The Straw Men (21 page)

‘They are fighting to reach Beauchamp!' Athelstan cried out.

‘The prisoner,' one of the archers muttered. ‘It's the Upright Men; they are after Gaunt's prisoner. God save us.' He added bitterly, ‘Whoever she may be, she will be the death of many a good man today.' Athelstan grabbed him by the arm; the archer turned. Athelstan could tell by the look in the man's face that he had said too much.

‘Don't worry.' Athelstan smiled. ‘I will not report you. The prisoner? You have seen her?'

‘Brother, I trust you. I was in the escort which brought her from Dover. God save us!' The man leaned closer. ‘Don't you realize, Brother, those attackers are our brothers, peasants like me.' He shook his head. ‘I have said too much.'

‘You have told the truth,' Athelstan whispered. ‘God knows, my friend, we seem to live a life where right and wrong merge.'

‘They are breaking through!' another archer yelled. Athelstan stared down. The attackers, tightly packed together, were pushing the defenders back. The danger had been recognized. Men-at-arms, hobelars and archers were gathering before Beauchamp to block its entrance. A futile move as the enemy was moving too fast, while the Tower archers dare not loose lest they hit their own, still closely engaged with the enemy.

‘What can we do?' Rachael wailed.

‘What should we do?' Athelstan retorted. ‘This is not our fight.'

A hunting horn brayed, followed by a trumpet blast. Athelstan hurried across to the other side of the tower. Loud cries of ‘Harrow! Harrow!
Dieu Nous Aide! Dieu Nous Aide!
Saint George! Saint George!' rang out. Men-at-arms, armoured knights, hobelars and archers were now pouring into the inner bailey around Bell Tower. Crown standards and pennants blazed in a riot of blue, red and gold, the royal leopards clear to see. The unexpected reinforcements paused to arrange themselves into battle formation. Archers to the front and flanks, men-at-arms and knights to the centre, they moved forward, a mass of bristling steel. A trumpet blared. They paused. The archers raced forward, war bows strung. Up they swung and a rain of black shafts rose against the grey sky to fall like sharpened hail on the attackers. The Tower garrison, who'd first engaged the enemy, realized what was happening and swiftly retreated, leaving the enemy exposed to another hissing attack. Again and again the arrows rained down. The defenders of Beauchamp also moved forward. More trumpets shrilled. The mass of mailed men gathered just beyond Bell Tower surged forward. Athelstan breathed a prayer, a plea for the souls being so cruelly loosed from flesh and bone. The massacre had begun.

An hour later, summoned by Thibault, Athelstan sat on a stool in St Peter ad Vincula. A Court of Oyer and Terminer had been set up. A great table bearing a copy of the Gospels, a royal standard and an unsheathed sword lay next to Thibault's commission ‘to listen and terminate' Crown matters. The Master of Secrets was the principal judge, Lascelles his associate, Cornelius his scribe. Athelstan realized it was all a pretence. Indeed, according to statute, the rule of law had been suspended. Thibault had been very quick to point out the underlying legal principle, enshrined in the Statute of Treason proclaimed by the present King's grandfather Edward III. Once the royal banner had been unfurled and displayed, all those caught in arms against it were adjudged rank traitors; sentencing was just a formality, gruesome death a certainty. Only a dozen prisoners had been taken. The dying wounded had been roughly tortured, interrogated and then dispatched with a throat-cut from a misericorde dagger. All the prisoners refused to speak, to confess, to accept any pardon or any commutation in return for betraying the Upright Men. Sentence had been swiftly delivered: all faced summary execution. Thibault had asked Athelstan to shrive any who asked for the sacrament. Athelstan's earlier fears were also realized. The release of Maximus had been deliberate, to cause as much chaos as possible before the attack.

‘Some accomplice in the Tower,' Thibault had hissed at Athelstan, ‘killed the keeper, released the chain on the bear and opened the gates.'

‘And Artorius?' Athelstan asked. ‘How . . .?'

‘Slain by a bolt through the forehead; indeed, that's all that remains of him.' Thibault smiled slightly, as if he found it amusing. ‘Just imagine, Athelstan, a savaged head with a crossbow bolt in it. He was killed, the chain released and the doors left open.'

Athelstan closed his eyes and murmured a prayer. The assassin had been very cunning. At first Maximus would have moved slowly, giving the killer an opportunity to escape. Only then would the formidable bear begin to wander, attracted by the smell of blood from his now-dead keeper.

