Chapter 4

"What do you mean I can't hang the entire lot of them?" King John bellowed, dashing his drinking cup in fury right into the roaring fireplace of the Earl's private parlor. The Hunter was quite taken aback at this display, but the Earl, and the King's most loyal knight Sir Lambert, hardly even blinked. The King, much like his father and brothers was known for his mercurial temper.

"Bishop Hugh of Lincoln was quite emphatic about the ecclesiastical law, and probably correctly so my liege." The Earl reminded his monarch. "The eight surviving knights, having all been sworn as avowed members of Sir d'Arcy's Knights of St. Michael, a monastical order of knighthood, have the right to claim benefit of clergy, and their punishment shall rightly be a matter for the ecclesiastical courts to decide."

"Monastical?" King John snorted. "My faithful friend and companion here, Sir Hugo Lambert has told me that when the manor house and their barracks was taken, a good dozen bawds, whores and other lemen were found within."

"Indeed, quite so sire." The good knight cheerfully confirmed.

"Still, despite their lives of brigandry and sin," the Earl continued, "if you hang them all at once, over the Bishop's objections, your relations with the Archbishop of Canterbury will undoubtedly become even more strained, and perhaps even taken to a breaking point. The bishop is much loved and he has recently given you good service in your negotiations with France. Throw not all of these good works, or his future efforts on your behalf away!"

"The rogues shall swing ... the lot of them!" John commanded, his eyes aflame in what seemed to the former poacher as near madness. A fury beyond consolation or reason. "Order it done at once, fitzHugh. Find some tall trees near the bridge to Chipping Hill, which can be clearly seen from the royal road. I want everyone in Essex to know that my justice has been done!" The Earl's face grew a bit sallow, but he nodded and left to give the orders.

"What of Lady Ermintrude d'Arcy?" Lambert enquired, his voice and face both quite hardened with purpose.

"What of the whore?" John snapped, his eyes now focused on refilling another wine goblet. "She shall be my prize trophy, to stand trial in London, then perhaps to burn for witchcraft and heresy. It is quite clear to my mind that she poisoned her husband, and then with her powers kept him in a weak helpless state, while yet subverting her charms to beguile her husband's otherwise faithful captain, luring him to her bed and then poisoning his mind to perform the great crimes that they did perpetrate."

"My King, I must protest!" The faithful knight exclaimed, his bushy eyebrows open wide with shock. "You heard of the secrets that the wicked woman hinted about knowing, especially concerning the matter of your late brother's alleged non-consummation of his marriage with Berengaria of Navarre, the Dowager Queen of England. Her statements could put some truth upon the already existing rumors and result in considerable harm to the prestige of your kingdom. Furthermore, her private comment to you about the additional irregularities concerning your late father Henry, and Richard's former intended, Alys, the daughter of the saintly King Louis of France."

"I've heard the tales." John muttered. "Smoke and shadows, the lot of them. Fit only for the telling by lying scoundrels, minstrels or my mother's own troupe of trouvères!"

"Not entirely so in my opinion, my lord." Lambert gravely replied. "I served your father and brother both, and was much in their confidences as well, and I know for certainty that not a small amount of fire was carefully buried and concealed, and still today the lasting smoke of rumor still doth remain. Lady Ermintrude was present with her husband and King Richard, and yea even myself in the holy land, and she indeed knew much of a great many matters, some of which might still have consequences for your rule."

"No..." the King slowly decided. "Some time spent in the tower will loosen her tongue sufficiently so that I can determine what she does and does not in fact know. If need be afterwards, her tongue can be induced to remain silent during her trial."

Robert could see the look of pain and frustration that came over Sir Lambert's face and he could readily see that the King was very likely now making a pair of very regrettable mistakes here.

"Hunter," the King continued, his eyes and humors restored to something of reason, "I asked you to attend me along with my most faithful and dutiful companion Sir Hugo, for it is under his direct guidance and obedience that you shall perform your future duties on my behalf. Your mission here was indeed well done, and the Earl and I have given our thanks and hope for yet greater deeds from you in the future. Sir Hugo, you may leave with your new charge."

