Priscilla Royal - Wine of Violence

“Now then, lad. What did you come to say?”

The boy put his head into his hands and began to weep in gulping sobs. “He threatened me, forced me to fuck him, he did, then drove my father out of his wits, swearing he’d make sure we died if either of us said one word. He took me down to that cave and made me swyve him. He gave us money, but my father grew mad with grief. I couldn’t leave my father. He needed me to care for him. I had no choice. I had to.…I’ll burn in Hell for this!” The lad howled like a wounded wolf in a trap.

Eleanor felt a pain as sharp as a dagger thrust in her heart. “Hell shall not have you, Eadmund. That I promise,” she whispered. “Now tell me who did this monstrous thing to you.…”

“The tall black monk.”

“Brother John?”

“Nay! When I told him my sins in confession after Brother Rupert died, he wept, he did, but said he could say nothing unless I spoke out. He begged me to tell Sister Ruth. I would have none of that!” He coughed from swallowed tears, then wiped a hand across his nose. “She’s no different than the others. After you came, he beseeched me to talk to Gytha’s brother and ask his advice about coming to you. Tostig said you could be trusted.…”

“And thus you bravely came. If not Brother John, lad, then who was the man…?”

“The fat one. Simeon, he’s called.”

With that, the boy began to wail again, and this time, when Eleanor reached out to him, he fell into her arms.

“The creature lies!” Sister Ruth was shaking with anger as she marched out of the prioress’s chambers.

Thomas followed, his face without expression.

“Why do you say that, sister?” Eleanor came last, then closed her chamber door quietly behind. Like a mother would her own child, she had tucked the distraught lad up in blankets from her own bed and sent Gytha running to the hospital for help and medicine to ease him into a dreamless sleep. Although he had calmed, she knew he still suffered from the occasional hiccup of sobs behind the closed door.

“This loutish animal is not worthy to speak his name. Brother Simeon is above reproach. He would never commit such an unspeakable vileness.”

“Indeed we would hear what Brother Simeon has to say for himself.…”

“How could you even think that such a base thing would be more truthful than a man of our receiver’s high station and reputation?” Sister Ruth’s face flushed with rage. “Treating low creatures as equals is an error you have been making since your arrival. Forgive me for being so blunt, my lady, but you do show ignorance about much.”

Eleanor curled her hands into fists and ground them against her body. This was not the time to lose her temper with the woman. “Then teach me,” she said.

Sister Ruth hesitated only a moment before continuing, her now mottled face stiff with hatred for Eleanor. “First, you are ignorant of what occurred before your arrival. Even now, you know little of us all. Prioress Felicia had been long with us and knew she could trust our good receiver to provide her with suitable guidance. It may not be proper for me to speak ill of Prior Theobald, but he is not a man to take charge, as he should. If it had not been for Brother Simeon, we might well have suffered many deprivations over the years. He is an excellent steward. We thought for sure he would become a prior elsewhere, if not here.” She waved her hand at Eleanor. “This is the man you now treat with such little respect.”

“So I have heard, but Brother Rupert…?”

“Brother Rupert was a kind man, loved by us all, but he was weak in his dealings with Prioress Felicia. Where he should have given her firm direction, she sometimes guided him, but Brother Simeon wisely left the two of them to do what they would within the confines here. As he often told me, work within the priory was woman’s work and good enough in its place, but stewardship of the lands properly belonged in the hands of a man.”

Eleanor suddenly raised her head. “ Often , you say, sister?”

Sister Ruth paled. “As porteress, I had occasion, proper occasion, to talk with Brother Simeon.”

“And you agreed with his methods of running the priory lands without consulting the prioress?”

“Indeed. As Brother Simeon said, that is as it should be. It is unnatural for Adam to be ruled by Eve. I would not be so unwomanly as to disagree, my lady.”

As I have disagreed and will always disagree, Eleanor thought, biting her lip. “And such would have been your approach to running Tyndal when you became prioress after the death of your former superior, had I not usurped the position.”

“My lady, I would not…” Ruth stuttered, then dropped her eyes.

“You expected to become prioress, did you not, sister? When the priory voted, you were chosen and would have ascended to the position if the King and Abbess had not wished otherwise. There is no shame or wrong in acknowledging a fact.”

“Yes, my lady, but I hold no malice.…”

“Nor did I think you did,” Eleanor said, knowing otherwise but smiling disarmingly. “So tell me one thing, good sister?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“The day Brother Rupert’s body was found in the cloister, you left your post at the door to the passageway into the nuns’ quarters, as indeed you should have, for Mass and Chapter.”

The nun nodded confirmation with a wary hesitation.

“When you left the door, did you leave it unlocked?”

Sister Ruth turned pale. “I did not!”

Eleanor raised her eyebrows in doubt.

“She tells the truth, my lady.”

Eleanor, Ruth, and Thomas all turned to look at the person standing with Gytha at the top of the stone stairs.

“It was I.”

“At whose instruction, Sister Christina?” Eleanor asked softly.

“Brother Simeon’s.”

Sister Ruth fainted.

***

Anne, whose arrival had been delayed by a crisis at the hospital, had just joined Thomas and Eleanor at the crumb-strewn table in the prioress’s chambers. With a serene manner, Christina had calmed youth and nun, then led Eadmund and Ruth off to the hospital with Gytha’s help, leaving the other three alone.

“How did Brother Simeon know that Sister Christina would be the one to check and then lock the passageway door?” Anne asked the prioress.

“Sister Ruth told him. As we have all noticed, Sister Christina becomes so lost in prayer that she often fails to notice when the other nuns rise and leave for Chapter. She is always the last to leave. When Sister Ruth was elected prioress, she asked our infirmarian to check the passageway door after Mass, in case someone waited without, and then lock the door again so that Brother Rupert and Sister Ruth could come immediately to Chapter after services. Brother Simeon knew that Sister Christina would ask no questions if he told her to leave the door open and that she might well forget he had even done so. Her concerns are not of this world.” Eleanor looked down at the rushes under her feet. She did not know if she were more saddened that Christina’s trusting nature had been abused or more grieved that Sister Ruth’s bitter resentment had caused her to, well, perhaps not lie as much as fail to tell the truth when needed.

“Then you think Brother Simeon killed Brother Rupert and brought the body into the cloister while we were all at Chapter?” Anne asked.

Eleanor nodded.

“I did find Brother Rupert’s cross outside the nave near the passageway door to the nuns’ quarters,” Thomas said.

“Why was the poor man killed in the first place? Surely our receiver could have confessed his sins? The Church allows penance even for sodomy. Murder was not necessary here.” Tears slowly filled Anne’s eyes.