Dispensation of Death: (Knights Templar 23) Read online

  Simon knew that he was intensely irritated that the lands and buildings should have been used to further enrich the King’s lover. The Temple grounds had been supposed to be given to the Knights of St John, and many were outraged that the King had chosen not to do so. The Bishop clearly felt that if anyone should be rewarded with them, it should be a man from the Church. Simon could guess who he felt would be most deserving. He had begun to understand that Stapledon was not averse to personal enrichment.

  ‘Please, come inside.’

  Simon found himself in a sumptuously appointed hall. Along two walls were huge tapestries displaying the Despenser arms mingled with scenes of hunting. Intricately detailed sections showed Sir Hugh chasing a hart, slaying a boar, standing among a pack of hunting dogs – and the last one depicted him sitting with friends and enjoying a meal.

  ‘You like it?’ he said. ‘I had the full halling from a tapicer in the city. He was very clever, I think, to get so much life into the picture. Don’t you agree?’

  ‘Very good.’

  Despenser glanced at him, but he had other things on his mind than a guest’s apparent disinterest in his hallings. He called for his steward, and soon tables were set out and laid with a series of linen cloths. Despenser himself took the table at the dais, and courteously invited the others to join him, Bishop Walter at his side, Simon and Baldwin opposite. The rest of the men were ranged about tables in the main hall.

  ‘Yes. This was the Prior’s hall, I think. You can hardly imagine the place in those days. I saw it once, you know. There was gold and silver everywhere, and gilt on all the exposed spaces. A marvellous place. Yet when the Order was suppressed, it all just disappeared.’

  ‘Where to?’ Simon asked.

  ‘Christ knows. Perhaps the rumours are true, and they loaded it all onto some boats and flung it into the sea. What do you think, Sir Baldwin?’

  ‘Me? I have no idea. I had thought the King took most of their wealth, just as the French King took that which was discovered in the Paris Temple. If you say that much is missing, though, I will believe you.’

  ‘I do not know. Perhaps you are right,’ Despenser smiled, but there was no humour in his face. ‘So long as none of the illegitimate sons of whores escaped, that is the main thing.’

  Baldwin felt his eye upon him, and had to set his jaw to stop from angrily responding. ‘You think that all were guilty?’

  ‘Perhaps not. But so long as some were, it matters little.’

  ‘It matters a lot!’ Baldwin exclaimed hotly. ‘It is better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man is unjustly convicted.’

  ‘Well, if that is your view,’ Despenser shrugged, ‘at least you may reflect upon the certainty that God will know His own. The innocent will no doubt be there with Him even now.’

  ‘I am sure that not all were evil,’ Bishop Stapledon said, and there was a strength in his tone which Baldwin had not expected. ‘There were very many with whom I had dealings who were entirely honourable. Like most of the other knights Templar.’

  ‘The Pope convicted them of unimaginable crimes,’ Sir Hugh reminded him.

  ‘Oh yes, and then when the Order was destroyed, the same good Pope allowed all those Templars who wished it, the opportunity to go to another religious brotherhood. Some joined the Benedictines, some the other Orders. They were men of honour and integrity.’

  ‘Then why were they arrested?’

  ‘That was much the fault of the French King.’

  ‘Ah, of course,’ Sir Hugh sneered. ‘It’s often down to him.’

  Food arrived, and the party set to with gusto.

  Sir Hugh le Despenser was the first to finish his thick stew, and he took a hunk of bread to soak up the juices as the mess bowls were taken away with their valuable contents to be given as charity at his door. As he chewed, he watched the servants clearing away the dishes, and then said to the Bishop: ‘Did you notice during the candlelit procession that I spilled some wax on my hand? Never a good omen, that.’

  Simon was not credulous, but he did have some superstitions. ‘Where I was born they used to say that if you spilled wax, someone you knew might die.’

  ‘Really?’ Despenser said shortly. Too late, he told himself. Jack was already dead. ‘How interesting. I hope it won’t be my wife. She is with the Queen again today.’

  ‘That was a dreadful event yesterday,’ the Bishop said quietly.

