by Ken Follett
When the prayer ended and the monks filed out in procession, William remained on his knees in front of the altar. The rest of the congregation drifted out into the sunshine, ignoring him; all except Walter, who stayed nearby, watching and waiting. William was praying with all his might, keeping a picture of his mother in his head while he repeated the Paternoster and all the other bits of prayers and services he could remember. After a while he realized there were other things he could do. He could light candles; he could pay priests and monks to say masses for her regularly; he could even have a special chapel built for the benefit of her soul. But everything he thought of seemed insufficient. It was as if he could see her, shaking her head, looking hurt and disappointed in him, saying: "How long will you let your mother suffer?"
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. Bishop Waleran stood in front of him, still wearing the gorgeous red robe he used for Whitsun. His black eyes looked deep into William's, and William felt as if he had no secrets from that penetrating gaze. Waleran said: "Why do you weep?"
William realized his face was wet with tears. He said: "Where is she?"
"She has gone to be purified by fire."
"Is she in pain?"
"Terrible pain. But we can speed the souls of our loved ones as they pass through that dread place."
"I'll do anything!" William sobbed. "Just tell me what!"
Waleran's eyes glittered with greed. "Build a church," he said. "Just like this one. But in Shiring."
A cold fury possessed Aliena whenever she traveled around the estates that had been part of her father's earldom. All the blocked ditches and broken fences and empty, tumble-down cow sheds angered her; the meadows running to seed made her sad; and the deserted villages broke her heart. It was not just the bad harvests. The earldom could have fed its people, even this year, if it had been properly run. But William Hamleigh had no notion of husbanding his land. For him, the earldom was a private treasure chest, not an estate that fed thousands of people. When his serfs had no food, they starved. When his tenants could not pay their rents, he threw them out. Since William became earl the acreage under cultivation had shrunk, because the lands of some dispossessed tenants had returned to their natural state. And he did not have the brains to see that this was not even in his own interest in the long term.
The worst of it was, Aliena felt partly responsible. It was her father's estate, and she and Richard had failed to win it back for the family. They had given up, when William became earl and Aliena lost all her money; but the failure still rankled, and she had not forgotten her vow to her father.
On the road from Winchester to Shiring, with a wagon-load of yarn and a brawny carter with a sword at his belt, she remembered riding along the very same road with her father. He had constantly brought new land into cultivation, by clearing areas of forest, draining marshland, or plowing hillsides. In bad years he always put aside enough seed to supply the needs of those who were too improvident, or just too hungry, to save their own. He never forced tenants to sell their beasts or their plows to pay rent, for he knew that if they did that, they would be unable to farm the following year. He had treated the land well, maintaining its capacity to produce, the way a good farmer would take care of a dairy cow.
Whenevr she thought of those old days, with her clever, proud, rigid father beside her, she felt the pain of loss like a wound. Life had started to go wrong when he had been taken away. Everything she had done since then seemed, in retrospect, to have been hollow: living at the castle with Matthew, in a dreamworld; going to Winchester in the vain hope of seeing the king; even struggling to support Richard while he fought in the civil war. She had achieved what other people saw as success: she had become a prosperous wool merchant. But that had brought her only a semblance of happiness. She had found a way of life and a place in society that gave her security and stability, but in her heart she had still been hurt and lost--until Jack came into her life.
Her inability to marry Jack had blighted everything since. She had come to hate Prior Philip, whom she had once looked up to as her savior and mentor. She had not had a happy, amiable conversation with Philip for years. Of course, it was not his fault that they could not get an annulment; but it was he who had insisted they live apart, and Aliena could not help resenting him for that.
She loved her children, but she worried about them, being brought up in such an unnatural household, with a father who went away at bedtime. So far, happily, they showed no ill effects: Tommy was a strapping, good-looking boy who liked football, races and playing soldiers; and Sally was a sweet, thoughtful girl who told stories to her dolls and loved to watch Jack at his tracing floor. Their constant needs and their simple love were the one solidly normal element in Aliena's eccentric life.
She still had her work, of course. She had been a merchant of some kind for most of her adult life. At present she had dozens of men and women in scattered villages spinning and weaving for her in their homes. A few years ago there had been hundreds, but she was feeling the effects of the famine like everyone else, and there was no point in making more cloth than she could sell. Even if she were married to Jack she would still want to have her own independent work.
Prior Philip kept saying the annulment could be granted any day, but Aliena and Jack had now been living this infuriating life for seven long years, eating together and bringing up their children and sleeping apart.
She felt Jack's unhappiness more painfully than her own. She adored him. Nobody knew how much she loved him, except perhaps his mother, Ellen, who saw everything. She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and he had drawn her out and shown her that she was a butterfly. She would have spent her entire life numb to the joys and pains of love, if he had not walked into her secret glade, and shared his story-poems with her, and kissed her so lightly, and then slowly, gently, awakened the love that lay dormant in her heart. He had been so patient, so tolerant, despite his youth. For that she would always love him.
