The Gallows Curse (60 page)

    The
lamb in question must have heard her, for he blushed even more furiously and
chewed his knuckle. Elena glanced across the garden. On a high gilded chair
placed against one wall Ma was following the proceedings with the intensity of
a hunting hawk. With a flick of her jewelled fingers, she motioned girls
towards the shy, the elderly or the ugly who were gazing at the more fortunate
men and their giggling lovers with hungry expressions.

    Ma's
black hair gleamed with a dozen gold pins, each inlaid with emerald-green glass
that glinted in the candlelight so that it seemed as if a dozen eyes blinked
out of the dark nest. She wore a long, viper-green cloak trimmed with sable
which, though greasy and a little worn, still looked lustrous in the flattering
light of the lantern. It must once have been made for a lady of normal height
and Ma had arranged it around herself so that it covered her legs and fell to
the floor. Thus enthroned, anyone who did not know her would think her the
height of any other woman.

    Ma's
head was turned towards Elena. At this distance she could not be sure Ma was
watching her, but she could take no chances. Elena forced a smile and asked the
young lad if it was his first time here.

    He
nodded, staring at her chest, though Elena couldn't decide if that was lust or
that he was merely too shy to look her in the face.

    'My
brother brought me. Said it was high rime I ... my brother's had hundreds of
girls,' he finished lamely. He gave a jerk of his head over to where three
gangling young men were all but hidden under the buxom girls who sat on their
laps, nuzzling their faces.

    'I'm
sure he hasn't had as many as he boasts,' Elena said. She led the youth to a
pallet placed under one of the trees that she had earlier decorated with fruit
and plucked a few grapes from the bunch. Sitting beside him, she tried to feed
him the grapes one at a time as she'd seen the other women do, but whereas
other men would have lain back and made a sensuous game of it, the lad hunched
forward, allowing her to stuff the grapes into his mouth, with no more pleasure
than a fretful infant allowing a mother to spoon gruel into him.

    'You
. . . you can touch me, if you want,' Elena said reluctantly, but knowing she
must do something.

    She
gazed around, searching the garden for Finch. Where was he? They must go soon.
They needed as many hours of darkness as they could get to put distance between
them and Norwich. What if they couldn't find a way out of the town? She knew
some towns had gates. They hadn't passed through a gate when they'd entered,
but that was because they'd come by boat. Could you simply march out of the
city? She realized she had no clear idea of where they were in Norwich, only a
hazy recollection of walking through a maze of streets to get here. Finch said
the tunnel in the cellar came out near a river. If they followed the river, it
must lead —

    'Where?'

    She
was startled by the voice. 'Where what?'

    You
said I could touch you,' the young lad said. 'Where ' should I...'

    Elena
stared at him blankly. Finally in desperation she muttered, Why don't you kiss
me instead?'

    He
threw himself at her, pressing his lips tightly against hers. He began to move
his mouth in a vague chewing action. His hot, sweaty hands grabbed at her neck
as he tried clumsily to pull her tighter.

    Staring
over his shoulder, Elena suddenly froze. A man was sauntering across the garden
towards Ma Margot. She was certain she knew the walk, but as he passed by one
of the trees, the full light of the lantern shone on his face. It was Hugh.

    The
lad had given up his attempt at kissing and had tentatively slid a hand on to
her kirtle over her breast, but Elena was too scared even to register this. She
watched in horror as Hugh reached Ma's throne where, as if she really was a
queen, he made a bow and pressed her hand to his lips. If this was mockery, Ma
evidently didn't treat it as such, for she rewarded him with a smile and sent a
girl scurrying for a goblet of wine and a plate of pastries.

    It
was evident that whatever she had intended when she said Hugh would pay dearly
for what he had done to Finch, she wasn't going to let it interfere with
business. From the way she leaned towards him as she fed him one of the prick-
shaped pastries, slipping it into his mouth with her own taloned fingers, you
might have thought he had never laid a hand on Finch. No doubt, Elena thought
bitterly, what Ma meant was that she would simply double or treble the price,
because Hugh had damaged her goods, but she'd still let him use her boys as he
pleased.

    Finch!
Any moment Hugh might ask for him. Elena pushed the lad's hand away.

    'Stay
there,' she said, trying to sound as casual as possible. 'I'll fetch you some
good strong wine to relax you, then I'll. . . we'll do things that will make
your brother so jealous, he'll never laugh at you again.'

    The
boy beamed at her, and tried to lounge back nonchalantly on the pallet, but
without success. Elena hurried to the bush she had pointed out to Finch earlier
that day. She gazed desperately around for him, nodding in case he could see
her. But there was still no sign of him. She could only pray he'd seen her and
had already gone to the boys' chamber.

    She
waited as long as she dared, then when Ma was bending forward to say something
to Hugh, she slipped back behind the bush and through the gate which divided
the courtyard from the garden, edging along the wall towards the boys' chamber.
There was no one in the courtyard. The sounds of the music mingling with
laughter and chatter which rose up from the garden only seemed to heighten the
stillness of the courtyard. The lanterns dangling from the topmost branches of
the trees in the garden threw soft pools of light on to the flinty cobbles.
Elena edged around the light as a man might avoid quicksand.

    She
had almost reached the door when she saw someone else enter the courtyard by
the gate. Footsteps hurried across. Elena froze, suddenly realizing that she
could not offer any explanation as to why she was standing in front of the
boys' chamber. She started back towards the gate at a run and collided with
Luce coming towards her.

    'Hey,
steady there.' Luce grabbed Elena's arm to stop herself slipping on the
cobbles. 'You seen Finch? Ma wants him, but I reckon the lad's hiding
somewhere, doesn't want to be found.'

