‘Make sure that you remain true to your word, Englishman,’ he said as he gestured for his knights to unhand Godric. ‘Consider yourself fortunate and remember that I have been generous on this occasion, but remember, too, that even my generosity is not without limit. Should you cross me and find yourself at my mercy again, I will take great pleasure in seeing that your death is both slow and terrible.’
He did not wait for Godric to reply, but stalked out of the hall, closely followed by his two guardsmen, their scarlet cloaks swirling behind them. Atselin paused long enough to fix me with his customary hard stare, but then he too was gone, leaving us alone with the Englishman. A part of me wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, although I knew that our work was barely begun.
For in a few hours we would send the boy to ply his uncle with promises of rich reward. In his hands rested our fates.
Seven
FOR THE SECOND time in as many nights, then, we found ourselves out on the fens, making our way through the maze of rivers and channels that made up the marsh country. After our ambush the night before, I expected the rebels to be more wary. Indeed had I been commanding them, I’d have made sure to set more sentries on duty, and sent more and larger scouting-parties out to roam the surrounding fens and keep a keen eye out for any signs of trouble. With that in mind, I dared not approach the Isle so closely this time around.
The mist hung a little more thickly over the water that night, with any luck veiling us from sight from the riverbanks, but it meant that once again we were relying on Baudri to steer us through the mist, to find the right channels and show us the way. We were all still bone-tired from the previous night’s foray, and even though it had been my idea to send Godric back as errand-boy to Elyg, another expedition into the marshes was the last thing I had wanted. I’d tried to rest for a few hours that afternoon, but the day had been sweltering and I hadn’t been able to settle for all the noise outside the thin walls of Robert’s hall.
‘He should be here,’ I muttered, and it was only after I’d said it that I realised I’d spoken aloud.
‘Who?’ asked Wace, who was sitting next to me.
‘Lord Robert,’ I said. ‘Godric is his responsibility as much as ours, and yet here we are, risking our skins once again for his sake.’
‘His father is sick,’ Eudo said. ‘Who knows how much longer he’ll live?’
Earlier that evening the priest, Dudo, had come to inform Robert that the elder Malet’s illness had grown suddenly worse. He could not sit up; his fever had returned and he had been coughing up blood again. And so Robert had decided to stay by his bedside rather than join us tonight.
‘How often has Malet’s health waned in recent weeks?’ I asked. ‘Each time we were told he was close to death, but each time he recovered. What makes Robert think it will be any different on this occasion?’
‘These could well be his father’s final hours,’ Wace put in. ‘Surely you don’t begrudge him this time with him?’
‘Of course I don’t,’ I said, although it frustrated me, for I couldn’t shake the suspicion that Robert was shirking his duties. Not all men were born to be warriors; I had long known that he lacked the thirst for adventure of one whose life was lived by the sword. I understood that and thought no less of him for it, but I also knew that a good lord would have taken charge of this undertaking himself, showing his vassals that he was deserving of their service. No one ever received respect without earning it first, and in my eyes this was an opportunity squandered.
Doubtless the others thought I was being unkind, and so I kept my thoughts to myself after that. An eternity passed before we spied the wooded crest of the isle of Litelport. At my instruction Baudri took us not back to the place where we had made the fires, facing Elyg, but around to the far shore, where I reckoned there was less chance of us being spotted. We had all come in a single boat this time, without Hamo and his company, and we ran it aground in a narrow inlet overhung by willows, where we would be easily hidden amongst the reeds and the drooping fronds.
‘Get up,’ I said to Godric. His hands were bound, but he managed to get to his feet without too much trouble. Until the moment that we finally let him loose, he was still our captive, and I was determined to make sure he was reminded of that fact, lest he have any misapprehensions about his importance.