Authors: J.E. Moncrieff
“His name is Sir William Spence, My Lord.”
A quiet murmur echoed around the room and John found himself admiring the courage of the young farmer who appeared only in his mid-twenties at the most.
“Sir William Spence,” the Duke replied, smiling. “Well it just so happens to be that Sir Spence stands in court right now. Sir William? Would you care to come through and speak for yourself?”
At that invitation, the crowd parted and an elegant looking, middle-aged man stepped through the space with his black hair tied tightly back and the light of the window catching the fine details of his tunic. He was the complete contrast to the rotten and starving farmer before him.
“My Lord,” Spence said as he bowed before Richard. “This peasant farmer approached me personally and demanded I leave his land. He approached me directly, and as my guards stood in his way, he attacked. He was blasphemous and violent, and he dared to attack a member of this country’s nobility. My Lord, I have no doubts that he would even be so rash as to assault you.”
“He’s lying!” Brierly shouted in panic. “He’s lying and he knows it. Spence, you filth! Tell him the truth!”
“How dare you raise your voice in my court and speak to a knight of this country in that manner!” interrupted the Duke again. “The land remains forfeit. Spence is to retain his rights.”
“My Lord, please?” Brierly called, stepping closer to the Duke. My Lord, you mustn’t, please?”
“Do not approach me you fool. Guards, take him down to the hold and leave him there while I decide what to do with him.”
“No!” Brierly screamed as he pushed away the first guard who went near him and punched the second. He was instantly rushed by a group of soldiers who tackled him to the floor and beat him with their gloved fists in front of the entire court.
Jake stepped forward as Brierly cried out from beneath them but John quickly stopped him with a hand. Spence caught sight of the movement and raised his eyebrows as his eyes met with John’s. He tilted his head to the side in mock question then smiled slyly as John looked away.
Brierly was dragged away as the Duke slouched back into his crooked position and met Spence’s eye.
“Bloody peasants,” he said over the shouts and grunts fading into the distance. “You are dismissed with thanks, Sir William.” Bowing his head, Spence backed away smiling and faded through the crowds to where he had come from.
“Rougemont!” called the usher suddenly, making them jump.
John and Jake approached the Duke and both knelt on one knee, bowing their heads low before standing again to speak.
“My Lord,” said John. “I, Sir John de Rougemont and my brother Sir Jake de Rougemont travel from the eastern borders of France where our family has lived and developed since the reign of King Stephen. We are Englishmen, My Lord, and we come to develop our relationship with the Royal Court of London and with our fellow English noblemen.”
“I see,” said the Duke. “Well, welcome to England and to London, Sir John. Being born into the nobility you have status here. But tell me, why should I be grateful to receive you in my court? What can you do for me?”
John didn’t hesitate in answering while Jake continued to look at the feet of the would-be King.
“My Lord, my brother and I have kept peace in Eastern France and its borders for our whole lives. My brother in particular is an extraordinary swordsman and is extremely skilled in empty-handed combat. We command many soldiers under my house, and we would fight for you tomorrow if requested.”
“I see. And what if I had a disagreement with France? Could I trust you?”
“We are Englishmen, My Lord, and we are from the far reaches of the country, north of the Alpine mountains; far from the French King and his armies. It is time for us to come home.”
The Duke watched them with interest for a moment and nodded to himself.
“What can you do for my country, gentlemen? How can we benefit from you?”
Charlotte bit her lip from the back as David shifted uncomfortably next to her. John spoke as though only he and the Duke were in the room and she was awestruck at his confidence in role. It was as though he had no idea the entire room watched keenly and silently behind him as he spoke on with Jake respectfully as still as stone beside.
“There are great delights developing where we travel from, My Lord. The areas surrounding us in Jura and Champagne have some of the finest grapes and wines in the world. The trade routes that span north of the Alpine mountains but never reach these shores deal with the most remarkable silk and wool you will find. The development of the pocket timepiece is in advanced stages through both Switzerland in the East and Burgundy to the South. With a communication fixed to the French mountain borders from here, we can bring trade through our associations in all of these products.”
“Very well, Rougemont,” the Duke said kindly. “I see from your own garments, you have access to fine material and tailoring. Welcome to my country and my court.”
John and Jake bowed deeply and backed away, relieved. Heading back through the crowd, they side-stepped their way through as all eyes turned to them and almost made it back to Charlotte and David when they were stopped by a large man with a thick, dark beard that almost completely obscured his mouth when he spoke.
“Sir John, Sir Jake,” his booming voice announced as he extended his hand and the noise grew loud again around them. “Lord Edmund Courtridge,” he added. “It’s a pleasure to have you with us.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here,” said Jake.
“Is it really?” Courtridge asked. “This country is undergoing changes as we speak. It’s very odd that you just, turn up now.”
“Yes, well now was right for us, but thank you for your curiosity.”
