Agnes turned round. Her small eyes widened as she looked at the open coffer. ‘Not that one,’ she snapped, ‘the one next to it.’ She pointed at another, larger chest standing against the wall. Then she made a gesture of dismissal. ‘It doesn’t matter. Maude never uses it anyway.’
‘It belongs to Maude?’
Agnes shrugged. ‘I told you, it does not matter.’
Linnet drew the green gown from the coffer, shook it out and held it up. ‘So this is hers?’
If Agnes had been capable of screaming, she would have done so. Mouth open, she stared at the creased green robe with its knotted hanging sleeves and rich silver borders. Her colour faded to the hue of ashes and she dragged air into her lungs with painful effort. ‘I gave orders that it should be burned!’ she wheezed. ‘The stupid, sentimental bitch. I should never have let her stay here to comfort William and the brat after the whore died. Give it to me!’ Hands extended to snatch, she stepped towards Linnet.
‘You destroyed yourself when you killed Morwenna, didn’t you?’ Linnet sidestepped to avoid Agnes. Armoured with the green gown, she was no longer afraid. ‘You kept her fresh and young for ever in your husband’s mind.’
‘Give me that gown, you harlot!’ Agnes lunged. Linnet dodged. The tarnished silver braid glittered and the green silk glowed with absorbed and reflected light as Linnet swept out of Agnes’ reach. Agnes stumbled against the larger chest. Standing on it was a small, open basket containing her tablet-weaving materials. From among the hanks of wool, she grasped her sewing shears and gripped them like a weapon. ‘You whore!’ Agnes whispered, her broken voice saturated with hatred. ‘You’ll not take him from me this time!’
Linnet jumped backwards, trying to avoid the shears as Agnes lunged. Moving sideways, dodging, Linnet tried to reach the bed in order to keep its bulk between herself and Agnes, but Agnes was too quick for her and Linnet’s direction only incensed the older woman further. ‘Keep away from him!’ Agnes hissed, striking at Linnet with the shears. The pointed blades ripped into the old green silk, shredding the front from breast to hip.
Linnet narrowly missed being gouged. The force of Agnes’ assault almost dragged the gown from her hands but she held on to it. As the shears stabbed at her again, she raised the gown on high. ‘Have it!’ she cried, tossing it over Agnes’s head, and ran to the door. She wrestled with the heavy latch, knowing that at any moment Agnes would win free of the gown and come at her again.
Sobbing with panic, she rammed the heel of her hand down on the latch and felt it give. She wrenched the door open, intending to flee down the stairs to the guard but bounced off Ralf instead.
‘Going somewhere?’ he said softly and, seizing her upper arm in a grip of steel, turned her round and pulled her back into the room. He was not alone. Ivo, four knights and the priest followed him into the chamber.
‘Your mother’s trying to kill me!’ Linnet panted, struggling against his imprisoning fingers to no avail. ‘She thinks I’m Morwenna de Gael!’
Agnes had fought free of the green gown and was glaring wildly at Linnet, the shears still tilted at a wicked angle in her hand.
‘She’s a whore!’ Agnes spat, ‘and she’s carrying a child. I’ll have no spawn of a de Gael under my roof!’
Ralf lifted his brows. ‘Mama, she is useful to us for the moment. She holds the key to the Rushcliffe estates. There is no profit to be had in killing her.’
Agnes’ complexion darkened. She compressed her lips and her fingers tightened around her shears.
Ralf gestured towards her work basket. ‘Put them down,’ he said reasonably. ‘We can discuss matters later, after the hanging. My father bought you a nun’s pension before he died. Mayhap we can use it to endow a young widow instead?’
Agnes’ lips remained tight but she obeyed Ralf and replaced the shears among the hanks of wool. ‘I only have your good at heart,’ she said.
‘I know that, Mama,’ Ralf said gently, his tone imbued with a rare warmth. Releasing Linnet’s arm, he crossed the room and looked down at his father’s body, at the wine-red court gown and the battle-hardened hands clasped in an attitude of prayer.
‘It doesn’t look like him,’ he said and rubbed his hand over his lower face in a nervous gesture. Linnet could see that his composure was brittle. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes and downward tucks at the corners of his mouth.
