World Without End (23 page)

Ralph was in the stable yard, with the rest of Earl Roland's entourage. Their horses were saddled, ready to begin the two-day journey back to Roland's residence at Earlscastle, near Shiring. They were waiting only for the earl.

Ralph was holding his horse, a bay called Griff, and talking to his parents. 'I don't know why Stephen was made lord of Wigleigh while I got nothing,' he said. 'We're the same age, and he's no better than I am at riding or jousting or fencing.'

Every time they met, Sir Gerald asked the same hopeful questions, and Ralph had to give him the same inadequate answers. Ralph could have borne his disappointment more easily had it not been for his father's pathetic eagerness to see him elevated.

Griff was a young horse. He was a hunter: a mere squire did not merit a costly warhorse. But Ralph liked him. He responded gratifyingly well when Ralph urged him on in the hunt. Griff was excited by all the activity in the yard, and impatient to get going. Ralph murmured in his ear: 'Quiet, my lovely lad, you shall stretch your legs later.' The horse calmed down at the sound of his voice.

'Be constantly on the alert for ways to please the earl,' Sir Gerald said. 'Then he will remember you when there is a post to be filled.'

That was all very well, Ralph thought, but the real opportunities came only in battle. However, war might be a little nearer today than it had been a week ago. Ralph had not been in on the meetings between the earl and the wool merchants, but he gathered that the merchants were willing to lend money to King Edward. They wanted the king to take some decisive action against France, in retaliation for French attacks on the south coast ports.

Meanwhile, Ralph longed for some way to distinguish himself and begin to win back the honor the family had lost ten years ago - not just for his father, but for his own pride.

Griff stamped and tossed his head. To calm him, Ralph began to walk him up and down, and his father walked with him. His mother stood apart. She was upset about his broken nose.

With Father he walked past Lady Philippa, who was holding the bridle of a spirited courser with a firm hand while she talked to her husband, Lord William. She wore close-fitting clothes, which were suitable for a long ride but also emphasized her full bosom and long legs. Ralph was always on the lookout for excuses to talk to her, but it did him no good: he was just one of her father-in-law's followers, and she never spoke to him unless she had to.

As Ralph watched, she smiled at her husband and tapped him on the chest with the back of her hand in a gesture of mock reprimand. Ralph was filled with resentment. Why should it not be him with whom she was sharing such a moment of private amusement? No doubt she would if he were lord of forty villages, as William was.

Ralph felt that his life was all aspiration. When would he actually achieve something? He and his father walked the length of the yard then turned and came back.

He saw a one-armed monk come out of the kitchen and cross the yard, and was struck by how familiar the man looked. A moment later, he remembered how he knew the face. This was Thomas Langley, the knight who had killed two men-at-arms in the forest ten years ago. Ralph had not seen the man since that day, but his brother Merthin had, for the knight-become-monk was now responsible for supervising repairs to the priory buildings. Thomas wore a drab robe instead of the fine clothes of a knight, and had his head shaved in the monkish tonsure. He was heavier around the waist, but still carried himself like a fighting man.

As Thomas walked past, Ralph said casually to Lord William: 'There he goes - the mystery monk.'

William said sharply: 'What do you mean?'

'Brother Thomas. He used to be a knight, and no one knows why he joined the monastery.'

'What the devil do you know of him?' William's tone showed anger, although Ralph had said nothing offensive. Perhaps he was in a bad mood, despite the affectionate smiles of his beautiful wife.

Ralph wished he had not begun the conversation. 'I was here the day he came to Kingsbridge,' he said. He hesitated, recalling the oath the children had sworn that afternoon. Because of that, and because of William's inexplicable annoyance, Ralph did not tell the whole story. 'He staggered into town bleeding from a sword wound,' he went on. 'A boy remembers such things.'

Philippa said: 'How curious.' She looked at her husband. 'Do you know what Brother Thomas's story is?'

'Certainly not,' William snapped. 'How would I know a thing like that?'

She shrugged and turned away.

Ralph walked on, glad to get away. 'Lord William was lying,' he said to his father in a low voice. 'I wonder why.'

