Children of the Fountain by Richard Murphy Page A

here?”
    “Yes,” he said.
    “His Grace was most excited to learn you were to follow in your father’s footsteps, but I fear this has only served to strengthen the divide.”
    Matthias decided to speak to his uncle at once. He found him, as usual, hunched over the great memoirs and volumes of the mysterious Father Morant.
    “Matthias,” he said, grinning warmly.
    “My father really didn’t want me here, did he?” As Matthias dumped himself on a stool at the desk the old monk’s face changed to a serious expression and he frowned as he put down the book.
    “It was your grandfather who delivered you and Rebecca to me that night many years ago. Your mother and father had been living in the country when you were born. They had decided to keep your existence secret until the time was right.”
    “The time was right?” said Matthias.
    “These were troubled years. Your father and several agents had dealt a major blow to the Legion’s forces. But they had struck back. Many battles were fought and lives lost.”
    “Was Mr Cook one such friend?”
    “William is here?” said James. “Heavens, I haven’t seen him in years. He and your father were very close.”
    “I feel like I know so little, yet everyone knows so much.”
    “Patience, Matthias,” said his uncle, placing an arm around him. “Sometimes you must take a step back before you can walk forward.”
    The two sat in silence for some time. The dust falling on the old books caught the setting sun and twinkled in the air like sparks from a bonfire.
    “Why did you let them take me in if my father never wished it?”
    His uncle sighed and held him by the hand. “I felt it was time for you to start making your own choices. Truth be told, I saw your father’s spirit in you. But also, a lack of discipline. If you had left the abbey to take up an apprenticeship I’ll wager you would have found yourself in trouble soon enough. No doubt bored by the day to day plod of an honest labourer or smithy.
    “This place has its faults. But it can teach you a great deal. Here you will learn not only dark skills, but useful ones too. They will make a gentleman of you, Matthias. Something I cannot do but something you deserve. Your grandfather will no doubt be pleased.”
    With these last words his uncle turned away but not before Matthias had seen him frown.
    “They will change you. They will try to mould you. But who you are and what you choose to do after your education is entirely up to you. You could walk away. I’m sure your grandfather will be able to give you some land and an allowance. Or you could take the next step down the other path. A path of blood and death. I want you to have every chance to make the right choice. Your father felt that to do that you should be hidden. Well, there is nowhere to hide anymore, is there?”
    His uncle squeezed his hand and gave him a warm hug. Both, though the other didn’t know it, were thinking back to happier days at the abbey. Late summer afternoons in the orchard, children playing and the sound of laughter and games.

Chapter 10
    The next day an animated Harry caught up with Matthias after a long morning with O’Grady. His muscles hurt and he’d caught a blow to the head off a young girl when he hadn’t been paying attention.
    “So why the excitement?” he asked, as they made their way to their dorm.
    “Apparently there’s a duelling contest tomorrow!”
    As they walked into their small, shared room Matthias wasted no time in taking off his sweat soaked shirt and applying some ointment to his head. “Why the rush to get yourself killed?” he asked.
    “We’ll be using fake blades, idiot.”
    Matthias dabbed at the gash on his head and it smarted where a ‘fake’ blade had caught him hours earlier. He vowed to get his own back on that little ginger haired girl the next time he had O’Grady's class. They were supposed to practice defensive strokes but there was nothing defensive about the way she’d