The Elephants of Norwich (19 page)

There was a flurry of activity in the bailey as Roger Bigot marshalled his men before riding out of the castle to continue the hunt. Eager to help in the search, Eustace Coureton volunteered himself and his escort. They were assigned to the group led by the sheriff’s deputy, Olivier Romain. It was a beautiful day. With the morning sun on their backs, the respective parties felt a surge of confidence. They were convinced that they would at last catch their elusive quarry.
    Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret had already left the castle. Accompanied by Ralph’s men, they rode at a comfortable pace in a south-easterly direction. Though he responded willingly to his friend’s leadership, Gervase was puzzled that they had not put themselves at the disposal of the sheriff.
    ‘Why are we riding on our own, Ralph?’ he asked.
    ‘We make more speed this way.’
    ‘Is that why we left before them?’
    ‘It’s part of the reason, Gervase,’ said Ralph, cheerily. ‘I didn’t want us to get too entangled in the search for Starculf.’
    ‘But he’s the man we’re after, surely?’
    ‘Indirectly.’
    ‘I don’t follow.’
    ‘You will,’ promised the other, grinning. ‘We’ll both follow, Gervase. The lord sheriff and his men know this county well, yet they’ve so far failed to capture Starculf. We’ll hunt more wisely. While they charge along the main roads, we’ll follow someone who knows the smaller paths.’
    ‘And who’s that?’
    ‘Jocelyn Vavasour.’
    Gervase was surprised. ‘The anchorite?’
    ‘He’s turned huntsman now and my guess is that he has a keener nose than Roger Bigot and his officers. Find Jocelyn and–very soon – I think we’ll find Starculf.’
    ‘But we have no notion where Jocelyn might be.’
    ‘Yes, we have. Thanks to you.’
    ‘Me?’
    ‘Didn’t you say that he’d been to see Olova as well?’ said Ralph. ‘Before that, I feel sure, he would have repaired to the abbey itself to get full details of the theft.’
    ‘So?’
    ‘We put ourselves in his position, Gervase. We try to get inside his head.’
    ‘That’s a troubled place to be. His mind is beset by demons.’
    ‘They’re driving him on to recover the elephants at the moment. Jocelyn Vavasour was no ordinary soldier, remember. He helped the lord Ivo to flush out Hereward the Wake from the fens. That means he knows how to stalk his prey. My guess is that he’ll have looked under every bush and behind every tree. He’ll certainly have talked to anybody and everybody he met along the way. If we make inquiries, it’s only a matter of time before we pick up news of him.’
    ‘Norfolk is a large county. It could take us all day.’
    ‘I don’t think so. We’ll be crossing land where we know he’s already been.’
    ‘Is that why we’re heading south?’
    ‘South-east, Gervase. Towards the coast.’
    ‘The coast?’
    ‘That’s the way Starculf will be going.’
    ‘How do you know that?’
    ‘I don’t,’ confessed the other. ‘But it’s what I’d do if all the roads were being watched. Even if Starculf slips past a posse and crosses the boundary, the lord sheriff’s writ runs in Suffolk and he has influence in the other neighbouring counties. If he stays on land, Starculf will never be safe.’
    ‘But the ports have been alerted as well.’
    ‘That’s why he won’t make for a port, Gervase. A boat could put out from almost anywhere along the coast. Starculf may already have one in readiness. All I can say is what my instinct tells me. Starculf will travel towards the coast and the anchorite will be on his tail every inch of the way.’
    Ralph’s predictions were soon borne out. When they stopped at a hamlet, they heard that Jocelyn Vavasour had called there the previous evening, asking after a lone man on the run. Having picked up the anchorite’s trail, they followed him due east and soon gathered more evidence of his route from the priest in a village church. They quickened their pace and pressed on. Ralph remembered something.
    ‘I’ve forgotten to give you an apology, Gervase,’ he said.
    ‘For what?’
    ‘Hauling you out of bed so early this morning. I was so anxious to get off that I knocked far too hard on your door. I’m sorry if I disturbed Alys as well.’
    ‘She was already awake.’
    ‘There’s nothing worse than being interrupted at a time like that,’ said Ralph with a smile. ‘No wonder you were so quiet at the start of our journey. I deprived you of the delights of the marital couch.’
    ‘But you didn’t,’ explained Gervase. ‘I was sad to leave because I wanted to comfort Alys. She slept badly last night and felt sick in the early hours. Alys hasn’t been enjoying her food since we got here.’
    Ralph was concerned. ‘Then there’s even more reason to apologise,’ he said. ‘Why didn’t you tell me, Gervase? I could have ridden out with my men and you could have stayed to look after your dear wife.’
