The Gallows Curse

by Karen Maitland

  The walls of the chamber were painted with scenes of hunting. Bulls were being slaughtered with spears. Bears pawed wildly at the arrows sticking out of them, and men and women dressed in skins cowered from the swords that were hacking at them. Each of the triumphant hunters was naked, their muscles taut as they ran towards their victims, their scarlet mouths wide with the cries of battle.

  Even as Elena stepped forward, she was aware of a strong animal stench filling the room, overpowering the smell of the roasted meat. With a shudder she remembered the creatures in the cellar. The stench was not nearly as strong or rank in here, but there was no mistaking some creature was or had been in the room.

  In the same instant as the thought struck her, Elena heard a deep snarling. Before she could locate where it was coming from, she glimpsed a movement as something hurtled towards her from behind the bed. She flattened herself against the wall as the creature sprang up, only to be dragged back in mid-air by the chain around its neck. It fell with a heavy crash on the floor before scrambling to its feet, glowering and panting. The creature was black as the Devil's hounds, with short, close fur and eyes ringed with yellow. It looked for all the world like a cat, but that was impossible, for it was the size of a wolfhound. The muscles on its shoulders rippled under the fur. After a moment or two it slunk back behind the bed.

  'What is that?' Elena whispered, her heart still pounding from the shock.

  Luce wrinkled her nose. 'Ma calls it her witch's cat. But if that's a cat, the mice that brute hunts must be the size of bloody badgers. It's all right though, the beast can't get free. That chain would hold a charging boar, as I keep trying to tell him.'

  She gestured to the corner of the room furthest away from the cat, and for the first time Elena realized there was someone else in the room. Finch sat in the far corner of the chamber, his legs drawn up to his chin and his head buried in his arms.

  'He's got to get dressed in that. Ma's orders.'

  She pointed to the floor where a long drape of dark fur lay crumpled. The hair was dense and short, and it looked as if it had been made from the skins of numerous rats sewn together.

  Elena crept across the room with her back pressed against the wall to where the little boy sat, and squatted beside him, stroking his hair. She kept a nervous eye on the bed, but the creature remained crouched behind it, though she could hear the rasp of its hot breath as it panted.

  'Are you scared, Finch?' Elena asked, her own voice none too steady. 'Is that why you won't get dressed?'

  Finch nodded, but didn't raise his head.

  Luce put her hands on her hips. 'I keep telling him, if he's not ready when the man comes, Ma'll more than likely feed him to that beast herself.'

  Elena glared at her. 'That isn't helping! Course he's scared. Anyone would be with that thing in the room.' She turned back to Finch, coaxing him softly. 'But Luce is right, the cat's on such a stout chain that not even a dragon could break it.

  And besides, look at all that meat on the table. The man couldn't eat all that, that's for the cat, that is. That's what it can smell, not you.'

  As if it understood the word meat, the great cat snarled from behind the bed, and the little boy cringed still further into the corner. He stared desperately up at Elena, his face blotchy with tears.

  'But what's the man going to do with the . . . cat? Maybe he'll let it go.'

  'He won't,' Elena said soothingly. 'He'd be too afeared the creature would turn on him. And besides, Ma wouldn't let him, she'd not want that thing roaming round scaring all her customers away.'

  'But why's it here then?' Finch persisted.

  Elena glanced at Luce, who shrugged. 'Gets some men excited,' she said.

  Elena wasn't sure she even understood that herself, though by now, listening to the giggling tales of the other girls, she had learned a great deal about what excited men. Very little of it made sense to her, but she knew that a giant cat was by no means the strangest.

  With her thumb, Elena rubbed away the tears on Finch's Softly rounded cheeks. 'The big cat can't reach you. It's just as safe as when it's in one of Ma's cages. And you're not afeared of those caged beasts, are you? Remember, you told me it was safe to walk by them. Please, Finch, you know you have to do what Ma says. We all do. If you just let me help you dress, everything will be all right, I promise.'

  It took a lot more coaxing and pleading before Finch finally allowed Elena to strip the clothes from his thin little body and pull the fur over his head so it hung from him like a little tunic. He stood still as she dressed him, his arms as limp as a rag doll, his head bowed, as if he knew there was no point in putting up any kind of fight. Elena saw the old dead look creep into his eyes and knew he was trying to shut her out, to shut out everything and close himself off until it was over. She knew that, because she had done the same thing that night in the pit at the manor, when she thought they were going to hang her. Sometimes, when the body is chained and cannot escape, the only thing you can do to save yourself is to let your mind fly away instead.

  They had just finished when the big cat began to growl in a deep, throaty rasp, and a few moments later Elena heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the room.

  The door opened, but this time the big cat didn't spring up. It walked as far as it could on its short chain to the side of the bed and stood there, its ears pricked and tail held high.

  Ma entered, followed by a dark-haired man.

  'Is the boy . . . ?' she began, then broke off as she caught sight of Elena kneeling beside the child. Her eyes flashed in alarm. 'Luce, I thought I said you were to get him ready.'

