Susanna GREGORY - The Tarnished Chalice

Finally, he extracted two flasks. One contained the wine-and-water mixture Dame Eleanor had swallowed to fill herself with holy strength, and the other held the poison she had used to kill Herl, Flaxfleete and countless others; she had asked Hugh to secrete it inside the plinth when a smattering of dust had told her someone had discovered its usual hiding place. The two cheap pots looked identical, and Hugh wondered how she had known them apart. He sniffed them gingerly, but they both smelled foul, as far as he was concerned.

He unwrapped the Hugh Chalice and stared at it for some time, trying to decide what to do. Eventually, he put it back inside the tomb. It would be safe there until he had secured a wealthy buyer. Perhaps he would try the Old Temple in London, where St Hugh had died. Then he placed the two flasks in his hat and slipped out of the nearest door. He skipped down the hill to the Bishop’s Palace, and let himself into the kitchens, where food and a large keg of wine stood, waiting to be served to the newly installed canons and their guests. He sniffed the flasks a second time, taking his time to decide which was which, although it was not easy.

Looking around quickly, to make sure no one was watching, he emptied the contents of one pot into the bishop’s wine. Then he took a long draught from the second, to fortify himself for the long journey he was about to make. He grimaced at the flavour, but he was not afraid. Dame Eleanor would watch over him, as she had promised. And she was a saint, after all.