Eleanor nodded. “I am grateful for your teaching, Brother. It may be wiser to change men’s hearts by practicing love and compassion, the tenets of our faith. Should mother and babe live, due to Sister Anne’s skill and the grace of God, this family may yet see the error of their beliefs and come willingly to ours.”
“I shall hope for that, my lady.”
“Yet I do not believe even this question of a child’s soul, no matter how important, is the sole cause of that shadow veiling your eyes.”
Thomas looked down at the floor. “Rumor’s face is scarred with the pox of lies and envy, her speech filled with curses, but men love her nonetheless. I fear she has recently uttered a particularly vile blasphemy.”
She visibly trembled. “We have always been of one mind on the need for plain speech. What have you heard, from whom, and what is your opinion of the tale?”
“While I was questioning Adelard on his reasons for wishing to take vows, he said that the world was too wicked for him. I pressed him for examples. He claimed that Evil is so rampant that those who dress in virtue during the daylight strip themselves of it to revel in sin at night.”
“He named someone from the priory?”
Thomas nodded.
“It is my duty to determine verity or falsehood in such accusations.”
“He claimed to have witnessed Brother Gwydo and Gytha having carnal knowledge of each other near the hut of Ivetta the Whore on the night Kenelm was killed.”
Eleanor’s head turned sharply as if she had been slapped.
“My lady, I do not know Brother Gwydo well, but I cannot believe that your good maid would commit such a sin.” He reached out as if pleading for forgiveness. “Had the villagers not attacked Cuthbert and the family he was protecting, I would have questioned Adelard further. Under the circumstances, I could not…”
“You had no choice,” Eleanor said, her voice rough with emotion. “Nor do I believe the two committed such a deed.”
“With your leave, I shall question the baker’s son further.”
She shook her head. “Not unless it is necessary. He believes he told you the truth, or else the Devil has enchanted him with this imagining. We can only hope that he has not whispered to others besides you about the sin he claims to have witnessed.”
“I do not trust him to have held his tongue. Adelard may have spread the news in the village that Kenelm and Jacob ben Asser fought the night before the guard was murdered. He, or another, suggested the Jewish family committed the crime to sully priory ground and foul our water. That was the reason the crowd attacked Cuthbert as he stood guard at the inn’s new stables, and threatened him so they could attack the Jewish family.”
“Do you know that Adelard is to blame?”
“I do not. When our crowner questioned some of the men after they had calmed, no one could remember where they had heard the tale. Yet how many others could have heard the arguments?”
“Mistress Signy.” She raised a hand. “I do not think that she was the source of this infamy, but, if she overheard the quarrel, others might just as well.”
“But surely no one else witnessed Brother Gwydo…”
“Let us hope Adelard said nothing. If not, the reputations of both my maid and our lay brother have been rudely compromised. I must find out the truth, and we shall make sure that the innocent are cleansed of any filth thrown upon them by these lies.”
“Should I summon your maid from the village?”
“Gytha is assisting Sister Anne with the birth, but, when she returns, I shall question her. As for Brother Gwydo, I would hear my maid’s tale before I question him. Gytha’s answers may explain all, and I may not need to involve our lay brother in this vile accusation.”
With those words, Eleanor gently dismissed the monk, sending him to the inn until it was time to escort Sister Anne back to the priory, but she was deeply troubled.
Was Adelard right? Was this the cause of Gytha’s sad demeanor of late? But why had the young woman not confided in her? “She must know that I would neither condemn nor cast her forth,” she murmured. “After all these years, she has surely learned to trust me. Something has indeed happened, but I cannot believe the truth matches the tale Adelard has told.”
Nonetheless, Eleanor retreated to her prie-dieu and, for a very long time, knelt in anxious prayer.
Chapter Sixteen
Belia’s eyes were white with terror. Bloodstains streaked her chemise.
“Be brave, my sweet child and my heart’s delight. This present agony is the worst,” Malka crooned. “It shall not last much longer.” Wiping her daughter’s face with a damp cloth, she encouraged Belia to continue walking in a tight circle within the stall.
Signy pushed aside the heavy sacking over the entrance and slipped into the small space. “Do you want more water in which to bathe her?”
“The one soaking was sufficient. The boiled fenugreek, mallow, and barley need only be used at the beginning of the birth.” Anne gestured at the sacking. “But please take down that cloth. The men will keep their distance while she is giving birth, and we can hardly breathe.” She was sweating, and her robe was splotched with pale blood.
The innkeeper pulled it down and set it folded on the straw. “Jew or Christian, we are all daughters of Eve,” she said, gesturing at mother and daughter. “Tell me what I can do to help this suffering cousin.”
With anyone else, Anne might have been surprised at such words, but these came from a woman known for compassion. “I shall need more hot water in which to soak the fennel for the poultice against her back. But first I ask that you support Mistress Belia while she walks. I must speak with her mother.”
