The crimes had to be punished. Val couldn’t stop that, simpleton or not, because the man had killed and that meant his punishment would be the same. The families of the victims and the townspeople who had lived in fear of becoming his next victim would demand justice.
Therefore, Val knew he had no choice in the matter. If he balked at delivering the sentence, then it was quite possible he’d lose credibility with St. Lo. Word like that would get around and he’d be viewed as weak, or worse. It would make keeping law in Hampshire even more difficult if men thought he was weak.
Even now, they were all looking at him, wondering why he’d even questioned the man. He could see their confusion in their eyes. That confusion would soon turn to disdain.
The prisoner had to be dealt with.
Val turned to St. Lo. “Before I render judgment, you said there were witnesses to the murder this morning?” he said. “Where are they?”
St. Lo gestured to a huddled group of children several feet away. They were wet and looked terrified. “There,” he said. “Two of their friends were murdered.”
Val made his way over to the gaggle of skinny children; half of them were wet, but they were all trembling, looking athim with utter fear in their eyes. Val looked them all over very carefully, a rag-tag group of peasant children.
“Tell me what happened this morning,” he said. “Tell me what you saw that man do.”
The children were huddled, quivering. A boy about eleven or twelve years of age spoke.
“We fished at dawn, m’lord,” he said. “We often go to the marsh to fish and we caught many fish. We were cooking them and that man came out of the trees and took the fish we were cooking on sticks. He just started eating them. When we tried to stop him, he pushed my two young brothers into the marsh. They couldn’t swim, my lord, and he went into the water and held them down. Then he tried to do the same to us but some people from the village heard our cries and came to save us.”
Val was listening seriously. “Then you saw him drown your brothers?”
The boy nodded, wiping furiously at his eyes, as he didn’t want to be seen weeping. “Aye, m’lord.”
That was all Val needed to hear. He had what he considered a confession and now he had witnesses. There was no doubt as far as he was concerned. He turned to St. Lo, standing beside him.
“Then we must render punishment,” he said quietly. “Move the crowd back and away.”
St. Lo seemed surprised. “Now?” he asked. “You will not announce a time?”
“Nay.”
“But what of the bishop? He will want to know.”
“We have caught a murderer. That has been confirmed. Why would you delay carrying out his sentence?”
St. Lo was still surprised at the swiftness of the command but he didn’t question further. He began barking orders to his men, who shoved the crowd back from the prisoner. The two menstanding on either side of Mat kicked out his knees and forced him to kneel.
“I will get the ax,” St. Lo said. “It is at my house. I will send a man for it right away!”
Val shook his head. “Nay,” he said, putting a hand on the broadsword strapped to his side. “I will use my sword. This man is a simpleton, obviously, so I am not entirely sure he understood that what he was doing was wrong. I will therefore grant him a measure of clemency and use my sword rather than an ax. It will be swifter and cleaner that way.”
St. Lo peered at him curiously. “You will execute him personally, my lord?”
Val sighed faintly, hating the sound of what he had to do. “Aye,” he said. “It is my sword. Only I will use it.”
“Shall we at least send for a priest to pray with him?”
“Nay. There is not enough praying that can save that man’s soul after what he has done.”
St. Lo shut his mouth after that. De Nerra was delivering swift and brutal justice. He left Val’s side, going to help his men push the crowd back as two of his men remained with the prisoner, keeping him down on his knees because he kept trying to rise. Mat’s wailing filled the air, adding to the harrowing atmosphere.
The truth was that Val wanted to carry out the sentencing swiftly for one largely predominant reason– McCloud and Vesper were not in view of it. That was his primary reason for doing it so fast, for not sending for a priest. It would take time, precious time, and give McCloud a chance to return with Vesper only for them both to see what he had to do to their son and brother. It was a small mercy he would give to them, handling the execution himself so there would be no torturously long execution with a sloppy axman and to do it when they couldn’t see it.
But there were other reasons. Even though Val suspected Vesper’s relationship with her brother was not a good one, he doubted their budding relationship could survive her witnessing him execute her brother. It would be a stain always between them and even if he couldn’t overcome her lack of forthrightness in the long term, he didn’t want her to end up hating him.
That wasn’t something he could stomach.
Therefore, he looked around one last time to see if they were near and, not seeing them in the crowd, he unsheathed his magnificent broadsword. Sharp as a razor, it was more than up to the task that would soon be asked of it. The crowd was jostling around, trying to gain a better look at what was to come as St. Lo’s men held back the throng. Val knew he had to act. There was no more time to delay. Taking the hilt in both hands, he came up behind the kneeling prisoner.
