When word of the death of Joan de Tany reached Torn, no man could tell from outward appearance the depth of the suffering which the sad intelligence wrought on the master of Torn.
All that they who followed him knew was that certain unusual orders were issued, and that that same night, the ten companies rode south toward Essex without other halt than for necessary food and water for man and beast.
When the body of Joan de Tany rode forth from her father's castle to the church at Colchester, and again as it was brought back to its final resting place in the castle's crypt, a thousand strange and silent knights, black draped, upon horses trapped in black, rode slowly behind the bier.
Silently they had come in the night preceding the funeral, and as silently, they slipped away northward into the falling shadows of the following night.
No word had passed between those of the castle and the great troop of sable-clad warriors, but all within knew that the mighty Outlaw of Torn had come to pay homage to the memory of the daughter of De Tany, and all but the grieving mother wondered at the strangeness of the act.
As the horde of Torn approached their Derby stronghold, their young leader turned the command over to Red Shandy and dismounted at the door of Father Claude's cottage.
"I am tired, Father," said the outlaw as he threw himself upon his accustomed bench."Naught but sorrow and death follow in my footsteps.Iand all my acts be accurst, and upon those I love, the blight falleth.""Alter thy ways, my son; follow my advice ere it be too late.Seek out a new and better life in another country and carve thy future into the semblance of glory and honor.""Would that I might, my friend," answered Norman of Torn."But hast thou thought on the consequences which surely would follow should I thus remove both heart and head from the thing that I have built ?
"What suppose thou would result were Norman of Torn to turn his great band of cut-throats, leaderless, upon England ? Hast thought on't, Father ?
"Wouldst thou draw a single breath in security if thou knew Edwild the Serf were ranging unchecked through Derby ? Edwild, whose father was torn limb from limb upon the rack because he would not confess to killing a buck in the new forest, a buck which fell before the arrow of another man; Edwild, whose mother was burned for witchcraft by Holy Church.
"And Horsan the Dane, Father.How thinkest thou the safety of the roads would be for either rich or poor an I turned Horsan the Dane loose upon ye ?
"And Pensilo, the Spanish Don ! A great captain, but a man absolutely without bowels of compassion.When first he joined us and saw our mark upon the foreheads of our dead, wishing to out-Herod Herod, he marked the living which fell into his hands with a red hot iron, branding a great Pupon each cheek and burning out the right eye completely.Wouldst like to feel, Father, that Don Piedro Castro y Pensilo ranged free through forest and hill of England ?
"And Red Shandy, and the two Florys, and Peter the Hermit, and One Eye Kanty, and Gropello, and Campanee, and Cobarth, and Mandecote, and the thousand others, each with a special hatred for some particular class or individual, and all filled with the lust of blood and rapine and loot.
"No, Father, I may not go yet, for the England I have been taught to hate, I have learned to love, and I have it not in my heart to turn loose upon her fair breast the beasts of hell who know no law or order or decency other than that which I enforce."As Norman of Torn ceased speaking, the priest sat silent for many minutes.
"Thou hast indeed a grave responsibility, my son," he said at last."Thou canst not well go unless thou takest thy horde with thee out of England, but even that may be possible; who knows other than God ?""For my part" laughed the outlaw, "I be willing to leave it in His hands;which seems to be the way with Christians.When one would shirk a responsibility, or explain an error, lo, one shoulders it upon the Lord.""I fear, my son," said the priest, "that what seed of reverence I have attempted to plant within thy breast hath borne poor fruit.""That dependeth upon the viewpoint, Father; as I take not the Lord into partnership in my successes it seemeth to me to be but of a mean and poor spirit to saddle my sorrows and perplexities upon Him.I may be wrong, for I am ill-versed in religious matters, but my conception of God and scapegoat be not that they are synonymous.""Religion, my son, be a bootless subject for argument between friends,"replied the priest, "and further, there be that nearer my heart just now which I would ask thee.I may offend, but thou know I do not mean to.The question I would ask, is, dost wholly trust the old man whom thou call father ?""I know of no treachery," replied the outlaw, "which he hath ever conceived against me.Why ?""I ask because I have written to Simon de Montfort asking him to meet me and two others here upon an important matter.I have learned that he expects to be at his Leicester castle, for a few days, within the week.He is to notify me when he will come and I shall then send for thee and the old man of Torn; but it were as well, my son, that thou do not mention this matter to thy father, nor let him know when thou come hither to the meeting that De Montfort is to be present.""As you say, Father," replied Norman of Torn."I do not make head nor tail of thy wondrous intrigues, but that thou wish it done thus or so is sufficient.I must be off to Torn now, so I bid thee farewell."Until the following Spring, Norman of Torn continued to occupy himself with occasional pillages against the royalists of the surrounding counties, and his patrols so covered the public highways that it became a matter of grievous import to the King's party, for no one was safe in the district who even so much as sympathized with the King's cause, and many were the dead foreheads that bore the grim mark of the Devil of Torn.
