Awaken_A Rose Caldwell Tale

by JM Bannon

  It was a dream wasn’t it?

  Her thoughts tumbled.

  Was it a dream?

  5:25 AM, Sister Rose Caldwell’s Cell

  Rose awoke with an aching head and heart. Her dream conflicted with all that she had read and found out about St Ostric. How could it be that the heroic figure painted in the books could in fact be a tool of the demon?

  Was this a true visitation of past events in which an angel of God did in fact appear and defeat the demon or was it all part of fevered imaginings? She felt unwell, was she perhaps suffering a chill from last night’s adventure, was this the cause of her dream?

  Rose went through her usual morning process of changing from night clothes into her habit with her movements jerky and stiff like a fairground automaton. Putting up her hair and covering it with her wimple ready to start another day in the chapel with morning prayers, Rose noticed her right palm was stained with the blue dye the Druids used to sanctify the rocks. She dimly recalled reading about Woad and how it was used by many tribes of the land now called Briton, for decoration in times of war.

  She went to the wash bowl in her room and scrubbed her hands, her washing did fade the colorful dye but her hand still looked like the crushed berries of the nightshade plant. She supposed that she and the women she had met last night were at war. Not with each other as she had thought but with the demon. Rose dried her hands and then rushed to the chapel for prayer hoping that no one would notice her hand before the dye rubbed off. Perhaps she could say she had been crushing the berries for a potion?

  She sat in the choir and mouthed the words while around her the Sisters and novitiates of the order recited the morning psalm. Her mind was filled with the dream and her meeting with Mrs. Culpepper. She felt bereft of purpose, she had felt sure that she was on Gods work, guided by one of his saints and that she would find the witches that were causing the ills of late.

  Now her beliefs had been challenged and her dream or vision of last night cast doubt on all she had read and learnt in the last year. If her dream was true then Ostric had been no saint but the cause of much evil. The words of Mrs. Culpepper seemed to agree with the dream, that they were not the minions of the demon but guardians against its return. Yet the books and stories of Ostric, all agreed he was a saint who saved the land.

  She was torn by what to believe.

  She barely spoke during breakfast and after a while her friends gave up trying to break her out of her preoccupation. After breakfast, Judith and Katherine left to perform their chores for the day and she slowly made her way to the Library to begin her day organizing and dusting. She suddenly stopped as she realized something. The monk she had seen in her first vision of Ariel had not been the wall eyed Ostric of last night, but an entirely different man.

  With a feeling of hope in her heart she realized that the monk who had stood with her when Ariel had spoken to her had looked just like King Aethelred! If it had been him and not Ostric, then……. Her dream of last night had been true! Ostric was not a saint after all.

  She resumed her way to the reliquary with a lighter step. She still did not know her way forward at this time and she knew she could tell no one of what she had learned of Ostric, but she felt better knowing that Mrs. Culpepper was probably true to her word. She would find out soon what Culpepper knew.

  As she entered the reliquary she found Sister Madeline sprawled on the floor and the chair she usually sat nodding in, toppled over.

  “Sister Madeline, are you all right?” she hurried over and dropped to her knees. Sister Madeline did not answer, and Rose leant forward and put her hand on the older nun’s cheek. It was cold, so very cold. Then Rose noticed the small pool of blood under her head. There was no rise and fall of Madeline’s chest, Madeline was clearly dead.

  Rose sat back on her heels and offered a small prayer for Madeline’s soul She saw a look of pure horror on Madeline’s face, her eyes wide open and staring, her mouth frozen in an O of surprise.

  Rose considered the body for a moment and then looked around the room, from here nothing seemed amiss. What could have caused the look on the old nun’s face? Surely not just the chair tipping over. Why would it fall, Madeline had often fallen asleep in it?

  She looked at the chair to see if a leg had snapped causing the tumble. No, the legs were all whole. Could this been caused by her snapping out of her sleep?

  The angle of Madeline’s neck was strange Rose gently moved Madeline’s head from side to side. It moved too freely. Rose knew that feeling from wringing the necks of chickens at home. Madeline’s neck was broken.

  It seemed that bad luck had turned a simple fall into death. It was as she let the head fall back into its original place that she saw them. Small rents in the wimple Madeline wore, from which trickles of blood had congealed. They were on both sides of the nun’s neck, small tears in the cloth and neck of the woman.

  Rose hissed with understanding, the marks had been made by claws. She froze her eyes filling with tears. Poor Madeline had been murdered and she had an idea of her murderer.

  She sighed, made the sign of the cross then got to her feet.

  She looked around the room again searching for the ingress for the creatures she was sure had killed Madeline. She could see no obvious opening, no window was broken, no stones missing from the walls that she could see, no books on the floor where they had been pushed off the shelves.

  She turned around slowly, and her gaze fell on the trapdoor to the cellar. Was it possible? She bent and grasped the recessed handle and pulled.

  It was unlocked!

  She lifted the hatch and the lock was exposed, what was left of it, it had been gouged from the wood of the hatch and she could see its remains lying on the stairs. There was a thin trail of soil on the stairs she could see.

