by Alys Clare
He made his way to William’s court, where he presented himself in his true identity as a son of the house of Guiscard, of the Kingdom of the South. He appeared to arouse King William’s interest, and for some weeks the king kept Rollo close to him, asking him endless questions about everything from the new castles in Sicily to what he thought Duke Robert would do next. Rollo answered everything he was asked easily and fluently. Observation came as naturally to him as breathing, and his judgement was critical and sound.
King William had quickly realized that he had beside him, in Rollo, a man to value. He began to look out for a suitably testing opportunity, and it was not long before one arose.
The business at Ely was a worry. Not yet a grave worry, for King William knew where his quarry was and who guarded him. However, the anxiety never quite faded away. Attempts had been made in the past, as the king well knew. In these uncertain times, when he had occupied his throne for less than three turbulent years and already put down one major rebellion, might not others come up with the same idea? Was this not why the young man had been spirited away and walled up with the monks of Ely? Ely, thought the king. The location in itself was a matter for concern, for the monks on their island in the desolate fens had always had a reputation for independent thought . . .
The king deliberated for some time. Then in the late autumn of 1090 he summoned Rollo Guiscard, provided him with all the details of the situation and told him what he wanted him to do.
Rollo set out for Ely the next day.
Now, back in his lodging in a row of houses – well-built, but with a quality too subtle to make them stand out and therefore attract unwelcome attention – Rollo sat in a wooden chair before the fire and thought about what had happened that evening. He reached out for the goblet of fine wine – the king was generous to those whose services he valued, even when they were of a clandestine nature – and took a sip, letting the smooth liquid slip down his throat.
The lad was in the abbey; Rollo had seen him. It had appeared that the boy had been making for the site where the ancient Saxon church had stood. Rollo knew where this was because, typical of his thoroughness, he had gone to great pains to find out all that there was to know about the abbey of Ely, as it had once been and as it was now in the transition from Saxon to Norman. He smiled slightly. So the boy knew, too, what had lain buried in the ancient wall. It was a surprise, considering he had been brought up as a poor carpenter’s son in some obscure fenland village, but perhaps someone had taken the trouble to tell him. Either that or the past had stretched out a silent hand and beckoned the lad . . .
Rollo knew he should not entertain such fancies. His Norman kinsmen would laugh him to scorn if they knew. But then, he thought, he was not pure Norman, for his mother was a woman of the south and she came from a long line of stregha. His smile deepened for it had been many years since he had heard the old dialect name for a witch. Then a thoughtful expression crossed his face as he recalled something he had heard regarding King William: that he had little time for the church and its ministers and his sympathies lay with the pagan religion.
Rollo neither believed nor disbelieved the rumour. He had merely stored it away for future reference.
He turned his mind back to the events of the evening. The pale boy was closeted away in Ely abbey and, although Rollo had not seen them, there would undoubtedly be very efficient and capable men posted to guard over him. Tomorrow he would find out how many men formed this guard and what sort of threat they posed. They would, however, be mere henchmen, engaged for their strength and their ability to carry out orders without question. The driving force behind this affair would lie elsewhere. The king had told Rollo where he thought this force originated; part of Rollo’s commission was to ascertain whether he was right.
He drained the goblet and set it down on the small table beside him. The he sat quite still, formulating in his mind what he would do in the morning. He was aware as he did so of a troubling, turbulent and insistent image that battered against the place where he had penned it. Deliberately, he fortified his defence against it. He sat for some time, making the careful, painstaking plans that were typical of him. Then, when he was satisfied, he left his chair by the fire and went into the next room, where a bed with a feather mattress and fine wool covers awaited him.
It was only with the relaxation of sleep that the image broke out of its prison. Rollo lay dreaming, and his dreams were full of a boy who turned into a girl, whom his dreaming mind seemed to recognize as if he had known her all his life and whom he had kissed with a passion that had exploded like a new sun.
Gewis was very afraid. He sensed that something was about to happen and, although he did not know exactly what, instinctively he sensed danger.