  Despenser looked at him. ‘Dreadful’ hardly covered it. He could still remember that body on the floor behind the throne. Jack, the man on whom he had come to depend so much, because he was the most expert killer, had himself been killed. But by whom? And how? Anyone who could lull Jack and slay him was an enemy to be feared.

  He managed, ‘I agree. One finds it difficult to express one’s horror at such a foul murder.’

  ‘The maid, yes,’ Stapledon agreed.

  ‘It is hard to understand how any man could wish to hurt the Queen,’ Baldwin said.

  His words had an instant impact. ‘You think that?’ Despenser said. Beside him, Bishop Walter winced.

  ‘Surely any man who has taken an oath to obey the King has simultaneously taken an oath to protect his wife?’ Baldwin said.

  Despenser was studying him closely. ‘Perhaps some do not think that she merits such blind devotion?’

  ‘I am surprised to hear you say that, Sir Hugh.’

  ‘Her brother makes it difficult for a patriot to support her. Just as the Bishop pointed out, the French cannot always be trusted. They covet our lands and kingdom.’

  ‘You say that is an excuse for not honouring our Queen?’

  ‘I say that we who have responsibility for the security of the realm have many difficult decisions to make,’ Despenser said. ‘It is like the matter of the Templars – perhaps some, as the good Bishop suggested, may have been innocent. But for the protection of Christianity as a whole, it was essential that they were all arrested, was it not?’

  ‘I could not say,’ Baldwin said. He shifted in his seat. This felt too much like denying his comrades, but if he were to become known as an escaped Templar, it would not serve to aid them. It would only ensure that he was arrested, and likely executed, for no purpose. Then a small flame of defiance flared. ‘I could only say this: that as Keeper of the King’s Peace I have witnessed enough injustices at the hands of the incompetent, the dull-witted and the corrupt. I should not be in the least surprised to learn that some of those who prosecuted the Templars were no better than those I have seen in the last years in Devon.’

  ‘Really? Ah, but of course, you are the same good knight who has been involved in so many interesting cases in Devon, are you not? You were in Iddesleigh last year, I believe, and Dartmouth, too. I seem to remember hearing of you.’

  Baldwin looked at him very directly. ‘You wish to complain about my impartiality?’

  Despenser was expressionless. ‘No, I merely wanted to ensure that you were the man I was thinking of. It is always refreshing to meet someone whose reputation precedes them.’

  Baldwin nodded. He was perfectly aware that this was a warning, but he did not know what he was being warned from. It would warrant consideration. ‘Will your wife attend upon the Queen again tomorrow?’

  ‘Of course. She is with Her Majesty every day.’

  ‘Good. I should like to speak to her as well.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Just to confirm her impression of the figure she saw kill Mabilla.’

  ‘What is there to find out? He was there in the hall.’

  ‘Did we find a cuir bouilli mask to cover his face? No. A green gipon? No again. Cecily was very certain in her description, but it does not tally with the man we found there. I would like to speak to your wife to see what she recalls.’

  ‘I see. Any others?’

  ‘Certainly. I shall also be speaking with Alicia when I have an opportunity.’

  ‘Interesting, that superstition about candles, don’t you think?’ Despen
ser said, still eyeing Baldwin. ‘Do you think someone here at this table will shortly die, Sir Knight?’

  There was a lightness to his tone, as though he was making fun of the superstition, but when Baldwin looked up at him again, he saw only death in the man’s eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Now he knew how Jack had got into the Palace, Ellis set his mind to considering how Jack’s killer could have found him.

  Jack was no easy target. He’d not have spoken of his commission to anyone else. He was far too aware of the dangers of betrayal, especially with a job like this one.

  He had made it from here, the south-western point of the wall, into the passageway that led from the upper gallery in the Queen’s chapel to her solar. But how on earth had he got there?

  Ach, he was wasting his time! He shouldn’t be here running about trying to put himself in the mind of a man who was dead. It would do little to help him find the murderer of his sister … and yet the fact of being busy lent him some comfort, was helping him to concentrate. Very well, then. Concentrate.

