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  The countryside became ever more densely populated-roads, lanes, and trackways seamed the valleys, and the cross-topped steeples of churches adorned every hilltop. Over all hung the odour of the dung heap, pungent and heavy in the sultry air. By the time the sprawl of Lundein appeared beyond the wide gleaming sweep of the Thames, Bran was heartily sick of England and already longing to return to Elfael. Ordinarily, he would not have endured such a misery in silence, but the sight of the city brought the reason for their sojourn fresh to mind, and his soul sank beneath the weight of an infinitely greater grief. He merely bit his lip and passed through the wretched realm, his gaze level, his face hard.

  On its way into the city, the road widened to resemble a broad, bare, wheel-rutted expanse hemmed in on each side by row upon row of houses, many flanked by narrow yards out of which merchants and craftsmen pursued their various trades. Carters, carpenters, and wheelwrights bartered with customers ankle deep in wood shavings; blacksmiths hammered glowing rods on anvils to produce andirons, fire grates, ploughshares, door bands and hinges, chains, and horseshoes; corders sat in their doorways, winding jute into hanks that rose in mounded coils at their feet; potters ferried planks lined with sun-dried pitchers, jars, and bowls to their nearby kilns. Everywhere Bran looked, people seemed to be intensely busy, but he saw no place that looked at all friendly to strangers.

  They rode on and soon came to a low house fronting the river. Several dozen barrels were lined up outside the entrance beside the road. Some of the barrels were topped with boards, behind which a young woman with hair the colour of spun gold and a bright red kerchief across her bare shoulders dispensed jars of ale to a small gathering of thirsty travellers. Without a second thought, Bran turned aside, dismounted, and walked to the board.

  "Pax vobiscum," he said, dusting off his Latin.

  She gave him a nod and patted the board with her hand-a sign he took to mean she wanted to see his money first. As Bran dug out his purse and searched for a suitable coin, the others joined him.

  "Allow me," said Aethelfrith, pushing up beside him. He brought out an English penny. "Coin of the realm," he said, holding the small silver disc between thumb and forefinger. "And for this we should eat like kings as well, should we not?" He handed the money to the alewife. "Four jars, good woman," he said in English. "And fill them full to overflowing."

  "There is food, too?" asked Bran as the woman poured out three large jars from a nearby pitcher.

  "Inside the house," replied the cleric. Following Bran's gaze, he added, "but we'll not be going in there."

  "Why not? It seems a good enough place." He could smell the aroma of roast pork and onions on the light evening breeze.

  "Oh, aye, a good enough place to practise iniquity, perhaps, or lose your purse-if not your life." He shook his head at the implied depravity. "But we have a bed waiting for us where we will not be set upon by anything more onerous than a psalm."

  "You know of such a place?" asked Ffreol.

  "There is a monastery just across the river," Friar Aethelfrith informed them. "The Abbey of Saint Mary the Virgin. I have stayed there before. They will give us a bowl and bed for the night."

  Aethelfrith's silver penny held good for four more jars and half a loaf of bread, sliced and smeared with pork drippings, which only served to rouse their appetites. Halfway through the second jar, Bran had begun to feel as if Lundein might not be as bad as his first impression had led him to believe. He became more certain when he caught the young alewife watching him; she offered him a saucy smile and gave a little toss of her head, indicating that he should follow. With a nod and a wink, she disappeared around the back of the house, with Bran a few steps behind her. As Bran came near, she lifted her skirt a little and extended her leg to reveal a shapely ankle.

  "It is a lovely river, is it not?" observed Aethelfrith, falling into step beside him.

  "It is not the river I am looking at," said Bran. "Go back and finish your ale, and I will join you when I've finished here."

  "Oh," replied the friar, "I think you've had enough already." Waving to the young woman, he took Bran by the arm and steered him back the way they had come. "Evening is upon us," he observed. "We'll be going on.,,

  "I'm hungry," said Bran. Glancing back at the alewife, he saw that she had gone inside. "We should eat something."

