Heart of Ice Read online

  She met his eyes and he read in hers a great need to reveal the story. Looking across to de Gifford, she said, ‘Would you undertake that, if I do tell you, you too will not mention a syllable of it beyond these four walls?’

  ‘I will, my lady,’ de Gifford said. ‘On that I give you my word.’

  She turned back to her grandfather; he seemed to be encouraging her to go ahead. Finally, after a brief closing of her eyes – perhaps, Josse thought, she was praying – she began.

  ‘Very well. I do in truth feel that I shall die if I don’t tell you!’ She managed a brief laugh that did little to ease her evident tension. ‘Grandfather is a renowned apothecary and I am his apprentice.’

  ‘An apprentice who does the majority of the work nowadays,’ the old man put in, reaching for and patting her hand.

  Sabin smiled. ‘I do not mind. I love what I do and I am proud to carry on the work of the de Retz clan. We live in Nantes,’ she went on, ‘where, over the years, Grandfather’s renown has earned him quite a long list of wealthy clients who know he is the very best and are prepared to pay him for his skill. We treat the poor as well,’ she assured her listeners, ‘for Grandfather always says that healing is a gift and that we should not reserve our help only for those who can pay the most.’ With a glance at the old man sitting nodding in agreement beside her, she added, ‘Sometimes we charge the rich a little more than is strictly fair, but it is purely in order that we may treat those who come with empty pockets.’

  ‘The rich can always afford it,’ Benoît remarked.

  ‘Word spreads when someone is very good at their job,’ Sabin went on, ‘as it was in Grandfather’s case. A person who is of the highest importance in Nantes suspected the onset of certain symptoms and, because of the status of this person, they needed to find an apothecary who was both highly skilled and totally discreet. Grandfather’s name was mentioned to this person and we – Grandfather and I – were summoned for a consultation.’

  ‘When was this?’ Josse asked.

  ‘Oh – a year ago. Perhaps a little less.’

  ‘I see.’ Then you, Sabin, Josse was thinking, would have been the dominant party in the de Retz partnership, for even then, surely your old grandfather’s blindness would have made diagnosis less certain.

  ‘I examined the patient,’ Sabin was saying, ‘and as I did so I told Grandfather what I found. We then moved apart to speak privately together, after which we had to announce to our patient what we believed the sickness to be. Our patient was horror-struck and barely took in the measures that we proposed to keep the disease at bay.’

  ‘You could not cure it?’ de Gifford asked.

  She turned to him. ‘There is no cure for this particular sickness. Our patient was in the very early stages and the symptoms were as yet mild. There was some stiffness and paralysis, some unsightly, knobbly patches on the skin. Because of the person’s position, discretion was vital and Grandfather and I were sworn to secrecy. We needed to make frequent visits, especially when the treatment first started, and so a private access was arranged for us from the stable yard, up a little-used stair and along a short passage directly into the quarters inhabited by our patient. When Grandfather or I were expected, the door at the top of the stair would be unbarred so that we could slip inside without attracting attention.’

  ‘Is this the secret that men were killed for?’ de Gifford demanded; he was, Josse observed, growing impatient.

  Sabin shot him an affectionate look. ‘No, Gervase. Be patient; I am approaching it.’ Then, pausing to take a breath, she continued. ‘The victim that your dead prisoner was paid to kill lived in the same place as our patient. The assassin was clever and painstaking and he discovered what people who pass by it every single day overlooked: the entrance to the passage that leads up into the very heart of the castle, and that Grandfather and I use when we treat our patient. He made his careful plans and then the night came that he had selected to make his strike.

  ‘But something else had happened two days previously, far away on the other side of the continent; something that removed at a stroke the reason for the murder that the assassin had been paid to do. The messenger reached him at the very last moment, when he was already about to enter the secret passage. The message was given and the assassin gave vent to his fury, cursing his master and damning him for changing his mind and calling off a perfectly good plan over which the assassin had spent so long in painstaking preparations.

