The Twice-Hanged Man Read online

  Also by Priscilla Royal

  The Medieval Mysteries

  Wine of Violence

  Tyrant of the Mind

  Sorrow Without End

  Justice for the Damned

  Forsaken Soul

  Chambers of Death

  Valley of Dry Bones

  A Killing Season

  The Sanctity of Hate

  Covenant with Hell

  Satan’s Lullaby

  Land of Shadows

  The Proud Sinner

  Wild Justice

  Copyright © 2019 by Priscilla Royal

  Cover and internal design © 2019 by Sourcebooks

  Cover design by The Book Designers

  Cover images © Robin Vandenabeele/Arcangel Images, Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock Images

  Sourcebooks, Poisoned Pen Press, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Apart from well-known historical figures, any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  sourcebooks.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

  Names: Royal, Priscilla, author.

  Title: The twice-hanged man : a medieval mystery / Priscilla Royal.

  Description: First edition. | Naperville, IL : Poisoned Pen Press, [2019]

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019018756| (hardcover : alk. paper)

  Subjects: LCSH: Executions and executioners--Fiction. | Abbesses, Christian--Fiction. | Murder--Investigation--Fiction. | Monasticism and religious orders--Fiction. | Cities and towns, Medieval--Fiction. | Great Britain--History--Edward I, 1272-1307--Fiction. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction. | Historical fiction.

  Classification: LCC PS3618.O893 T89 2019 | DDC 813/.6--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019018756

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Author’s Note

  Bibliography

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  “Laws are silent in time of war.”

  —Cicero, 106-43 BCE, Pro Milone

  “The first casualty when war comes is truth.”

  —Hiram Warren Johnson, 1917 speech, U.S. Senate

  In memory of Sharon Silva

  and forty years of friendship.

  Chapter One

  Flames from torches stoutly battled the darkness of Satan’s hour as the bearers hurried toward the party of exhausted travelers.

  Prioress Eleanor squeezed the hand of the moaning woman lying next to her. “We have arrived,” she said gently. The cart on which they rode came to a juddering halt.

  The woman arched her back and cried out in agony, then gripped the hand of the prioress with painful force.

  Jumping to the ground, Sister Anne rushed to the woman servant standing at the open door to the hunting lodge, held a brief discussion, and returned to help Brother Thomas and another man ease the suffering woman from the cart.

  “Take her as gently as you can to the prepared chamber.” The nun pointed to the woman at the door, reached into the cart for a small bag, and hurried to the lodge.

  Wiping a hand across her eyes to clear away the moisture from the heavy mist, Prioress Eleanor watched until the foursome disappeared inside.

  “My lady?”

  The unknown voice startled her, but then she saw a servant extending a hand. With murmured gratitude, she took it, slipped down from the cart, and hurried to a man dismounting his horse.

  “Your wife is now in her chamber, Robert,” she said and laid a hand on his arm. “We have safely crossed the border into England, and Welsh soldiers are no longer a danger…”

  He shook his head. “We never should have listened to Hugh. Elizabeth was too near her birthing to travel.” His inflection rose in pitch, and his words began to flow together. “I was wrong to agree to this journey. Surely the rebels were not so close that we had to flee.” He turned toward the lodge. “I must be at her side.”

  She tightened her grip to hold him back. “You cannot be in the birthing chamber, brother. She has Sister Anne, the finest midwife in England. When you are calmer, you will agree that our eldest brother was right to send word that Welsh soldiers might be too close for us to remain safely at the manor.”

  He put his hands over his face and groaned. “This is her second birthing in just over a year. This journey has weakened her. If she dies…”

  Eleanor put her hand against his cheek. “Be still. Her life is in God’s hands and those of my sub-infirmarian. I will sit with you outside Elizabeth’s chamber, and we shall wait together for word.” She looked around and beckoned to a tall man who stood nearby, the flames from his torch struggling to stay alive in the damp air. “Is there a fire and mulled wine inside?”

  “Aye, my lady, and a servant waiting to bring what you need. When we got word that you were coming, we prepared for your stay.” He gestured to shadowy figures and ordered them to take charge of the horses and carts.

  Nodding her thanks, the Prioress of Tyndal clasped her brother’s hand and led him like a small boy across the muddy courtyard and into the lodge.

  Chapter Two

  Prioress Eleanor took in a deep breath of the new morning air, shut her eyes, and savored peace.