John then bid everyone else left in his company to leave him for the evening, and the former poacher took his leave and followed Lambert outside to the castle courtyard, where the portly old knight refreshed himself by taking another mug of warmed mulled wine while he sat and thought.

"The King has just made two serious mistakes, hasn't he?" Robert asked, after the two had sat out in the cold of the late evening for some time.

"Your youth spent training to be a lawyer's clerk and your years alone in the forest as a hunted man, have taught you much, my most excellent hunter of men! Indeed, the king is going to crown the end of the first year of his reign by marginalizing and infuriating the only diplomat honored and respected enough both here and in France to bring his majesty the lasting peace with France that he so desperately requires. Bishop Hugh of Lincoln is beloved by many as a saintly man and his health is no longer what it once was. The king cannot afford to offend him if he hopes for a diplomatic resolution to his problems with France! More than anything now, the king must patch his quarrels with Philippe II, and if need be, even bend his most royal knee for every single Duchy in France, even Aquitaine itself, if it will gain a lasting peace."

"There's going to be more trouble with Arthur in Brittany soon?"

"Aye, that and the nobles of Normandy are none too loyal at the moment either. More than anything else, England requires some length of time at peace, and may it be a long period! The coffers are empty, the nobles are restless, and the king's nephew in Brittany believes that his own head is more suited to the throne."

"I see the dilemma. The king then faces the choice of subordinating his pride and giving homage to Philippe II or facing numerous possible wars on all fronts that he could not possibly hope to win. Our king does appear firm minded, and from what I saw of our mostly saintly bishop during his outburst earlier this evening, after the king gave his judgment to the knights, this would be a stern feat indeed that only perhaps Bishop Hugh could accomplish!"

"A tragedy indeed!" The Bishop is already packing his baggage to leave the court without the king's farewell. An affront that few of us indeed could manage and still keep our lands, or our necks. He will travel direct to visit the Archbishop of Canterbury undoubtedly, and I will send message to both of them there on the morrow. I'll try and soothe the waters before the tide of anger has raged them too far to sea, but this is a poor start indeed! Now my hunter! I say this for the king has now placed you under my direct charge that you may do our bidding, for it is I that bear the Sigillum Secretum, the king's own privy or secret seal. Together we shall attempt to grant the secret most wishes of our king, or rather more often ... the very needs of England itself. Often you will soon find, our sternest and most important tasks are those that his majesty himself is often quite unaware of ... but we being faithful servants of the realm would be most remiss if we did not anticipate his requirements. Will you serve me without question?"

"Aye, indeed I shall!" Robert said, formally taking a knee before his superior and new liege lord, extending his hands for the formal oath of fealty, which he then gave.

"I promise on my faith that I will in the future be faithful to my lord, never cause him harm, and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit."

"Well given, faithful hunter! In public, or nearly so like now when hidden ears might lurk, you may address me as Sir Hugo, or if we are quite alone in private, just 'Hugo' will be sufficient. I cannot promise you instant riches, preference in court, significant lands or even the achievement of a noble title for your duties, which are certain to be numerous attending to the king's utmost private business, but I shall endeavor to be a good master to you and you shall not find me ungrateful for your services. Even now this very night we have a most stern and disagreeable duty that must be performed. A less than noble task that shall earn us no honor - but a duty that must in fact be swiftly done, for the very preservation of England herself is at stake!"

"You mean the matter of the wicked Lady d'Arcy? So there is indeed some truth or fire as you would say behind her words, and alleged smoky rumors?"

"Entirely far too much!" Sir Hugo grumbled. Her husband, Sir Robert d'Arcy was deep in King Richard's counsel and remained greatly in his favor and was the holder of many of his secrets, of which he had a great deal. The late king much preferred the martial company of his knights and soldiers, and the court of Venus held little attraction for him."

"So it is, unlikely ... you would say, that King Richard ever consummated his marriage with the noble Princess Berengaria?"

