Drooping willows planted by an earlier generation of monks trailed delicate, greening fingers in the swollen river. Behind the willows, bushy hazels and slender birches reached for the sky. Behind these, rank on rank of giant oaks marched deep into the heart of the forest, shading the woodlands with a spring-fresh canopy of leaves. The brothers still harvested the willows and hazels, and the fish tanks were edged with coppiced trees whose roots held the banks together at times like this when the river was in full spate.
Dominig slipped off his sandals, tucked his habit into his belt and stooped over the riverbank. With his toes gripping the edge, he hauled on one of the lines. His smile broadened. The net was heavy. He heaved it out. It was gratifyingly full of wet, wriggling eels. A shaft of sunlight slanted through the arching trees, silvering the water which dripped from the eels’ slippery bodies.
A kite’s alarm call tore through the woodland, fading as the bird winged away. A twig snapped. Brother Dominig lifted his as yet untonsured head and said cheerfully, ‘Good morrow.’ Receiving no answer, he sighed. No answer meant that whoever was skulking in the woods was more than likely on the run. He turned without haste, wondering whether he was going to be attacked for the food in the nets.
St Félix’s Monastery, whose only stone building was its simple chapel, was protected by God alone. The church’s reed-thatched roof was easily fired, and simple to break through. There was no stone wall to keep out predators. There were no fortifications of any sort, and the community was vulnerable to those with no respect for God’s Holy Writ. Despite its holy status, Brother Dominig’s order had borne the brunt of attacks from outlaws before now. Whoever was watching him was keeping well out of sight in that hazel thicket. Were they outlaws? Poachers? Pirates? All he saw was a wall of lush foliage, but he could hear them. At least two of them, panting hard.
‘May God protect me,’ Dominig murmured, and though he did not approve of violence, he cast about for his spade. It lay on the grass, a few feet to his left. He dropped the net back into the fast-flowing river, and shuffled casually to his spade. Violence or no, Brother Dominig did not pretend to have martyr’s blood in his veins. He pitched his voice louder. ‘Good morrow.’
‘What shall we do, Ned?’
It was a young woman’s voice, and it was verging on the edge of panic if Brother Dominig was any judge. He scooped up the spade and thus emboldened, repeated his greeting. ‘Good morrow.’
The hazel shook. Its branches were parted by a young man with untidy flaxen hair who stepped into the clearing. The young man, whose mien was military, was about Brother Dominig’s age. Sweat and blood mingled together on a countenance that might be fresh and comely were it not so bruised. The stranger’s chest was heaving, and he was carrying a small child. A child?
‘’Ware, Ned!’ the girlish voice came, trembling, from the sprouting hazel. ‘He’s holding his spade like a spear!’
The battered young man, presumably Ned, deposited his burden – a small girl – on the grass behind him, and placed his hand on his sword hilt. ‘Help us,’ he said, and his blue eyes blazed like beacons. ‘Give us sanctuary, for God’s sake. We cannot run forever.’
‘We?’ Brother Dominig gripped his spade.
Another twig cracked, the kite mewled overhead, and the young man’s hidden companion emerged cautiously from the thicket. ‘There’s only me and the babe,’ a girl said. She wore a simple blue gown and no veil.
Brother Dominig lowered his spade, disarmed and dumbfounded. When Brother Marzin had first joined them, he had started on a mural which depicted the Virgin Mary. The wary brown eyes of the girl hovering on the edge of the fish pond mirrored Marzin’s Virgin with uncanny exactness. ‘The flight from Egypt,’ he murmured, coming forwards to gaze at the baby in the young woman’s arms. He had taken the baby’s crying to be a kite, he realised, while she must have been trying to muffle the sound.
‘Yours?’ he asked, wondering who was after this youthful pair and what they had done. The prior loved saying that evil came in many guises, but surely so handsome a couple could not have done evil. Were they married? They must be, he decided, for the young soldier’s eyes were fiercely protective when they lighted on the girl.
‘The babe is my brother,’ she said, breathlessly. ‘Help us. Please, Brother. They’ll kill him if they catch us!’
This was resembling the flight from Egypt more with every passing moment. Brother Dominig was intrigued, and his soft heart was moved. ‘Who are you running from?’
The young man, Ned, drew closer, an angry spark kindling in his eyes. ‘We don’t have time to explain. Do we look like a party of brigands?’
