The Hermit of Eyton Forest bc-14 Read online

  Jerome encouraged tale-bearers. Paul had a sneaking sympathy with the sinful solidarity that would invite penalties to fall on its own head rather than betray a companion. He merely stated firmly that Richard should be called to account for his behaviour later and pay the penalty of his foolishness, and proceeded with the lesson. But he was increasingly aware of his pupils’ inattention and uneasiness, and the guilty glances they slid sidelong at one another over their letters. By the time they were dismissed he felt that the youngest, at any rate, was on the verge of blurting out whatever he knew, and his very distress argued that there was more behind this defection than the mere capricious cutting of a class.

  Paul called the child back as they were leaving, half-gratefully, half-fearfully. ‘Edwin, come here to me!’

  Understandably, the other two fled, certain now that the sky was about to fall on them, and in haste to avoid the first shock, whatever followed later. Edwin halted, turned, and slowly trailed his way back across the room, his eyes lowered to the small feet he was dragging reluctantly along the boards of the floor. He stood before Brother Paul, and trembled. One knee was still bandaged, and the linen had slipped awry. Without thinking, Paul unwound it and made it neat again.

  ‘Edwin, what is it you know about Richard? Where is he?’

  The child gulped out with utter conviction: ‘I don’t know!’ and burst into tears. Paul drew him close and let him bury his nose in a long-suffering shoulder.

  ‘Tell me! When did you last see him? When did he go?’

  Edwin sobbed inarticulately into the rough woollen folds, until Paul held him off and peered into the smudged and woeful face. ‘Come! Tell me everything you know.’

  And it came out in a flood, between hectic sniffs and sobs. ‘It was yesterday, after Vespers. I saw him, he took his pony and rode out along the Foregate. I thought he’d come back, but he didn’t, and we were frightened—We didn’t want him to be caught, he’d be in such terrible trouble—We didn’t want to tell, we thought he’d come back and no one need know

  ‘

  ‘Do you tell me,’ demanded Paul, appalled and for once sounding formidable, ‘that he did not sleep here in his bed last night? That he’s been gone since yesterday and not a word said?’

  A fresh burst of despairing tears distorted Edwin’s round flushed face, and his violently nodding head admitted the impeachment.

  ‘And all of you knew this? You three? Did you never think that he might be hurt somewhere, or in danger? Would he stay out all night willingly? Oh, child, why did you not tell me? All this time we’ve lost!’ But the boy was frightened enough already, there was nothing to be done with him but hush and reassure and comfort him, where reassurance and comfort were very hard to find. ‘Now, tell me—you saw him go, mounted. After Vespers? Did he not say what he intended?’

  Edwin, very drearily, gathered what sense he had left and fumbled out the rest of it. ‘He came too late for Vespers. We were down on the Gaye, by the river, he didn’t want to come in, and when he did run after us it was too late. I think he waited to try and slip in with us when we came out of church, but Brother Jerome was standing talking to—to that man, the one who

  ‘

  He began to whimper again, recalling what he should not have seen, but of course had, the bearers of the litter coming in at the gatehouse, the bulky body motionless, the powerful face covered. ‘I waited at the school door,’ whispered the tearful voice, ‘and I saw Richard come running out and down to the stables, and then he came back with his pony, and led it out at the gate in a great hurry, and rode away. And that’s all I know. I thought he would soon come back,’ he wailed hopelessly. ‘We didn’t want to get him into trouble

  ‘

  If they had recoiled from doing that, they had certainly given him ample time and scope to get himself into trouble, deeper than any disloyalty of theirs might have plunged him. Brother Paul resignedly shook and patted his penitent into relative calm.

  ‘You have been very wrong and foolish, and if you’re in disgrace it’s no more than you deserve. But answer everything truthfully now, and we’ll find Richard safe and sound. Go now, at once, and find the other two, and the three of you wait here until you are sent for.’

