Priscilla Royal - Covenant With Hell

He looked up. A raven had a nest in the roof above the bell. The creature glared at him.

Suddenly, he grasped what Gracia had just said. “You are saying that it was a woman who tried to kill Prioress Eleanor?” Now that he thought about it, he realized that the figure they had just seen was very small for a man, yet he and Durant had assumed…

“I do not know her name. She is a pilgrim staying here. I saw her with our lady when she went to visit the shrines at Walsingham Priory.”

Was that Mistress Emelyne who had ridden close by his prioress’ side from the moment they met the pilgrimage group on the road from Norwich? How could she have been the one? As he recalled, she was flighty, verbose, and too eager to please someone of high rank. He shook in his head in amazement. This woman was a murderer and even the assassin?

“Could you describe her?”

“I could not see her face at first, but she matched your prioress in height and was plainly dressed. At one point she did look up, but I was in the shadows on the ladder above the bell and wrapped my clothes around me to escape notice. It was then I recognized her as the woman who so often sought the company of Prioress Eleanor. Before she had always been bright-faced and her voice high-pitched, but when the two emerged into this place, her expression was angry. Her voice dropped so low I could barely hear her.”

He nodded. Might this widow be a man in disguise? No, he thought. A woman might pass as a beardless youth, but a grown man could not hide his beard.

Hearing voices, he looked down on the roof below. Gracia urged him to let her see as well so he held her while she peered over the edge of the wall.

Three were now on the roof. The man stood at a respectful distance while a nun worked on the prioress’ arm. Ursell stood on the ladder leaning against the house and watched.

He whispered reassurance to Gracia, then urged her to step back. As he continued to watch, he leaned over a bit more, trying to find Durant, but he could not see into all the streets. The figure they had witnessed crossing the roof was gone.

“Do not bend out so far, Brother.”

He stepped back as his heart thumped with increasing happiness. His prioress was alive and could move. Perhaps Durant had caught the attacker. Grinning, he said, “Continue with your story of what happened.”

“When they arrived, I did not know why they had come here, but I felt I should not let them know I was here too. So I watched. Then I saw that the pilgrim held a knife against Prioress Eleanor’s back.” She winced. “I was frightened and did not know what I could do to help.” She looked down at her thin body. “I am fleet if I need to run, but my teeth are too poor to bite and I have no heft.”

“There is no blame in realizing what you cannot do.” Taking her hand, he felt how fragile her bones were. She desperately needed feeding, he thought. When this matter of murder and assassination is done, he would not leave Walsingham until he had arranged a home for this girl.

“The woman said that she regretted what she must do but had no choice. If only our prioress had not found her torn robe, she would have lived.” The child looked up at the monk. “Does that mean anything to you? She held a garment in her hand. The sleeve had a piece torn from it.”

“It does,” he said with sadness. All had thought a man had killed Sister Roysia, so concerned were they over the presumed affair between Larcher and the nun. Instead, it was a woman, claiming to be a pilgrim. It grieved him that someone had traveled to Walsingham, alleging she sought forgiveness for sins but was instead intent on committing them.

“She pushed our prioress toward that pillar and ordered her to tie the rope as she directed. I wondered if I might drop on the woman’s head, knocking her to the ground, but she never came close enough. It would not have helped if I had simply fallen from my hiding place and startled her.” Again she looked at Thomas for confirmation.

“You were right. You are too small to struggle with a grown woman who holds a knife. You might have injured…” He stopped for a moment, realizing that the child had referred to Prioress Eleanor as our prioress. It touched him deeply. “You made the only decision you could,” he said simply.

“When the rope was tied, and the woman tested its strength, she raised her hand and hit our prioress on the head with the hilt of the knife. I think Prioress Eleanor raised her arm to defend herself but not soon enough. I saw blood flowing from the spot where she was struck.” She covered her face in her hands. “It all happened so fast, Brother!”

Thomas picked her up and held her close while she sobbed. “You could do nothing,” he repeated until the weeping ceased, then he put her back down but held on to her hand.

“She dropped the knife and pulled Prioress Eleanor to the edge of that wall and pushed her over the side. Then she tied the torn robe around her waist, grabbed the rope, and was over the side herself in an instant. It was only then that I could climb down from my hiding place.”

“It was you who cut the rope with the discarded knife?”

“I wasn’t quick enough. The rope is thick, and I did not have the strength to cut faster. Before I could slice through, I felt the rope go slack. When I looked over the wall, the woman was standing on the rooftop. Prioress Eleanor had fallen near the edge, and the woman began to move toward her. I screamed for help. She looked up, saw me, and fled. I ran down the stairs to seek a nun who would alert Prioress Ursell.”

“You saved Prioress Eleanor’s life. Had the woman discovered that our prioress was still alive, she would have pushed her over the edge of the roof onto the street. After one fall already and that blow to her head, our lady surely would have died.”

Gracia’s eyes widened. “Do you think so?”

He nodded. Assuming Prioress Eleanor was not critically injured, the child’s cry for aid might well have saved his lady’s life.

Pulling Gracia into his arms, he hugged her. “May God give you all blessings,” he said. “Poor mortal that I am, I shall beg His mercy comfort you for all eternity because of what you did.”

As if he were her father who had just returned from a long journey, she snuggled closer to him.

Thomas eased himself slowly down the stairs while Gracia followed, reminding him to take care and that his injured hands would need tending. It was a good lesson, he thought, that she, who lived her own life on the edge of death, cared about the needs of another mortal.

When they reached the bottom and entered the hallway, he saw a nun waiting by the door, her head bowed. He recognized her as the one who had rushed to summon Prioress Ursell with Gracia by her side. Thomas put his hand on the child’s shoulder as assurance that he would protect her if there was any dispute about her continued presence.

“Sister?”

She looked up.

“You are weeping,” he said. “What grieves you?”

“My sorrow includes the violence done to Prioress Eleanor, Brother, but begins with Sister Roysia. Is this tragedy part of hers?”

“I fear it is,” he replied, “but the slander hurled against the good nun has been proven wrong.”

“Are you Sister Roysia’s friend whom she called her most beloved?” Gracia suddenly asked.

The nun flushed, then nodded.

“There is a message I vowed to deliver to that nun, Brother.” The girl looked up at him with a worried expression.

He reassured her that there was no offence in this.

“Sister Roysia remained true to her vocation,” Gracia said, turning to the nun. “She swore me to silence about her meetings with the craftsman but feared for her life. If she should die, she said I must tell you that she did this to save the life of God’s anointed king. Each time she met with this man, excluding the first, I hid in the bell tower so she might not be alone with Master Larcher.”