  'I couldn't, Ma. He'd only get dressed for her.'

  'Disobedient brat, is he?' the man said, taking a step forward. 'All the better, Mistress Margot, I'll take great pleasure in schooling him.'

  'He doesn't need schooling,' Elena snapped. 'He was afraid, that's all. That beast's enough to scare anyone.'

  'That's quite enough,' Ma said quickly. 'Off you go now.'

  Elena turned towards the door, but the man stepped in front of her, barring her way. He seemed oddly familiar to Elena. His features were well fashioned and his hair was almost as black as the great cat's, but it was his eyes she remembered, grey and cold as a November sky.

  He seemed to know her too. He was staring at her as if he couldn't quite place her. 'What's your name, girl?'

  'Holly,' she murmured. Then suddenly she realized who he was. Before she could control herself a look of fear flashed across her face. She tried to compose herself, but the man was staring even harder at her.

  'I'm sure we've —'

  Ma Margot clapped her hands briskly. 'Out, girls, quickly now, I'm sure this fine gentleman is impatient to get on with his fun, he doesn't want you two chattering on, ruining his evening'

  She shooed the girls towards the door.

  'Now, sir, you'll find everything you need in that cupboard and if there's anything else you desire, I'll have Luce stand at the end of the passage and you can call her to fetch it.' Ma wagged a stumpy finger at little Finch. 'You do exactly what this gentleman tells you or you'll have me to answer to.'

  The last thing Elena glimpsed was the child's terrified face as he watched the man cross to the bed.

  At the end of the passage, Ma grabbed Luce and thrust her against the wall with a force that made the girl cry out.

  You stay there, all night if needs be, case he wants anything— that'll teach you to disobey my instructions. When he's ready to leave you take him straight to the door. Don't let him go wandering around. And if he asks about Holly here, you tell him that she used to work in the market in Norwich till she came here. You got that?'

  'Yes, Ma.' Luce nodded earnestly, rubbing her bruised shoulder.

  Ma led Elena downstairs and outside, pulling her well away from the staircase to the chambers before stopping again. 'You should never have gone in there. I couldn't refuse a man like him. It would have made him think we'd got something to hide. But if you
and Luce had done what I said, he would never have seen you. You know who he is, I suppose?'

  Elena was trembling. 'I think he might be. . . Lord Osborn's brother.'

  'Yes, Hugh of Roxham. Talbot recognized him at once. Now Hugh knows he's seen you before, but it's plain he's not sure where. How often have you met him?'

  'I... I saw him in the Great Hall the first evening Osborn came to the manor, but only at a distance and he never spoke to me. I didn't think he'd even noticed me for there was a crowd of servants.' Elena gnawed at her knuckle. 'Do you think he's come here looking for me?'

  'He's not asked about a runaway, and even if he has somehow discovered Raoul came here the night he died, he can't know you were the girl who pleasured Raoul... or murdered him,' she added with a glower. 'There's no reason to think he was looking for anything more than pleasure, and where else would any gentleman come for that but here? Ma Margot's is known far and wide as the best. So if we all stick to the same story, we can convince him he's seen you on the streets in Norwich, that's why you look familiar. It's as well we dyed your hair. You've not told Finch anything about yourself, have you, like where you come from?' Ma grasped Elena's hand, digging her long nails into the flesh. You'd best tell me now if you have.'

  Elena winced, but shook her head. Ma searched her face for a long time, then grunted and dropped her hand. 'Go on, get yourself to bed and be sure to keep out of sight till Luce tells you he's gone.'

  But Elena didn't move. 'Ma, what's Hugh going to do to little Finch?'

  'What he does is no concern of yours,' Ma snapped. 'But you'd best pray that he gets so much pleasure from it that it puts any thoughts of you right out of his head.'

  'But he's not going to hurt the boy, is he? He's so very small.'

  Ma frowned and Elena shrank back, thinking she was about to lash out. But when Ma spoke there was an unusual gentleness in her voice.

  'A little, that's inevitable, but I warned him not to go too far.'

  She looked up at Elena, a pained but savage expression in her yellow-green eyes.

  'All things pass, my darling, that's what you've got to hold on to. In just a few short years Finch will be a young man. He'll be able to do what he likes then to old men and women too who'll be only too willing to make fools of themselves and lick the ground he walks on just for a smile or a tender caress from a beautiful young man. It'll be them suffering then, not him. Trust me, one day you'll feel sorry for them.'

  'But that won't wipe out what happened to him,' Elena said. 'He'll remember it.'

  'Oh yes,' Ma said with grim smile, 'he will always remember, I'll see to that, and one day he will make them pay dearly for what their kind did to him. That's when he'll know he has beaten them all, and I can promise you he will enjoy that moment better than the finest banquet ever set before a king. Survive, my darling, that's all you have to do, just survive, and if you can, then time will give your revenge.'