  "Aye, we will," agreed Tuck, "but not here." They rejoined the others, and Bran returned to his jar, avoiding the stern glance of Brother Ffreol, "Drink up, my friends," ordered Tuck. "It is time we were moving along."

  With a last look toward the inn, Bran drained his cup and reluctantly followed the others back to their mounts and climbed back into the saddle. "How many times have you been to Lundein?" he asked as they continued their slow plod into the city.

  "Oh, a fair few," Aethelfrith replied. "Four or five times, I think, though the last time was when old King William was on the throne." He paused to consider. "Seven years ago, perhaps."

  At King's Bridge they stopped in the road. Bran had never seen a bridge so wide and long, and despite the crowds now hurrying to their homes on the other side of the river, he was not certain he wanted to venture out too far. He was on the point of dismounting to lead his horse across when Aethelfrith saw his hesitation. "Five hundred men on horseback cross this bridge every day," he called, "and oxcarts by the score. It will yet bear a few more."

  "I was merely admiring the handiwork," Bran told him. He gave his mount a slap and started across. Indeed, it was ingeniously constructed with beams of good solid oak and iron spikes; it neither swayed nor creaked as they crossed. All the same, he was happy to reach the far side, where Aethelfrith, now afoot, began leading them up one narrow, shadowed street and down another until the three Welshmen had lost all sense of direction.

  "I know it is here somewhere," said Aethelfrith. They paused at a small crossroads to consider where to look next. The twisting streets were filling up with smoke from the hearth fires of the houses round about.

  "Night is upon us," Ffreol pointed out. "If we cannot find it in the daylight, we will fare no better in the dark."

  "We are near," insisted the fat little priest. "I remember this place, do I not?"

  Just then a bell rang out -a clear, distinct tone in the still evening air.

  "Ah!" cried Aethelfrith. "That will be the call to vespers. This way!" Following the sound of the bell, they soon arrived at a gate in a stone wall. "Here!" he said, hurrying to the gate. "This is the placeI told you I would remember."

  "So you did," replied Bran. "How could we have doubted?"

  The mendicant priest pulled a small rope that passed through a hole in the wooden door. Another bell tinkled softly, and presently the door swung open. A thin, round-shouldered priest dressed in a long robe of undyed wool stepped out to greet them. One glance at the two priests in their robes, and he said, "Welcome, brothers! Peace and welcome."

  A quick word with the porter, and their lodgings for the night were arranged. They ate soup with the brothers in the refectory, and while Ffreol and Aethelfrith attended the night vigil with the resident monks, Bran and Iwan went to the cell provided for them and fell asleep on fleece-covered straw mats. Upon arising with the bell the next morning, Bran saw that Ffreol and Aethelfrith were already at prayer; he pulled on his boots, brushed the straw from his cloak, and went out into the abbey yard to wait until the holy office was finished.

  While he waited, he rehearsed in his mind what they should say to William the Red. Now that the fateful day had dawned, Bran found himself lost for words and dwarfed by the awful knowledge of how much depended upon his ability to persuade the English king of the injustice being perpetrated on his people. His heart sank lower and lower as he contemplated the dreary future before him: an impoverished lackey to a Ffreinc bounder whose reputation for profligate spending was exceeded only by his whoring and drinking.

  When at last Ffreol and Aethelfrith emerged from the chapel, Bran had decided he would swear an oath to t
he devil himself if it would keep the vile invaders from Elfael.

  The travellers took their leave and, passing beyond the monastery gates, entered the streets of the city to make their way to the White Tower, as the king's stronghold was known.

  Bran could see the pale stone structure rising above the rooftops of the low, mean houses sheltering in the shadows of the fortress walls. At the gates, Brother Ffreol declared Bran's nobility and announced their intent to the porter, who directed them into the yard and showed them where to tie their horses. They were then met by a liveried servant, who conducted them into the fortress itself and to a large anteroom lined with benches on which a score or more men-mostly Ffreinc, but some English-were already waiting; others were standing in clumps and knots the length of the room. The thought of having to wait his turn until all had been seen cast Bran into a dismal mood.