  And Paul was off at a shaken run to take the bad news first to Prior Robert and then to the abbot, and then to confirm that the pony Dame Dionisia had sent as bait to her grandson was indeed gone from his stall. And there was great clamour and running about and turning grange court and barns and guest halls inside out, in case the culprit had not, after all deserted the enclave, or for sounder reasons had returned to it furtively, to try and conceal the fact that he had ever left it. The wretched schoolboys, tongue-lashed by Prior Robert and threatened with worse when anyone had time to perform it, cowered shivering and reduced to tears by the enormity of what had seemed to them good intentions, and having survived the first storm of recriminations, settled down stoically to endure the rest supperless and outcast. Not even Brother Paul had time to offer them any further reassuring words, he was too busy searching through the complex recesses of the mill and nearer alleys of the Foregate.

  Into this frenzy of alarm and activity Cadfael came riding in the early evening, after parting from Hugh at the gate. This very night there would be sergeants out dragging the woods from Eyton westward for the fugitive who might or might not be Brand, but must at all costs be captured. Hugh was no fonder of manhunts than was Cadfael, and many a misused serf had been driven at last to flight and outlawry, but murder was murder, and the law could not stomach it. Guilty or innocent, the youth Hyacinth would have to be found. Cadfael dismounted at the gatehouse with his mind full of one vanished youngster, to be met by the spectacle of agitated brothers running hither and thither among all the monastic buildings in search of a second one. While he was gaping in amazement at the sight, Brother Paul came bearing down upon him breathless and hopeful.

  ‘Cadfael, you’ve been in the forest. You haven’t seen hide or hair of young Richard, have you? I’m beginning to think he must have run home

  ‘

  ‘The last place he’d be likely to go,’ said Cadfael reasonably, ‘while he’s wary of his grandmother’s intentions. Why? Do you tell me you’ve mislaid the imp?’

  ‘He’s gone—gone since last night, and we never knew it until an hour ago.’ Paul poured out the dismal story in a cascade of guilt and remorse and anxiety. ‘I am to blame! I have failed in my duty, been too complacent, trusted them too far

  But why should he run away? He was happy enough. He never showed signs

  ‘

  ‘Doubtless he had his reasons,’ said Cadfael, scrubbing thoughtfully at his blunt brown nose. ‘But back to the lady? I doubt it! No, if he went off in such haste it was something new and urgent that sent him running. Last night after Vespers, you said?’

  ‘Edwin tells me Richard dawdled too long by the river, and came too late for Vespers, and must have been lurking in the cloister to slip in among the rest of the boys when they came out. But he could not do it because Jerome stood there in the archway, waiting to speak to Bosiet, who had attended among the guests. But when Edwin looked back he saw Richard come running out down to the stables, and then out at the gate in a hurry.’

  ‘Did he so!’ said Cadfael, enlightened. ‘And where was Jerome, then, and Bosiet, that the boy was able to make off undetected?’ But he did not wait for an answer. ‘No, never trouble to guess. We already know what they had to talk about, between the two of them—a small matter, and private. Jerome wanted no other audience, but it seems he had one of whom he knew nothing. Paul, I must leave you to your hunt a little while longer, and ride after Hugh Beringar. He’s already committed to a search for one vanished lad, he may as well make it for two, and drag the coverts but once.’

  Hugh, overtaken under the arch of the town gate, reined in abruptly at the news, and turned to stare meditatively at Cadfael. ‘So you think that’s the way of it!’ he said and whistled. ‘Why should he care
about a young fellow he’s barely seen and never spoken to? Or have you reason to think the two of them have had their heads together?’

  ‘No, none that I know of. Nothing but the timing of it, but that links the pair closely enough. Not much doubt what Richard overheard, and none that it sent him hotfoot on some urgent errand. And before Bosiet can get to the hermitage, Hyacinth vanishes.’

  ‘And so does Richard!’ Hugh’s black brows drew together, frowning over the implications. ‘Do you tell me if I find the one I shall have found both?’

  ‘No, that I gravely doubt. The boy surely meant to be back in the fold before bedtime, and all innocence. He’s no fool, and he has no reason to want to leave us. But all the more reason we should be anxious about him now. He would be back with us, surely, if something had not prevented. Whether his pony’s thrown him somewhere, and he’s hurt, or lost—or whether

  They’re wondering if he’s run home to Eaton, but that’s rankly impossible. He never would.’