  Raffe, peering impatiently out of the casement in Lady Anne's chamber, finally saw her emerge from the stables and cross the courtyard below him. She looked weary, hardly surprising after her long journey. She'd been away almost two weeks at her cousin's home and every day Raffe had grown more anxious for her return. He glanced over the yard towards the gate. Osborn had sent a messenger ahead to announce his return from court that very afternoon. Raffe prayed fervently he wouldn't arrive until he'd had time to talk to Anne.

  He followed her painfully slow progress across the yard. With gracious nods she acknowledged the hasty bobs and bows of servants as they hurried across the yard with fruit and herbs for the kitchen or armfuls of linen for the washing tubs.

  Then the door of the Great Hall opened and Hilda, Lady Anne's sour-faced old maid, bustled down the steps, her hands flapping frantically skywards like a clipped-winged goose. Hilda's bellyache must have seemed like the answer to a prayer for Anne, who was plainly craving a week or two of peace. She couldn't travel with a maid who was rushing to the privy several times an hour. So Hilda had been forced to remain behind, moaning and fretting in her mistress's chamber. Raffe knew that Hilda was now reciting all the insults, both real and imagined, she had suffered in her ladyship's absence. But Lady Anne was merely nodding absently at Hilda's prattling, plainly not listening to a word.

  Raffe ranged up and down the wooden floor, praying Anne would retire first to her chamber and not stay to eat in the Hall. He needed to get her alone. After an agonizing wait, he finally heard Hilda's shrill bleating approaching the chamber and knew Anne must be with her.

  '... and Lord Osborn's manservants show me no respect. Why, the other day that one with the missing finger had the audacity to tell me, me, that I should fetch . . .'

  The door opened and both women entered, looking startled to find Raffe waiting for them.

  Raffe bowed stiffly. 'Welcome home, m'lady.'

  Anne grimaced. 'Home, is that what I should call it? I fear it feels less and less like my home each time I return.'

  She limped towards a chair, sinking wearily into it. Her face was grey with fatigue and even the effort of pulling off her riding gloves seemed to exhaust her.

  Raffe swiftly poured a goblet of wine and handed it to her.

  'M'lady, I must speak with you . . . alone,' he added, pointedly staring at Hilda.

  Anne waved a dismissive hand at him. 'If these are more complaints about Osborn's retinue, they will have to wait. I am too weary to hear them now. Besides, you know there is nothing I can do to make Osborn's servants curb their behaviour. By order of King John, Osborn is the master here now. You'd best try appealing to him, if you think it will do any good.'

  Raffe inclined his head. 'I am sorry, m'lady, but this can't wait. It's not a matter concerning Osborn. In fact it is imperative I speak with you before he returns.'

  Hilda, her eyes now aglow with intrigue, crouched down to unlace Anne's boots, and gazed up eagerly at Raffe, as much as to say, I'm listening.

  You'd better speak then,' Anne said with heavy resignation.

  Raffe swiftly knelt down and, elbowing Hilda out of the way, began untying Anne's laces himself.

  'It is a delicate matter, m'lady ... if you would be so good as to dismiss your maid.'

  Hilda turned on him, spitting like a cat whose tail has been trodden on. 'Her ladyship has only just returned and I have to help her out of her soiled clothes and dress her. Are you proposing to do that? Anyway, as she said, she's far too exhausted to talk to anyone just now. And I won't have you making her ill. Whatever you have to say will just have to wait. I'm sure it can't be that important.'

  Anne closed her eyes and sighed. 'Hilda, be so good as to tell the kitchens I will take a warm posset in my chamber. When Osborn returns, tell him I have taken a chill on the road and will not be joining him in the Great Hall this evening'

  'But m'lady . . .' Hilda protested.

  'Please, Hilda, go quickly, for I fear I shall be ill if I don't eat at once.'

  Hilda's indignation at being excluded was forgotten in her concern for Lady Anne's health and, convinced that only a warm posset would save her dear mistress from certain death, she sped from the room without another word.

  Anne leaned forward and grasped Raffe's shoulder as he knelt before her. 'Make haste then, Raffaele, if it really is important.'

  Raffe glanced at the heavy oak door to check it was fastened, then back at Anne.

  'While you were away, m'lady, a boy came with a message for you. He brought a sign. It was the pilgrim badge of St Katherine, her wheel.'

  Anne's eyes opened wide in alarm. 'Did he ... did he speak of me?'

  'He said the message was for you alone, but if Osborn had caught him -'

  'But he didn't?' Anne asked in alarm. 'The boy is safe?'

  'He is safe.'

  'I must get word to tell him I am returned.' Anne half rose from her chair as if she was going to dash out through the gates.

  Raffe took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how she was going to respond to having h
er private messages intercepted.

  'I convinced the boy to give me the message.'

  'He was given strict instructions to tell no one, no one, except me,' Anne blazed. Despite her exhaustion her eyes flashed with the old fire that had once made even her husband quail. 'And you had no right to intercept a private message for me. Just because you were my son's friend does not give you leave to —'

  Raffe's temper snapped. 'It's as well I did, otherwise that poor priest would still be shivering out there on the marshes. Did you expect him to starve until you returned?'