Brother Dominig gazed pointedly at Ned’s bloody sword, at his beaten features, and ripped clothing. He spread his hands. ‘You tell me.’
‘We’ve done no wrong!’ The girl thrust the infant under the monk’s nose. ‘Help us, or you condemn Philippe to death. If you doubt us, you must see that he can have done no wrong.’
They seemed to care more about the children than themselves. They could not be evil. Uncertain as to the best course, Brother Dominig temporised. ‘Our chapel is not secure from attack.’
The girl lost colour and clutched the babe to her breast. ‘Ned, there must be somewhere else,’ she said. ‘There has to be.’
The young man ran a hand round the back of his neck. His hand had been bleeding, and scabs were forming on his knuckles. ‘I don’t know. If the brothers won’t help us, we’ll have to keep running.’
‘Running!’ she repeated helplessly, as though she had come up against a lofty stone wall.
Dominig had marked this exchange with some interest. ‘I will help you,’ he decided, ‘if you tell me about your plight. The prior will not take it kindly if I bring trouble to our order.’
The young man named Ned drew his brows together. ‘But, Brother, you say your church is not secure. If we cannot claim sanctuary, how can you help us?’
Brother Dominig smiled. ‘I know nothing about you. You might be murderers. I’m taking a risk in trusting to your honesty. Will you not trust me?’
‘You’ve somewhere we may hide, and rest?’ the girl asked with heart-rending eagerness.
‘Aye.’
The couple exchanged glances. ‘Well, mistress?’ The young man looked at the girl. ‘It’s for you to decide.’
Ned’s mode of address revealed that the pair were not wed, and Dominig found himself wondering as to the propriety of what he had in mind. But a moment’s reflection brought him to the conclusion that since the infant’s life was at stake, the couple’s need outweighed any petty moral considerations. He prayed Prior Hubert would see eye to eye with him on this.
Large brown eyes surveyed Brother Dominig from the top of his unshaven crown to his bare toes. The baby wailed fretfully, and a tired smile flickered across the young woman’s lips. She looked spent. ‘Aye,’ she said, rocking her brother, ‘we had best go with this good monk, Ned. We can explain on the way. I swear I can run no more.’
***
The anchorite’s cell was built into the north wall of the monastery chapel, in order to test more severely the vocation of its occupants. As a consequence, it was dank and cold with rising damp. An odour of death clung to the porous stones, and Gwenn faltered as she forced herself through the low break in the wall. ‘It smells in here, Ned. I don’t like it. Is there nowhere else, Brother?’
Ned turned enquiringly to Brother Dominig. The novice was holding a bucket of mortar he’d snatched from a fellow monk who had been doing some pointing around the piscina. There had not been time to consult Prior Hubert, but he had dispatched Brother Marzin to stand as look-out.
‘This cell is the safest place there is,’ the novice said. ‘You can thank St Félix it’s empty. No one has been called to fill it since Brother Biel died.’
‘When did he die? Yesterday?’ Gwenn shuddered. ‘I swear I can smell him.’
Brother Dominig smiled. ‘Nay, sister. Your imagination play
s games with you. Brother Biel died last Christmas, and no one has been called to fill his place. The hermit’s cell has been empty since then.’
Swallowing, Gwenn gripped her baby brother and ducked into the cell. Ned pushed Katarin after her and followed himself.
‘It’s cramped, I know,’ Brother Dominig thrust his head through the opening to apologise. ‘It was only designed for one person. Here,’ he tossed a bundle onto the earthen floor, ‘I sent for some blankets for you. And here’s bread and cheese, and some milk for the baby.’
As Gwenn’s eyes adjusted to the poor light, she saw a stone ledge running along the back of the cell. She set her brother down and lifted the blankets from the floor before the damp got to them. Katarin pressed close to her skirts, and she dropped a comforting arm about the child’s shoulders. ‘We’ll need water too,’ she put in, ‘to drink, and to cleanse Ned’s hurts.’
The novice lowered his head in assent. ‘Don’t worry, mistress, I can give you food and water in the usual manner via the other opening. This is to tide you over.’
‘Other opening?’