His four guardians had moved him from his bed in the dormitory, and now he occupied a tiny cell, furnished with a hard, narrow cot, a low wooden stool and with nothing to relieve the bare stone walls except a stark wooden crucifix. Food and small beer were brought regularly – whatever his fate might turn out to be, it did not appear that they were going to starve him – and several times a day he was taken out to pray with the brethren. On those occasions he was escorted by no less than two and sometimes all four of his guards.
He had heard them muttering among themselves. They spoke of someone called Lord Edmund the Exile; they spoke of him with respect and awe, and it appeared that this Lord Edmund was coming out of hiding somewhere abroad and returning to England. He was making for Ely. Gewis had no idea who this great lord was, but the fact that he inspired something quite close to fear in Gewis’s tough, brawny guardians was quite alarming.
He did not think there would be many more chances to evade the eyes always on him and slip away to the site of the old Saxon church. He was both drawn to and repelled by it, and in a way it was a relief to have the option taken from him. He thought back to the visit he had tried to make a few hours ago. It had called out to him as it so often did, and he had crept along the dark passageways until he’d emerged in the vast space where the new cathedral was going up. He had been about to cross over to the ancient wall when he saw a figure. At first glance it had appeared to be a boy, but he’d caught a glimpse of the face and had recognized the young woman whom he had seen before dressed as a nun. He was about to hurry over to her – if nothing else, he was curious to know why she was back again and why she was now disguised as a boy – but he lost sight of her for a moment, and when he looked again she had gone.
He had seen something else. In the place where she had just been standing, right next to what remained of the old wall, the air was . . . shimmering, was the only way he could describe it. He had approached the spot, already very afraid and suspecting what might be there, but it had felt as if he’d walked into a wall of ice and he had stopped.
It is here, he’d thought, his mind numb with panic.
For the length of a heartbeat it had materialized before him. He would have screamed but his throat had frozen, and he’d thought he was about to die.
Then the enchantment released him. He’d turned and run.
He could remember little of his terrified flight through the abbey. He’d become aware that one of his guardians was pounding along behind him, and it had taken all his self-control not to stop, turn and fling himself into the man’s brawny embrace. The narrow corridor that led to his new quarters had never seemed so welcome and he’d thrown himself through the low door with a sob of relief.
Now, he lay face down on his hard bed. He had the palms of his hands pressed tightly against his closed eyes, but all the same he still saw flashes of the horror in the old church. Amid all the other ghastly aspects of its destroyed face and mutilated body, one thing stood out and, try as he might, he could not stop the image sliding again and again into his mind. It is nothing, he told himself. Nothing but the effects of age and long interment.
Slowly, the terror retreated, and Gewis came back to himself. He raised his head, quite surprised to find that his f
ace was wet with his own tears. He heard a quiet cough, realizing only then that there was somebody else in the room. Expecting to see one of his guardians, wearily he sat up and met his visitor’s eyes.
It was not one of the guards, although he saw two of them outside the room, standing in the dark passage.
It was the abbot’s most senior prior.
Gewis shot to his feet. He might not be a monk, but during the short time he had been at Ely he had picked up the habit of reverence from the brethren. The man who now stood before him was second in seniority only to the abbot himself.
‘Please, Gewis, sit down,’ the prior said quietly.
He called me by my true name, Gewis thought. Why, when everyone else here calls me Brother Ailred? Slowly, he sank down on to his thin, hard mattress.
The prior drew up the wooden stool and sat down close to the cot. He studied Gewis intently for some moments without speaking.
Growing uneasy under the scrutiny, eventually Gewis said hesitantly, ‘S–sir?’ Sir was not right. He frowned, embarrassed, as he tried to remember if he should call the prior father or brother . . .
But the prior did not seem to have noticed. ‘Are you unwell, Gewis?’ he asked. His tone was gentle, kindly, but Gewis did not entirely trust him. He looked up into the prior’s face. He was a man in the mid-thirties, dark-haired, sallow complexioned, and the intense, brown eyes were small and deep set, their steady gaze unblinking and penetrating.
