The Demon’s Parchment

His eye fell on a cowering Jack who was wearing Crispin’s cloak. “Leave him here, but bring him some clothes. A shirt and a cloak, at least.”

The guard bowed and left. Lancaster himself closed the door to his apartments and walked slowly toward the fire. Crispin felt the heat melt the permanent chill but he would not take his encircling arm away from Jack.

Lancaster did not speak for several moments. The anger in his eyes told Crispin why and he waited for his lord to do the talking first.

“Not your doing but you were there.”

“It . . . it is difficult to explain, your grace. De Risley was the murderer I sought. Now he is dead. He started the fire.”

“Is there proof of this?”

Crispin shook his head.

“Master Crispin saved my life!” cried Jack, startling both men.

Lancaster gave him a look of incomprehension. Crispin supposed it wasn’t often that the lowliest servant ever dared speak to him let alone shout. Though Jack always seemed of a mind to confront Lancaster.

Gaunt approached the quivering boy and bent at the knee to look him in the face. Crispin could feel Jack trembling where he clutched at his cotehardie. “He saved your life? Tell me.”

Jack did, starting with the body of the young boy Crispin found and how Jack decided to lay a trap but never expected to become trapped himself. With comical gestures using Crispin’s cloak like a costume, Jack made it sound as if Giles and Crispin had fought hand to hand, that it had been a chivalrous battle to the death. It sounded to Crispin like the most heroic tripe any minstrel had ever croaked.

When Jack was finished, Lancaster slowly straightened. He rubbed his beard like a carpenter sanding it smooth. “Giles de Risley toyed with boys, did he?”

“As did his cousin.”

“Did he kill that astrologer, Cornelius van der Brooghes?”

With an unpleasant smile of satisfaction, Crispin said, “Yes. I witnessed it.”

“May he rot in Hell.”

Crispin vaguely recalled a strange fiery figure rising from the brazier. “I think that a safe wager.”

“What will you do now?”

“We need a place to rest for the night,” he said wearily. “We will leave for London at sunrise. But Jack, here, has been through much this night and he is in need of a dry place to sleep.”

“And just where did you intend this quiet place, Master Guest? This is no inn.”

“With your permission, your grace, if we may stay with your . . . your servants.” It had taken the rest of his courage to mouth that aloud. To beg to sleep with Lancaster’s servants! Surely the duke would accede to that.

His dark eyes studied Crispin’s reddening face for some time. “I see. And then?”

He raised his chin but not his eyes. “I must go to the Jewish physician. He hired me to recover something for him that is now lost. I must inform him of that fact.”

“Before you inform me?” asked a voice behind him.

Crispin whipped around. The stranger from the carriage stood in the doorway to Lancaster’s inner chamber. Crispin was instantly on his guard. He longed to unsheathe his blade but there had been enough mayhem this night. Instead he said, “What is he doing here?”

“Your betters, Crispin,” warned Lancaster. “The Bishop Edmund is my guest.”

“Tut, your grace,” said the man. “Master Guest and I have met before. Under trying circumstances, to be sure, though never formally. I am Edmund Becke, a humble bishop from Yorkshire, on a mission.” He bowed. “Am I given to understand you have been successful in your trials? Did you, by any chance, obtain the object I desired?”

“The parchments you wanted?” The man frowned at Crispin’s deliberate release of information. Too bad if he had wanted to keep it a secret from Lancaster. “They didn’t belong to you. They should go to their rightful owner.”

“Rightful owner?” Becke seemed genuinely puzzled. “I am the rightful owner.”

“I beg to differ. Parchments in Hebrew? Could those possibly be yours?”

The man’s face darkened. “Yes. They would certainly be mine to confiscate. The parchments you speak of are illicit, smuggled into England for the purpose of its secret Jews to continue their unholy worship from their Scriptures.”

Crispin felt the tiniest of twinges in his gut. Somehow there were too many parchments afoot. And he was beginning to feel as if he had been duped.

“What the devil are you two talking about?” bellowed Lancaster.

“Master Guest knows.” The bishop stepped closer and looked Crispin in the eye, holding his gaze captive. “Give them to me.” He held out his open palm.

“That was what this was all about? The Jews’ wish to worship?”

“These Jews do not belong on English soil. Give them to me!”

“Give them to him, Crispin.”

Crispin gave an angry grin. “They burned. All of them.”

Bishop Edmund looked aghast before his expression changed. He chuckled. “That shall save me the trouble of burning them myself, at least. We shall soon purge these Jewish creatures from the land as easily as burned parchment.”

Creatures. Crispin could not help but picture that boy, John, in his mind, innocently thinking that Crispin could protect their secret. Well, he had, for what it was worth. Not that it would do them any good in the long run.

“May I go?” he spat. He refused to meet Lancaster’s gaze.

Becke waved his hand. “I am through with him. For the moment. But I suspect Master Guest and I shall meet again.” He offered Crispin a last smile. “I am supposing you wish you had taken my gold now, eh?”

“You would suppose wrong.” He looked to Lancaster once more. “May I go, your grace?”

Lancaster swept the two of them with his glance. “Yes, Crispin. It appears you are done here. But when you are through with your other business, you and your servant may find rest in yon alcove. Let it not be said that I was uncharitable this Advent season.”

“Let it not be said,” he grumbled. He instructed Jack to stay, even though there was a pleading look in his eye. It wouldn’t do for Lancaster to see how indulgent he was with his own servant. He decided he would be safe enough in Lancaster’s care.

Once in the corridor he asked a sleepy servant where he could find the Jewish physician and was directed to a door at a far end, away from the other chambers.

When Crispin knocked, it was some moments before Jacob opened the door. “Surprised?” The man’s shocked face did not stop Crispin from shoving his way in.

He gave the room a glance before turning on the physician. “I found your parchments.”

Julianne was pulling on her dressing gown as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with one hand and carried a candle with the other. She smiled upon first seeing Crispin, but her face took on a look of shock. Bruised, with clothes singed by fire and covered in another man’s blood, he must look less and less like a proper suitor, even a Gentile one. As much as he wanted to fall relieved into her arms, now was not yet the time to rest.

But Jacob, too pleased with the tidings, surged forward. “Where are they?” His eager hands opened, waiting to receive them.

“They were destroyed,” he said with a certain amount of satisfaction. “But even had I recovered them, I would have been forced to hand them over to a Yorkshire bishop. He seems to think they are smuggled Scriptures to be given to the secret Jews of London.”

The color drained from Jacob’s face and he slowly sank into a chair. “Oh.”

“Father, what is he talking about?”

A shaky hand reached up and touched her arm. “My dear child. Forgive an old man for his folly. For the pages of Creation were indeed stolen. But I used that as a ruse to hire this gentleman. I knew of his education and sought to arouse his curiosity by citing their strange provenance. For along with them were the parchments I was truly most concerned about. These were a portion of the Torah. A Torah I brought from France to give to a small band of Jews hiding in London.”