‘What threat can they offer?’ said Renfred. ‘Bertrand du Guesclin is their most capable general but they ransomed him to John Chandos. They have no one to lead an army.’

Blackstone took the food offered by John Jacob and began to wolf down the smoked meat and bread. He picked out a piece of gristle and threw it into the fire and then spoke, his mouth still full. ‘The new French King paid his ransom. As Dauphin he always longed to seize back France and ignore the treaties we made. Now as King he puts his longing into action.’

‘He has an army?’ said Will Longdon.

‘Paid for with the money his father had gathered in taxes for his own ransom to our King. When he died, the debt died with him. Events are turning decisively against the Prince.’

‘The French wouldn’t attack Aquitaine,’ William Ashford said. ‘They would bring down Edward’s wrath. They would be slaughtered in greater number than at Crécy and Poitiers.’

Blackstone drank from his leather flask, rinsing the meat from his teeth. ‘William, how best to separate a man from his strength? You cut off his right hand and then plunge a knife into his back. King Charles uses the pretext of crusade. The Pope has swollen his coffers.’

Killbere snorted. ‘A damned crusade? What poor bastards does he crusade against?’

Blackstone let the question hang and Killbere quickly saw the truth that lay behind it as Blackstone had done with the Prince. ‘I’ll be damned. The Muslim Kingdom of Granada lies on Castile’s southern border.’

John Jacob retrieved the tin plate from Blackstone and scrubbed it clean with a handful of coarse dirt before plunging it into a pail of water. ‘So he uses the pretence of striking down through Castile – and who is it that stands in the way? King Don Pedro himself,’ he said. ‘Sir Thomas, who else seeks to dethrone him?’

‘His bastard half-brother, who has sanctuary in Aragon. They favoured him from the start. As did a younger brother, but Don Pedro had him killed.’

‘He likes to turn the odds in his favour,’ said Meulon. ‘And is willing to kill anyone who stands in his way.’

‘Like his wife,’ Beyard said. ‘Lázaro saw the killer, Sir Thomas. If it was not Don Pedro himself then who?’

‘That we’ve yet to discover, but who would wager against him being the paymaster behind the assassin? Ranulph de Hayle was last known to be riding to Paris. He has the Queen’s ring he took from Lázaro. That, and the knowledge that there is still a witness alive, might be sufficient proof for the French to seek revenge,’ said Killbere.