  Hugh had grasped the unspoken suggestion which Cadfael himself had hardly had time to contemplate. ‘No, but he might be taken there! And by God, so he might! If some of Dionisia’s people happened on him alone in the woods, they’d know how to please their lady. Oh, I know the household there are Richard’s people, not hers, but there must be one or two among them would take the chance of present favours if it offered. Cadfael, old friend,’ said Hugh heartily, ‘you go back to your workshop and leave Eaton to me. As soon as I’ve set my men on the hunt, yes, for both, I’ll go myself to Eaton and see what the lady has to say for herself. If she baulks at letting me turn her manor inside out for the one lad, I shall know she has the other hidden away somewhere about the place, and I can force her hand. If Richard’s there, I’ll have him out for you by tomorrow, and back in Brother Paul’s arms,’ promised Hugh buoyantly. ‘Even if it costs the poor imp a whipping,’ he reflected with a sympathetic grin, ‘he may find that preferable to being married off on his grandmother’s terms. At least the sting doesn’t last so long.’

  Which was a very perverse blasphemy against marriage, Cadfael thought and said, coming from one who had such excellent reason to consider himself blessed in his wife and proud of his son. Hugh had wheeled his horse towards the steep slope of the Wyle, but he slanted a smiling glance back over his shoulder.

  ‘Come up to the house with me now, and complain of me to Aline. Keep her company while I’m off to the castle to start the hunt.’

  And the prospect of sitting for an hour or so in Aline’s company, and playing with his godson Giles, now approaching three years old, was tempting, but Cadfael shook his head, reluctantly but resignedly. ‘No, I’d best be going back. We’ll all be busy hunting our own coverts and asking along the Foregate until dark. There’s no certainty where he’ll be, we dare miss no corner. But God speed your search, Hugh, for it’s more likely than ours.’

  He walked his horse back over the bridge towards the abbey with a slack rein, suddenly aware he had ridden far enough for one day, and looked forward with positive need to the stillness and soul’s quiet of the holy office, and the vast enclosing sanctuary of the church. The thorough search of the forest must be left to Hugh and his officers. No point even in spending time and grief now wondering where the boy would spend the coming night, though an extra prayer for him would not come amiss. And tomorrow, thought Cadfael, I’ll go and visit Eilmund, and take him his crutches, and keep my eyes open on the way. Two missing lads to search for. Find one, find both? No, that was too much to hope for. But if he found one, he might also be a long step forward towards finding the other.

  There was a newly-arrived guest standing at the foot of the steps that led up to the door of the guest hall, watching with contained interest the continuing bustle of a search which had now lost its frenetic aspect and settled down grimly into the thorough inspection of every corner of the enclave, besides the parties that were out enquiring along the Foregate. The obsessed activity around him only made his composed stillness the more striking, though his appearance otherwise was ordinary enough. His figure was compact and trim, his bearing modest, and his elderly but well-cared-for boots, dark chausses and good plain cotte cut short below the knee, were the common riding gear of all but the highest and the lowest who travelled the roads. He could as well have been a baron’s sub-tenant on his lord’s business as a prosperous merchant or a minor nobleman on his own. Cadfael noticed him as soon as he dismounted at the gate. The porter came out from his lodge to plump himself down on the stone bench outside with a gusty sigh, blowing out his russet cheeks in mild exasperation.

  ‘No sign of the boy, then?’ said Cadfael, though plainly expecting none.

  ‘No, nor likely to be, not within here, seeing he went off pony and all. But make sure first here at home, they say. They’re even talking of dragging the mill-pond. Folly! What would he be doing by the pool, when he went off at a trot along the Foregate—that we do know. Besides, he’ll never drown, he swims like a fish. No, he’s well away out of our reach, whatever trouble he’s got himself into. But they must needs turn out all the straw in the lofts and prod through the stable litter. You’d best hurry and keep a sharp eye on your workshop, or they’ll be turning that inside out.’

  Cadfael was watching the quiet dark figure by the guest hall. ‘Who’s the newcomer?’

