen when I lost a bout against Sir Walter and Sir
John six years ago. Afterwards I was forced to flee and attempt to rebuild my fortunes. While I was abroad, she lost faith in me, thinking I would not return, and wedded Sir Walter. I met her to
try to persuade her to join me, but she wouldn’t. She insisted that she had legally given her vows to this monster and wouldn’t consider breaking them.’