Chapter Sixteen
“I have heard you have been looking for information on Bastian de Russe.”
An English soldier bearing the emblem of Gloucester on his tunic cornered Arneau when the man went into a storeroom behind the main room of the tavern to collect a small barrel of red wine.
It was a dank, dark, little room, the perfect place for an ambush.
The soldier stood in the doorway as Arneau stood there with the barrel in his arms, facing him. Tension was in the air.
“An old drunk who spends his days in this tavern heard you speaking with another man about de Russe,” the soldier continued. “The old drunkard told me a great deal. He says that you want to locate de Russe because you want to trap him. Is this true?”
Arneau was very suspicious and he was also quite fearful, realizing that this soldier had somehow come into some very dangerous information.
When he used the word “trap”, Arneau recalled that he and le Foix had used such a word the night before.
Damnation! He thought. Someone must have overheard! Terror shot through him.
“Why do you ask such questions?” he demanded, defensive. “This is a public house. Many people speak of many things.”
“Be at ease, old man,” the soldier said. “I am not here to punish you. Mayhap I can help you if the price is right.”
The soldier’s presence was becoming a bit clearer but Arneau was still wary and he was still frightened. “I cannot help you.”
“You are not willing to pay for correct and current information on the man?” the soldier asked leadingly. “I do not even care why you want to trap de Russe. That is your business. But I can probably tell you something about him.”
Arneau set down the barrel in his arms because it was growing heavy. He was intrigued by the soldier’s offer but he was still cautious.
“You speak of a drunkard,” he said. “This is a tavern and we have many drunkards, men who spout off foolishly. It is the drink that causes this.”
The soldier’s gaze was appraising. “This particular drunkard is a former soldier for the crown,” he said.
“He was a good one until drink took over his life. Now he spends his days wallowing in wine and anything else he can get his hands on. He comes by the Tower regularly to ask for his old job back. He was there this morning and told me he would tell me a great secret if I would give him his job back. He seemed earnest so I told him I would consider giving him his job back if he told me what his secret was. He proceeded to tell me that the barkeep from The Bird and Bucket was speaking on Bastian de Russe and talking about trapping the man but that he needed more information on de Russe’s whereabouts. Is this true?”
Arneau stared at the man, torn between shock and interest. “What would you have me say?”
“You can tell me how much you’ll pay for the information.”
“And have it get back to de Russe that someone would pay money to gain information on him? Go away, now. You are wasting my time.”
The soldier didn’t move and it was an odd standoff in the storeroom. Finally, the soldier cocked his head in a pensive, and nearly plotting, gesture.
“I serve Gloucester,” he said. “De Russe was at the Tower today but he is not staying there. I can tell you where he is staying and I can tell you about his new position with the king. Is that worth something to you?”
Arneau could tell that the man wasn’t going to leave. Moreover, it was the information le Foix had been looking for. But he maintained his caution, fearful that this was somehow a trap.
“If I was looking for such information, what would you want for it?” he asked.
The soldier considered the question. “Five gold crowns.”
“I don’t have that much. But if I was to pay for any information, I would give two gold crowns plus a barrel of wine to take back to your friends.”
“Then I will take it.”
Arneau picked up the wine barrel he had been holding and handed it over to the soldier, who took it gladly and heaved it onto his shoulder.
“De Russe is staying at his family’s home of Braidwood across the river from the Tower,” he said. “I saw him tonight as he left the Tower. He took the ferry across. Also, Gloucester and Bedford have appointed him the King’s Protector and he has been assigned to watch over the young king.”
Arneau’s brow furrowed. “They have removed him from fighting in France?”
“It appears they have for now but I do not know why,” the soldier said.
“More than likely something to do with the rumors about the Maid. Mayhap they want to remove him from that situation for the time being because I heard he was the woman’s lover.
Surely all of France must be out to kill him, even more than usual. ”
It was curious information and Arneau absorbed it readily. “Do you know about a relic he took after she was burned to ashes?” he asked.