  Rose closed the hatch and stood up, this was clearly how the creatures had gained entrance to the room, she was sure she would find a hole somewhere in the cellar.

  Rose got up and made her way to the door to fetch the Mother Superior when she stopped, and her heart sank. The glass case was empty, the relic, the relic was gone!

  Rose felt a chill run up her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck rising under her wimple.

  Just a few scant hours past, she was Garwen, the lover of Aethelred and a member of the Morghanin; confronting Ostric and his demon master. Now the holy relic that claimed to be the skull of a saint but was possibly the remains of a man possessed by a demon was gone.

  Maybe Madeline had put it somewhere? No that is silly.

  Why should she?

  She went back to the body and searched and found the keys to the room. Locking the door behind her she went to give the Mother Superior the bad news.

  1:20 PM, The Office of Sister Maria, Mother Superior

  Sister Maria came out of her office. Rose had been outside sitting on a bench looking up at a crucifix on the wall. She had been called to the office some time ago by Sister Beatrix, the Mother Superior’s lieutenant. She stood when she heard the door open.

  “Sister, please come with me,” said the Mother Superior.

  The Mother Superior made her way to the parlour at the front of the building. She paused and turned to Rose.

  “Sister Rose, you are used to dealing with people from outside these walls. You also found poor Madeline and so can explain what you found this morning. For the moment you are the representative of our house. Please speak carefully and think about the consequences to us all of what you say.”

  “Yes Mother, I understand,” said Rose quietly.

  The Mother Superior opened the door and led the way into the parlour. Rose was surprised to see that the grated door was opened, and that the Sheriff was sat in the parlour waiting.

  He stood as the women entered. “Good afternoon Mother Superior and Sister Rose isn’t it?”

  The Mother Superior gave Rose an inquiring look.

  “We met at the Masons, the day of the accident!” Rose quickly explained.
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  “I see.” “Sheriff Alderton, thank you for coming at short notice. I believe you know that we have had a theft of a relic and an unfortunate death?” The Mother Superior said quietly.

  Rose noted that she had put the theft above the death of one of the order.

  “Correct Mother Superior, was it Sister Judith I believe?” the Mother Superior nodded.

  “Yes, well she brought the news to my office this morning. I was at the time engaged on other matters away from the city, but my Seargent told me as soon as I got back. I of course came straight here.”

  “Thank you, Sheriff. Sister Rose is here as she found both the body of Sister Madeline and the theft, she will answer your questions truly.”

  “Ah yes, well I have sent for Doctor Belkin, to examine the body and I need to see the scene of the crime…”

  The Mother Superior interrupted him. “Impossible! We are a contemplative order and no outsiders may enter beyond this room. To allow anyone let alone a man not a confessor or my superior would mean instant excommunication! I will not allow it!”

  The Sheriff’s eyes narrowed at this outburst. “Then I see little chance of our recovering the relic or capturing the thief.”

  “I have sent for the Bishop, he will be here tomorrow. If he decides that you need to see Sister Madeline’s body, then he may order it brought to you. That is his choice to make.”

  “When he comes I expect him to bring a Jesuit investigator to look for clues and a reason for the theft.”

  Rose bit her lip but kept quiet.

  A Jesuit investigator! It was not that long ago that they were known by a different name, Inquisitor!

  “Very well Mother Superior, in that case I will await their arrival and their findings. At that point we may take the investigation forward! In the meantime, perhaps Sister Rose could describe the scene for me while the memory is fresh in her mind?”

  “Very well, ask your questions of her.”

  “Sister Rose, I know this must have been a great shock for you, finding the body of one of you order and then the missing relic. It would help us if you could tell me what time you found the body?”

  “It was not long after breakfast, I am not sure of the exact time I was thinking of other matters.” She gave the Mother Superior a guilty glance.

  “Please describe the scene you found, what actions you took, for example did you touch the body?”

  “I found the door to the room open, that was not unusual, when it is not locked it is open to all in the convent. I knew that Sister Madeline would be in the room. As I entered I found her lying on the floor, her usual chair toppled over next to her. There was a small pool of blood under head, and I thought that she had hit her head when she fell. I went straight to her and touched her cheek, but she was cold and not breathing. It was clear that she had died.”

  She took a deep breath and continued. “I looked around the room but saw no reason for here fall or evidence that anyone else had been there, I surmised that perhaps her heart had given out and was the reason for the fall. I turned to go for the Mother Superior and I saw then that the Relic had gone. I locked the room and went for the Mother Superior.”

  The Mother Superior nodded in approval. She like Rose knew that Madeline’s death was unlikely to be an accident but was content to wait for the investigator.

  “Thank you, Sister, from your description it appears that the thief may have surprised Sister Madeline and she did indeed have a heart attack because of it. As to the Relic, we will have to wait for the Bishop’s man to give us more.” He nodded to himself and the women.

  “If you can think of anything else that might help Sister Rose, please let me know. I want to find the culprit and make an example of them. Until then might I ask that you keep this quiet, it won’t help the town if rumors of a murdered nun and stolen artifacts begin to circulate.”

