the king. The king had given a detailed description of the wanted man and curtly commanded Gervase to circulate it among his men.
Several favourites from the king’s inner circle had gradually insinuated themselves into the recess, and they were joined by a quartet of bodyguards and a couple of servants. As soon as the king announced he was ready, they would organize a litter or a cart and take him back to one of his London residences, where he could be nursed and fussed back to health by his own team of physicians. Josse, Gervase and everyone at Hawkenlye were redundant.
Gervase looked at Josse and silently jerked his head towards the infirmary door. They walked quickly away, only stopping when they were out of earshot of the building and the many men loitering outside it.
Josse waited. He was all but certain Gervase had recognized Ninian from the king’s description. If so, he appreciated that the sheriff was in an impossible position. His duty to his monarch was indisputable, for he had been given a direct order to find the wanted man and bring him to justice. But this wanted man was the adopted son of his oldest friend, and Josse was well aware that Gervase himself had grown to like, trust and admire Ninian.
After a moment, Gervase sighed and said, ‘Josse, I have to go. There are things I must do…’ He raised his head and stared into the distance, his expression deeply grave and his eyes narrowed, as if the tasks awaiting him were too awful to bear contemplation. Then he turned back to Josse. ‘I am going to Tonbridge to organize my search parties, and to begin with I intend to concentrate on the main roads to London and the coast. Only when we have explored the most obvious escape routes will I start on the tracks and the byways.’
Just for an instant, Josse wondered why Gervase was explaining in such detail. Then he realized. He could have embraced his friend, but that would have been unwise for there were far too many pairs of suspicious and unfriendly eyes watching.
‘Very well, my lord sheriff,’ Josse replied stiffly and in a voice audible to the king’s men by the infirmary. ‘I will detail whatever men I can summon to begin searching in the vicinity of the abbey.’
Gervase hurried away towards the stables, calling for his horse as he ran. Very quickly he and his men were clattering across the courtyard and out through the gates. The king’s men were watching and, taking advantage of their distraction, Josse slipped away, out through the small rear gate, around the side of the abbey and up the slope to where the trees began. He had had to leave Alfred in the Hawkenlye stables for a lay brother to take home later — he could not have fetched him without being seen — but he would do as well on foot, for he was going into the forest.
As he made his way along the tracks under the trees he wondered where Meggie was. He had hoped she would be waiting when he was finally dismissed from the king’s presence, but there had been no sign of her down at the abbey. He told himself she would have gone to the hut, or perhaps on ahead of him to the House in the Woods. He prayed he was right.
He turned off the track along the path that led to the hut. The clearing around the hut was empty, but he could hear voices from within and there were wisps of smoke floating up from the roof. He tapped on the door, and Helewise’s voice called out, ‘Come in!’
As he entered she turned a joyful face to him and said, ‘Josse, dear Josse, Meggie told me the wonderful news! Tiphaine and I have been giving thanks.’
His mind was so preoccupied with Ninian’s peril that, again, he forgot for a moment. Then, quickly, he returned her radiant smile and said, ‘Aye, Rosamund is safe and well, and by now Dominic will no doubt be at the abbey and preparing to take her home to New Winnowlands and her mother’s arms.’
He glanced at Tiphaine. The old herbalist’s deep eyes met his and, just for an instant, he had the strange sensation that she already knew the news he was about to break to them. He shook his head, dispelling the thought. He had to be mistaken. His eyes went back to Helewise and he said, ‘But I’m afraid there is more trouble.’ Then he told them.
They left Tiphaine at the hut. She had volunteered to keep watch down at the abbey and come straight to Josse if there was any news concerning the hunt for Ninian.
Josse and Helewise went as quickly as they could through the wildwood to the House in the Woods. After a while he reached out and took her hand. He knew there was nothing she could do just then to help his terrible anxiety — there was nothing anyone could do — but all the same her touch was infinitely comforting.
Back at the house, Meggie was waiting. She ran to him, and he embraced her, holding her tight against him. She said softly, ‘They will not catch him, Father. He has known the forest for the last ten years of his life. No king’s man will find him.’
Josse stroked her hair. She was probably right, but there were two flaws in her argument. For one thing, it was not only the king’s men who were hunting for Ninian, but also Gervase’s men, who, being local, knew the area far better. For another, Ninian could not live out in the wildwood for the remainder of his life. One day he would have to emerge. The king’s memory was long and phenomenally accurate, and he never forgot a grievance.
Josse did not mention either of these facts to Meggie. Instead, with his daughter on one side and Helewise on the other, holding both of their hands, he led them inside.
The household was assembled to greet him, and Geoffroi rushed over to stand close by his father. ‘They all know what’s happened,’ Meggie said. ‘I told them Rosamund’s safe, and I also described what happened by the chapel.’
Josse nodded. Turning to address his loyal people, he said, ‘You should all know that Ninian is a wanted man. He will be tried and probably put to death if he is caught. Anyone found helping him in any way will also be arrested, for he is a fugitive hunted by the king.’ His eyes fell on Gus. ‘If any of you with responsibilities for wives and children wish to slip away now, go with my blessing.’
Nobody moved, except that Tilly leaned closer to Gus and whispered something. Gus nodded. ‘We’ll take our chance, Sir Josse,’ he said. ‘This is our home and we’re a family. We want to help, if we can.’
Josse was deeply moved. He looked at Will, and his servant’s deep eyes in the lined old face looked steadily back.
‘Me and Ella are staying too,’ Will said briefly.
Josse cleared his throat a couple of times then, with an attempt at a smile, said, ‘Well, then, we’d better decide what we’re going to do.’
As if she had been waiting for the chance, Meggie said, ‘I’ve been thinking. He’s got to get away, but there are two reasons why he won’t go immediately. The first is that he’ll know he’s going to have to go a long way and be absent a long time, and I’m quite sure he wouldn’t go without saying goodbye to the people he loves. That’s us, obviously — ’ she glanced around — ‘but there’s someone else, isn’t there? Someone who doesn’t live here.’
Helewise gasped. ‘Of course,’ she breathed.
Josse, too, knew instantly who Meggie referred to. Ninian was in love with Leofgar Warin’s daughter, Little Helewise. She adored him too, and were it not for the interdict, they undoubtedly would have been wed a year or more ago. Little Helewise lived with her family at the Old Manor, the ancestral home of the Warins, which her father, being the elder of the two brothers, had inherited.
Josse felt his heart clench with fear. The Old Manor lay to the north of Tonbridge, and one of the roads to London passed close by. And Gervase was sending his search parties out along the main routes to London and the coast…
‘We must stop him,’ he said, faintly surprised at how calm and authoritative he sounded. ‘Roads to London are going to be searched.’
Meggie’s cool hand touched his wrist. ‘Yes, all right, Father. We’ll stop him, or at least warn him, for I do not think he will be stopped.’
‘But we have to-’ Josse began.
Meggie turned to smile at him. ‘I said there were two reasons why he couldn’t leave instantly, remember?’
‘Aye,’ he said cautiously.
‘The second one,’ she said, her smile widening, ‘is that he’s on foot. He’d be a fool to walk all the way to the Old Manor, and I know perfectly well that Garnet’s munching hay out in our stables because I brought him back with me and I’ve just been out to him.’
Josse closed his eyes and said a quick but heartfelt prayer of thanks. As the image of Ninian apprehended on the road north out of Tonbridge and taken in irons to some dirty cell receded, he opened his eyes and whispered to
