Sir Guillaume escorted them out of the castle, through the back alleys behind the priest's house to where a small door had been let through the town wall to give access to a path which led to the watermill on the river. Sir Guillaume shot the bolts and opened the gate warily, but no soldiers waited outside and so he led them down to the mill and there he watched as Thomas and Genevieve crossed the stone sill of the mill pond. From there they climbed into the woods.
Thomas had failed. And he was damned.
PART TWO Fugitive
It rained all night. It was a pelting rain driven by a cold wind that snatched the leaves from the oaks and chestnuts and swirled spite fully into the ancient tree that had been broken by lightning and hollowed by time. Thomas and Genevieve tried to shelter in the trunk, flinching once when a burst of thunder sounded in the sky. No lightning showed, but the rain slashed down even more forcefully. It's my fault,' Genevieve said.
No. Thomas said.
I hated that priest. she said. I knew I shouldn't shoot, but I remembered all he did to me.“ She buried her face on his shoulder so her voice became muffled and Thomas could hardly hear her. He would stroke me when he wasn't burning me. Stroke me like a child.”
Like a child?'
No. she said bitterly, like a lover. And when he'd hurt me he'd say prayers for me and tell me I was precious to him. I hated him.“ I hated him too. Thomas said, for what he did to you.” He had his arms about her. And I'm glad he's dead. he added, and then reflected that he himself was as good as dead. He had been sent to hell, cut off from salvation.
So what will you do?“ Genevieve asked in the shivering dark. I won't go home.”
So where will you go?'
Stay with you. If you want.“ Thomas thought of saying that she was free to go wherever she wished, but he knew she had entwined her fate in his so he did not try to persuade her to leave him, nor did he want her to leave him. We'll go back to Astarac. he suggested instead. He did not know what good that would do, but he knew he could not just crawl home defeated. Besides, he was damned now. He had nothing to lose and all eternity to gain. And perhaps the Grail would redeem him. Perhaps now that he was doomed, he would find the treasure and it would restore his soul to grace. Sir Guillaume arrived soon after dawn, escorted by a dozen men who Sir Guillaume knew would not betray Thomas. Jake and Sam were among them and both wanted to accompany Thomas, but he refused. Stay with the garrison. he told them, or go back west and find another English fort.” It was not that he did not want company, but he knew it would be difficult enough to feed himself and Genevieve without having two other mouths to worry about. Nor did he have any prospect to offer them except danger, hunger and the certainty of being hunted across southern Gascony. Sir Guillaume had brought two horses, food, cloaks, Genevieve's bow, four sheaves of arrows and a fat purse of coins. But I couldn't get your father's manuscript,“ he confessed, Robbie took it.” He stole it?' Thomas asked indignantly.
Sir Guillaume shrugged as if the fate of the manuscript was unimportant. Berat's men-at-arms have gone,“ he said,” so the road west is safe, and I sent Robbie east this morning to look for livestock. So ride west, Thomas. Ride west and go home.“ You think Robbie wants to kill me?” Thomas asked, alarmed. Arrest you, probably,“ Sir Guillaume said, and give you to the Church. What he really wants, of course, is to have God on his side and he believes if he finds the Grail then all his problems will be over.” Sir Guillaume's men looked surprised at the mention of the Grail and one, John Faircloth, began a question, but Sir Guillaume cut him off. And Robbie's persuaded himself that you're a sinner,“ he said to Thomas. Sweet Christ. he added, but there's nothing worse than a young man whose just found God. Except a young woman who finds God. They're insufferable.” The Grail?' John Faircloth insisted. There had been plenty of wild rumours about why the Earl of Northampton had sent Thomas and his men to Castillon d'Arbizon, but Sir Guillaume's careless admission had been the first confirmation.
It's a madness Robbie's got in his skull. Sir Guillaume explained firmly,' so take no damned notice..
We should stay with Thomas. Jake put in. All of us. Begin again.'
