The Noble Outlaw (42 page)

Now a blast by the inexpert trumpeter heralded the arrival of the two royal judges, who came down the steps from the keep with their clerks and a couple of court servants. The constable held up the rope for them to pass under, and they walked to the centre of the square, the rest of the participants gravitating towards them like iron filings to a piece of lodestone.

As the king's representative in the county, Henry de Furnellis again had the responsibility of managing the ritual, and he marshalled the various players into their proper places.

Nicholas was stood facing his two opponents, who were a good dozen feet apart, their respective squires standing behind them. The archdeacon, the garrison chaplain and the two justices grouped themselves between the disputing parties, and the sheriff beckoned to John to join them. As he walked across, he saw that Joscelin de Sucote also attempted to enter, but was brusquely warned off by Walter de Ralegh, who told him he had no part to play in this particular drama.

The first act was, not surprisingly, religious. Firstly, John de Alençon offered up a general prayer to seek God's mercy on all present and to plead that His wisdom would ensure that justice would be done that day. Then Brother Rufus stepped forward with a psalter in his hands and set about safe guarding the proceedings from any unfair advantage derived from witchcraft or the machinations of Satan! He advanced on each of the three duellists in turn and made them repeat a solemn oath after him, with both of their hands resting on the holy book, which he held out to them. Nicholas was first, squaring his broad shoulders as he made the sign of the cross and then followed Rufus's words in a strong, confident voice.

'Hear this, ye justices, that I have this day neither eat, drink nor have upon me neither bone, stone nor grass nor any enchantment, sorcery or witchcraft whereby the law of God may be abased or the law of the devil exalted. So help me God and his saints.'

The monk then went across to Pomeroy and repeated the ritual, Henry bawling out the words at the top of his voice in a pugnacious manner. Indeed, de Wolfe wondered if he had been drinking, in spite of the assertion in his oath, for he seemed to be in an abnormally excited mood.

Once again, there was a marked contrast when Rufus took his psalter to Richard de Revelle. Though the weather was cold, de Revelle's fur-lined cloak of green wool should have kept him from shivering, yet John saw his jaw quivering as he hesitantly repeated his oath.

When the chaplain stepped back after completing his task, the sheriff gestured at de Arundell. 'Sir Nicholas, it is your prerogative to choose your first opponent in this wager of battle. Tell us, who do you name?' Without hesitation, Nicholas pulled off his right glove and threw it on to the ground before Henry de la Pomeroy.

'I will fight that man first and may God give the strength of righteousness to my arm.' His voice was strong and clear, provoking a ragged cheer from the throats of the men who had shared his exile on Dartmoor. His wife, supported on each side by her cousin and Matilda, turned even paler and held a kerchief to her mouth to conceal her anguish.

Henry de Furnellis now waved at Ralph Morin, who stood near the rope, and he and Sergeant Gabriel marched across, each carrying an armful of equipment.

'To ensure that you are evenly matched, you will be given identical arms. You will have a short sword, a shield, a helmet and a jerkin of leather.'

The sheriff watched as the two squires examined the articles to make sure that no unfair advantage could be introduced. Then they went to their masters and helped them to remove their cloaks and strap on the short armless tunics of stiff leather, which were almost an inch thick and had been boiled until they had almost the texture of wood. The swords had blades about two feet long, unlike the great weapons that were used on horseback or in battle. Similarly, the shields were much smaller than the oval ones used against lances; these were round bucklers of hardwood covered with thick leather. The helmets were the standard issue, a round iron basin with a nose-guard, tied under the chin with thongs.

When the two men had been equipped, the others left the centre of the arena, apart from the sheriff and chaplain, who stood between the combatants. As de Wolfe loped back to the perimeter, he noticed his brother-in-law wiping his brow with the back of his hand, as if to remove a sudden sweat that, in spite of the frost, had overtaken him when he realised he had at least a short respite - and possibly a reprieve from fighting if Henry de la Pomeroy's boasts about his inevitable victory came true.

