Wolf Wood (Part Two): The Dangerous years (26 page)

The role of double agent was not a happy one. Steven lay in his cot and wondered about the future. If things worked out badly, he could become trapped between two warring sides. Both would think he was working for the other. Neither would trust him and his own family would come to hate him. It was not a happy thought.

The temptation to cut and run was compelling. He played with the idea and rejected it. There was no turning back. He had committed the sin of pride and others had suffered. His mother had taught him how to behave. She had her own way of looking at the world and had suffered for it. She believed in Jesus and Mary but didn't believe in the Church. She said that how you behaved in this life would determine what happened to you in the next.

She said that God didn't listen to silly old priests. You should forget about them. Weak people went to priests and begged forgiveness. They gave money for indulgences and that did more harm than good. The only way to expiate sin was to do something to overcome the bad you had done.

His sin was to play the clever donkey. He thought he was so clever to have listened in to Cunningham and Queen Margaret. He thought they were stupid because they had left the ends off their listening tubes. That wasn't stupidity that was carelessness. Cunningham had a brilliant mind and Margaret was no fool. She might have a nasty nature but that wouldn't stop her from being a formidable adversary.

Cunningham had sent him to Westminster to spy on the House of York. His real mission was to spy on the House of Lancaster. Steven resolved to stay with it until Lancaster was completely and utterly destroyed. Only then would he have made amends for his sin.

***

T
he technique was called "
following from in front"
. Agents trailing a suspect ran the risk of being detected. One way round the problem was to anticipate the suspect's movements and get ahead of him.

Robin wondered if Steven had detected the agent who was following him from in front. He saw the man before he saw Steven. He came into the stables and pretended to examine one of the horses. Steven arrived shortly afterwards. He was dressed for riding.

'Sir Robin.' He grasped Robin's hand. 'I am delighted to see you again.'

Robin noticed that Steven had assumed the dress and mannerisms of the royal court. He had also leant their exaggerated form of speech. He wondered what the people at Wolf Wood would think if they could see and hear him now.

'You have grown since I last saw you, Steven.'

'And you look even more distinguished, Sir Robin.'

Steven pointed to the
Falcon and Fetlock badge
on Robin's coat. It was bordered with gold thread and identified him as a senior officer in the ranks of the Duke of York.

'And you look very smart, Steven.'

Robin released himself from the young man's grasp and pointed to a white stallion, saddled and ready for riding.

'I have chosen a fine mount for you, Steven. The grooms tell me that you have ridden him before and he is one of your favourites.'

'That is most considerate of you, Sir Robin.'

Robin wondered if Steven would stop calling him
Sir.
In the past he called him
Uncle Robin.

They rode into the park and Steven's mood changed. Robin expected him to relax but he didn't. Instead of chattering on in a courtly fashion, he seemed short of words. When he eventually spoke, the plumy tones of Westminster were replaced by the nasal twang of the Norman garrison. He sounded more like the Steven of old.

'There's something you should know, Robin.'

He forced out the words. Robin felt like a priest waiting to hear a confession. Steven glanced around before continuing. He spoke in a half-whisper as if the trees had ears.

'Cunningham sent me … you know who I mean?'

'You are referring to the royal spymaster?'

'I call him RW because of how he speaks.'

'I am aware of how Sir Matthew speaks, Steven.'

'He wants me to spy on you, Robin.'

'Is that so?'

'He spent half the night coaching me, telling me what to do. He gave me detailed instructions.'

'What were these?'

'He wants me to be a double agent.'

'Did you agree?'

'I agreed to offer my services to you as a spy. He said he would feed me information and I would gather as much as I could about what you are doing.'

'Was Sir Matthew aware that we had attempted to contact you with a similar offer, Steven?'

'Yes,'

'Gareth Pritchard's son, David, approached you. He spoke about getting letters to Ludlow and was immediately arrested. Isn't that right?'

'Yes.'

'Did it never occur to you or Cunningham that we might want to know what happened?'

'Cunningham talked about that. He said you were bound to ask me and he told me what to say.'

Robin reined in his mount.

'Go On.'

'He said I should tell you that David made a big hash of it. I didn't know whether he was from you or the palace. When he was arrested I knew he was from you. I got so angry with what they did to him that I decided to come to you and say I'd be your spy.'

'And that's not how it happened?'

'No. But it wasn't much different.' Steven's eyes filled with tears. 'I told them about David. I really thought he was a palace spy and Cunningham was testing my loyalty. Queen Margaret wanted to recruit me as an agent. That's what I wanted. Then I could gather a heap of information about them and find a way of getting it to you …'

Robin listened as Steven told him about the listening tube. What he said sounded convincing but his body spoke more loudly than his words. Tears streamed down his face as he recalled seeing the bodies of Gareth and David displayed on the river bank. Robin hoped they weren't being watched. Even from a distance it would be obvious that the young man was deeply distressed. There were royal spies everywhere and no shortage of people who would turn informer if offered a suitable incentive.

He had no doubt that Steven was telling the truth. His immediate problem was to return him to a state of composure where he would not attract attention. The next step would be to draw up a plan of action. There was no hurry. The struggle with Lancaster could drag on for years. To have an agent like Steven in the enemy's camp was too good an opportunity to miss.

