Cadfael put away his medicines very thoughtfully. He asked mildly: “And you knew him by his horse again? What was so notable about it?”
“The size and colour. A great, gaunt, striding beast, not beautiful but strong, and dappled clean through from creamy belly to a back and quarters all but black.”
Cadfael scrubbed at his blunt brown nose, and scratched his even browner tonsure. “And the man?”
“A young fellow hardly older than I. Black-avised, and a light build to him. All I saw of him this morning was the clothes he wore and the way he rode, very easy on what I should guess might be a hard-mouthed brute. But I saw his face tonight. Not much flesh, and bold bones, and black eyes and brows. He whistles to himself,” said Torold, surprised at remembering this. “Very sweetly!”
So he did! Cadfael also remembered. The horse, too, he recalled, left behind in the abbey stables when two better and less noticeable had been withdrawn. Two, their owner had said, he might be willing to sacrifice, but not all four, and not the pick of the four. Yet the cull had been made, and still he rode one of the remaining two, and doubtless the other, also, was still at his disposal. So he had lied. His position with the king was already assured, he had even been on duty in today’s raiding. Very selective duty? And if so, who had selected it?
“And you thought he had seen you cross?”
“When I was safe hidden I looked, and he’d turned my way. I thought he’d seen me moving, from the corner of his eye.”
That one, thought Cadfael, has eyes all round his head, and what he misses is not worth marking. But all he said to Torold was: “And he halted and stared across at you, and then rode on?”
“I even thought he lifted his bridle-hand a thought to me,” owned Torold, grinning at his own credulity. “By that time I doubt I was seeing visions at every turn, I was so wild to get to Godith. But then he just turned and rode on, easy as ever. So he can’t have seen me, after all.”
Cadfael pondered the implications of all this in wonder and admiration. Light was dawning as dusk fell into night. Not complete darkness yet, simply the departure of the sun, afterglow and all, leaving a faint greenish radiance along the west; not complete dawn, but a promising confirmation of the first elusive beams.
“He can’t have, can he?” demanded Torold, fearful that he might have drawn danger after him all too near to Godith.
“Never a fear of it,” said Cadfael confidently. “All’s well, child, don’t fret, I see my way. And now it’s time for me to go to Compline. You may drop the bolt after me, and lie down here on Godith’s bed and get an hour or so of sleep, for by dawn you’ll be needing it. I’ll come back to you as soon as service is over.”
He did, however, spare the few minutes necessary to amble through the stables, and was not surprised to note that neither the dapple-grey nor its companion, the broad-backed brown cob, was in its stall. An innocent visit to the guest hall after Compline further confirmed that Hugh Beringar was not there in the apartments for gentlefolk, nor were his three men-at-arms present among the commonalty. The porter recalled that the three retainers had gone forth soon after Beringar had ridden in from his day’s duties at the end of the hunt, about the time that Vespers ended, and Beringar himself had followed, in no apparent haste, an hour or so later.
So that’s how things stand, is it? thought Cadfael. He’s staked his hand that’s it’s to be tonight, and is willing to stand or fall on his wager. Well, since he’s so bold and so shrewd to read my mind, let’s see how good I am at reading his, and I’ll stake just as boldly.
Well, then: Beringar knew from the first that his service with the king was accepted and his horses safe enough, therefore he wanted them removed for some other purpose of his own. And made a fellow-conspirator of me! Why? He could have found a refuge for himself if he’d really needed one. No, he wanted me to know just where the horses were, available and inviting. He knew I had two people to deliver out of this town and out of the king’s hold, and would jump at his offer for my own ends. He offered me the bait of two horses so that I should transfer the treasury to the same place, ready for flight. And finally, he had no need to hunt for his fugitives, he had only to sit back and leave it to me to bring them to the grange as soon as I could, and then he had everything in one spot, ready to be gathered in.
It follows, therefore, that tonight he’ll be waiting for us, and this time with his armed men at his back.
There were still details that baffled the mind, If Beringar had indeed turned a blind eye to Torold’s hiding-place this evening, for what purpose? Granted he did not know at this moment where Godith was, and might choose to let one bird fly in order to secure its mate also. But now that Cadfael came to consider all that had passed there was no escaping the possibility, to put it no higher, that throughout, Beringar had been turning a similarly blind and sparkling eye to Godith’s boyish disguise, and had had a very shrewd idea of where his missing bride was to be found. In that case, if he had known Godric was Godith, and that one of FitzAlan’s men was in hiding in the old mill, then as soon as he had satisfied himself that Cadfael had recovered the treasure for him he could simply have gone in force and gathered in all three prizes, and delivered them to a presumably delighted and grateful king. If he had not done so, but chosen this furtive way, it must mean something different. As, for instance, that his intent was to secure Godith and Torold and duly hand them over for his reward, but despatch FitzAlan’s gold, not back to Shrewsbury, but by his own men, or indeed in person, to his own home manor, for his own private use. In which case the horses had been moved not only to fool a simple old monk, but to transfer the treasure direct to Maesbury in complete secrecy, without having to go near Shrewsbury.
That, of course, was all supposing Beringar was not Nicholas Faintree’s murderer. If he was, the plan differed in one important aspect. He would see to it that though Godith went back to bait the trap for her father, Torold Blund was taken, not alive, but dead. Dead, and therefore silent. A second murder to bury the first.
Altogether a grim prospect, thought Cadfael, surprisingly undisturbed by it. Except, of course, that it could all mean something very different. Could, and does! or my name is not Cadfael, and I’ll never pick a fight with a clever young man again!
He went back to the herbarium, settled in his mind and ready for another restless night. Torold was awake and alert, quick to lift the bolt as soon as he was sure who came.
“Is it time yet? Can we get round to the house on foot?” He was on thorns until he could actually see and touch her, and know that she was safe and free, and had taken no harm.
“There are always ways. But it’s neither dark enough nor quiet enough yet, so sit down and rest while you may, for you’ll have a share of the weight on the way, until we get to the horses. I must go to the dortoir with the rest, and to my bed. Oh, never fret, I’ll be back. Once we’re in our own cells, leaving is no great problem. I’m next to the night-stairs, and the prior sleeps at the far end, and sleeps like the dead. And have you forgotten the church has a parish door, on to the Foregate? The only door not within the walls. From there to Mistress Siward’s house is only a short walk, and if it passes the gate house, do you think the porter takes account of every citizen abroad somewhat late?”
“So this girl Aline could very well have gone to Mass by that door, like the rest of the laity,” Torold realised, marvelling.
“So she could, but then she would have no chance to speak to me, and besides, she chose to exert her privilege with Courcelle, and show the Flemings she was to be reckoned with, the clever girl. Oh, you have a fine girl of your own, young Torold, and I hope you’ll be good to her, but this Aline is only just stretching her powers to find out what she’s worth, and what she can do, and trust me, she’ll make such another as our Godith yet.”