The sheriff gave the last formal instructions to the fighters.

'You will fight with might and main until one of you is vanquished, either by death or by being forced to the ground by the point of a sword at your throat or vitals, when the victor can have you hanged. To submit, then the loser must cry 'craven' in a loud voice!' De Furnellis stepped back, his duty done, and the monk had the last word. Raising his hand in the air he made the sign of the cross and cried out, 'May the blessing of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit descend on these weapons, to discern the true judgement of God.'

Brother Rufus then backed slowly towards the rope barrier and the contest began.

Standing with Gwyn behind the coroner, Thomas de Peyne watched the drama with tremulous fascination.

His classical education allowed him to compare the scene with some Roman gladiatorial contest, as the two men, out there alone in an empty arena, circled each other while they each took the measure of their opponent.

Shields across the chest and swords half lowered, they glared at each other across ten paces of hardened mud.

Both were about the same height, but Henry was the heavier, from both muscle and some fat, and there was little doubt that he was a strong and dangerous adversary, for all that he was six years older than Nicholas.

He made a sudden feint, jumping forward with a yell and making de Arundell step back. No blow was exchanged, but Pomeroy shouted at Nicholas to unnerve him.

'You've no bloody archers behind you now! I'm going to cut you to pieces, as I would have done at Grimspound if you'd fought fairly'

Nicholas made no reply, but a moment later, as Henry charged at him, he sidestepped and brought his sword down, making a chip of wood and leather fly from the edge of Pomeroy's shield.

From then on, the fight was fast and furious, a sequence of advances and retreats, shield bosses clashing and then breaking apart. Both men seemed evenly matched as far as skill and courage were concerned, and a rising tide of yells came from the onlookers, urging them on to even greater efforts. Though the sympathy of most people was with de Arundell, as the circumstances of this dispute were widely known, there was no doubt that Henry was putting up an excellent performance and he had a number of spectators shouting for him, in addition to his own men.

As the two combatants hammered away at each other, without so far inflicting any damage except to their shields, Gwyn muttered into the coroner's ear, 'If I was a gambling man - which I am - I'd put my money on Pomeroy at the moment, more's the pity.'
 

De Wolfe, his eyes glued to the action, replied without turning his head. 'There's nothing in it so far, Gwyn. Nicholas is the younger man, so maybe he can keep this up for longer. I don't see how they can carry on for very long like this.'

As if they had heard him, the fighters abruptly pushed each other away and circled at a distance, both with heaving chests and gasping for breath. John now saw a long rent down Nicholas's tunic below the jerkin, but there appeared to be no blood, so it looked as if Henry's sword had only slashed the garment, not the flesh underneath.

After a few moments' respite, the younger man returned to the attack, and this time de la Pomeroy backed away, his face almost purple with effort, his lips curled back in a rictus of angry excitement. Then he rallied and, with a burst of energy, forced de Arundell back to the centre of the square. They hammered away for several more minutes, and in spite of the cold, both men were seen to be sweating, perspiration visible on their brows below their helmets. De la Pomeroy, whose activity seemed almost demonical, looked as if he was about to explode, his face engorged and his eyeballs prominent.

As more shouts of encouragement erupted from the sidelines, mostly shouts of 'Nicholas, Nicholas!', the lord of Hempston again began driving Henry back, with a ferocious charge that took them halfway to the ropes.

Then catastrophe occurred, as Nicholas stumbled over a hardened clod of earth kicked up by some beast and fell forwards on to his shield and sword hand.

In a flash, Henry Pomeroy leapt towards him with sword raised, and as Nicholas rolled sideways and began pushing himself up, he suffered a glancing blow from the blade on his right arm.

