peered at every potion in the hut, for they would tell him nothing. The benchbed was stripped of its blanket, and laden with a large mortar and a gently bubbling jar of wine. There was no trace of Godith anywhere to be found. The boy was simply a boy like the rest, and no doubt slept in the dortoir with the rest.
'Well, I'll leave you to your cleansing labours,' said Beringar, 'and stop hampering your meditations with my prattle. Or have you work for me to do?'
'The king has none?' said Cadfael solicitously.
Another ungrudging laugh acknowledged the thrust. 'Not yet, not yet, but that will come. Such talent he cannot afford to hold off suspiciously for ever. Though to be sure, he did lay one testing task upon me, and I seem to be making very little progress in that.' He plucked another tip of mint, and bruised and bit it with pleasure. 'Brother Cadfael, it seems to me that you are the most practical man of hand and brain here. Supposing I should have need of your help, you would not refuse it without due thought - would you?'
Brother Cadfael straightened up, with some creaking of back muscles, to give him a long, considering look. 'I hope,' he said cautiously, 'I never do anything without due thought - even if the thought sometimes has to shift its feet pretty briskly to keep up with the deed.'
'So I supposed,' said Beringar, sweet-voiced and smiling. 'I'll bear that in mind as a promise.' And he made a small, graceful obeisance, and walked away at leisure to the courtyard.
The reapers came back in time for Vespers, sun-reddened, weary and sweat-stained, but with the corn all cut and stacked for carrying. After supper Godith slipped out of the refectory in haste, and came to pluck at Cadfael's sleeve.
'Brother Cadfael, you must come! Something vital!' He felt the quivering excitement of her hand, and the quiet intensity of her whispering voice. 'There's time before Compline - come back to the field with me.'
'What is it?' he asked as softly, for they were within earshot of a dozen people if they had spoken aloud, and she was not the woman to fuss over nothing. 'What has happened to you? What have you left down there that's so urgent?'
'A man! A wounded man! He's been in the river, he was hunted into it upstream and came down with the current. I dared not stay to question, but I knew he's in need. And hungry! He's been there a night and a day...'
'How did you find him? You alone? No one else knows?'
'No one else.' She gripped Cadfael's sleeve more tightly, and her whisper grew gruff with shyness. 'It was a long day ... I went aside, and had to go far aside, into the bushes near the mill. Nobody saw ...'
'Surely, child! I know!' Please God all the boys, her contemporaries, were kept hard at it, and never noticed such daintiness. Brother Athanasius would not have noticed a thunderclap right behind him. 'He was there in the bushes? And is still?'
'Yes. I gave him the bread and meat I had with me, and told him I'd come back when I could. His clothes have dried on him - there's blood on his sleeve ... But I think he'll do well, if you take care of him. We could hide him in the mill - no one goes there yet.' She had thought of all the essentials, she was towing him towards his hut in the herb garden, not directly towards the gate house. Medicines, linen, food, they would need all these.
'Of what age,' asked Cadfael, more easily now they were well away from listeners, 'is this wounded man of yours?'
'A boy,' she said on a soft breath. 'Hardly older than I am. And hunted! He thinks I am a boy, of course. I gave him the water from my bottle, and he called me Ganymede...'
Well, well, thought Cadfael, bustling before her into the hut, a young man of some learning, it seems! 'Then, Ganymede,' he said, bundling a roll of linen, a blanket and a pot of salve into her arms, 'stow these about you, while I fill this little vial and put some vittles together. Wait here a few minutes for me, and we'll be off. And on the way you can
'Well, I'll leave you to your cleansing labours,' said Beringar, 'and stop hampering your meditations with my prattle. Or have you work for me to do?'
'The king has none?' said Cadfael solicitously.
Another ungrudging laugh acknowledged the thrust. 'Not yet, not yet, but that will come. Such talent he cannot afford to hold off suspiciously for ever. Though to be sure, he did lay one testing task upon me, and I seem to be making very little progress in that.' He plucked another tip of mint, and bruised and bit it with pleasure. 'Brother Cadfael, it seems to me that you are the most practical man of hand and brain here. Supposing I should have need of your help, you would not refuse it without due thought - would you?'
Brother Cadfael straightened up, with some creaking of back muscles, to give him a long, considering look. 'I hope,' he said cautiously, 'I never do anything without due thought - even if the thought sometimes has to shift its feet pretty briskly to keep up with the deed.'
'So I supposed,' said Beringar, sweet-voiced and smiling. 'I'll bear that in mind as a promise.' And he made a small, graceful obeisance, and walked away at leisure to the courtyard.
The reapers came back in time for Vespers, sun-reddened, weary and sweat-stained, but with the corn all cut and stacked for carrying. After supper Godith slipped out of the refectory in haste, and came to pluck at Cadfael's sleeve.
'Brother Cadfael, you must come! Something vital!' He felt the quivering excitement of her hand, and the quiet intensity of her whispering voice. 'There's time before Compline - come back to the field with me.'
'What is it?' he asked as softly, for they were within earshot of a dozen people if they had spoken aloud, and she was not the woman to fuss over nothing. 'What has happened to you? What have you left down there that's so urgent?'
'A man! A wounded man! He's been in the river, he was hunted into it upstream and came down with the current. I dared not stay to question, but I knew he's in need. And hungry! He's been there a night and a day...'
'How did you find him? You alone? No one else knows?'
'No one else.' She gripped Cadfael's sleeve more tightly, and her whisper grew gruff with shyness. 'It was a long day ... I went aside, and had to go far aside, into the bushes near the mill. Nobody saw ...'
'Surely, child! I know!' Please God all the boys, her contemporaries, were kept hard at it, and never noticed such daintiness. Brother Athanasius would not have noticed a thunderclap right behind him. 'He was there in the bushes? And is still?'
'Yes. I gave him the bread and meat I had with me, and told him I'd come back when I could. His clothes have dried on him - there's blood on his sleeve ... But I think he'll do well, if you take care of him. We could hide him in the mill - no one goes there yet.' She had thought of all the essentials, she was towing him towards his hut in the herb garden, not directly towards the gate house. Medicines, linen, food, they would need all these.
'Of what age,' asked Cadfael, more easily now they were well away from listeners, 'is this wounded man of yours?'
'A boy,' she said on a soft breath. 'Hardly older than I am. And hunted! He thinks I am a boy, of course. I gave him the water from my bottle, and he called me Ganymede...'
Well, well, thought Cadfael, bustling before her into the hut, a young man of some learning, it seems! 'Then, Ganymede,' he said, bundling a roll of linen, a blanket and a pot of salve into her arms, 'stow these about you, while I fill this little vial and put some vittles together. Wait here a few minutes for me, and we'll be off. And on the way you can
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