  They settled in a far corner of the room. Every now and then a courtier would appear, summon one or more petitioners, and take them away. For good or ill, those summoned never returned to the anteroom, so the mood remained one of hopeful, if somewhat desperate, optimism. "I have heard of people waiting twenty days or more to speak to the king," Friar Aethelfrith confided as he cast his glance around the room at the men lining the benches.

  "We will not bide that long," Bran declared, but he sank a little further into gloom at the thought. Some of those in the room did indeed look as if they might have taken up more or less permanent residence there; they brought out food from well-stocked tuck bags, some slept, and others whiled away the time playing at dice. Morning passed, and the day slowly crept away.

  It was after midday, and Bran's stomach had begun reminding him that he had eaten nothing but soup and hard bread since the day before, when the door at the end of the great vestibule opened and a courtier in yellow leggings and a short tunic and mantle of bright green entered, passing slowly along the benches and eyeing the petitioners who looked up hopefully. At his approach, Bran stood. "We want to see the king," he said in his best Latin.

  "Yes," replied the man, "and what is the nature of your business here?"

  "We want to see the king."

  "To be sure." The court official glanced at those attending Bran and said, "You four are together?"

  "We are," replied Bran.

  "The question is why would you see the king?"

  "We have come to seek redress for a crime committed in the king's name," Bran explained.

  The official's glance sharpened. "What sort of crime?"

  "The slaughter of our lord and his warband and the seizure of our lands," volunteered Brother Ffreol, taking his place beside Bran.

  "Indeed!" The courtier became grave. "When did this happen?"

  "Not more than ten days ago," replied Bran.

  The courtier regarded the men before him and made up his mind. "Come."

  "We will see the king now?"

  "You will follow me."

  The official led them through the wooden door and into the next room, which, although smaller than the anteroom they had just left, was whitewashed and strewn with fresh straw; at one end was a fireplace, and opposite the hearth was an enormous tapestry hung from an iron rod. The hand-worked cloth depicted the risen Christ on his heavenly throne, holding an orb and sceptre. The centre of the room was altogether taken up by a stout table at which sat three men in highbacked chairs. The two men at each end of the table wore robes of deep brown and skullcaps of white linen. The man in the centre was dressed in a robe of black satin trimmed with fox fur; his skullcap was red silk and almost the same colour as his long, flowing locks. He also wore a thick gold chain around his neck, attached to which were a cross and a polished crystal lens. Before the men were piles of parchments and pots containing goose quills and ink, and all three were writing on squares of parchment before them; the scratch of their pens was the only sound in the room.

  "Yes?" said one of the men as the four approached the table. He did not raise his eyes from his writing. "What is it?"

  "Murder and the unlawful seizure of lands," intoned the courtier.

  "This is not a matter for the royal court," replied the man dismissively, dipping his pen. "You must take it up with the Court of the Assizor."

  "I thought perhaps this particular case might interest you, my lord bishop," the courtier said.

  "Interesting or not, we do not adjudicate criminal cases," sighed the man. "You must place the matter before the assizes."

  Before the courtier could make a reply, Bran said, "We appeal to the king's justice because the crime was committed in the king's name."

  At this the man in the red skullcap glanced up; interest quickened eyes keen and rapacious as a hawk's. "In the king's name, did you say?"

  "Yes," replied Bran. "Truly."

  The man's eyes narrowed. "You are Welsh."

  "British, yes."

  "What is your name?"

  "Here stands before you Bran ap Brychan, prince and heir to the throne of Elfael," said Iwan, speaking up to save his future king the embarrassment of having to affirm his own nobility.

  "I see." The man in the red silk cap leaned back in his chair. The gold cross on his chest had rubies to mark the places where nails had been driven into the saviour's hands and feet. He raised the crystal lens and held it before a sharp blue eye. "Tell me what happened."

  "Forgive me, sir, are you the king?" asked Bran.

  "My lord, we have no time for such as this. They are-," began the man in the white skullcap. His objection was silenced by a flick of his superior's hand.