  ‘One Rafe of Coventry. A falconer to the earl of Warwick. He has dealings with Gwynedd for young birds to train, so Brother Denis tells me. He came not a quarter of an hour since.’

  ‘I took him at first to be Bosiet’s son,’ said Cadfael, ‘but I see he’s too old—more the father’s own generation.’

  ‘So did I take him for the son. I’ve been keeping a sharp watch for him, for someone has to tell him what’s waiting for him here, and I’d rather it was Prior Robert than take it on myself.’

  ‘I like to see a man,’ said Cadfael appreciatively, his eyes still on the stranger, ‘who can stand stock still in the middle of other people’s turmoil, and ask no questions. Ah, well, I’d better get this fellow unsaddled and into his stall, he’s had a good day’s exercise with all this coming and going. And so have I.’

  And tomorrow, he thought, leading the horse at a leisurely walk down the length of the great court towards the stable yard, I must be off again. I may be astray, but at least let’s put it to the test.

  He passed close to where Rafe of Coventry stood, passively interested in the bustle for which he asked no explanation, and thinking his own thoughts. At the sound of hooves pacing slowly on the cobbles he turned his head, and meeting Cadfael’s eyes by chance, gave him the brief thaw of a smile and a nod by way of greeting. A strong but uncommunicative face he showed, broad across brow and cheekbones, with a close-trimmed brown beard and wide-set, steady brown eyes, wrinkled at the corners as if he lived chiefly in the open, and was accustomed to peering across distances.

  ‘You’re bound for the stables, Brother? Be my guide there. No reflection on your grooms, but I like to see my own beast cared for.’

  ‘So do I,’ said Cadfael warmly, checking to let the stranger fall into step beside him. ‘It’s a lifetime’s habit. If you learn it young you never lose it.’ They matched strides neatly, being of the same modest stature. In the stable yard an abbey groom was rubbing down a tall chestnut horse with a white blaze down his forehead, and hissing gently and contentedly to him as he worked.

  ‘Yours?’ said Cadfael, eyeing the beast appreciatively.

  ‘Mine,’ said Rafe of Coventry briefly, and himself took the cloth from the groom’s hand. ‘My thanks, friend! I’ll take him myself now. Where may I stable him?’ And he inspected the stall the groom indicated, with a long, comprehensive glance round and a nod of satisfaction. ‘You keep a good stable here, Brother, I see. No offence that I prefer to do my own grooming. Travellers are not always so well provided, and as you said, it’s habit.’

  ‘You travel alone?’ said Cadfael, busy unsaddling but with a sharp eye on his companion all the
same. The belt that circled Rafe’s hips was made to carry sword and dagger. No doubt he had shed both in the guest hall with his cloak and gear. A falconer is not easily fitted into a category where travel is concerned. A merchant would have had at least one able-bodied servant with him for protection, probably more. A soldier would be self-sufficient, as this man chose to be, and carry the means of protecting himself.

  ‘I travel fast,’ said Rafe simply. ‘Numbers drag. If a man depends only on himself, there’s no one can let him fall.’

  ‘You’ve ridden far?’

  ‘From Warwick.’ A man of few words and no curiosity, this falconer of the earl’s. Or did that quite hold good? Concerning the search for the lost boy he showed no disposition to ask questions, but he was taking a measured interest in the stables and the horses they held. Even after he had satisfied himself of his own beast’s welfare, he still stood looking round him at the rest with a keen professional eye. The mules and the working horses he passed by, but halted at the pale roan that had belonged to Drogo Bosiet. That was understandable enough in a lover of good horseflesh, for the roan was a handsome animal and clearly from stock of excellent quality.

  ‘Can your house afford such bloodstock?’ He passed a hand approvingly over the glossy shoulder and stroked between the pricked ears. ‘Or does this fellow belong to a guest?’

  ‘He did,’ said Cadfael, himself sparing of words.

  ‘He did? How is that?’ Rafe had turned alertly to stare, and in the unrevealing face the eyes were sharp and intent.

  ‘The man who owned him is dead. He’s lying in our mortuary chapel this moment.’ The old brother had gone to his rest in the cemetery that same morning, Drogo had the chapel to himself now.