Chambers of Death

by Priscilla Royal

  “Aye, Brother, but I would never swear it in God’s name.”

  “But you can confide it to me in confidence, Hilda, and let me consider what is best to do next. I promise I will do nothing that will bring harm to you for a mere supposition.”

  She bent to his ear.

  The door creaked open, and a man stepped into the room.

  “How does Hilda, Brother?” the steward asked.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “My lady!” the guard’s daughter cried out.

  Eleanor and the child’s father immediately turned to discover what had caused her to shriek so. When they saw the reason, both laughed out of amusement as well as relief.

  With both arms, the child was waving at an equally small girl standing inside the manor gate. The object of this enthusiasm now bounded toward them.

  “Would you give my friend your blessing as well?” The child’s hazel eyes, round with anticipation, looked up at the prioress.

  “With much pleasure, especially since you ask it,” Eleanor replied. Just beyond the gate, near the hut where the cook was confined, she also saw Brother Thomas in close conversation with Master Stevyn.

  Although the two little girls must have played together often, they bounced and squealed with happiness as if they had been separated more years than they had been on earth.

  The sight chased some of the darkness from the prioress’ heart, a sorrow that the violence of murder always brought her. If only we could keep that innocent joy of childhood and never be touched by cruelty, she thought, and smiled at the children who looked up at her with solemn faces, their hands dutifully folded. As she gave her blessing and felt God’s love flow through her to touch the girls when she kissed each on the cheek, Eleanor hoped that they would grow old together with that same delight in friendship and comfort in each other’s company.

  “My lady, may I ask favor for myself?” Her guard shuffled and his face reddened as they walked into the courtyard.

  From the corner of her eye, Eleanor saw a young woman and recognized her as the one he had been talking to when Hilda was arrested. She nodded, knowing quite well what his wish might be.

  “I would take but a minute to greet the mother of my daughter’s friend. As you see, she is near, and I promise not to cease careful watch over you.”

  The prioress now caught her monk’s eye. “With Master Stevyn just there and Brother Thomas on his way to my side,” she said to her guard, “I will be safe enough from any mortal ill. He and I shall remain here, for we must discuss some prayers we have promised.” She lowered her eyes with modesty. “You need not cut short your courtesy.”

  With an appreciate word and grateful grin, the man walked over to see the lady whose obvious joy at his arrival betrayed her own delight in his company.

  “My lady, you amaze me,” Thomas said, looking in the direction of the departing guard. “How did you manage to send him away?”

  “Love is a most powerful emotion, whether it be for God or another mortal. In this case, I simply bowed to the great enticement of the latter.” She turned her eyes heavenward. “Let us speak in Latin,” she continued in the suggested language. “Have you learned anything of interest? We must be brief, lest someone convey to another that our conversation was longer than expected between monk and prioress.”

  Thomas knew that anyone in that busy courtyard might find profit in relaying information to the sheriff. He inclined his head slightly in the direction of the small hut. “She witnessed the adultery, of which we were aware, and thus confirmed how wide-spread the knowledge was.”

  Eleanor bowed her head and nodded.

  “She continues to maintain her innocence.”

  “Do you believe her?”

  “I would swear to it for many reasons, but she does corroborate what one other claimed to have seen. Although it was not the night of the murder, she also saw an unknown woman meet the man long after sunset. She never heard her words, only the tenor of the plea, and thus she concluded that the woman was quite sotted with him. He, on the other hand, rejected her cruelly, telling her that he would never bed a woman too old to bear children.”

  “Did she recognize the voice?”

  “She hesitated to guess, but when I pressed her further, she was about to suggest a name. Then her master entered, and she drew back. With him there, she would say nothing more to me.”

  “I saw you speaking at length with him. Did you learn something in that?”

  Thomas frowned. “I tried to determine if he was vexed about the conversation I had had with his cook, but I failed. Either he is clever at hiding his thoughts or he had no concern. My own belief is that he is not a man to betray his feelings. Although he must surely know that his wife has been unfaithful, for instance, I have seen little evidence of it.”

