“He works alone for the most part.”
“So do you.”
“I do.”
“But you say he was witness to this information? Where is he?”
Gart shook his head. “This, I cannot know, my lord,” he said. “We were together in Rome and then he left because someone in the Lateran Palace, a high-ranking priest, paid him a princely sum to eliminate an enemy. I’ve not seen him since.”
William pondered that for a moment before flicking his wrist at Gart. “It is of no consequence,” he said. “I believe what you have told me. I simply want to hear it again to make sure I understood correctly. A woman gave you this information, you say?”
Gart nodded. “A courtesan, my lord,” he said. “A woman who is a favored of one of the Holy Father’s advisors, a man by the name of Abramo. She told me that she had been warming the man’s bed for two years. Others confirmed this to me.”
“Others you trust?”
Forbes shrugged. “One was a papal knight,” he replied. “Another was an old man who was a servant of the body to Abramo.”
William looked at him, seriously. “I see,” he said. “And while in Rome, you entertained this courtesan?”
“I did.”
“How did you meet the other two men who confirmed who she was?”
Forbes started to look nervous again. “I wanted to see her before I left Rome to return to England,” he said, not wanting to admit he liked the woman because she was sexually clever and stimulating. “I went to the Lateran Palace where she said she lived to see if I could send a missive to her, to draw her out so that I could bid her farewell, and I was told by a papal guard that she was a favored of Abramo, a man close to the Holy Father. When the guard sent the missive inside the palace, the servant of the body returned to tell me that the woman belonged to Abramo and that I was forbidden further contact with her.”
William was listening carefully, moderately satisfied with Forbes’ explanation. “And it was of Abramo that the woman spoke.”
Forbes nodded, seemingly impressed or overwhelmed, or both, by the news he bore. “Indeed,” he replied. “She said the information regarding King Richard had come directly from Abramo.”
“And she was certain?”
“She was certain that Abramo was certain, and the man was certain enough to act upon the information.”
William sighed heavily, sitting back in his chair and gazing into the hypnotic flames. “So Richard Plantagenet had a liaison with a woman in Sicily when he wintered there ten years ago en route to The Levant,” he muttered. “And from that liaison, a son was born.”
“Aye, my lord.”
“A lad that Lothar has in his custody.”
William always referred to the pope by his birth name– Lothar of Segni. It was a sign of the animosity that William had long been part of, something that had eroded whatever inherent respect the position of the pontiff required. Especially in this situation, there was no respect– only the presence of an adversary.
A war was on the horizon.
“Aye, my lord,” Gart replied.
As the news sunk in, William rubbed wearily at his forehead. Even the second time around, the information still shocked him. “So now he has Richard’s son,” he muttered. “Worse yet, he plans to supplant John with Richard’s offspring?”
Gart nodded, watching William for any sign of what the man’s thoughts were on the matter. All he could see were veins throbbing on the man’s temples. “According to the woman, Abramo told her that assassins were being dispatched to England to kill John,” he said. “There is no love between John and Rome, my lord. If the church rids England of John and then lays claim to the throne with Richard’s son, then England ceases to become our country. It will become part of Rome.”
William already knew this. He shook his head, exasperated. “Already this plan is madness because the boy is Richard’s bastard,” he pointed out. “They cannot lay claim on behalf of the boy.”
Forbes sighed. “This I said, as well,” he said, somewhat sadly. “However, the woman told me that the Holy Father is prepared to swear that Richard married the boy’s mother, a minor noblewoman, prior to his marriage to Berengaria, and that the Holy Father personally performed the ceremony. The Holy Father intends to legitimize the boy’s claim.”
William looked at him, hints of horror crossing his weathered features. “Is this really true, Gart?” he asked, almost pleadingly. “This is truly what you were told?”
Forbes nodded. “I swear this is what the woman told me, my lord,” he said. “That is why I traveled in the dead of winter to reach you. This is something you must know. John, as much as we dislike the man, must be protected.”
William rolled his eyes, rubbing at his head more forcefully now. “Great Bleeding Christ,” he hissed. “John may be anundesirable king but at least his is the legitimate king and if there is to be any removing of the man, I would do it and not the fools in Rome. Do they really think they can get away with such a thing?”