‘Where was Artorius killed?'

‘In the aisle beside the cage. The place is awash with blood.'

‘How did the assassin get in?' Athelstan asked. ‘Artorius was careful.'

‘What does it matter now?' Thibault had declared. ‘Their plans certainly failed.' During the swift trial Athelstan had learnt how Thibault, alerted by Duke Ezra's warnings and perhaps his own spy, had secretly prepared two war cogs, ‘The Glory of Lancaster' and ‘The Blanche of Castille'. They had slipped through the morning mist and used that as a cover to drop anchor off the Tower quayside. Once the tocsin had sounded and the beacons lit, both cogs had disgorged their fighting men to trap and kill the Upright Men. Now the doom. Thibault summoned each of the survivors before him and stripped off their hoods, masks and weapons. Peasants, young and old, striplings as well as veterans, they all proved to be obdurate. They refused to recognize the court, to give their names or say anything about their families or their villages. All ignored Thibault's offer of clemency so all were condemned to ‘
Mort Sans Phrase
' – immediate execution. Once sentence was passed the prisoners were hustled out. Athelstan accompanied each of the condemned. They were forced to kneel on the frozen, snow-covered grass. Athelstan crouched beside each, listening to their litany of sins, trying to provide what comfort he could. He'd whisper the absolution, bless the condemned, rise and step back. The headsman's assistants forced their victim to lie face down on a great log, twisting his head sideways. The executioner, feet apart to steady himself, brought up his great two-edged axe and severed the neck with one savage cut. Athelstan just continued to stare at the ground, whispering the
De Profundis
, moving aside as the blood shimmered across in sparkling red rivulets to soak and warm the ground. The gore-gushing trunk was pushed away, the head doused in boiling water and tossed into a basket to be displayed along the Tower wharf. Athelstan stayed to the bitter end, determined to pray for each soul.

They all died bravely. They betrayed no bitterness towards him but cursed the judge who condemned them. They did whisper a few words about themselves: how in the main they were from Massingham and Maldon in Essex, parishioners of St Oswald's, their priest Father Edmund Arrowsmith. Athelstan kept such information to himself. When the executions were finished, he left that blood-drenched place, pushing through the crowd, ignoring the questions of Samuel and the other Straw Men. Back in his chamber, Athelstan warmed himself over one of the braziers. He gulped some watered wine then lay on his bed, staring up into the darkness. Some time later the latch rattled. Cranston swept into the chamber, doffing hat and cloak and placing a leather sack beside Athelstan's bed.

‘I know what happened. Rosselyn told me. It's like a flesher's yard out there. At least thirty heads. Those killed or executed already decorate poles along the Thames. Thibault is beside himself with glee.' Cranston took a sip from his miraculous wine skin. ‘Stupid bastard! Tensions are rising among the garrison – you know why?'

‘I feel the same,' the friar answered, dragging himself up on the bed. ‘I am a yeoman's son, Sir John, a tiller of the soil, an earthworm. So are many of the archers and hobelars who kill their own kind to protect cruel lords.' Athelstan put his face in his hands.

‘You are down in spirit, Brother.' Cranston clapped him on the shoulder. ‘You deserve better. God knows I've been given that. Today I kissed the Lady Maude and cuddled my two poppets. After that the world didn't seem so terrible.'

‘No, Sir John, it's a beautiful world, just turned and twisted by our sins. Look,' Athelstan paused as the bell of St Peter ad Vincula clanged marking the hour. ‘I don't want to go out there,' he whispered. ‘Not now.'

‘You were saying?'

‘Gaunt has enough wealth in his palace of the Savoy to ensure no one in London starves. There are enough empty comfortable chambers in this city to house all our vagrants. Enough food to feed the starving. Enough cloth to dress the naked. Sufficient religious houses to shelter the sick and witless but we human beings don't think like that. We put the self first, second and third, an unholy trinity against anyone who happens to be our neighbour.' Athelstan sighed. ‘Thus endeth of my homily, Sir John. Let us return to what we are good at. We hunt murderers, trap them, confront them and despatch them to judgement. So, let us begin.' Athelstan got off the bed, picked up the sack and moved across to the chancery table. ‘As I said, I do not wish to leave. I have looked on enough blood. Sir John, I'd be grateful if you would visit the chapel in the White Tower. Summon whoever you can. Try to recreate what happened. I hope to join you there. Perhaps we might also visit the death chamber where Eli died.'