  ‘Grandfather was on his way out of the castle following a visit to our patient and, hearing someone approach the stable entrance to the secret passage, had quickly hidden. He heard every word. Now my dear Grandfather’ – she bestowed a tender look upon the old man – ‘is normally adept at moving quietly and not alerting people’s attention to his presence – blindness has made his hearing very sensitive, you see, and he dislikes a lot of noise, even noise that he makes himself.’

  ‘The killer heard him?’ de Gifford put in.

  ‘Yes, yes, he heard me,’ Benoît said crossly. ‘I do wish you would not speak about me as if I were not here! His ears must have been as sharp as mine, for I swear that I was silent as a mouse as I stood there in terror listening to them speak of the murder that had been about to take place.’

  ‘I expect you gave that little throat-clearing cough, Grandfather,’ Sabin said gently. ‘It is something of a habit of yours and, indeed, I believe that you scarcely are aware that you do it.’

  ‘I do not have a little cough!’ Benoît exclaimed, which seemed to prove his granddaughter’s point.

  ‘So the assassin not only knew he had been overheard but also by whom,’ Josse said reflectively.

  ‘Exactly,’ Sabin confirmed. ‘As soon as Grandfather came home and told me, the first thing I asked was, did they know you were there? He said no, he didn’t think so, but we could not take the risk. I went straight back to our patient and made up some tale about having to set out straight away for some ingredients required in the treatment and I said we’d have to go far afield. Our patient agreed – well, I phrased it so that there was no choice – and that night Grandfather and I set out.’

  ‘Why did you go to Troyes?’ Josse asked.

  ‘It is a town we visit quite frequently for the purchase of supplies,’ Sabin replied. ‘We have friends there – or rather, we had.’

  ‘Did they perish in the lodging house fire?’ Josse asked sympathetically.

  ‘They did.’ Sabin’s tone was curt, as if she were warning Josse away from matters that caused her pain.

  ‘And in Troyes you met Nicol Romley,’ de Gifford said, ‘and, afraid and far from home, you confided in him and told him of your peril.’

  ‘It was not quite like that,’ Sabin began.

  But Benoît interrupted. ‘No, it was me, silly old fool that I am.’ He was holding Sabin’s hand tightly. ‘I had too much wine, my friends, and when Sabin brought Nicol to the tavern where we were eating our supper, I wanted to impress her young companion with our importance – he couldn’t be allowed to think that we were just nobodies!’ He shook his head sadly. ‘I let my tongue run away with me and I told him why Sabin and I had left the comfort and safety of our home and were forced to act like fugitives.’

  ‘He was impressed, Grandfather,’ Sabin said kindly. ‘You did at least achieve what you set out to do.’

  ‘It is no consolation whatsoever, Sabin, as well you know,’ he replied. ‘Because of me and my blabbermouth, Nicol was killed, as was the poor merchant with whom he travelled back to England. Sabin and I have been forced to travel miles and miles, then cross the narrow seas and travel some more, and the dear Lord alone knows when we shall be able to go home again!’

  ‘It may be safe to go home some time soon,’ Sabin said softly. ‘The assassin is dead.’

  ‘Who is your patient?’ Josse asked. ‘I believe I have already guessed, my lady, but I wish you would tell us.’

  She turned to him. ‘She is the Duchess Constance of Brittany,�
� she said simply. ‘She is in the early stages of leprosy.’

  De Gifford gave a gasp, quickly suppressed, and Josse would have had a similar reaction but for the fact that he had already worked out the disease, if not the victim; he had remembered how, when he had first met Sabin, she had been distressed at being shunned as a possible carrier of the foreign pestilence. He recalled her exact words: I know how it affects the soul to be treated as a leper.

  He had thought, even then, that the passion with which she spoke suggested that the pain came from personal experience. Now, guessing that she had great affection for her mistress, he knew he was right. Fear of how people would react if her shameful secret were to come out must make the Duchess Constance’s life a veritable misery.

  ‘I believe,’ he said slowly, ‘that I am now able to name the assassin’s victim.’ She was watching him steadily. ‘I believe that he is young Arthur of Brittany, Constance’s son.’