  The tense and hasty journey to escape the rebel bands had been sleepless. Last night had been filled with screams of a mother giving birth and fears that Elizabeth might not live. Then, just before dawn, Robert and Eleanor heard the outraged cries of a healthy baby and saw Sister Anne’s smile. At the end of their endurance, brother and sister fell into each other’s arms and wept with joy.

  Now the air began to bite her lungs with late autumnal iciness. Heavy with the threat of more rain, it was also filled with the sweet scent of fresh wood fires drifting across the narrow dark river that marked the boundary between Wynethorpe property and the dwellings in the small village.
<
br />   Even though the land on which she stood belonged to her family, Eleanor had never visited here before. The lodge behind her was built on a high point that allowed a viewer to see some distance and observe ongoing hunts if desired. It was also a useful defensive feature common to many such lodges. Although her elder brother thought it unlikely that this border town would be ravaged, as Oswestry to the north had been some months ago, the view would provide an early warning if Welsh troops did attack.

  That was comforting.

  In daylight, she realized the building was insignificant in size and intended for the accommodation of small parties of guests who wished to hunt in the surrounding forest where the Wynethorpes had rights to the game. She did not know if marriage had brought it into their baronial hands, whether it had been a gift from a former king, or even how often it was used. All that mattered now was that it was a reasonably safe haven and close by when her sister-in-law suffered the hard contractions that proclaimed her second babe was demanding birth.

  Eleanor blinked, her eyes gritty, and she turned back to the lodge.

  Even a straw mat on the floor of the solar would feel as soft as a summer cloud, she decided, and was convinced she could dream through the roars of a hungry newborn. She was so weary, she feared she might fall asleep on her feet.

  * * *

  Sister Anne stood in the doorway.

  Despite the dark circles under her eyes, the nun looked content. A woman of notable medical talent, she was never happier than when she saved a child’s life or delivered a healthy baby.

  “You must rest,” the prioress said to her friend. “I assume Elizabeth and the child remain well and can do without your care for a few hours.”

  “Indeed, they can,” Sister Anne replied, “but I came with a message. Your brother and his wife would like to discuss a matter of some urgency with you.”

  Eleanor raised an eyebrow.

  “It is for them to explain,” the sub-infirmarian replied, but her gentle expression banished any dread that the subject was a worrisome one.

  As the two women entered the lodge, Anne chuckled. “I think you will be delighted when you see your brother. Now that his wife has finished her ordeal and is settled into her bed, I surrendered to his pleas and let him in to see her.” She pointed to the stairs up to the small solar and then led the way.

  “I know Robert. He must have bounded to her side like a great puppy.” The prioress’ smile quickly faded. “He was worried.”

  “As he should have been.” Anne stopped and looked back at the prioress, a gray shadow of concern passing across her face. “His wife is not in her early youth, and birthing two children in just over a year is hard on a woman. It may be the will of the Church and the curse of Eve, but…”

  Eleanor winced. Both she and Robert had vivid memories of their own mother’s death in childbirth.

  Sister Anne said nothing more. When she entered the solar, she went to the large, curtained-off area, where mother and babe rested, and pulled aside the opening so the prioress could enter.

  Eleanor laughed at the sight before her.

  “I fear I have lost my position in your brother’s heart,” Elizabeth said, pointing to her husband standing by her bed. Her face was pale with exhaustion, but her blue eyes sparkled with pleasure.

  Robert of Wynethorpe was gently rocking a tiny, well-swaddled babe in his arms. Utterly besotted, he did not even look up at the sister he had summoned.

  “I have never seen such perfection,” he exclaimed. “Come and look at these little ears!”

  Being a short woman, Eleanor did not have to bend to look at the child in order to admire the noted ears, nor did her brother have to persuade her that the baby was perfect. Her heart had been won by her new niece from the moment she heard the babe’s first lusty cry.

  “They are not your ears, Robert. I think God was kind and gave your daughter ones more like those of your wife.”

  He laughed, but his awe-struck gaze did not move from the baby’s face.

  Eleanor had always been able to tease this brother. She and Robert had been the closest of the three siblings since childhood. Although they loved their eldest brother, Hugh, he was much older and, as befitted the heir, reveled in war and the intrigues of a king’s court. Robert was a gentler man, took joy in farming and sheep, and was now the skilled manager of the baronial estates while Baron Hugh fought the Welsh at King Edward’s side.

  The prioress turned to her sister-in-law. “I fear you are right. You shall have to be satisfied with second place.”

  “I am relieved that he is content enough with a daughter. I had hoped to bear a son.” Her small reserve of energy now depleted, she lay back on the pillows and sighed.

