Stephen Lawhead - Hood

Within sight of their destination now, the riders picked up the pace. At the foot of the hill, they turned off the track and rode up to the fortress, passing over the narrow bridge and through the newly erected gate tower, where they were met by the snivelling nephew himself.

"Greetings, Abbot Hugo," called Count Falkes, hurrying to meet him. "I hope you have had a pleasant journey."

"Pax vobiscum," replied the cleric. "God be praised, yes. The journey was blissfully tranquil." He extended his hand for the young count to kiss his ring.

Count Falkes, unused to this courtesy, was taken aback. After a brief but awkward hesitation, he remembered his manners and pressed his lips to the abbot's ruby ring. Hugo, having made his point, now raised the hand over the young count in blessing. `Benedictus, oinni patri," he intoned, then smiled. "I imagine it must be easy to forget when one is unaccustomed to such decorum."

"Your Grace," replied the count dutifully. "I assure you, I meant no disrespect."

"It is already forgotten," the abbot replied. "I suppose there is little place for such ceremony here in the Marches." He turned to take in the hall, stables, and yard with a sweep of his keen eyes. "You have done well in a short time."

"Most of what you see was here already," the count conceded. "Aside from a few necessary improvements, I have not had time to construct anything better."

"Now that you say it," intoned the abbot, "I thought it possessed a certain quaint charm not altogether fitting the tastes of your uncle, the baron."

"We have plans to enlarge this fortress in due course," the count assured him. "The town and church are of more immediate concern, however. I have ordered those to be finished first."

"A wise course, to be sure. Make no mistake, I am most eager to see it all-especially the church. That is the solid cornerstone of any earthly dominion. There can be no true prosperity or governance without it." Abbot Hugo raised his hands and waved off any reply the count might make. "But, no, here I am, preaching to my host when the welcome cup awaits. Forgive me,"

"Please, Your Grace, come this way," said Falkes, leading the way to his hall. "I have prepared a special meal in your honour-and tonight we have wine from Anjou, selected especially for this occasion by the baron himself."

"Do you indeed? Good!" replied Hugo with genuine appreciation. "It has been a long time since I held a cup of that quality. It is a delicacy I will enjoy."

Count Falkes, relieved to have pleased his demanding guest, turned to greet the churchman's escort; he charged Orval, the seneschal, with the care of the knights and then led the abbot into the hall, where they could speak in private before supper.

The hall had been renovated. A fresh layer of clay and gypsum had been applied to the rough timber walls, and after being painstakingly smoothed and dried, the whole was whitewashed. The small window in the upper east wall was now closed with a square of oiled sheepskin. A new table sat a short distance from the hearth, with a tall iron candletree at each end. A fire cracked smartly on the big hearth, more for light than heat, and two chairs were drawn up on each side, with a jar and two silver goblets on the table between them.

The count filled the cups and passed one to his guest, and they settled themselves in their chairs to enjoy the wine and gain the measure of each other. "Health to you, Lord Abbot," said Falkes. "May you prosper in your new home."

Hugo thanked him courteously and said, "Truth told, a churchman has but one home, and it is not of this world. We sojourn here or there awhile, until it pleases God to move us along."

"In any event," replied the count, "I pray your sojourn amongst us is long and prosperous. There is great need hereabouts for a strong hand at the church plough-if you know what I mean."

"The former abbot incompetent, eh?" Raising his cup to his nose, he sniffed the wine, then sipped.

"Not altogether, no," said Falkes. "Bishop Asaph is capable enough in his way-but Welsh. And you know how contrary they can be,"

"Little better than pagans," offered Hugo with a sniff, "by all accounts.

"Oh, it is true," confirmed the count. "They are an ill-mannered race-coarse, unlettered, easily inflamed, and contentious as the day is long."

"And are they really as backward as they appear?"

"Difficult to say," answered Falkes. "Hardheaded and stiff-necked, yes. They resist all refinement and delight in ostentation of every kind."

"Like children, then," remarked the abbot. "I also have heard this."

"You would not believe the fuss they make over a good tale, which they will stretch and twist until any truth is bent out of all recognition to the plain facts of the matter. For example," said the count, pouring more wine, "the locals will have it that a phantom has arisen in the forest round about."

"A phantom?"

"Truly," insisted the count, leaning forward in his eagerness to have something of interest with which to regale his eminent guest. "Apparently, this unnatural thing takes the form of a great bird-a giant raven or eagle or some such-and they have it that this queer creature feeds on cattle and livestock, even human flesh come to that, and the tale is frightening the more timorous."

"Do you believe this story?"

"I do not," replied the count firmly. "But such is their insistence that it has begun disturbing my workmen. Wagoners swear they lost oxen to it, and lately some pigs have gone missing."

"Simple theft would account for it, surely," observed the abbot. "Or carelessness."

"I agree," insisted the count, "and would agree more heartily if not for the fact that the swineherds contend that they actually saw the creature swoop down and snatch the hogs from under their noses."

"They saw this?" marvelled the abbot.

"In full light of day," confirmed the count. "Even so, I would not put much store by it save they are not the only ones to make such a claim. Some of my own knights have seen it-or seen something, at least-and these are sturdy, trustworthy men. Indeed, one of my menat-arms was taken by the creature and narrowly escaped with his life."

"Mon Dieu, non!"

"Oh yes, it is true," affirmed the count, taking another sip from his cup. "The men I sent to track down the missing oxen found the animals-or the little left of them. The thing had eaten the wretched beasts, leaving nothing behind but a pile of entrails, some hooves, and a single skull."

"What do you think it can be?" wondered the abbot, savouring the extraordinary peculiarity of the tale.

"These hills are known to be home to many odd happenings," suggested Falkes. "Who is to say?"

"Who indeed?" echoed Abbot Hugo. He drank from his cup for a moment, then mused, "Pigs snatched away in midair, whole oxen gorged, men captured… It passes belief."

"To be sure," conceded the count. He drained his cup in a long swallow, then admitted, "Yet-and I do not say this lightly-the affair has reached such a state that I almost hazard to think something supernatural does indeed haunt the forest."

ll through the night, Bran sat hunched beside the hearth, arms around his knees, staring into the shimmering flames. Iwan, Aethelfrith, and Siarles had long ago crawled off to sleep, but Angharad sat with him still. Every now and then she would pose a question to sharpen his thinking; otherwise, the hudolion's hut remained steeped in a seething silence-the hush of intense and turbulent thought-as Bran forged the perfect weapon in the glowing fires of his mind.

He was not tired and could not have slept anyway, with his thoughts burning bright. As dawn began to invade the darkness in the east, the fires began to cool, and the shape of his cunning craftwork was revealed.