The House of Shadows (4 page)

‘For what we are about to receive . . .’ Athelstan picked up the carcass and took it out to the yard. Of the great one-eyed tom cat there was no sign. Athelstan smelt the roasting pork, God-Bless’s cooking, and knew where the cat had gone. He entered the stable built next to the house. Philomel, the old warhorse, was chewing slowly on its oats, and lifted its head as Athelstan came in. The Dominican sketched a blessing in the air and left, then walked round up the front steps and into the church.

His guests, the Falconers, were clustered around Brother Malachi, who warmly greeted Athelstan and introduced his companions: Sir Maurice Clinton, Sir Thomas Davenport, Sir Reginald Branson, Sir Laurence Broomhill and Sir Stephen Chandler. Athelstan had met them all before and welcomed them back to Southwark for their annual visit.

‘I thank you for the loan of your church.’ The Benedictine’s smooth, cherub-like face creased into a smile. He gestured down the nave at the wooden screens; Crispin the carpenter had erected these against the transept wall to form a small chapel with an altar beneath the window and a statue of St Erconwald on a plinth where the wooden screen met the wall. The Benedictine congratulated Athelstan on the carvings along the wooden screen as well as the beautiful sculptured statue of the church’s patron saint. Athelstan nodded in bemusement. He had met Brother Malachi on previous occasions and was both flattered and surprised at the Benedictine’s interest in this crumbling old church.

‘You have done wonders.’ Sir Maurice Clinton, the leader of the group, gestured at the vivid wall paintings depicting scenes from the Bible.

‘I recognise some of your parishioners.’ Sir Stephen Chandler, small and fat, mopped his face with the edge of his cloak.

‘Yes, yes.’ Athelstan stared at his parishioners gathered in a gaggle further up the nave. He wondered what they were discussing so heatedly. ‘Mind you,’ he added absent-mindedly, ‘I wish Huddle our painter wouldn’t use his fellow parishioners as models for his scenes.’

‘I don’t know.’ Sir Thomas Davenport spoke up. ‘Cecily the courtesan makes a lovely Mary Magdalene.’

‘I was thinking,’ Athelstan retorted, ‘of Pike the ditcher’s wife being cast in the role of Jezebel.’

His remark provoked laughter and the knights drifted away to look at the painting on the wall near the baptismal font. Brother Malachi began to explain the scene in detail. Athelstan adjusted the cord round his middle, fingering the three knots symbolising his vows of obedience, chastity and poverty. He studied the group of knights intently. Sir Maurice was tall, thin, and harsh-faced, Sir Stephen round and red as a ripe apple; the rest all looked like brothers, dressed as they were in their black and white cloaks with the golden falcon emblem embroidered on the shoulder. He reckoned most of them must have seen their fiftieth summer. They walked and looked like the warriors they were – men who had fought in Outremer, strong, muscular soldiers, bodies hardened, faces darkened by years of military service under the blazing sun of the Middle Sea.

Athelstan knew little about their background: knights from Kent, landowners who, some twenty years ago, had gathered in Southwark to join the great expedition of Peter of Cyprus against the Turks in North Africa. They had served under the Golden Falcon standard and every year gathered at the tavern, the Night in Jerusalem, to celebrate their achievements and talk of old times. Brother Malachi was their chaplain: the Benedictine had served with the crusading army, even had his fingers shorn in the fighting, and returned to England settling in a small monastery outside Aylesford. Each year was the same: they’d gather for Mass at St Erconwald’s, then return to their tavern to continue their celebrations. Athelstan hardly gave them a second thought, yet wasn’t there some mystery attached to it all? Hadn’t Sir John Cranston told him about a great robbery, some scandal, before the crusading fleet left the Thames? Athelstan felt immediately apprehensive. Whenever he thought of Sir John Cranston, the larger-than-life coroner always appeared. Athelstan quietly prayed that Sir John, Coroner of the City of London, would not need his services, that he would not arrive to drag him from his parish to investigate some gruesome murder. Yet hadn’t God-Bless mentioned a man being killed last night during the Great Ratting?

‘Brother Athelstan.’ Sir Maurice led the knights back from the painting. ‘Once again you have kindly allowed us to use your church for Mass and our devotions.’

He turned to the Benedictine.

‘Well,’ he barked, ‘give it to him!’

Malachi drew his hands from the voluminous sleeves of his habit and handed over a small velvet-covered box. Athelstan undid the silver clasp, pushed back the lid and carefully picked up the gold ring, very similar to what a man would use in swearing his troth. He could tell, by the thinness of the gold, that the ring was ancient.