As she passed through the forest she wondered whether she would run into Jack's mother, Ellen. They saw her occasionally, at a fair in one of the towns; and about once a year she would sneak into Kingsbridge at dusk and spend the night with her grandchildren. Aliena felt an affinity for Ellen: they were both oddities, women who did not fit into the mold. However, she emerged from the forest without seeing Ellen.
As she traveled through farmland she checked the crops ripening in the fields. It would be a fair harvest, she estimated. They had not had a good summer, for there had been some rain and it had been cold. But they had not had the floods and crop diseases which had blighted the last three harvests. Aliena was thankful. There were thousands of people living right on the edge of starvation, and another bad winter would kill most of them.
She stopped to water her oxen at the pond in the middle of a village called Monksfield, which was part of the earl's, estate. It was a fairly large place, surrounded by some of the best land in the county, and it had its own priest and a stone church. However, only about half the fields round about had been sown this year. Those that had been were now covered with yellow wheat, and the rest were sprouting weeds.
Two other travelers had stopped at the pond in the middle of the village to water their horses. Aliena looked at them warily. Sometimes it was good to team up with other people, for mutual protection; but it could be risky, too, for a woman. Aliena found that a man such as her carter was perfectly willing to do what she told him when they were alone, but if other men were present he was liable to become insubordinate.
However, one of the two travelers at Monksfield pond was a woman. Aliena looked more closely and revised woman to girl. Aliena recognized her. She had last seen this girl in Kingsbridge Cathedral on Whitsunday. It was Countess Elizabeth, the wife of William Hamleigh.
She looked miserable and cowed. With her was a surly man-at-arms, obviously her bodyguard. That could have been my fate, Aliena thought, if I had
married William. Thank God I rebelled.
The man-at-arms nodded curtly to the carter and ignored Aliena. She decided not to suggest teaming up.
While they were resting, the skies turned black and a sharp wind whipped up. "Summer storm," said Aliena's carter succinctly.
Aliena looked anxiously at the sky. She did not mind getting wet, but the storm would slow their progress, and they might find themselves out in the open at nightfall. A few drops of rain fell. They would have to take shelter, she decided reluctantly.
The young countess said to her guard: "We'd better stay here for a bit."
"Can't do that," the guard said brusquely. "Master's orders. "
Aliena was outraged to hear the man speak to the girl that way. "Don't be such a fool!" she said. "You're supposed to look after your mistress!"
The guard looked at her in surprise. "What's it to you?" he said rudely.
"There's going to be a cloudburst, idiot," Aliena said in her most aristocratic voice. "You can't ask a lady to travel in such weather. Your master will flog you for your stupidity." Aliena turned to Countess Elizabeth. The girl was looking eagerly at Aliena, visibly pleased to see someone standing up to the bullying bodyguard. It started to rain in earnest. Aliena made a snap decision. "Come with me," she said to Elizabeth.
Before the guard could do anything she had taken the girl by the hand and walked away. Countess Elizabeth went willingly, grinning like a child let out of school. Aliena had an inkling that the guard might come after them and snatch her away, but at that moment there was a lightning flash and the shower became a storm. Aliena broke into a run, pulling Elizabeth with her, and they raced through the graveyard to a wooden house that stood beside the church.
The door stood open. They ran inside. Aliena had assumed this was the priest's house, and she was right. A grumpy-looking man in a black tunic, wearing a small cross on a chain around his neck, stood up as they entered. Aliena knew that the duty of hospitality was a burden to many parish priests, especially at present. Anticipating resistance, she said firmly: "My companions and I need shelter."
"You're welcome," the priest said through gritted teeth.
It was a two-room house with a lean-to shed at the side for animals. It was not very clean, even though the animals were kept outside. There was a wine barrel on the table. A small dog yapped at them aggressively as they sat down.
Elizabeth pressed Aliena's arm. "Thank you very much," she said. There were tears of gratitude in her eyes. "Ranulf would have made me go on--he never listens to me."
"It was nothing," Aliena said. "These big strong men are all cowards at heart." She studied Elizabeth, and realized with a sense of horror that the poor girl looked rather like her. It would be bad enough to be William's wife; but to be his second choice must be hell on earth.
Elizabeth said: "I'm Elizabeth of Shiring. Who are you?"
"My name is Aliena. I'm from Kingsbridge." Aliena held her breath, wondering whether Elizabeth would recognize the name and realize that Aliena was the woman who had rejected William Hamleigh.
But Elizabeth was too young to remember that scandal, and all she said was: "What an unusual name."
A slovenly woman with a plain face and meaty bare arms came in from the back room, looking defiant, and offered them a cup of wine. Aliena guessed she was the priest's wife. He would probably call her his housekeeper, since clerical marriage was banned, in theory. Priests' wives caused no end of trouble. To force the man to put her away was cruel, and generally brought shame on the Church. And although most people would say in general that priests ought to be chaste, they usually took a permissive line in particular cases, because they knew the woman. So the Church still turned a blind eye to liaisons such as this. Aliena thought: Be grateful, woman--at least you're living with your man.
