Candace Robb - The Nun's Tale

‘Summoned. But that — ’ Owen paused as Tom shook his head.

‘It makes all the difference, my friend. Lucie is an apothecary. She has the cure of bodies as the vicar has the cure of souls. Not like a physician, I grant you that, but Dame Isobel and His Grace ask for Lucie because she calms Joanna as no one else can. ’Tis a God-given gift, Owen, and Lucie must not hold it back.’ Tom took a breath. It was an uncommonly long speech for him. He winced as the hawk-like eye bored through him. ‘I just say what you know yourself.’

Owen leaned his head back against the wall, rubbed his scar, grabbed the tankard and took another drink. ‘At least I had the sense to come to you before I opened my mouth to Lucie and let my spleen come tumbling out. I would not let her see that, not now.’ He stretched his foot out and rested it on a stool.

Tom judged it time to change the topic. ‘I saw Sir Robert head over to the garden a while ago. How does he get on with Lucie — about Corbett’s house?’

Owen made an embarrassed face. ‘I’ve not asked.’ He sat up straighter, frowning. ‘Now why did Sir Robert not stop her that night?’

Tom sighed. His ale had been wasted in this effort to calm Owen. ‘That one I cannot answer. You must needs speak with your wife.’

Lucie was closing the door to the shop when she saw Owen outside, leaning against the wall. ‘Why are you standing out there?’

Owen shrugged and followed her in, closing and barring the door for her. Lucie, smiling, kissed him.

He frowned. ‘What was that for?’

‘For worrying about me as you do.’ She picked up the broom to sweep the stone floor behind the counter.

Owen grabbed the broom from her. ‘How do you know?’

‘You were angry after speaking with the Reverend Mother. I know what she might tell you to make you so. And I am sorry I did not tell you.’

Owen paused as he began to sweep. ‘Jasper should be doing this.’

Lucie shrugged. ‘Either of you. You are both my apprentices.’

Owen shook his head, went back to sweeping, stopped again. ‘Tell me this. Why did Sir Robert not stop you?’

‘Because I convinced Daimon that Sir Robert need not know. In truth, Brother Sebastian led us with such urgency that Sir Robert could not have kept up with us.’

‘And you in your condition? Are you to be running down the streets in the middle of the night?’

‘I did not run.’ Lucie took off her apron. ‘And now I must go and lie down before supper. If you wish to continue this, you must come up.’

Owen followed her.

She lay down on the bed and asked him to pile several cushions under her feet. He sat beside her, took her cap off and smoothed back her hair.

‘Tell me what you saw.’

Lucie described the room, the overwhelming odour of blood, the neck, the womb.

‘Why her womb?’

‘I do not know, Owen. I feel that I know nothing about Joanna. I have spoken to her so often, yet I cannot even tell you what makes her laugh, what she likes to eat. . I do know what she hopes for — death.’

‘You should not be with such people now.’

Lucie closed her eyes. ‘I am not about to break apart, Owen.’

‘She will give you nightmares.’

‘She already has.’

‘You see?’

Lucie propped herself up on her elbows. ‘Stop a moment, listen.’ She described the dream.

‘You see? What will the baby be like with you dreaming such dreams?’

‘Owen, for pity’s sake, you are going to drive me mad! Can you imagine what sort of thoughts my mother had while she carried me? Do you think in all that time she did not remember the soldiers raping and torturing the women in her convent? And her brother impaled on a pike? What of all the women of Normandy who gave birth while they trembled in their houses wondering if their village would be the next one put to the torch? I am not ill! Your mother had many children. You tell me she barely paused in her daily chores to give birth.’

‘She was not dealing with madwomen.’

‘She was dealing with you!’

‘Well, if I am mad, it’s you who has driven me to it.’

Lucie suddenly felt laughter bubbling up from deep within. She grabbed both sides of Owen’s beard and pulled him down to kiss him.

He raised himself a little, stared into her laughing eyes. ‘It is you who is going mad.’

‘No. I am just content. This is more in the tradition of your homecomings.’ She pulled him down again.

Dame Isobel jerked awake. Joanna moaned and squirmed in her sleep. Brother Wulfstan had advised a strong sleeping potion tonight, and Isobel had duly given it to Joanna. Her dream must be troubling indeed. Merciful Mother, do not let her harm herself. Isobel leaned over Joanna, took her hands. ‘’Tis but a dream, Joanna. Mary and all the angels protect you. And the mistletoe. We have put the mistletoe in the doorway.’

Side to side, side to side the head thrashed. ‘Evil. Evil. Evil. Evil. Evil. Evil. Evil. .’

It was early morning and Tildy bustled about the kitchen while Lucie, Owen, and Edmund argued about Edmund’s meeting with Joanna.

Edmund sat stiff and rigid, carefully groomed for the occasion, his thinning hair smoothed down with perfumed oil. He wore a houppelande of light brown, plain, but well cut and almost new. ‘I would rather be alone with Joanna. She will be distracted by others in the room.’

Lucie admitted that might be true, ‘But Joanna is easily thrown into confusion. She is comforted by my presence. You will be the better for it.’ She wondered about Edmund’s feelings for Joanna.

‘I should be there,’ Owen said to Lucie. ‘I know Edmund’s story.’

And had perhaps become too fond of him to judge him. ‘You are too abrupt with Joanna,’ Lucie said. ‘She will be agitated, no matter how well we plan this. But with me there is a chance she will stay calm longer.’

Edmund tapped the table nervously. ‘It is a private matter. I wish to speak with her alone.’

Owen shook his head. ‘Nothing in Joanna’s life is a private matter until we learn what she knows about the deaths that have occurred in her wake. She teases us with knowledge of them. We must come to an understanding.’

Lucie knew she should have more faith in Owen’s ability to handle Joanna, but she could not shake the feeling that he would frighten her deeper into her shell and they would be back where they had begun. ‘We must not swoop down on her like hawks,’ Lucie warned, ‘or we will frighten her.’ She turned from Owen’s irritated glare and faced Edmund. ‘Still, you must see that either Owen or I should be there. We must observe how Joanna behaves when she sees you, what she says. Perhaps she was not so when you were with her, but now she speaks in riddles and digressions. It would be difficult for you to remember all of it, and you might forget something of great significance to us. Your purpose is different. You seek your friend; we seek to learn much more.’

Edmund looked down at his hands. ‘I had hoped to see her alone.’ His voice rang with disappointment. Again Lucie wondered about his feelings for Joanna.

Owen stretched his legs out beside the table, leaned against the wall, his arms folded. Lucie noted that he had removed his earring, a sign that he was settled back into his life in York. She smiled to see it. Owen caught her eye, nodded. ‘You are thinking that it is most appropriate that a woman be with Joanna in the room, and thus you win your plea.’

How wrong he was, but how dull she would sound if she told him her true thoughts. ‘There, you see? We are agreed without further argument.’

Edmund shrugged.