They continued through the park. Steven gave the names of recent visitors to Windsor. People who had expressed loyalty to York were sneaking round to the castle to speak with Queen Margaret. Some were already under suspicion. Others came as an unpleasant surprise.

In the space of an hour, Steven supplied far more information than Robin had anticipated. He was already proving himself a valuable addition to his team. But his services carried a terrifying responsibility. If anything went wrong. Steven could suffer the same fate as David.

Robin didn't doubt that Steven was aware of the terrible risk he was taking. That did nothing to calm his fears. He had known the Gascoignes his entire adult life. They were like family to him. The thought of Steven suffering an agonising death was mortifying.

For a while, he had suspected that Steven had been seduced by the glamour of court life. Now he knew otherwise. Steven was a credit to his parents. One day they might know the risk he was taking. For the present, their son's role would remain a closely guarded secret. Alice and Harald would not be told. Steven had insisted on that.

Interlude

O
n Christmas Day 1454, the royal doctors announced that their treatment had enabled the king to make a complete recovery and he was now restored to full health. Henry appeared before his adoring court saying he remembered nothing of the sixteen months during which he lived in a stupor. He embraced his infant son, Edward, praising God and saying that he must be a true child of the Holy Ghost. This reference, to a heavenly power, fuelled speculation that Henry was not the child's father. However, his failure to deny paternity during Margaret's pregnancy was enough to convince Parliament of the child's legitimacy.

Early in February 1455, Henry appeared in Parliament and read a prepared speech in which he thanked the members for their loyalty and dismissed the Duke of York from the office of Protector of the Realm. Within weeks, The Duke of Somerset was released from imprisonment and confiscated property was returned to loyal supporters of the House of Lancaster.

York left London in disgust and withdrew to Sandal Castle, his stronghold in Yorkshire. For the greater part of a year, he had ruled England wisely and without favour. He had stamped out corruption and waste of public money. In the process, he won the hearts and minds of ordinary people but made enemies amongst the landed classes. His wife's brother, the Earl of Salisbury, and her nephew, Warwick, remained firmly on York's side but most of the aristocracy favoured the House of Lancaster.

Sandal

M
aud looked down into the castle garden. It was April and the trees were getting their first leaves. In Ludlow, they would be out by now. She didn't like Sandal. It was cold and bleak and the people spoke with such strong accents you could hardly understand what they were saying. And it wasn't just the accents. They had words you'd never heard before. Half the time, they sounded like they were speaking a foreign language.

And it wasn't just the cold and the funny accents that put her off Sandal. There were other reasons for not liking the place. Most of all, she didn't like it because the snooty Salisbury girl was there. Her name was Katherine and she was after Edward again. You could tell that from the way she hung around him. She wouldn't let him get out of her sight.

Katherine was a real pain. She kept saying how handsome he was. How big and strong he was. Things like that. She never stopped and her mother was no better. She egged her on. There was no need for them to be at Sandal. It wasn't as if the Earl of Salisbury didn't have enough castles of his own. They could have stayed in a different castle every night if they had wanted.

It was pretty obvious that Katherine's mother wanted her to marry Edward. That shouldn't happen. They were cousins. Auntie Alice said that was why King Henry was mad. His parents had married their cousins and people who did that had babies that didn't come out right. There was a law to stop it but if you paid enough money the pope said it was alright. That was ridiculous but you mustn't say so because the pope was meant to be infallible ... whatever that meant.

Edward was down in the garden with the other boys. They were practising with their weapons and Katherine was watching. She was dressed in a fur gown and wore a fur hat. The gown and hat came from Sweden. They were made from the coats of animals that lived in the forests and would have cost a fortune.

The boys were stripped to the waist and whirling war clubs around. That built up muscles. Edward had big muscles. He was now thirteen and growing fast. His voice had changed too. He was beginning to sound like a man and was already as tall as a lot of men. Her father said he would grow into a giant.

Maud didn't take that literally. She figured that Edward would be big but not big like giants. It helped to be big if you were an earl. You were expected to fight. That was King Henry's problem. He was expected to lead men into battle but he was a weedy little toad and scared of fighting.

She was growing up too. Her breasts were developing. Edward had teased her about them. He did that to the girls. That made them blush. Not all of them, of course. Some girls liked it. Edward's father didn't like him to behave like that and nor did his mother. Duchess Cecily was very strict. Maud was pleased she was not her daughter.

She wondered about the duke and duchess. She was a tall, aristocratic-looking lady. He was short and rather stout. A lot of important men kept mistresses. Maud's mother said Duke Richard was not like that. He and Duchess Cecily were happily married.

Mistresses were like wives but not churched. Her mother said some men had them because they were forced to marry people they didn't like. That was a problem Edward could have. He hated Katherine but his parents were trying to make him like her. If he didn't agree, he could be disinherited. Edmund would then be duke when their father died. Maud had a feeling that Edward wouldn't be too fussed if that happened.

The good part was that, if he was forced to marry someone he didn't like, then he could take a mistress. Auntie Alice had been Uncle Harald's mistress once. It was all very complicated but she was married to him now. Maud wondered what it would be like to be a mistress. Far worse things could happen to you. It had worked out alright for Alice. If your man was like Edward it could be very nice.

Her father appeared in the garden. He was wearing his captain's uniform and had a young man with him. The young man looked about three years older than Edward but was the same height. Maud had the impression that he was going to be introduced to Edward. Then it seemed that they had just come to watch.