Hugo snorted. "Unlikely? Damned impossible! As a knight of the late king's bedchamber, I know better than most about his peculiar and private inclinations, and how they were serviced. The noble princess indeed was serviced by another, in proxy, in the name of the king. Richard was only interested in her lands given in the marriage and she knew going into the arrangement what her lot would be, and true, the title of Queen of England was not an insignificant inducement. She was quite comely too, and before her departure from the holy land, she was said to have had numerous admirers and she had no shortage of willing knights and gentlemen to keep her entertained and amused, and her bed sheets warmed. All in the strictest privacy, to be sure. A queen's name shall not be sullied by rumors, even if her husband bears her no particular regard."

"So, the danger from this lies in a hidden, illegitimate heir, not sired by King Richard? A possible additional true contender to the throne delivered to the dowager Queen?"

"While I cannot say for certain, as I left the King and Queen's company just before their own departure to give service to Prince John, I do not think so. True while still in the holy land, the Queen Consort did privately suffer an early miscarriage, as far as I've heard she did not become again with child, but perhaps Lady d'Arcy has heard otherwise, for she and her husband accompanied the Queen to Sicily. In truth however, I fear some darker and older disclosure, for I recall well that the young Lady Ermintrude was much in the company of Princess Alys, during the reign of King Henry, and served as a lady of her chamber until her return to France, after the death of the old king ten years ago. It is those years in question that I am most curious about!"

Robert followed Sir Lambert into the new wing of the keep and down the stairs to the small dungeon area. Finding the guard, Sir Hugo relieved him of the keys to the prison cells from him and dismissed the soldier to take a late (and long) dinner and leave them in privacy for at least the next hour.

Lady Ermintrude was not at all particularly delighted to greet her late night guests.

"Oh, so the new king does have a pinch of the curiosity bug after all? Just what would you have me say Sir Lambert? What secrets shall I speak that will free me from this stone cell and yet cross my palms with heavy gold as I take my exile from this land?"

Sir Hugo shrugged. "Speak freely then. Tempt me with something choice enough that could keep your pretty head from decorating Tower Bridge. Regrettably, your knights have already been taken out to be hung from their necks, and probably the deed has been already done. Your rogue merchant friend Michael has been bound in chains and is already enroute for the tower, and he is to be given the question most severely until he reveals the names of every man, woman and child who assisted your schemes. The king plans slightly more exotic entertainments for you, and he will quite see that they are done ... unless you have particular information worthy of preserving your treasonous head. You may speak to me, fully and truthfully now, giving up wholly the secrets you hold, or they will die with you tomorrow morning, as your tongue is to be burned out of your mouth at dawn before your own journey to the tower, as it is feared that you are a sorceress and otherwise you would cast bewildering enchants upon your guard to make your escape."

Robert smiled and tried to look especially gleeful at the thought of this threatened torture. In truth, the subject of silencing the suspected beguiling sorceress had been broached by the king, but it had been determined that she would just be tied and gagged during her trip to London and the tower.

Faced with this ultimatum, the sinful woman indeed began to bare her soul and spill out her carefully hoarded secrets.

"You're a damned sodomite, Sir Lambert, as were most of Richard's most favored knights! While you were serving the king in his tent, it was my husband that was servicing his consort, and would have sired Richard's own heir, if the dim-witted lass could have held her children properly and had not gone entirely barren while we were in Sicily!"

"While probably true, your claims have no bearing on the here and now. Your husband, acting on behalf of the late king and with his accepting awareness, did not sire any heirs, and thus this so-called secret, is of little or no importance to the crown. King John can certainly not be held responsible for these actions ... so speak further, for I sense it is the past misdeeds of the old King Henry, and his ward, Alys the daughter of the King of France, that you might instead wish to recollect. Certainly there is some scandal of interest there, and with you but a slip of a young maiden there by her side as an attendant. Speak quickly if there anything of significance that you'd care now to recall!"