“I see. Well I’ll see you both,” Courtridge said, smiling as he turned his back on them and walked back to his small group of men.
Jake watched him move as the crowd parted for him and he caught the eyes of Sir Spence in his group as he did so. The dark-looking knight fixed Jake with a discerning glare and smirked viscously as they watched each other for a moment.
“Come on,” said John quietly, urging Jake away. “We’ll get to see them again.” He lightly tugged his young colleague’s arm and they continued on through the crowd to Charlotte and David.
Fifteen
“That was fantastic!” Charlotte squealed as they stepped into their apartment. John smiled back and put his arm around Jake in relief. They’d bitten their tongues for the entire walk north of the Tower and each let out a huge sigh as they finally locked the door behind them.
“Come on then, tell me all about it,” Chris said, excitedly, completely unaware of all that had happened.
“John nailed it, Chris,” she replied. “He got us into the castle and dazzled Duke Richard with tales of ‘men and riches from the east’! We’re in the court, mate, and we can get to work.” She grinned at Jake who smiled back affectionately before turning more serious.
“But what now?” he asked. “It’s not exactly an ideal intro, is it? Courtridge is suspicious of us and that Spence is a villain who’s got an issue with me already for some reason. Convincing them to even like us isn’t going to be easy, let alone trust us and let us into their plan.”
“That’s why we’ve got the best agent in the military! We’ll get there, I’m sure of it. We’ll just have to change their minds.”
“But this is medieval treason, Char. They know what’s at stake here and it’s not a ten-stretch in Pentonville or even twenty in the Bangkok Hilton. It’s the murder of all their families, forfeiture of fortunes, and torture of every body-part before a painful, public execution. It’ll take forever to crack into those two.”
“Not necessarily. I reckon you’ll be in tonight.”
“Yeah cheers for the vote of confidence, but we have to be serious.”
“I’m not joking, asshole,” she replied with sufficient defensiveness to get John’s attention.
“Go on, Charlotte,” he said. “Tell us what’s happening. What have you done?”
“You told us to network? Well we did,” she said smiling, knowing she was going to impress them. “We got talking to a short bloke while you were waiting.”
“Bronze top?”
“I’d say copper, but yeah that’s him, the chap with the blonde hair.”
“Samuel de Lyons? How can he help?” asked David who’d been with her throughout the meeting.
“His dislike of Spence was clear, yet he was an associate of Courtridge’s. I think we can use his dislike to get into him and on into Courtridge.”
“He didn’t seem to know him any better than anyone else,” David said, looking confused.
“Well he wouldn’t, would he? Chris, pull up my pictures from yesterday would you?” Chris’s fingers whipped around his ten-inch screen as he found the files and handed the tablet back. As the shots appeared in front of them, Charlotte took control and quickly scrolled through the thumbnails in concentration.
“Ah, here we are,” she said, enlarging one picture. “Here is our new friend Samuel de Lyons.”
“Oh look at that,” John replied. “Sammy with our friend Edmund, they look pretty close.”
“Pretty close? That’s an important meeting if ever I saw one,” Jake added. “So he’s in with Courtridge. Ok, we’ll try to use him if he’s sweet on you Char.”
“Close with Courtridge?” Charlotte mocked. “What’s wrong with you men?” she exclaimed, gaping at their blank faces. “Look what he’s holding!” She rolled her eyes as they squinted at the scene together until slowly, one by one, light dawned in their eyes.
“The diary,” John said. “That’s the bloody diary!”
“Finally!” gasped Charlotte. “I saw him with it yesterday and snapped away. I didn’t know who he was, but then he met up with who we thought was Mr Courtridge and I got a few pics!” She sat back smiling as they beamed at her, impressed. “I know, I know. I’m a genius.”
“Charlotte, you’re a diamond,” said John. “Thank you, thank you. Your work has given us a great lead. Now all we need to do is get back to the court and get chatting. We’ll look for him in town in the meantime and...”
“Hang on,” Jake interrupted. “Miss Genius over here said tonight.”
They glanced around as Charlotte sat grinning at her little game.
“Charlotte?” John asked. “Come on...” he teased.
“Ok, just before we left, I’d gotten to chat closely with Samuel. We talked about our relocation to London and nice places to live here. We talked about where he lives, and well, he described to me how to find it. We can go round there tonight!”
“Well I am impressed,” John said, “but we can’t just go round there out of the blue.”
“But we must. I can’t lose my grandmother’s locket,” she said smiling and David gasped in memory.
“You sneaky little minx,” he exclaimed. “I wondered why!”
“Why what?” asked Jake.
“I let him look at my locket as you came over. Then I left quickly without getting it back.”
“You’ve been planning all this without us?” John asked, grinning.
“You had enough to worry about.”
“You really are a genius,” Jake finally said, hugging her tightly, “a genius!”