    ‘It was Alys who urged me to go.’
    ‘I hate the thought that she’s unwell.’
    ‘She was considerably better when I left, Ralph. But I still worry about her.’
    ‘I hope you have no qualms about bringing her with us. It’s been wonderful for Golde to have such a companion. She and Alys have become almost like sisters.’
    ‘I’m glad that I brought her,’ said Gervase. ‘I just wish that she could start to enjoy the visit to Norwich rather more than she is doing. It isn’t only her ill health that’s upset her; she was horrified by the murder. She’s had nightmares about it.’
    ‘Then let’s do what we can to solve the crime once and for all,’ said Ralph. ‘Then we can get on with our work and your wife can sleep more soundly at night.’
    A mile down the track, they stopped to question an old shepherd who was tending his flock in the bright sunshine. The man was largely inarticulate but he did manage to give them some heartening news. Earlier that morning, someone who sounded very much like Jocelyn Vavasour had passed that way and interrogated him. They were getting closer. It encouraged Ralph to set an even faster pace, collecting evidence of further sightings of the anchorite whenever they paused in a hamlet or met someone on the road. It was afternoon when they finally caught up with him. Ralph raised an arm to bring the troop to a halt. He pointed to a derelict house. ‘That’s where we’ll find him.’
    ‘Can you see him?’ asked Gervase.
    ‘No, but I glimpsed a horse grazing nearby. Its rider must be Jocelyn.’
    ‘Let’s find out.’
    They approached at a trot until they closed in on the dwelling. It was a Saxon hut, long abandoned and almost falling to pieces. Two of the walls had collapsed and very little of the thatch remained. Jocelyn the Anchorite was not pleased to see them. He stepped out of the ruined dwelling and stood with his hands on his lips. ‘What are you doing here?’
    ‘Looking for you, Jocelyn,’ said Ralph. ‘You’re the hound that we knew would pick up the scent.’
    ‘I’m hunting on my own account, my lord.’
    ‘Nobody is stopping you, my friend. We’ll just plod along behind you.’
    Ralph gave the signal to dismount, then got down from the saddle himself. The anchorite saw the determination in their faces and knew that he could not easily shake them off. He elected to confide in them. ‘Starculf is travelling on foot,’ he said.
    ‘How do you know?’ asked Gervase.
    ‘Because he’s been seen by more than one person. Also, he’d have got much further than this if he’d been on horseback. He spent the night here.’
    They followed him into the ramshackle house and looked down at the ashes in one corner. When Jocelyn raked them with his foot, a faint glow could be seen.
    ‘He’s a resourceful man,’ he said, ‘to light a fire in those conditions. It rained hard for most of the night. I should know. I was out in the storm for hours.’
    ‘Wouldn’t it have been dangerous to light a fire?’ said Gervase. ‘In country as flat as this, it could be seen from miles away.’
    ‘Not if it was banked down properly,’ suggested Ralph. ‘He would have lit it to dry himself out, and my guess is that then he cooked something on it.’
    Jocelyn nodded. ‘He did, my lord. I found some small bones.’
    ‘Which way is he going?’
    ‘Towards the coast.’
    ‘I guessed as much. He’ll be travelling very slowly, if he’s on foot. We should overhaul him.’
    ‘That’s easier said than done, my lord. Starculf will be more difficult to spot than he would be on horseback. There are ditches all over this land and lots of other hiding-places to choose from.’
    ‘Then let’s join forces and search them,’ said Ralph. ‘Shall we?’
    Jocelyn the Anchorite hesitated. Irritated that his own pursuit of the quarry had been interrupted, he understood the advantage of additional pairs of eyes. He also had some admiration for Ralph Delchard, who had somehow found him in his refuge. That argued skill and patience on his part. He could be useful.
    ‘Very well, my lord,’ he said at length. ‘But there’s a strict condition.’
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘You can have Starculf–but
I
get the elephants.’
    Ralph needed no time at all to consider the proposition.
    ‘Agreed,’ he said.

Olova was so angry that she waved her fists in the air. Skalp calmly stood his ground.
    ‘He was
here
?’ she said in disbelief. ‘Starculf was here?’
    ‘Only briefly.’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
    ‘There was no need for you to know,’ he said.
    ‘There was every need, Skalp. Think of the danger he put us all in. Everyone is out searching for him. If he’d been caught here, we’d all have been arrested for hiding him from justice.’
    ‘He wasn’t caught.’
    ‘He might have been.’
    ‘He wasn’t, grandmother,’ he asserted, sourly. ‘I hid him too well.’
    ‘From me as well as from everyone else,’ Olova scolded. ‘How could you do such a thing, Skalp?’
    ‘He was our friend.’