"Aye, I was ever at the Princess's side, save when she attended her duties as a whore to the old king, warming his bed for a great many years until his death! She was intended to be the bride of Richard, but the old lusty satyr wanted her for himself and he kept her his own."

Hugo feigned a yawn. "Old tawdry rumor, albeit often reported. This affair ended with his death ten years later and even then the court gossip was too worn and stale even for a joculatorum to squeeze a tired joke from. I witnessed the old bastard myself once take her in his lap and bugger her arse as myself and several other of his drinking companions watched and cheered the old warhorse on. Drunk he certainly was, but the princess was no stranger to the royal member. Nothing but old scandal ... there's no one left in court that cares the slightest horse apple today. Her royal personage is long since married now to the Count of Ponthieu, who was certainly aware that he was receiving slightly soiled used goods. She has already delivered of him a daughter, Marie, just earlier this year. A pretty wee thing indeed with eyes already of fire and red hair to match it! I fail to see any import in any of your alleged 'revelations'. Perhaps we should waste no further time with you ... Robert, go at once and fetch the blacksmith to heat up an iron for us! I see no sense in wasting any further time with this common harlot who would betray the examples of goodness that her husband held to instead become a murderous common leman and bawd to a host of immoral knights!"

"Wait!" She cried in tears, throwing herself the stone floor of the cell in misery. "There is yet one last deed of the Princess Alys that was held to much greater secrecy, for she did in fact bear King Henry a heir, quite early in their liaison. I know this, for I helped in her confinement and was present when the newborn child was disposed of."

"Indeed? Speak further," Sir Hugo smiled, "for you now quite have my interest, for I too have heard something of this child ... a daughter, born perhaps late in the year 1181 at Odell Castle, in Bedfordshire?"

The crestfallen look on the defeated woman was telling. Her last game piece had been played, and she could tell that Sir Hugo already knew of the details of this last secret as well.

"That is true, what you say good Sir. She bore the child there in secret, with just a few of her attendants present to assist with the delivery. It was a girl, hearty with life and well-formed, with bright crimson red hair like her mother's already crowning her royal head, but the Princess never once took her to her own breast, for the King had arranged that this illegitimate heir must remain forever secret, to preserve his existing relations with the French king. A priest was present immediately after the moment of delivery to take the child, and you would know him indeed well good sir knight for he was already a favorite of King Henry, and then currently the prior of Witham Abbey in Somerset. I speak of Bishop Hugh, of course."

"Indeed, for it could have been none other him that I myself rode with that very same morning with the babe wrapped in his arms, sheltering it from the cold and giving it all-too briefly the love that its parents could not."

"I am undone!" She cried, despondent that her carefully kept secret had been preserved in silence for naught, for the king's own spymaster had long known about each of the mysteries she had for so long concealed.

"Quite so, I am afraid." Sir Hugo admitted, whispering now in private to Robert, who was fascinated by this account of royal misbehavior.

"Even now, the agents of the King of France still search for any clue to the whereabouts of this girl, who is now undoubtedly a young lady. In Philippe's hands, the girl would give him significant claims to all of the Angevin lands, and carefully married, the girl could even provide a weak, but legitimate claim to the throne of England, assuming all other claimants could be disposed of. Should Lady d'Arcy ever utter breath a word of her factual knowledge of the heir's existence, the very kingdom could be in peril! If found, and married to a French prince or duke, we could find ourselves in a war for the very claim over all of England itself! You can understand why this cannot ever be permitted to happen! No, I'm afraid exile is quite out of the question ... nor can her words ever again be repeated from her lips."

Robert understood what Sir Hugo had been hinting about earlier upstairs out in the courtyard. Lady Ermintrude indeed knew far too much to be ever permitted to speak to anyone, ever again. Wishes of the king or not, the woman's knowledge was too dangerous for her to ever be allowed to stand trial. After a brief private consultation, the two men decided upon how they must act.

