C. Sansom - Dark Fire

He grunted. 'Yes, you want me to go down that well tonight, don't you?'

'If you will.'

'I said I would.' He replaced the mezuzah round his neck.

'Did you get the message to Cromwell?'

'I left it with Grey. He made a tart comment about how I kept asking the earl to do things when it ought to be the other way round.'

I smiled. 'He's a sober old fellow. You probably rub him up the wrong way.'

'Like Lady Honor.' He gave me a direct look. 'But are you sure the lady is all she seems? Can you see her clearly?'

'I try to.' I frowned. 'Yes, I believe so. I think we can clear both her and the duke from our calculations: that was another wrong trail.' I studied him. 'Why do you dislike her, Barak?'

He shrugged. 'People with that much pride in rank bring bad luck to those around them. I've seen how these fine families spit and scratch at each other around the court. It is dangerous to get caught in her wake. But never mind that. So she is no longer a suspect. Nor, it seems, are Bealknap and Rich.'

'Not necessarily. We should wait and see what Cromwell says about them. I hope he can make Marchamount talk.'

'He can make anyone talk. He'll show him the rack if he won't cooperate.'

'Marchamount has courage under his pomposity. He's come far from nothing.'

Barak shrugged. 'If he's defiant he'll pay the consequences.'

We stopped talking as footsteps sounded on the stairs. Joan appeared and we went through to the parlour while she prepared supper. It was starting to get dark.

'Are you fit to go to the well after we have eaten?'

'Ay,' I said. 'I don't know what came over me earlier. Heat maybe, the strain of it all.' I looked at him. 'But I shall hold fast. Let us go tonight, then perhaps at least we shall have one thing solved.'

ONCE AGAIN WE WALKED UP Budge Row and down the dark little alley. A new lock had been put on the door to the orchard, but Barak broke it open as casually as before. We slipped through the trees to the Wentworths' wall. Again Barak made a stirrup of his hands and I climbed up, grasping the top of the wall, to take a look. I set my teeth as my back protested.

There was someone in the garden. I could see two dim figures walking there, one holding a lamp. There was a faint murmur of voices. It was Needler and Joseph's mother. I thought an old woman walking with a stick could easily slip in the gloom, then remembered that light or dark made no difference to her. I signed to Barak not to move and stood there uncomfortably, my foot in his hands and my arms on the wall. I lowered my head so that my pale face would be concealed and waited as the pair came closer. My dark hair, I was sure, would be invisible.

'She was screaming at me like the devil,' I caught Needler saying. 'I can't manage her any more. She's terrified under that pert exterior and so's Avice.'

The old woman sighed. 'I must tighten the girls' reins.' They were very close now, but I took the risk of raising my head and peeping at their faces. Needler's heavy features looked worried. The old woman's face, like a demon from a painting of hell in the flickering lamplight, wore a frown.

'We must help them, David-' she said, then stopped suddenly. She seemed to cock her head. I remembered the blind often have remarkable hearing.

'What is it?' Needler asked sharply.

'Nothing. A fox perhaps.' To my relief they turned and walked back to the house. I heard no more of what they said. A door shut in the distance and shortly afterwards lights were extinguished all over the house. I stumbled down again. Barak stood rubbing his hands.

'God's death,' he whispered, 'you've near dislocated my wrists.'

'I'm sorry, but I couldn't move. The old beldame heard something as it was.'

'What in God's name was she doing in the garden in the dark?'

'She was with the steward. They wanted to talk alone, I think. I only caught a snatch of what they said. Something to do with the two girls being frightened.'

We waited for a while. An owl swooped down from a tree in the orchard, a white ghostly shape, and some small creature in the long grass screamed as it was carried off. At length I climbed the wall again. The lights were out, the garden silent, the well a dim shape in the moonlight.

'There's no sign of the dogs,' I said.

Barak hauled himself up beside me. 'That's strange. Surely if you'd had people trying to break in you'd loose the dogs at night?'

'I agree, but it seems they haven't.'

Barak sat astride the wall and pulled a couple of greasy pieces of meat wrapped in paper from his satchel. He threw them on the lawn, then tossed a stone he had found somewhere at the tree. It bounced off with a clack.

'The Moor said if a dog ate that it'd be asleep in minutes,' he whispered.

'You got that from Guy?'

'Ay. I told him the story yesterday while you were asleep. I thought he'd know of something.' He grinned. 'I found I got on well with the Moor on better acquaintance.'

I looked out over the silent lawn. 'Still no dogs.'

He scratched his chin. 'What say we risk it?'

I looked at the blank windows of the house. 'So long as we keep an eye out.'

He looked at me. 'You all right?'

'Yes, yes!'

'Right then, down we go.'

Barak leapt easily onto the lawn and I followed, wincing at the jarring my spine took as I landed. I watched the house as Barak fetched his hunks of meat and replaced them in his knapsack.

'Best not to leave these, or they'll know someone's been here.'

He removed the padlocks from the well, then I helped him off with the lid. The smell was fainter now, but the sight of that black opening still made my stomach clench. Barak unfurled his rope ladder and climbed quickly down. I kept glancing over at the house. For a moment I thought I saw a movement, a deeper blackness, at one of the upper windows, but when I looked again I saw nothing.

This time Barak managed to light his candle the first time. I turned from the house as a faint white glow lit the well and leaned carefully over the side. It was shallower than I had expected, no more than twenty feet. It was weird to see Barak standing at the bottom of that long circular hollow. He was crouching, looking at a huddle of dark shapes. He explored them with his hands. This time he was quite silent. I could not see his face.

'What is it?' I whispered.

He looked up at me, shadows from the candle making eerie shapes on his face. 'Animals. There's a cat here, a couple of dogs.' He bent down again. 'Shit, there's horrible things been done to them – the cat's had its eyes put out. This is where that neighbour's retriever went – Jesu, it's been hanged.' He half-turned and examined a larger shape. This time he did cry out, an abrupt shout that echoed off the bricks.

'What? What is it?'

'I'm coming up,' he said abruptly. 'For God's sake, keep watch on the house.'

He snuffed out the candle and clambered up again. I peered at the house, my heart beating so fast it made my vision judder. All remained dark and silent. Barak clambered over the top of the well. His eyes were wide.

'Help me get the well cap back on,' he breathed. 'We have to get out of here.'

We slid the cap back and Barak replaced the locks. With a last look at the silent house we ran back to the wall and clambered over. Back in the orchard, Barak leaned against a tree. He stared at me, then gulped.

'Someone in that house has been torturing animals. But not just animals. There's a little boy down there, a ragged boy of about seven. He's been – ' he broke off '-you don't want to know, but he's dead and he didn't die quick.'

'The mad girl's brother,' I breathed. 'The girl that was put in Elizabeth's cell.'

'Perhaps. Whoever took him probably thought a beggar boy wouldn't be missed, didn't matter.' He blew out his cheeks. 'It scared me, I'll admit. I thought, if whoever did that came I would be helpless down there. I had to get out.' His voice trembled.