he could persuade the clerk, once Osborn was safely out of the way.
As if he could hear Raffe's thoughts, Osborn turned to him. 'See to it that you send men round the village to remind people it is Lammas.'
'I doubt there's a newborn babe in the village who doesn't know what day it is today. The crofters have been counting the days down till they can drive their stock to common pasture on the hay meadows, for some of the beasts are skin and bones and the grass is so parched there's nothing left for them to graze.'
'Then they should learn to make better provision for them,' Osborn said. 'But just you make sure that in their eagerness to get their beasts out to graze they don't forget their first duty is to me. I am leaving this morning with my brother to wait upon the king's pleasure, and in my absence you will ensure that every last penny is collected in. I will hold you accountable for any sum that is missing. So you'd better see to it that every man turns out with what he owes, and if there are any too sick or feeble to come in person, I expect you to go to their crofts and fetch it.'
He searched Raffe's face, looking for the slightest flicker of rebellion, but Raffe concentrated on keeping his expression impassive.
'Did you hear what I said, Master Raffaele?'
Raffe allowed himself a dangerously insolent pause, before saying calmly, 'Yes, m'lord, I heard you.'
The whip twitched in Osborn's hand. Raffe saw the warning but unlike the clerk, he did not flinch. He was thankful Lady Anne was away visiting a sick cousin, for she would certainly have tried to intervene on the villagers' behalf, and Osborn had still not forgiven her for challenging him over Elena and Athan. She could not afford to make him angry again.
Osborn, after another furious scowl at Raffe, bellowed to the gateman, 'Stop gawping like a halfwit, man. Stir yourself and open the gates.'
Walter, who had been standing with his hand ready on the beam for almost an hour waiting for his lord's signal, jerked into action and lifted the great beam off the brackets and flung the gates wide.
If Osborn had been hoping for a throng of eager villagers waiting to pay their dues, he was sadly disappointed. A couple of old men hobbled up to the table and began counting out their pennies with a painful slowness as their gnarled, swollen hands fumbled in worn purses. Osborn waited with growing impatience as his clerk re-counted the old men's pennies with equal slowness, terrified of making an error while his master was watching. Finally, Osborn turned on his heel and strode back to the stairs leading to the Great Hall, flogging each step with his whip as he climbed them.
Though the villagers were noticeably absent, there was no lack of activity in the courtyard. Osborn's men and servants scurried back and forth loading the small travelling chests and making ready Osborn's favourite hawks and Hugh's hounds for the journey, for who knew how long the king would keep his lords kicking their heels at court? Raffe reluctantly crossed towards the Great Hall. It was one of his many duties to see that nothing was lacking and to chivvy slow or clumsy servants, a duty he was increasingly coming to loathe when the brothers were in residence. He could barely disguise his delight at the news that Osborn and Hugh were leaving. He prayed the king would detain them for weeks, or even months, but that was probably too much to ask.
Raffe stopped as he caught sight of a young lad he didn't recognize mounting the steps before him. He stood out immediately from the other boys in the manor.
'You there, come down here,' Raffe ordered.
The lad turned and obediently retraced the few steps. He was barefooted, dressed in a pair of mildewed leather breeches with a curious smooth eel-skin cap stuck so firmly to his head that it looked as if he had a bald black pate.
'Marsh-man, aren't you?' Raffe said. 'What's your business here?'
'Come to see her ladyship.'
'The Lady Anne? And what makes you think you can just walk in here and expect a noble lady to see you?'
The boy scowled, thrusting out his lower lip. 'Weren't my idea to come, he said I'd to bring her a message.'
Raffe caught the boy by his arm and dragged him into the shadows beneath the undercroft.