C. Sansom - Dark Fire

'What's happened?' I asked. 'The gaoler said Elizabeth's run mad.'

'Thank you for coming, sir. I don't know what to do. She'd been the same since the trial, wouldn't utter a word. Then they took that old horse thief away yesterday.' He took out the handkerchief Elizabeth had given him and wiped his brow. 'As soon as the woman was taken out they say Lizzy went mad. Started screaming, throwing herself at the walls. Jesu knows why, the old woman was never kind to her. She had to be restrained, sir, they put her in chains.' He looked up at me in anguish. 'They cut off all her hair, her black curly hair that used to be so lovely, and tried to make me pay for the barber. I wouldn't – I hadn't asked for such a cruel thing.'

I sat beside him. 'Joseph, you know you have to pay them what they ask. If you don't they'll only treat her worse.' He bowed his head and nodded reluctantly. I guessed arguing with the gaolers over money was the only way poor Joseph could preserve a little dignity.

'How is she now?'

'Quiet again. But she's cut and bruised herself-'

'Let's go and see.'

Joseph looked enquiringly at Barak. 'A colleague,' I said, remembering Joseph had seen me ride off with him after the hearing with Forbizer. 'Do you mind if he comes too?'

He shrugged. 'No. Anyone who can help.'

'Come on then,' I said with a cheerfulness I did not feel. 'Let's see her.' It was only a few days since I had visited Elizabeth, but it felt like far longer.

Once again the fat turnkey led us past the cells where the men lay in their chains, down to the Hole. 'She's quiet this morning,' he said, 'but she was wild yesterday. Struggled like a demon when the barber came – lucky he didn't cut her head wide open. We had to hold her still while he used the razor.'

He opened the door and we passed through into a stink even more overpowering than before. My jaw dropped open when I saw Elizabeth, for she scarcely looked human now. She lay crouched in the straw, her face covered with grazes and streaks of blood, and her head had been shaved quite bald, the white dome making an obscene contrast to her dirty, bloodied face. I went over to her.

'Elizabeth,' I said calmly, 'what has happened to you?' I saw her lip was split, someone had hit her when they were restraining her yesterday. She stared back at me with those vivid dark green eyes. There was more life in them today, angry life. Her gaze flickered past me to Barak.

'That's Master Barak, a colleague,' I said. 'Did they hurt you?' I reached out a hand and she shrank back. There was a clanking, and I saw she was manacled to the wall by long chains, heavy gyves on her wrists and ankles.

'Was it when they took the old woman away?' I asked. 'Did that make you angry?'

She did not reply, only continued fixing me with that ferocious stare. Barak knelt close and whispered to me. 'May I ask her something?'

I looked at him dubiously. But what more harm could he do? I nodded.

He knelt before her. 'I don't know what your sorrow is, Mistress.' His tone was gentle. 'But if you won't talk, no one will ever know. You'll die and people will forget. In time they'll just give it up as a puzzle and forget it.'

She stared back at him for a long moment. Barak nodded. 'Was that why the old woman being taken made you angry? The thought you might be ripped out of the world unheard, like her?' Elizabeth moved an arm and Barak jumped back lest she was about to strike him, but she only scrabbled for something in the filthy straw. Her hand came up holding a wafer of charcoal. She leaned forward painfully, clearing a space in the straw at her feet. I moved to help her but Barak lifted a hand to restrain me. Elizabeth brushed a smear of dried shit from the exposed flagstones and began to write. We looked on in silence as she traced out some letters, then sat back. I leaned forward, wrinkling my eyes to make out the words in the gloom. It was Latin: damnata iam luce ferox.

'What is that?' Joseph asked.

'Damnata,' Barak said. 'That means damned, condemned.'

'It's from Lucan,' I said. 'She had a volume of his in her room. "Furious by daylight, having been condemned." It refers to some Roman warriors who knew they were about to lose a battle and killed themselves rather than be condemned to defeat.'

Elizabeth sat back against the wall. The effort of writing seemed to have tired her, but her eyes darted between the three of us.

'What does it mean?' Joseph asked.

'I think she means she would rather die by the press than be humiliated by going through a trial she would inevitably lose.'

Barak nodded. 'That's why she won't speak. But that's silly, girl. You'll lose the chance to tell your story, maybe get off.'

'So if you were to plead, Elizabeth,' I said slowly, 'you would plead not guilty.'

'I knew it,' Joseph said. He wrung his hands. 'Then tell us what happened, Lizzy. Don't torment us with riddles, it's cruel!' It was the first time he had lost patience with her. I could not blame him. For answer Elizabeth only looked down at the words she had written. She shook her head very slightly.

I thought a moment, then bent closer to her, wincing as my knees cracked. 'I have been to your uncle Edwin's house, Elizabeth. I have spoken to your uncle and your grand-mother, your cousins and the steward.' I was watching to see if her look changed at the mention of any of those names, but she just continued staring angrily. 'They all say you must be guilty.' At that a bitter smile played round the corner of her mouth, the movement causing blood to seep from her cut lip. Then I leaned in close, so only she would hear, and said, 'I think there is something down the well in the garden, where Ralph fell, that they are trying to hide.'

She shrank back, her eyes full of horror.

'I propose to investigate it,' I said softly. 'And I have been told Ralph was a great worry to his mother. I will find the truth, Elizabeth.'

Then she spoke for the first time, her voice cracked from disuse. 'If you go there, you will do naught but destroy your faith in Christ Jesus,' she whispered. The words were followed by a fit of coughing; she doubled over, racked with it. Joseph brought a mug to her lips. She grasped it and swallowed, then sat forward, burying her head in her knees.

'Lizzy!' Joseph's voice was trembling. 'What did you mean? Tell us, please!' But she would not lift her head.

I stood up. 'I don't think she'll say any more: Come, let's leave her for now.' I looked round the Hole. There was a round depression in the filthy straw by the far wall where the old woman had lain.

'She'll be ill if she stays down here much longer,' Barak observed. 'After what she's been used to no wonder her wits are affected.'

'Lizzy, please tell us more!' Joseph shouted, his control gone. 'You are cruel, cruel! Unchristian!'

Barak gave him an exasperated look, and I put a hand on the farmer's trembling shoulder. 'Come, Joseph, come.' I knocked at the door and the gaoler led us away, back to the main door. This time it was even more of a relief to be outside again.

Joseph was still agitated. 'We can't just leave her there, now she's started to talk. We've only got eight days, Master Shardlake!'

I raised my hands. 'I have an idea, Joseph. I can't tell you what it is now, but I hope to find the key to this riddle soon.'

'She has the key to the riddle, sir, Lizzy!' He was shouting now.

'She won't give it to us. That's why I'm following other channels!'

'Other channels. Legal language. Oh, God, what did you say to her in there?' He shook his head.

I did not want to tell him; it was better Joseph did not know I planned to break into his brother's garden. I made my voice calm. 'Joseph, give me till tomorrow. Trust me. And if you visit Elizabeth again, please, in Jesu's name, do not harangue her. That will only make things worse.'