'Don't ask any more questions about that monk,' Father said anxiously. 'It's obviously a touchy subject.'

At last Earl Roland appeared. Prior Anthony was with him. The knights and squires mounted up. Ralph kissed his parents and swung himself into the saddle. Griff danced sideways, eager to be off. The motion made Ralph's broken nose hurt like fire. He gritted his teeth: there was nothing he could do but endure it.

Roland went up to his horse, Victory, a black stallion with a white patch over one eye. He did not mount, but took the bridle and began to walk, still in conversation with the prior. William called out: 'Sir Stephen Wigleigh and Ralph Fitzgerald, ride ahead and clear the bridge.'

Ralph and Stephen rode across the cathedral green. The grass was trampled and the ground muddy from the Fleece Fair. A few stalls were still doing business, but most were closing, and many had already gone. They passed out through the priory gates.

On the main street, Ralph saw the boy who had given him a broken nose. Wulfric, his name was, and he came from Stephen's village of Wigleigh. The left side of his face was bruised and swollen where Ralph had repeatedly punched him. Wulfric was outside the Bell Inn with his father, mother, and brother. They appeared to be about to leave.

You'd better hope you never meet me again, Ralph thought.

He tried to think of some insult to shout, but he was distracted by the sound of a crowd.

As he and Stephen rode down the main street, their horses stepping adroitly through the mud, they saw ahead of them a mob of people. Halfway down the hill, they were forced to stop.

The street was jammed by hundreds of men, women, and children shouting, laughing, and jostling for space. They all had their backs to Ralph. He looked over their heads.

At the front of this unruly procession was a cart drawn by an ox. Tied to the back of the cart was a half-naked woman. Ralph had seen this kind of thing before: to be whipped through the town was a common punishment. The woman wore only a skirt of rough wool secured at the waist by a cord. Her face, when he could see it, was begrimed, and her hair was filthy, so that at first he thought she was old. Then he saw her breasts and realized she was only in her twenties.

Her hands were bound together and attached by the same rope to the back end of the cart. She stumbled along behind it, sometimes falling and being dragged writhing through the mud until she managed to get back on her feet. The town constable followed, vigorously lashing her bare back with a bullwhip, a strip of leather at the end of a stick.

The crowd, led by a knot of young men, were taunting the woman, shouting insults, laughing, and throwing mud and rubbish. She delighted them by responding, screaming imprecations and spitting at anyone who got near her.

Ralph and Stephen urged their horses into the crowd. Ralph raised his voice. 'Clear the way!' he shouted at the top of his voice. 'Make way for the earl!'

Stephen did the same.

No one took any notice.

To the south of the priory, the ground sloped steeply down to the river. The bank on that side was rocky, unsuitable for loading barges and rafts, so all the wharves were on the more accessible south side, in the suburb of Newtown. The quiet north side bloomed at this time of year with shrubbery and wildflowers. Merthin and Caris sat on a low bluff overlooking the water.

The river was swollen with rain. It moved faster than it used to, Merthin noticed, and he could see why: the channel was narrower than formerly. That was because of the development of the riverside. When he was a child, most of the south bank had been a wide, muddy beach with a swampy field beyond. The river then had flowed at a stately pace, and as a boy he had floated on his back from one side to the other. But the new wharves, protected from flooding by stone walls, squeezed the same quantity of water into a smaller funnel, through which it hurried as if eager to get past the bridge. Beyond the bridge, the river widened and slowed around Leper Island.

'I've done something terrible,' Merthin said to Caris.

Unfortunately, she looked particularly lovely today. She wore a dark red linen dress, and her skin seemed to glow with vitality. She had been angry at the trial of Crazy Nell, but now she just seemed worried, and that gave her a vulnerable look that tugged at Merthin's heart. She must have noticed how he had been unable to meet her eye all week. But what he had to tell her was probably worse than anything she had imagined.

He had spoken to no one about this since the row with Griselda, Elfric, and Alice. No one even knew that his door had been destroyed. He was longing to unburden himself, but he had held back. He did not want to talk to his parents: his mother would be judgmental and his father would just tell him to be a man. He might have talked to Ralph, but there had been a coolness between them since the fight with Wulfric: Merthin thought Ralph had behaved like a bully, and Ralph knew it.

