Crowner's Crusade by Bernard Knight

Author:Bernard Knight [Bernard Knight]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Published: 2012-08-29T16:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

As Gwyn had said, compared with crossing half of Europe, the journey to Winchester was far from arduous and they reached it in five days. John had decided not to ride the older and heavier Bran and had rented another horse from Andrew’s stables, though Gwyn was happy to use his own brown mare.

They stayed in inns on the way, a luxury after their rough living on the continent, but John was taking advantage of his recently increased wealth and saw no reason to stint themselves whilst on the king’s business. When the walled city, for centuries the capital of England, came into sight, Gwyn was greatly impressed by the huge cathedral and the massive castle, but after a night’s rest at an inn in the High Street, the morning brought disappointment.

Enquiries at the castle told them that the Chief Justiciar was in London, having just returned from another visit to Germany, where he was once again trying to negotiate the king’s release. Within a couple of hours, the two men from Devon were on the road again, heading for the new capital on the Thames. After another night in Guildford and a second in Esher, the third day saw them across the Thames and into Westminster. Having stabled their horses and rented a couple of beds at a hostelry in King Street, de Wolfe led Gwyn across to the palace, a group of rambling buildings attached to William Rufus’s Great Hall on the riverbank adjacent to Westminster Abbey. Inside the wide courtyard, the next problem was to gain admittance to the man they had come to visit. Hubert Walter was now the greatest in the land, being both head of the Church and the head of government, especially since the hated Chancellor, William Longchamp, had had to flee to Rouen.

John presented himself at the porch beyond the Great Hall and after telling a porter that he was Sir John de Wolfe, found a small room where a gruff clerk sat at a table shuffling parchments.

John identified himself again and said that he wanted to speak to someone who had access to the Justiciar, on a matter of importance.

The official, whose stiff hair surrounded a clerical tonsure, looked at him suspiciously. ‘How do I know you are who you claim to be?’ he muttered.

‘What is this business that brings you here?’

De Wolfe glowered at the man. ‘It’s confidential, at least to such as you,’ he retorted.

Nettled, the clerk glared back. ‘You could be some French spy or an assassin wishing harm to the Justiciar?’

John felt like grabbing the fellow by the throat and shaking him, but Gwyn put a restraining hand on his shoulder, as he spoke to the obstructive clerk.

‘My master and I fought alongside Hubert Walter in the Holy Land – and we were part of the king’s company on his journey back from there.’

The man behind the table looked suspiciously at them, but sensed trouble for himself if he got this wrong. ‘Can you prove that?’ he snapped.

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