  "King William has been called away to Normandie," explained the man in the red skullcap. "I am Cardinal Ranulf of Bayeux, Chief Justiciar of England. I am authorised to deal with all domestic matters in the king's absence. You may speak to me as you would speak to His Majesty." Offering a mirthless smile, the cardinal said, "Pray, continue. I would hear more of this alleged crime."

  Bran nodded and licked his lips. "Nine days ago, my father, Lord Brychan of Elfael, set off for Lundein to swear allegiance to King William. He was ambushed on the road by Ffreinc marchogi, who killed him and all who were with him, save one. My father and the warband of Elfael were massacred and their bodies left to rot beside the road."

  "My sympathies," said Ranulf. "May I ask how you know the men who committed this crime were, as you call them, Ffreinc marchogi?"

  Bran put out a hand to Iwan. "This man survived and witnessed all that took place. He is the only one to escape with his life."

  "Is this true?" wondered the cardinal.

  "It is, my lord, every word," affirmed Iwan. "The leader of this force is a man named Falkes de Braose. He claims to have received Elfael by a grant from King William."

  Ranulf of Bayeux raised the long white quill and held it lengthwise between his hands as if studying it for imperfections. "It is true that His Majesty has recently issued a number of such grants," the cardinal told them. Turning to his assistant on the left, he said, "Bring me the de Braose grant."

  Without a word the man in the chair beside him rose and crossed the room, disappearing through a door behind the tapestry.

  "There would seem to be some confusion here," allowed the cardinal when his man had gone, "but we will soon find the cause." Regarding the three before him, he added, "We keep good records. It is the Norman way."

  Friar Aethelfrith stifled a hoot of contempt for the man's insinuation. Instead, he beamed beatifically and loosed a soft fart.

  A moment later the cardinal's assistant returned bearing a square of parchment bound by a red satin riband. This he untied and placed before his superior, who took it up and began to read aloud very quickly, skipping over unimportant parts. "Be it known… this day… by the power and enfranchisement… Ah!" he said. "Here it is.

  He then read out the pertinent passage for the petitioners. "Granted to William de Braose, Baron, Lord of the Rape of Bramber, in recognition for his support and enduring loyalty, the lands comprising the Welsh commot Elfael so ca
lled, entitled free and clear for himself and his heirs in perpetuity, in exchange for the sum of two hundred marks."

  "We were sold for two hundred marks?" wondered Iwan.

  "A token sum," replied the cardinal dryly. "It is customary."

  "The Norman way, no doubt," put in Aethelfrith.

  "But it is Count Falkes de Braose who has taken the land," Bran pointed out, "not the baron."

  "Baron William de Braose is his uncle, I believe," said the cardinal. "But, yes, that is undoubtedly where the confusion has arisen. There is no provision for Falkes to assume control of the land, as he is not a direct heir. The baron himself must occupy the land or forfeit his claim. Therefore, as Chief Justiciar, I will allow this grant to be rescinded."

  "I do thank you, my lord," said Bran, sweet relief surging through him. "I am much obliged."

  The cardinal raised his hand. "Please, hear me out. I will allow the grant to be revoked for a payment to the crown of six hundred marks."

  "Six hundred!" gasped Bran. "It was given to de Braose for two hundred."

  "In recognition of his loyalty and support during the rebellion of the Barons," intoned the cardinal. "Yes. For you it will be six hundred and fealty sworn to King William."

  "That is robbery!" snapped Bran.

  The cardinal's eyes snapped quick fire. "It is a bargain, boy." He stared at Bran for a moment and then pulled the parchment to himself, adding, "In any case, that is my decision. The matter will be held in abeyance until such time as the money is paid." He gestured to his assistant, who began writing an addendum to the grant.

  Bran stared at the churchman and felt the despair melt away in a sudden surge of white-hot rage. His vision became blood-tinged and hard. He saw the bland face and shrewd eyes, the man's flaming red hair, and it was all he could do to keep from seizing the imperious cleric, pulling him bodily across the table, and beating the superior smirk off that smug face with his fists.