  Sabin let out a short gasp. ‘You are right, Sir Josse.’ Then she slumped, dropped her face into her hands, and through them muttered, ‘So now you know.’

  De Gifford was looking puzzled. ‘Arthur of Brittany,’ he said slowly, ‘is the posthumous child of Geoffrey, younger brother of our King Richard.’

  ‘More relevant is that he has been named by Richard as his heir,’ Josse said. His mind flying to put the puzzle together, he raced on, speaking fast. ‘All the time that Richard was a captive of Duke Leopold, only Arthur stood between the throne and the man who wants it with such hunger.’

  ‘Prince John,’ breathed de Gifford.

  ‘Aye, Prince John. They say he has been plotting with Philip of France to keep King Richard imprisoned, if not for ever then at least until the two of them have mustered the power to complete their overrunning of Richard’s continental territories and are strong and powerful enough to fight anyone who tries to wrest them back. It is in Philip’s interest to have his ally John on the Plantagenet throne – Philip has no wish to see Arthur there. The Bretons are not, never have been and never will be friends of the French.’

  ‘So while Richard was out of the way – an arrangement that John has tried to make permanent – the only man between John and the throne is Arthur of Brittany?’ de Gifford demanded.

  ‘He is not a man,’ Sabin put in reprovingly. ‘He is but six years old.’

  ‘The assassin would have killed a child?’ De Gifford’s furious incredulity showed what he thought of that.

  ‘That is what paid killers do,’ Josse said.

  ‘But why did the assassin’s master – Prince John – call him off?’

  Josse had been thinking about that. ‘I believe that I know,’ he said, ‘or, at least, that I can give a likely reason. King Richard was originally to be released on the seventeenth of January; that was the date set back in October of last year. But later it was postponed – nobody seems to know why, although many suspect that it was because Prince John and the French king put in a higher bid.’

  De Gifford looked horrified. ‘Then – good God, if they had succeeded, then that vast ransom that we have raised and that has caused such terrible hardship would have been all for nothing!’

  ‘Aye,’ Josse agreed, ‘I do not suppose for a moment that anybody would have got their money back. But it did not happen, Gervase; our Richard has not been wasting his time while in captivity and it is ever a policy of his to befriend those who might subsequently be useful to him. He made allies of some of the empire’s influential princes and it is said that it was they who persuaded Duke Leopold that it was not fitting to sell a king as if he were a side of bacon being bargained over by two old women in the market place.’

  ‘So—’ De Gifford was clearly concentrating hard. ‘So the English bid was accepted?’

  ‘I am sure it must have been,’ Josse agreed. ‘For the fact that King Richard was about to be or had just been released was surely what prompted Prince John to reverse his order to the assassin. There is, after all, little point in having Arthur of Brittany killed while King Richard is on the throne; with Arthur gone, the King would simply name another heir, and whoever he was, he still would not be Prince John.’

  There was silence in the hall. Josse, greatly relieved at having the matter exposed and thoroughly discussed, was reflecting on the ways of kings and princes, which did not seem to take the same account of basic right and wrong as those of ordinary people, when Sabin’s quiet voice broke across his reverie.

  ‘What will happen to Arthur,’ she said, ‘when King Richard dies?’

  Nobody broke the silence; not one of us, Josse thought, wants to think about that.

  Josse was out in the courtyard preparing to set off back up to the Abbey when he heard the sound of light footsteps. Turning, he saw Sabin hurrying towards him.

  ‘My lady?’ he said courteously.

  ‘I came to thank you, Sir Josse, for all that you have done for Grandfather and me,’ she said breathlessly.

  Nonplussed, for he couldn’t think of very much that he had done, Josse muttered a brief acknowledgement.

  But thanks, it became clear, had not been her main motive in following him outside. Looking up into his eyes, she said, ‘Do you think it is safe for us to return home to Nantes?’

  Her emphasis on you making him wonder if someone else had suggested it wasn’t, he said carefully, ‘It would seem that the threat has been removed with the death of the assassin, my lady. There is the messenger, I know, who also knew the secret, but we do not know that he was aware even of being overheard, never mind by whom. The killer, I would wager, surely would not share that knowledge with a mere messenger, and I do not think that removal of witnesses would even occur to the man. And you have your poor patient to consider, as well as the rest of the good people of Nantes who have reason to be grateful for a first-rate apothecary.’