‘It isn’t him,’ Linnet said coldly. ‘He might as well be a dressed carcass on a butcher’s slab.’
Ralf glared round at her. ‘You will keep a civil tongue in your head or I will lock you up in the undercroft,’ he snapped.
‘Is that what you are going to do to everyone who contradicts your will?’ Linnet retorted. ‘Lock them away, strike them silent - murder them?’
Ralf’s fists clenched. He swivelled and took two strides towards her.
‘Ralf, don’t,’ said Ivo in a wavering voice. ‘Not in here, with Papa . . .’ He gestured towards the bed.
Ralf stopped. A pulse thundered in his throat and his eyes were narrow and wolf-golden. Linnet refused to be intimidated. She gave him back stare for stare, knowing that her own gaze was no less wild.
Abruptly he turned his back on her. His fists remained clenched and his voice was raw with anger as he addressed Agnes. ‘Is my father prepared for the chapel?’
‘Yes, my heart,’ Agnes said. ‘See, I have dressed him fittingly in his court robes and set rings on his fingers.’
Ralf shrugged. ‘If you were to have dressed him fittingly, it would not have been like this but in his oldest tunic and cloak,’ he said.
Agnes stared at him, uncomprehending. Ralf shook his head. ‘No matter,’ he said. ‘You have done your best.’ He kissed her cheek.
Agnes started to speak, but broke off abruptly as the sound of sword on sword and a choked-off scream twisted up the stairs from the guard post at the foot of the tower.
Drawing his own blade, Ralf strode to the door and gestured one of his knights to go down and investigate. The man hurried out. Almost immediately the occupants of the room heard the clash of weapons and another cry. Ralf ’s man backed up the stairs and staggered into the room, blood pouring from his shoulder.
‘Bar the door!’ he gasped at Ralf. ‘Your brother and his men are loose and they’re armed!’ As he uttered the warning, he kicked the door shut and leaned against it.
White with shock, Ralf stooped to pick up the drawbar leaning against the wall. Seeing the hope of freedom, and then that hope about to be lost, Linnet ran to stop him from pushing the plank through the iron brackets. She blocked his way with her body, her arms outstretched. Ralf shoved her violently away. She landed heavily on her side, bruising hip and shoulder, but rolled over on the straw and grasped a handful of his long tunic. Ralf raised the plank and struck her on the side of the head with its corner.
Black stars burst in front of Linnet’s eyes. Her grip weakened and Ralf tore free. Through swimming eyes she saw him lift the draw bar to slot it into position just as the door was smashed wide by Joscelin and Guy de Montauban.
The wounded knight was thrown to the floor and rolled back and forth, clutching his shoulder. Ralf dropped the wood and leaped backwards with the speed of a bounding deer. The sword he had sheathed while he manipulated the draw bar he now snatched from his scabbard in a rapid flash of steel as he turned in a battle- crouch to face Joscelin.
The run upstairs had winded Joscelin and he was close to the limit of his endurance. He saw Linnet near the door. She struggled to sit up, her mouth working as if she wanted to cry out to him but no sound emerged and she sagged back to the floor. Blood masked one side of her face, staining her wimple and gown. Joscelin’s rage boiled over and, with a howl, he flung himself at Ralf. The blow was made of white-hot fury, mistimed and without control. Ralf parried easily and made a smooth counterstrike, his own breathing calm and deep. The sword edge shrieked upon the ill-fitting mail shirt that Joscelin had purloined from one of the Flemings in the undercroft. He had the Fleming’s sword, too, the hilt worn and slippery in his grasp.
The room filled with the clash and glitter of weapons. The priest sidled quickly out of the door, delicately stepping over Linnet. Ivo allowed himself to be made Guy de Montauban’s prisoner without even a token show of protest.
Ralf ’s strength forced Joscelin backward and Ralf pressed his advantage, using his sword two-handed, swinging it almost as though it were a battle-axe. ‘Side by side in the chapel,’ Ralf panted as he fought Joscelin into a corner. ‘You and our sainted father - wouldn’t that be fitting!’
