Tevin threw up a hand to quiet him. “Val, listen to me,” he said urgently. “The soldiers from Canterbury Castle that came to deliver the news of the archbishop’s death said thatyouwere the murderer. The men involved in the assassination were wearing de Nerra tunics. Nothing was said about de Morville and the other knights.”
Val wasn’t particularly shocked by that. “I brought a contingent of men with me who were, indeed, wearing my colors,” he said. “But we stopped de Morville from hacking Canterbury to pieces. By the time I got there, Hugh and Reg and William and Richard had already killed the man.”
Tevin’s mouth hung open; he couldn’t help it. Now, the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall together and he was having a difficult time comprehending it all. Something dark and horrible had been afoot, an undercurrent of treachery that no one had sensed from knights who had closely served Henry. But now, it was starting to come clear and the realization was devastating.
“Oh… God…,” he breathed. “So that was where those four went. De Morville, FitzUrse, le Breton, and de Tracy… we were only speaking of them this morning because Henry had not seen them. No one seemed to know where they had gone.”
Val cocked his head curiously. “Gone? Who? De Morville and the others? They went to Canterbury on Henry’s orders.”
Tevin was shaking his head slowly, back and forth. “Nay, Val.Noton Henry’s orders.”
Val looked at the man a moment, dumbfounded, before his eyes widened. “Then on whose orders?”
Tevin sighed sharply. “I am not sure how to tell you this,” he said, holding up the vellum in his hand, “but Henry did not sign this warrant. He never gave these orders. You have been lied to, Val. Someone has pulled you into a plot to assassinate Canterbury and now they are trying to name you as the murderer.”
So there it was, out in the open.An assassination plot. Now, Val was coming to understand why Tevin had been so distressed and why this entire discussion had been so confusing. But on the heels of that realization came another, more devastating realization– Henry hadn’t ordered the arrest of Canterbury.Henry never gave the command that Val had so diligently carried out.
An assassination plot!
Val looked at Tevin as if his entire world had just come crashing down around him.
“Sweet Christ,” he muttered. “Are you certain of this?”
Tevin nodded, feeling ill. “Aye,” he said. “Henry did not order Canterbury arrested or assassinated. He only learned of the man’s death this morning and had you been there, you would have seen how shocked he was. It was not a performance; it was the truth.”
Val was still trying to grasp at the last traces of hope that this might not be some grand plot he’d fallen in to; he was in denial. Surely this could not happen to him.
Surely there was another explanation!
“But if he wanted to keep it secret,” Val said, sounding as if he was pleading. “Surely he would have known that his advisors would have taken a stand against Canterbury’s arrest. Mayhap he sent the warrant and you simply did not know of it.”
Tevin could see that Val was trying to find justification for that which could not be justified. He shook his head. “When we received the word of Canterbury’s death this morning, no one was more shaken than Henry,” he said. “I do not believe he sent that missive. But you must come with me to Winchester immediately to clarify all of this, Val. There is some kind of plot afoot and you have been pulled into it. Henry will want to hear this.”
Val had gone from denial to the horror of realization all in one breath. So, it was true… Henry really hadn’t sent the missive. The more he thought of it, the more devastated he became.
“I had no reason not to trust Hugh when he delivered the missive,” he said, a hint of pain in his voice. “He has delivereddozens of warrants from Henry and this was just another one, although the seriousness of it did strike me. I thought to confirm it with Henry, in fact, but Hugh and the other knights had already gone on ahead to Canterbury and I was convinced that Henry wanted this warrant carried out swiftly, so I went ahead with it. You can see for yourself in the missive that I am threatened if I did not carry out the orders.”
Tevin nodded, looking back to the missive and seeing the clear threat within. “I understand completely,” he said. “As you saw it, you had no choice.”
“And now you are telling me that Henry did not send the missive?”
“I truly believe he did not.”
Val turned away from the man, pacing across the floor and snapping his knuckles with agitation. “I cannot believe it,” he muttered. “I have been tricked.”
“You have, indeed.”
Val swiftly turned to Tevin. “It must have been Hugh,” he said, teeth clenched. “He was the one who demanded I follow through on the orders so quickly and he is the one I saw delivering the death blow to Canterbury. He must have been the one who forged this missive to me. But why? Damnation,why?”
It was a cry of anguish, something that seemed to go right through Tevin, piercing his heart with the power of Val’s agony. He stood up, facing Val.
“I do not know,” he said honestly. “But you know Hugh… he is rabidly loyal to Henry, always one to seek royal favor. Mayhap, he thought he would be given the king’s favor by ridding him of a man who has caused Henry such grief.”
Val was so angry that he was trembling. “Except he sought to pin any blame on me,” he said. “If I have the arrest warrant, then I am responsible. Hugh could say he was simply following my orders.”
“Possibly,” Tevin nodded. “In any case, we must go to Henry immediately. He… he is sending men to arrest you and bring you to Winchester, Val. It would be better if you went to him before he sends his army to remove you in front of your own men. You do not want your men to see you being arrested.”
Val shook his head. “Nay, I do not,” he said. Then, he paused, thinking on the situation he now found himself in. It was like a nightmare. “I have lived my entire life in service for Henry. I have done everything right. I have chosen the right path. I have demonstrated my fealty to the best of my ability. And now this. I feel like everything I am and everything I have worked for is unraveling before my eyes and I cannot stop it.”
