‘He was still alive?’ Lucie asked.
‘He was weak, the fever had stolen his wits, but he yet lived.’
All that she described took time – the maidservant deserting, her preparations for leaving. Most died quickly after the pustules broke. In Lucie’s experience those who lingered were rare, and they were the ones who survived. She wondered whether Marian knew that.
‘Have you had any news of him?’ Lucie asked. ‘Was he buried?’
‘I heard a tale of villagers burning a pestilence-carrier in a hut near a marsh and I wondered if it might be him. I was not far from there when I heard it from men in the fields. They were warning me away. Strangers were not welcome when Death walked the land.’ Tears fell down her cheeks. She brushed them away with her hands. ‘You cannot know how I have agonized over all I did. And did not do.’
Lucie poured water, gave it to her to drink.
‘How did you find food?’ she asked.
‘I traded my prayer beads one or two at a time for food. I believed the Blessed Mother and her Son would understand.’
‘Folk shared their food?’
‘They refused me shelter but they were not lacking charity. Some sold me food, not wishing me to starve.’
‘Where did you encounter the company of musicians?’
‘In a tavern along the road out of Bath. I hoped to find work at the stables there, but I was shooed away like a stray cat. One of the musicians – Wojon, he called himself, he saw what happened and offered to buy me some food and drink. We sat at a table with some of the others. After more ale they began to tease about how I looked a lad who could be cleaned up and become their lady. They asked me to sing. I sang a carol my mother taught me as a child and one of them hurried inside to fetch their leader. He was happy to take me along.’ Marian closed her eyes.
Lucie gently touched her hand. ‘You have stirred up much pain in the telling. But it is helpful. Now, tell us of that night in the chapter house. Why did you go in there?’
‘I thought I saw the player who attacked me at Cawood. The drummer, Paul. He’d finally guessed I was no lad. And after drinking the good ale at the palace—’ A ragged breath. ‘He is big, and strong. I do not know how Master Ambrose had the strength to pull him off, but he did.’
‘You sought to hide from him in the chapter house?’ Lucie asked.
‘Yes,’ Marian breathed. ‘I thought to slip out in a while. I meant only to lose him.’
‘Had he seen you?’ Owen asked.
‘I don’t know. I don’t even know if it was him.’
‘But you stayed,’ said Lucie.
‘Someone locked the door.’ Marian shuddered and licked her lips. ‘I told myself I would be safe, I would curl up in my cloak and sleep, and in the morning I would be discovered. I did not know at first I was not alone.’
‘What happened?’ asked Lucie.
‘Once I calmed I stumbled around in the dark searching for the door. Maybe it was shut, not locked. Maybe I could open it from within. He waited there. I heard his breath as I touched the door. He caught me up and threw me to the floor. I bit and kicked and he kept hissing in my ear that he meant to avenge his brother. I escaped from him once. In the dark I thought he might not see me. I heard something that sounded as if it came from the other side of the door. I went toward it, pulled, pushed, rattled, shouted. He laughed all the while.’ Tears now streamed down Marian’s face as her words tumbled out, an outpouring of horror. ‘How could they not hear?’
‘Did you know that Gabriel’s partner was Phillip’s brother?’ Owen asked in his gentlest voice.
‘Not until Rupert told me that night.’ A sob. ‘I stopped thinking, just waited for death. He tied my hands and feet, slung me over his shoulder, and carried me up narrow stairs, tossed me down on a wood floor, sat on me, and opened the shutter on a lantern. I thought then he meant to enjoy me before he killed me. But he just kept whispering about his dear brother, saintly Phillip. I had burned him alive. The villagers said they could hear him screaming.’
So he had survived the pestilence. Weak, but alive. And then burned. ‘He kept you there all night?’ Lucie asked.
‘Yes.’ A whisper.
‘Did he take you?’
‘No. He said I disgusted him.’
God be thanked.
‘How did you get to the roof?’ asked Owen.
‘Rupert had left me, taken the lantern and gone away. I heard him moving up above. Hunting for the worst way to kill me, I thought. I heard from afar the night office being sung. I kicked the floor. Again. Again. Could they not hear?’ A pause for breath. ‘Rupert came clattering down from above. I rolled away so he would not find me at once, but I caught against something and he was there, yanking me up, cutting my bonds, telling me to walk. He held a knife at my back. I could not feel my legs or my arms but somehow I moved. I drew my knife and he
