formal. ‘You had your own role in our failure, Despenser. A man who could not get his own tenants to arm and march to the succour of their King is in no position to denigrate others. You are not innocent in this debacle.’
The room, from carved roof beams to painted tiles, churned with rancour. I could do nothing to halt the accusation and counter-accusation, and indeed knew better than to try. Joan withdrew circumspectly to the far end of the chamber, as far from the imminent conflagration as possible, signalling her distance by picking up a length of girdle that she proceeded to stitch.
‘At least I stayed with him to the end.’ Refusing to be silenced, Thomas’s eye swept on to land on Edward. ‘Unlike some of us here. And it wasn’t me who advised Richard to remain in Ireland, when we all knew Lancaster was already in England. Why in God’s name did you do that?’
Edward merely smiled, eyes as hooded as the hawk’s whose neck he scratched, causing it to bob its head in pleasure. ‘No one wanted all-out war, and one we would have lost.’
My father was reining hard on his temper. ‘Sit down, Thomas. You knew the situation as well as I. Lancaster was stronger. The Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland were riding with him and more than half the northern magnates, not to mention the Cheshire archers. If we had taken it to a battlefield we would have been beaten out of sight and Richard would be in a worse position than he is now.’
Thomas sat, hands planted on his knees, but was no more amenable to reason. ‘Is that possible? He’s a prisoner under Lancaster’s brutal justice. If you had met with Lancaster near Ravenspur, before he joined up with Northumberland, you could have swept him back out to sea. But no, you marched west and—’
I replaced my hand on Thomas’s shoulder and pressed down hard. No point in inflicting wounds here that could never be healed. The past could not be changed, even though every accusation he made against my father was undoubtedly true.
My father continued to explain his lack of effective action. ‘I marched west to meet up with Richard’s army and present a united front. That was the plan.’
Thomas had no intention of being silenced, since by now we were all aware of the flush of guilt along my father’s cheekbones. ‘Which didn’t happen.’ Thomas twitched free of my hand once more, a rough gesture. ‘By the time Richard landed on the Welsh coast,’ – once more he glared at Edward – ‘you were comfortably holed up in Berkeley Castle. You had an army of three thousand men. Surely you could have made a good resistance.’
My father’s face was still flushed, but his reply held the quality of ice.
‘I made a truce with Lancaster at Berkeley because I believed that his claim for justice had much weight. He is my brother’s much-loved son, and as such he should be answered. Besides, my army was breaking up. My best troops were those of John Beaufort. When Beaufort made his peace with his half-brother of Lancaster, he took his troops with him. I would not have expected otherwise.’
Thomas continued to accuse, ignoring the increased pressure of my hand as his tone became increasingly insolent. ‘God’s Blood! So you had sympathy with Lancaster’s cause?’
‘I did,’ my father acknowledged. ‘Richard treated him shamefully.’
‘I don’t deny it, but Richard was our road to power.’ Thomas’s reply lacked pity for either Richard or Henry of Lancaster. ‘Now the goose that laid the golden eggs for all of us is shut up in the Tower, impotent and likely to stay there. I don’t expect Lancaster to be liberal in casting largesse in our direction. We were all too close to Richard for Lancaster to trust us.’
Edward had been as silent as I throughout Thomas’s torrent of invective, but I needed an explanation for the insinuation that he could not ignore if he was guiltless.
‘Why did you advise Richard to delay his return from Ireland?’ I dropped the question into a pause in the hostilities. ‘It smacks of rank stupidity, but when were you ever so careless of battle tactics? You could be accused of collusion with Lancaster.’
Edward, totally unmoved by any of the arrows fired in his direction, stood to place the hawk on the stand against the wall. The hound followed him, sticking close to his heels when he returned to take up a stance in the centre of the group. On my left Dickon slid to sit on the floor, arms around his knees, forehead resting there as if he might sleep through sheer boredom.
‘I am neither stupid nor careless,’ said Edward. ‘It all depends whose poisonous tongue you prefer to believe, dear sister.’
I remembered Richard’s utter weakness. Was Edward truly to blame?
‘Lance the venom, Edward,’ I responded. ‘We’ll all be interested in your explanation.’
‘By God, we will.’ Thomas leaped once more to take up the attack. ‘All was ready in Ireland. We knew Lancaster had returned. The ships were loaded, even down to the horses being on board with all the trouble that takes. And then what? Then you whispered in Richard’s ear and all was unloaded again. We sat and waited in Waterford for another two weeks – two weeks! – by which time Lancaster was well and truly embedded in the country. Whether you were traitor or just incompetent, it was ill-managed, Aumale.’
My father grunted his displeasure, but Edward merely returned to his seat, stretching himself out again in unruffled good humour.
‘There is no mystery. It was neither incompetence nor treachery, but supremely managed. Since we were short of shipping to embark as a major force, I considered it impossible to transport the whole army home again. Where was the incompetence in that? What was possible was an advance guard to land in Wales and head north to take Chester for the King. That is what was arranged, so no treachery there. The fact that Salisbury, who took the command, failed to fulfil his orders, and most of his force either joined Lancaster, or simply went home, was no fault of mine.’
‘But why did we not fight for Richard? Why did we go over to Lancaster so fast?’ Thomas refused to retreat, his voice sharpening in petulance, his hands closing into fists against his thighs.
Edward shrugged. ‘The Welsh gentry said they believed that Richard was dead, so it would be good sense for them to join Lancaster. Your troops in Gloucester would not heed the call to arms.’
Thomas, rigid with fury, returned Edward’s regard. ‘I’ve never seen any man change sides as fast as you. It was a miracle of deceit. When I had last seen you in Ireland you had been a King’s man. When our paths crossed again at Flint Castle you were part of the delegation dispatched by Lancaster to discuss Richard’s future.’ The sneer hung in the room like a plague miasma. ‘The Lancaster livery was most becoming on you.’
‘It surprises me that you would wish to remind us of what happened at Flint.’ Edward accepted the contempt and returned it in full measure. ‘When you, Despenser, said not one word to the King. You kept as great a distance from him as you could, other than standing in the bailey. You threw Richard to the Lancaster wolves just as effectively as I.’
Thomas shifted uneasily. Edward continued with perfect poise.
‘Had we not all seen which way the royal banners were flying in the wind by then? When Bristol fell to Lancaster, he made it more than clear what would happen to those who stood by Richard. Scrope, Bussy and Green, royal counsellors all, lost their heads fast enough. I had no intention of my head joining theirs on some distant gateway. My new livery was a light cost to pay to escape beheading. But at least I stayed with Richard until there was no more hope. You couldn’t get out from under his shadow fast enough.’
‘Enough!’ My father raised his hand, but Thomas’s ire was in full flow.
‘You have all the perfect explanations, like honey on your tongue.’ Thomas showed his teeth in the leer of a wolf before attack. ‘We can’t wait to hear. How did you explain to Lancaster, when you knelt before him with promises of fealty, that you had been given a large part of his Lancaster inheritance, which Richard had confiscated and portioned out to those he loved best? Have you actually told him? He might not be so keen