west. He felt curiously empty. In the space of a few short days he had been bullied and threatened, lost a number of honorable clients, witnessed a near-rape in his own hall, had poor Sarra murdered and an assassination attempt on the mercenary captain. And all there was to show for it was a small dust cloud disappearing on the horizon, accompanied by a faint musical tinkling of armor and harness.
Rousing himself, he went to help his wife. There was a sense of sadness for Sarra, but death was common enough. Paul had a business to run.
He did not see the limping figure scuttling from the shadows of the jail and hurrying after the band.
At the top of a gentle rise Sir Hector found he could see clear to the hills of Dartmoor. The sky was a light gray, gleaming brightly; it should clear before long as the sun’s heat burned through. The land undulated softly, a series of rounded hillocks with swift-moving streams between. He could remember it from his last visit.
Then, when he had first met Mary, he had experienced a poignant melancholy at leaving the town. He had discovered for the first time that it was possible for him to want to give pleasure to someone else, and that feeling had lasted until now. Losing Mary, seeing her lifeless corpse, had killed something inside him.
For a moment he allowed himself to confront the possibility of how his life would have been had he stayed here after that first visit to Crediton. He might have been able to set himself up as a merchant. Certainly he had possessed the money at the time. The wars in Gascony had been profitable, and he had made a small fortune from taking hostages and demanding payment for release. There had been enough profit from his ventures to guarantee a comfortable retirement.
But Mary had been unwilling to accept him. She had known that Adam was interested in her, and she had thought that a butcher would be a safer husband than a soldier.
“Then I will give up warfare,” he had declared on that last evening when they lay together on her bed.
“You? Forswear your career for a mere woman?” She had sat up then, looking down at him playfully.
“For you, Mary,” Her name was perfect, he had felt. She looked like a Madonna squatting above him, smiling as she toyed with her hair.
“No. You will get bored. One woman for a bold knight? You would fret and go mad with the dullness of life in a little town like this.”
“Mary, I mean it! I will marry you.”
“No,” she had said, laughing and turning away, avoiding the arm which tried to encircle her. “You are a soldier. I am to be a butcher’s wife. I will sit, and cook, and sew, and breed little butchers while you travel and capture your prizes. We couldn’t live together, you and I. We’re too alike. Someday you would anger me and my tongue would lash you, then you would beat me and I would hate you. I need a husband I can control.”
Now, surveying the road ahead, Sir Hector murmured, “You couldn’t control him, though, could you, Mary?”
Without her, he felt no desire to return. There was nothing to attract him. The vision of peace and comfort he had dreamed of during his travels had been cruelly shattered. All that was left to him was war.
The Bishop had almost made him laugh aloud when he had visited the night before. His expression of stupefaction had been comical, but Sir Hector had no regrets. Stapledon had suggested that Sir Hector might want to take the lad with him: “Rollo is your son, after all.”
“What if he is? Can he hold a sword? Can he fight? Does he know how to storm a wall? What would I do with a child?” Rollo was too heavy and useless to take on campaign. He had not even received training as a page – he would be so much useless and expensive baggage. “You keep him, Bishop. You look after him. I didn’t know I had a son before I came here and I want to leave in the same happy ignorance.”
“He is your flesh and blood.”
“Perhaps. And perhaps if I was to buy a manor here and settle with a wife, I might think of giving him a home, but as things are I cannot take him with me.”
“But he would be happier with you. You are his father.”
“His father?” Sir Hector had rasped, his eyes snapping to the Bishop’s face. “You think that blood will make the boy happy? Do you truly believe that being with me will make his life more pleasant? All I will see in him is a reminder of his mother, when all I want is a memory of my Mary. I cannot show him any affection, for I feel none toward him. To me he would only be a thorn in my brain, constantly making me think of this town and the woman I have lost. No, Bishop. You keep him.”
The knight shook his head. Stapledon had no idea what a mercenary’s life was like. He was used to living in his palace and could have no idea of the struggle involved in keeping a company together and trying to earn enough to live.
As the road dropped down, following the line of a hill, he smiled again. It was good to be on horseback. He patted the light sword at his hip. While he wore steel and owned a warhorse, he was a man. Only old women sat indoors and planned meals. His life was that of a warrior, and it was all he needed. A quick regret touched him as a memory of Mary’s face flitted across his mind, but then it was gone and he gave himself up to enjoying the ride.
The further from the town he travelled, the lighter his heart, and as if to emphasize his rising spirits, the sun burst through the gray skies, a finger of light burning through the clouds ahead and shining on the damp roadway.
When he felt the thump on his back, his first reaction was to wheel and glower behind him. It felt as if someone had thrown a rock at him. “Who..?” he began, but then, seeing the man before him, he was silent.
Will had returned. He had hurried after the mercenaries, catching up with them a mile outside the town, and grabbed at the weapons in the wagon. Now he stood in a huddle of men, a crossbow in his hands. Seeing Sir Hector turn, he let the crossbow fall, awestruck. At his side, the other men gawped at their leader.
“Well, little man? Are you brave enough to shoot me, then?” Sir Hector bawled, and made to turn his horse and ride down the man – but found his arm was unaccountably weak.
“Load another, Will. Shoot him again. Quickly!”
The captain noted the speaker down for punishment. Egging on a mutineer would cost him his tongue. But Sir Hector felt feeble; his usual strength had failed him. Beneath him, his horse moved nervously, making small, dancing steps. It was all the knight could do to stay mounted. As he watched, Will picked up the bow, tugged on the string, and dragged it back to cock it. Dully, as if through the fog of sleep, Sir Hector saw a man pass Will another bolt. Though Will, his face red and sweat pouring from him, was clearly in pain, it did not look as though this was owing to the hole in his side. His hasty fumbling was more from fear of his master.
Sir Hector spurred his horse, but found he could not keep his seat. The great black beast moved again, jerking his head up and down quickly, and Sir Hector almost toppled over. A quick stab of pain between his shoulders made his eyes widen. He had been shot!
Will raised the weapon a second time and fired, and Sir Hector saw rather than felt the bolt strike his chest. His head was an insupportable weight, and his chin fell to his breast. Slowly, as the animal under him walked on, he slid from the saddle. As his back struck the ground, he gasped with the agony.
The men continued on their way. For the most part none glanced in the direction of their leader, but one kicked him, pushing with his foot until the knight rolled into the ditch. There he lay, staring after his company while they carried on. Sir Hector swallowed, but the liquid in his throat would not clear, and he recognized the clattering sound of his breathing: he had heard it before. He tried to sit up, but the pain stopped him. It would be better to rest, he thought, and let his head drop to the grassy bank beside him. He had an urge to retch, but knew he couldn’t.
When the men reached the next bend in the road, one of them turned to stare. He could see a splash of color by the roadside where the captain had fallen, and hesitated a moment, then ran back.
He could hear the breath rattling in Sir Hector’s lungs as he drew near. The knight was lying as if asleep. The approaching figure was a blur to him, and he tried to smile – at least one of his men was loyal – but his mouth would not respond. “Help… me…”
Will crouched and drew his dagger. “We need a new leader,” he said simply.
