The Mad Monk of Gidleigh by Michael Jecks

Author:Michael Jecks [Jecks, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, blt
ISBN: 9781472219756
Google: tAYYAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2013-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

Elias had intended to escape the place as soon as Sir Ralph declared that the court was to adjourn, but he wasn’t fast enough to escape Simon. Before he could reach the roadway at the front of the castle, Hugh had caught up with him. ‘My master wants to talk to you.’

‘Who is your master? That knight?’

‘No, he’s the Bailiff from Lydford,’ Hugh said.

Elias scowled. He had heard of Lydford – who hadn’t? The Stannary court there reckoned itself competent not only to try a man’s guilt and deliver him from gaol, often they would do so before the King’s Justices had time to arrive. Their power was absolute, and they had little regard for serfs. Many miners had once themselves been serfs, but had escaped to the moors, where they lived the easy life of freemen, owing service to no one.

The Stannaries were fiercely protective of their people. Elias knew he must be careful responding to the Bailiff’s questions. He waited, chewing his lip. It wasn’t his fault he was the only man who admitted to finding the body of the girl. Nothing to do with him, whoever had killed her. Nothing at all. But he’d be the man who was fined first and hardest, just because he’d stumbled over her corpse.

‘You’re Elias? I am Bailiff Puttock of Lydford.’

Simon wasn’t the sort of man to make Elias feel at his ease. He loomed over the peasant, while Hugh wandered idly around behind Elias, making him wonder whether he was about to be arrested. ‘Yes, sir, but I’ve done nothing, I just found the bodies, that’s all. I can’t help that.’

The knight was at the Bailiff’s side now, two evil-looking watchmen behind him. One glowered at him as though suspecting Elias of raping his wife. The other looked bored stiff. The two were so incongruous together that Elias found himself staring at them. Baldwin’s voice made him jump. He had all but forgotten the Keeper.

‘No, Elias,’ said Baldwin gently, ‘you are not held to be at fault. Nor shall you be if you tell us the truth. Now: the body you found up on the moors, the body of this miner – are you sure he was dead?’

Elias ducked his head, confused by the question. ‘His neck was broken, and his hand had been hacked off, like someone had gone berserk… Have you seen a man survive something like that?’

‘I think we may safely conclude that he was dead,’ Baldwin grunted. ‘Did you recognise him? Piers tells us it was probably a man called Wylkyn. Is that so?’

‘Yes. I’d seen him often enough. Used to be a servant at the castle – back in the days of Sir Richard, that was.’

‘Is that why you were asked to find him?’ Baldwin asked suddenly, cutting into his speech.

‘Asked to…?’

‘Don’t pretend to be stupid. Just tell me quickly: who told you where to find that body?’

Elias stared dumbly at the ground. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Oh, I reckon you do,’ Simon said. ‘Come on – how much were you paid?’

‘Nothing.

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