everything had changed.
C HAPTER 10
“There are nettles hereabouts. We must get some boots for you. Maybe the masons will have a spare pair.”
“I have some pattens.”
“No time to fetch them now. We must hurry.”
“They said tomorrow. They told me he was coming for me tomorrow. Why has he come now? What was wrong with the priest? I don’t understand.”
Hildegard had rushed the girl from out of the back of the church while everyone else was milling round the body. She hurried her across the garth just as Fulke and two henchmen appeared outside the door to the prioress’s chamber. When someone called to him from inside, it enabled Hildegard and Alys to get away before he saw them.
Her plans had gone awry. The hunt had started sooner than she’d expected. As soon as the girl’s absence was noticed, the nuns were encouraged to ransack the priory in an attempt to find her.
Luckily, the ones on vigil at the mortuary had gone to see what the commotion was about. Like two wraiths, Hildegard and Alys fled to the door in the wall and pushed through. The lodge lay in silence.
“Dakin!”
Under the wide eaves, a half-finished gargoyle leered at them from its stone block. It was a grey afternoon already drawing to its wintry close. At her call, a light flared within.
“Who is it?” Dakin, knife in hand, stumbled from the shadowed depths of the lodge.
“We are in great danger, Dakin. I beg you, help me. I would have asked you, begged your help before now, but was unable to approach earlier without being seen—”
“Come in.” He ushered her inside, then gave a hiss of astonishment when he saw the novice. “Should she be out of her enclosure?”
“Her prison, you mean.” Hurriedly, she explained about Fulke’s unexpectedly early arrival and the death of the priest. “And now at this very moment, they’re searching the precinct for her.”
“Leave her with us. I have a hiding place should they dare to come to us. Go. You can trust us.”
Hildegard played hide-and-seek on her way back to her chamber. The nuns, like hounds searching for a scent, were hallooing back and forth across the garth with little purpose other than to look busy. What alarmed her was what she heard as they swept back and forth. It seemed they had already chosen their culprit without the inconvenience of a trial.
“A poisoner!” she heard. “How could she learn such devilish arts!”
“To think we’ve been harbouring a witch in our midst!”
“They burn witches. And rightly so.”
Praying that Dakin’s hiding place would be as safe as he claimed should the search spread outside the enclosure, Hildegard took off her boots and pretended to be asleep in her bed when they eventually came knocking at her door.
“What?” she asked sleepily.
“The novice, have you seen her?”
A light shone in her eyes.
“Who? What? Which one?”
They opened the aumbry, peered under the bed, knocked on the walls in hope of finding a secret cavity, then left.
She heard them do the same in the empty chamber across the hall. Lights bobbed back and forth in the garth. Eventually, the bell tolled, beckoning them all for the next office. What was it? Blearily, she realised it must be no later than compline. Silence fell.
A little while after this, she heard men’s voices and the sound of footsteps as someone entered the building; next came the clank of a sword, a curse or two, and complaints about being stuck here in a priory all night when there was his woman’s bed waiting for him, followed by some coarseness about nuns.
Two voices.
Fulke’s henchmen. Bedding down for the night in the chamber opposite. So where was Fulke?
At least it meant they were taking a rest from the hunt and Alys was safe for now. Did it mean the search would continue the next day? It looked like it. Maybe it would only cease when they found her. But how long could the masons keep her hidden?
More bells. Hildegard lost count. It was
C HAPTER 10
“There are nettles hereabouts. We must get some boots for you. Maybe the masons will have a spare pair.”
“I have some pattens.”
“No time to fetch them now. We must hurry.”
“They said tomorrow. They told me he was coming for me tomorrow. Why has he come now? What was wrong with the priest? I don’t understand.”
Hildegard had rushed the girl from out of the back of the church while everyone else was milling round the body. She hurried her across the garth just as Fulke and two henchmen appeared outside the door to the prioress’s chamber. When someone called to him from inside, it enabled Hildegard and Alys to get away before he saw them.
Her plans had gone awry. The hunt had started sooner than she’d expected. As soon as the girl’s absence was noticed, the nuns were encouraged to ransack the priory in an attempt to find her.
Luckily, the ones on vigil at the mortuary had gone to see what the commotion was about. Like two wraiths, Hildegard and Alys fled to the door in the wall and pushed through. The lodge lay in silence.
“Dakin!”
Under the wide eaves, a half-finished gargoyle leered at them from its stone block. It was a grey afternoon already drawing to its wintry close. At her call, a light flared within.
“Who is it?” Dakin, knife in hand, stumbled from the shadowed depths of the lodge.
“We are in great danger, Dakin. I beg you, help me. I would have asked you, begged your help before now, but was unable to approach earlier without being seen—”
“Come in.” He ushered her inside, then gave a hiss of astonishment when he saw the novice. “Should she be out of her enclosure?”
“Her prison, you mean.” Hurriedly, she explained about Fulke’s unexpectedly early arrival and the death of the priest. “And now at this very moment, they’re searching the precinct for her.”
“Leave her with us. I have a hiding place should they dare to come to us. Go. You can trust us.”
Hildegard played hide-and-seek on her way back to her chamber. The nuns, like hounds searching for a scent, were hallooing back and forth across the garth with little purpose other than to look busy. What alarmed her was what she heard as they swept back and forth. It seemed they had already chosen their culprit without the inconvenience of a trial.
“A poisoner!” she heard. “How could she learn such devilish arts!”
“To think we’ve been harbouring a witch in our midst!”
“They burn witches. And rightly so.”
Praying that Dakin’s hiding place would be as safe as he claimed should the search spread outside the enclosure, Hildegard took off her boots and pretended to be asleep in her bed when they eventually came knocking at her door.
“What?” she asked sleepily.
“The novice, have you seen her?”
A light shone in her eyes.
“Who? What? Which one?”
They opened the aumbry, peered under the bed, knocked on the walls in hope of finding a secret cavity, then left.
She heard them do the same in the empty chamber across the hall. Lights bobbed back and forth in the garth. Eventually, the bell tolled, beckoning them all for the next office. What was it? Blearily, she realised it must be no later than compline. Silence fell.
A little while after this, she heard men’s voices and the sound of footsteps as someone entered the building; next came the clank of a sword, a curse or two, and complaints about being stuck here in a priory all night when there was his woman’s bed waiting for him, followed by some coarseness about nuns.
Two voices.
Fulke’s henchmen. Bedding down for the night in the chamber opposite. So where was Fulke?
At least it meant they were taking a rest from the hunt and Alys was safe for now. Did it mean the search would continue the next day? It looked like it. Maybe it would only cease when they found her. But how long could the masons keep her hidden?
More bells. Hildegard lost count. It was
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