would take the greater part, and some of the lesser prisoners would yield a few coins. In addition they had taken helmets, weapons, shields, swords and horses, and only two men-at-arms had received so much as a scratch. It was a good afternoon's work, and they laughed as they retrieved their horses, loaded the captured beasts with plunder, and readied to leave.

And just then a single horseman came across the ford. Sir Guillaume saw him first and called to Thomas who turned and saw it was a priest who approached. The man had black and white robes, suggesting he was a Dominican. Don't shoot!“ Thomas called to his men. Bows down! Down!” He walked towards the priest who was mounted on a small mare. Genevieve was already in her saddle, but now she jumped down and hurried to catch up with Thomas.

His name,“ Genevieve said softly, is Father Roubert.” Her face was white and her tone bitter.

The man who tortured you?' Thomas asked.

The bastard,' she said, and Thomas suspected she was fighting back tears; he knew how she was feeling for he had known the same humiliation at the hands of a torturer. He remembered pleading with his torturer and the shame of being so utterly abased to another person. He remembered the gratitude when the pain stopped.

Father Roubert curbed his horse some twenty paces from Thomas and looked at the scattered dead. Have they been shriven?' he asked.

No/ Thomas said, but if you want to shrive them, priest, then do it. And afterwards go back to Berat and tell the Count we have his nephew and will negotiate a ransom.' He had nothing else to say to the Dominican so he took Genevieve's elbow and turned away.

Are you Thomas of Hookton?“ Father Roubert asked. Thomas turned back. What is it to you?”

You have cheated hell of a soul,“ the priest said, and if you do not yield it then I shall demand yours as well.” Genevieve took the bow from her shoulder. You'll be in hell before me,' she called to Roubert.

The friar ignored her, speaking to Thomas instead. She is the devil's creature, Englishman, and she has bewitched you.“ His mare twitched and he slapped her neck irritably. The Church has made its decision and you must submit.”

I've made my decision/ Thomas said.

Father Roubert raised his voice so that the men behind Thomas could hear him. She is a beghard!' he called. She is a heretic!

She has been excommunicated, cast out of God's holy precincts, and as such she is a doomed soul! There can be no salvation for her and none for any man who helps her! You hear me? It is God's Church on earth that talks to you, and your immortal souls, all your immortal souls, are in dire peril because of her.“ He looked back to Genevieve and could not resist a bitter smile. You will die, bitch/ he said, in earthly flames that will usher you to the eternal fires of hell.”

Genevieve raised her small bow which had a broad-head on the string. Don't/ Thomas said to her.

He is my torturer/ Genevieve said, tears on her cheeks. Father Roubert sneered at her bow. You are the devil's whore/ he told her, and worms will inhabit your womb and your breasts will give forth pus and the demons will play with you.' Genevieve loosed the arrow.

She snatched at the shot. She did not aim. Anger made her pluck the cord far back and then she loosed and her eyes were so filled with tears that she could hardly see Father Roubert. In prac tice her arrows had usually flown madly wide, but at the very last moment, just as she loosed, Thomas tried to knock her arm away; he barely touched her, just tapped her bow hand, and the arrow twitched as it leaped from the string. Father Roubert had been about to insult her toy bow, but instead the arrow flew true and struck him. The broad, tanged head slashed into the priest's throat and the arrow stayed there, its white feathers turning red as blood poured down the shaft. For a heartbeat the priest sat in the saddle, a look of utter astonishment on his face, then a second great gout of blood spurted out over his horse's ears, he made a choking sound and fell hard to the ground.

By the time Thomas reached him the priest was dead. I told you he'd go to hell first,' Genevieve said, then spat on the corpse.

Thomas made the sign of the cross.

There should have been jubilation after the easy victory, but the old mood, the sullen mood, returned to haunt the garrison at Castillon d'Arbizon. They had done well in the fight, but the death of the priest had horrified Thomas's men. Most of them were unre pentant sinners, some had even killed priests themselves, but they were all superstitious and the friar's death was regarded as an evil omen. Father Roubert had ridden forward unarmed, he came to parley, and he had been shot down like a dog. A few men applauded Genevieve. She was a proper woman, they said, a soldier's woman, and the Church could be damned for all they cared, but those men were a small minority. Most of the garrison recalled the priest's last words that had damned their own souls for the sin of harbouring a heretic, and those harsh threats brought back the fears that had haunted them when Genevieve's life was first spared. Robbie propounded that view relentlessly and, when Thomas chal lenged him by asking when the Scot planned to ride to Bologna, Robbie brushed the question off. I'm staying here,“ he said, till I know what ransom I'm getting. I'm not riding away from his money.” He jerked a thumb at Joscelyn who had learned of the antagonism inside the garrison and did his best to encourage it by forecasting dire things if the beghard was not burned. He refused to eat at the same table as Genevieve. As a nobleman he was enti tled to the best treatment the castle could offer and he slept in a room of his own at the top of the tower, but rather than eat in the hall he preferred to take his meals with Robbie and the men at-arms and he beguiled them with tales of his tournaments and scared them with dire warnings of what happened to men who protected the enemies of the Church.

Thomas offered Robbie almost all the money in his keeping as his share of Joscelyn's ransom, the final amount to be adjusted when that ransom was negotiated, but Robbie refused it. You might end up owing me far more/ he claimed, and how do I know you'll pay it? And how will you know where I am?“ I'll send it to your family,” Thomas promised. You trust me, don't you?'

The Church doesn't,“ was Robbie's bitter answer, 'so why should I?”

Sir Guillaume tried to ease the tension, but he knew the garrison was falling apart. A fight broke out in the lower hall one night between Robbie's supporters and the men who defended Genevieve, and at the end of it one Englishman was dead and a Gascon had lost an eye to a dagger. Sir Guillaume thumped heads hard, but he knew there would be other fights.

What do you propose to do about it?' he asked Thomas a week after the skirmish by the River Gers. The air was cold from a north wind, the wind that men believed made them dull and irritable. Sir Guillaume and Thomas were on the keep's battlements, beneath the Earl of Northampton's fading banner. And beneath that red and green flag hung the orange leopard of Berat, but upside down to show the world that the standard had been captured in battle. Genevieve was there too, but sensing that she did not want to hear what Sir Guillaume had come to say she had gone to the farthest corner of the ramparts.

Til wait here,' Thomas said.

Because your cousin will come?'

That's why I'm here,' Thomas said.

And suppose you have no men left?“ Sir Guillaume asked. Thomas said nothing for a while. Eventually he broke the silence. You too?”

I'm with you,“ Sir Guillaume said, fool that you are. But if your cousin comes, Thomas, he won't come alone.” I know.'

And he won't be as foolish as Joscelyn was. He won't give you a victory.'

I know.' Thomas's voice was bleak.

You need more men,“ Sir Guillaume said. We have a garrison; we need a small army.”

Tt would help,' Thomas agreed.

But no one will come while she's here,“ Sir Guillaume warned, glancing at Genevieve. And three of the Gascons left yesterday.” The three men-at-arms had not even waited for their share of Joscelyn's ransom, but had simply ridden away westwards in search of other employment.

I don't want cowards here,' Thomas retorted.

Oh, don't be such a damned fool!“ Sir Guillaume snapped. Your men will fight other men, Thomas, but they won't fight the Church. They won't fight God.” He paused, evidently reluctant to say what ever was on his mind, but then took the plunge. You have to send her away, Thomas. She has to go.'

Thomas stared at the southern hills. He said nothing. She has to go,“ Sir Guillaume repeated. Send her to Pau. Bordeaux. Anywhere.”

Вы читаете The Grail Quest 3 - Heretic
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