‘I am quite well, thank you,’ Gewis stammered.
‘You look pale, my son,’ said the prior. He shot a look in the direction of the guards. ‘Not enough time out in the good, fresh air, I expect. Tomorrow you shall have more.’ He frowned, his eyes appearing to take in every detail of Gewis’s face and body. ‘You are thin, I see. Is the food here not to your taste? Perhaps there is some special dish you would like?’
Gewis could barely believe what he was hearing. The food was fine, he wanted to say, better than he was used to. If he ate little of it that was because he still had no idea why he had been brought to Ely, he was very afraid that they meant him harm, he was lonely, he missed his mother and there was something within the abbey that terrified him and which, despite the rumours that now flew around freely between the brethren, nobody seemed prepared to talk about out loud.
He did not feel able to say any of this to the prior.
‘Er . . . the food is very fine,’ he managed.
‘Good, good,’ the prior said. ‘And you are comfortable here in this room?’
‘Yes, but—’ His nervousness overcame him.
‘But?’ the prior prompted.
‘But I don’t understand why I’ve been taken away from the others,’ he said in a rush. ‘I was quite happy in the dormitory with the brethren, and—’
‘You are not a monk, Gewis, and therefore you do not belong with them,’ the prior interrupted smoothly, his face twisted in a rictus of a smile.
There was a moment of silence. Then Gewis heard himself say, ‘Then why am I here?’
The prior sighed. Gewis stiffened in fear – surely he had just been unforgivably impertinent and he would receive some awful punishment? – but then to his amazement the prior stretched out a long, graceful hand and laid it on Gewis’s wrist.
‘You are here for your own safety,’ he said. ‘Your existence has long been known to – to the people who wish to safeguard you. You spent your childhood in Fulbourn, hidden away from the eyes of the world. Those who knew where you were did not know who you were; those who were aware of your identity did not know where to look for you. Nevertheless, you were not left unguarded. Those whose concern you are were kept informed regarding your progress as you grew out of boyhood towards manhood. When the time was right, you were brought here to the safety of Ely abbey.’
My mother knew they would come for me, Gewis thought suddenly. He remembered the night that the four burly men had sought him out. His mother, opening the door, had greeted them as if she had been expecting them. When he’d said goodbye to her, she had smiled through her tears and whispered words of encouragement. It had always puzzled him because in that emotional moment of farewell she had seemed so very proud of him . . .
Gewis straightened his back, raised his chin and stared the prior in the eyes. ‘What do you want of me?’ he demanded. He was gratified to find that his voice sounded strong and firm.
The prior sensed the change in him; Gewis knew it for he saw it in the man’s expression. But, instead of frowning at his impudence, the prior nodded slowly, and Gewis saw some strong emotion flash briefly in the dark eyes. For a moment he thought it might have been respect.
‘We wish to protect you from those who would do you harm,’ the prior said.
Gewis laughed, a short, sharp, humourless sound. ‘Who might that be?’ he demanded.
The prior shook his head. ‘It is not for me to say,’ he replied smoothly, ‘but you must trust me when I say you have not been brought here without very good reason.’
‘If not you, then who will tell me?’ Gewis persisted. The night was becoming more unreal with every moment that passed. Being permitted to speak his mind to the second most senior figure in the abbey was an unexpected indulgence, and he intended to make the most of it.
The prior was watching him closely as if assessing his mood. Then he said, ‘One is on his way here who will supply all the answers. He is—’
‘He is Lord Edmund the Exile,’ Gewis interrupted. ‘Yes, I know.’
The prior had gone pale. ‘How do you know this?’ His voice came in a low, angry whisper in which Gewis detected anxiety and, watching him closely, Gewis saw him shoot a furious, accusatory look at the guardians out in the passage.
Gewis had no wish to make trouble for his four guards. They might have taken him from his home and brought him to the abbey without a word of explanation but they were only following orders. Besides, they had treated him well; apart from the one incident just outside the abbey walls, when he had cried out and they had silenced him, none had raised a hand to him, and they had always seen to it that he had warm clothing, blankets on the bed and enough to eat and drink. There were worst gaolers, Gewis was sure.