‘Even anchorites do drink and eat, sister.’ Dominig was mildly shocked at her ignorance. ‘There’s a slit in the north wall which opens onto the yard. It’s shuttered from the outside – that’s why you can’t see it. Brother Biel took all his food and drink through it.’ Dominig smiled at Gwenn. Both she and the little girl were white as chalk, poor things. And no wonder. Brother Dominig might like to be solitary, but he would hate being bricked up in that unnatural hole, where sunlight never ventured. ‘Never fear, sister,’ he said, reassuringly. ‘I’ll not leave you sealed up any longer than I have to.’
A shout drew the novice’s kindly eyes to the church door. ‘That’s Marzin,’ he said and snatched his head out of the cell. ‘He must have sighted someone.’
Stone scraped on stone. Brother Dominig grunted as he shifted the first granite block into place. Dipping a trowel into the bucket, he slapped the contents onto the stone and smoothed it down. He had three courses to complete, and though he was no mason, he must do it more swiftly than a master. He hauled another stone into position.
‘That’s mortar, isn’t it?’ Ned asked, blue eyes sharp as steel. ‘Won’t mortar be difficult to break down when they’ve gone?’
With deft strokes, Brother Dominig smoothed the mixture onto the block, and hoisted another stone. That was the first course done; with another two to go, the entrance was shrinking fast. ‘I only wall anchorites with mortar,’ Brother Dominig said, discovering that urgency had not blunted his sense of humour. ‘With women and babes, I use mud.’
‘Mud?’
Through the diminishing gap, Ned’s countenance was not amused. He was no dissembler, this honest young man. ‘My apologies.’ Brother Dominig grunted, heaving on another block. ‘It is mortar. If I piled the stones on dry, they would look out of place, and your pursuers might be tempted to rip them down to investigate. It’s got to look convincing. On my soul, it will be easy to get you out when all is clear.’
Another trowel-load of mortar slapped on stone. Another course completed.
Ned backed into the cell and trod on Gwenn’s foot. ‘Sorry, mistress.’ Her teeth were chattering.
‘I don’t like confined spaces,’ she said.
‘Neither do I.’ Ned took Gwenn’s arm and drew her towards the ledge. Clinging to her sister like ivy, Katarin came too. ‘As we have a long wait, I think we should sit down, don’t you?’
***
It was soot-black in the anchorite’s cell, save for a couple of feeble splashes of illumination where two small apertures admitted a grey light from the interior of the church. The greater of the apertures, a quatrefoil carved out of the wall, threw the distorted shape of a Greek cross onto the muddy floor. The cross on the ground measured less than a foot, but the quatrefoil itself was smaller, large enough for the anchorite to receive Our Lord’s body through it when Mass was being celebrated but with not an inch to spare. The quatrefoil had been carved at an angle to prevent the hermit from taking a too-worldly interest in the goings-on in the chapel. The other, dimmer, source of light was the squint. As its name implied, this reed-like crack was positioned so as to allow the anchorite to squint through it, and get a glimpse of the High Altar. No other portion of the church was visible, but despite this Ned had been standing with his eyes glued to it for most of the half hour they had been incarcerated in the cell.
‘Can you see anyone, Ned?’
‘Not a soul.’
‘What can be happening? It’s some time since the alarm was raised. Perhaps it’s another visitor to the monastery. Perhaps it’s not – what was the name?’
‘Malait.’
‘Perhaps it wasn’t Malait. It could be anyone. A pilgrim?’
Withdrawing from the squint, Ned groped for the stone bench and wedged himself next to Gwenn. Katarin had her head buried in her sister’s lap, and Gwenn was caressing her. ‘I wouldn’t pin my hopes on it being anyone else,’ he said, candidly. ‘This monastery is too small and too out of the way to attract pilgrims. Besides, it has no relics.’
‘Aye, but until last Christmas they had a hermit,’ Gwenn pointed out, clutching at the faintest hope. ‘You know how people will bring their troubles to holy men.’ She shivered, hugging Katarin. ‘Ned, I’m cold.’
‘So am I.’ Ned draped an arm round Gwenn’s shoulders and reached for a blanket. She did not draw back. ‘Better?’
‘A little.’ She leant against him, and when she spoke again, her tone had changed, become hesitant. ‘Ned? Do...do you think my father was killed outright?’
‘Aye. That thrust would have killed anyone,’ Ned said, firmly.
‘I...I would not want him to die a lingering death.’