He dreaded telling Caris the truth. For a moment he asked himself why. It was not that he was afraid of what she would do. She might be scornful - she was good at that - but she could not say anything worse than the things he said to himself constantly.

What he truly feared, he realized, was hurting her. He could bear her anger: it was her pain he could not face.

She said: 'Do you still love me?'

He was not expecting the question, but he answered without hesitation. 'Yes.'

'And I love you. Anything else is just a problem we can solve together.'

He wished she were right. He wished it so badly that tears came to his eyes. He looked away so that she would not see. A mob of people was moving onto the bridge, following a slow-moving cart, and he realized this must be Crazy Nell being whipped through the town on her way to Gallows Cross in Newtown. The bridge was already crowded with departing stallholders and their carts, and the traffic was almost at a standstill.

'What's the matter?' Caris said. 'Are you crying?'

'I lay with Griselda,' Merthin said abruptly.

Caris's mouth dropped open.
'Griselda?'
she said unbelievingly.

'I'm so ashamed.'

'I thought it must be Elizabeth Clerk.'

'She's too proud to offer herself.'

Caris's reaction to that surprised him. 'Oh, so you would have done it with her, too, if she'd suggested it?'

'That's not what I meant!'

'Griselda! Dear Saint Mary, I thought I was worth more than that.'

'You are.'

'Lupa,'
she said, using the Latin word for a whore.

'I don't even like her. I hated it.'

'Is that supposed to make me feel better? Are you saying you wouldn't be so sorry if you'd enjoyed it?'

'No!' Merthin was dismayed. Caris seemed determined to misinterpret everything he said.

'Whatever got into you?'

'She was crying.'

'Oh, for God's sake! Do you do that to every girl you see crying?'

'Of course not! I was just trying to explain to you how it happened even though I really didn't want it to.'

Her scorn got worse with everything he said. 'Don't talk rubbish,' she said. 'If you hadn't wanted it to happen, it wouldn't have.'

'Listen to me, please,' he said frustratedly. 'She asked me, and I said no. Then she cried, and I put my arm around her to comfort her, then - '

'Oh, spare me the sickening details - I don't want to know.'

He began to feel resentful. He knew he had done wrong, and he expected her to be angry, but her contempt stung. 'All right,' he said, and he shut up.

But silence was not what she wanted. She stared at him in dissatisfaction, then said: 'What else?'

He shrugged. 'What's the point in my speaking? You just pour scorn on everything I say.'

'I don't want to listen to pathetic excuses. But there's something you haven't told me - I can feel it.'

He sighed. 'She's pregnant.'

Caris's reaction surprised him again. All the anger left her. Her face, until now taut with indignation, seemed to collapse. Only sadness remained. 'A baby,' she said. 'Griselda is going to have your baby.'

'It may not happen,' he said. 'Sometimes...'

Caris shook her head. 'Griselda is a healthy girl, well fed. There's no reason she should miscarry.'

'Not that I'd wish it,' he said, though he was not quite sure that was true.

'But what will you do?' she said. 'It will be your child. You will love it, even if you hate its mother.'

'I've got to marry her.'

Caris gasped. 'Marry! But that would be forever.'

'I've fathered a child, so I should take care of it.'

'But to spend your whole life with Griselda!'

'I know.'

'You don't have to,' she said decisively. 'Think. Elizabeth Clerk's father didn't marry her mother.'

'He was a bishop.'

'There's Maud Roberts, in Slaughterhouse Ditch - she has three children, and everyone knows the father is Edward Butcher.'

'He's already married, and has four other children with his wife.'

'I'm saying they don't always force people to marry. You could just carry on as you are.'

'No, I couldn't. Elfric would throw me out.'

She looked thoughtful. 'So, you've already talked to Elfric?'

'Talked?' Merthin touched his bruised cheek. 'I thought he was going to kill me.'

'And his wife - my sister?'

'She screamed at me.'

'So she knows.'

'Yes. She said I have to marry Griselda. She never wanted me to be with you, anyway. I don't know why.'