  ‘Grandfather and I could work here in England, and there are other apothecaries in Nantes,’ she said. He thought she sounded wistful. ‘Tonbridge seems to be a nice town.’

  And it has a very handsome and eligible sheriff, he thought. ‘You could,’ he agreed, ‘and aye, Tonbridge is pleasant enough. What does your grandfather think?’

  ‘He’s tired, Sir Josse,’ she said. ‘He needs a long rest.’

  ‘Then, since you seem to be asking for my opinion’ – he grinned at her and her answering smile confirmed it – ‘my advice is that you postpone making a decision until your grandfather is ready to travel. In the meantime . . .’ He decided it was best to leave that up to her to decide; he was quite sure she would think of something.

  Now her smile was radiant. ‘Oh, what good advice,’ she said softly. ‘Thank you; I shall take it.’

  With a swirl of her skirts she was off, running lightly back to the steps that led up into Gervase de Gifford’s hall. Where, Josse was quite sure, the sheriff would greet her announcement that she and her grandfather would like to stay on for a while with a delight that he would find quite difficult to conceal.

  ‘Oh, Horace,’ Josse said to his horse as they rode out on to the track and he spurred him to a trot, ‘what it is to be young and in love!’

  His mood quickly sobered as he put the town behind him and headed for Hawkenlye Abbey. He was due to visit the Abbess and, for perhaps the first time, there was something – a very major something – that he knew he must not tell her. It was a very small reason to be grateful that she was still not herself, for the terrifying sickness had left its mark on her, as on all its victims, and she seemed to have but a hazy memory of events that happened immediately before she was taken ill.

  She had remembered about Nicol Romley and vaguely recalled something about a dead merchant in Hastings; Josse had explained briefly that the killer had been apprehended and was now dead, and, most unusually for her, she had accepted this without demanding more details.

  That alone – her almost total lack of curiosity – told him how unwell she had been and still was. He prayed for her whenever he thought of her, which was
many times each day, and one of his chief requests was that her wonderfully agile and enquiring mind had not deserted her for ever.

  Time would tell.

  At least she was still alive; that, he thought as Horace climbed to the top of Castle Hill and, from long habit and without being prompted, broke into a canter, was probably quite enough for now.

  Chapter 23

  When Josse rode down into the Vale an astonishing sight met his eyes. The monks and lay brothers were laying into the temporary infirmary with mallets, hammers, sticks and even their bare hands and already one wall was no more than a great heap of plaster and splintered wood.

  Tethering Horace at a safe distance, Josse approached the work gang. Brother Saul, noticing him, gave him a grin and said, ‘We’re ordered to pull it down and burn it, Sir Josse. The infirmarer says it’s the only way; she’s had us scrubbing the floors again and again but still the smell hangs on, and when we tried to wash down the walls, quite a lot of the daub came away.’ Leaning closer, he whispered, ‘There were all manner of insects and small rodents in that wattle and daub, you know; it fair turned some of the younger brethren’s stomachs, I don’t mind telling you.’

  ‘Not yours, Saul, I’ll warrant,’ Josse said, slapping him on the shoulder. ‘So there’s going to be a bonfire later?’

  ‘Aye,’ Saul said happily, eyes sparkling like a lad’s at the prospect. ‘We’ve only a few convalescents here now and they’ve been safely moved up to the main infirmary. Sister Euphemia, she’s arranged a curtained-off area for them.’ He leaned closer to Josse. ‘The Abbess was taken up there this morning,’ he confided.

  ‘She was strong enough to be moved?’ The sudden sharp anxiety took him by surprise.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Saul said, looking at him kindly. ‘She wouldn’t have been moved otherwise, don’t you worry. Four of us carried her well wrapped-up on a litter, Sir Josse, and she was that light, it fair amazed me!’

  Josse found that he was temporarily unable to speak, so he merely nodded.