The prisoner's heavy wool blanket was careful cut and torn into long strips which were knotted carefully together, forming a crude but serviceable noose. To her dismay, as Sir Hugo restrained her as gently but still firmly as possible, Robert wound a long strip of the torn wool tightly around her throat, as one of his snares would have taken a rabbit. For a full five minutes, if not more Robert held tight the improvised garrote around her neck, until Sir Hugo was certain that the last of the wicked woman's life had been choked out of her.

The necessary execution done, the two men arranged the body, securing the top of the 'noose' material firmly up high upon an iron crossbar enough to be effective, but low enough to be within the ability of the woman to have reasonably reached and tied the knot herself. The height was not enough to leave the woman swinging suspended above the floor, but it was sufficient to apply hard constant pressure against the airway, choking her into unconsciousness and eventual death, in the manner of a suicide who deliberately sought death. Leaving the limp body with the noose around it in her cell, Sir Hugo gave strict instructions to the returning guard that the Lady was not to be given food or drink, or even visited for any reason until the guards arrived to take her to the tower tomorrow morning. On fear for his life at disobeying an order from the bearer of the king's Sigillum Secretum, or secret seal, able with a word to command the imprisonment or death of any subject of the king, the warder fawningly agreed, and at once pocketed the handful of silver coins that the good knight proffered.

The wicked Lady would be found dead in her cell in the morning an obvious suicide and the warder would clearly recall that no one had come to visit her at time.

"I noticed," Sir Hugo casually mentioned while they enjoyed another tankard of mulled wine back upstairs in the courtyard, "that you bore no great surprise or consternation at her accusation of my being a sodomite."

Robert shrugged. Really, after the long hard couple of days that he'd had, he had been really much too tired to particularly take notice of that charge against his new master, but now that he thought about it, he saw the connection to other things that he'd whispered about or casually noticed. Still, he didn't think that the sexual preferences of his master were much of his business, particularly since he didn't share them.

"No, Sir Hugo, I really paid that matter very little mind. I have heard mentioned, most as humorous joking, that much of the late King Richard's court, especially many of his favorite fighting men, shared his particular tastes. If the late king and now King John find no fault with your service, then it is far from my humble place to comment upon your own private inclinations. I would casually mention to my lord, that I do not share those proclivities and preferences, having much loved my late wife and hope someday to achieve enough security to provide for another family."

"I thought I could count upon your silence and discretion." Sir Hugo laughed, "And you can rest assured that I expect no similar duties from you, for my appetites require rather little fulfillment these days as my hair turns white and falls, and I keep my romances, for I enjoy both male and female companionship about equally, and most assuredly in private ... and far too infrequently for either these days! Indeed, I'm quite already aware of your interests in the Lady Clare, as it is obvious that when you are both in the main hall together that your eyes never leave her. She is perhaps an obtainable prize, should your service to the king rise yet a station or two higher, but I would caution against that match, for her eyes are sharp and her mind is overly cunning, crafting plots within plots, I fear. That said, I would enjoy her favors, if willingly offered, for she is personable and comely ... but never trust her or seek to take her to wedlock! I fear her mind brews poisons and in the end you would be only become another of her hapless victims, for despite her birth mother, this is a ruthless woman ... much like the one we have just sent to her eternal judgment, who will not rest until she rules, at least from the bedchamber, at one of the highest posts of this kingdom."

"Oh, so it is quite certain that Clare could not be our missing Princess?" Granted she doesn't have fire-red hair but a child's hair coloring at birth often does not remain constant as they grow."

Sir Hugo laughed and laughed. "No, our mischievous minx is most certainly not our missing La Rose de France. I have it on exceptionally good grounds that her illegitimate birth is exactly as advertised, for her bearing and sharp scheming wits are much a match for her father, the Earl and I knew her slut of a mother well ... as did nearly every man who ever set foot within the Earl's castle here while she lived."