‘Do you like it?’ Sir Stephen asked, his fat face laced with sweat.

‘Of course.’ Athelstan put the ring back.

‘It belonged to St Erconwald,’ Malachi explained. ‘It was his episcopal ring. I bought it from a merchant in Canterbury. I have had it tested, it is genuine. There are marks on the inside.’

Athelstan lifted the ring up against the light, studying it intently, and saw the small Celtic crosses etched on the inside of it. He put the ring back, closed the box and slipped it into the wallet which hung from his cord. He was only halfway through his speech of thanks when the door crashed open. For a moment Athelstan thought it was Cranston, but it was Benedicta the widow woman who slipped into the church, apologising profusely for giving the door such a vigorous push.

‘I am sorry, Brother.’

Athelstan smiled at her; even the knights forgot what he was saying as they stared at this beautiful woman, her pale face framed by hair black as midnight.

‘I am sorry, Brother,’ she repeated, ‘but I thought I would be late for the meeting.’

Athelstan squeezed her hand, and thanked the knights for their gift, saying that he and his parish council would have to reflect carefully about where it should be kept. He didn’t dare mention that most of his parishioners, given half a chance, be it holy relic or not, would steal the ring and sell it in the markets across the river.

Once Brother Malachi and the knights had left, Benedicta began to explain why she was late, only to be interrupted by Watkin the dung collector, leader of the council, who came striding down the church. Athelstan immediately called the meeting to order. Pike the ditcher brought out the stools and the priest’s chair from the sanctuary. Athelstan made the sign of the cross and the meeting began. Mugwort the bell clerk sat at his small desk taken from the bell tower, feather quill poised ready to take down what was decided. Athelstan showed them the ring; this was greeted with oohs and aahs. The Dominican despaired at the greed in some of their eyes and the twitch in their fingers.

‘We have to decide,’ he declared, ‘where such a precious relic should be kept.’

‘And?’ Ursula the pig woman asked.

‘Every altar,’ began Athelstan, kicking away the sow which came lumbering over to sniff at his sandals. Benedicta hid her smile behind her hand. ‘Every altar,’ he repeated, ‘has a relic stone. It can be taken out and cemented back in again. We’ll put the ring there. I’ll keep an imitation one to show any visitors.’

Athelstan’s smooth, olive-skinned face grew serious. He raised himself up in his chair.

‘It would be a most hideous sacrilege to steal such a ring. I would refuse absolution to any such thief.’

Most of the parish councillors stared down, shuffling their feet.

‘Anyway,’ Athelstan decided to move quickly to other matters, ‘Ranulf, I believe you are to be congratulated, your ferrets were victors of the game. Although I think it is a dreadful way for any of God’s creatures to die.’

‘I’ve seen rats attack babies in a house near Mary St Bethlehem,’ Ranulf retorted. ‘Four of them sucked the blood out of—’

‘Yes, yes,’ Athelstan agreed, ‘but your ferrets did well.’

‘Can they be baptised?’ Ranulf asked.

‘Father has already told you,’ Imelda screeched. ‘You can’t baptise animals.’

‘Ursula’s pig drank the holy water,’ Watkin pointed out.

‘There’ll be no baptisms of animals,’ Athelstan declared, ‘but I promise you, on the Feast of St Francis . . .’ Athelstan couldn’t stop himself, even though he recalled the confusion of last time, when one of Ranulf’s ferrets had attacked Ursula’s sow and sent it squealing around the church. He just hoped that Ranulf had kept the basket secure; the ferrets had smelt the sow and were becoming excited.

‘Yes, Father?’ Pernel asked.

‘On the Feast of St Francis I will bless all animals. Now, let’s move to other business.’

Mugwort picked up his quill, dipping it ceremoniously into the inkhorn as Athelstan led his parish council through the various items of business. There was the cleaning of the cemetery, the digging of a ditch, Huddle wanted to paint a new scene from the life of St John the Baptist which provoked a fierce discussion about whether the saint was crucified or beheaded. Athelstan suspected this was a warning of what was to come. Cecily the courtesan, in a light blue robe, sat next to Benedicta, smiling flirtatiously at Pike while making obscene gestures with her fingers at the ditcher’s wife. Athelstan hurried on. There was the business of church ales, the levying of tithes, the possibility of a small market in the cemetery and the greening of the church for Advent.