    ‘What sort of friend puts us at risk like that?’
    ‘There was no risk. I saw to that.’
    ‘Well, I should have been told about it. Only yesterday, I gave my word to Master Bret that Starculf hadn’t been near us for ages. You turned me into a liar.’
    ‘You told the truth as you saw it.’
    ‘Yet all the time, Starculf was lurking nearby.’
    ‘Somebody had to help him.’
    ‘Why did it have to be you?’
    Her grandson fell silent. He respected Olova and would do her bidding without the slightest complaint most of the time. But he had an independent streak and it had shown itself clearly now. Because she rarely stirred from her hut, he had dared to conceal a fugitive from the law on her land. It shocked her. Olova would have been happier if she had never heard the name of Starculf again. It brought back sad memories for her.
    ‘Why did it have to be
you
?’ she repeated.
    ‘I felt that I owed it to him.’
    ‘You owe him nothing.’
    ‘Yes, I do,’ he said, vehemently. ‘And so do you, grandmother. You were delighted when you heard that Hermer had been killed. I saw the joy in your face. It was Starculf who put that joy there. Don’t forget that. But for him, Hermer would still be alive, doing to other girls what he did to Aelfeva. Is that what you’d have wanted?’
    ‘No!’ she cried in distress.
    ‘You saw what happened to Aelfeva.’
    ‘Don’t remind me.’
    ‘I was the one who found her body, floating in the water,’ he reminded her. ‘That’s what Hermer drove her to, Grandmother. He had Aelfeva’s blood on his hands.’
    ‘I know that.’
    ‘Then you should be grateful to Starculf.’
    ‘I am–in some ways.’
    ‘Hermer deserved to perish,’ he said, harshly. ‘His master took our land from us and he himself took Aelfeva. Was it Hermer who came here to apologise?’
    ‘No, it was Starculf.’
    ‘And because he spoke out, he lost his place.’
    ‘That still doesn’t mean you should have harboured him, Skalp,’ she said, sternly. ‘And you certainly shouldn’t have done so without my knowledge. My property may have shrunk in size but I still own a little land and you get your living from it. That means you’re accountable to me. Do you understand?’
    ‘Yes, Grandmother.’
    ‘Nothing takes place here behind my back.’
    He gave a nod. ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘I’d never have known if one of the children hadn’t spotted a stranger coming out of the bushes. But I do know now, and I realise that you betrayed me.’
    ‘I
had
to help Starculf. He was only here for a night or two.’
    ‘I don’t care if he was here for no more than an hour. He put us all in danger.’
    ‘Starculf put himself in danger for our sake.’
    ‘That was his choice.’
    ‘I couldn’t turn him away.’
    ‘Why not? Is he more important to you than I am?’
    ‘No, Grandmother.’
    ‘Be honest,’ she pressed, glaring at him. ‘Do you put Starculf above me?’
    Head on his chest, he shifted his feet and gave a noncommittal shrug. When he looked up at her again, his face was expressionless and his voice dull. ‘I’ve got to get back to work.’
    ‘Where is Starculf now?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Is that the truth?’
    ‘Yes, Grandmother.’
    ‘What am I to say if they come looking for him again?’
    ‘Nothing,’ he advised, sullenly. ‘Nothing at all.’

Starculf moved more slowly by day, keeping to the ditches or hugging the occasional outcrops of hedgerow. The warm weather was a mixed blessing. Against the pleasure of being dry again he set the danger of being more visible in the bright landscape. Though the fields seemed to be devoid of almost any moving creature apart from sheep, he knew that a sharp pair of eyes could pick him out from a considerable distance. While a posse might not spot him so far off the beaten track, a shepherd or a cottar or someone else working on the land might pick him out and report his whereabouts. He travelled in short bursts, keeping low and running towards the next available cover. He was tired but he pushed himself on, ignoring the water that squelched under his feet in ditches that were still soggy from the previous day’s rain. Birds watched his furtive progress across the countryside and put their comments into plaintive song. A fox was disturbed out of its den. Smaller animals also fled from a man who was himself in flight.
    They were a mile away when he first caught sight of them over his shoulder. Starculf counted nine of them, moving steadily forward in a line that stretched out across a hundred yards or more. The sun glinted off the helms that most of them were wearing. They were methodical. He sank down behind a tree stump to watch them. Under the guidance of the rider at the end of the line, they rode at a brisk trot as they searched for signs of the fugitive’s route. Eventually, one of them stopped near a ditch and called out. The others quickly converged on him. Starculf crawled away on his stomach until sloping ground took him out of their sight. Getting to his feet, he sprinted in the direction of a field of wheat that stood unharvested. They were on to him. He needed a refuge.