  Her husband looked up, his eyes wide with surprise. “We have a fine son and, God willing, we shall have more to content Hugh, but I may now confess I prayed for a little girl this time.”

  “Then I have pleased you?” Elizabeth flashed a brief smile of happiness.

  “My beloved one, you could not have given me greater joy.” His words were soft with the love he bore his wife.

  Robert had married later than most men, but Hugh had found him a wife who not only brought the Wynethorpe family increased wealth but also shared the second son’s good nature and husbandry skills. The pair had found joy in each other soon after meeting, and the marriage was a happy one.

  Anne went over to the bed and put the back of her hand against Elizabeth’s forehead. “You have no fever, but I advise rest. These early days after birth require it to ward off illness.” She shot Robert a significant look.

  “I agree, Robert,” Eleanor said. “We must leave your wife for now, and the babe shall sleep easily in the crib.” She gestured at a little wooden object close to the bed.

  For a moment, Robert looked horrified that he must give up the child, and then he nodded and carefully handed her over to Sister Anne. “Before I leave my wife and the beautiful babe she struggled valiantly to bear,” he said, “Elizabeth and I have a favor to ask of you, dear sister.” He motioned for his wife to continue.

  “We would like to name our daughter Alienor after you,” Elizabeth said.

  Eleanor was speechless. “It is too great an honor. I am unworthy.”

  Robert approached, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked very serious. “If you grant our wish, it is we who shall be greatly honored. Both Elizabeth and I decided, should the child be a girl, that she must bear your name. In doing so, we hoped that your niece would look to you as the example of the wisdom, faith, competence, and fairness to which all women should aspire.”

  Blushing, the prioress looked down at her feet. Although she had given herself up to God’s service early in life, she knew how imperfect she was and believed she was no mentor for a young girl. “I think she would be better directed to look elsewhere for a guide in those qualities, brother, for I am a frail woman who is possessed of a very sinful nature.”

  “Nonsense!” Robert laughed. “You may have willfully ruled me when we were children. You may have shown you had sharper wits than I by often getting the better of me. But I bore my yoke with love, and now I want our daughter to be just like you and keep her elder brother, Adam, humble.”

  “You did train my husband well,” Elizabeth said lightly, and then changed her tone to a more serious one. “He and I are of one mind and heart in this. Please grant us this boon.”

  Reluctant though she was, Eleanor knew it would be ungracious and even unloving to protest further. And in the deepest part of her soul, she was delighted they had chosen to name this child after her. “Very well,” she said in a soft voice. “You have my permission, and I shall pray that I may become the model she needs for a virtuous life.”

  Before she could say more, they were interrupted by the arrival of a woman servant at the top of the stairs.

  “I beg par
don, my lady,” she said to the Prioress of Tyndal. “Abbot Gerald from the local abbey seeks permission to speak with you about an urgent problem.”

  “May God have mercy on us,” Robert muttered. “I swear that man shares a sett with a badger under the lodge so he knows the moment I arrive. Since my visits are so rare, there can be no other explanation. A tiresome man, sister, and you need not cater to his fancy and see him. You have not had any sleep…”

  Eleanor closed her eyes and felt herself sway slightly with fatigue but waved away her brother’s suggestion. “He has most likely come to offer Brother Thomas accommodation at the abbey.” And if not, she thought, it was her duty to see any fellow religious who begged her help.

  “Send word if you need rescue, sweet sister. I do not like the abbot.”

  Eleanor smiled, then turned to the servant. “Take him to the dining hall,” she said, “and I shall meet with him shortly. Make sure he is offered refreshment.”

  Halfway down the stairs, she stopped, leaned against the cold stone wall, and prayed she could stay awake long enough to deal courteously with this abbot.

  Chapter Three

  Abbot Gerald was a square-faced, neatly dressed man who did not look like he had spent any time in a badger sett.

  Eleanor quickly banished the image, steeled herself not to yawn, then welcomed him with grace.

  After a brief but equally polite reply, the abbot quickly apologized. “I would have waited until later to trouble you had the problem been less dire.”

  Then he has not come simply to take Brother Thomas to more comfortable lodgings in his abbey, she concluded, and studied him as he worked with excruciating slowness toward his purpose in seeking this audience with her.

  Although the abbot’s speech was Norman French, Eleanor noted that his vowels were slightly elongated, suggesting he was either of Welsh descent or had grown up amongst them. Unlike most men descended from those who followed William the Bastard to England, Gerald was short, but that did not mean the man was Welsh. Her own brother, Robert, was of small stature as well.

  “My priest has been most foully murdered. I must beg your help.”