Cranston took another gulp from his wine skin, gathered his cloak and left. The coroner was pleased that his little friend wished to be by himself. That enigmatic friar, like any good lurcher, was casting about for a scent. The hunt had begun!

After Cranston had left, Athelstan emptied the contents of the sack on to the table, the manuscripts from Humphrey Warde's house, ledgers, bills, memoranda and the beautiful calfskin-bound psalter. Athelstan opened this and was immediately intrigued. Warde had been a spicer, and had apparently commissioned this especially for himself. The author and illuminator of the psalter had described the history of spices, especially the mystical qualities of certain herbs and plants as well as the role spices played in Man's constant war against the demons. The miniature bejewelled pictures depicted devils bubbling in a huge cauldron containing, according to the inscription written beneath, oil, resin, garlic, myrrh, cloves and cinnamon. In one picture a flying serpent-devil with scaly wings was being pierced by shafts of henbane and hemlock. Next to this a miniature displayed Satan's eye, huge as a fist, open and luminous, flaring with malevolent life, being assailed by thick clouds of frankincense from a golden thurible. Another picture showed a demon in a shape of a huge slug tortured by the holy oil poured over him while a fellow demon was being showered with sacred chrism. Athelstan read on, fascinated, turning the stiffened leaves as he half listened to the sounds of the garrison and the eerie noises of the Tower. At one point he rose and pulled across the wheeled brazier for greater warmth. He glanced around. The juddering candlelight made the shadows shift and rise as if another world, a secret one, thrived here in this bleak stone chamber. Athelstan rubbed his fingers over the spluttering coals. ‘Yet there is another reality,' he whispered to his own shadow. ‘This straight and narrow place shelters an assassin, a soul throbbing with hatred, who exults in dealing out sudden and mysterious death.'

The attacks on the Flemings he understood, the murder of Warde was brutal yet logical, but why the Straw Men? Athelstan returned to the psalter, leafing through the pages till his eye was caught by an exquisitely illuminated full page picture of Lucifer falling from Paradise. Athelstan stared, shivering at the chill which abruptly seized him. ‘
Jesu Miserere
.' He prayed softly. ‘Jesus, have mercy on us. Is it possible?' Athelstan put the psalter aside and pulled across the bills and memoranda. He sifted through these, searching for items bought and sold while listing Master Warde's customers. Athelstan revised what he had written, looking for a pattern, and eventually found it. He threw the quill pen down, staring at what he had written. ‘Warde was a spy,' he murmured. ‘He was sent into my parish to listen, collect and report, but he was not the hand which wielded the dagger – he was only the glove.' Athelstan beat his breast. ‘
Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa!
My fault entirely, I was too quick to judge those two rogues, God bless them. Watkin and Pike were correct. A Judas man did, and is, sitting at the heart of our community.' Athelstan rose and carefully collected his papers, now determined to join Sir John in the White Tower. ‘I will not tell him my suspicions,' he murmured, ‘not here in this murky, treacherous place where the walls listen and deceit flourishes thick and rich as any tangle of weed.'

Athelstan took his cloak and braved the freezing weather. Night was edging in. Daylight was swiftly fading. The Tower garrison was preparing for sleep. Figures and shapes slid through the ever-present mist. Athelstan glanced towards Beauchamp where torches flared above the doorway, gleaming on the armoured mail of the guards. ‘I wonder who you really are?' Athelstan whispered to himself. He made his way across the icy ground into the White Tower, up the stairs and into St John's Chapel. Cranston, Lascelles, Cornelius, Rosselyn and the Straw Men were gathered there. Athelstan smiled to himself. The coroner had exercised his authority. The chapel itself hadn't changed much since the day of the killing. The heavy tapestry curtains still hung between the pillars on either side, screening off the aisles or transepts where the food tables had stood. The bloodstained turkey carpet and matting had been removed but Hell's mouth still stood wedged into the entrance of the rood screen. On either side of this hung the heavy arras concealing the left and right aisles flanking the sanctuary. Athelstan stared around and, ignoring the hubbub of conversation, walked out of the chapel, down the steps and into the cold darkness of the crypt. He took a cresset from its holder and went along to the far window. He stared at this then crossed to the small recess where Barak's body must have lain. Athelstan was convinced Barak was no assassin. He'd either been killed or felled unconscious here, then swiftly dragged up, the arbalest and war belt used to depict him as such. Those shutters had been opened and Barak's body violently hurled out. He heard raised voices so he walked back up the steps to join the rest in St John's Chapel.