‘Now,’ Athelstan closed his eyes and offered up a silent prayer, ‘we come to our pageant for Christmas, the birth of Christ.’

He paused for breath.

‘Crispin,’ he pointed to the carpenter, ‘we have decided you will be Joseph, Watkin, you can be Herod . . .’ The roles were assigned; they even included Bonaventure the cat. Philomel would stand in for the donkey, whilst Athelstan ruefully conceded that Ursula’s sow could be the oxen.

‘Well,’ said Watkin, ‘who will be the Virgin Mary? I think it should be Benedicta.’

‘So do I,’ Imelda agreed, glaring at Cecily, who pushed her chest out and straightened herself up on the stool she was sitting on.

‘I disagree,’ Pike the ditcher responded, always ready to oppose Watkin.

‘We think it should be Cecily,’ Ranulf declared.

A bitter war of words broke out. Imelda, her face mottled with fury, fists beating the air, would have attacked Cecily if Athelstan hadn’t intervened. The Dominican let the dispute continue, hoping their pent-up fury would soon exhaust itself. Instead it grew worse, so he had to gesture at Mauger to ring his hand bell. No sooner was silence imposed, with members of the parish council glowering at each other, when there was loud shouting outside, cries and yells of ‘Harrow! Harrow!’ followed by the sound of running feet. The door to the church burst open, and a man, cloak over one arm, a stick in the other, scampered around the stools and fled up the nave under the rood screen and into the sanctuary. He was followed by a man in black leather, spurs jangling on his boots, a drawn sword in one hand, a crossbow in the other. Athelstan sprang to his feet as he realised what had happened.

‘Go no further,’ he ordered.

The man carrying the crossbow paused, hands hanging as he fought for breath.

‘He’s the Judas Man,’ Pike shouted. ‘He was at the Great Ratting last night.’

‘He is also an officer of the law.’

Bladdersniff the bailiff came into the church, clearly out of breath, leaning on his staff of office, water dripping from eyes, nose and mouth.

‘He carries the King’s commission, he’s in pursuit of a felon.’

‘I demand,’ the Judas Man rasped, ‘that the felon who calls himself the Misericord be handed over to me.’

This proclamation was greeted by cries of derision from the parish council.

‘You know the law,’ Athelstan stepped in front of the Judas Man, ‘and so do you, Bladdersniff. Any man who reaches a church and grasps the altar may claim sanctuary.’

‘Which means,’ the Judas Man retorted, pointing up the church, ‘that the malefactor cannot leave this church for forty days, and when he does I will arrest him: that, too, is the law!’

Athelstan was repelled by the malice in the Judas Man’s eyes, the violence of his speech.

‘It’s against canon law,’ Athelstan pointed at the sword, ‘to carry a naked weapon in church. I ask you, sir, to sheathe it and get out.’

Athelstan insisted that the Judas Man, the bailiff and all the parish council leave immediately. Pike made to protest; Benedicta intervened and gently shooed the ditcher and the rest out on to the church porch. Athelstan followed. The Judas Man was already in the forecourt, ordering the bully boys he had brought with him to guard all the doors of the church. Athelstan had met such bounty-hunters before and recognised their ruthlessness. An outlaw’s head could be worth fifteen pounds sterling, attached to its body; severed, the price was reduced to five. The Judas Man, skilled in the hunt and invoking the law, stared malevolently at Athelstan standing on the top step. He ordered Bladdersniff to include some of the parish council in the comitatus, or posse, he was forming.

‘What do you want me to do, Father?’ Benedicta pulled up the hood of her cloak.

‘Don’t be anxious, Benedicta. I would be grateful if you would serve Bonaventure a dish of milk.’ He gestured at the priest’s house. ‘Dampen the fire whilst I see what is happening.’

Athelstan strolled back into the church, slamming the door behind him. He walked up the nave. He was distracted by the gargoyle faces staring down at him from the top of the pillars as if they were the harbingers of ill news. Yet, Athelstan sighed, the day had looked so promising. He went under the rood screen and into the sanctuary, genuflected towards the sacrament lamp and then walked over to the Misericord, who was sitting on the top step, one hand on the high altar. He was tall and red-haired, his pallid, clean-shaven face, slightly pointed ears and slanted green eyes gave him an elfin look. He was dressed in dark blue matching jerkin and hose; his boots were of dark red Spanish leather. He had a knife pushed into the top of one of them and a war belt strapped across his shoulder which carried a Welsh stabbing dirk. Around his neck hung a silver misericord sheath on a black cord lanyard.