  “Amen.”

  “He did tell me that the cook will be removed from here in the morning. The king’s man claims there is little more to learn about the murder. Although I have stood witness to her innocence, as has another, he believes there is cause enough in other testimony to hold her in the castle prison.”

  “How quickly he decides such things,” Eleanor snapped. “Does he think this frightened woman will flee to the forest and seek protection from brutish and lawless men?”

  “Perhaps he hopes she may die of a fever in a dank cell,” Thomas replied, remembering all too well some who had. “If that happens before a hearing, the true wrongdoer will escape.”

  Eleanor frowned as she pondered whether that person was Master Stevyn, his younger son, or even the unknown woman. “I do wonder who she thought visited a man at such a dark hour and begged so piteously.” She glanced at Thomas, her eyes questioning.

  “Before she is taken away, she might long for a priest to comfort her, my lady. With your permission, I will go to her.” He bowed.

  Her lips curled into a thin smile. “The moment for confiding a mere guess may have passed, Brother. Fear of dungeons and hanging cause mortals such terror that the need to cleanse the soul predominates over such matters, but let us pray that she still clings sufficiently to hope and thus confides the name. In any case, convey my blessing. Tonight I shall beg God to let us find the true killer before this poor innocent is condemned to an undeserved and shameful death.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The night before execution, some condemned may fall asleep, hoping to awaken from the nightmare of certainty into the dawn of improbable reprieve. Others stare with unblinking eyes at the dark walls of their prisons, begging for sweet moonlight’s conquest over the blood-red sun.

  Hilda saw little difference between an immediate hanging and a slow death, gnawed by rats in a dripping cell beneath a castle moat. She beat her fists against the hard, indifferent earth, her eyes wept dry and her heart drumming with terror. Words for prayer had long since failed her. Instead her soul quivered, unable to think any longer on her many sins that might send her to Hell, even if she was innocent of murder.

  Suddenly, she froze.

  There was a scraping noise outside the door.

  That was no rodent, she realized. Was someone unbarring the door?

  The wood creaked, and the door did open slowly.

  A shadow slipped inside. It had a clear and mortal form.

  The cook began to sweat, first from fear and then irrational hope. “Why…?”

  “To save you from hanging,” was the warm reply.

  “You believe me?” She gasped. Her hand now pressed against a heart thundering with inexpressible gratitude.

  “Are you not innocent?”

  “Full of sin I most certainly am but not of the crime of murder.”

  “But are you guilty of unseemly gossip?”

  “I do not understand.” Hilda shook uncontrollably.

  “Come now! Women are wont to chatter like squirrels, accusing anyone, not in their current company, of sins born solely in the fens of their unreasoned minds.
Have you never done that? Do not lie, for I have overheard the chittering often enough amongst the servants.”

  The cook opened her mouth to speak, but she was unable to form words.

  “What did you say to that priest from Tyndal? Did you prate on and on as is the wont of creatures like you?”

  “He took my confession, only that!”

  “Only a confession of your own frailties? Nothing of your fevered imaginings about the sins of other souls? I think you are lying, Hilda.”

  She shook her head.

  “Give me your hand.”

  The cook did so but felt no comfort in the warmth of the strong grip.

  “Do you swear that you did not impugn anyone?”

  Eagerly, she nodded. Her hand was released.

  “But you wanted to do so, didn’t you?”

  Hilda looked away.

  “Of course you did, you frightened and wretched one. Most people would be willing enough to point the finger at someone else to save themselves from choking on the noose.” The laughter that followed held no mirth.

  “I did not try to save myself by so doing,” the cook whispered. Her words were greeted with a long silence.

  “Come with me then. You shall be freed of this place.”

  Hilda now eagerly took the proffered hand, rose, and turned toward the door.