Sir Guillaume knew enough English to understand what Jake had said and he shook his head. If we stay with Thomas. he said, then we have to fight Robbie. That's what our enemy wants. He wants us divided.'
Thomas translated for Jake. And he's right. he added forcibly. So what do we do?' Jake wanted to know.
Thomas goes home. Sir Guillaume pronounced doggedly, and we stay long enough to get rich and then we go home too.' He tossed Thomas the reins of the two horses. I'd like to stay with you. he said.
Then we all die.'
Or we'll all be damned. But go home, Thomas. he urged, throwing down a fat leather bag. There's enough money in that purse to pay your passage, and probably enough to persuade a bishop to lift the curse. The Church will do anything for money. You'll do fine, and in a year or two come and find me in Normandy.“ And Robbie?” Thomas asked. What will he do?“ Sir Guillaume shrugged. He'll go home in the end. He'll not find what he's looking for, Thomas, and you know that.” I don't know that.'
Then you're as mad as he is. Sir Guillaume pulled off his gauntlet and held out his hand. You don't blame me for staying?“ You should stay. Thomas said. Get rich, my friend. You're in command now?”
Of course.'
Then Robbie will have to pay you a third share of Joscelyn's ransom.'
I'll keep some for you. Sir Guillaume promised, then he clasped Thomas's hand, turned his horse and led his men away. Jake and Sam, as farewell gifts, threw down two more sheaves of arrows, and then the horsemen were gone.
Thomas felt his anger simmer as he and Genevieve rode east wards in a soft drizzle that soon soaked through their new cloaks. He was angry at himself for having failed, though the only way he could have succeeded was by putting Genevieve on a pile of firewood and torching her, and he could never do that. He was bitter at Robbie for having turned against him, though he under stood the Scotsman's reasons and even considered that they were good ones. It was not Robbie's fault that he was attracted to Genevieve, and it was no bad thing for a man to have a care for his soul. So most of all Thomas was furious at life, and that rage helped to take his mind off their discomfort as the rain grew heavy again. They tended southwards as they went east, sticking to the woods where they were forced to duck beneath low branches. Where there were no trees they used the higher ground and kept a lookout for mailed horsemen. They saw none. If Robbie's men were in the east then they were keeping to the low ground and so Thomas and Genevieve were alone.
They avoided farms and villages. That was not difficult for the country was sparsely populated and the higher ground was given to pasture rather than cultivation. They saw a shepherd in the afternoon who sprang up, surprised, from behind a rock and fished a leather sling and a stone from his pocket before he saw the sword at Thomas's side and swiftly hid the sling and knuckled his fore head as he bowed. Thomas paused to ask the man if he had seen any soldiers and Genevieve translated for him, reporting the man had seen nothing. A mile beyond the frightened shepherd Thomas put an arrow into a goat. He retrieved the arrow from the carcass, which he skinned, gutted and jointed. That night, in the roofless shelter of an old cottage built at the head of a wooded valley, they lit a fire with flint and steel, then roasted goat ribs in the flames. Thomas used his sword to cut branches from a larch, which he fashioned into a crude lean-to against one wall. It would keep the rain off for a night, and he made a bed of bracken beneath the makeshift shelter.
Thomas remembered his journey from Brittany to Normandy with Jeanette. Where was the Blackbird now, he wondered? They had travelled in the summer, living off his bow, avoiding every other living person, and it had been a happy time. Now he did the same with Genevieve, but the winter was coming. He did not know how hard that winter would be, but Genevieve said she had never known snow in these foothills. It falls to the south,“ she said, in the mountains, but here it is just cold. Cold and wet.” The rain was intermittent now. Their horses were picketed on a patch of thin grass beside the stream that trickled past the ruins. A crescent moon sometimes showed through the clouds to silver the high wooded ridges on either side of the valley. Thomas walked a half-mile downstream to listen and watch, but he saw no other lights and heard nothing untoward. They were safe, he reckoned, from men if