The soldier looked at him inquisitively. “I do not,” he said. “Have you heard that?”
Arneau shook his head. “It was the ramblings of a mad man,” he said, trying to downplay the question. “What else can you tell me about him?”
The soldier thought a moment. “He came to the Tower with his wife,” he said. “Evidently, he married her when he returned to England but I do not know anything about her.”
A wife. Arneau found that information quite interesting and possibly quite valuable. Le Foix spoke of a trap to catch the Beast… perhaps the wife could be used as bait? It was a thought-provoking prospect, indeed.
“Come into the common room and I shall give you your money,” Arneau said. “If you find out anything else about de Russe, come back and tell me. I will determine how much it is worth and pay for it.”
The soldier simply nodded, heading to the common room with Arneau following him.
The barkeep went to his barback, the one that contained bottles of wine and barrels of ale, and went for the cash box which was camouflaged in an ale barrel.
The soldier didn’t see where the cash came from but soon enough, Arneau put two gold crowns in his hand, crowns that were hundreds of years old and minted for the Roman Empire.
The soldier nodded his head at the money in his palm, satisfied.
“I will not ask your name and you will not ask mine,” he said to Arneau. “It is safer that way.”
Arneau didn’t say a word. He pretended to be busy at the bar, wiping it down with a rough linen cloth and shaking the old wine out of the cups to be ready to use for the next customer.
The soldier quit the tavern with the small barrel of wine over his shoulder, disappearing into the night, blending in with the darkness as he made his way back to the Tower.
Arneau kept busy until the man was sufficiently gone.
A minute or two passed before Arneau even slowed down, his gaze moving to the tavern door, the last place he saw soldier.
His first thought was of le Foix and he kicked the servant boy that was sleeping against the wall, sending the child running for the dark French soldier.
Nerves got the better of Arneau as he waited impatiently for le Foix to appear.
He ended up drinking some of his own very bad wine, thinking it tasted terrible.
What if this was all a trap? he wondered.
What if de Russe sent the soldier with lies to send us off our course?
Of course, that was foolish. De Russe didn’t know anything about him but it was possible he knew something of the Armagnacs.
De Russe’s father had been sent a threatening note some time ago, after all.
De Russe more than likely realized the Maid’s supporters were after him, but that was probably nothing new in his world.
Unnerved, Arneau waited until le Foix appeared some time later and took the man back into the storage room to explain his conversation with the English soldier.
Le Foix didn’t seem to think it was a trap.
On the contrary, he was thrilled with the information but not because of the mention of the new wife.
Somehow, he seemed to forget their idea of setting a trap for de Russe.
Le Foix was thrilled because he now knew the location of de Russe and, consequently, of de Russe’s possessions.
He was positive that the relic, if it existed, was somewhere close to de Russe.
He didn’t think the man would part with anything so valuable. He would keep it close to him.
Therefore, it made sense to go where de Russe was and take it from him.
The more le Foix had thought on it, the more he believed that simply speaking to de Russe would not produce the relic.
It would simply make de Russe leery of them and, quite possibly, angry.
They were going to have to take the relic by force – take de Russe’s possessions and then look for anything that might appear as if had come from a woman who had been burned to death.
A bit of bone, even a tooth or something else that would have survived such heat.
Le Foix was positive he would know it when he saw it.
But they had to wait for the right time, when de Russe was away from his lodgings.
Only then would they have unrestricted access to stealing all of de Russe’s possessions and, hopefully, make it appear as a theft and not as if they were looking for something in particular.
All I want is the relic, le Foix said. But if I have the opportunity to speak to de Russe, mayhap I can convince him to join our cause. If he helped the Maid, then surely he would want to continue her work. France must be free!
Arneau thought the latter part of that statement was laced with madness. In fact, all of this was starting to reek of madness. As the barkeep stood aside and nervously listened, le Foix plotted their next move.
*