    Elena
shook her head, unable to trust herself to speak.

    Luce
groaned. 'There'll be hell to pay if I can't find him. Ma won't want any of her
guests disappointed tonight, specially him. That gentleman's not the type to go
quietly if he can't get what he wants, and Ma doesn't need a bear roaring
through the beehives, not tonight. I'd best see if Finch is in the boys'
chamber.'

    This
time it was Elena who caught her arm. 'No, don't waste your time. He's not in
there. I was looking for him too and I checked there. You know Finch, he's
always hungry. Why don't you check the kitchens? He's probably hanging round
the cooks. I'll look in the sleeping quarters.'

    'Kitchens,
yes, you're right. With that pretty little face of his, he could wheedle food
from the king's own plate. Those cooks are probably stuffing him like a capon.'

    She
turned to go, then looked back at Elena. 'I know you feel sorry for the lad,
Holly, but if you find him, you'd best take him to Ma straight away, even if he
begs you not to. It'll be worse for him in the long run if he makes a fool out
of her. She doesn't take kindly to that. You've not seen Ma in a rage and you'd
best pray to every saint in heaven, and the Devil too, that you never do.'

    Elena
waited until Luce was out of sight, then ran back to the boys' chamber and
slipped inside. It was as dark as a grave, for the boys were not expected to
entertain in there tonight and not even the fire had been lit in the pit. She
groped her way forward, using the partitions between the stalls as her guide.
When she judged herself almost at the back of the room, she called out Softly,
'Finch, Finch, are you there? It's me, El. .. Holly.'

    Almost
at once she felt a small cold hand slip into hers.

    'Where
have you been? I've waited ages and ages. I thought you weren't coming.'

    'I'm
here now.' She squeezed the little fingers gently. 'Can you find the door in
the dark?'

    'Course
I can.' He sounded more confident than she'd ever heard him, just like any
cocky little village boy. She felt his body taut beside her, but knew from his
tone and the urgent tugging of his hand that his tension came from excitement,
not fear. She guessed he hadn't seen Hugh arrive. He didn't know they were
looking for him.

    She
swallowed hard. 'We must hurry, Finch, there isn't much time.'

    They
found the burning torch half-way down the cellar steps as before and Elena
lifted it out of its bracket. Although she knew exactly what to expect now,
still that raw stench of savage beasts made her stomach contract. She dreaded
passing them. Would Finch be able to walk past that great cat after what had
happened? But he didn't turn towards the cages. Instead he tugged her towards
the side of the stairs and the open hole in the floor with its hollow drip,
drip of water.

    'Careful,'
Finch warned.

    He
pulled her back against the wet slimy wall as they inched around it. The
slippery flags beneath Elena's feet sloped at a perilous angle towards the
great black hole. Finally they reached the back of the staircase. Finch darted
forward and grabbed at something. Elena held up the burning torch and saw a
thick piece of sacking hanging against the wall. Finch held it aside and at
once a new smell of mud and rotting fish billowed towards them on an icy
current of air. In front of them was a tunnel, sloping downwards away from the cellar.
Like the other, it curved round, so that Elena couldn't see the end.

    'Down
there, that's the river and the gate,' Finch whispered.

    Elena
suddenly remembered the blazing torch in her hands. Once they reached the end
of the tunnel anyone on the river or the bank would see its flame for miles in
the darkness.

    'Finch,
we have to put the torch back. If Talbot comes and finds it missing he'll guess
someone is down here.'

    Elena
knew she should be the one to replace the torch in its bracket on the stairs,
but she couldn't go back there, not if it meant returning here in the dark. She
was terrified that one false step and she would fall into that hole. Without a
light, how could she even see where it was?

    Finch
hesitated, but only for a minute. 'You stay here. I can find my way in the
dark. Done it hundreds of times.' But his voice was trembling.

    She
wanted to stop him. She knew that she should, but she couldn't. She let him
take the torch from her hands.

    You'll
stay here, Holly, won't you?' he begged her. You promise you won't go without
me? You'll wait for me?'

    As
the boy slipped under the sacking, Elena stood rigid in a darkness so thick
that it seemed to suck the very air from her mouth. She pressed herself against
the dripping wall. She was back in that pit, next to Gerard's coffin, chained
by the neck, screaming and screaming and yet knowing that not a sound was
escaping from her lips. Again she heard the grating of the trapdoor opening and
Raffaele's voice calling to her, Raffaele's hand bringing her light and
freedom. What would he say when he found her gone? He had told her time and
again to trust him, and everything which had gone wrong in her life had been
because she hadn't gone to him, hadn't trusted him.

    Elena
tried to force the memories down, to silence Raffaele's voice in her head.
Above her, even now, Luce was searching for Finch, Talbot too probably, and
maybe others. Hugh would be growing impatient. It would only be a matter of
time before Ma sent Talbot to search the cellars. Elena shivered. It was so
cold down here. Where was Finch? Suppose he'd fallen into that hole or was
standing in the darkness, too frightened to move? What if he couldn't find the
entrance to the tunnel? She would have to go out there. She'd have to find him.

    Elena
felt a cold waft of air on her skin as the sacking curtain moved.

    'Holly,
Holly, where are you?' Finch sounded terrified.

    'Here,
I'm here.' She thrust out her hand, feeling round until she touched something
warm. Finch seized her hand, then threw his arms about her waist, pressing his
face into her belly in a frantic hug.

    'I
heard someone calling for me up there,' he whispered. 'Are they looking for
me?'