He thought rapidly. ‘I heard some monks talking,’ he said. ‘They said an important visitor was expected, and one of them mentioned the name.’
The prior looked sceptical. Gewis, risking a quick look at the guardians, saw relief on their faces. One even gave him a short, tight smile.
‘Hmm,’ said the prior.
Gewis met his gaze, trying to make his expression innocent. ‘Who is this lord?’ he asked. ‘Is it true that he’s important?’
The prior managed a smile. ‘He is important to some,’ he said evasively. ‘As to who he is, he will explain all of that to you when he arrives.’
‘Has he far to come?’ Gewis asked.
The prior did not answer for some moments. Then he said, ‘Oh, yes.’
He said something else, but Gewis could not have heard right for it made no sense. After the prior left and the door of the little room was quietly closed, Gewis was left alone in the dark with his thoughts.
He had much to think about, but his mind returned again and again to the prior’s final words. Because what Gewis thought he had said was, ‘The blood calls out to him.’
SEVENTEEN
I
t took me a long time to get to sleep, and in the morning I felt groggy and listless. I recognized that I had suffered a shock last night; more than one, for I had seen a ghost and been kissed hard by a stranger. Stranger . . . no, that was not the right word for him, for something inside me had known him, recognized him . . . With an effort I pulled myself back from the indulgence of thinking about him and instead addressed myself to the day ahead.
Although I felt I ought to hurry out to pursue my investigations, I knew I was in no fit state. I made myself a calming brew, the main constituents of which were chamomile, clover and honey, and then I ate some bread and more of the
honey for my breakfast. I barely tasted the food, but I did feel better after it had gone down.
Then I tidied the room, folding my borrowed garments and stowing them back in Sibert’s pack, and tried to see my way through the misty maze that appeared to surround me. I sat in thought for some time, and I got absolutely nowhere. I began to wonder what I was doing in Ely, for surely I was no good to anyone here and I’d be better off at home pursuing my studies and helping my aunt with her patients? But I knew that I would stay; for one thing, Sibert was still absent, and although Hrype was on his trail it was by no means certain that he would find Sibert if Sibert didn’t want to be found. Some instinct told me that, if ever Sibert was going to ask for anyone’s help in finding the answers about his own past that he so badly wanted, it would not be Hrype he approached but me.
I could not therefore leave Ely and desert my friend. There was something else: when I thought back to the previous evening and managed to see beyond the terrifying vision in the old church, I remembered the pale youth. He had recognized me and he had been about to hurry over and speak to me, of that I was sure. He needed my help, and I wasn’t going to let him down.
Although I told myself it was on account of these selfless reasons that I resolved to stay in Ely, even in my own head that was a lie – or, if not exactly that, then a fudging of the truth. I stayed because my dark-eyed stranger was on the island, and I wasn’t going to leave all the time there was a chance I would see him again.
I swung my cloak round me, pulled up the hood and went out into the morning. I was not at all sure where I was going but, as I paced up the narrow alley, I was filled with the sense that something was about to happen. The foreboding was at the same time both exciting and vaguely threatening.
Hrype had woken at dawn stiff and cold. After parting from Lassair the previous day he had looked for Sibert all along the Ely quays, asking if anyone had seen him or ferried him across the water. Nobody had or, if they had, they weren’t prepared to reveal the fact to a nosy stranger. As the light failed he had found a waterside tavern and ordered food and beer while he’d decided what to do. The obvious answer had been to return to the room, have a good night’s sleep and start again in the morning, but he could not face Lassair just then – or now. She surely must know from Sibert that he had welcomed the visit to Ely because it gave him an opportunity to discover more about his past, and Hrype perceived that she was very curious about what exactly was going on between him and Sibert. With good reason, he thought ruefully, but that did not mean he was ready to explain. He was not at all sure that the day when he was ready would ever come . . .