Ned’s hold on Gwenn tightened. ‘It would have been a swift end.’ He slanted his body towards hers. ‘Mistress Gwenn–’
‘I don’t want your pity, Ned,’ she said, stiffening her spine. ‘It would weaken me, and I have to be strong, for my sister and my brother’s sake.’
‘Your father’s last thoughts were of you, mistress,’ he said quietly. ‘He bade me look after you. He said to take you and the children north. He said that you would know where to go. Do you know what he meant, mistress?’ He heard her swallow.
‘Aye.’ Ned could hear from her voice that she was struggling to hold back the tears. ‘How like P...Papa, to think of us, when he was f..fighting for his life.’
‘He was a good man,’ Ned said, and then regretted it for he heard a stifled sob.
‘A g...good man. Aye. A dead man.’
Ned had no words with which to comfort her, though he hurt with wanting to help her.
‘Ned?’
‘Mistress Gwenn?’
‘Did you see Raymond? I saw him lying in the rushes. He was only knocked out, wasn’t he? Do you think he will have managed to escape?’
Ned chewed his bottom lip. He had indeed seen Master Raymond, lying on the floor, disarmed, and with the blood drained from his head. He’d been as pale as the limestone effigy of St Agatha in the church back home.
‘Ned?’
‘Mistress...’ Ned gulped.
‘You think Raymond’s dead.’
He cleared his throat. ‘Aye.’
She sagged against him. ‘The children are all I have left,’ she said, her voice catching in her throat. Katarin lifted her head. ‘What is it, my love?’
The little girl reached for the bundle which Gwenn had insisted on bringing and without a word, dropped it onto her sister’s lap.
Gwenn gazed at the child, uncomprehending. ‘There’s no one in the chapel. You can whisper, Katarin. What are you trying to tell me?’
‘Perhaps she’s reminding you that you have your grandmother’s statue as well as her and Philippe,’ Ned suggested.
‘Next to the children, Grandmama’s icon is as nothing,’ Gwenn said. Her voice warmed. ‘But you are right to remind me of it, Katarin. I am glad to hav
e the Stone Rose. It will remind us of home when we are on our travels.’
Katarin made no response.
‘Why is she so quiet, Ned?’
Ned shrugged before he remembered the poor light shrouded him. ‘No doubt she loathes it in here. Count it a blessing she’s silent. Rather that than she fill the cell with crying.’
‘Aye. And thank God Philippe has gone to sleep. He screeched his head off while we ran through the woods, poor lamb. He’s worn himself out.’ Close to tears, Gwenn set the Stone Rose to one side. It was too soon to be reminded of the past, better by far to concentrate on the future. She was pleased she had her grandmother’s statue but, practically, she was more glad of its hidden treasure. She would tell Ned about that later. In all likelihood they would be forced to sell the gem if they were going to survive on the long and hazardous road north. If it bought them their lives and liberty, it would have been sold in a good cause. Izabel would approve of her selling it under these desperate circumstances. ‘Ned, if we ever get out of here, will you... will you stay with us?’
‘I am at your command, mistress,’ Ned said simply.
‘Because my father ordered it, and like him, you are a man of honour? I told you, Ned, I don’t want your pity.’
‘I would never desert you, mistress. It’s very simple, I love you.’
Touched by the simplicity of Ned’s declaration, Gwenn put her hand on his knee. ‘You are a good man, too. What would I do without you?’
‘Mistress–’
‘Hush!’ Gwenn caught his hand. ‘Someone’s entered the chapel!’
Scrambling to his feet, Ned put an eye to the squint. ‘It’s Malait,’ he hissed. ‘I’d know that tone anywhere.’
‘Not a word, Katarin,’ Gwenn mouthed in her sister’s ear. ‘Understand?’
Veiled by half-light, Katarin nodded.
The gentle Prior Hubert, having received a garbled and to his mind inadequate briefing from one of his novices, gripped his walking staff and roused himself to stand up to Captain Malait. On sight, he pigeon-holed the Viking as one of the damned – an excommunicate mercenary. He had been reluctant to allow such a heathen to defile the saint’s chapel, but Malait’s sword won the argument. The prior was not prepared to die to defend that particular tenet of the faith; Saint Félix would understand and forgive him. The wretch had entered, not even bothering to remove his helmet.
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