Tombland

Simon lowered his head, and did not see the hilarity that followed as the knight charged the peasant lad, shouting, ‘For lordship, land and money!’ The boy replied, ‘For the common people!’ and urged his horse on. As he approached the knight’s horse, it turned round and ran clumsily back to its tent, finally urged inside by a thrust at its bottom from the boy’s cloth lance. He got off his horse and bowed to resounding cheers. I laughed as loudly as the rest. Simon slowly raised his head. ‘Are people still looking at me?’ he asked.

‘No, lad, it’s forgotten. You know, when this is over, I’m going to get you a job working with horses somewhere.’ He gave me a watery smile of thanks.

* * *

THE FINAL EVENT OF the afternoon was the ‘camping game’. Where the ‘joust’ had been comic, this was seriously, brutally competitive. Natty left us, for he had been selected to play. Goody Everneke shook her head. ‘This’ll be rough,’ she said.

‘I’ll warrant no more than in London,’ Barak said.

She looked at him. ‘I saw Norfolk play Suffolk last year; the Norfolk lads asked the Suffolk ones if they’d brought their coffins.’

A large area was cleared, ropes secured, and about thirty competitors from each side, all strong lads or young men, stripped to the waist and, wearing coloured sashes to identify their side, began fighting – it was the only word – over a ball made from a pig’s bladder. There was wrestling and kicking to get hold of it. There was a referee, but few if any rules. It was surprising to see Natty, the quiet, thoughtful lad I had come to know, charge as fiercely as any of them. I saw Toby Lockswood was on the other side. He looked at Natty, and I guessed he knew the boy was associated with me.

Late in the game, with the ball a good way off and Natty running towards it, Toby suddenly charged straight at him, shouldering him in the face and bringing him down. He followed this up with a mighty kick to the balls which made Natty scream and double up. Toby glanced at me, grinned, then turned to run at the ball. The referee, who was watching the wild scrum of bodies fighting over it, had seen nothing, and the crowd’s attention too was focused on the scrum. Groaning, Natty limped painfully towards us. Nicholas and Barak helped him sit down; he put his head between his knees and vomited. Barak raised his head and examined his face. ‘You’ll have a mighty bruise, lad,’ he said. ‘It’s lucky he didn’t smash your cheekbone.’

‘That mad dog,’ Nicholas said.

‘Why did he do it?’ Natty gasped.

‘Because he knows you’re friendly with us,’ I answered tightly. ‘How are you – down there?’

Natty, one side of his face pale with pain and the other red and swelling, ran a hand across his broad bare chest and ventured a rueful laugh. ‘I’ll be all right. A horse did something like that to me once. I hear some Norwich girls are coming up this evening, I was planning to see them, but I shan’t now.’

* * *

ONE MEMBER OF THE audience, however, had seen what Toby Lockswood had done to Natty. The game over, with a narrow victory for North Norfolk, the crowd dispersed in the late afternoon sunshine. I felt a touch on my arm and turned to see Michael Vowell looking at me seriously. He said quietly, ‘That was a vicious thing done to your young friend.’

‘You saw it?’

He nodded seriously. ‘I have an eye out for Lockswood. I always thought him a loyal camp-man, but now I wonder. Remember, he is one of those who could have betrayed Captain Miles’s wife and family.’

‘Yes; along with you and me and Edward Brown.’

‘It’s not me, and I don’t believe it was you or Brown.’

I shook my head. ‘Lockswood always had a nasty streak, and it’s got far worse since he lost his case against Nicholas. But the one thing he has always been is loyal to the cause.’

Vowell raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you sure? He worked for that London lawyer Copuldyke for years, and he’s represented many Norfolk gentry as well as your patron the Lady Elizabeth.’

I frowned. ‘How do you know?’

‘It’s common knowledge. And Lockswood came to visit my old master, Gawen Reynolds, more than once. He tried to make a deal between him and Sir Richard Southwell, after the two quarrelled. My master wasn’t having it, of course. Toby Lockswood has many connections, and his master Copuldyke many clients.’

I smiled at him wryly. ‘More gossip heard at keyholes?’

He shrugged. ‘I’ve said before, it’s what servants do, so they know what’s going on. And I begin to wonder whether Toby Lockswood is quite what he seems. He’s certainly mixed with gentry, and got hard cash out of it. I hear he acted for his master Copuldyke when he represented John Flowerdew in one of his many cases; Captain Kett’s sworn enemy.’

I shook my head. ‘But when we were together he was constantly arguing with Nicholas over Commonwealth issues.’