John saw the sleeve rip and blood well out, as the agile de Arundell sprang up and instantly slashed back at his adversary. But it was his sword arm that had been injured, how badly de Wolfe had no means of telling. An experienced campaigner, de Arundell deliberately ran backwards to give himself a few seconds in which to slide his good arm from his shield hoop and change hands, so that his weapon was now in his left hand. Though not so powerful as his right, years of practice had strengthened it to a reasonable degree - but he was now at a considerable disadvantage. Henry came charging at him, yelling at the top of his voice, drowning the cries from the spectators. Nicholas held his ground and managed to strike at Pomeroy's shield so hard that a split appeared in the wood, which was now only held together by the leather covering. Once again a furious hand-to-hand combat ensued, which at least reassured de Wolfe that Nicholas's injury could not be life-threatening or he would have failed already from loss of blood.

'They can't keep this up for much longer,' snapped de Furnellis, standing alongside the coroner. 'Henry de la Pomeroy is like a man possessed. He'll make a mistake in a moment and Arundell will have him.' But he was wrong, though for a good reason.

After a brief circling, the lord of Berry again came at Nicholas like a madman, roaring and slashing as if he intended to conquer his enemy by sheer weight and speed. The quick-footed Nicholas sidestepped again and, left-handed, jabbed behind Henry's damaged shield.

The thick leather cuirass absorbed most of the blow, but the point of his sword pricked Henry's belly and he gave a yell of pain, even though the injury was not serious.

The wound put him in a towering rage, and he swung back determined to cut this tormentor in half.

As he bore down on de Arundell, a hush descended on the crowd, who half expected to see this bull-like leviathan trample the slimmer man into the mud.

Nicholas expected the same, as he saw Henry's eyes bulging in his puce-tinted face, rage vying with triumph as he saw victory within his grasp.

Suddenly, the charging man stopped. He seemed to crumple at the waist, and his sword fell from his fingers as he grasped the neck of his jerkin and sank to the ground, a gurgling, gasping sound bursting from his purpled lips.

De Arundell gaped in amazement, his own sword still raised, but as de la Pomeroy did nothing but writhe on the frozen mud, still scrabbling at his throat, he cautiously went nearer. Half suspecting some trick, he kicked away the other man's sword so that it was out of reach, then dropped to his knees alongside him. By now, people were racing across the arena towards them, and seconds later the sheriff and coroner were by his side.

'What's happened to him?' demanded de Furnellis.

'God knows. Some kind of seizure, I think.'

'He's bleeding from his belly,' said Brother Rufus.

De Wolfe ripped at the thongs that secured the leather jerkin down the front of Henry's body. 'Give him some air, he's choking,' he commanded, for the stricken man was still gasping and tearing at his neckband. John explored the wound under the tunic and found it to be little more than a surface puncture.

'Nothing to do with that,' he said, looking up at Ralph Morin, who had joined the group clustered around the fallen man. For a fleeting moment, de Wolfe felt it ironic that so many were now solicitous about Henry's welfare, whereas five minutes earlier they were quite prepared to see him mortally wounded on the end of de Arundell's weapon.

By now, Joan de Arundell had broken away from her cousin and John's own wife and had raced across to her husband; hugging him, she demanded to see his wounded arm. The blood was running down his sleeve and dripping off his fingers, but he seemed oblivious of it, being more concerned with the extraordinary turn of events.

'It is the will of God, praise be,' exclaimed Brother Rufus. 'He has decided the outcome in the plainest manner.'

John de Alençon, also kneeling by the stricken lord, looked rather less convinced that this was a show of divine intervention, but he held his tongue.

'We must get him moved,' said the practical sheriff, and yelled at Sergeant Gabriel to find a litter to carry the victim to the keep, where he would at least be out of the biting breeze. At that moment, someone with a better understanding of seizures arrived, in the shape of Richard Lustcote, the apothecary, who had been amongst the spectators.

Dropping to a crouch, he said some soothing words to de la Pomeroy and undid the laces that closed the neck of his tunic beneath the leather jacket. Then with fingers on the pulse at the man's wrist, he cocked his head to try to understand the garbled words that were now punctuating the gasps for breath.