  That was the last thing she saw.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  When Thomas saw the gate to the courtyard open and the sheriff with his company ride in, he uttered a curse for which he would surely owe penance. Sunlight was still but a promise. Sir Reimund had arrived earlier than expected.

  “Shouldn’t you be in the chapel praying, Brother? As we approached the manor, I heard bells announce the Office.”

  “This woman’s soul cried out to me,” the monk replied, gesturing at the dark outline of the hut. “For such a cause, God may allow postponement of my prayers.”

  The saddle creaked as Sir Reimund twisted to look around. “And where is your prioress? Have you sent her off to pray in the chapel, a place most proper for her to remain?”

  Itching to pull this man off his horse and strike him for his insolence, Thomas folded his hands firmly into his sleeves and let his heavy silence be the sole expression of his fury.

  The sheriff grinned, his teeth white against the gray light of morning. “Forgive me, Brother. I did forget the ways of your Order. Unnatural as the practice may be to most of us, she rules you, does she not?”

  “Do not all men honor their mothers and bow to the Queen of Heaven?”

  Reimund nodded, his assent perfunctory.

  “In like manner, I obey my prioress, a woman who represents our Lord’s mother on earth.”

  “Then I must beg her prayers on my behalf,” the sheriff replied with a brusque courtesy that did little to hide his impatience to get on with the task at hand. “I have come for the accused. Will someone announce my arrival to Master Stevyn?”

  “I need no servant to roust me from my bed at this hour,” the steward called out as he rounded the side of the hut. Even against the dreary light of a struggling morning, his face was pale.

  “I would offer God’s consolation before she is taken off to some cold cell,” Thomas said.

  “She’ll have priests aplenty before her hanging. I promise you that. Meanwhile, we must swiftly be on our way. Other, unsolved crimes await our attention.” The sheriff gestured abruptly to one of his men. “Bind and bring her out of there.”

  “Grant her that mercy of a priest’s comfort, Sir Reimund,” the steward said. “She and her kin have served this land well for many years, and Brother Thomas may bring her solace.”

  Thomas was startled at the sorrow evident in the man’s tone.

  The sheriff studied the steward as if he were assessing the value of a bale of wool.

  Have you decided if there is some advantage to gain from consent? Thomas’ heart filled with more than a little anger.

  Sir Reimund turned to the monk. “Give her a short prayer for the journey then, Brother. We’ll remain by the open door where she may see us. Perhaps the grave nature of her foul crime will at last pain her like the prick of the knife she used to slit the groom’s throat.”

  Pray, I must, Thomas thought with bitter regret, for I shall be prevented from asking anything that might save the poor woman’s life. He walked to the hut door and waited as the assigned guard fumbled with the bar that bolted it. Finally, the man managed to raise it.

  “We’ve come for thee, wretch,” the guard called out as he stepped into the hut. Almost immediately, he stumbled backward, crossing himself in terror. “The Devil’s been here!”

  Shoving the man aside, Thomas rushed inside.

  Hilda lay on her stomach. The air reeked with the sharp metallic odor of blood. Even in the dim light, it was obvious that her back was stained dark with it.

  ***

  “Surely this proves her innocence, Sir Reimund,” the steward said, his tone brittle with barely controlled outrage.

  His arms crossed, the sheriff scowled. “I’ve known a man to commit self-murder by driving his forehead against a bare nail in the wall of his cell. She probably did this to herself.”

  “Bring me a torch,” Thomas ordered and knelt by the body.

  The steward pushed his way through the sheriff’s men and shouted for one of his servants to fetch one. “Quickly!” he bellowed, then swiftly backed away from the entrance. “My lady!” he said, his voice softening.

  Eleanor walked into the hut. “What has happened?”

  The sheriff emitted a palpable groan before turning to greet her with a token bow. “Nothing to trouble you, my lady.”