Her voice must have betrayed anxiety, for sharpened fear glistened in the pregnant woman’s eyes. “It is customary, before the birth, to seek knowledge only a mother can give about her child,” Anne quickly added, knowing it was a lie but not a sinful one.
Signy walked over to Malka and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I can relieve you,” she said. Then she gave the panting younger woman a brief smile. “Should the babe arrive while they are just outside, I think your mother and Sister Anne will learn the news soon enough from us both.”
Belia’s lips twitched with weak amusement.
For an instant Malka looked askance at the innkeeper. Then she nodded and murmured her thanks.
Taking the older woman by the arm, Anne pulled her toward the entrance. “We shall inform your husband about your progress,” she said over her shoulder to the daughter. “He will be eager to learn that his child’s birth is imminent.”
Bracing the young woman, Signy urged her forward and began a distracting conversation. “Was the bathwater I sent warm enough?” she asked.
Outside in the courtyard, Anne carefully hid her stained hands, then realized the gesture was futile. She could do nothing about the marks on her robe.
Jacob rose, his pleading eyes dark with worry.
“Nothing has yet happened,” she replied and forced a confident smile. “The birth is her first. They often take longer.”
He sat down but kept his eyes on her, rejecting an answer so obviously meant to placate.
A man not easily fooled, she thought, and turned her back to him while bending close to Malka’s ear. “The child is turned badly in her womb,” she whispered. “I am not sure I can move it so your daughter is able to give birth.”
“She will die?” Malka murmured hoarsely and turned gray. Then her mouth set with fierce determination. “She shall not.” Stepping back, the mother laid her crippled hand against the nun’s damp cheek. “Your father would never have allowed that. You are his daughter. I expect no less from you.”
Anne stiffened, and then met the woman’s steady gaze. “I will do my best. She is near the end of a woman’s endurance, and her suffer
ing will increase. All births are dangerous, but survival when the babe is twisted in the womb…” She drew in a deep breath. “Both your daughter and the child may die, although one might be saved. Do you not think we should tell her husband?”
“You shall succeed in saving her.”
Anne hesitated but realized she had also been told the choice to make if only the mother or child could live. Bowing her head, she walked back to the stall. There was no time to argue.
Malka gestured to Gytha who stood nearby. “We need more hot water!”
The maid raced toward the inn’s cooking hut where a large pot of rain water was kept simmering at Signy’s orders. The steam struggled to rise in the heavy summer air.
When Gytha delivered the water, Anne poured some into a basin and explained to the young woman how to soak and wring the poultice. Then she sent the maid outside and began instructing Signy on what must come next.
The two women stripped Belia, and Anne showed her how to squat in the fresh straw. After washing her hands as her father had taught her, the nun picked up a bowl and a beaker filled with oil. She knelt in front of the young woman, poured the fenugreek and linen seed infused oil over her hands and began to rub it on Belia’s huge belly, thighs, and pudenda.
Gytha rushed in and passed a damp linen pouch to the innkeeper.
“Does this warmth give you ease?” Signy asked, pressing the moist packet of herbs against the young woman’s back as she embraced her to give support.
Belia groaned.
Quickly, Anne felt around the belly, seeking better knowledge of how the baby lay. Firmly, she pressed against the sides of where she believed the child to be and twisted.
It moved.
Belia howled.
Again, Anne twisted the unseen shape, gritting her teeth against her own terror and the pain she knew this young woman was suffering
Sobbing, Belia gazed at the ceiling.
Anne looked at Signy and nodded, then twisted once more.
The innkeeper gripped the woman tighter under her swollen breasts and began whispering in her ear.
Her back pressed against the stable wall, Malka murmured a prayer.
Pouring more oil on her hands, Anne reached between the woman’s legs and measured how much the birth canal had expanded. “Belia, this will hurt,” she said. “Scream if you must but save your strength for pushing the babe into the world when I command it. It won’t take much longer.” And may God make my words true, the nun prayed.
She eased her hand inside and felt two feet near the opening. She had not managed to turn the babe completely but did feel movement against her fingers. If only the womb would not shut before the head was free, strangling the child.
The feet emerged. She grasped them with one hand and waited, placing a palm against the belly to feel for contractions.
“Push!”
Belia screamed, her agony ripping through the thick air.
Malka pressed her bent fingers against her mouth.
“Mother!” Belia howled.
“Push!” Anne ordered, resisting all desire to wrench the child into the world. Many did, destroying both mother and child, but she felt as if her father’s spirit was hovering nearby, whispering instructions and urging patience.
“Push, beloved,” Malka urged with feigned confidence.
Blood now rushed through Anne’s hands. This is too much bleeding, too much.
Belia strained to obey. The stall reeked with sour sweat and the metallic tang of blood. Signy hugged the woman tighter and stared at the nun.
Anne looked up at the tortured face of the exhausted Belia. “Push,” she said, her voice soft and trembling. “Your child wills it.”
The young woman raised her eyes and screamed, willing her body to make one final effort. With no strength left, she collapsed in Signy’s arms.