"I shall weigh your words carefully my lord." Robert sighed, for he too was increasingly uncertain that the scheming daughter of the Earl would make a good life-match for him. She certainly had ambitions for him, but why? Certainly she could choose any minor knight from the king's household, of which there were a great many now present at the Earl's castle. Such a soldier would already have at least some minor land holdings, and a better expectation for promotion in the king's service. On the other hand, she also certainly knew of Sir Hugo Lambert's senior position in the household as the bearer of the king's secret seal and personal spymaster. By serving Sir Lambert, and at an important level where Robert might soon learn many more of the king's secrets, he was perhaps just a convenient temporary lover of convenience, to seduce and use to provide her with covert information useful for her own ultimate marriage plans. This was quite a disheartening thought!

"Also my lord," Robert quickly added just as he stood up to make his departure, "what of the boy I rescued from the river last night, the one who was wounded but gave good evidence on our behalf to the King?"

"Yes, young Galfrid ... a most versatile young lad, for I heard him tell me earlier that he only took to the sea to avoid some extremely determined beadles, who were hot after the lad due to all of the burglaries he'd committed last summer in London. A sneak thief, born and true, but in our line of daily work such skills are sometimes, quite often actually, of use. Since your pocket is still relatively lean and your assignments will be often long and vexing, I've added the lad to my own household, with the Earl's permission. He pretends to be a wee lad still, but the hair surrounding his manhood makes me think he's nearly past being a teen, and is just of small and slight frame. This portents well to us, as a good lad skilled at upper-story burglary will be useful to our needs sometime and probably soon, and his minor wound is well already on the mend!"

"Sir Hugo, you will give the lad some rest, for the region near his wound is undoubtedly unready for your sorts of attentions." Robert joked, and his kindly master replied with a hearty laugh.

"For truth, not that he complained about such, but instead while sharing my company earlier it was his clever tongue that most caught my attention ... and copious emissions!"

"Sir Hugo, you must exercise caution and restraint, especially with the King's clerks and other churchmen about, for such actions are by the laws punishable by death!"

"I'm always cautious, young hunter, and always must be performing the king's duties of the Sigillum Secretum. In truth, here in the king's court there are still many of King Richard's old favorites and my proclivities are far from unusual and bear little or no notice. I pick my times of amusement with care and always make certain that my object of amusement keeps a still tongue. Young Galfrid appears to be a lad that can hold his own secrets. For now, he'll return with me to London, to begin training as an apprentice clerk. He knows something of letters but his skills there are not to royal standards, and our young thief must learn at least some of the basic skills of the chancery so that later he can move without notice in the king's service. The lad regards you most highly, and I hope he may prove of use to you upon occasion and able for the task of watching of your back, for I shan't always have you hunting about alone in the dark ... or even in the forests! In the equally danger wilds of the city, the lad shall be able, I'm sure, to teach you a thing or two!"

"Speaking of which Robert," Sir Hugo continued, "while your hand is quite fair already, it has been many years since you regularly handled a quill. When your duties for the Earl are completed this spring concerning the assembly and training of the troop of archers, I'll summon you to Westminster to spend some time as a junior clerk at the Exchequer. I may have a minor job for you there and the experience of clerking there and at the Chancery as well will help mark you a young man rising in the royal service. Unless of course you intend to act as a simple forester in the future. I'd advise against it; the pay and other rewards are nicer as a royal clerk and the beds are certainly softer than soiled or wet hay in most barns. Our king tends to ill-use his servants; I must admit ... but be assured I desire you to have a very long and fruitful life!"

"I am exceeding obliged, my lord." Robert admitted. "While my Latin was suitable, it has been long since I've composed or even read much, and some time with a quill and books would do me much good. I also need much practice with both a sword and daggers, but I hope the Earl's new head huntsman can attend to that instruction in the months to come. It seems Sir Hugo that I yet have much to learn!"

"But all for the morrow! Come lad, away with ye! Off to your bed, for your head is already nodding with fatigue, and I have espied a certain noble lady sticking her head outside of the main keep at least four times now. She waits for you, I think, and I'm sure you can find suitable entertainments for the rest of the night without my company!" Sir Hugo laughed, and Robert agreeably bid his new master a good night to return inside.