  “We too are not interested in it being made public that our convent is not a sacred and secure place. There are anti-papists that want us to fail and would look for any opportunity to bring about that failure, but we will remain steadfast in our mission,” agreed the Mother Superior.

  “Well I think for the moment I can do no more, so I will leave you to mourn your loss. Good day Mother Superior, Sister!”

  The Sheriff left the room and the Mother Superior close and bolted the doorway into the outer parlour.

  “Well done Rose, now I have another matter to discuss with you. In my office!”

  2:30 PM,The Office of Sister Maria, Mother Superior

  The Mother Superior took her seat behind her desk and gestured for Rose to sit.

  “I have received a request from the Culpepper house for you to visit on the evening of the twenty-ninth.”

  Rose nodded politely but refrained from speaking.

  “Glynnis Culpepper is a benevolent influence on this community. Her family is one of the largest landowners in the county and while her interest in our order is heartening, I wonder why she would call upon you to dine with her?” The Mother Superior’s voice was full of questions.

  How was Rose to answer? Her mind raced from response to response;

  ‘I met her in a field after the curfew performing ancient rites to defend us against a demon? She was very nice! No that wouldn’t do. How about, ‘I have been practicing magical rituals outlined by two sixteenth-century occultists and have been seeing ghosts of dead saints and little grey men stealing rocks!’

  Rose finally spoke, “I have met her when she came to my father’s mill but that was some time ago and I was quite young the last time I saw her there. Perhaps it is not a good idea for me to accept.”

  “Please explain why not!” The Mother Superior was surprised by her answer.

  Rose sighed and looked down at her hands, one still showing blue from the night before.

  “Mother you know I came to the convent because I have a strong belief in what might be found beyond this mortal realm. For the past four years, I have followed instruction from you and the other sisters and through your guidance, I have come to believe that this world is one of many and that at times there are messages from these spiritual worlds and that they are speaking to me. I have not heard voices, I am not claiming that God is speaking to me but I have had such dreams and now visions, Mother, of Saint Ostric and…”

  “Go on,” the Mother Superior encouraged.

  “I fear I have been disobedient and have gone beyond the traditional teachings of the church in trying to understand these messages and the mysteries they hint at and now I believe that this search has had an effect upon me and that my very sanity is threatened.” Rose hesitated to divulge her secrets.

  “How so, just speak your mind,” the older nun asked, supportively.

  “I believe I may have attracted an evil force to me, that this force is who took Saint Ostric’s Relic; that there is a malevolence intending to poison my mind and make me lose my faith in the blessed Saint,”

  Rose was surprised at her own candor. “I beg for guidance in this matter, I know for a certainty that I am not in a place mentally and spiritually where I should go to someone's home as a representative of our order,” explained Rose.

  “Is there something specific about Mrs. Culpepper that you take issue with?”

  Rose wasn’t going to say that the woman led a sisterhood of Druids. What many would call witches, “No, Mother I am just at my wit's end and can’t think about being outside the convent. I am fearful that if I am unable to receive clear direction soon, I will lose my mind.”

  “I see, so, there is no personal issue between you and the Culpeppers? No local feud I need to be aware of?” asked the Mother Superior.

  “No, Mother she is a pillar of the community and while at times she may appear to be a little eccentric, she has always been good to me and those I know,” confirmed Rose.

  “Then let me help then, as you ask. Rose, I am surprised by you. You have sat here in my office and offered no coherent or logical reason for not going to
visit Mrs. Culpepper as she has requested. Instead you have told me girlish nonsense about evil influences acting upon you and visions of saints.

  You are no Joan of Arc I can assure you. You are self-centered and disobedient and to accuse Mrs. Culpepper of being eccentric after what you have just told me? I can only assume that the shock of Sister Madeline’s death has caused this aberration.

  The theft of the relic will be investigated by the Jesuits, and how it was stolen will be discovered I am sure. I am also sure that the last thing you will want, or need is to come to the attention of the investigators any more than you are likely to in the course of the investigation. You would not enjoy their attentions.

  No! Instead you will honor your vows of obedience to this order and God and stop this silly prattle of visions and saints!”

  “Mother! I am not…..”

  The Mother Superior interrupted her, “Enough! You are becoming quite tiresome with this, Rose!

  You want to hear the word of God? Then my instructions to you are just that and your vows were to obey me in all things were they not?,

  I say pick yourself up forget this nonsense and help the order by being a good steward of the faith to Mrs. Culpepper.

  You will go and see her and you will discover how we may minister to her needs whatever they are. That is what I need from you, what I expect from you. I need to focus on the death of our sister and the loss of the holy object we were charged to protect. I do not need your vaporous feelings and imaginations at this time! Do you understand me?”

  “Yes Mother,” replied Rose meekly. “Mother, may I ask a question about the theft?”

  The Mother Superior took a deep breath before answering. “You may if it relates to earthly matters.”

  “Mother, don’t you think it strange how the relic was stolen?” asked Rose. “I mean, who could come into the convent, into the heart of it and get out again without being seen by one of us? Other than poor Sister Madeline?”