Malka began to weep and reached out to touch her motionless daughter.
All voices fell silent. The rustling of Anne moving in the straw was the only sound.
Then Belia moaned, and Signy eased her backward with a sigh.
Suddenly a cry rent the air, rising in pitch. Whether meant as anguish or outrage, it issued from the tiny mouth of a baby boy.
Chapter Seventeen
Oseberne struck his son.
Adelard fell backward and just caught himself before his head hit the edge of the table. Shocked at the blow, he put a hand to his cheek, then stared at the blood mixed with tears on his fingers.
“How dare you lose that precious object?”
“The cord must have broken…”
“When did you last see the cross?” Oseberne turned his back to his son, lifted the pitcher, and poured himself a cup of wine. He offered none to Adelard.
“I had it just before Brother Thomas arrived to question me. I know because I kissed it so God might give me strength and a swift tongue.”
“Afterward?”
Adelard began to weep. “I do not know! Maybe I lost it in the street when I went to join those seeking to kill the Jews.”
“A silver cross, lost in the street, to be picked up by some villain.” Oseberne spun around and pointed a shaking finger at his son. “Do you have any idea what that cost me?”
“I shall repay you!” The young man knelt and stretched his hands toward his father. His eyes were wide with impotent misery.
“That cross was my gift, so that you might stand without shame in the choir of monks at Tyndal Priory next to sons of higher birth.” The baker gulped his wine and poured another cup. “Repay me?” he roared. “You owe me a far greater debt than the cross. The priory is your best hope of advancement on earth as well as in heaven. And have I not worked hard for this? Do I not deserve an obedient son in God’s service, one who would spend his life praying for my soul?” Sneering, he continued. “Dare you be so ungrateful as to force my soul to suffer in Purgatory when it could be quickly freed from its agonies by filial devotion?”
“And my mother’s soul,” Adelard whispered.
“A wife who took nun’s vows? She’s in Heaven and has no need of our prayers.” Oseberne wiped a hand across his mouth. “And now you think you can crawl into that priory like some freedman’s son.” He looked heavenward. “Prior Andrew may not even accept you. I would not blame him, careless and ungrateful wretch that you are.”
Adelard covered his face.
“And all you do is whine.” His face red with anger, the baker grabbed a handful of his son’s hair and pulled his head back. “Ever since those cowards failed to punish that family of Jews for the crimes they have done and hope to commit, you have been bleating like a woman with her courses.” Bending down, he spat in his son’s face. “You are unmanned. Why?”
“I have sinned!”
“That you have. Most certainly against me for losing the silver cross, a crime you failed to confess until I discovered it.”
“Another evil yet.”
Letting go of his son’s head, Oseberne stared at the lad. “What else could be so heinous? Surely you have not lain with some pocky girl and seeded a bastard?”
Adelard shook his head, exuding a horror that matched his father’s disgust. “Worse! I have gone against the teachings of the saints and God.”
Oseberne stepped back, both worried and perplexed. “And what will this cost me?”
Staggering to his feet, the young man looked longingly at the wine jug.
His father ignored the hint. “Out with it! What have you done?”
“Brother Thomas told us all, as we gathered about the inn stables where the Jews stay, that when St. Bernard of Clairvaux preached the crusade, he forbade good Christians to harm those Jews living there.” He raised a trembling hand to keep his father from interrupting him. “And the good monk also quoted from a let
ter written by Pope Gregory, stating that the tales of these people drinking the blood of Christian children were untrue.”
Oseberne waved the words away. “Blasphemy.”
The son murmured a weak protest.
“At my most charitable, I shall say that this monk is sinfully ill-informed. The priest who taught me was firm in the belief that the world shall never be truly Christian until we sweep the earth clean of all unbelievers. What difference is there between those infidels who stole Jerusalem for their wicked purposes and the Jews who killed Our Lord?”
Adelard mumbled in confusion.
“Shall you trust Brother Thomas, a man who lacked a faith strong enough to keep him in his hermitage? Dare you take his word over mine, a man taught by one so holy that he never removed his hair shirt even when his skin rotted and dropped from his body?”
“I have always followed your teaching, but you have also directed me to take holy vows and enter Tyndal Priory so I might pray for your soul’s peace after death. There I shall meet Brother Thomas again, a man who may well become my confessor.”
“Then find a holier one than he for that. Seek a man who reeks with contempt for the world. Brother Thomas spends too much time with the secular sons of Adam, and for this reason, amongst others, I doubt his virtue.”
Adelard opened his mouth to speak, then drew back in fear as his father bent so close that he could count protruding nose hairs.
“Does scripture not demand that you honor, obey, and treat me with due reverence?”
His son nodded.
“I do not doubt that Brother Thomas has some benighted reason for spewing blasphemy and suggesting his foul lies were uttered by holier men than he. Did you ever see for yourself any proof that these letters came from the pope or the saint?”
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