  “All sin is of interest to me for I obey a Master far greater than any earthly king,” she retorted, “and murder is amongst God’s first prohibited acts. Would that not qualify as a sin, Sir Reimund, and thus one of my concerns?” Without waiting for him to reply, she walked past him to where her monk was kneeling.

  A servant rushed in with the requested torch.

  “I need light here.” Thomas pointed, then leaned closer as the flickering light brightened the back of the woman’s head. Gently, he turned her over and touched her neck before bending to place his ear to her mouth.

  “You need not do that, Brother. One of my men…”

  “Be silent!” the prioress snapped.

  Reimund and Stevyn glanced at each other. The steward shrugged, and the sheriff kicked at some straw before stepping away.

  “I think she is still alive, my lady,” Thomas said. “For how much longer, however, I cannot say.”

  Eleanor quickly removed her outer cloak and gave it to him. “Wrap her in that.” She turned to the steward. “She must be moved from here. If her soul continues to cling to this body, she may yet point out her attacker and perhaps the one who did murder Tobye.”

  Stevyn went to the entrance and shouted an order.

  “If only we had Sister Anne with us,” Thomas whispered, wrapping the woolen cloak around Hilda as tenderly as if she were a babe.

  “You must do your best, Brother, and remember what you have seen her do in like situations.”

  He looked at her, eyes darkened by worry, and finally nodded.

  The sheriff grunted. “The woman is guilty and deserves to die, my lady. It matters not if she does so because of this wound, which she may well have inflicted on herself, or by the grace of the hangman’s noose. My only regret, should she die here, is that others, who might be tempted to kill, will not see her jerking body and thus be reminded that they shall suffer the same fate if they commit a similar crime. To see the hangman at work is a fine deterrent to murder.”

  Several servants had just entered and now circled around Hilda. “Be gentle!” Thomas begged, helping them brace and lift the cook onto a rough wooden frame.

  “Step aside, if you will,” Stevyn said to Sir Reimund, “so these men may carry our H
ilda to the house.” Then the steward followed the servants outside.

  “No one can stab themselves in the back, remove the knife, and hide it before losing all awareness,” Thomas growled. “Someone did this to her and for cause. Perhaps they feared she knew or might suggest the true killer.”

  “Maybe she just dropped the knife in the straw,” the sheriff finally said. “My men will search for it.”

  Thomas finally lost his temper. “And if you do not find it, shall you conclude that some other servant has a knife stained with blood? Whether that blood was animal or human would be irrelevant to you, would it not?”

  “If you were not a monk, I’d throw you in prison for treasonable words against a king’s man.” The sheriff grabbed Thomas’ habit and jerked him closer.

  “He belongs to God, Sir Reimund,” Eleanor said quietly. “Only the Church can order discipline against him. Yet I beg your forbearance, for we were given shelter here by Master Stevyn’s household out of Christian charity. Our gratitude makes us protective of our saviors and thus prone to some rashness on their behalf. Just as you would not trespass on the rights of God’s Church, however, neither do we wish to interfere with the just pursuit of the king’s justice.”

  The sheriff released his grip.

  Even though his face still felt as hot as hellfire, Thomas stepped back and bowed his head with a feigned show of meekness. At least the sheriff’s men were now forced to search the hut with witnesses present. He counted that as a small victory.

  Master Stevyn bent low to re-enter the hut after giving further directions about Hilda’s care. Without evident emotion, he glanced at the men now shuffling around in the straw but turned to the prioress. “My last wife found much comfort at your priory and from your sub-infirmarian,” he said, his voice catching slightly, “even if Sister Anne was unable to save her life. Yet we have a healer with some talent here, my lady. I have asked the physician’s widow to tend to Hilda.”

  “A wise as well as a kind decision,” Eleanor replied with the briefest of hesitations. “Brother Thomas has often assisted Sister Anne in her treatments, but a woman may treat another of her sex without offending modesty. Mistress Maud has shown much skill in the care of the poor child in our company.” She bowed in acceptance of his decision.