Falconer and the Death of Kings by Ian Morson

don’t.’
    Jack shook his head sadly.
    ‘Don’t imagine I’m a paragon of virtue, either. I am poor enough to be grateful for Geoffrey’s beneficence too. And I can fawn with the best of them to gain that. But I don’t blind myself to his overbearing manner. As for Paul, he didn’t fall under Geoffrey’s spell, either. And it’s true that he was outside the magical circle somewhat. You must understand that the university is divided into four nations. The French Nation predominates, but those from Rouen make up the Norman Nation, while those in the north who speak Flemish and some French are the Picard Nation.’
    ‘And the fourth is the English Nation?’
    ‘Yes, including German and Slavic speakers. They are very much in the minority, and I suppose that is how Paul felt. One among many. But to get back to my original point, don’t imagine that Geoffrey Malpoivre is all generosity and understanding. He was just as capable as any of us of teasing Hebborn unmercifully for his stammer. Only Master Adam seemed to sympathize with his difficulties.’
    Thomas looked at Jack, who was still scratching the mud into random shapes with his stick. The young man sometimes seemed very old to him.
    ‘Your master is a generous man, then?’
    ‘Adam? Oh, yes, he is generous. If he takes to you.’
    Thomas had wanted to tell Falconer all that he had learned. But after dinner William seemed distracted and full of his own concerns. Thomas lit a candle in their shared room and sat on the end of his bed.
    ‘I could tell you something about Paul Hebborn, but you look as if you are bursting to tell a story of your own, master.’
    Falconer sat on one of the low stools and looked at Thomas with surprise.
    ‘Either I am getting more obvious with age, or you are becoming more perspicacious, Thomas Symon. I will allow that it is your greater wisdom, if only because it then does not mean I am weakening as I grow older. And less of the master, if you please. You are Master Thomas in your own right now, and an equal. Almost.’
    ‘Then, William, tell me what is on your mind.’
    Falconer pulled his stool closer to Thomas, causing the legs to screech on the stone flags.
    ‘You will not believe who I spoke to today. But our conversation was an uncanny echo of a tale told us last year in Oxford.’
    Thomas was lost already, and his puzzled look pleased Falconer no end. He could still perplex his young and eager companion, despite his apparent mental decline over the years. He decided to stretch out the agony a little more first.
    ‘But you are right. Your investigations into the death of Paul Hebborn take precedence. Tell me what you have found out. Oh, and did you arrange for Roger Bacon to meet you at the school of Adam Morrish?’
    ‘I did speak to Master Adam about using a room in his school, and that in return I could arrange for a very great scholar to teach there. He was curious as to who it could be, but said I could use the room anyway. There is a downstairs room at the back that is too small to teach in, but I could use it. I looked it over. It was dirty and damp – the house backs on to the river. But it will serve.’ Thomas paused enough from his outpouring to say what was really on his mind. ‘Now for God’s sake tell me who you have been speaking to, and what your reference to a tale from last year is all about before I burst with curiosity.’
    Falconer burst out laughing.
    ‘Then I will tell you. Do you remember the strange story Sir Humphrey Segrim told us?’
    ‘About the Templar knight who pursued him across the world to the Holy Lands and back?’
    ‘That is it. He thought the death of Ann, his wife, was because he knew of a complex conspiracy to murder. And the Templar was trying to make sure Segrim and his wife, whom he might have told, never revealed the truth.’
    ‘But we found that to be a fantasy when we uncovered who really killed Mistress Segrim.’ Thomas paused uncertainly. ‘Didn’t we?’
    ‘We