Knight Errant by Rue Allyn Page A

village several miles away. By the time we returned, our sisters had died, fled, or been arrested, and the beguinage was in flames. I burnt my hands rescuing the letter. Now, due to my injuries and the sickness that swept this village recently, I am dying. I must find another guardian for the letters. God has sent you to aid us. You must keep the letters safe.”
    Juliana thought of all the reasons why she should refuse. Having those documents would place her in greater danger than her Beguine status or marriage to any man. ’Twas far too precious a treasure for one person to have sole care of. What if she lost them or they were damaged in her care?
    “Please,” rasped Angelina. “You cannot ignore what God has placed in your path. I can no longer guard the letters. By virtue of your arrival at the moment when the need is greatest, you must accept this task.”
    Juliana could not ignore the echo of the words she’d used to compel Robert to guide the caravan, which, despite her personal trials with him, had proven a very good thing for the travelers.
    “Very well. I will keep the letters. Where are they?”
    Angelina lifted her left arm and with her stump of a hand pointed at a mosaic on the far wall. Three tiled panels showed Peter denying Jesus.
    “The bricks below the center panel are not mortared. Pull them out,” Angelina instructed. “Behind is a space containing a box of iron lined with cedar, and inside are the letter and the epistle. They have lain hidden too long. Use the letters for the good of our Beguine sisters and all women.”
    Footsteps approached in the hallway, but no one entered.
    Angelina gestured for Juliana to come closer.
    She cast quick glance at the door. No one lingered there. She bent over, her ear near the woman’s mouth. “Hurry,” rasped Angelina. “Get the letters now. Leave the box. Hide the documents elsewhere.”
    “Aye.” Juliana nodded and leapt for the mosaic.
    Finding the bricks and removing them took precious moments. Finally she succeeded, revealing the iron box.
    Her throat grew dry, and she shivered as she read the vellum sheets placed inside. The letter would condemn the pope and throw the church into the fire of anarchy from which it had just begun to emerge after two years of argument between the cardinals before they elected this current ascetic pope. The epistle of Saint Peter would be like pitch to that flame, and unimaginable disasters could result from its revelation if extreme care was not taken. Robert wanted to guard against dangers, but she doubted he could do much about the threat these letters posed.
    Sister Angelina said to take the letters away, but where better than here to hide them until the time came to use them? Juliana replaced the missives, then closed the lid on the box. Returning it to the niche, she replaced the bricks. She needed time to consider how best to carry out Angelina’s wishes without causing a cataclysm.
    Hurried steps echoed in the hall beyond the room.
    Juliana rushed back to Angelina and bent to reassure her that the letters remained safe, but the woman no longer lived.
    The door to the room opened and Robert entered. “Berthild was occupied, so I brought the medicine.”
    Juliana rose from the dead woman’s side. “We won’t need it.”
    “Sister Angelina is dead? I should have been faster.”
    Juliana touched his arm. “Had you flown, I could not have saved her.”
    “Truly?”
    “Truly, and my thanks for your help. I have much to do now—would you meet me in the garden in a short while? I would have private speech with you.”
    He nodded. “Aye. We must give the dead their due. While you deal with that, I will check with Henry and the guards to be certain all understand their duties.”
    “Come, we must tell Beatrice and the others so we might comfort her as best we may.”
    They turned together and, heads bowed, went in search of her friends.
    “Gretle and I will prepare Sister Angelina’s body and keep watch