The man-at-arms and the carter came in with their hair wet. The guard, Ranulf, stood in front of Elizabeth and said: "We can't stop here."
To Aliena's surprise, Elizabeth crumbled immediately. "All right," she said, and stood up.
"Sit down," Aliena said, pulling her back. She stood in front of the guard and wagged her finger in his face. "If I hear another word from you I'll call the villagers to come to the rescue of the countess of Shiring. They know how to treat their mistress even if you don't."
She saw Ranulf weighing the odds. If it came to the crunch, he could deal with Elizabeth and Aliena, and the carter and the priest too; but he would be in trouble if any of the villagers joined in.
Eventually he said: "Perhaps the countess would prefer to move on." He looked at Elizabeth aggressively.
The girl looked terrified.
Aliena said: "Well, your ladyship--Ranulf humbly begs to know your will."
Elizabeth looked at her.
"Just tell him what you want," Aliena said encouragingly. "His duty is to do your bidding."
Aliena's attitude gave Elizabeth courage. She took a deep breath and said: "We'll rest here. Go and see to the horses, Ranulf. "
He grunted acquiescence and went out.
Elizabeth watched him go with an expression of amazement.
The carter said: "It's going to piss down."
The priest frowned at his vulgarity. "I'm sure it will just be the usual rain," he said in a prissy voice. Aliena could not help laughing, and Elizabeth joined in. Aliena had the feeling the girl did not laugh often.
The sound of the rain became a loud drumming. Aliena looked through the open door. The church was only a few yards away but already the rain had obscured it. This was going to be a real squall.
Aliena said to her carter: "Did you put the cart under cover?"
The man nodded. "With the beasts."
"Good. I don't want my yarn felted."
Ranulf came back in, soaking wet.
There was a flash of lightning followed by a long rumble of thunder. "This will do the crops no good," the priest said lugubriously.
He was right, Aliena thought. What they needed was three weeks of hot sunshine.
There was another flash and a longer crash of thunder, and a gust of wind shook the wooden house. Cold water dropped on Aliena's head, and she looked up to see a drip coming from the thatched roof. She shifted her seat to get out of its way. The rain was blowing in at the door, too, but nobody seemed to want to close it: Aliena preferred to look at the storm, and it seemed the others felt the same.
She looked at Elizabeth. The girl was white-faced. Aliena put an arm around her. She was shivering, although it was not cold. Aliena hugged her.
"I'm frightened," Elizabeth whispered.
"It's only a storm," Aliena said.
It became very dark outside. Aliena thought it must be getting near suppertime; then she realized she had not had dinner yet: it was only noon. She got up and went to the door. The sky was iron gray. She had never known such peculiar weather in summer. The wind was gusting strongly. A lightning flash illuminated numerous loose objects blowing past the doorway: a blanket, a small bush, a wooden bowl, an empty barrel.
She turned back inside, frowning, and sat down. She was getting mildly worried. The house shook again. The central pole that held up the ridge of the roof was vibrating. This was one of the better-built houses in the village, she reflected: if this was unsteady, some of the poorer places must be in danger of collapse. She looked at the priest. "If it gets any worse we may have to round up the villagers and all take shelter in the church," she said.
"I'm not going out in that," the priest said with a short laugh.
Aliena stared at him incredulously. "They're your flock," she said. "You're their shepherd."
The priest looked back at her insolently. "I answer to the bishop of Kingsbridge, not you, and I'm not going to play the fool just because you tell me to."
Aliena said: "At least bring the plow team into shelter." The most precious possession of a village such as this was the team of eight oxen that pulled the plow. Without those beasts the peasants could not cultivate their land. No i
ndividual peasant could afford to own a plow team--it was communal property. The priest would surely value the team, for his prosperity depended on it too.
The priest said: "We've no plow team."
Aliena was mystified. "Why?"
"We had to sell four of them to pay rent; then we killed the others for meat in the winter."
That explained the half-sown fields, Aliena thought. They had only been able to cultivate the lighter soils, using horses or manpower to pull the plow. The story angered her. It was foolish as well as hardhearted of William to make these people sell their plow team, for that meant they would have trouble paying their rent this year too, even though the weather had been fair. It made her want to take William by the neck and strangle him.
Another powerful gust shook the wood-framed house. Suddenly one side of the roof seemed to shift; then it lifted several inches, becoming detached from the wall, and through the gap Aliena saw black sky and forked lightning. She leaped to her feet as the gust subsided and the thatched roof crashed back down on its supports. This was now becoming dangerous. She stood up and yelled at the priest over the noise of the weather: "At least go and open the church door!"
He looked resentful but he complied. He took a key from a chest, put on a cloak, and went outside and disappeared into the rain. Aliena began to organize the others. "Carter, take my wagon and oxen into the church. Ranulf, you get the horses. Elizabeth, come with me."