  Ellis turned away from the Abbey and stared hard back towards the Old Palace Yard. The new cloister and Queen’s chamber and chapel were ahead of him. He glanced to left and right. The walls here were completely open from the guards at the other walls. There were some parts where the farther guards would have been hard pushed to see too much, and of course their attention should have been directed outwards, away from the palace itself, to keep an eye open for any possible intruders approaching from outside. Someone already on the walkway would have been at an advantage anyway, because many of the guards would see a figure at the other side of the wall and assume it was one of them. In the darkness it would be natural enough.

  Still, if he had to bet, Jack wouldn’t want to walk too far on the walkway. No, he’d try to get down to the ground as quickly as possible. There were stairs over to the left, and a …

  Ellis looked ahead of him. Just in front of him was a small stone building used for storing provisions, and Ellis grinned to himself coldly. That made sense. He had already found a ladder and rope. It would hardly be surprising if he’d found another length of rope. With that a man might let himself down from here, to a place just behind that stone building, so conveniently positioned to conceal someone climbing down the wall.

  He strode along the walkway, down the staircase, and over to the rear of the building. There was a small heap of rubbish there. From the look of it, it was clearly a convenient repository for waste from the kitchens. He found a long stick, and thrust it in about the edges, but found nothing. Then he reasoned that Jack would hardly leave a rope in a damp muck heap. Looking about, he could see no sign of one hidden anywhere else, though – until he looked at the roof of the storage room. Eaves overhung the walls by a significant amount, he noticed. Reaching up beneath the shingles, he found that there was a slight shelf at the bottom, and as he ran his fingers along this, he collected a splinter, and then his fingers met a piece of rough hemp. Excellent!

  From here, Jack would have had just the one route to the Queen’s quarters – across the yard and in by the garden door. Ellis set off in that direction, reaching the door in a few paces. There was a guard waiting there, who watched Ellis as he approached.

  ‘Who are you?’ Ellis asked.

  ‘Richard Blaket.’

  ‘Is the Queen in her cloister? I want to see inside – just for a minute. The murderer who killed Mabilla came in this way, I think,’ Ellis explained. ‘Sir Hugh le Despenser wants to find out how, on behalf of the King, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’

  Blaket opened the door for him, and Ellis entered, but once inside, he paused and looked back at him. ‘That door, is it locked at night?’

  ‘Usually, yes.’

  There was an anxious look to him that told Ellis all. Clearly it hadn’t been, the night Mabilla died. Was that because someone had been making it as easy as possible for Jack to come here? Could he have had an accomplice inside the palace?

  Suddenly Ellis reckoned he was making some headway.

  Baldwin and Simon left the Temple a short while before dusk. To Baldwin, his departure felt like a rout. Despenser had threatened him, that much was quite plain, but Baldwin was unclear what he was being threatened about.

  ‘Do you think it was something to do with Iddesleigh? The damage done to his manor at Monkleigh was bound to have been reported, and then there was the fight down at Dartmouth,’ he said.

  ‘You have never been allied with him.’

  ‘I have never allied myself with any political grouping other than the King,’ Baldwin said fiercely. ‘I demand the right to live in peace with my King. Nothing more.’

  The Bishop had collected his horse and he and his men trotted up to join the two. ‘Sir Baldwin, I trust you enjoyed your meal? Sir Hugh is an excellent host, is he not?’

  ‘Oh, yes. Most courteous,’ Baldwin replied, thinking that it was true, so long as you ignored those brutal, black, unforgiving eyes with the promise of death in them.

  ‘If you do not object, I shall continue to my hall,’ the Bishop said wearily. ‘I shall see you there. After this morning, I think it would be for the best.’

  ‘Of course, my Lord Bishop,’ Baldwin agreed, and the Bishop and his men were soon riding off towards the royal mews at Charing.

  ‘He is a man with a lot on his mind,’ Simon said musingly as the others rode away.

  A thin rain had begun to fall, and Simon and Baldwin both pulled their hoods up over their heads as they walked. Baldwin was wearing a cloak, but Simon only wore his gipon with a hood incorporating a gorget.

