Hugh Corbett 10 - The Devil's Hunt (2 page)

‘Have you shriven him, Father?’

‘He’s refused confession,’ the dusty-faced priest replied, his eyes hard, seething with fury.

Father Luke glanced up at the lord of the manor, studying Corbett’s sallow, clean-shaven face; the black hair streaked with grey; the sharp nose above thin lips. Father Luke held Corbett’s eyes: he knew this clerk, hard on the outside but soft within.

‘You are not going to pardon him, Sir Hugh?’ he whispered. ‘Or lessen his punishment?’ The priest gripped the reins of Corbett’s grey roan. ‘He killed two women,’ the priest hissed. ‘Raped them and then slit them from neck to crotch as if they were chickens.’

Corbett nodded and swallowed hard.

‘And that’s just the start of it,’ the priest continued remorselessly. ‘He’s responsible for other deaths.’ Father Luke pointed at the few villagers who had assembled just after dawn to witness royal justice being done. ‘If you show mercy,’ the priest declared, his hand on Corbett’s knee, ‘every wolfs-head—’ He threw his hand dramatically out towards the forest. ‘Every wolf’s-head will learn from it.’ The priest’s eyes brimmed with tears. ‘I don’t want to bury any more of my flock. I don’t want to have to tell husbands, fathers, lovers that their women were raped before their throats were cut! Hang him!’

‘Do you want his life so badly?’ Corbett replied, his eyes never leaving those of Boso.

‘God does.’ Father Luke turned to the outlaw. ‘Are you ready to die, Boso?’

The outlaw coughed, brought his head back and spat, catching the priest on the side of the face. Ranulf pushed his horse up.

‘How many did you kill, Boso?’

‘More than you’ll ever know.’ Deverell’s eyes shifted back to Corbett. ‘It’s a pity you were at home, lord of the earth! Otherwise I’d have come calling on that flaxen-haired wife of yours!’

Corbett pulled his horse’s head around. He glanced at the villagers, their grimy, brown faces passive; his stewards and bailiffs stood slightly apart from them. Corbett drew his sword and held it up, clasping his fingers round the crosspiece.

‘I, Sir Hugh Corbett, the King’s loyal servant, lord of Leighton Manor, by the power granted to me of axe, rope and tumbril do sentence you, Boso Deverell, to be hanged immediately for the diverse and horrible crimes of murder, rape and theft!’

As Corbett’s death sentence rang out, a strange silence descended upon the crossroads; even the birds in the trees and the rooks circling above the gallows fell silent. Corbett looked at the priest.

‘Father, say a prayer. Ranulf, hang him!’

Corbett turned his horse away and rode back along the track, waiting round the bend behind a fringe of trees. He closed his eyes, gripping the pommel of his saddle. He heard the creak of wheels, followed by a murmur of approval.

‘God have mercy!’ Corbett whispered.

He hated hangings! He knew Boso had to die but it brought back memories: the rain-soaked forests of Scotland with corpses hanging by the score as Edward’s troops crushed the Scottish rebels under Wallace; fields blazing in sheets of flame; villages covered by a thick, heavy pall of smoke; wells choked with corpses; women and children dying in ditches.

‘Thank God!’ Corbett breathed. ‘Thank God! I’m not there!’

‘It’s done.’

Corbett opened his eyes and saw Ranulf-atte-Newgate, his long, red hair hidden under a hood, his white face solemn though the green eyes reflected a task well done.

‘It’s over, Master. Boso’s gone to hell. Father Luke’s pleased and so are the villagers.’ Ranulf straightened up and stared up through the overhanging branches. ‘By dusk the news will be all over Epping. The other wolf’s-heads will learn to leave Leighton alone. And you’ll keep your promise, Master?’

Corbett took the leather gauntlets from his belt and put them on.

‘I’ll keep my promise, Ranulf. Within a week, I’ll issue a Commission of Array. You can take every able-bodied man into the forest and hunt down the rest of Boso’s followers.’

Ranulf smiled.

‘Are you so bored?’ Corbett asked.

The smile died on Ranulf’s face. ‘It’s been three months, Master, since you left the royal service. The King has written to you five times.’ He saw the flicker of annoyance on Corbett’s face. ‘But, yes, I am bored,’ he added hastily. ‘I liked being a royal clerk, Master, busy on the King’s affairs.’

‘As in Scotland?’ Corbett snapped.

‘That was war, fighting the King’s enemies on land and sea - we took an oath.’

