Where the Stones Sing by Eithne Massey Page A

clean white linen, somewhere, very deep inside, she could not believe that he was gone. It couldn’t be true. Not Jack, so full of life, so happy all the time. Brother Albert said that the illness had gone on so long it had weakened everything – his heart, his lungs – and he had lost the strength to live. He had died in his sleep while Tom had struggled to stay alive. For once, Jack had managed to leave quietly. Nobody had even noticed him go.
    Tom had seen Brother Albert draw the covers over his friend’s face and, like Kai, knew what it meant. He turned his face to the wall and said nothing.
    Brother Albert came over and laid his hand on his shoulder.
    ‘He is gone to Paradise, child, he is with the Holy Angels and Saints.’
    Tom still said nothing. But when Brother Albert left and Kai went to try to talk to him he whispered, ‘Never mind the garden of Paradise and the angels and saints. Jack wouldhate to be surrounded by people who behaved themselves all the time. He is gone to the Elysian Fields, Kai. He is racing his horse there now, a black one with a white star, and he is happy. I’m going to try to think of that when I think of him.’
    They were still sitting there when Brother Benedict came in, his face wet with tears. When he saw that Jack had died, he cried out, ‘Glory be to the Lord God of Hosts! The two souls have gone together to the Lord! Prior Robert died this morning at dawn!’

Edward Accused
    t was a cold clear day in late autumn. The cathedral was filled with the tolling of the bell and the sorrowful voices of the canons. The sadness of the singers seemed to echo in the cathedral, as if other voices were joining in, mourning the loss of the prior and the orphan boy. Kai shivered as she sat with only Roland as company on the bench where the four of them had sung together only a short time before. In the silence between the singing, she was almost sure she could hear the whispers, the muffled voices that she had heard on her first day. There had been other times when she thought she had heard the voices and laughter in the cathedral. As time went on, she heard it more often, and the laughter of the hidden children seemed to be becoming louder, as if more children were joining in. But she told herself that she must be imagining things. Miracles and magic were nothing but tricks and deception.
    Now the canons had finished, on a final sombre note, and they filed out of the cathedral. Prior Robert had been greatly loved by all of them. He had always been fair, had always been kind; had always known what to do in a crisis. He would be badly missed. But as well as being sad, the canons were frightened. There was a buzz of tension in the priory, which seemed new and strange in such a tranquil place.

    As Roland and Kai left the cathedral, they noticed Brother Reynaph and Brother Bertrand whispering to each other in the cloister. They stopped abruptly as soon the children came near them. A little further on, Brother Malcolm and Brother Nicholas were also deep in conversation, a conversation which also stopped as soon as they noticed the children approaching. It seemed as if everyone was watching and waiting and listening. But then nothing was normal anymore. Nobody knew quite how to go about the ordinary business of daily life. It was as if, with the loss of the prior, the canons were like sheep without a shepherd. Or, as Roland put it more unkindly, a flock of headless chickens.
    Later, Brother Albert explained the air of panic to Kai and Tom, ‘It is not just that we have lost a leader that we all loved. Now, we have to elect a new prior as quickly as possible. The king will try to take the priory from us if we are left without a leader for too long. It is the way the law works – the king is the lord of the land and the lands go back to him if they are not claimed. It’s ridiculous, but it’s the way things are.’
    Kai frowned. ‘But I don’t understand – can’t the priory orthe brothers