  ‘Simon, have you seen any displays like that in Exeter?’

  ‘What, like the mob outside St Paul’s? No, never. Nobody would dare to insult Bishop Stapledon down there. He’s known to be an honourable, decent man back at home. I think it was just the Londoners. You often hear about them attacking the rich and important. They seem to think it’s their job to pull people down a peg or two. I doubt it was more than that.’

  ‘I am not so sure. I heard someone mention the “Eyre”. I wonder whether the good Bishop has sat on an Eyre, or whether he enforced some decision against the interests of the people of London?’

  Simon shook his head. He knew little of any matter outside his own county.

  Baldwin sighed. Out here now, he remembered how he had denied his companions within the Temple; he had run at the first moment when asked for his views on his comrades. It felt shameful. He felt defiled.

  Soon they were back at the Bishop’s house, and they found him sitting up and waiting for them in the main hall. A fire had been lighted in the middle of the floor, and the smoke rose up to the rafters before leaching out between the shingles. It gave the room a warm, homely atmosphere, which was only enhanced when the Bishop’s servant brought out a large jug of wine and three cups.

  Simon took the proffered cup, his eyes fixed upon the Bishop, and was aware of a vague sensation that something was not quite right. He sniffed his cup, but the wine was good, it wasn’t that. The Bishop was watching him closely, and Simon could have sworn that there was a gleam in his eye. It was only when he heard a snigger that he looked again at the servant.

  ‘Rob! What in …’ He quickly swallowed the heretical curse, ‘What are you doing in the Bishop’s uniform?’

  ‘It was my idea, Simon. I thought that his old clothing needed cleaning,’ Bishop Walter explained. It was true – after their journey, Rob’s clothes were both smelly and threadbare. ‘I have many servants here, and the idea of fitting this young fellow out in old clothing seemed not unpleasing. I trust you do not mind?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Simon said, eyeing his servant from the corner of his eye. Rob did look much improved. If Simon didn’t know better, he’d think that Rob had been washed, too.

  ‘Sir Baldwin, Simon, I offer you a toast to the King: may he confound his enemies!’

  The two men drank, then Simon pre-empted Baldwin’
s question. ‘Bishop, what was the matter this morning? The crowd wanted to rip your head off, if I’m any judge.’

  Stapledon grunted and peered at Simon over the top of his cup. ‘You are right, of course. Well, it’s perfectly simple, I’m afraid. Londoners don’t like me at all. It’s because they don’t see the state of the nation’s finances, only what I have to do as Lord High Treasurer.’ He drew in an irritable breath.

  ‘A King cannot finance a war on his own. The cost of paying troops and buying their arms, armour, mounts … in the past, it was easy: a man offered his service to the King, and if the King accepted him, he would provide spending money, food, drink and clothing, and the man would serve the King all his life with honour and fidelity. Now? These days, every man is a mercenary. They come and go depending upon where the money is, and they don’t expect to make any oath, other than, “For as long as Your Lordship pays me”.’ He grunted and shook his head. ‘Well, when I was first Lord High Treasurer, in the fourteenth year of the King’s reign, the King asked to hold a Grand Eyre in the city. He wanted the money. That was what he said, but in truth I think he wanted to punish the city for trying to support Lancaster in the disputes earlier that year.

  ‘The Eyre was held along the same lines as those of King Edward, the King’s father. So all who possessed a franchise of any form must come to open court in the Tower and declare it and prove their ownership with any documents. If they could not prove their right to hold it, the franchise was lost. Men who had the rights found that they were taken away. And all blamed me for it. It was not fair, but then so much in life is not fair!’

  ‘That crowd was determined,’ Baldwin mused. ‘Should you not travel with more men to defend you when you enter the city?’

  ‘Oh, they were just a small mob. They had no intention of harming me seriously. I was just a convenient target this morning. If someone else had been there, they would have attacked him.’ He gloomily drank off the last of his cup and refilled it. ‘What of you, though, Sir Baldwin?’