Corbett studied Ranulf; his henchman was no longer a stripling but an ambitious clerk. Sprung from the gutters of London, Ranulf had educated himself, and was now skilled in French, Latin and the art of drafting and sealing letters. To put it bluntly, Ranulf hated the countryside and loathed farming, and he was growing increasingly restless. Corbett put his gloves on slowly.

‘I could write letters,’ he offered. ‘The King would take you back in his service. You could hold high office, Ranulf.’

‘Don’t be stupid!’

Corbett grinned. He leaned over and grasped Ranulf’s wrist.

‘When the King’s forces sacked Dundee,’ he said, ‘I saw the corpse of a woman with a child in her arms who could have been no more than three years. How in God’s name, Ranulf, were they the King’s enemies?’

‘So you think the King should retreat? Give up his claims to Scotland?’ Ranulf pulled back his hood and scratched his head. ‘Some of the Royal Justices would rule that as treason.’

‘I just think there’s a better way,’ Corbett replied. ‘The wars have exhausted the treasury. Wallace still leads the rebellion: the King should sit down and negotiate.’

‘Then why not tell the King that?’ Ranulf replied. ‘Why not return to the royal service? Make it clear you will do anything but wage war in Scotland?’

‘Now you are being stupid.’ Corbett gathered the reins of his horse. ‘You know, Ranulf, that where the King goes, his chief clerk must follow and that’s the end of the matter.’

Corbett edged his horse forward. Ranulf cursed, pulled up his hood and followed him.

They were scarcely through the gates leading up to the manor house when Corbett sensed something was wrong. A thatcher, with bundles of straw on his back, stepped to one side and shouted excitedly, pointing up the path. Corbett rode on. Suddenly a figure seemed to leap out of nowhere, jumping up and down, waving his hands. Corbett reined in and stared down at his master of horse, Ralph Maltote, who knew everything about horses but little about human nature. Maltote’s round, boyish face was red and sweaty. He gasped for breath as he clutched the reins of Corbett’s horse.

‘Oh, don’t say another mare’s in foal,’ Ranulf murmured. ‘It’s the only time you become excited, Maltote.’

‘It’s the King.’ Maltote wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. ‘Sir Hugh, it’s the King. He’s here with the Earls of Surrey and Lincoln and others. Lady Maeve is entertaining them. She sent me on.’

Corbett leaned down and patted him on the shoulder.

‘Well, at least it’s not a mare in foal, Maltote - that would be too much excitement in one day.’

Corbett rode on, Maltote trotting behind him. They rounded the bend in the trackway and paused: the broad, pebbled path leading to the main door of the manor was now thronged with men-at-arms, retainers, knight bannerets, all wearing the gorgeous livery of Edward of England. Horses milled about beneath broad banners and pennants bearing the golden, snarling leopards of the Plantagenets, quartered to display the arms of England, France, Scotland and Ireland. Chamberlains and household officials were shouting, trying to impose order. Sumpter ponies were being un-tethered, carts and covered wagons pushed hither and thither.

‘Where Edward goes,’ Corbett sighed, ‘chaos follows.’ He dismounted, throwing the reins of his horse at Maltote. ‘Ranulf, you had best join us.’

He walked up, threading his way through the bustling throng. Now and again one of the knights would catch his eye and greet him, and Corbett would reply. He climbed the steps and pushed through the half-open door. His baby daughter Eleanor was just inside, jumping up and down like a grasshopper, the image of Maeve, her blonde hair falling in tresses to her shoulders. The little girl’s face was bright with excitement at the doll, a gift from the King, clutched in her hand.

‘Look! Look!’ She danced towards Corbett. ‘Look, a goll!’

Corbett crouched down. ‘Eleanor, stay still.’

The small child jumped even more, in and out of his arms, pressing her hot, sticky face to his.

‘It’s a goll! It’s a goll!’

Corbett stared at the costly toy dressed in silken taffeta.

‘You are right.’ He sighed, grasping his daughter’s hand. ‘It’s a goll and reminds me of some of the ladies at Edward’s court.’ He glanced up at the girl’s nurse, hovering close. ‘Keep her safe,’ Corbett whispered. ‘And watch the soldiers!’ He grinned at the perplexity in the nursemaid’s berry-brown face. ‘You will receive many invitations for a kiss, Beatrice,’ he murmured. ‘But any girl who survived Ranulf ...’

The nurse’s eyes took on a more knowing look. She glared furiously at Ranulf.

‘Yes, now you’ve got the right idea,’ Corbett declared. ‘And the Lady Maeve?’

