heard the two women creeping about.
'The knight will live, worse luck,' Cedric said. 'He was already trying to sit up. I told him we would send aid. Now, lady, you must go! We will take the other horses in the stable out to the far pasture to make it difficult to follow you, but I do not believe the knight will be in any condition to chase after you for a day or two. He is injured enough, but sadly not mortally.'
'I want them both out of Ashlin as soon as Saer de Bude can travel, Cedric. Send to Baron Hugh in my name for an escort for his daughter and her cousin. By the time they arrive, that wretched man should be ready to travel, even if he has to go in a Utter!'
'Yes, my lady,' the steward answered her, with a small smile. 'Godspeed you.'
'And God bless all here at Ashlin,' Elf answered. Then with Ida at her side, she hurried from the hall to where Arthur was waiting with two horses for them.
The boy helped his mistress onto her horse, then mounted his own. 'Good-bye, Grandmother,' he said, and Ida began to weep.
'Now, Ida,' Elf told her old nursemaid, 'I will let nothing happen to Arthur. He did nothing wrong. If worse comes to worst, I will send him into Wales, where Norman law cannot touch him.' She drew the old lady’s hand up to her lips, and kissed it. 'Farewell, my old dearie. God bless you.'
'The Holy Virgin keep you safe, my baby,' Ida sobbed. Then she whirled and ran back into the house.
'Can you go faster than a walk?' Arthur asked her.
'Can you?' Elf teased back, and kicked her mount into a canter.
They rode straight through the eight miles to St. Frideswide's, reaching it at sunset.
'Welcome back, Eleanore de Montfort,' Sister Perpetua, the convent portress, greeted her as they came through the gates.
'Thank you, good sister,' Elf replied. 'This is my serf, Arthur. He asks us for sanctuary, and when Reverend Mother hears my tale, I believe she will give it to him.'
'Elf!' Isabeaux St. Simon ran forward as Elf dismounted her horse. 'I didn't know you were coming today!'
'Neither did I,' Elf said. 'Isa, will you go find Reverend Mother, and ask her if she will see me on a most urgent matter.'
Isa nodded and hurried off. Several minutes later she returned. 'She'll see you in the chapter house.' Her eyes flicked to Arthur. 'Who is this?' she asked.
'My serf,' Elf said with no further explanation.
'Oh,' Isa said, her interest waning. The handsome young man was only a serf. For a moment she thought that perhaps Elf had decided not to take her final vows now that she was an heiress; that mayhap she would marry, and that her companion was her chosen.
'Come with me,' Elf said to Arthur, and hurried off across the cloister toward the chapter house. Moving quickly through the door, Arthur in her wake, Elf headed directly to the hall, where Reverend Mother Eunice awaited. She made obeisance to the abbess, flattening herself upon the floor before her.
'Rise, my daughter, and tell me why you have arrived so precipitously, and in this young man’s company,' Reverend Mother Eunice said.
'This is Arthur, my serf, Reverend Mother, and he would beg sanctuary of us. You must give it to him, for he saved me this day from a fate worse than death,' Elf began, arising to stand before the abbess. She then went on to explain, telling the Reverend Mother all that had happened since her arrival home at Ashlin: her brother’s subsequent death, her sister-in-law’s insistence that she give up her calling and marry, Saer de Bude’s attack on her person this very day. 'If Arthur had not been nearby and heard my cries, I should have surely been ravished and despoiled.' She began to weep softly. 'I should not have been able to return to St. Frideswide's, and been forced into marriage with that horrible man! And poor Arthur! Because he came to my aid, he will now be condemned to death unless you will give him sanctuary.'
'Arthur of Ashlin, I grant you sanctuary here at St. Frideswide’s for a year and a day. If we cannot straighten this matter out by then, I shall grant you sanctuary for as long as it takes,' the abbess said. 'Now, go to the stables, my lad, where Sister Joseph is in charge. Tell her I said she is to house you and find work for you to do.'
Arthur knelt before the abbess, and taking up the hem of her robe, kissed it. 'I thank you, my lady abbess, for your mercy.' Then he stood and left the hall.
'Oh, thank you, Reverend Mother! Arthur was my childhood playmate, and one of the first to greet me warmly on my return to Ashlin. Ida, his grandmother, was my nursemaid. I would not want to be the cause of his death…' She was sobbing now.
The abbess recognized that Elf was suffering from shock, but there were questions she had to ask. ' I must know exactly what it is this man did to you, my daughter. Come, and sit with me,' she said, leading the girl to a bench set against the wall. 'Now, speak honestly to me, Eleanore de Montfort. Your immortal soul stands in peril if you lie to me. Do you understand, my daughter?'
'Yes, Reverend Mother,' Elf replied, and she shuddered. 'He grabbed me, and kissed me. He fondled my breast. Then he threw me to the floor of the shed, and exposed his male member to me. He was saying horrible things to me, about how I should like what he would do.' She shuddered again, but swallowing hard as she relived the attack, she bravely continued on. 'Then he laid his body on mine. I was screaming, and screaming, and thank God, Arthur came. He pulled my attacker from me, hitting him on the jaw. It was when he fell back that Saer de Bude’s head grazed the edge of the table.
'I saw the blood gush from the wound, and wanted to remain to aid him, but Arthur would not let me. We ran back to the manor, and Cedric, my steward, went back to the shed. My attacker was alive and moving. Cedric told him to remain where he was, and he would fetch help. In the meantime Ida gathered my belongings together, and Arthur and I fled here to St. Frideswide's,' Elf concluded.
'Did your attacker’s male member touch your private parts, or penetrate you at any time, my daughter?' the abbess probed.
'Are you wearing the same clothing as you wore when you were accosted?' the abbess asked. She had to make certain, as painful as it was.
'All but my tunica and camisa,' Elf said. 'He tore those from me when he sought to fondle me.' Her face was pale. 'May I have a bath, Reverend Mother? I can yet smell that man’s body on me.'
'Of course, my daughter, and you may bathe this night only without your camisa. Tell Sister Cuthbert I said so. Nay, I will tell her so myself.' She arose from the bench. 'Come, my poor Eleanore, let us go and find Sister Cuthbert, and get you settled safely.'
They left the chapter house and walked across the cloister to the dormitory where the girls were housed. Both Sister Cuthbert and Matti, now Sister Columba, hurried forward to hug Elf.
'Go inside with Sister Columba, my daughter, and take the tub from its cabinet. Then begin filling it with water warmed from the fire. Use the small tub. It will be easier for you. Come and tell us when you are ready,' the abbess instructed the two girls. When they had gone off, she spoke seriously to Sister Cuthbert, telling her what had happened. 'I am certain Eleanore has told me the truth as she knows it, but sometimes the shock of such a terrible experience, the fright- Well, just be certain there is no blood on her skirts or her thighs. The man ripped her camisa and tunica so they were changed, but we must be sure she is still a virgin, and pure, Cuthbert.'
The younger nun’s face was stricken with sorrow. 'What a terrible time the poor girl has had, but I will make certain as you have asked me, Reverend Mother. Still, I am sure Eleanore told you the truth. Her calling means too much to her that she would lie. Who was the lad who escorted her?'
