But De'Unnero didn't charge; and suddenly, she realized that their personal battle had come to an abrupt end. Tetrafel's archers had their bows low and level but not aiming at her; the cries from the peasants all about her did not call for her death.
No, De'Unnero had revealed the truth of himself to the folk of Palmaris, had shown them that he had been the murderer of their beloved Baron Bildeborough.
They knew now the truth of Brother Truth.
The great cat sprang-not at Jilseponie, but by her, breaking into a sprint. A volley of arrows followed, some hitting the mark; but on De'Unnero ran, away he leaped, clearing the dodging and ducking peasants, breaking for the city's outer wall with a host of arrows, of crossbow bolts from St. Precious, of charging horsemen, right behind.
Jilseponie stood calm through the storm, held her ground, and turned her attention away from the fleeing tiger toward the more important adversary.
Duke Tetrafel was there, staring back at her from the window of his decorated coach.
Pain and rage, primal hunger and blind hatred all swirled in his mind, along with abject despair at the deep- buried but deep-seated realization that he had failed. He had gone from victory to complete defeat in the blink of an eye, and now he was revealed and banished forevermore.
He charged for the wall, hearing the pursuit, feeling the pain of a dozen stinging arrows that had burrowed under his black-striped orange coat. Fear and rage alone kept him moving, running, running, for the northern gate.
He saw a woman on a familiar horse, but he couldn't stop to tear out her throat, to feast upon her warm blood. He had to get to the gate-and through the gate.
No, the great cat realized, and he quickly turned down a side alley. Not to the gate. The horsemen could follow him through the gate, and he was fast tiring. He was a predator, built for short bursts of speed, and he was sorely wounded, but those horses could run and run.
He headed for the wall again, but not near any gate. The pursuit closed, closed, but De'Unnero used his last remaining strength to get to the base of the wall and to leap high and far.
Another arrow caught him in midnight.
He landed heavily on the field outside, slumping to the ground, but then pulling himself back up and dragging his punctured body away into hiding.
He felt the darkness closing all about him, could hear the rasp of death and feel the cold and merciless hand closing in.
Chapter 40
They stood in the square, watching the soldiers galloping in pursuit of the fleeing monster. Jilseponie didn't follow. She just stood there, beside Symphony, open and exposed and vulnerable, out of magic and exhausted. She looked across the way to the remaining Brothers Repentant and the hordes they held back, to the line of soldiers still sitting ominously on their chargers, to Duke Tetrafel, staring at her from the window of his coach, his expression indecipherable.
Slowly, she dared to glance back at St. Precious, to see the monks holding stoic vigil, some with gemstones, some with crossbows, some flanking a great black kettle steaming with hot oil. There stood her friend Braumin Herde staring back at her with a mixture of respect and love, gratitude and fear.
For she was out there, in the calm valley between two great waves; and those waves, despite what she had just done, despite that she had shown the folk of Palmaris the truth of Marcalo De'Unnero, seemed destined to crash together one more time.
By the time Jilseponie looked back across the way, Duke Tetrafel had stepped out of his carriage. She could see the slump of his shoulders, the dark blue under his eyes. Yes, he had the plague; she could smell it thick about him even this far away.
'The brothers of St. Precious did not cause this,' Jilseponie said loudly, sweeping her gaze quickly about all the crowd, but then quickly refocusing it on Tetrafel. 'The plague is not the work of men, nor is it the scourge of an angry God.'
'So you claim!' shouted one of the Brothers Repentant from the side. 'So you must, for you have led the way against God!' He came forward as he spoke, prodding his finger at Jilseponie. Her responding look was one of perfect calm and confidence, and perfectly cold; and the man, who had just seen his adored leader beaten away by this dangerous woman, gradually calmed and slowed.
'They are innocent,' Jilseponie said to Tetrafel when the threat of the irate brother had passed.
'They hide while the people suffer and die!' the Duke came back.
'As did you, until you learned that the plague was within your own body,' she replied. 'I do not judge you, Duke,' she quickly added, seeing the soldiers all about him bristle at the accusation. 'Nor can I, can any of us, judge all the folk who so hide from the plague-monk or soldier, brother or even father-who out of fear for the rest of his family must put a victim out of his house.'
'But you never hid from it!' came one cry from the crowd; and Jilseponie recognized the speaker as one of the attendants at the house where Colleen had died.
'But that was my choice to make,' Jilseponie quickly answered, before any negative comparisons could be drawn concerning the brothers of St. Precious. 'As it was yours, Duke Tetrafel.'
The clump of hooves to the side alerted Pony that Dainsey Aucomb and Greystone had at last arrived at the square.
'But take heart!' Jilseponie cried. 'For our salvation is upon us, and there is the proof!' She pointed at Dainsey as she finished, then looked back to the crowd to see a great mixture of expressions, and many of them verging on uncontrollable excitement.
'Duke Tetrafel, will you come with me inside the abbey, to meet with Abbot Braumin, that I might explain my revelations to you? '
The sick man stared at her hard.
'A trick!' cried another of the troublesome Brothers Repentant. 'A deception to take the heart from our fight!'
Jilseponie didn't even glance the man's way. 'You have the plague and will die,' she said bluntly to the Duke. 'I cannot help you, nor can the brothers within the abbey. But there is an answer, a cure for your sickness, and I know how to reach it.'
' Then tell us!' came a cry from the crowd, a plea echoed many times over.
Jilseponie held up her hand. 'It will take all of us to do this thing,' she shouted back, 'It will only work if Duke Tetrafel agrees.' And she settled her gaze upon him again as she finished, putting the weight of a thousand desperate prayers squarely on his sickly shoulders. 'Will you come in with me?' she asked again. 'On my word, you'll not be harmed nor detained.'
'Your word? ' Duke Tetrafel echoed skeptically, glancing past her to the brothers of the abbey.
'Mine as well,' said Abbot Braumin.
The monks about him shifted nervously, staring at him with disbelief. Jilseponie could not enter the abbey, by his own words, unless she submitted to thorough inspection to ensure that she was not afflicted, and Duke Tetrafel, of course, could not be admitted at all, for he was obviously ill with plague.
'We will meet at the gate,' the abbot clarified, 'on opposite sides of a tussie-mussie bed we will lay out within the tower antechamber.'
'A hero to the end,' Duke Tetrafel muttered, loudly enough for Jilseponie to hear, but in truth, that arrangement seemed perfectly suited to her needs.
'All of you stay back,' Tetrafel said to his soldiers and to the common people. He sucked in his breath and strode forward, then walked with Jilseponie and Dainsey to St. Precious' front gates. It was some time before the monks had the flowers in place within the gatehouse, but soon after, the doors swung open.