Beatrice pointed to the door now guarded by two men-at-arms with drawn swords. Corbett went across, the man-at-arms opened the door and he entered his main hall. Just inside the doorway clustered a group of knights and royal officials. Corbett paused to greet them.

‘Sir Hugh?’

A tousled-haired, ink-stained clerk pushed his way through. Corbett shook the hand of Simon, one of Edward’s personal clerks. Simon nodded towards the dais where the King and his two earls sat, paying court to the Lady Maeve, still not aware of Corbett’s arrival.

‘It’s good to see you, Sir Hugh.’ Simon licked his lips. ‘The King’s in a good mood - he has received welcome news from Scotland - but his leg hurts and the wound in his side, where he cracked his rib, still pains him. His moods can change at the drop of a coin.’

‘So he has not changed at all?’

Corbett pushed his way through and made his way along the hall. At the table, on the dais, three grey-haired men dressed in travel-stained clothes, their cloaks swung arrogantly around them, only had eyes for Maeve. She sat, queen-like, in Corbett’s chair, her silver hair gathered neatly under a jewel-encrusted wimple, her ivory-pale face slightly flushed as she listened to some story from Henry de Lacey, Earl of Lincoln. On her other side, Edward was urging de Lacey on.

‘Come on, Henry!’ The King pounded the table. ‘Tell her what the friar told the abbess.’

‘Sire!’ Corbett called out. ‘You are not corrupting my wife with your camp-fire stories?’

The King’s head swung round, Maeve looked up.

You look so beautiful, Corbett thought. He noticed her hand resting on a slightly swelling stomach, her fingers running along the golden cord pulled up over her waist.

‘Hugh!’ She would have risen but the King gently forced her back.

‘You should have been here, Corbett.’ The King rose and stretched his massive, thickset body, clawing at the iron-grey hair that framed his face.

You look old, Corbett thought. The King’s face was greyish as if covered in a fine dust, the beard and moustache were unkempt. His heavy-lidded eyes seemed to droop even further as if Edward wanted to protect his soul from any man seeing into it. Corbett bowed.

‘Sire, if I had known you were coming ...?’

‘I sent a bloody messenger!’ The King glared at his servants at the far end of the hall.

‘My Lord, he never arrived.’

‘Then the silly bugger got lost.’ The King wiped his hands on the front of his gown. ‘Or is in some tavern with a wench. Just like you, eh, Ranulf?’ The King forced a smile and he came round the table. ‘I’ve been flirting with your wife, Corbett. If I wasn’t married, I’d kill you and take her myself.’

‘Then two good men would die violently,’ Maeve replied coolly from behind him.

Edward just smiled slyly and extended his hand for Corbett to kiss. Hugh knelt, and the King pushed his hand against his mouth so the ring scored Corbett’s lip.

‘There was no need for that,’ Corbett whispered as he rose.

‘I’ve missed you,’ the King hissed, towering above him. ‘Ranulf!’

Again his hand was extended. Ranulf kissed the ring quickly and stood back before Edward could do further harm. The King glimpsed the anger in Corbett’s eyes. He stepped down from the dais and put his arm round Corbett’s shoulder, forcing him to walk with him down the hall.

‘I missed you, Corbett.’ His grip tightened, pulling Hugh closer so he could smell leather, sweat and the faint cloying perfume of the King’s clothes. ‘I send you letters but you don’t reply. I invite you to council meetings but you don’t come. You are a moody, snivelling bastard.’ Edward’s fingers dug into Corbett’s shoulders.

‘What are you going to do, your Grace?’ His former principal clerk replied. ‘Talk to me or choke me?’

Edward smiled lazily, his hand falling away. He had opened his mouth to speak when the door was flung open and Uncle Morgan ap Llewellyn, dressed rather ridiculously in Lincoln green, with a brown military cloak swirling around him, crashed into the hall, spurred boots jingling. One of the spurs caught in the rushes. Uncle Morgan stumbled and Corbett bit his lip to stop himself laughing.

‘Bloody rushes!’ Morgan swore and immediately began to kick at the offending floor covering. His face was dirt-stained, and large damp patches of sweat were visible on his chest and shirt. He took his cloak off and threw it on the table. ‘Hugh, can’t you afford Turkish rugs ...?’

Morgan suddenly realised whose presence he was in. He almost hurtled towards the King, going down on one knee, brushing back his sweat-soaked hair.

‘Sire, I did not know you were here,’ the Welshman gasped. ‘I was out hunting...’

Edward grasped Morgan’s hand, pulled him to his feet and embraced him.